FANTASTIC FOUR #585 Preview

Hey everyone, CBR has an exclusive preview of FANTASTIC FOUR #585, which is due in stores next week. Head on over and check it out here.

FANTASTIC FOUR #583 Preview

Marvel has released a 4 page preview of the upcoming Fantastic Four #583 featuring the return of Doctor Doom to the pages of FF. It probably won't surprise any of you to hear that I LOVE drawing Doom, and look forward to doing a lot more of it.

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THE MARVELS PROJECT #5

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In stores tomorrow from Marvel Comics - THE MARVELS PROJECT #5.

Click here for a preview.

Origins Of Siege

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Out this week (today actually) from Marvel is Origins of Siege - a one shot giveaway that serves as an introduction to the upcoming "Siege" event. Included in this free issue are several one-page origin stories of the key characters in Siege. I was asked to draw the Captain America page and since I have a long standing policy of never turning down an opportunity to draw Cap fighting Nazis, I was happy to do so. Have a great Christmas everyone!

THE MARVELS PROJECT #4

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THE MARVELS PROJECT #4 hits the shelves this week. In addition to the pages above, you can see a preview here.

MARVELS PROJECT #3 Preview Panels

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A few preview panels from The Marvels Project #3 - due in stores today!

MARVELS PROJECT #2 Preview

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Marvel has released some preview pages for the second issue of THE MARVELS PROJECT over on their website. Have a look here.

I promise my next post will be about something else :)

More MARVELS PROJECT

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Here's a few more links about THE MARVELS PROJECT, courtesy of Newsarama, and some more pages from issue #1 in black and white.

Best Shots Extra: THE MARVELS PROJECT #1
The MARVELS PROJECT Project: NICK FURY

The Marvels Project: Black and White preview

The first issue of The Marvels Project hits in about a week and several previews have already appeared online, so I've decided to post some of the pages in the original black and white, just to offer something different here on the ol' blog. Several articles have appeared on Newsarama promoting the series as well, so hey, let's link 'em:

The New History: Steve Epting on Drawing The Marvels Project
The MARVELS PROJECT Project: Marvel History with Ed Brubaker
THE MARVELS PROJECT Project - THE ANGEL
The MARVELS PROJECT Project - THE HUMAN TORCH

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Page Process

Captain America #40 went on sale this week, and instead of my usual lame generic post announcing the fact, I've decided to show a little of the process involved in drawing the book.

After printing out the script, I'll usually go through and do thumbnails directly on the script pages as I'm reading it. These are generally quick impressions, and are subject to change (to put it mildly). Here's the thumbnail for page 11-

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The next step is the actual pencilling. I really prefer drawing with pens and markers instead of pencil, so "pencilling" may not be the right term. I only use pencils to roughly block in the figures and then draw everything with whatever pen I have laying around, using a Sharpie for the big solid blacks. Usually on this step, I'll lay out everything a little more carefully than you see here, but since this page required no establishing shots or busy environments, I could just concentrate on getting the figures on the page-



This then gets scanned into Photoshop to tweak the placement and composition, completing the "pencils" part of the process-



This rough is then printed out on 11x17 paper and then taped to the back of an art board supplied by Marvel. My drawing table has a lightbox and I go straight to inks from this stage. There may be some incidental pencilling as I go, particularly if I'm working on something very specific, like a certain building or type of car. Faces and hands also are subject to being refined before the inks go down . Here's the final inked page-



Finally, it's uploaded to the folks at Marvel, who then pass it on to the one and only Frank D'Armata for coloring-


- and that's that.

I don't follow these steps exactly for every page, but for the most part this is how it's done. I'm constantly trying to tweak this process and eliminate steps in an attempt to increase speed and production, so this is all subject to change.

Black Widow

Pencils by me, inks by Butch Guice. From the upcoming Captain America #34.


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Captain America #33: Sneek Peek

A few random panels from the upcoming Captain America #33. Inks by Butch Guice -

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Captain America #35 Cover

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It's that time again - Marvel's solicitations for Februaray '08 are up, and Captain America #35 is among them. Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #35
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by STEVE EPTING & BUTCH GUICE
Cover by STEVE EPTING
THE NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA FIGHTS FOR THE HEART OF HIS COUNTRY IN A CITY GONE INSANE!
Last issue was just the tip of the iceberg, as the Red Skull's master plan kicks into motion, and chaos begins to take hold of the US, with only one man to stand in its way, but is he up to the task? By Harvey and Eisner Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker with art by master storytellers Steve Epting and Butch Guice!
32 PGS./Rated T+…$2.99

You may notice a new name in the credits. Butch Guice will be inking the next several issues, starting with #32, which comes out tomorrow. Butch and I have been wanting to work together since our days at Crossgen. Here's a little sneak peek at some random panels from issue #32 to give you an idea what the collaboration looks like -

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Needless to say, I'm thrilled.

Return of the Hunter

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I finally got a copy of the El Cazador trade paperback that came out a few weeks ago. It's nice to have a collection of the series, since Crossgen folded before the first trade could come out. I remember having lunch with Chuck Dixon one day right after he arrived at Crossgen to discuss the future of Crux (the book I was drawing at the time, and which Chuck would be taking over as writer), and Chuck said his plans were to "ride it out for another year and then you and I will do a pirate book". And though it was not in any way as easy as it sounds, that is exactly what happened. I think I may have enjoyed working on this book more than anything else I've done in comics, and I wish that this type of book could actually be a litte more viable in today's comic market.