Because February is such a cold month where I live, and because Ice is such a caring person, I thought she’d be perfect for a Valentine’s Day card.  Ice was stupidly killed off at one point, but has been thankfully resurrected by Gail Simone during her first run of the Birds of Prey title.  I am very glad Tora was brought back, because there aren’t enough loving characters like her in the comics.  Not every character needs be be tough and hard or sarcastic and bitter.  She even charmed the heart of a hardened character like Green Lantern, Guy Gardner.  Ice brings personality diversity to the characters in comic books, and I like to give her features a more diverse look as well.  While I was doing this card, I really liked the idea of making her eyelashes white as well.  I think they give her a very fantastical quality.

This artcard and all the other artcards I’ve done are all original hand-made works and can be purchased or $15 plus shipping ($4.95 USPS Priority Shipping – international shipping will be calculated upon an individual order).

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink, Prismacolor pencil.

Ice, Tora Olafsdotter ©DC Comics 2010

I was completely unfamiliar with Yurgod, but the challenge for the cover was to showcase characters that appeared in stories inside the issue.  Some characters I knew, but others, like Yurgod, I only had was a couple of images of him provided by my editor.  However, he was a visually appealing character, and I was eager to try my own take on him.  How could I resist the chance to draw a fantastical creature like this?  The drawings I had were very stylized, and I wanted to inject a sense of realism in anatomy to my version.  In order to depict him in a way that he would fit in even better with other Oz characters more firmly established in the canon, I wanted to add the bow to the end of his tail to echo the bows on the ends of the tails of the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger.  I think the bow makes him look decidedly “Ozzy.”

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils, and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2010

For me, this piece was also an opportunity to go back to the rural small towns and farm areas that were nearby where I went to college.  I had the opportunity to go back there earlier this year for a wedding, and I think it really helped me in depicting the small town/rural setting.

8″ x 10.5″ on Bristol Board
Prismacolor Color Pencils
Superboy & Krypto © DC Comics 2010

Artemis has proven to be a popular character in the Wonder Woman franchise.  She’s more headstrong and less compassionate than Diana, but her heart is in the right place.  She ended up becoming the leader of the Bana Mighdall Amazons on Themiscyra.  Aretmis has just returned to Themiscyra in the Wonder Woman title, and her future roll remains to be seen.

For this piece, I went back to Ed Benes’ original drawings of Artemis in the Requiem miniseries, as well as Nicola Scott’s take on the costume in the recent Secret Six storyline.  In some of Benes’ early drawings, he had the green lining at the decolletage make a “w” shape.  I like that element to help visually tie Artemis into the Wonder Woman family, and as a former Wonder Woman, I believe she’s entitled to wear a “w” symbol – even a simplified one.  I left of the skull on her headband because I thought that element was excessively 90’s.  Instead, I opted to repeat the tripple-arrow “A” symbol that the Requiem costume has on the sternum area.  I really liked the seams and the side-lacing that Nicola Scott added to the costume in the Secret Six issues, as well as the kneecap armor she gave the boots.  The sword is the special demon killer sword that Artemis ended up having in the Byrne run of Wonder Woman that was also included as an accessory to the Artemis action figure that DC Direct made.

This artcard has been sold, but all the other artcards I’ve done are all original hand-made works and can be purchased or $15 plus shipping ($4.95 USPS Priority Shipping – international shipping will be calculated upon an individual order).

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink,  and Prismacolor pencil.

Artemis ©DC Comics 2010

I don’t often put political pieces and views on this website, but Green Arrow has been established throughout his years of comic book publication as a hero who takes up liberal political causes, and has even performed same-sex weddings in his comic book title.  Because the character has already come out in support of this issue, I didn’t feel like it was inappropriate or trying to make the character into something that he wasn’t.  My visual inspirations for my depiction of the character come from his costume from the 1970’s-80’s era with coloring influences from his appearances in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.  I really like the Robin Hood inspired lace up vest that the character had in the 70’s and 80’s, but I also like the “G” belt buckle that the character has been sporting in the past few years.

This artcard has been sold, but all the other artcards I’ve done are all original hand-made works and can be purchased or $15 plus shipping ($4.95 USPS Priority Shipping – international shipping will be calculated upon an individual order).

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink, Prismacolor pencil, Prismacolor marker.

Green Arrow ©DC Comics 2010

I’ve always enjoyed the few times I’ve drawn “spacescapes” in illustrations, and this piece was no exception.  I wanted to use photographs of some of the planets and moons in our solar system for inspiration when coloring the ones depicted in this artcard, but I wanted to make it clear that this was not our solar system.  As photographs from the Hubble Telescope has shown us, space can be quite colorful, and I definitely wanted to incorporate that into this piece.

For Green Lantern, I used Ray Caspio as a model for the pose.  I also took visual cues from the updated costume in the comics.  For example, I had the Green Lantern symbol on his chest actually project itself as a lazer light projection hovering over his chest.  I always liked Hal Jordan visually because green has always been one of my favorite colors, and also because he was one of the few superheroes who had brown hair.  Most superheroes when I was growing up had blond or black hair, and I liked that he was different in that respect.

This artcard and all the other artcards I’ve done are all original hand-made works and can be purchased or $15 plus shipping ($4.95 USPS Priority Shipping – international shipping will be calculated upon an individual order).

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink, Prismacolor pencil.

Green Lantern ©DC Comics 2010

Princess Ozma of Oz came on the scene in the second book of the series, The Marvelous Land of Oz.  Ozma, who was a fairy and the rightful ruler of Oz, was restored to the throne.  When Ozma and Dorothy met, the two got along famously and became best friends.  Ozma ended up making Dorothy a Princess of Oz.  In the sixth book of the series (which Baum intended to be the last, but was besieged with requests of “More Oz, Mr. Baum!”), The Emerald City of Oz, Dorothy, along with Toto, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Em (and Eureka the kitten whom we met in the fourth book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz) all moved to Oz permanently.

In portraying Dorothy, I like to stick to Neill’s blond take on her.  I also draw her with visual cues like silver shoes and in modernizing her, I give her a gingham-like print on her t-shirt.  In Oz, you never grow older unless you want to, and Oz creators like Eric Shanower have Dorothy changing with the time, while remaining a child.  Even Neill drew Dorothy’s hair cut changing trhough the years that he illustrated the Oz books, through the early 1900’s to the 30’s.

I like that approach.  Ozma is usually depicted as being a little bit older than Dorothy.  Her pendant is a representation of the different areas of Oz:  Green in the middle for the Emerald City, yellow Winkie Country to the west, the purple Quadling Country to the north, the blue Munchkin Country to the east, and the red Quadling Country in the south.  Ozma was usually drawn wearing two large poppies on either side of her tiara, which I followed, but I left off some of the ornamental ribbons that were usually included on there as a way of showing that in some ways, Ozma is keeping up with the times too.  Who wears ribbons in their hair any more?  Like Dorothy, Ozma was also drawn differently as the Oz series progressed, even getting a little older.  I also thought it’d be nice to break the background tradition for the Singular Sensation entries and include a more detailed background.  It better contrasts with the rainbow magic and sparkles.

Pencils, Ink, Prismacolor Color Pencils,  Watercolor, and Photoshop.
©Kevenn T. Smith 2010

This artcard is has been SOLD, however all the other artcards I’ve done are all original hand-made works and can be purchased or $15 plus shipping ($4.95 USPS Priority Shipping – international shipping will be calculated upon an individual order).

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink, Prismacolor pencil, Prismacolor marker.

Batman ©DC Comics 2010

4.25 x 5.5 inches cardstock.

Pencil, ink, Prismacolor pencil, Prismacolor marker.

Supergirl ©DC Comics 2010