adamwarren

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #114

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's sets of life drawings from random photoref. First above is a shading-oriented set from April 2017, which turned out to be rather more successful than the later bunch of drawings sketched in November 2017. (Oh, well.)

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these Monday posts—both sketch sets are dated from 2017, meaning that the end of my once-formidable buffer of life drawings is in sight, if still rather a long ways off, ...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #113

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. First above is a set from November 2017 (this time drawn on toned paper stock), followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets typically sketched for these exercises.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these Monday posts—both sketch sets are dated from 2017, meaning that the end of my once-formidable buffer of l...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: EMPOWERED illos circa 2012, pt.1

2012 was, for the most part, the last year I was still doing these drawn-at-home commissions, so enjoy a few weeks of high-quality pieces before the supply runs out, folks!

Not sure what's up with the piece above, as that's waaaaay more worktime than I normally would have put into a commission. Mysterious!

2021-06-11 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Work stages on 2015 KAIJUMAX variant cover

Behold, the complete work stages on a variant cover I drew for an issue of Zander Cannon's fine Oni Press prison-with-giant-monsters comic Kaijumax. (Hence the "cell block tango" bit on the rough.) High contrast ahoy, folks! 

TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: Some 2012-Vintage Con Sketches, methinks!

DISTRESSED DAMSELS: More Rose & Lily VINTAGE CON SKETCHES

Behold, a bunch of quite frankly hacked-out DiD commissions of Dirty Pair's Kei and Y—er, Rose and Lily, drawn at various points in the mid to late 90s. (My tendency to not sign and date many of these "just get 'em done" pieces means that I often have to guess at their age by the art style and costume designs.)

First off is an exceptionally goofy illo drawn as I was quite clearly flailing about for something a little different with yet anoth...

DESIGN TUESDAY: 2009-ish exploratory sketches, pt.1!

Behold, the first of a bunch of exploratory design sketches I did back circa 2009 for an ultimately abortive project related to the SSX snowboarding videogame series. At this (very) early point in said project's development, I was just playing around with various potential approaches to the game's familiar cast; the project was cancelled long before I ever figured out a final take on any of the characters.

Still, I had a surprising amount of fun playing around ...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #112

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets typically sketched for these exercises.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch sets are now from 2017, meaning that the end of my once-formidable buffer of life drawings is in sight—if stil...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: S'more EMPOWERED pieces & the photoref that inspired 'em!

Behold, a pair of 2010 con sketches based on photos of Empowered cosplay! First off is a high-contrast inked piece:

...which was based on excellent Ninjette cosplay from cosplayer Gren, as seen on deviantART (no link handy, alas):

In fact, I've used her cosplay as Ninjet...

Work stages on EMPOWERED UNCHAINED cover illo

Behold, the work stages on my cover illo for Empowered Unchained, the trade paperback collecting all the Empowered one-shots written by me and drawn by series of excellent Guest Artists. 

Line art by me, colors by the great Rob "Robaato" Porter. Note that this was one of several tries at leaving Emp's supersuit entirely o...

DISTRESSED DAMSELS: Unused (but not useless!) Shasti vs. Rose & Lily roughs

Recently unearthed a bunch of unfinished roughs for 2000-era DiD commissions, all of 'em featuring my Dirty Pair villainess Shasti distressing Kei and Y—er, Rose and Lily.

The first rough would've continued an older commission series of "Pirate Shasti" tormenting a wench-ishly costumed Rose & Lily; I posted those earlier pics a year or two ago, but don't have the time to dig up a link to that bygone post. 

2021-06-02 14:15:33 +0000 UTC View Post

DESIGN TUESDAY: Initial chara-design sketches for a mid-2000s project, pt.2

Following up on last week's Design Tuesdays post, jkjkjkhere are the rest of my initial design sketches for the cast of the 2004 mecha-team Marvel miniseries Livewires, written by me and featuring interior artwork by the great Rick Mays  (and eventual...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #111

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets typically sketched for these exercises.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch sets are now from 2017, meaning that the end of my once-formidable buffer of life drawings is in sight—if stil...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: 2011(-ish) Ninjette commissions!

Behold, a quartet of commissions from 2010-11 featuring Ninjette from Empowered. 

A few words:

Above, an example of what I've dubbed the "Excessively Petite Feet Alert" in my Empowered webcomic commentaries. (What can I say, folks; feet are tough AF to draw, to put it mildly.) 

2021-05-28 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Work stages on 2004 project's #1 cover

Since I just featured this image on a post earlier this week, here are the complete work stages on my cover illo for issue #1 of the 2004 Marvel mecha-team miniseries Livewires.  (Er, except for the "finished pencils" stage, which I only rarely bother to scan.) Line art by me, colors by my bud Ryan Kinnaird. One of my favorite cover illos from the series, which featured several strong pieces; in fact, this might be one of my favorite cover illos, period...

DISTRESSED DAMSELS: Shasti vs. Rose & Lily VINTAGE CON SKETCHES

Behold, a quartet of commissions from 2000 (well, mostly, as we'll see) featuring Dirty Pair's villainess Shasti yet again getting the best of Kei and Y—no, Rose and Lily, the DP's DiD-commission analogues.

A few words:

(These first three pieces are scanned from so-so photocopies, so I hope you'll pardon the crappy repro on 'em.)

Anyhoo,...

DESIGN TUESDAY: Initial chara-design sketches for a mid-2000s project, pt.1

I'm being a tad vague in this post's title and description, but here are my initial design sketches for the cast of the 2004 mecha-team Marvel miniseries Livewires, written by me and featuring interior artwork by the great Rick Mays (and eventually me as well, during the last three issues of the series as deadline issues and technical complexities arose).

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #110

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets typically sketched for these exercises.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch sets are now from 2017, meaning that the end of my once-formidable buffer of life drawings is in sight—if stil...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #109

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. (Someday I'll have to downgrade to a single piece per post, but my buffer of these pieces remains reasonably large.)  First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets I was previously sketching.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch s...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: 2010-era EMPOWERED commissions!

Scouring the Empowered vol.7 file folder, here are some Emp commissions from 2010 and 2011. A few words:

Pretty sure the commissioner just requested Emp cosplaying Supergirl, but of course I had to add in Emp's views on other superheroine costumes.

Another remarkably wor...

Work stages on EMPOWERED vol.1's back-cover illo

Behold, the work stages for Empowered vol.1's back-cover illo of civilian Emp (well, sorta, as she looks over her tattered supersuit with dismay). Line art by me, colors by my bud Ryan Kinnaird.

TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: More Vintage Con Sketches, I suspect, though I might break format some Friday to try a different type of post.

DISTRESSED DAMSELS: "Rose vs. Dexy" story fragment

Behold, a commissioned story in proto-Empowered format from roughly 2003 or so, pitting Dirty Pair's Kei—er, "Rose"—in the "garter belts & hot pants" costume variation against a young "techcrime" perp sporting some Dexy's Midnight Runners-esque overalls. Golly!

The story terminates abruptly when, I presume, either 1) an...

DESIGN TUESDAY: Young MFBRO's action figures from EMPOWERED vol.11

Behold, my initial designs for a bunch of superhero action figures that appeared in an Empowered vol.11 scene featuring adolescent versions of Mindf**k and her younger brother, along with the pages said figures appeared in.

Note that "MFBro" was my unofficial designation for the supervillainous character throughout my developmental notes for the volume, rather than either of his supranyms—"Brainbow" when he was a wimpy do-gooder, then "NeuroSpear" ...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #108

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. (Someday I'll have to downgrade to a single piece per post, but my buffer of these pieces remains reasonably large.)  First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets I was previously sketching.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch s...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: More (remarkably wordy) EMPOWERED commissions

I'm continuing to comb through old Empowered folders looking for con sketches, and here are a few more recently unearthed examples, all of which are remarkably dialogue-heavy.

A few words:

That is one wonky-looking Superman, gotta say; perhaps he's currently suffering from the effects of some alternate Kryptonite variation? 

Also, just occurred to me t...

Work stages on EMPOWERED vol.1's cover illo

Behold, the complete work stages for Empowered vol.1's cover illo, with line art by me and colors by my bud Ryan Kinnaird. 

Note that we tried out a bunch of different variations on the logo and background colors before arriving at the now-familiar final version that kicks off the image gallery above.

TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: Methinks more Vintage Con Sketches, as usual on a Friday.

DISTRESSED DAMSELS: Unfinished comics(-ish) commissions

Scrounging through old material, stumbled across a bunch of (mostly) incomplete commissions in comics format—or multiple-sketch "montage" format, at least—seeming to date back to the early 2000s, judging by the character designs. 

A few words:

This one's semi-complete, though the fact that I still have the original artwork suggests that this piece was never properly finished and ...

DESIGN TUESDAY: Sketches for EMPOWERED vol.12's fantasy crossover(!)

Behold, fresh off the ol' drawing table, here are my initial design sketches for an Empowered vol.12 scene that features a crossover of sorts with the fantasy RPG(-ish) characters from Party of Two and Hushed Half-Elf. No, really!

Emp will be appearing as a Paladin in this upcoming scene...

...complete with plat...

Life drawings from photoreference: high-res scans #107

Once again, I'm doubling up with this week's set of life drawings from random photoref. (Someday I'll have to downgrade to a single piece per post, but my buffer of these pieces remains reasonably large.)  First above is a set from December 2017, followed by an April 2017 set of quicker gesture drawings rather than the more detailed, rendering-oriented sets I was previously sketching.

Note that we've crossed an important threshold with these most recent posts, as both sketch s...

EMPOWERED casting call: Kicking it off with Elissa Megan Powers!

Whilst trying to think of something interactive to put up on this here Patreon, I wound up pondering, "Why not get some kinda Empowered casting-call dealie a-rolling just for the heck of it?"

For the record, nary a nibble of interest in optioning Empowered has been expressed anywhere since a (luckily) failed MTV pitch 5 or 6 years ago, nor do I much give a crap any more. Still, I get the impression that readers like to discuss casting ...

VINTAGE CON SKETCHES: Miscellaneous EMPOWERED pieces

Today, a bunch of random Empowered commissions, some of which I may have already posted. A few words:

This commission is truly mysterious, as it predates Empowered vol.1's publication by three years. Not only that, but I began the very first proto-Emp stories over the weekend of July 4th, 2004, so these were drawn very early on in the...