I rock rough and stuff with my Afro Puffs/ (RAGE!)
Rock on, wit cha bad self

-The Lady Of Rage f/ Snoop Dogg – “Afro Puffs”

Inspired by the incredibly talented guys at ComicTwart, like Evan Shaner, Chris Samnee and Francesco Francavilla, I thought it might be nice to include a sketchblog feature from time to time.  It would give me a chance to flex my artistic muscles and draw something besides the strip.  (I was reluctant to include that link above, because those guys are killing it-just KILLING it-every week, and I didn’t want to look bad in comparison.  For example, Francavilla’s mock Johnny Recon poster from this week…stunning!)

Fellow 2010 Glyph Award nominee, John Aston over at OldeTowneComix.com, is preparing to print a follow-up to his graphic novel, Rachel Rage: Heartland.  The new graphic novel will be comprised of a collection of short stories featuring his Blaxploitation heroine, Rachel Rage and pin-ups submitted by some of his fellow members of “The Next 100,” including Rodney Blackwell, Samax Amen from GhettoManga.com, and myself.  I drew up this illustration based on the Heartland cover, since I owed John a pin-up from last HeroesCon and, besides, it was a great opportunity to inaugurate the sketchblog feature:

These are actually fairly tight pencils for me.  I overlaid the pencils with a sheet of vellum and inked the pencils using a lightbox.  (You will be happy to know that although I did reference the guns, I did not use reference for the butt.)  I was fairly happy with the final inks, except that I lost some of the edginess in her face.  In the penciled version, she’s glaring right through you, but in the inks, that look is softened considerably.  Rachel’s words below are the first ones she utters in the webcomic:

This was also enjoyable, because John created Rachel Rage with such a unique body type, and I tried to stay true to that form with the thick, strong legs and round face.  It’s a very different body type than you usually find in comics, so hat’s off to John for that.  The closest equivalent in comics would be Rosalyn from Larry Stroman’s Tribe, which was published in the early 1990s.  Finally, I was going to conclude with a statement about Rachel bristling with weaponry; her purposeful, challenging gaze; and female empowerment, but it’s late, and at the end of the day it’s still a booty shot.  Enjoy!

- JEP

I was invited by Samax Amen of GhettoManga.com to contribute to the upcoming issue of his magazine which will feature a Luke Cage theme.  Luke Cage is experiencing a revival of sorts in recent years, mostly thanks to the Brian Michael Bendis featuring him so prominently in his Avengers books, especially in New Avengers where Stuart Immonen is killing it – absolutely KILLING it – on art.  Although I have a couple nits to pick with some of the choices Bendis has made in terms of Luke Cage’s character, New Avengers is the two comic books that I faithfully pick up on the racks these days.  (Chris Samnee and Roger Landridge’s Thor: The Mighty Avenger being the other.)

While these days, though, Cage is rocking the default Big-Bald-Black-Guy-With-A-Goatee look, for most of us, original recipe, Afro, tiara and butterfly collar sportin’ Luke Cage is where it’s at.

- JEP