I tried coloring this once, but it didn’t turn out very well. Now that I have more digital chops, I could give this another go. Or maybe I should just move on to new things instead? Anyway, the original is in pencil.

Small oil portrait. I did this in Genesis oils, which is not really oil paint, but handles a good deal like it. I think I botched the varnishing stage though. The one – and only -drawback to these paints is you can’t use traditional varnish, and I do not like the varnish made for the paints. I’m looking forward to doing more analog painting this year.

The original cover for A DISTANT SOIL Volume II. While this was shot from a scan of a transparency of the original art, the color looks a bit off to my eyes. It’s amazing how much variance in color you can get from a single picture! The original is in watercolor. I like how the image seems to glow on the computer screen!

This is another illustration where the master file seems to be missing. Oy. Anyway, it’s a black and white drawing from ages ago, and one of my early attempts at digital color. Only I didn’t know how to use layers to isolate the black lines, so I clumsily tried painting around the lines. It’s funny, now.

I’m afraid I don’t have a high resolution scan of this piece, which is a digital, pencil, and an oil emulsion combo. So, this piece is not as large as some of the other pinups I’ve posted. Sorry. I have the master files of the independent elements and may try to redo it sometime. But here is D’mer in all his glory. Enjoy.

I didn’t really get the hang of digital painting until recently. For most of my career, I’ve done analog art, and making the transition was a little rocky. When I first gave it a go, it was hard to find a place to get any kind of training. In the end I had to muddle through on my own, though there are so many great online tutorials now, I bet I would have made a lot more progress had they been around 10 years back! Anyway, since my digital skills were limited, I balked at doing the cityscape I was aiming for on this cover, and tried dropping in this…

This is one of my very favorite A DISTANT SOIL illustrations from IMAGES of A DISTANT SOIL, a pinup gallery published by Image Comics in 1996. Tomoko Tanagucki is a lovely person and a wonderful manga artist whose published works include Aquarium, Call Me Princess, and Miss Me?. Tomoko and I got to hang out when I fist went to Japan! It was so much fun! I am delighted to show you her charming work!

Dave Lapham is the creator of Stray Bullets. He has worked on many comics for Marvel and DC, including Superman, Daredevil and Wolverine. It’s fascinating to see my work drawn by different people with such a range of styles! This is another pinup from IMAGES OF A DISTANT SOIL published by Image Comics in 1996.

This is one of those times you do a character portrait, and it becomes the definitive portrait, everything you do before and after just doesn’t measure up! Serezha looks alive to me here, I’m so happy with this drawing. It’s tricky to bring life to into a picture of someone when you never had a model for them. I considered coloring this one, but I decided I need to move on with new work right now. Don’t forget to check the sidebar for updated files of pages of the comic. The archives were wiped out over a year ago, and I am reloading them all at the rate of 5…