It's a miracle....

...two post in one day (actually two posts in one month would be pretty fantastic all on it's own).

As I'm getting ready to mail some prints and commissions it occurred to me that I never mentioned the prints that I have for sale on the blog (or maybe I did and I'm just getting old). So that is what I'm going to do...

I have several new prints that my wife essentially designed (she's the smart one in the family) that everyone seems to like quite a bit. Usually I sell them just at Cons, but I realize not everyone can get out to a Con to see me so I decided to make these available to everyone. Here they are:

and these are the prices:

Every print is $10 (+shipping)

Choose any 5 prints for $45 (+shipping)or choose and 10 prints for $90 (+shipping)

Just message me and let me know what you'd like.

AND while I'm at it I be remiss if I didn't remind you that my two current sketchbooks are still available through the CTN Store (just click on the links beneath the books)...

2013 Sketchbook

                                              The Art of Steven E Gordon

Busy, busy, busy....

...really busy.
I'm juggling multiple projects right now as well as the occasional commission.
Let's see...I've got my 'day' job (which also turns into my 'night' job as well) working as a director on NFL: Rush Zone and I'm working on development on a couple projects - including Captain Action as well, as one that I'm doing some design work for that needs to remain hush, hush for now. I'm also working on a couple of comic-type projects that you should be hearing more about soon enough (and I've already hinted at earlier).
I was just at the Big Wow comic fest in San Jose, CA where I created a few commissions that I thought I'd share here in case you haven't already seen them on FaceBook....

Bringing everyone up to date...

...in theory.

In May I'll be headed up to the Big Wow Comic Con in San Jose, CA - May 18 - 19 and sitting in Artist Alley. I've never been there but I understand that it's one of the better conventions and definitely worth going to. I'll also be going to several other cons after that one and I'll let you know as soon as those are locked into place. As far as SDCC goes it doesn't look like I'll have a table (I'm on the waiting list for what that's worth) - though I might be on a panel. If you know of any other cons that would like to invite me I'd be willing to discuss it with them....

And with all Comic Cons in mind, my wife (being the genius that she is) figured out the type of prints I should be printing to sell at these cons. X-Men: Evolution-centric prints. Seems obvious after she points it out, eh? She even art directed them to make sure they suited her taste - which is better than mine in almost every case. I had a test run at the CTN RoadTrip last weekend and she was right they sold great - and that wasn't even a comic or animation crowd like you see at conventions. In fact, they sold so well that I need to re-order a couple of them and I decided to create a few new ones prior to Big Wow if I have the time.

I'm taking a survey of sorts and trying to decide who else to include. At this point it seems like Jean and Toad are definites and maybe a Logan. I'm also considering a brotherhood group shot and possibly Walk on the Wildside groupshot. So if you have any other suggestions feel free to include them in the comments.
Also if time permits, I might venture outside of XME and create a Holli Wood and Lonette (from Cool World) and one from Swan Princess.

I'm also considering putting them together to sell as a set for on-line customers. If that happens I'll let you know....

Also don't forget I've got two new sketchbooks for sale via the CTN Store (where you can also get other artists' work as well).

The direct link to the "art of Steven E Gordon is here. It sells for $11.95 and comes signed and with a doodle on the first page.

And the direct link to my 2013 sketchbook is here. It sells for $15 and also comes signed and with a doodle.

Something new....

For all of you that have been waiting with bated breath, my new sketchbook has finally arrived and available for purchase by all of you very discerning art fans.

You can either pick it up from me personally at WonderCon where I'll be in Artist Alley (table AA-038) March 29 - 31 or at Big Wow where I'll be May 18 and 19 or you can order a copy through the CTN store where you can also pick up my other sketchbook.

While at those conventions, besides selling books and prints I will also be doing on-site commissions. With my busy schedule I don't always have time for commissions, but it is my practice to take on commissions prior to a convention. I have taken on as many as I can already prior to WonderCon, but I will start taking on more commissions shortly before Big Wow. I'll announce when that will happen pretty soon.
Here are a few of the commissions I'm working on for WonderCon (there are a couple I can't show due to they are planned as surprises - or are NSFW)

Now for the mad rush to get these finished in time for WonderCon so I don't have to work too much on them while there....

Kickstart this...

I'm the artist for a proposed graphic novel called The Craver. It's a really cool story that features a cool monster design (my design of course), mad scientists and Nazis. The plan is for this to eventually make it's way to film and Doug Jones (of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth fame) is going to play the Craver. I can't imagine anyone that likes monster movies wouldn't like this project.

I'll let you read more about the project here: The Craver.  There's details as to what you receive for a specific contribution and there will be updates aplenty.
Here's some of the art of created for the project:

I assume all of you know what Kickstarter is...? If you don't, it's what is called "crowd funding" which means a project is put out to the masses and everyone can contribute and by contributing they can receive some cool rewards as well as helping to get a project they like made. The money you promise to the project is only given to the project if it receives full funding. If it doesn't reach the set goal then no money exchanges hands. This is a really great way for independent productions to get funded without having to go through the usual corporate back and forth.

So go there and contribute. You'll be glad you did...

...and feel to pass this onto anyone that you think might also find this interesting.

AH! inspiring....

I was having a discussion with someone on my "art of..." page on FaceBook about the different face and body types I designed for the ladies of X-Men: Evolution and I thought I would share it here as well.

The obvious reason I designed different body and face types was to help try and create specific personalities for each of them. Though if you're familiar with animation (and comics) you know that's not really necessary since so many other animated shows create cookie cutter faces and body types and just change voices, hair color and costumes to differentiate one character from another. The other reason is because I was inspired early on in the process.

Boyd Kirkland showed me a lot of artwork he admired from comic artists to try and get the ball rolling. Comic artists I was unfamiliar with since I hadn't really looked at comics much since the glory days of Buscema, Kane, Kirby and others from that era. The art he showed me had one particular piece of art by Adam Hughes (who since then I've become quite enamored with). It was this piece he created for Wizard magazine of these super heroines ladies all lined up.

Every one of them had a unique face - and a face I'd never seen before in comics or animation. Even though I greatly admired the great artistic abilities of the legends Buscema, Kane, and Kirby, I recognized that for the most part each of these great artists had an idealized version of a woman they drew and all their women were all basically cookie cutter designs.

I was so impressed with the unique and individual faces Adam Hughes gave each one of these women (as well as their body types) that I decided that was how we should proceed with our show's designs and, thankfully, Boyd agreed.
From that point on I strove to make Jean different from Rogue who was different from Kitty and they were different from Mystique/Raven who was different than Storm.

This carried on into the second season when we introduced Boom Boom and the other new recruits.

Jean was more athletic and had a runner's figure and wasn't very large on top while Rogue didn't have much of a butt even though she was very busty ( in fact she was the bustiest of the girls). Kitty was very slender and somewhat gawky while BoomBoom had a more curvaceous bottom though her bust was pretty non-existent.
The details on their faces that made them different from one another are too many to really list, but I will say that almost all of them had different head shapes, types of lips and often different eyes and noses.


I also carried this through with the guys as well, but that's not quite as unusual in animation  - or even comics.
This idea also followed through when I designed attitude poses for each character and their walk cycles. No one was ever posed or moved the same way. They were all unique and kept in character as i perceived it.

Needles to say the KidsWB execs were happy to see that not every female was built like a Playboy bunny.
Of course, by the time the animation came back from overseas some of that was lost, but I think enough of it still came through that it was clear to most of the audience we had tried to do something a little different....