From the Vault - Exit 6 #4 Cover 1998

I had a request a week ago if I ever colored the cover for the original Exit 6 #4 cover. I had to pull it out of the vault but I still have all of the original black and white and colored covers I did for the Exit 6 series.

Looking back, when Exit 6 ended, I did offer a copy of issue #4 to whoever wanted it but I'm pretty sure I sent the copies out sporting only a black and white cover.

So, I think, other than here on this blog, the only other place this color image ever showed up was in Diamond's Previews catalog back in 1998. It was in there, solicited for sale, but the plug was pulled before I ever got the sales numbers for #4.

So, after thirteen years, here is the colored cover for Exit 6, issue #4.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Exit 6 Back Cover Inks

Here is the inked illustration for the back cover of the Exit 6 collected book. Things are going really great with the art side of the project. Now if I could just sit down and get the writing part all hammered out this thing would be almost completed.

It sounds like I need to schedule out some time this weekend to revisit my past a bit more. It's a fun place to visit but I'm not sure I'd want to live there again.

Have a good one!

Exit 6 Back Cover Begins

I figured, while doing the front cover pencils for the Exit 6 collected book, I might as well tackle the back cover illustration as well.

While I didn't want to make Keith Howard, who is a vampire in the Exit 6 story, all vamped out on the front cover (I thought it might take away from the heroic pose I chose for him) I did want to take the opportunity to draw him as a vampire again. So, I opted to do a Keith and Courtney piece for the back cover where Keith is in all his vamped out glory.

Originally I was going to put all of his face other than his eyes and teeth in deep black shadow but, as I started drawing him, I kept all of his facial features there and may tackle the dramatic lighting when I go to the color stage. We'll have to see how this goes.

As I draw both the front and back cover for this collected edition it made me realize how much I miss doing comic book stories and telling tales sequentially. I think the comic book bug may have bit me again. We'll have to see if anything comes of it.

But, for now, I'm really enjoying revisiting these characters who I have not had a chance to work on in over a decade.

I hope you enjoy and have a great day!

Exit 6 Cover Pencils

I got the pencils done for the Exit 6 cover the other night. Everything looks good so far and I'm really glad I made a preliminary collected book of Exit 6 for myself so I had some reference on hand to help me remember what all the characters looked like. I'm just amazed by the 90's hair styles some of these characters had. There are a couple of mullets in this book I wish I could just forget.

I also made a photocopy of the pencils and went around it with a sharpie marker to help give me an idea of how the finished book cover might look once I block it in and add the titles and text. Originally I was going to let the art bleed right off the cover but the more I played with this mock up the more I found I really liked the idea of a black border around the piece. For some reason it seems a bit more elegant to me and fits better with a collected edition.

OK, off to pencil the back cover and maybe start inking on this piece today. We'll see how things go. Maybe I'll even find some time to write a bit more of the interior manuscript. It's getting there.

Have a good one!

Exit 6 Collected Cover Begins

The writing for the Exit 6 Collected book has been plodding along and almost all of the original pages have been scanned in and cleaned up so I figured why not start the cover already?

I was trying to figure out a movie poster sort of design that would incorporate all of the major characters in the Exit 6 world. After more than a few sketches in the notebook I settled on a design that I think works.

Yesterday I started sketching in with blue pencil the cover on bristol board. In this photo you can see the initial pencils, the thumbnail sketch in my notebook, and one of the pages from the original series that will be included in the collected book. Honestly, it's been over ten years since I drew these characters so I had to pull out some reference to make sure I remembered how to draw them. And, at times I had to remind myself what each character was wearing as well.

But, it's a start and I hope to get the finished pencils done for this before I go to bed tonight.

It's fun drawing Keith and Courtney and the old gang again. It's like revisiting old friends. I never realized just how much I missed them until I started sketching them again. And, it will be cool to see how they look today with ten more years of drawing experience under my belt. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

OK, back to the drawing board. Have a great end to the weekend!

Happy April!

I decided to skip putting the new blog header up yesterday because I wanted to continue the From the Vault Friday posts. Plus, I didn't want to try and come up with some odd April Fool's Day joke for the blog so I skipped doing that altogether.

I inked up the illustration I did of Ryan Burke late last week and decided to use it for the new header. As much as I like putting images I've done in the past into the new headers I am going to try, from now on, to do new pieces for the blog. I really enjoyed doing the Ryan piece and it reminded me how much fun I have simply drawing for myself when I can get out of my own way.

I liked the piece so much I tweaked it a bit to make it its own illustration. I stole the logo the band The Who use for their merchandise (which they themselves stole from the RAF plane insignias so I didn't feel so bad) and put it behind Ryan. I think it works really well. Ryan is a big Who fan so it seems to fit.

I put the image up on Facebook a few days ago and a few people said I should make it into a T-shirt. So, it might be worth a visit over to Zazzle to see what I can do with it. I think with a few little tweaks it could make a cool new shirt. What do you think?

Whatever it is, enjoy April and the new warm weather it brings with it!

From The Vault - Courtney McKay Commission 2000

While working on the Exit 6 collected book I ran across this commission I did of Courtney McKay in a pile of copies in one of my portfolios.

While the book itself folded in early 1999 it looks like, based on the date on this piece, that someone out there liked the work enough to commission me to do this private piece sometime in 2000. All I have now of it is a photocopy.

And, on last week's From The Vault post I got a few questions about the upcoming Exit 6 collected book:

"Did you do a painted cover of issue #4? I have seen a scan of the B&W cover of #4. Will you also be including all the covers in the collected works (including the ash covers)? "

I did do a painted version of Exit 6 #4 that never saw print. I have the original painting here somewhere so I'll have to dig it out for next week's From The Vault post. And, in the collected works book not only will all the covers be included but all the ashcan covers, alternate covers, unused covers, unpublished issues, unpublished penciled issues, original character sheets, and everything else I can find that that I have that is Exit 6 related. All that art plus a biography of my own life as it pertains to the Exit 6 story and I foresee this book running between 200-300 pages long.

It's been a long time in coming but it's almost here. I just hope it's worth the wait.