Sketchbook: Jeremiah Goldson, artist on Rogue Agent Zed

This week, I'm going to post eight pieces from each artist's portfolio to help showcase his individual style and considerable skills. It's Jeremiah Goldson's turn to make our jaw drop with his collection of gorgeous portfolio pieces. (Click on each image to enlarge.)This is an excellent signature piece, and features many of the cyberpunk elements characteristic of Jeremiah's work -- dark, moody, with the sinister atmosphere of technology gone unchecked. (Make sure the contrast on your monitor is fine enough so that you can appreciate the level of detail at the top of this illustration!)
One thing that separates Jeremiah from his peers is his use of the backgrounds and surroundings to really enhance the mood of his art. In his work, the environment takes on a life of its own, and the scenery is almost as noteworthy as the human subjects he's drawing.
When you look at this sketch, it’s obvious that Jeremiah’s not looking to take any shortcuts. When he draws a city, he wants to tackle the challenge of making it feel busy, dense, and disorganized. It's a true testament to his dedication to craftsmanship.


Even without any words or narrative, Jeremiah is able to tell a story and give you a sense of character through the stylistic choices he makes. By examining this man in his surroundings, looking at his posture, and noting the indication of his vices, we immediately develop a distinct sense of his personality. (Note: Jeremiah's character looks like he would get along just fine with the protagonist in our collaboration, Rogue Agent Zed.)
Jeremiah's manga roots are on fine display in this piece, which leaves a lot of open space that would be very nicely complemented by the work of a good colorist.


The thing I love about this drawing is that it clearly demonstrates that he's not a one-trick pony. Stripped of his characteristic style choices, he still manages to create a wonderful image that’s cute, sweet, and memorable. This is an artist with a full arsenal of skills in his toolbox, and I’m excited to see the work he will produce on Rogue Agent Zed. Aren’t you?
Looking at this incredible work, it would be perfectly natural if some of you were suspicious that Jeremiah was one of those artists who only specialized in pin-ups and splash pages (and we all know a couple of artists who fit that description.) But I'm happy to report that his talents extend into the realm of sequentials and panel-to-panel continuity. A couple of posts from now, we'll feature Jeremiah's work again, highlighting his ability to tell a story and lay out a page. It's exciting stuff, I promise. See you then.
To see much more of Jeremiah Goldson's stunning artwork, please visit his site. You won't regret it. Tell him I sent ya!

Sketchbook: Scott Arnold, artist on Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy

This week, I'm going to post eight pieces from each artist's portfolio to help showcase his individual style and considerable skills. This time out, we take a look at the fantastic work of Scott Arnold. Enjoy! (Click on the image to enlarge.)

You’ll notice the excellent detail on Batgirl’s boots. Scott does a nice job rendering them, despite having a traumatic experience drawing boots in high school. True story.

Let’s face it, nobody does spot illustrations for horse racing trade magazines like our man, Scott!


I don’t remember the actual title for this piece, but I believe it’s called “The Justice League of Emo.”

I like this drawing a lot. The only suggestion I would make to Scott is that he needs to make the thumbs a little bigger. (Ha! Just making a joke there. I kid Scott because, well, to be honest – he’s an easy mark.)
This is one of my favorite pieces by Scott. I think this image has a lot of soul, which is a quality that is very difficult for an artist to capture and convey. That is quality work right there.


I think that this is a very effective re-design. Check out the way Scott takes Luke Skywalker out of the seventies and modernizes him, giving him a fresh, contemporary feel while keeping him recognizable. This image makes Luke look like a bad dude you wouldn’t want to mess with.*

I am genuinely in awe of Scott’s prodigious talent. His design sensibilities are so much fun to look at, and everything he does has a natural and relaxed feel to it. His art frequently brings a smile to my face, and I'm ecstatic that he's producing fantastic pages for the Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy 48 page one-shot. When that project gets published, everyone will get a chance to see Scott's talent on full display. It's gonna be sweet!

The next time that we visit Scott's art, we're going to take things to the another level as we go over some of his sequential pages. His work only gets more impressive from here. I know -- hard to believe, but true. So make sure to keep checking in.

To see more Scott's cool creations, please visit his site. Make sure to check out the extensive collection of political cartoons he's archived over there. It gives you an insight to a very different dimension of his work.

*Most jedis are bad dudes you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Sketchbook: Jason Hoagland, artist on Battle Team Omega

This week, I'm going to post eight pieces from each artist's portfolio to help showcase his individual style and considerable skills. Getting us off to a hot start is Jason Hoagland. Check it out! (Click on the image to enlarge.)

What I like about Jason’s rendering technique is that every line has meaning. He’s creating a sense of form and substance, as opposed to adding extraneous lines to make a piece look artificially busy. It’s almost from the classical school of cross-hatching, and it displays his excellent fundamental skills.


You can really see Jason's ability to portray textures in this image. Denim, cotton, metal, leather, and even fur all given a different feel that helps make the drawing more realistic and, in turn, makes the character more convincing.
Note: all of these illustrations are original characters from the upcoming Hypersmash Studios book, Battle Team Omega.


I like this sketch because I think it shows that Jason’s art looks great in a clean, open style as well. Jason doesn’t use cross-hatching to cover up a flawed understanding of anatomy, but rather as another aspect of his art that he can use to great effect.


In might not be immediately obvious, but images 1, 5, 6, and 8 are all of the same character (Battle Team Omega member, Devil of Destruction.) The reason that the four drawings don't look all that similar to each other is that Jason loves to constantly tinker and re-design each character until he feels that they're perfect. It's one of his defining characteristics.
The next time we visit Jason's art a couple of posts from now, we'll take a look at his meticulous design process in the creation of an original character, Velocity Hawk. But more immediately, our next post will feature the sweet indy-punk art of Scott Arnold. We'll see you then!