Update

First off, my apologies for the lack of updates, y'all. It's not because I don't love y'all. I have been supremely busy lately working on a ton of stuff and it's been kicking my butt. I will do my best to update this blog more often, though. Promise. And look for a much needed website update early next year. It's been far too long.

So, that said -- what have I been up to you ask? Well.

Starborn - Monthly series coming out in December 2010 from BOOM! Studios. Created by Stan Lee, written by Chris Roberson, drawn by Khary Randolph and colored by Mitch Gerard.

Charismagic - Mini-series written by Vince Hernandez, drawn by Khary Randolph and colored by Emilio Lopez. Out in February. Published by Aspen MLT.

And if you've followed me for any amount of time, you know by now that that's not all I've been working on. But c'mon, I can't show my full hand yet right? Talk to you soon.

Swimsuit Edition

Two illustrations for two different companies, but for similar subject matter.

First one is Sleeping Beauty, done for Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales: Swimsuit Edition 2010, which came out on July 21st. Color by Sanjune Nivangune.

Second one is Rose from Aspen's Dellec, for the Aspen Swimsuit Issue 2010. Color by Emilio Lopez. Also out now.

Announcements

What's up all. Just came back from a whirlwind trip to California, split up between stays in Los Angeles and San Diego. While there I got to see some good friends, hung out at some animation studios, and most importantly, attended San Diego Comic Con. I didn't work the show in any official capacity, but it still was a big one for me because I had two future projects of mine announced.

The first one is Starborn, coming out through Boom Studios. This is a project created by Stan Lee himself, so it should be getting a lot of attention. Very excited for it. You can read more information about it here:

The second project is Charismagic, coming out through Aspen Comics. I actually sat on the panel at Comicon where this one was announced. Also quite excited about this book. Promo art by myself and Emilio Lopez.

And lastly, let's not forget that Spawn #198 comes out this Wednesday! Drawn by yours truly, inked and written by THE Todd McFarlane. I just recieved my copies and it looks great. I've very happy with the way it came out. Please support!

Spawn #198, Pimpjooze Vol. 5 & SDCC

Okay, so big news on the horizon. One, Spawn #198, drawn by yours truly (and inked by Todd McFarlane) will finally be on sale on July 28th. Go cop a bunch of copies!!

Also, the fifth volume in my line of sketchbooks, Pimpjooze Vol. 5 is officially available for sale online. All 4 previous volumes have sold out and product for this one is extremely limited as well so get them while you can! You can buy them off of my Ebay store.

Lastly, I will be at San Diego Comicon. Not in an official behind the table capacity, but just enjoying the show as a fan this year and just walking around. But I will be a part of a panel for an upcoming series I am working on, so stay tuned for that news. And if you see me walking around, please feel free to say what's up!

Kobe-Gate 2010

I suppose I should speak on this as it's gotten more attention than I would have ever guessed it would. So yesterday I get an email from Digitalgravel.com. Digital Gravel is a dope online hip-hop clothing store I frequent from time to time, and as such I'm on their mailing list. To my surprise, there is a promotion for a brand new True Theory Kobe Bryant shirt featuring art by yours truly:

You may recognize this art, because I posted it on my DeviantArt page over a year ago:

It was a toy design I did for Upper Deck a while ago. The thing is, I had nothing to do with the t-shirt! It was a straight up swipe (and honestly, a badly done one). You can imagine my surprise, opening up an email and being pitched artwork done by ME! And it was selling pretty well, as well! WTF?!

So yeah, I was a bit pissed for sure. I contacted Digital Gravel, Upper Deck and True Theory, and thanx to a bunch of awesome friends and supporters, there wound up being quite an uproar on Twitter directed at True Theory. I was really shocked at all the people that had my back, I was quite flattered really. It even turned into a Swipe File story on Bleeding Cool.

Regardless to say, Digital Gravel was quick to pull the item once I contacted them. We talked it out and they were very cool and even offered compensation (which I denied). I have nothing but respect for how they handled the situation.

As far as True Theory, they contacted me and apologized as well later on that night. They also offered compensation (which I also denied). So in the end it all turned out okay. I have no hard feelings for anyone involved. But it should serve as a warning to anyone that wants to try and take the easy road out and steal from artists -- that time you spend taking from someone else could just as easily be spent creating something new. It'll turn out much better for you in the long run.

And oh yeah -- go Celtics.

k.

Heroes Con

June 4th-6th, kiddies! I'm finishing up things right now for Heroes Con this weekend in Charlotte, NC. I'm excited as I've never been to this particular show but I've been hearing all types of good things about for quite a while now. Anyways, I'll be sitting in Artist Alley, # AA-710. As far as I can tell I'll be sitting in an island amongst such artistic heavyweights as , , , and. . .?! Whuuuut. Yeah, excited. See you all there.

The VS Project LIVE > the Bracket!

Hello All our Creatives, Friends & Fans!

Its that time again, The Ukre8 Community brings you the next installment of The VS Project LIVE!

Saturday May 8th
@ LOCAL 269, NYC

In January we had 2 artists compete in a Japanese Art style.

This time we are mixing it up! We will have four artists in this creative challenge & We are using a bracket system to determine this events' champion! The audience will be more involved and help with deciding the direction of our theme.

Art, Friends, Fans & Creativity!

Even though we are featuring 4 artists, that doesn't mean you can't bring your sketch book and show off you skills too!

Please pass this info around. This event is open to everyone. Can't wait to see you there!

ukre8.theVSproject
a division of
The UKRE8 Community

**** Update 4/28/10 ****
The 4 Artist for this LIVE event are:

Khary
http://www.kharupt.com/

Emilio
http://e-mann.deviantart.com/

Nikki
http://nikkicook.com/

Paigey
http://theartofpaigey.blogspot.com/

Joker

Done for a friend.

Con Season

So hells yeah, con season is officially in full swing. I will be at MOCCA Art Festival here in NYC on April 10th and 11th, sitting at table A40. I will have my usual assortment of prints, sketchbooks, Black Books, and the BRAND NEW Pimpjooze 5 which just came in the mail this week. I'll be doing sketches and commissions of whatever your heart desires.

And then the very next weekend, I will be at C2E2 in Chicago, April 16-18th. Same drill, Artist Alley, table H6. Some please come through, show some love, and I promise I will show it right back. See you there.

More con announcements to come soon!

k.

Pimpjooze 5

Cover to the 5th installment of my sketchbook series, Pimpjooze. Just sent it off to the printer. 48 pages, color cover, b&w interior. On sale soon!

Villainz::Two-Face

Thebsarr & The Bødega

Ok, two things. First, some Chaotic art. Theb-sarr, king of the Mipedians. Drawn by yours truly, colored by Emilio Lopez.


Second. Me and my good friend Brad Silverman have started another blog. Not one to replace this one by any means, but a totally different thing. It's just a collection of random odds and ends that we are fond of on the internet. Some of it fun, some quirky, some weird, and some naughty. But to us it's all beautiful so if we like it, we throw it up. Don't judge us. Just enjoy and tell your friends: http://thebodega.tumblr.com/
And if you're not down with our Twitter game yet, get on board. Mine is twitter.com/kidkalig, Brad's is twitter.com/therisk, and Bodega's is twitter.com/delabodega.

Mary Jane

Bit of a story to this one. So, this was originally a gift for a friend's girlfriend's bday. But once I drew and inked the piece I decided I really didn't like it very much and trashed it. I then drew her another one which came out a little better.

So anyways, recently I've been going through some of my past files and I came upon this file again, and while I still had problems with, I was like, "I can fix this," so I went in and tweaked a number of different things to it. And now I kinda like it. So yeah, about 80% of the lineart is traditional, and maybe 20% of it is digital. Hopefully you guys can't tell what is what.

And then once I colored her, it occurred to me that homegirl has more than a passing resemblance to Spider-man's lady friend MJ, and hence the name. She's not REALLY Mary Jane Watson cuz I feel weird about drawing nudie versions of comic book characters (I dunno why, just feels like a violation of my childhood or something), she's just another hot redhead who happens to be named Mary Jane. That's the story I'm sticking to.

Sketch:: Stephy

Today's warm up. Thanx to Ellen Stagg.

Sketch::Twitch

You can't draw Sam and not draw Twitch. 15 minute warm up joint.

Sketch:: Sam

Another warm up sketch, 15 minutes. Spawn's Sam (of Sam and Twitch).

Sketch::Magneto

Monday morning warm up sketch.

Mass Effect 2:: Samara

This game has been an obsession of mine since it came out late last month. I love Mass Effect and the universe created around it. And good lord, do I love this character design.