There are very few new comics on shelves today as many shops, distributors, and publishers remain closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While the absence of new issues may be disappointing, it doesn’t leave comics fans without recourse. Artists from across the energy have continued to work on future projects and many have begun posting sketches and commissions from home.
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While quarantine measures remain in effect, ComicBook.Com will be assembling a weekly round up of favorite new pieces posted to social media by comics artist. Each shared sketch will also include a recommendation and links for readers to further explore each artist’s work. We hope this will help fans discover new artists and find some books to order from their local comic book store.
So without any further ado, here are some of our favorite sketches from the past week along with information and links on where to find more work (available today!) from these incredible comic book artists.
Aaron Alexovich
You will be seeing a lot of sketches from the #SixFanArt hashtag this week and Aaron Alexovich shows why this was such a delightful trend for fans to watch unfold on Instagram and Twitter. Each of these drawings captures his ability to infuse any concept with exaggeration and absurdity. That sensibility is present throughout his work, ranging back to character designs on the cult cartoon classic Invader Zim and through current work like his book It’s Not Scary!.
John Allison
John Allison is one of my favorite working cartoonists. This #SixFanArt showcases how well he distills a vast array of likenesses into his own style—a style that beautifully captures emotion, action, and humor as well in series like Giant Days and Steeple. Even these resting figures brim with the energy that makes every panel in an Allison comic a delight to read.
Paul Azaceta
Azaceta possesses an incredible ability to draft otherworldly figures on the page as showcased in this mythic incarnation of Mantis from Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga. He specializes in the inhuman and monstrous, a perspective framed by Cold War intrigue and familiar figures from the Hellboy mythos in the B.P.R.D.: 1946 miniseries.
Ted Brandt and Ro Stein
Ro Stein and Ted Brandt are one of the most engaging and consistent duos of pencils and inks telling stories in comics today. Even in a #SixFanArt composition, they can’t resist telling a story between some inspired takes on characters filled with personality. All of that energy and fun comes through in the pages of creator-owned series Crowded—a perfect Image Comics read to catch up on when stuck inside.
Triona Farrell
Speaking of Crowded, the series’ colorist Triona Farrell did a #SixFanArt as well that showcases how much impact palette choices can have, even in a crowded set of panels. Each character embodies a tone along with their own details and design. The eerie mood of Alien and electric vibes of Birds of Prey radiate from their corresponding panels.
Juan Ferreyra
Juan Ferreyra’s portrait of Oliver Queen reminds us of the recently completed Green Arrow run that paired him with writer Benjamin Percy. The series was one of the best looking series from DC Comics’ rebirth launch, often featuring inventive spreads and dynamic action sequences. Ferreyra made Green Arrow appointment reading again in a run that’s well worth revisiting now that a few years have passed.
Sanford Greene
It’s not just this #SixFanArt piece, Sanford Greene has a style that consistently feels unrestrained and uncontainable on the page. He can sell a sense of effortless cool in characters, but it’s so much more fun to watch a karate chop sweep through panel borders or Kirby Krackle radiate from a Tezuka character. It’s why his new Image Comics series Bitter Root was one of our top picks at the end of 2019.
Staz Johnson
Staz Johnson is accepting private commissions and it’s not difficult to see the appeal looking at his portrait of Motorhead bassist Lemmy. He captures a moment without exaggeration, providing a look at the legendary musician that resembles the energy of lived experience. It’s a great tribute (and opportunity for anyone with wall space and a frame).
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a man who needs no introduction—he’s one of the best-selling comic book artists ever and the current publisher of DC Comics, just in case—and he’s putting his talents to use in order to help comic book stores. Drawings like this spectacular rendering of Doctor Fate are being auctioned for upwards of $5,000 with all proceeds going to aid stores struggling under quarantine. Bravo.
Ande Parks
While Ande Parks might be best known for his collaborations with penciler Phil Hester, he is a complete comics threat as showcased in this crystalline portrait of a Scarlet Witch and his writing on stories like Capote in Kansas. Any comic with Parks’ artwork is bound to deliver excellent storytelling and memorable character designs—the same can be said for every story he has written, too.
Tom Reilly
This take on the Gray Ghost—emphasizing contrasts and using shadows to great effect—deepens my disappointment that Tom Reilly’s upcoming work on Dr. Strange #7 has been delayed. He should be seriously considered as a rising star in comics as his work on the Thor: The Worthy anthology showcased a consummate storyteller able to tell stories at any scale.
Nick Robles
It’s stunning to see how naturally human Nick Robles’ characters are made with pencils in the limited space of a #SixFanArt creation. His layouts and stories often provide a dreamlike quality—a characteristic deployed to great effect in the IDW miniseries Euthanauts—yet they never lose touch with reality and manage to make characters like Beast Boy and Lion-O recognizable.
Bill Sienkiewicz
Bill Sienkiewicz’s tribute to the recently passed actress Honor Blackman resurrects a vitality that helped to make Goldfinger a genre-defining classic. Comics readers know this artist can deliver frenetic energy and wondrous abstractions, but the specificity of his portraits to their subject shows just how versatile he is and why the industry holds so much respect for his entire body of work.
Walter Simonson
Walt Simonson delivered one of the greatest Marvel Comics runs of all time in the pages of Thor and has returned to Norse mythology in his own creator-owned set of miniseries Ragnarok. This sketch for the yet-to-be-seen Hela reveals what makes the new series a distinctive must-read, featuring terrifyingly exaggerated designs and Simonson at his most dynamic (a high bar, indeed).
Gabriel H. Walta
Walta takes inspiration from a splash panel originally drawn by Dave Gibbons in Watchmen #1 on a page I have used to teach comics for years. It shows a tremendous appreciation for the craft of comics storytelling in every facet from composition to coloring, in both the original and homage. It’s not difficult to see that appreciation translated into incredible new creations in Walta’s work, like the modern classic The Vision from only a few years ago.
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