the art of brian ching

Knights of the Old Republic... FREE!!!

2011-07-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just found out you can download the first issue for free! Get the Dark Horse App in the App store for your iPhone/iPad. It's truly stunning to see on your digital device. The colors and the contrast are out of this world. And it's truly the way all the creators see their work the majority of the time. Once I draw it and scan it in, it becomes a digital file that goes from colors to letters to editorial. All of it viewed on a monitor. As much as I love it in printed form (love the feel of holding the comic book in my hands) it will never look as good as on the monitor. Anyhow, DH put up a bunch of free downloads including Cary Nord's Conan #1-- stunning work. Check 'em all out!

skaar #5

2011-07-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

Our final issue came out this week. Thanks to all who bought the series. I hope you enjoyed it.

Here's the double page spread of the book. It was a beast to work on-- took me nearly 5 days to complete. Sometimes that can be too much time to spend on two pages. But I think it deserved it. My editor, John Denning said our whole series was building up to this point. Again, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Thanks,
-B

couple o' quick sketches

2011-06-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wolvie head is a quick 10 min piece. Smoking has been banned in the Marvel comics now so you won't ever see him smoking his signature cigars anymore.

The Venom piece was for my wife's friend. His clipboard had some very cool stuff on it (the white stuff near the bottom of the photo is actually the corner of two cat ears) and had a space that needed to be filled.

Hope you enjoy.

-B

Skaar #3

2011-06-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

I think this issue (#3) hit the stands a couple weeks ago. I'm totally out of the loop lately just scrambling to finish this series. I'm down to my last few pages on #5 actually. Hope people are enjoying the series!

-B

DeviantArt

2011-05-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

I just added some pieces to my Deviant Page-- http://bching.deviantart.com/

Some new, some old. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Skaar #2 pencils

2011-04-26T14:31:00.001-07:00

Lots o' dino fighting in this issue! Even more fighting in the next issue!

Shanna!

2011-02-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Skaar: King of the Savage Land!

2011-02-28T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the first look at the series.

And be sure to check out the full color preview here--
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31050

Captain America Cover part 4

2011-01-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

Finally we reach to color stage. Colors is where it all comes together. Nothing can set the tone or create atmosphere like the colors. Luckily I was able to work with my long time collaborator, Mike Atiyeh. I did my usual color notes to give Mike an idea of what I was thinking, how I was picturing the piece. He didn't need them. He knows Cap inside out. All I needed to do was kick back and let him do his thing.

Captain America Cover part 3

2011-01-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

I had the unique opportunity to ink myself on this piece. Something I've never actually done. Well, I've done it before in my sketchbook or for fun but never published. After submitting a few samples to prove that I'm not completely incompetent, they let me ink it. Those who know me know I have a love/hate relationship with inkers. They can make or break a piece, they really can. If you get lucky and your piece ends up in the hands of a great inker, he can make your piece sing like you'd never imagined. If it ends up in the hands of a not so great inker, you go nuts wondering why you'd just spent 15 hours drawing it only to have some hack take a dump on it. You then go off and vent to your wife on how you hate this job and you want to quit. Seriously.

People have asked me about inking in the past and I tell them it's like handwriting. Imagine writing a letter in your best handwriting, the cursive kind. You try to be as neat as possible and you do it all in pencil. Your handwriting is as personal as your fingerprint. You write Ws and Gs and Bs like no one else. The arc of your letters could be angular, could be rounded. Whatever, it's the way you do it and you want it to look like you. Now hand it off to some complete stranger and tell him to go over it in ink. He has his ways of doing things, he sees things differently than you do. Of course, this is inevitable, you are completely different individuals. You just hope his penmanship is far better than yours.

Okay, back to Cap. I get this great opportunity to ink myself on what is currently my favorite Marvel Super Hero. A tiny little bit of panic sets in. I've never inked a cover before. I dig in and this is what I came up with. I confess it was tough. Inking was very time consuming, almost as much as penciling. Almost. It's definitely not without flaws, many of them actually. But they are my flaws and not someone else's.

Captain America Cover part 2

2011-01-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Pencils. Honestly, this is probably my least favorite part of the process. All the thinking has already been done in the thumbnail rough. You can see what's going on there. It has an energy I can never match on the finished piece. But, we need a large clean image that works for reproduction. It's not that I don't enjoy it, it gives me the opportunity to put in all these tiny little details which is fun in itself. But it can be incredibly labor intensive.

Captain America Cover part 1

2011-01-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

As usual, the client will ask for multiple roughs to choose from. After I submit them we discuss what they like or don't like. I will sometimes go through another round with the corrections. In this case it was pretty clear cut that version B was the better choice. Far more energy, a bigger Captain America, smaller Bucky. Plus it helps to have the tilted horizon, it just adds more tension to the piece. Oh yeah, and Hitler is getting his teeth knocked out!

Captain America Cover

2011-01-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

This is the cover for Captain America #1 from 1941 by Jacky Kirby. Marvel recently asked me for a modern interpretation of it for their reprint.

wolvie

2010-12-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

I've been doing more and more quick sketches in my sketchbook lately. It's a great way to problem solve and experiment. This is one I did this morning-- maybe 10 min, with a Bic ballpoint pen.

skaar

2010-11-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

quick skaar sketch done in pen/ink/photoshop.

chaos war: thor #1

2010-11-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

preview is available online now. click here to see it colored and lettered.

I wish the art looked better. not sure what is going on, maybe i need to go tighter on pencils or have some input on colors. hopefully next issue will be better.

here are the pencils so you can see how things looked originally.

Thor, part 0

2010-10-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the rough underneath. Let me explain. I do a rough drawing of all my pages on 11 x 17 inch copy paper. It's cheap, it's thin and it holds ink from pen and sharpies pretty well. I figure out all my anatomy and some of my lighting on that before I tape a fresh piece of bristol art board on top. The image you see here is both the rough and the art board on top, and all of if it on top of a lit lightbox.

-B

Thor, part 4

2010-10-08T01:22:00.001-07:00

Thor, part 3

2010-10-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Thor, part 2

2010-10-08T01:20:00.000-07:00

A little more definition on the torso...

Thor, part 1

2010-10-08T01:19:00.001-07:00

Lightbox, part 1 of a page from my Thor project.

J.M. Dematteis

2010-09-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Working on Thor with the great J.M. Dematteis! Check out his blog for a preview of our book!

more HULK

2010-09-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

My next issue of Hulk hits the stands this Wednesday-- Incredible Hulk #613! Please check it out!!!

-B

Hulk

2010-09-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

My issue of Incredible Hulk #612 hit the stands last week. Here are the pencils, inks and colors for the first two pages.

The next issue, #613, hits in two weeks!

-B

time for an update

2010-09-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail this morning telling me I don't update this blog frequently enough. And he's absolutely right! I'm not just lazy, I've actually been busy, although I am pretty lazy too.

It's been mostly Marvel stuff for this year. It doesn't look like I'll be back on the Star Wars books for a while but never say never. I still hope to go back and do something with them from time to time. I spent so much time working with those guys that it's hard to imagine not going back and doing something.

Marvel gave out a free back a couple months back-- the X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Sage freebie. I did a one page bio of Cyclops for that book. I'm a little mixed about how it came out. I only had about a day and a half to crank it out so it definitely felt rushed. If anything I would have re-worked the small panels since they are so crammed with characters. But in the end, I am thrilled with how the big panel came out.

-B

It's here!

2010-06-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Finally, my issue of Iron Man is here! CBR has a nice article and a little preview on our book. Fantastic colors by Mike Atiyeh! I'm really excited about this-- I worked so hard on this book and it's my foray into the world of Super Heroes. Hope you guys pick it up and please let me know what you all think.

Thanks.

-B

more Iron Man

2010-04-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here is page one from Kiss and Kill-- with phenomenal colors by Mike Atiyeh (gorgeous ain't it!!!). Comic Book Resources has a little article about the project.

I'm so excited about this book. After over 8 years of working on the Star Wars comics, it was pretty tough for me to walk away and try something different. But working with Marvel Comics has been a dream come true. I'll reveal more pages soon!

-B

Iron Man: Kiss and Kill

2010-03-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I can finally announce my next project-- Iron Man! I just wrapped this up the other day and am extremely excited to be finally doing a Super Hero project. Here's the cover pencils-- Marvel just released their June Solicitations, Iron Man: Kiss and Kill will be coming out then!

more kotor

2010-03-01T07:45:00.001-08:00

I began experimenting with shadows a lot during this final arc. It just seemed appropriate since we were dealing with such themes in the story. Also, I loved the idea of putting Rohlan's and Demagol's faces in such extreme shadows that you could barely make out the details. It lets the reader be more involved and complete the picture in their own head-- at least, that's what I was going for.

-B

kotor #50 pencils

2010-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

The final issue of KOTOR was released last week and I've been getting some amazing e-mails from you guys. Thanks so much for supporting the series and for believing in the characters and their stories. I can't tell you how much it means to me. For those of you who've already read the issue I wanted to share a bunch of the pencils so you could see the artwork pre-colored, pre-lettered. It's the artwork in it's purest state, with some notes intact :)

I'll post a few pages every few days and hopefully have the whole issue up in a week or so.

I've been getting a lot of questions about my next project. I don't want to say just yet as I'm still working on it. One thing I can confirm is that I will not be the artist on Star Wars: Knight Errant. Those guys are awesome and I'm sure they'll get an artist worthy of their story.

-B

more smoke

2010-01-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

What a lazy artist I am. Every time I draw a new character I surround him in smoke-- what creativity. Why do I always do that? Maybe it's because every character looks more dynamic around smoke. It also tells a little story. Did a bomb just go off? Did he just blow up the bad guy? Is the artist too lazy to draw any feet or any background? Bingo.

Anyhow, this was an Iron Man piece I started sometime last year. Shortly after watching the movie on disc.

kotor preview

2009-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Dark Horse released a preview on their site today-- here are the pencils.

-B

Ragman

2009-12-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let people know that Mike Atiyeh and I did a Ragman short story for the DC Holiday Special. I believe it is out on the stands today!

*EDIT*

Apparently, DC Comics is fine with sharing my whole 3 page story online. So that will save some of you a few bucks if you were interested in seeing my Ragman story without going to the comic store or paying for it :) Here's a link to the finished colored and lettered pages. Click here.

Commissions

2009-12-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has requested a commission in the last couple of months, can you send me another e-mail? I seem to have trouble with my e-mail lately and I've lost a bunch of contact info. Sorry :(

KOTOR #50-- The End

2009-12-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

Kotor #50 is officially over... at least on my end, it's done. I worked through the Holiday weekend-- no big deal because I really wanted to make sure this issue came out well. I turned everything in on Sunday night and now it's off to editorial for final approval. I'm exhausted and ready to move on to my next project-- rest.

I want to thank everyone who has posted and sent me an e-mail-- I really appreciate you guys taking the time to do so. And big thanks to everyone for sticking around this series so long. It's had a lot of ups and downs, many many artist changes -- too many in fact. I wish that wasn't the case because I know how disruptive it can be to the stories. But all the artist, I believe, did their best to keep the issues coming out regularly.

I'd love to post some pics from the issue but there is just too much going on and anything I put up would be a spoiler of some kind.

Thanks,

Brian

Cheers

2009-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

As many SW comic fans know by now, Knights of the Old Republic is ending at issue #50. Some one over at Dark Horse made the announcement earlier this week. I know it's going to be sad for some people-- after all, we've lived with these characters for nearly 4 years now. But I don't actually see the end as a bad thing. I think that stories should have an end, that all series should be finite. Our characters deserve stories that aren't re-hashed ideas where we're just trying to fill 22 pages every month.

I was fortunate enough to have started the series, designed most of the characters, vehicles, etc., and hopefully evolved as a storyteller during my time on KotOR. I may not have drawn all the issues but I always felt like Zayne and co. were my babies. Actually I think the 4 of us all felt this way-- Jeremy Barlow, Mike Atiyeh, and of course JJM (who has spent more time with these characters than anyone!).

I finished isse #49 earlier today and hope you guys don't mind me sharing a little teaser with you.

On to #50!

-Brian

Snake Eyes

2009-09-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've always loved this character-- since the days of the famous GI Joe issue, Silent Interlude. But I've never tried him until today. Now I need to get one of those 12" Sideshow figures :)

-B

Wolverine/Sabertooth

2009-09-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

...and here's the finished piece. It was just meant to be a quick sketch but I got really into it and started having so much fun. After finishing the Wolverine part I thought it just needed more. I ended up throwing in Sabertooth figure behind him and it really worked. Remember, Wolverine is supposed to be about 5'3" or 5'4" and I believe Sabertooth is supposed to be around 6'6"

-B

Wolverine rough

2009-09-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a rough I did a while back. I'd been meaning to finish this for a while but I've been stuck on a deadline...

Magik updated

2009-09-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to the pen/ink stage on this piece. Now, onto the final stage...

-B

kotor #48 preview

2009-09-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Just finished issue #48 last night, in fact I literally just turned in all 22 pages minutes ago. I've been wanting to share anything I can with this issue but it's tough, there is a lot going on that I just can't talk about yet. The best I can do is share a small section of a panel from page 7.

Magik

2009-08-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

I've always loved this character. I think the early images of her by Bill Sienkiewicz is what did it for me-- so much energy and so much attitude. Well, this is my attempt at her in her teleportation ring and medieval sword. I will tighten this up and post the finished piece later this week.

Thanks,

-B

KOTOR #47 preview

2009-08-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a little step by step explanation of my work process. It's kind of tedious and not many people work this way but I'm comfortable with it and it works for me.

I recently completed issue #47 of KOTOR. Unfortunately, I can't show the rest of the page but I can share part of it, at least the part with Rohlan in it.

In step A, I do a very rough sketch of him on 11 x 17 copy paper. It's cheap and easy to work on. When the sketch is clear enough to me and I'm relatively happy with the pose I move on to step B.

In step B, I take a pen (uniball .7 vision-- I just love the free ink flow) and do a cleaned up version of the rough. When the pen drawing is done, I take a sharpie and do an outline of the figure. This helps me separate the figure from the background.

In step C, I take a fresh sheet of 11 x 17 bristol art board (from Dark Horse) and put if over the pen drawing. I put them on top of the lightbox and begin outlining it all in pencil. I use a .3 mm mechanical pencil with H lead.

In step D, I finish off the rendering scan the page into Photoshop. After a quick clean up I send the page in for approval. From there it goes off to letters and colors.

That's it, pretty easy!

kotor #45

2009-07-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

Sorry, haven't had time to post anything new in a while-- I'm trying to finish #47 right now and time is running out. In the meantime here's a taste of #45. I'll post more next week, after Comic-Con!

Gears of War

2009-06-21T08:56:00.001-07:00

Here's a piece I did for the Gears of War Sourcebook ( it's out on the stands right now). Click here to see the finished version.

Chantique

2009-06-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here's my design for Chantique. She came about pretty quickly, as in I didn't struggle too much with her design. Pencil, pen, ink, and Photoshop all by me.

Just curious, what do people think of her name?

more new stuff

2009-06-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the next batch of new characters I am working on. Again, these are very quick and very loose. Maybe less than 30 min to do all three sketches. Quick rough in pencil, then go over it in pen ( I like Uniball Vision .7 gel pen), and do an outline with a sharpie. The outline does a nice job to pull it all together and yet still maintain the spontaneous feel. Still, it's important for me to keep things loose like this so that it's open to little changes and adjustments.

New Characters

2009-06-10T15:56:00.001-07:00

I just finished issue #46-- here are some character designs I did for the arc. Quick pencil rough with pen/marker finish. I love working this way-- it has a spontaneity and energy to it that working in pencils only doesn't. I'll have to try drawing an issue like this one day.

I'm officially starting #47 right now :)

Kotor #41

2009-05-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

Issue #41 is on the stands now. This is the conclusion of the storyline and introduces our new villain. See the color preview here.

-B

Rogue

2009-05-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a Rogue drawing I originally started as a commission piece. My initial idea was to portray her as soft and a part of nature. I also knew I wanted to have her in the original green and white outfit she first wore way back in 1981. It wasn't quite what the collector was looking for (no problem, it happens some time) so I put it aside and kept it for myself, figuring I would finish it up at some other time.

-B

the many many looks for Zayne Carrick... well, just 3 of them.

2009-04-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges of working on the KOTOR series is constantly coming up with new costume designs. Every one needs them-- the main characters have their primary costumes as well as numerous disguises. There seems to be an endless amount of background characters as well, we always seem to have a crowd of people in the background don't we? Well, our main guy, Zayne has had three major costumes and here are my original designs for each one. Interesting to see how he has changed over the months and how my drawing style has changed as well.

-B

kotor #40 preview

2009-04-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

The Dark Horse site has a 3 page preview for issue #40 here. These are the pencils...

spidey colored

2009-03-30T13:00:00.001-07:00

Colors done in Photoshop.

-B

spidey sketch

2009-03-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

Spidey sketch done as a "thank you" to a friend.

step 1- pencil rough

step 2- finished line drawing with markers, pens, etc. I should have documented more of this process because this stage actually took the longest. But all I have is this one pic. The webbing is pretty fun to do. It's primary objective is to fill space and offer some suggestion of motion.

step 3- gray markers added to Spidey to make him pop out from the background.

thanks,

B

wolvie quick sketch

2009-02-28T14:38:00.001-08:00

10 minutes for the drawing, 40 minutes for the colors.

10 min sketch

2009-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

Here's my entry for the latest Jelly of the Month topic-- a 10 min sketch. Much harder than you'd think, at least much harder than I thought. I cheated a little and spent about 12 minutes on this. After scanning into the computer I spent a few more minutes on clean-up and then about 13 minutes doing the color work. All in all, this thing took less than 30 minutes. I love working this quickly, you operate solely on instinct and don't have any time to second guess yourself. On the other hand I can't stand how mushy the right leg came out--ugghhhh.

kotor sketches

2008-11-19T23:29:00.000-08:00

Here are the other 4 sketches I did. I dropped them off earlier tonight so if anyone lives in the LA area, head down to the Comics Factory.

baby Zayne

2008-11-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a sketch I did on a comic backing board. I did 4 others (this is the only baby version however) and plan to drop off all 5 of them at the Comics Factory in Pasadena. I just thought it might be a fun little thing to give out to loyal Star Wars comic fans.

-B

kotor #35

2008-11-15T14:17:00.001-08:00

Here's a sneak at issue #35 coming out this Wednesday, Nov 19th. There's a preview of the issue at the Dark Horse site.

-B

kotor #38 cover pencils

2008-11-15T14:16:00.001-08:00

kotor #38 cover roughs

2008-11-12T16:01:00.001-08:00

Here are the roughs I submitted for the cover for KOTOR #38. We submit a minimum of three for approval. What usually happens on my end is that I come up with a single rough that I really like but still need to come up with a couple more just to complete the process. Part of me actually hopes the next two aren't as interesting since I want my favorite to stand out. Unlike interior pages which go a little faster, I spend DAYS on covers putting in as many little details as I can. So I want to make sure my heart is in it all the way if I'm going to spend so much time on it. With issue #38, I got lucky with 3 roughs I was pretty happy with. Version A was easily my favorite but I could also see myself working on the either two, no problem. In the end, version C was approved.

-Brian

KOTOR #34

2008-10-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

Issue #34 hits the stands today. Hope people pick it up, only one more issue to go before we finish off the storyline that began with issue #1.

I've been working with Mike Atiyeh for quite a while now and he continues to blow me away with every single panel he does. But I don't think he's gotten the credit he deserves. Make sure to stop by his site and let him know how much you love his work, it'll make his day :)

-B

I'll make this pencil disappear

2008-10-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

I started this thing shortly after the movie came out-- what was that? 2 months ago? Well, I finally finished it a few minutes ago. Looks kind of weird to me on its own though, like it needs to be put alongside the Batman piece I did. You know, the yin and yang kind of thing.

It's not quite the comic book version and not quite the Heath Ledger version but maybe a slight amalgam of the two. I think Heath's portrayal will change the way he is drawn in comics from here on out. He's as memorable a screen villain as Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader. Let's hope that he at least get an Oscar nomination.

-B

Grifter

2008-10-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

I had a few days off recently and just wanted to do something completely different. I'd always been a huge Jim Lee fan and I had been looking a the old WildCats comics so this is what I ended up with. I'm so glad I don't have to draw this guy on a regular basis. I know it's my own damn fault for putting so much crap on him but imagine having to draw this over and over again on every panel, it's insanity. I still regret that I've put so many pouches and accessories on Zayne.

There are a few sites I've been going to lately and I have been wanting to share. First is Doug Wheatley's site, it's awesome. He gives some insight into his drawing process. As if you couldn't already see how good this guy is.

Another is Dustin Nguyen's site. Another guy doing incredible stuff, especially his cover work.

The last one I'll mention is a vegan site (Vegan Tickles) done by a couple I know( I went to high school with them). They cook this amazing food, looks great and tastes even better and on top of it all they put these cool toys along with their food.

-B

Gambit and Rogue

2008-09-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a commission piece I recently completed. I've been playing a little bit with a Nouveau influence (mostly Mucha) and I love it. And especially with this piece it just fit. As usual, it's nice to draw some non Star Wars characters every so often.

-B

kotor #34 preview

2008-09-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a tiny little preview for what's coming up in Knights of the Old Republic #34. Can't show too much yet but I will definitely be sharing more once the official preview is put up on the Dark Horse website. I will say this-- you won't like Lucien when he's angry. In the meantime, just wanted to say thanks for all the e-mails I got welcoming me back to the series. It was such a natural transition for me to come back to these characters. It felt like coming home. I even caught myself smiling a few times as I drew Zayne and Gryph being, well, Zayne and Gryph. They are such good guys (at least Zayne is) that I can't help but love them.

-B

KOTOR #32 preview

2008-08-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Dark Horse has a 3 page preview of the upcoming issue-- click here to see. These are the pencils for those pages...

-B

...the dawn is coming

2008-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

Kind of inspired to do some Dark Knight stuff. I saw the movie on opening night and was blown away by its intensity. Man, that movie was dark! Anyway, I'd been wanting to do some Batman stuff for awhile now, just to prove to myself I could still draw super heroish characters :) I finished issue #34 of KOTOR the other night so this was the first thing I jumped on. Pretty fun to draw this way. I spend so much time trying to make sure my pages are clean (no blemishes, no stray lines) that I don't get a chance to just draw and not worry about mistakes-- this is the hurdle you encounter when you go from pencils to colors and skip the inking process.

Okay, back to work for me...

-B

KOTOR #32 preview

2008-07-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

I am back to working on KOTOR interiors. Here's a tiny preview of #32. This is all I can show for now.

Thanks,

Brian

KOTOR #34

2008-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the cover for our big showdown between Zayne and Master Lucien!

-B

Boba

2008-07-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've put up any new art. I guess I've been quite busy with a lot of things at home. It all started in late June with the nightmare known as Jury Duty. I was on a case for 7 days-- ughhhh. Not sure how things work in other States or other Countries but here in California, we have 12 Jurors. We started every day at 10AM and finished no later than 5:00 PM (lunch was from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM). It was a simple DUI (drunk driving) case that involved no injuries. The worst part of it all is that I was selected as an alternate Juror-- which means I had to be there all the time, listen to all the testimony, and in the end I was not even allowed into the deliberation room. My only purpose there was to be on hand in case another Juror had a heart attack, that's literally what the Judge said. Another ughhhh. I, along with the other alternate, just sat in a waiting room waiting for the Judge to call us back into the courtroom. After 3 1/2 days of deliberating he Jurors could not agree on a verdict and the Judge declared a mistrial and let us all go. Wow. What a waste of everone's time.

Now onto the fun stuff. Here's a Boba Fett commission I recently completed for a very nice family in New Zealand. Hello Samsoms! The idea is that Boba just landed here, hence all the smoke built up behind his jetpack.

-Brian

Michael Turner

2008-06-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

We got the news late last night that Michael Turner had passed away. He was 37 years old.

Not sure what to say or think but I'd like to share a little personal experience. I think it was a little over 10 years (I've never been good at measuring time) ago that I got my break at Top Cow. The editor for Witchblade at the time was Dennis Heisler. He had gotten my samples and thought I was good enough to do some assistant work for them. I was told Mike was running a little behind schedule on Witchblade and that I was brought in to help him out. Mike wasn't big on the idea and got caught up really quick and finished his issue. To his credit, he took so much pride in his work that he wanted to make sure every page he turned in was done solely by him. I had mixed feelings. Although I was disappointed to not get the work I had a tremendous amount of respect for that. You've got to respect anyone that takes that much pride in their work.

Some time later, the monthly grind of working in comics had caught up to him and Mike eventually opened to the idea of getting some help. He brought me in to help on an issue of Witchblade-- I can't remember which issue it was but it had dinosaur bones and a museum in it. He showed me what, where, and how to draw the props and background elements. He laid things out very specifically and knew exactly what he wanted out of me. He was very much a perfectionist. I still can't believe how quickly he could lay out a book. I think it was here that he realized that he could maintain his vision despite someone helping out with the backgrounds. It was still his ideas, his aesthetics, and his vision that was making it to the page. It was an incredible learning experience for me.

I guess you could say that working for Mike was my "big break."

We'll miss him.

-Brian Ching

Both Newsarama and CBR have articles about Mike.

The Force Unleashed preview

2008-04-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

There is a six page preview of The Force Unleashed graphic novel in the latest edition of PlayStation Magazine. Here are the original pencils for four of those pages. The story takes place between EP III and EP IV and revolves around Darth Vader's apprentice. Hope you like!

-Brian

*Update*

I've added another page, the Stormtrooper page, just for Jamie G!

back on KOTOR... sort of

2008-04-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a cover I recently turned in for KOTOR #31. Nice to be drawing Zayne again!

Kiani Commission... done

2008-03-31T16:19:00.001-07:00

After a significant amount of clean-up and rendering, here's the finished piece.

-B

Kiani Commission part 2

2008-03-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

After settling on the gesture, I start fleshing out her facial features and basic anatomy. After that I start indicating where her armor should go. And I figure out her most important asset-- her hair. It was so important to get movement and shape out of her hair, it's almost like another character.

Kiani commission part 1

2008-03-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

I recently completed a commission of the Aspen character, Kiani. The only condition was that she be underwater. After a few thumbnails I settled on this pose and started roughing it in on a sheet of 11 x 17 bristol board...

Captain America... done

2008-02-12T15:50:00.001-08:00

Here's the finished piece. I wanted the shield at a slight tilt which means more egg shape than circle. However, my elliptical templates weren't large enough and I had to resort to using my compass. Thus we have a straight on shot of his shield instead of slight tilted up. Oh well, small compromise to make. Look for a colored version of this on the Jelly site sometime later.

Thanks,

B

Captain America Stage 4

2008-02-12T13:50:00.001-08:00

At this stage I have made the needed corrections and made his torso larger (Cap's a big guy). I put a little more definition in his ab and chest area and started doing the outline of his left leg. I've also done more of the chainmail upper portion of his costume. I wasn't sure how to do this at first but I tried it out this way and I think it's lookin' okay. I still haven't figured out the musculature for that thigh yet but I know the general shape of it is correct. I'll make the adjustment as a go along.

Captain America Stage 3

2008-02-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, now I get to refine the rough. I start out by fleshing out the face making sure to get that stoic Cap expression (almost no expression, actually). While finishing up his right hand and chest, I realize I've made his chest and waist a bit too small. Also, the muscles on his left thigh are horribly, horribly wrong-- that all needs to be fixed.

Captain America Stage 2

2008-02-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is the fun part-- roughing him in on the page trying to get as much energy into the drawing as possible. I'm not worried about how clean the paper is at this point, I just want to throw lines done quickly and loosely. Some younger artists are afraid to get the page dirty and try to get the drawing done on the first try. There's no point to that. In the end it's just paper and you can always throw a fresh sheet over it and start over.

Captain America stage 1

2008-02-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

The topic for my drawing club, Jelly of the Month, is Marvel Comics. I have always wanted to do a Captain America piece so I figured this was as good a time as any. I started with a digital thumbnail done in photoshop. There is really no significance to doing this on the computer other than I was too lazy to use my sketchbook. I knew I wanted him in motion but I also know I wanted to shield to play a prominent part but not to the point where it would cover up too much. I got this on my first try (which doesn't always happen).

Wolverine/Colossus update

2008-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

A collector was interested in this piece and asked for some minor changes. As I started working on it, I went over it again and started retouching it here and there-- something inevitable I know. I started to add more smoke around Colossus and even coming off of his body. I tweaked his left fist to make it a tad bit smaller. I also added some more contrast to the background. I gotta say, I'm actually quite happy with the changes.

-B

Witchblade cover

2007-12-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

- I have a ton of FedEx boxes in my studio. It's where I keep a lot of my artwork, preliminaries, sketches, originals, whatever. It all tends to stay in these boxes. They're the perfect size for my artwork and I'm a little lazy update my storage system. Anyhow, I recently found a bunch of my older Top Cow stuff from years ago (things that I forgot were there due to my poor archiving skills) -- my cover to the Witchblade # 1/2 , I know, it's weird to number something as a half issue but this was Top Cow and Wizard's way of putting something out that wasn't a full 22 page story and offer it as a mail-order only item.

Well, this was my favorite cover and after all these years I'm finally ready to let it go. Click on my other blog if you're interested.

Thanks,

-B

The Force Unleashed Preview

2007-12-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

Just found out that Dark Horse has put up a one page preview of The Force Unleashed on Previews' website. I guess that gives me the okay to put up the pencils for that here.

Okay, I'm not entirely sure how much of the story I can talk about. If you've read about the game you know it centers around a Sith Apprentice, Vader's Apprentice. One of the other main characters is this droid in the top panels named Proxy. Don't want to say more than that since it could get me into trouble.

There are some cool concept art pieces at the official site here. You can see how closely we followed that stuff, especially for panel 4.

-Brian

Another Zayne piece

2007-11-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a Zayne piece that is going out to Dave in Toronto. Just me experimenting a little bit with inks/markers. I like the high contrast feel of it and it's not something I can get doing pencils only.

-Brian

AIX commission

2007-11-05T11:35:00.001-08:00

Here's a commission piece of Top Cow's Aphrodite IX that I recently completed. She was easily one of my favorite characters during my time at Top Cow so this was pretty fun to do. Unfortunately, I took a really long time with this piece (longer than I anticipated) and things didn't work out with the collector. So, I'm putting this one up for sale on my other blog, oh-so-original. It's pencil on full size art board-- 11 x 17 inch bristol. Thanks!

-Brian

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Have fun out there tonight.

-B

Zayne

2007-10-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a 20 minute warm-up sketch I did of Zayne. I honestly miss drawing Zayne-- I think towards the end of my run on KOTOR I got really comfortable with drawing him. Something about him I really like, I think it's that he's so naive and sincere, it gives his character a pure quality. Okay, back to work...

-B

The Force Unleashed

2007-10-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a Star Wars graphic novel called The Force Unleashed for most of the year. It's based on the upcoming game from LucasArts. That's why my updates to the blog have been so infrequent. Unfortunately, I can't show much of anything I've done so far-- sketches, roughs, anything. The game's going to be huge so a lot of the storyline and characters are being kept relatively secret. The problem is I'm dying to show some of this stuff. The best I can do is offer a little teaser. Here's a tiny piece from one of the pages I turned in last week. I'm guessing you guys can figure out who this is right?

-B

update

2007-08-02T02:49:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been trying to catch up with work and I haven't had much if any free time. It's hectic but I always say it's better to be busy than not, especially in this business.

I've taken up tennis again! I used to play a lot when I was a kid-- between 3 and 5 hours a day from age 11-17. I gave it up as I got older, I played every once in a while but for the last 7 years I've been concentrating on drawing comics. Well, the sedentary life style really started getting to me-- I often felt lethargic so I needed a change and so I decided to get some regular exercise by playing tennis again.

Last week was San Diego Comic Con-- I did not attend the Dark Horse Friday signing. I wasn't supposed to be there at all but I couldn't resist saying hi to old friends so I drove down for Thursday afternoon and spent a few hours at the con. I have a few pics which I still need to download off of my SD card. I'll talk a little bit about the show in my next entry.

In the meantime, I hope you like this colored version of Anakin Skywalker. It was a commission piece I finished a while back and now with colors by Mike Atiyeh. Looks pretty cool. Mike does a nice job of making me look competent.

-Brian

Jelly of the Month

2007-06-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

I've been invited to join Jelly of the Month-- it's an art blog where a bunch of different artists contribute whatever type of piece they want. This month's theme is Star Wars. It's a very cool idea and a good way to have fun with non-work stuff. Here's mine in it's black and white form. Head on over to the blog to see the rendered version. Thanks!

-Brian

Witchblade commission

2007-05-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a commission I finished a while ago (Hi Claudia!) for a collector in Germany. She wanted something seductive between these two sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile characters-- Sara and Nottingham. Although I had a lot of fun on this, drawing that organic Witchblade tech is a handful and something I'm glad I don't have to do on a regular basis anymore.

Thanks,

Brian

Jarael

2007-05-27T13:43:00.001-07:00

-I spent my last 2 days at Star Wars Celebration IV in Los Angeles. I was a little surprised at how popular Jarael has been since most of the attention falls on Zayne and Gryph. But I was glad to hear it since she's been one my favorites to draw.

This is the very first drawing I ever did of her. As you can see in the first two drawings (the second is the finished colors for her by Mike Atiyeh) her tattoos are not the same as they appear now. That was something I struggled with for a long time-- I wanted to make something cool without being overly complicated. I finally settled on the tattoos in the bottom drawing-- I needed to have that ready since we have several artists working on Knights of the Old Republic.

In the process of designing her it was extremely important for me to not have her appearance be overtly sexual. I didn't want to show much skin, not have her defined by the things we typically see in female comic characters-- I don't have a problem with that stuff at all, I just didn't want it for her . I wanted her to look like she works for a living as well, that's why she's got the heavy duty gloves, boots, and apron.

Thanks,

Brian

Thanks...

2007-05-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

... for all the e-mails I've gotten about my last issue of KOTOR. My last post on this topic was a little brief so I'll try and be more informative here.
-As far as I know there will be a couple of regular KOTOR artists for the remainder of the year. Dustin Weaver and Harvey Tolibao will probably handle the bulk of the issues.
-There's going to be some cool actiony things for Zayne to do in the next couple of issues. Can't say where or when but it will be very cool.
-I'd like to return and do another run on the series at some point next year (if it fits into everyone's schedule) but we'll see. Maybe I'll get to draw the part where Zayne first meets Revan...j\k
-Hopefully, DH will make an announcement about my current project around the time of Celebration IV.
-I will be signing at the DH booth during CIV.

Thanks,

Brian

Spidey in color!

2007-05-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished colors by Mike Atiyeh-- this piece was a Birthday gift for his nephew, I hope he likes it. I just saw the movie a little while ago... eh, not my favorite movie. I caught myself yawning a lot, which can't be a good thing. I think I'm just getting older and outgrowing action movies. I find myself getting bored at them lately. But it's made a ton of money so we'll probably see more of them in the next decade.

Back to the colors on this piece-- I love 'em! Mike and I have been working together for a couple of years now and I think this is one of the best we've done. For anyone that I've done a commissioned piece for in the past year, Mike is available for a color commission. Just let me know if you're interested and I can pass on your info.

-Brian

May Update

2007-05-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

It's been that long since my last post? Wow, what have I been doing? One thing I haven't been doing is enjoying the Lakers in the playoffs-- I'm a die-hard Laker fan but it looks like tonight might be their last game of the season. They just aren't playing great and are overmatched by Phoenix. Oh Well. For those who don't know my last issue of Knights of the Old Republic (#16) was released today. I'm taking an extended break from the book-- I believe Dustin Weaver and another artist will be handling the art on that book for the remainder of the year. I am working on another Star Wars project right now. I can't say just yet but hopefully I can talk about it in the coming months-- it's very cool :)

These are just a couple of quick sketches I owed to a few collectors.

-Brian

Yet another Spidey piece

2007-04-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

This was for my cousin's 4 year old son, Evan. He's a big fan od Spidey and (hopefully) a future comic book book fan. This is done on 9 x 12 bristol with copic markers, sharpies, brushpens, white-out pens, and pencil.

-B

Anakin Skywalker

2007-04-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent commission I finished. To be honest, I was very skeptical about doing a Darth Vader piece without his helmet on-- he's such an iconic character, so easily identifiable because of that helmet. But it's what was asked of me so I gave it a shot and in the end I really enjoyed it. I think showing his scarred and disfigured face really help to give him some of his humanity back.

-B

Hoth Luke

2007-03-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a sketch I finished the other day for a Luke fan. It's hard to choose from all the cool outfits Luke has worn in the films. I think this one and the Bespin one might be my favorites.

-B