CAT PORTRAIT #1: THE KNIGHT WITH A HAND ON HIS CHEST

For a lot of time now I've had in my mind the project of drawing a series of feline versions of famous paintings and pictures.
The painting I chose to start this series (that I don't know if will ever have a continuation) is this one, which is my favorite work by El Greco. I love the look in the eyes of the man and the serious, languid expression of his face. Also, the fact that for some time it was thought that the nobleman portrayed there was Don Quixote's author Miguel de Cervantes.
[The Knight With A Hand On His Chest is an original painting by Doménicos Theotokópoulos 'El Greco']

NUN

A drawing I made for the cover of a script I've been writing during the last three or four months. Hope to get good news from it soon!

LOBO THE CZARNIAN

Back in the 90s, one of the few comics I really enjoyed reading was LOBO. I made several LOBO pin-ups and illustrations then, but they must be now growing dust in a dark, lost drawer somewhere between my apartment and my parents' house.
This pin-up here is, as you may have realized, a tribute to one of the most famous promotional pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger's CONAN.
[Lobo created by Keith Giffen and Roger Slifer]

FALLEN ANGEL

For this year's last post I chose a Liandra pin-up I just finished two days ago.
Peter David is one of my favorite writers, and FALLEN ANGEL is, without a doubt, one of my favorite comics of all time. Only an imaginative mind as David's could take an overused concept (Good vs Evil, Heaven vs Hell, etc) and use it to create such a collection of original characters, places and situations.
The comic has so much subtext and there's so much depth in its characters that, in my opinion, describing FALLEN ANGEL only as a superhero book is like, you know, saying 2001 and STAR WARS are the same just because both movies are science-fiction.
[Fallen Angel created by Peter David and David López]

FRESH PRINCE OF KRYPTON

Five months ago I made this illustration portraying Mr. T as Wolverine. A friend of mine suggested me to continue drawing black versions of white superheroes and I found it kind of an interesting idea, so I decided to try the most iconic superhero of all: Superman.
As you may have already realized, I used both actors Will Smith and Brandon Routh as the base for this illustration.
[Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster]

BENCHES

I haven't had much free time to draw, lately, so I decided to post here a very simple one-page story I made three months ago. I tried a plain style that a friend of mine defined as a mixture of American an European. I don't know.
Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

VIKING

I posted some months ago an illustration about NORTHLANDERS, but if you are a fan of vikings you may know that's not the only book out there about the subject. Another one, by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein is VIKING. I recently discovered it and I'm enjoying it a lot. The only reason why some comic related websites keep comparing it to Brian Wood's book is that there are very few comics about the viking era, but to me it's like comparing Superman and Wolverine just because both characters are superheroes. VIKING has its own style, kind of a Coppola meets Tarantino touch (THE GODFATHER's Coppola, I mean). I have only read a few issues so far but I'm definitely reading the rest of the series.
The base for this illustration was another one of Caterina Barjau's photos. It was done all digitally.
[Viking created by Ivan Brandon. The Image logo is a property of Image Comics]

AMERICAN VAMPIRE

Retelling America's history with vampires. That is, more or less, what I understood Vertigo's new monthly series would be when AMERICAN VAMPIRE came out, and I thought it was an awesome idea. Even before reading the first story-arc of the book (writen by Stephen King) I started wondering which episodes of the history of the United States would look cool with vampires on them... and what about the foundation of Hells Angels in Fontana, California, in 1948? That's how I decided to make this fake comic cover.
I took the model for the main character here from mixing-up the portraits (taken by photographer Caterina Barjau) of two actual members of Hells Angels Barcelona. In fact, when finishing that bearded face, I remembered that Hells Angels guy did a small role (playing himself) in a music video I edited many years ago.
[American Vampire created by Scott Snyder. The Vertigo logo is a property of DC Comics.]

KEVIN

Although I must confess I'm not a big SIN CITY fan, I really like the way Miller handles blacks and whites to create his unique and distinctive noir look. A similar use of shadows and lights is what I tried here. Maybe that's why I decided to draw Kevin and his white glasses.
[The Dark Horse and Legend logos are property of Dark Horse Comics. Sin City and Kevin created by Frank Miller]

I PITY THE FOOL... BECAUSE I'M THE BEST IN WHAT I DO

Almost a month ago actor Donald Glover started a campaign to get the role of Peter Parker in an upcoming Spider-Man movie. There's been a lot of debate in the internet about whether having a black guy portraying Marvel's famous wallcrawler is a bad or a good idea, and even Stan Lee gave his two cents about it.
I myself have been a bit torn. I don't think it's necessary to have a black guy playing Peter Parker, as if the only way to create interesting black characters was to change white character's race. On the other hand, Spider-Man is a very well known character, and iconic characters end up beeing modified and versioned all along time. After all, if Shakespeare's plays have been set in WWII, in modern fictional Florida cities and even in the future, why can't Marvel have a black version of Spider-Man?
With that in mind, I decided to create a black version of one of Marvel's most famous characters. A lot of actors came to my mind, but none of them was more charismatic than Mr. T.
[Wolverine is a property of Marvel Comics]