She-Hulk commission

As part of the ANDREW JACKSON IN SPACE Kickstarter that ran last year to support the development of the first issue, I did several commissioned illustrations which I’ve been meaning to post. I asked what people wanted for their commission and said I’d draw whatever they had in mind…

Somehow over the past couple of years’ worth of work in comics, I’ve found myself drawing what I like to call “bad ass chicks”. I don’t have a problem with this at all – in fact I’m really trying to embrace it. So here’s the thing, I try to draw female characters looking bad ass and not gratuitously “sexy” which seems to be the norm in the world of comics. It’s not that I have a problem with sexy characters or sexy drawings but more that for my own artwork, at least at this point in time, I want to draw strong, powerful characters, not sexy pinup girls.

Anyway, that’s kind of where I’m at with things.

And then along comes this commission request to draw She-Hulk in an “‘on the beach look’, arms up, hands behind the head, showing off her biceps” and I just wasn’t too sure what to do. The thing is, since these people contributed to the Andrew Jackson Kickstarter, I felt like I should be drawing what they asked for. So overall, that lead to a bit of an internal conflict of just what I should be drawing for this request. Plus, just go and Google She-Hulk and see what types of images you find (go ahead, I’ll wait). Tons of overly sexy imagery and not really what I do.

Luckily, one of my good female friends and colleagues at work is super into fitness and working out! So after picking her brain a wee bit, I arrived at a comprise that I felt would be pretty bad ass looking, a little bit sexy (but not too much) and just an all-around cool looking image.

The final inks are a mix of techniques and tools, plus a healthy dose of white paint. Below are some progress shots: doodles as I tried to figure out just what to draw and the pencil drawing which I kept really loose. I tend to do a lot of my inking on top of bluelines now, but since these commissions were “final art” I opted to go old school: pencil drawing that I then transferred to board for final ink work. It’s a bit more work, but the final art is a ton cleaner looking!