2009 RECAP: DC COMICS "Ides of Blood" part 1

This was a 6-issue mini-series that was released through DC/Wildstorm between August 2010 and January 2011.  Writer Stuart C. Paul, interior artist Christian Duce and myself were all first-timers in professional comics on this project.
Near the end of 2010, it was announced that DC was going to be absorbing Wildstorm and discontinuing their books (while re-launching several of their characters and titles under the main DC banner). As a result: issue 6 had the DC logo on it (as opposed to Wildstorm's) - most of the editorial staff was let go or transferred to the DC digital department - and the title was never re-released in trade paperback form.

So much for continuing a working relationship with my first "in" in the comic's biz. I was pretty bummed. Still, the project was a huge learning experience for me and it fulfilled a dream I've had since I was about 10 or 12 years old.

Issue 1                    -                    Issue 2

Issue 3                    -                    Issue 4

Issue 5                    -                    Issue 6

2009 RECAP: DC COMICS "Ides of Blood" part 2

Here are some zoomed-in detail shots of each cover.

Fun facts: The woman on cover 2 was originally topless, with just her arm concealing her breasts - but they later asked me to raise the sheet to include most of her torso (as it was deemed: 'too racy').

I found the vampire woman on cover 5 to be a particularly challenging design as she was described as being a morbidly obese barbarian woman with snake eyes, fangs, snake skin and tattoos. I thought: "Tattoos on snake scales? ...How am I going to pull THAT off?"

Issue 1 detail               -                Issue 2 detail

Issue 3 detail               -                Issue 4 detail

Issue 5 detail               -                Issue 6 detail

2009 RECAP: DC COMICS "Ides of Blood" part 3

Upon getting hired, they sent me the scripts for each issue and I did numerous sketches for each cover - basing the compositions on their respective story content. 

Some of these are just a sampling (and some are just my own preliminary/study work), but I turned in 3 or 4 different designs (per issue) for the editors to choose from. 

Before the comics were released, they decided that they wanted to swap the covers of issues 1 & 2 - saying that the issue 2 cover was more of an attention grabber and spoke more to the theme of the series, over all.

2009 RECAP: DC COMICS "Ides of Blood" part 4

These sketches and mock-ups were my test pieces that the editor submitted to his boss for the green-light on whether or not I'd be hired to illustrate the covers, so these are technically what got me the job.

They were done prior to my seeing any of the issue scripts - just going on the theme of 'Vampires in Rome'.  It's a shame that none of these designs made it onto the final covers, as a couple of them are still my favorites. After reading the scripts though, I tried tailoring the pieces directly to the story content of each issue.

2009 RECAP: DC COMICS "Ides of Blood" part 5

During this period, I was a Senior Concept Artist at Idol Minds, so
occasionally, I used to work on Ides during my lunch break. Fond memories!

These were the online ads that DC used for the series.
My brother Greg Geiger designed the logo. I was told that it was
against their company policy for them to credit logo designers,
which I find somewhat baffling and unfortunate.

These are the comp and gouche/colored pencil versions of what
was potentially to be the cover of the trade paperback version.
The series was never released in trade form and this piece remains unfinished.
I think I'll actually pick it back up and take it to completion soon for fun. 

2009 RECAP: Sony Online (SOE) Card Illustration

2008/2009 was my first official leap from concept into illustration. Sony Online Entertainment's online card game franchises: Star Wars Galaxies and Legends of Norrath (based on Everquest I & II).

These were a blast and a great learning experience.

LON cards

LON comps & color comps

LON character designs

LON comps, character designs & card

LON card detail

LON creature designs

SWG background detail

SWG background detail

SWG comps, drawing & detail

SWG comps, drawing & detail

2009 RECAP: EMERGE Art Show

In July of 2009, I got a chance to set up a weekend show on First Friday near the Santa Fe Art District in Denver. I invited my brother Greg Geiger along with friends John Cboins, Chelese Hawkins and the Ladies Fancywork Society to come share the space. It was a hectic schedule, but a lot of fun.

Here's the flyer for the show.
The gallery  was a couple of blocks
away from the main stretch of
Sante Fe Drive's First Friday, hence
the map and brightly lit signage. 

EMERGE Gallery.
731 W. 6th Avenue, Denver.

Here are our homemade signs. I made one
sign cover and my nephews made the other.

Since the show was thrown together really fast,
I wanted to make some relatively quick and
also rather affordable pieces for  my corner.
I whipped-up some fun colorful acrylic paintings
on nine 12" x 12" pieces of  high-quality plywood.

In addition to the new pieces,  I also foraged
through my piles of figure studies from several
previous years. Affordable and frame-less.

Greg and me. I'd wanted to do a show
with my big brother for a long, long time
- so this was a bit of a dream-come-true.

Amy and me. She was a HUGE help,
as always. (Chelese's art in background).

The Nephews! Evan and Noah.
They were a huge help too. Great guys. 

Denver crochet-bomb stars:
 Ladies Fancywork Society
brought their wares for sale.
(Chelese's art in background)

John, Jeanne and Amelia

People started showing up! Against all odds,
we managed to get a lot of First Friday's
foot-traffic from a few blocks away!
(John's art in background)

Many of us sold several pieces,
so the show was basically a success!
(Greg's art in background, John's art @ bottom right)
(Chelese standing at right)