In early 2021 I was contacted by Hasbro’s Marvel brand team and asked if I would be interested in illustrating the packaging for a planned action figure line that was themed around the X-Men The Animated Series cartoon from the ‘90s. Already excited by this potential job, they then tell me the packaging will be similar in style and shape to VHS boxes to really give the line a great retro look. This kind of collector focused nostalgia was right up my alley so my answer, of course, was an immediate “YES”!
I spent the rest of the year working on the project. The line is a shared exclusive between Disney’s online store, ShopDisney.com and the Hasbro Pulse online store, HasbroPulse.com. The collection includes eight figures that were revealed and released individually throughout 2022.
This project was very special to me and I put a lot of work into it. My very first professional job in entertainment was as a storyboard artist on this TV show. Hired way back in 1993. It was the launch pad for the rest of my illustration career. So it was wonderful to revisit these characters and this style of drawing for Hasbro. Not to mention that as a lifelong action figure collector it’s pretty cool to see your work on the toy packaging that will sit upon your shelf.
In 2019 I participated in the creation of this remarkable coffee table art book.
X-MEN: The Art and Making of the Animated Series is a beautiful 300 page documentation of all the behind the scenes work the artisans of that now classic and beloved 1990s Saturday Morning Marvel series. Released in October 2020.
Since I worked on the series as a storyboard artist (Seasons 2-5), I had kept copies of everything that I not only drew but other related material including scripts, character and background designs and storyboards by other artists. Before I made a cross country move in 2017 I had all this material professionally scanned and put onto hard drives so that I no longer had to keep and store the massive physical pile of copies. (These were only copies to be clear, the Studios kept all original artwork.). Having all this material already digitized proved beneficial for this publication and I provided access to the authors while they researched and assembled this publication.
The book features some of my artwork created during production. The X-Men was my first professional job in animation and led to all sorts of great career highs down the road. I’m very proud of my work on such a fondly remembered TV show and thrilled to now also share in the triumph of this publication.
You can see X-Men sketches I’ve drawn for fans inside their copies of this book in my SKETCHES/COMMISSION GALLERIES section under OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
Here’s the full book description by the publisher, Abrams books:
The story behind the creation of one of the most celebrated, revolutionary animated series of all time
X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series takes fans behind the scenes of the landmark cartoon that laid the groundwork for the dozens of Marvel Comics adaptations that followed. Interviews with series writers, artists, producers, and executives reveal the razor’s edge that Marvel and Fox navigated in order to bring the X-Men to television, and detail the tough decisions, compromises, and brilliant solutions that resulted in a series that has been lauded by critics and fans for nearly three decades.
Along the way, readers will encounter comics and entertainment luminaries Stan Lee, Margaret Loesch, Avi Arad, and Haim Saban, as well as exclusive production art and commentary from key X-Men: TAS artists such as supervising producer/director Will Meugniot, producer/director Larry Houston, producer/director Frank Squillace, storyboard artist and model designer Rick Hoberg, model designer Frank Brunner, and character, prop, and model designer/cleanup artist Mark Lewis.
This book gives a firsthand account of what it’s like to develop, pitch, design, write, draw, direct, and produce a hit animated series, and is jam-packed with never-before-seen concept sketches, storyboards, character models, background layouts, cels, and production and promotional materials.
HOW TO DRAW LEGO NINJAGO is an activity art book for kids I illustrated for LEGO and KLUTZ Publishing, a division of SCHOLASTIC BOOKS in 2016. Released on SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2017. The book is published in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Austrailia/NZ and Hong Kong. It will be available at most retail booksellers.
Below these pages are sketches I've created for fans over time.
Book contents details:
“Learn how to draw your favorite Ninja, villains and more in this 68-page book of instructions and inspiration! Get started with beginner-friendly draw-in-the-blank pages. Trace over your favorite Ninja. Step-by-step guidance from stick figure to finished drawing. Practice sketch, ink and color techniques. This 68-page book will include all the artist tools you need to get started right away including mechanical pencil, black ink pen and color pencils!”
This was both a fun and challenging project that introduced me to the world of Lego Ninjago fandom. I made certain to put a lot of character personality into the art so fans of all ages could enjoy.
My third (!) video game project for LEGO, TT Games and Warner Bros Games. Once again illustrating comic book style content that enhances storytelling for the player within the game itself and also within the Season Pass content chapters.
As with all three LEGO video games, digital illustrations, inks and colors by me.
My second video game project with TT games. Awesome to be invited back for this Lego Marvel Comics sequel. Digital comic content illustrator. Released on November 14, 2017. My artwork found within the game includes recreations of iconic Marvel Comics covers throughout it's long publishing history along with comic story panels.
Comic artwork created by me found within the video game.
Game was released on January 26th, 2016. I have begun posting a catalog my art from the game here. Updates will continue into Spring including content created for the game's DLC packs.
Clicking on the corresponding images on this page will take you to the appropriate galleries. First, a collection of Marvel Comics cover recreations then a collection of comic story pages.
All layouts, inks and colors digitally created by me.
Other Lego themed licensing and marketing illustrations I've created. Digital art - All sketches, layouts, inks and colors by me.
Lego Jurassic World young readers book for Scholastic. April, 2018 release.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 Video Game promo posters for Warner Bros Games. Hulk for New York Comic Con 2017. Avengers from San Diego Comic-Con 2017.
Invite art created for Lego ad agency promoting a screening of an episode of LEGO STAR WARS DROIDS TALES in New York, Oct 2015.
Lego Shop E-commerce website illos promoting special Space VIP limited edition set. 2014
Unpublished Marvel Superheroes origin story pages for Lego SH website. 2013
Between 1997 and 2002 I illustrated several Star Wars licensed publications and products. To this day I'm still a bit bewildered how that all came about but as a hardcore fan who grew up on the Original SW Trilogy it was a real career highlight.
In 1997 after completing a Batman coloring book assignment published by Golden Books, I was then offered my first Star Wars projects. An 84 page Star Wars themed Mad Libs activity book and a possible kids coloring book. Both themed around the Original Trilogy. I had completed work on the Mad Libs book and created design submissions for the coloring book when at the end of the year Golden Books lost out on the bidding renewal for the Star Wars license to Random House. All Star Wars planned projects were dropped and my Mad Libs book was never published. A sampling of that art for those project are seen here at the end of this gallery.
Fortunately my work on those dropped projects got noticed by a publishing editor at Lucasfilm. So in the Spring of 1998 I found myself invited to Skywalker Ranch to interview with the art director of Lucasfilm Licensing. They were looking for artists to work on the licensing bible for Episode 1: The Phantom Menace which was still a year away from release. I passed the security inquiry and was assigned to illustrate logos, crests, frames and other decorative icons themed off various props, costumes and vehicles seen in the film. The illustrations were included in the licensing bible and any vendor producing Episode 1 merchandise could utilize such art. So my icons appeared on all kinds of Star Wars products such as toothbrushes, school supplies, toy packaging and countless books.
I then worked on an assignment for the Star Wars Insider magazine featuring profiles of the characters found within the Star Wars novel series titled The NEW JEDI ORDER.
After The Phantom Menace film was released I did a lot of work for Wizards of the Coast. They were re-launching the Star Wars Roll Playing Game system and needed artists for their new products and magazines. I created spot illustrations for several of their books and publications over this period of time.
This included a special promotional comic book in partnership with Dark Horse Comics featuring new Star Wars RPG characters designed by comic artist Adam Hughes (who also drew the comic cover shown here). I penciled all the comic art and additionally designed a few new generic Star Wars universe characters that were sculpted into miniature figurines used in this game system.
While I spent the majority of the mid to late 1990s working as a storyboard artist in television animation I would additionally take on fun assignments in comics and related super-hero licensing.
Examples featured-
Marvel Comics: Because I worked on the FOX TV X-Men animated series I enjoyed the opportunity to create a series of pinups of the main characters in issue 15 of the X-Men Adventures comic. Outside of just starting out in animation, this was actually my very first professional, published work. I still own all the original art pages because of this.
Image/Wildstorm Comics: I was a storyboard artist on the WILDCATS TV series on CBS which led to meeting the editors running Jim Lee's Homage studios at the time. For a few years I illustrated a few comic pinups, assisted pencils on an animated Wildcats comic and drew more trading cards than I can remember.
DC Comics Licensing: Since I had worked on a Batman animated feature and the Superman animated series I was occasionally asked to illustrate a few related children's story books and even a coloring book in that iconic style.
Between 1993 and 2002 I spent my early freelance career working primarily as a storyboard artist on many animated television series. I mostly worked in the action adventure genre so lots of comic book superhero Saturday morning cartoons, syndicated afternoon series and one direct to video film of the day.
Here's a list of the shows I worked on in no particular order:
X-Men The Animated Series, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Avengers, Xyber-9, Wildcats, Invasion America, Street Fighter, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Battletech, Gargoyles, The Mighty Ducks, Superman and the Batman Sub-Zero direct to video film.
There were certainly guys that could illustrate circles around me on these shows but schedules were tight and building a reliable rep was key to working in that biz. When a producer or other artists I worked with at one studio moved to another to start up a new series, I would get the call to move along with them. Some years I was working for several studios on several series at a time.
My first, longest and favorite gig was working on the X-Men show. I boarded seasons 2 through 5 and had the pleasure of storyboarding the final act of the final episode. That last shot from the show is pictured here with my artwork setting up that scene.
By the early 2000s I was dabbling more and more as an illustrator in the licensing arena. The landscape was also changing for syndicated television animation and in 2002 I decided to move away entirely from storyboarding as my main artistic profession. My last storyboard work was on an Avengers series on FOX that year.
I have fond memories of this early period of my art career. Here I was as a young rookie drawing some of my favorite comic book characters and got paid for it! While most of these animation studios and their crew were based in Los Angels, I still managed to work from home in Minnesota. I learned so much about camera, story, animation AND responsibility to deadlines. Drawing so much, so often and so fast amped up my quick sketch abilities over the course of this era. Prepared me for the next stage.
Good times.
My Lego Star Wars themed artwork gallery!
First - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Illustrations created for the Nov-Dec 2015 issue of the Lego Club Magazine. Cover, feature pages and stickers promoting the release of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens branded mini-figures, vehicles and sets.
Next Star Wars Rebels
Comics promoting Lego Star Wars: Rebels branded mini-figures, vehicles and sets. Created for various 2014-15 issues of the Lego Club Magazine.
Digital art - All sketches, layouts, inks and colors by me.
Sampling of my comic pages and other illustrations created for the Lego Club Magazine published between 2012 and 2015. Lego brands featured include: Ninjago, Agents, Marvel & DC Comics Super-Heroes, Star Wars, Friends, City, Hero Factory and more.
Digital art - All sketches, layouts, inks and colors by me.