Kickstarter Sketch Card – Suit Upgrade

I sure hope Nintendo has a new Metroid game up their sleeves very soon…I’d love to see that franchise recover from the disaster that was Other M a few years ago.

Pentel Pocket Brush, Microns, Prismacolor and Copics on card stock.

-RD

Original Art is © 2015 Randall Drew
Samus is © Nintendo

Kickstarter Sketch Card – I Take Up 5 Screens

Kraid! A sketch card for backer, mentor and all around amazing comics legend Steve Bissette who loves monsters! Why not draw for him one of the coolest giant monsters in gaming? (Yes, the title is lyrics taken from Starbomb)

Pentel Pocket Brush, Microns, Prismacolor on card stock.

-RD

Original Art is © 2015 Randall Drew
Kraid is © Nintendo

Kickstarter Illustration – Samus V Ridley

Howdy everybody!

With the holidays approaching, I opted to not post a comic page yesterday as I’m still designing this years Holiday Card! That will post next week on Christmas, also in lieu of a Citadel page. In the mean-while, here’s a bonus Kickstarter post this week; one of the 4 full size commissions I completed for our highest level backers!

This one was sent all the way out to Scotland, but unfortunately came back and will be being re-sent, but the opportunity was my being able to re-scan the artwork (the original file was lost.) and present it here!

Come back Thursday and Saturday for more sketch cards and next week for my annual holiday greeting card design! (I may make the designs available online in the future!)

Brush and ink, watercolor on Bristol.

-RD

Original art is © 2014 Randall Drew
Samus and Ridley are © Nintendo

Beyond all expectations

This week Beyond Mode 7 officially became a reality! I picked up the print run and boy do these things look snazzy! The quality is superb and I cannot wait to start sharing these things with all our backers, and then very soon with everyone else!

Rewards posters have also been printed, including a bunch of Blair Shedd’s amazing Legend of Zelda print and the bookmarks are printed, laminated and just need to be trimmed down to size. A lot of this work I’ve been able to do by-hand on some great machinery and it’s really made for a personally rewarding experience.

Citadel is still unfortunately on indefinite hold as I still have to wrap up sketch cards and rewards commissions, but I do still plan on having Chapter 2 ready to go in-print for GraniteCon (Where BM7 will also premier!)

Finally, Jesse and my application for MAGFest 13 this coming January is in! We hope to get a table this year again and bring BM7 directly to the fans who inspired the book to begin with! So exciting!

-RD

Beyond Mode 7: Deadline Approaches!

This update has been a long time coming! It’s time to officially get excited about Beyond Mode 7 as the final art submission deadline is just a mere 2 weeks away! To whet all those video game art loving appetites out there, today I’m going to share a few nibbles of some of what has already come in from our STILL GROWING list of contributors!

First off, I’d like to announce that the book will officially launch at MeCAF 2014, in Portland Maine on May 18th! Jesse and I were accepted for the sixth year in a row to table at this amazing, growing and evolving indie comics show! It’s got a great history of solid attendance and being great for the whole family, exactly the intended audience for the anthology.

Second, if you missed any of my Post-MAGFest Reports (read them here and here) then I’ll once again announce the addition of the amazing Kevin Bolk, 8BitMaximo and Hex Martinez to the Anthology roster! Each brings something unique and powerful to the table and we’re overjoyed to have them on board! Hit those links up and check out their work!

Now, for the newcomers to Beyond Mode 7, let me introduce the anthology real quick: The brain child of my table mate and fellow ink-slinger Jesse Durona (artist behind the popular Despondent Mega Man comics) Beyond Mode 7 came to be after MAGFest 11 in January of 2013. The book will be a full-color, 6×9″, perfect-bound homage to all things Super Nintendo.

With more contributing artists than the system had Bits to work with, it will cover a broad spectrum of experiences, games and memories from arguably the 90’s greatest video game console and game library. It will feature comics, illustrations, essays, and other works of art all honoring a device that brought interactive art and creativity right into our living rooms every day of our childhood!

Some of the games covered by Beyond Mode 7 include: (Art represented are works-in-progress!)

Super Mario World


© Scott Baer

Kirby’s Dreamland 3


© Matt Aucoin

Super Metroid


© Amanda Ruddock

TMNT Turtles in Time


© Bill Volk

Mega Man X


© Michael Ruggia

The Legend of Zelda: LttP


© Matt Aucoin

Earthbound/Mother2


© Randall Drew

…and many many more!

As a note to creators still working: The deadline for final art submissions is the end of this month! As of March, Jesse and I will be compiling the artwork together and preparing a Kickstarter for April! Then it’ll be a Super Nintendo Blitz to get as many people contributing to the campaign as possible! We want to put your art in as many hands as possible, so keep and eye out for requests to help spread the word!

Thanks, and game on!
-RD

Above original artworks are © their respective creator, all rights reserved!

Sketch Card – FantaCon Samus

I had this sketch card pre-penciled before FantaCon, but decided to finish it off as my warm up at the start of the show. It was great fun coloring this and I even made some free-hand changes while inking to the design so it was more accurate. I’ve been drawing a lot of Samus lately, as I prepare my Super Metroid themed comic for my upcoming Beyond Mode 7 anthology with Jesse DuRona!

Next week CITADEL returns with a brand new chapter! Check out the cover inks for Chapter 2 on Tuesday!

Microns, Prismacolor and on card stock.

-RD

Original art is ©2013 Randall Drew

Sketch Card – Mother Brain

I’m working on a Metroid themed piece for the Beyond Mode 7 anthology, so one day I warmed up with a Mother Brain sketch card!

Microns, Prismacolor and Copics on card stock.

-RD

Original art is ©2013 Randall Drew

Sketch Card – Gravity Suit Samus

Another MECAF sketch card! This one took a while to draw, so the coloring was simplified in spots. I’m still pretty happy with it!

Microns, Prismacolor and Copics on card stock.

-RD

Original art is ©2013 Randall Drew
Samus is © Nintendo