Bats, Boys, Bullets & Bolts: My ATC Sketches from "Artfix Noctum"

A large group of local cartoonists, and sketch artists were invited, once again, to our pal Erik's art studio for what has been deemed "Artfix Noctum." Basically, we play different sketch and drawing games for a couple of hours, laugh, and have an all-around good time. Last night was Artist Trading Card night, and each of us was asked to pick three characters we'd like to draw, then at the end of the night we draw numbers to see which cards we get to bring home, other than our own.

Last time we did this, I added a Power Girl card to my ATC set. I wanted to make sure that the ladies were represented in this set too, so I added another fave of mine... Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. Batgirl. I've actually done her as a sketch card before, back when I did my very first ATC trade.

Next up in my deck was Hell Boy. I put Darkseid in my mix for the last ATC sketch-up, so I wanted to do another mean looking, non-human for this set too. Hell Boy popped into my mind instantly because I thought the bright red would look cool on a card, plus those sketch geniuses over at Comic Twart has been cranking out some vicious Hell Boy sketches all week long.

And last, but definitely not least, was my main man Jonah Hex. Earlier in the day I was griping about the direction I see the current movie release going, and I caught myself thinking about the Truman/Lansdale version of Jonah from "Riders of the Worm" and "Two Gun Mojo." They had a bit different take on the character, in both story and visual style. Visually, I described their version as "Pirate Jonah." My little sketch here was supposed to echo that, rather than the version of Hex you see in the comics today. I goofed up and forgot to color his hat band and beads, so to whomever got this card last night... sorry!

BONUS! I had enough time to crank out an extra card (which I'd planned on from the beginning), and this time I took a stab at Trap Jaw, from Masters of the Universe fame. Honestly, this was my last card of the night, and I was in a super-bad hurry, but I think for a quick one it turned out okay. I added this card to another card I had in the mix, so someone went home with this card, plus another as well. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it was married to the Batgirl card.

It was a fun night, and I think everyone went home with some great ATC sketches to add their personal collections. I ended up getting a She-Ra, Scarecrow and Ninja Turtle, so I was pretty happy. Our buddy Erik will be posting all the cards from the evening real soon, so take a minute and subscribe to his blog. There's always some arty, creative goodness going on over there.