50 SBD reward for Steemit Comic Trials winner and comic culture introspection!

Good evening, Steemians! Not even 10:00p.m. here in the Midwest and I’m finding time to post. That’s an indication that I’ve indeed found my rhythm again. I have some reluctance about this upcoming LA trip simply because I’m happy that I’ve settled in to a schedule after all the summer disruption, but alas, I’ve already taken deposits from quite a few clients on the west coast, so I better go take their photos!

First and fore-mostly, I have to make an announcement regarding the Steemit Comic Trials! We’re underway, and it slipped my mind to mention a deadline. The contest is weekly, and it began yesterday. The contest deadline is 5:00 UTC, 12:00a.m. CST. That’ll remain the same going forward for each week of the Steemit Comic Trials!

Other good news! Thanks to the generosity of other members of the Steemit community, @steem-comic-con sweetened the pot with a 5.000SBD donation, then @customnature matched my reward commitment bringing the inaugural Steemit Comic Trials reward pool to 50.000SBD! I know a lot of artists that would have entered this competition just for a love of comics and illustration, but that’s a respectable prize to further entice those who want to participate. 

I can’t wait to see what shakes out of this weekly contest. I’m probably biased because my feed is awash in concept artists,  comic book illustrators and designers like @catapanoart, @bryan-imhoff, @giuato @xyanthon @jnart and @anritco. These are the people that will built the comic and concept art communities even before Steemit gives us actual communities with HF20. I see what @jamtaylor has done with the Steemit Photo Challenge and I want that kind of participation here with comic creation […which I know, is ironic, given that I’m predominately a photographer]. You all have to see this first Batman contest entry by @cryptlectibles. @vermillionfox was dying laughing.

Following up on all the Steemit Comic Trials talk, I thought I’d share some of my comic work and illustration to, you know, establish my credentials as the host of the contest. This was and still is my dream job. I’m not making a living at it, yet. I’ve been squirreling away enough STEEM, BTS, EOS and MUSE that if one of them hits big I’ll only be shooting once or twice a year […because I do love photography], but I’ll have bills paid while I get lost in comic book creation and writing stories. 

*Artwork by Steve McNiven [...one of my favorite pencillers].

I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember. I was drawn in to comics around five years old. Old Uncanny X-Men, followed by Spider-man and Ironman. I have vivid memories of spending HOURS trying to draw the carbonadium tentacles of Omega Red, crushing Wolverine […still one of my favorite villains]! This was when I was 13 years old or so. Spider-man: Maxim Carnage had a profound impact on me in regards to a multi-part series spanning several books and building a truly epic good versus evil story. DC didn’t come in to my life till later. In my opinion, the art to Marvel’s offerings during the 1990’s was far superior to DC’s and as a budding artist, it was the art that pulled me in first. Spider-man is what made me fall in love with Todd McFarlane, which, naturally led me to Spawn some years later.

I dipped my toes in to DC now and then. Batman: The Animated Series is single handedly responsible for introducing me to The Dark Knight, beyond just topical knowledge. Characters like Clayface and Two Face piqued my interest and the DC world opened up to me. I eventually added Batman titles to my pull list […which was short because I was a broke-ass teenager and the nearest comic book store to where I grew up was 35 minutes away and I didn’t drive]. 

Once McFarlane launched Spawn, it was all over for me. This was also around the time I’d discovered bizarro independent titles and classics like SinCity, Hellboy, James O’Barr’s The Crow, Evil Ernie and even Glen Danzig’s Satanika and other Verotik titles. I’ve really need to reel myself in or this is going to turn in to a @cryptlectibles blog post, but independent comics is where I found my home. It was when I really decided, “Yes. This is what you need to do with your life.”.

I’ll leave you with some more sketches and drawings from character development process to pencils for pages. When the communities feature of Steemit does roll out, I’ll be sharing a lot more of this kind of art […the bottom line is, for most of my followers, they’re coming to see photography of beautiful women in lingerie and I do have to keep up with that expectation]. It’s a big part of my soul and DNA and almost nothing makes me as happy as drawing comics.

Thanks for reading and staying with me for this lengthy post. Please consider participating in the first Steemit Comics Trials. Remember, 50.000 SBD reward pool thanks to @steem-comic-con and @customnature. If you’d like to chip in to that pool, you’re more than welcome to sponsor this week, you just aren’t eligible to win, naturally. Get your zombie portraits in, resteem and include the tag #steemitcomictrials

I post daily. For more comics, illustration, photography art and the stories behind the work, follow me @kommienezuspadt!