My only eBay Purchase of 2015 so Far

That’s right, most of my money has gone to COMC this year, with a little to loose retail packs of 2015 Topps and a couple repack boxes.  I’ve only bought one thing on eBay in 2015, and it wasn’t even a card.  It was this:

Raven comic book backing board sketch by Jose L. Rodrigues..

I picked up this great addition to my Raven art and sketch card collection for a whole $9.99 (shipping was free, but it was nicely protected) back in January.  As the caption states, this fantastic piece is drawn on the non-glossy side of a comic book backing board.  Looks good at the end of my sketch card binder with the rest of my larger Raven art. 🙂

Random aside: I’m considering drawing something on the other blank backing board that was in with this to protect it and sending it back to the seller, lol.  Maybe they can try to sell it too.

Haha, anyway, that’s it for this post.  Thanks for stopping by!

Take my hand, with all your might… ♫

What the Future Holds…

I guess I better get to the 2015 round of resolutions I cannot possibly keep while we’re still in the afterglow of a new year’s dawning.

Collection Goals

15 trades- I think I got close enough to my goal of a dozen last year not be entirely disappointed in myself, so let’s up the ante.  I already have two that are slowly coming together, one with longtime frequent trading partner Shot Not Taken and another with Baseball Card Breakdown.  I’ve also pulled out some odds & ends for a few other bloggers, and I’ll start sending out emails to the lucky(?) perspective trading partners soon.  I also reserve the right to add the two I got in just under the gun in 2014 if they get me over the hump at the end of the year, since their actual arrivals did and/or will take place in 2015. 😛

Finish the following Single Page Sensations- I am over halfway done on almost all of the following, so I’d like to finish as many as possible.

Cubs: Albert Almora (5/9), Javier Baez (8/9), Kris Bryant (7/9), Tyler Colvin (6/9), Ron Santo (6/9)

Other Baseball: Dick Allen (6/9), Roberto Alomar (7/9), Albert Bell (7/9), Carlos Santana (6/9)

Bears: Charles Tillman (6/9)

Basketball: Luol Deng (7/9)

Wrestling: Victoria/Tara (7/9)

BenchWarmer: BenchWarmer model (none over 3/9)

Baseball Sets: 2011 Topps Legend Variations (6/9), 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Legend Variations (8/9), 2012 Topps Museum Collection “Canvas Collection” Baseball (8/9), 2014 Topps Museum Collection “Canvas Collection” Baseball (6/9 if I keep Strasburg)

Football Sets: 2013 Topps Museum Collection “Canvas Collection” Football (8/9)

Add 2 new licensed and 5 new personal Raven sketch cards- The former are crazy expensive for a B-list team character and there just aren’t a whole lot of either to go around.  I think these are pretty reasonable numbers to strive for though.

Finish both the licensed and PSC DC Comics miscellaneous Single Page Sensations- I am starting the year at 4/9 licensed and 3/9 PSC.

Complete any other sketch card Single Page Sensation- Lots to choose from, but I’m over halfway done on but a very few.

Blog Goals

Write 80 new posts- Again, we’ll up the ante a juuuust a smidge from 2014.  I did a good job of posting with a fair degree of regularity when I was actually here and posting in the year gone by, so I think I can average a little better than 1.5 posts per week in the year to come.  I’m not going to make any requirements on the number of non #collect-focused things this time though.  I feel that was a small contributor in falling off the map so early last year.  I’m stupid (not true, but I am very, very lazy), so I’m going to keep it simple.

Art Goals

Complete 50 new sketch cards- I managed 38/50 last year (1 side of that weird Marvel two card puzzle was completed).  That was close enough to not feel too much shame, especially in light of how much I managed to draw in total.  Still, this isn’t close enough to up the ante, so I will give the same number a good go again in 2015.  Paul Molitor (repurposed) and Boromir of Gondor (artist tile) are the first two in the queue.

100 total new works- I’m pretty sure I coasted past this number last year, and if you consider the multiple pictures on single pages as individual works, then I did even better.  Everything was unofficial, however.

Finish 30 old sketch cards- I barely finished any old cards in 2014, and I don’t feel like I did a very good job on what I did do, so I’m making this a point of emphasis in the new year.  I’m off to a good start, having already finished seven oldies on January 2nd (also colored most of two others).  I’m also happy to report my coloring seems to be back to nearly as strong as it was at the height of my powers a couple years ago.

You can keep track of my 2015 art progress HERE.

Writing Goals

Finish a first draft of any novel idea- I barely got anywhere on anything last year, and while I’d like to say a more stable computer situation would have helped, I’m not so sure…  There can be no excuses this year though.  I just bought the one I’m currently writing from a month ago, and I hope to have a laptop, and the additional mobility that entails, to go with it by spring.

Here is your reward for sticking around to the bitter end: Please enjoy my best pull of 2014, a Meryl Davis autograph! ♥

Aaaand that’s all for this post I guess.  There are plenty of other things I’d like to accomplish in 2015, but these are the most pressing and/or well-defined.  A bit simpler than last year, and I’m sure I’ve probably broken a couple resolutions already, but thanks for stopping by!

Until our next…

More Sketch Cards by Yours Truly

New day, new batch of art.

Rogue..

This is bound for my pal Twitter pal Celina.  Drew it up ages ago but just finally got her colored a few days ago.

Raven 1..

This was the only one of the three Ravens I liked before I colored them, but I’m pretty lukewarm on it now.

Raven 2..

I don’t even know what the hell I was trying to do on this one, but I actually liked it a little better after coloring.  Still not a strong effort though…

Raven 3..

I don’t even… I can’t stand most of my comic book/cartoon/anime-style stuff.  Let’s just get this post over with only other one of the five besides the Rogue that doesn’t really make me cringe.

Blink..

Finally, mercifully, here’s another Blink that turned out decent.  Multiple Blinks in a short period happened because I didn’t have a tan marker to help out with more regular human skintones at the time I first sketched them all out.

That’s all for this post.  I’ll try to do better next time.  Thank you for stopping by nonetheless.

Until our next…

Latest Batch of Art (Edited, but Potentially NSFW)

We’re making art again.  Here’s the latest bunch.

Lithuanian Snow Troll..

To go along with the Estonian Thunderfrog card from late last year, here is the Lithuanian Snow Troll, another 1/3 of the Baltic Siege.  Someday I will have to draw the Latvian Proud Oak…

Yoenis Cespedes sketch card..

Did this because it was all I had to do when I got stuck at the parents’ place one night early in the year.  Not one of my stronger likenesses, that’s for sure.

Jurickson Profar sketch card..

And here’s that Jurickson Profar I forgot to scan awhile back.  Most of these likenesses are a little iffy, but I’m working directly from the tiny card card picture, so it can’t entirely be helped.  I think Gattis & Tulo might be the only ones I came close to nailing.

Raven sketch card..

This is the only Raven I ended up kinda liking out of the four I’ve done so far this year.  I’ll put up the other ones in a future post.

She-Hulk sketch card..

Starting to learn how to shade again after the long coloring hiatus.  This one *might* be good enough to be my own entrant onto my She-Hulk page.

By rule, I must have at least one licensed sketch card, one random PSC or outright commissioned sketch card, and one sketch card drawn by me on my character sketch card pages.  The rest can be pretty much anything.

Blink by Me..

Finally, a NSFW Blink.  You’ll no doubt notice the pose is more dynamic/interesting than I normally tend to do.  The reason for this is that the pose (and even the shading to a degree) is based on a picture tweeted out by a nerdy pornstar I follow on Twitter.  And it should be noted that she indeed liked the card, so I guess I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

And that is it for this latest art & sketch card roundup.  More to come in the near future!

Big hitter, the Lama…

Old Sketch Cards (Edited, but still possibly NSFW)

I was going through the old scan folders that were still on this computer and editing the sketch cards into into individual pics for posting on The Sketch Card Page, so I thought I’d toss ’em up in a blog post while I was at it.  Enjoy.

Starfire..

Dunno who this one is by.  I literally only started keeping track since the last two or three sketch card-related posts.  Great card though.  I think it was a pick up from some charity thing.  Well worth the couple bucks I paid, and then some.

Dani Moonstar by MRam (Edited)..

Whoa!  Sexytime Dani Moonstar.  I won a pair of commissions from MRam on eBay.  Figured I might as well go for the nudity since that’s what he’s known for anyway.  Dani and the next card were who I chose.  Both are edited for obvious NSFW reasons.

Raven sketch card by MRam..

You were expecting somebody else?  You know I’m all about the Raven.  MRam does fine work. 😉

Raven by Banky Farano..

These last three come from an epic several person sketch card trade in a Facebook group.  I know I posted the cards I did for everyone else, but it doesn’t appear I ever got around to showing what I got in return.

Raven by Juan Fontanez..

We all did a sketch card for each other (in one case, we did two apiece).  It was a good way to do get experience by doing a lot of different cards (8 total) in a short amount of time, and get exactly what you wanted in return.  And in return, I got Ravens.  Lots and lots of Ravens.  Mwahahahaha…

Raven by Ashleigh Popplewell..

And the best one of all was this magnificent Ashleigh Popplewell classic.  I believe I did a Jareth from Labyrinth in return for this.

That’s all for this one.  I should be able to do at least one more post like this when I’ve edited the rest.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next…

New-ish Sketch Cards Pickups

Picked these up towards the end of last year.  Scanned ’em the day after Christmas.  Posting them now.

DC Women of Legend Raven..

The rare Raven from a licensed set..  This was by far the least expensive of my quartet of licensed set Ravens, at a hair under $15 with free shipping.  None of the others were under $20.  Hopefully with regular sets coming out again, the price of DC sketch cards starts dropping off so I can get more Ravens in the $10-15 range.  That would be fantastic.

Raven by CK Russell..

This outstanding PSC comes from via eBay from my frequently moving Canadian friend Cara.  She is the main reason I got into sketch cards in the first place, both as an artist and a collector.

Dawnstar..

This is also by Cara, my first Dawnstar sketch card.  This is the main reason I picked up the lot of three Legion of Superheroes sketches.  Here are the other two:

Apparition..

Cosmic Boy..

I will (reluctantly) consider sale or trade offers if anyone wishes to make Apparition or Cosmic Boy a part of their collections.  Hit me up.  Also, go follow Cara on Twitter & see about a commission or something, eh?

And that’s all I got for now.  Thank you for stopping by!

Until our next…

Raven Sketch Card Collection #1

My only licensed Raven sketch card (on account of being able to afford it), by Ray Dillon..

Until our next…

No One’s Going to Read this Post

Heh…

My first second thing to do now that I’m back is to get some old trade posts up.  So, here goes.  This trade comes to me courtesy of No One’s Going to Read this Blog.  This isn’t quite the usual trade, oh no.  This one started as an art trade, a sketch card for a sketch card.  Then when I couldn’t decide on who I wanted, I suggested it be a twofer, one real person, one fictional character.  And so it was done.  I did an Adrian Peterson and a group shot of the Fantastic Four for Jeremy (you can check my deviantART link on the sidebar if you’d like to see them, as well as some of my other work), and I received the following two cards in return:

 

Starlin Castro

Raven from Teen Titans

Very nice work all-around.  I can’t quite find the words to adequately to explain what it is about the cards that makes me like them so much, but who really wants to read a critique anyway?  Suffice to say I think they are great, and welcome additions to my sketch card collection, as well as the individual collections I have for each.

 

The back of Jeremy's cool custom sketch cards.

On top of the sketch cards, we also ended up finding a few regular cards on our respective wantlists to trade.  Here are just a few of the cards I received (the ones I was able to get scanned before they got sorted away).

 

Aramis w/ fancy-pants border.

More '09 A&G minis...

The Cubs Power Trio on '07 Goudey

Finally, an Action Packed Billy Williams..

And that’s all for this one, sports fans!  A fun trades it was.  It’s good to be blogging again. 🙂

Until our next…

Tales from the Mailbox

Click this pic for the eBay listing..

This isn’t the thing I mentioned at the end of my last post, but I think it’s still pretty dang cool.  It’s a sketchbook by Ian Walker.  It is about comic book-sized and 24 pages in length.  All the pics within are done in black & white, hence the title.  I picked up two on eBay, one for myself and one for my dad to put up till Father’s Day and/or his birthday.  The cost: $5 each + free shipping (for disclosure purposes, that means I bought them myself and wasn’t compensated in any way for this promotion, in case that’s not clear).

Click this pic to see Ian's deviantART gallery page. The gallery itself will require one more click once there,

I scanned a few pages for your viewing pleasure.  Clicking on them will take you places.  Ian is very a talented artist and you can see a lot more of his work at his deviantART gallery.

He is also taking commissions.  You can check out his deviantART page linked in the scan above for more info.  Just scroll a ways and boom!… commission information, prices, etc..

Click this pic for more of The White Ninja Guy..

White Ninja Guy is Ian’s own creation, the titular star of his own webcomic.  He’s got his own website and everything!

Click this link for Ian's ustream channel.

Stop by when he’s on sometime and watch the magic happen.  Never know who you might meet.  I ran into  A Pack a Day contributor darkship there recently (I think it was Ian’s channel anyway).

Finally, as if $5 a pop and free shipping wasn’t enough for these great sketchbooks, he is also offering a free sketch (drawn on the last page in the book) of a character of your choice, for the time being at least.

Here are the characters I chose for myself and my dad:

My sketch: Raven of the Teen Titans

Pretty awesome, huh?  Another great reason to check out his channel: You might get to see your art being done live, as was the case with these. 😀

My dad's sketch: obscure-ish Green Lantern Jack T. Chance

I think Jack is the best one Ian drew all night.  Just outstanding!  He’s an old favorite of my dad’s and an obscure enough character that he wouldn’t expect me to choose him (he asked me to “surprise him” when I chose the sketch).

Well, there ya go.  Definitely amongst of the best five bucks I’ve ever spent.  If you have an extra $5 burning a hole in your pocket, I highly recommend picking up a copy.  I do believe you will be glad you did.

Until our next…