Here's the Thing...

Another character that was suggested by an Instagram follower was Rachel Grey, the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Rachel's been among my favorite characters since the early days of 'Excalibur' 35-40 years ago, so it wasn't exactly a big ask.

Here -- Have a Battle Angel Alita I drew last week.

It's rare that I don't read a fantasy story or play a fantasy-type video game without wondering what the setting might look like a few hundred years later. That's what inspired this week's drawing of Morrigan and Leliana from Dragon Age with a modern vibe and ready for a night out on the town in Denerim (or any other city in Thedas). And did I go in at the last minute to add that Orlesian Chantry necklace for Leliana? Yes. Yes, I did.

Power Girl has had a lot of 'real' names over her years in DC Comics, so here, I'm just going to go with Power Girl. Sometimes when I want to draw a character, the first few poses just don't work out, but the need to draw them remains. In those instances, I just find an easy pose reference that works so I can get them out of my head and move on. That is exactly what happened here... so please enjoy this simple bust drawing of Power Girl.

A follower on Instagram suggested I give Gabby Kinney, aka “Honeybadger” or “Scout” a try, so here's the thirteen-year-old ray of sunshine who has an incredible healing factor and a set of knives knives in her feet and hands. I think I may have given her the best hair I've ever drawn, too.

This week's drawing is Bernie, the Grim Reaper and leader of a team of undead warriors who fight off primordial bad guys in “Death Vigil.” She usually dresses a bit more formally, but, as usual, I threw her in some civvies instead. Nightwish happens to be one of the bands she digs (I got the t-shirt logo from their artwork; I didn't do it myself). The books are by Stjepan Seijic, and I highly recommend them.

Jaylah from “Star Trek: Beyond” has been on my 'To Draw' list for years, but I never felt confident in tackling her until, if it isn't obvious, fairly recently. But here we are, and here she is after I spent about an hour recreating the USS Franklin emblem for her shirt. (Being able to do that and having a way to make it look wrinkled is one of the reason I'm using the new program so much more than the old one nowadays.) Also, in case it wasn't obvious, I am a child of the '80s and so you will never get me to stop drawing off-the-shoulder sweatshirts. Never!

I've been drawing a lot of sorceresses lately, it seems. Here we have my rendition of Triss Merigold from the Witcher books, games, and TV show, and maybe it's just me, but I think she's giving Coachella vibes.

A casual Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat from Spider-Man comics and video games. Nothing too special about this one; I just felt like drawing the pose and she came to mind as someone I haven't drawn before.

Finally took a crack at drawing Go-Go Tomago and Honey Lemon from the Disney version of “Big Hero 6.” Thanks go to my cousin Molly for helping with the Japanese on Go-Go's shirt.

Just a casual EDI, the robotic teammate from the Mass Effect video games. I started this last November and stopped because I hated it, but after taking another look recently I decided to finish her up. I cheated a little by giving her full eyebrows, but she didn't look right without them.

Yet another magic user – this time it's Myrna, a necromancer and “Keeper of the Seals” in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Given her Necromancy and residency in Necropolis Halls, I tried to keep a darker palette for her without going with the typical black/white/gold combination.

Continuing on a Sorceress theme, here's a contemporary Claudia from The Dragon Prince/The Dragon King. She's gone through quite a change in appearance since her early days, which is something I always love seeing. There isn't a deep reason for me to have put her in this outfit, other than I saw the pose and thought “Hey, that could work for her.”

(I'll admit the books haven't aged as well as I would have liked.)

Okay, so this one is definitely a bit more colorful than my usual stuff, but for good reason – This is Alison Blaire, aka. Dazzler, whose superpower is the ability to turn sound into light (and lasers). I really struggled with this one and came close to giving up four or five times. It started as a full-body drawing, but when I couldn't get her hips and legs to look right, it became a headshot. All in all, I kind of like it, even though it took me a while to reach that point.

This week's drawing is a contemporary-look Doric, the druidic tiefling from “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which is a fantastic, fun movie you should check out if you already haven't.