Warrior Nun Areala Opening

Thought some of you might get a kick out of seeing this.. of what could have been..

Blog has a new look today

Hi Folks... If our site looks different than yesterday, it's because I changed our blog template because I felt the "whites" in the previous visual style were lacking character, too bland, and uber-subtle, if that's a word. The blog looked like it was a vast wasteland, when in fact we've got a lot of original art already posted, with a lot more coming. I'm just warming up the scanner. :) Well, the other reason for the change is that we now look more consistent with our "sister" original comic book art blog @ http://11by17.blogspot.com, which is focused on non-anime/non-manga original comic book artwork, instead much more Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Neal Adams, John Byrne, Todd McFarlane, Romita, Buscema, Kirby, etc etc, you know 70s, 80s, 90s art. So don't navigate away yet, instead pull up a chair, get comfy and stay a while. :)

Email me or leave a comment with your impression of the blog so far and I'll respond ASAP. Do you want to see more new and original artwork? Any Ben Dunn Marvel Mangaverse fans out there? Any Adam Warren fans out there? Any Kaare Andrews fans out there? How about anime or manga fans? I hope to be in Japan later this year, so if anyone from Japan is reading, I'd love to know of any stores in Tokyo area that sell manga original art.

Manga Spidey & Manga Tigra commission by Ben Dunn

Back in 2005, I was able to get a hold of Ben Dunn and get this commission done by him, and it's in color too! Full 11-by-17 inches in size and vibrant colors!! Features his rendition of Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man and Marvel Mangaverse Tigra. Very cool!

I highly recommend contacting him and acquiring your very own personal commissioned artwork. I know he does commission auctions on eBay from time to time, when he isn't busy, so keep an eye out for the next one. He does a really nice job on them.

Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man 1 Original Cover Art

Here's the original cover artwork to Marvel Mangaverse Spider-Man #1. This piece was all hand-drawn by Kaare Andrews. The backgrounds were done digitally and then all of it was combined and colored at time of printing.

I like the way Spidey's mitts are bigger. Really stands out, and gotta love those webs. Not sure if this was something added by Kaare, or if it was in the original Marvel Mangaverse design by Ben Dunn.

I hope someday they will bring back the entire Marvel Mangaverse, and then take them up against the DC Mangaverse. hahaha

Oh the pain...

This page is from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, page 37. This page is loaded with great art, all sorts of emotional facial expressions, and nice story-telling. You can feel the pain by looking at the eyes in this page.. Original art by Ben Dunn, and acquired from him in 2002.

Layout is exceptional and great use of shading (inks) to complete this page.


Please enjoy my blog, but I kindly ask that you please do not link to, download, distribute, repost or otherwise share *any original artwork images* from this blog as they are the personal property of 11by17.com. Thanks for your understanding.

Iron Maiden in action (original art version)

This is from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, page 36. This page features the death of Iron Maiden. The last panel in this page shows her getting KO'd by the bad guy. Sucks to be IM in this page. Great story telling by Ben Dunn.

It's interesting to look at this black/white version then see the next blog post, where I show you the colored printed version. With only inks, it is difficult to make out depth in the image. Plus sequences that show a lot of detailed action such as battle pages, can be hard to make out in only 2 colors. With art, you can't add camera tricks to blur the background and sharpen the foreground. The art is all done by hand, so any "tricks" come during the coloring of the page.

Iron Maiden in action (colored version)

This is the color version of the previous post. It's interesting to compare the black/white original artwork to the final printed color page.

Tigra

Now here's a great page and I'm damn lucky to be able to call this one mine. For those of you new to original comic book art, there is a certain collector out there that only collects original art of Tigra. Does he have a thing for cats? Nope, just another passionate art collector. He even has a cool website dedicate to his collection and he is a nice guy to boot. Anyhow, after you read the rest of my blog, check out his Tigra gallery.

Anyways, the story goes like this. I missed out on the original chance to pick up this page in 2002. Then after searching high and mostly low, I came across the page in his gallery. After maybe 2-3 years of going back and forth in email, we were finally able to swing a deal that worked out for both of us.

This might be one of my more favorite Marvel Mangaverse pages and characters from Ben Dunn. The middle panel is classic manga, even has the speed-lines. Gotta love the blood spittle coming out of the guys busted up chops, after getting a swift kick in da head by a furry chick. Yo that's gotta hurt though, heh. The layout on this page is superb. Just some great story-telling and the flow/transition is well done. Kudos to Mr. Dunn for the great sequence in this page. Tigra rocks.

Iron Maiden

First up, here is page 7 from Marvel Mangaverse New Dawn, featuring Iron Maiden done up by American Manga artist Ben Dunn. I acquired this from Mr. Dunn in 2002 and he was gracious enough to sign the page for me. I've always been a fan of his "Mangaverse" although I can say with some authority that many others didn't like it. The series was canceled relatively quickly thereafter, I believe by the time 2003 came around. I was fortunate to be able to acquire these pages at the time.

I can't wait till the new Ironman movie comes out.