Preliminary Batgirl Cover Sketches by Adam Hughes

When DC rebooted the Batgirl title with Barbara Gordon it signed on a heavy hitter for covers, Adam Hughes. Hughes did some lovely work. In particular the cover he did of issue 6 is one of my favorite covers of the year so far.

The trade edition of the first six issues of Batgirl contains some sketches for covers not used and a reader was nice enough to send them along. I hadn’t seen these before and thought I would share.

First up are the preliminaries for the first issue. If you remember the image had a smiling Barbara Gordon as Batgirl flying at the viewer:

That final cover doesn’t reference Barbara Gordon’s transformation from Oracle or that she has regained the use of her legs. Instead the character seems to flying through the air. But a look at the preliminary sketches shows an attempt to illustrate the transformation more literally.

Read More

Cover to Batgirl #4

Good cover by Hughes. Wish he was doing the Birds of Prey covers, too.

Three Amazing Artists; Three Amazing Pieces

Over on Comicart fans, Eddy Choi has posted a set of photos showing Phil Noto, Tommy Edwards and Adam Hughes at work during the HeroesCon show held last weekend in North Carolina.

The artwork supports the show allowing artists and creators to attend the show. Alison Sohn the organizer of the auction states:

The proceeds from the auction help to pay for invitedartists’ travel and accommodations for the event, while allowing HeroesCon to keep their ticket prices some of the lowest on the convention circuit.

Here’s a close up at the pieces in process and the finals.

Noto Supergirl WIP

And the final.

Edwards’ Rocketeer in process

And his final.

Hughes in process.

And the final. The final auction price for the Hughes piece? The report I saw said $12,000. There are some great photos at the link of other artists and pieces so click on through.

(Source: comicartfans.com)

Catwoman combines pleasure with business

The cat with the goggles cracks me up. By Adam Hughes.

(Source: comicartfans.com)

Happy Birthday Adam Hughes

A happy birthday to the talented Mr. Hughes and thanks for the many beautiful portraits of strong, kick-ass women. I was lucky enough to get a commission of Barbara Gordon as Oracle from Hughes this weekend and now it seems that I may have one of the last convention commissions he’ll be doing under his old lottery system.

As Bleeding Cool reports after coming home and finding another commission from Boston up on eBay for several multiples of the $400 that he charged for it, Hughes has decided to end doing commissions at shows at this price.

It’s his art and his decision. But I also know how disappointed his fans must be to see one jerk ruin it for everyone (the auction was pulled soon after the story broke). There are people who have waited years for a chance to get their own Adam Hughes portrait. And now they will have to either pony up the price for buying a guaranteed portrait prior to the show (which go for a few thousand dollars) or turn to the after market which is already in that price range.

I’ve been able to secure commissions from many artists that I have on my wish list (there’s still a few though) and while I love them all the piece Hughes did for me is stunning. While there are several of pieces he’s done that I haven’t liked, when he’s on, he is amazing.

So here’s to some great portraits of kick ass DC women and their creator:

From left:

Catwoman

Zatanna

Barbara Gordon

Black Canary

Power Girl

Wonder Woman

Supergirl

Psst. Need a Vixen piece.

Batwoman

Poison Ivy

Harley

And a few more who should have been in there

Lois Lane

Helena Bertinelli/Huntress

Donna Troy

Starfire

Happy Birthday, Dinah Lance/Black Canary

If you didn’t guess, today, April 10, is Dinah Lance’s birthday. Let’s celebrate!

Dogwoman? Adam Hughes Catwoman benefit sketch

For the Old English Sheepdog Rescue Nework. Hey, I liked the baby! (which is totally Bruce’s).

(Source: comicvine.com)

Zatanna #11

Adam Hughes, of course. You can see the development of the cover below.

(Source: adamhughes.deviantart.com)

Another pretty Zatanna teaser from Adam Hughes

From issue #14

Starfire statue design by Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes Catwoman cover for ImaginFX

Hughes says, “On sale in the United Kingdom on February 8th! It will be available in North America a few weeks afterwards.”