Space Ghost - Part One

Since this is the first year I'm going to San Diego, I've been going over the Comic-Con website looking for travel info, guest updates, and anything that'll make a trip half-way across the country that much more fun and worthwhile. And as I was perusing the site, I saw that the con gives each attendee a copy of a trade paperback sized souvenir book.

These year's souvenir book celebrates a number of comic-related themes, including Universal Monsters' 75th Anniversary, the 75th Anniversary of Dick Tracy, Captain America's 65th Anniversary, Archie's 65th Birthday, the 50th Anniversary of Gumby, and...

...the 40th Anniversary of Space Ghost.

"Before he went "Coast to Coast," he was a popular 60s' Saturday morning cartoon character. Comic-Con celebrates the enduring appeal of this character who has survived to become a Cartoon Network "talk show host" and the star of his own DC Comics mini-series!"

I love Space Ghost. He was the first superhero I was exposed to as a kid and he made quite a big impression. And since I couldn't pass up this opportunity to contribute to the San Diego souvenir book, I drew a pinup of Space Ghost in his full space flying glory.

I knew I wanted to show Space Ghost flying through the cosmos so the character's pose came pretty easy. I wasn't sure about the background just yet (beyond the cosmos idea) so I drew the character separately. As for style, I wanted to stick to the an "animated" feel so I channeled a little Alex Toth along with some Bruce Timm for good measure.

This was also the first time I've ever used a brush pen which was an interesting challenge (although I had to resort to some of my steadfast .005 Microns for some cleanup work). I'm not a 100% brush convert just yet but I'm going to practice with them for a while and see if I can add a new tool to the skill set.

And here he is.



Overall, I think he came out alright. Now for the background.

Bernie