Ordster's Random Thoughts

Blackest Night Tales of the Corps page prelim

2012-01-23T21:33:00.001-05:00

Blue Lantern page prelim on Ebay click here

Here's another example of prelim to finished page, this one done from a full script by Geoff Johns.

Blue Lantern and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2012

JSA#21, pages 13-15 prelims to finished pencils

2012-01-22T19:14:00.001-05:00

Here's a 3 page sequence, showing prelim to pencils for the Gog storyline in JSA#21!

JSA#21, pages 13, 14, 15 page prelims on EBAY (link)

JSA and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2012 by DC Comics

JSA#28 pages 2&4, prelims to finished pencils

2012-01-18T21:16:00.001-05:00

JSA#28 pages 2&4 prelims on EBAY click here!

JSA#20, page 8 prelim

2012-01-12T21:13:00.001-05:00

JSA#20 p8 prelim on EBAY click here

Here's another prelim to finished pencil example from JSA. I like the ability to resize things when I do a prelim seperately. I tend to fill whatever space I give myself with drawing, leaving little room for word balloons:) Enjoy!

JSA and all characters within are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2012

DC Legacies#6 p 4 prelim + pencils

2012-01-05T22:01:00.001-05:00

DC Legacies#6 page 4 prelim on EBAY

Here's a nice example of how the prelim can change in small ways by the time the pencils are finished. I made the Guardian figure a bit more dynamic by extending his arms more.

DC Legacies and all characters within are trademark and copyright 2012 by DC Comics.

DC Legacies #6, p3 prelim with finished pencils

2011-12-28T23:13:00.000-05:00

DC Legacies#6, p3 prelim on EBAY

Here's a layout/prelim done for a complicated page in Legacies, where there are lots of characters saving lots of people. This issue was written for George Perez, who had to bow out, and he handles these scenes much better than I can. I did my best:)

Finished pencils are here.

JLA-Planetary unused cover idea

2011-12-21T01:31:00.000-05:00

JLA/Planetary rejected cover sketch on EBAY click here

Here's a cover sketch I really liked, that was not chosen, for the JLA/Planetary crossover I drew about ten years ago. I wound up doing a fair number of sketches for this project, which I will post another time. This also started from a small bounding box at the middle of the page, but I felt the view was too close-up, so I drew past that line, to make it a full figure shot. Then whited out the smaller inset lines. Shows the organic nature of drawing.

Superman/Doomsday Action Comics variant cover

2011-12-19T15:20:00.000-05:00

Superman/Doomsday Action Comics prelim on EBAY

This was done as a variant cover for the last issue of Action Comics, #904, I think. Anyhow, the Doomsday here is an evolved version, and I just couldn't wrap my brain around the costume or the reference I had, so I didn't feel the confidence in drawing this one. If you compare the printed version, you can see I was altering stuff up until the end. The file I sent to the editor was flopped, and cropped as well, by me. But it all worked out in the end.

Avengers:Domination Factor cover sketch

2011-12-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

Avengers cover sketch on ebay, click here

Here's a cover sketch for issue#3 of Avengers: Domination Factor, a miniseries I wrote and drew a few years back. Dan Jurgens did the companion mini, Fantastic Four: Domination Factor, with the story intersecting, and then resolved in both books. It was a really fun project to do, and always fun to collaborate with Dan.

Avengers and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2011, Marvel Entertainment.

Tom Strong #5 cover sketch

2011-12-06T21:18:00.001-05:00

Tom Strong #5 cover sketch/ prelim on EBAY click here

Here's a neat cover sketch for Tom Strong #5, that wound up as the prelim to finish the cover. Scott Dunbier had tried to get me to do some Tom Strong before this, but here I got to draw a great little story that Alan Moore wrote for me. This was the first of many Tom Strong jobs I did, and it was a great experience. Scott, as an editor is such an art fan, he's a guy you try hard to impress:)

Batman tonal drawing with Copic markers

2011-12-05T21:41:00.001-05:00

Batman with bat-signal copic marker tonal drawing on EBAY

Here's another drawing, shaded with Copic markers, that I did in some down-time. I'm liking the way these work, and I feel like I'm getting the hang of them finally. May be time to buy some color Copics!

Batman is trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics

Power of Shazam poster #2 prelim + finished line art

2011-11-27T19:54:00.001-05:00

Power of Shazam poster#2 prelim on EBAY

I'm showing a prelim with the final line art below, for the second Shazam poster done for DC Direct in the early 90's, when posters were a good selling item at comic stores. The line art for this was pretty large, as I wanted to draw it close to print size. The color part was done smaller, on a process called blue-line, which was a way of doing painted art and preserving the crispness of the black line art, by having the color on a board, and a film shot from the line art as an overlay, so it could be photographed separately, and combined in the printing stage. Sometimes the color and line art didn't stay perfectly registered with each other, and you'd see a little blue outline in the printed piece. When I worked blue-line in commercial art, the blue-line was always printed on heavy illustration board, to minimize any shrinking, or buckling of the surface, as that could screw up the way the line art film matched up. DC always did blue-lines on 2 or 3-ply paper, at least on my projects.

Power of Shazam is trademark and copyright by DC Comics 2011

New Superman tonal drawing

2011-11-25T19:07:00.001-05:00

Superman tonal drawing on EBAY click here.

Here's a new one, with me playing with the copic markers again. Hope you enjoy!

Superman is trademark and copyright DC Comics, 2011

New interview with Jerry Ordway

2011-11-16T20:23:00.001-05:00

New interview with Jerry Ordway

Here's the color sketch I did for the Greatest Golden Age Stories hardcover many years ago. And below is the finished book jacket.

All characters shown above are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Superman versus rock! Superman beats rock!

2011-11-13T19:47:00.001-05:00

Superman sketch on EBAY click here

Here's a drawing I did of Superman, smashing some rocks! Probably happens to you every day-- flying along and someone tosses a boulder at you! Anyhow, just exercising the superhero drawing muscles:)

Superman is trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics.

Adventures of Superman #446 cover sketch

2011-11-10T17:23:00.001-05:00

Adventures of Superman #446 cover sketch/prelim on EBAY

Here's the original sketch for Adventures of Superman#446, done for editorial approval. This one features Gangbuster kicking butt, while Superman looks on, symbolically. Another cover that went smoothly from this stage to finished art, and one of my faves. See previous blog-posts for an image of the color guide.

Adventures of Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

JSA#25 p10 splash page prelim

2011-11-07T16:29:00.001-05:00

JSA-25-p-10-splash-page-PRELIM on ebay click HERE

Here's a fun prelim for a splash page in JSA#25, which Geoff Johns and I worked on. We see the fate of the Wizard Shazam, turned to stone, in the Rock of Eternity.

Shazam, Flash, and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics

Superman Annual 1996 cover sketch

2011-11-03T00:13:00.000-04:00

Superman Annual 1996 cover sketch on ebay: click here

Here's another cover sketch for the Superman books done in 1996. This one went smoothly from sketch to finish, and I was pretty happy with the printed cover.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics

Batman inked sketch

2011-10-31T22:17:00.001-04:00

batman inked and toned sketch on EBAY click here

A Batman sketch I did while watching the snow pile up, and trees fall down, on Saturday October 29th.

Batman is trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Power of Shazam #5 cover prelim

2011-10-27T16:13:00.001-04:00

Power of Shazam cover#5 prelim on EBAY click here

Here's the marker prelim I used to paint the cover to Power of Shazam#5, with Mary Marvel and Madame Libertine.

In the finished cover, I flopped the composition. I may have drawn the composition this way at the start, I don't recall, but often I will tighten a layout on the reverse side of the tracing paper, to correct proportions where needed. Paint done in Dr Martin's Watercolor Dyes, Prismacolor pencils, and probably some gouache in spots as well.

Power of Shazam and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Adventures of Superman Annual#8 cover sketch

2011-10-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

Adventures of Superman Annual#8 cover sketch/prelim on EBAY

Here's the cover prelim for a cover, done in 1996, when DC's Annuals theme was Legends of the Dead Earth , where each title showed a kind of alternate world futuristic version of the character(s). This one went so smoothly, the sketch served as a prelim, with no real changes in the finished cover. I love covers like that!

Adventures of Superman and related characters are trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics.

Adventures of Superman#445 color guide

2011-10-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

Adventures of Superman#445 color guide on EBAY. click here!

Here's a neat color guide, done in the pre-computer coloring days, for the Superman books. This was also my debut as regular writer on this title, after John Byrne had left the books to return to Marvel. I HAD written a previous issue, but that had been intended for that year's Adventures of Superman Annual, and repurposed for a single issue when the schedule shifted. A side note on this one, is that the printed cover was adjusted, at the request of the comics code, to remove the blood, and shorten the needle so it didn't touch skin. All reasonable requests for a book that was done for "all ages." The Code was generally touchy, when it came to any kind of needles.

Adventures of Superman, and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics.

Power of Shazam#3 cover prelim

2011-10-17T22:05:00.001-04:00

Power of Shazam #3 cover prelim on EBAY click here

Here's an example of the stage before painting a cover-- this tracing paper full sized prelim, which was transferred to the art board and then painted. I drew this based on the cover sketch, which had been done first for editorial approval.

Power of Shazam and all characters are trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics

Comics Greatest World: Will to Power#9 cover sketch

2011-10-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

Will to Power cover sketch#9 on EBAY here:

Here's the last of three cover sketches done for Dark Horse in the 1990's. This one was revised by the time I got to the finished stage, to reflect a cleaner, more idyllic cityscape.

All characters trademark and copyright 2011, Dark Horse Comics

2011-10-11T02:19:00.002-04:00

Superman for Earth cover prelim on EBAY here

This is a tight marker tracing paper prelim that I then transferred to art board and painted, for a Superman Earth Day special, written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Kerry Gammill, and inked by Dennis Janke, in the early 90's, I believe. This was a fun cover to do, and I think I painted the actual cover in gouache, for a nice retro feel.

Superman is trademark and copyright DC Comics, 2011

Color guide for the cover to Superman#40

2011-10-06T23:09:00.001-04:00

Superman#40 cover color guide on EBAY here

Here's another color guide, done for the mechanical color separation process in comics, prior to computer coloring.This is a favorite cover of mine, as it's always fun to draw Kirby creations, like the four armed terror!

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright 2011, DC Comics

Comics' Greatest World:Will to Power#8 cover sketch

2011-10-03T23:03:00.001-04:00

Comics Greatest World: Will to Power#8 cover sketch on EBAY

Another of the covers/ cover sketches I did for Dark Horse's "Comics Greatest World" series. Enjoy!

All characters on the sketch above are trademark and copyright 2011 Dark Horse Comics

Comic's Greatest World: Will to Power #7 cover sketch

2011-09-30T23:03:00.001-04:00

Comic's Greatest World:Will to Power#7 cover sketch on EBAY

Here's a cover design I did, one of many, for Dark Horse, back in the mid 1990's, when they were building their own super-hero universe. Pretty sure I was approached by Barbara Kesel (Randall) who was one of the architects, to do some covers, and I obliged. It was a great and exciting time to be a comics fan, though hard on the wallet, with all the books coming from various companies. These characters had promise, and I still wonder why they couldn't find a niche in the super-hero landscape.

Characters trademark and copyright Dark Horse Comics 2011, all rights reserved

Adventures of Superman #446 color guide

2011-09-29T23:02:00.001-04:00

Adventures of Superman#446 cover color guide on ebay!

Another color guide, this one with a cool color scheme, due to Gangbusters costume, against blue and black. As I try to tell folks, it's not how many airbrushed variations you use, it's about the basic color choices, that make for a striking cover. I honestly believe we do better with less, and are more creative trying to get more out of a limited palette, than with an endless number of color variations to choose from.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Adventures of Superman #449 cover color guide

2011-09-27T20:48:00.000-04:00

Adventures #449 cover color guide Ebay link

Here's another cover color guide, from a really fun period of my time on the Superman books. For starters, this was a story involving Kirby's Guardian character, and the Cadmus labs, and I had just started writing as well as drawing it, a few months earlier. Enjoy!

Adventures of Superman, and all related characters shown
here are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Wonder Woman sketch/ Ebay auction

2011-09-22T23:14:00.000-04:00

Wonder Woman sketch on EBAY link

Playing around in my sketchbook, still trying to get a handle on the copic markers for shading.

Wonder Woman trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics

Adventures of Superman #482 color guide

2011-09-20T21:40:00.000-04:00

Adventures of Superman@482 color guide on EBAY

Hey, this is another color guide I did back in my Superman days, when you had to spell out color combinations with a code, so the color separator could do what is done now in Photoshop! This cover was done as an homage to a great Neal Adams cover from the 70's, and if memory serves, the color was also meant to follow that of the original.

New Captain Marvel drawing

2011-09-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

Captain Marvel sketch on ebay

Here's a fun drawing I did Sunday, to warm up, drawing wise. Always fun to draw the Captain!

Shazam is trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics

JSA #87 page 14 original art

2011-09-12T21:52:00.000-04:00

JSA#87 page 14, original art on EBAY

Here's a nice page, from a few years back, of a JSA story written by Paul Levitz, that had some nice moments for Wildcat, a favorite character of mine. Dave Meikis did a nice job on inks too!

All characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Sinestro movie prequel art

2011-09-09T16:15:00.001-04:00

Since i posted page 14 of this job previously, I thought I'd put the rest up as well. Fun job, tight schedule.

Sinestro and the pages posted above are trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics.

Adventures of Superman #484 color guide

2011-09-06T21:38:00.001-04:00

Adventures of Superman color guide ebay link

Here's another color guide I painted, for the Superman books in the early 90's. These were done to spell out the color formulas for the hand-separated printing plates, before the days of Photoshop for separating colors for the printer.

trademark and copyright 2011 DC Comics

Sinestro splash page prelim/finished page comparison

2011-09-05T20:10:00.002-04:00

Sinestro splash page prelim on ebay

This prelim was done 6 x 8 1/2, mainly to establish the perspective of the Green Lantern graveyard, because the perspective points would have been unwieldy on a full sized art board! I adjusted a lot, in photoshop, and printed this out in blueline onto 2 ply strathmore drawing paper, to ink. The finished art is below.

Sinestro is copyright and trademark DC Comic 2011

JSA#54 p2 splash page prelim

2011-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

JSA#54 splash prelim on EBAY

Here's the prelim of the splash page of the recent JSA I drew. Done as a guide to work out details, before tracing and refining onto the comic board.

JSA#54 page 4 prelim

2011-08-26T22:40:00.000-04:00

JSA#54 page 4 prelim

Here's a new prelim, from a recent JSA issue, done because I just needed to work out that one fight scene and get the characters in there that the writer (Marc Guggenheim) wanted. While it slows down my pace to do these, they are a great help with multiple characters, all using their powers or whatnot.

Shazam catalog cover sketch

2011-08-18T22:42:00.000-04:00

Ebay link to auction

This was done in advance of drawing the cover for Capitol Distributing's monthly catalog, promoting the Power of Shazam series. Once the sketch was approved, I drew the cover, or flip cover, I can't recall.

Star Wars painting, 1979

2011-08-13T02:31:00.000-04:00

I did this many years back, and though it has faded a bit, it still looks okay to me. I recall doing this on a weekend day, to experiment with Dr Martin's watercolor dyes. Fast and bold, using photo ref from a magazine, I did okay capturing the actors, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Alec Guinness, though I wish I'd spent more time on the layout. Enjoy!
Artwork copyright Jerry Ordway 2011, Star Wars and characters are tm Lucasfilm Ltd.

Adventures of Superman#483 cover color guide

2011-08-11T22:42:00.000-04:00

Adventures of Superman Color guide #483 on Ebay

This cover came out nicely, in print. I got my asked for airbrushing, and also was pleased that the effect of the bad guy, Blindspot, worked in a nice subtle way.

Superman Movie 1979

2011-08-10T04:19:00.000-04:00

Here's a painting I did back in 1979, inspired by the movie. I did this as line art, and then made a blueline board, thinking I would lay the linework over the color image. Well, I glazed the board, and painted this with oils instead, letting some linework in blueline show through. I like parts of this, but not all. But it's a snap shot in my art development.

Superman sketch for fun

2011-08-09T04:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, I was doodling, and still getting used to the copic markers on this! Hope you like.
want to bid: Superman sketch on ebay.com

The Death of Superman

2011-08-08T03:27:00.000-04:00

Hey, I just jogged my memory recently, by, oddly enough, watching "Newsies" with my family. It connects to the DC Comics storyline, The Death of Superman, in a strange way. The way? I keep mistaking it for the reason the Death of Superman existed. The movie I want to remember is 1993's "Swing Kids," also starring young Christian Bale. That movie is the reason Superman died, in the comics, rather than getting married to lois Lane.
Anyhow, as I remember this, we, the Superman writers at that time (Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson and myself), had plotted out broad strokes for the many Superman titles, in conjunction with editor Mike Carlin, and associate Dan Thorsland, leading up to the wedding of Superman and Lois. We would chart out the rough outlines for over a year in advance, really, always leaving room for changes as the work started on a given issue. The wedding was scheduled for Adventures of Superman#500, far in the future. Somewhere in there, word came down that ABC was interested in doing a TV series called Lois and Clark. The possibility arose, of saving the comic book wedding, to do as a true tie-in to the show, a cross promotion. A great marketing tool to feed a potentially huge audience to comic book stores! The execs were developing the show with Thomas Carter as the perfect showrunner/ producer, based on his track record on tv with Hill Street Blues, The White Shadow, all great character driven shows. It would be a gritty drama, with an emphasis on the newspaper stuff, and the stories the reporters chased down. Sounded great to us, but suddenly we hear that Mr. Carter was going off to make the feature film "Swing Kids," and we were left scrambling to substitute a storyline for the wedding, knowing that the show was being delayed, the wedding had to be pushed back. We had to save the comic book wedding for the TV show. So we suddenly had a free slate, and somehow or other, the greatest comic hero met his death by our hands. Maybe a bit of spite found its way into our thinking, I can't say for sure.
Thomas Carter would have been terrific on Lois and Clark, but that never came to be either. It certainly would have been a different show, more gritty and real. As it happened, the show worked in a frothy, "Moonlighting" vein as well.

line art by Dan Jurgens & Jerry Ordway

from the Death of Superman Omnibus edition, tm & copyright DC Comic 2011

Power Girl pin-up, playing with copic markers

2011-08-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

Power Girl pin-up on Ebay

Hey all, I was goofing around with some Copic markers, trying them on greys instead of ink wash. I liked the dual tip on these, and the grey goes down nicely, with no blotchiness. Enjoy!

Power Girl is trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Captain Marvel shop talk cover sketch plus Power of Shazam#9 cover sketch!

2011-08-02T22:24:00.001-04:00

Hey, check these out here, and then on Ebay if you want to bid. Click on the links.
Captain-Marvel-Shop-Talk-cover-sketch

Power of Shazam-9-cover-sketch-Jerry-Ordway

Bibbo in the movies?

2011-07-26T00:31:00.000-04:00

Hey, I saw this in a movie, "Dr Renault's Secret," where character actor Mike Mazurki (Moose Malloy in Murder, My Sweet, a 1940's adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely") seems to be channeling a Bibbo vibe! I added the balloons-- couldn't resist:)

Green Lantern Movie prequel comic

2011-07-14T00:30:00.000-04:00

Green Lantern splash prelim on ebay!

Here's an image of the prelim for a page, as well as the finished a page!

Power of Shazam#2 cover sketch!

2011-07-09T00:04:00.000-04:00

Power of Shazam#2 cover sketch on ebay!

Here is the cover sketch I did for editorial approval. You can compare it to the painted final art, posted earlier on this blog!

Power of Shazam #7 cover sketch

2011-07-04T23:26:00.000-04:00

Power of Shazam #7 cover sketch on ebay

Here's the sketch, done for editorial approval, for Shazam#7. This one cruised through the approval process, and was one of the more iconic shots in the series.

New interview with Dan Jurgens and Me, from Superman: Crisis to Crisis

2011-07-01T19:20:00.000-04:00

supermanpodcast/Jerry and Dan on the 1990's Superman era

Pictured at the set of Lois and Clark, in the 1990's left to right, Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Doug Hazlewood, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Glenn Whitmore, and Brett Breeding.

Cover sketch for Power of Shazam#5

2011-07-01T00:38:00.000-04:00

power of shazam#5 cover sketch on ebay

This sketch was done for editorial approval, and because I knew what editor Mike Carlin wanted, he usually gave them the thumbs up!

Superman/Captain Marvel holiday themed cover sketch

2011-06-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

Superman-Captain-Marvel-cover-sketch-Jerry-Ordway-art

This was done for a comic catalog, many years back, and also used on a calendar for Capital distributors.

Prelim for Power of Shazam holographic trading card

2011-06-25T22:46:00.000-04:00

Power of Shazam holo card prelim on Ebay!

Hey all, this prelim goes to a complicated job, where the finished art was drawn on three separate sheets of board, so that the holographic process could divide foreground, middle ground and background planes. The final card is pretty darn cool, if i say so myself! But it was a pain to draw all three finished pieces, as I had to draw each stage complete, meaning a whole Captain Marvel figure, and a complete background behind Cap and Billy as well. Best, JER

Adventures of Superman#457 cover color guide.

2011-06-23T02:38:00.000-04:00

Adventures of Superman#457 color guide on EBAY

Here's another color guide, from a cover drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks by me, and color guide by me as well. See previous posts for an explanation of the flat color sep process.

Power of Shazam #42 prelim and finished painting

2011-06-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

ebay listing for prelim on sale!

Here's a peek into a work in progress. The above is a tight prelim, which was then traced onto a piece of drawing paper, and painted in watercolor dyes, with some Prismacolor pencil for highlights. Below is the final cover.

images are trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Coloring guide for Superman#42 by Ordway

2011-06-15T21:17:00.000-04:00

Superman#42 coloring guide on Ebay

Hello again! For the uninitiated, in the pre-computer coloring days of comics, when the color separations were done by hand, on overlays, and not with Photoshop, we used to prepare these guides for the separators to work from, with a limited palette of colors based on increments, or percentages of red, yellow and blue. Superman's "red" was a mix of red and a little yellow, for example. On covers we were allowed limited use of grey as well. You had to choose carefully, though, and keep it light in value, as on this one, with the monster's pant leg color, of yellow with a 10-30% greytone on top. Anything darker and you might just wind up with a dark shape, with no line detail seen underneath:) For flesh tones, I liked using a small percentage of blue added to the fleshtone formula, for shadows. The idea was to be creative, and to squeeze the most variations out of the limited palette, for the coolest results. Best,JER

Here's the cover sketch to Power of Shazam#40!

2011-06-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

Power of Shazam cover sketch #40 on ebay!

This one was done to illustrate the Mr Mind Goes to Washington story, which was a lot of fun to write!

trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics

Superman coloring guide on ebay!

2011-06-05T16:27:00.000-04:00

Superman #35 coloring guide

This was done for when I was a regular writer and artist on the Superman titles, and chose colors for the covers as well. Kerry Gammill drew this issue as a fill-in, and I volunteered to color the cover. Note the little pencil notes, with codes referring to a chart that DC supplied us, to spell out the formular for the color separators, who would cut film by hand, on overlay sheets, to create the plates for color printing. The covers offered more color sublety than you got on interior pages, as well as the shiney paper stock, which allowed the black ink plate to really pop from the color ones. To give Lex Luthor's head two color variations, I drew a simple pencil line to indicate where the shadow, or darker skin tone started. All is required was to add a small percentage of blue to the skin tone color, but it really helped make the drawing more 3 dimensional. Alas, this is a lost art, as colors are done on computer, and the one who chooses the color also creates the color plates as well.

Power of Shazam one million cover sketch on ebay

2011-06-05T04:24:00.002-04:00

Power of Shazam one million sketch on ebay

Here's a sketch I did for the cover of Shazam that shipped during the DC One Million crossover, in 1998, I believe. It imagined the DC universe in a million years, and Captain Marvel having succeeded the Wizard Shazam, to the throne on the Rock of Eternity. Fun story.

Here's the finished cover, the only non-painted cover in my run on the comic.

2011-05-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

JSA #25 p 11 prelim on ebay

Here's yet another prelim, for JSA showing Black Adam fighting Isis! Below is the finished pencils for you to compare! Best,JER

New JSA prelims ebay auction

2011-05-29T02:59:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260792353858#ht_500wt_1156

Hey, here's another pair of prelims done for JSA#25. Compare to the finished pencils below, to see what gets tweaked and what stays the same!

JSA#25 pages and prelims for comparisons

2011-05-23T03:08:00.001-04:00

The prelims for these pages flowed pretty good, and fast, as it was near the end of the deadline:) Pressure loosens up the creativity many times.

Captain Marvel/Alter Ego#91 cover

2011-05-16T21:13:00.001-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-art-Jerry-Ordway-prelim-Captain-Marvel-/260785597367?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb8086bb7#ht_500wt_1156

Here's a prelim for a special cover done for Alter Ego, where I would finish the main figure, and then Emilio Squeglio, a Fawcett artist of their glory days, would finish the image in the mirror. Emilio is a great guy, with an amazingly diverse career. Also a fun guy to talk to. Anyhow, next, you can see how this left my drawing board!

More JSA#25 page prelims and pencil comparisons

2011-05-13T19:17:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260784147992#ht_500wt_1156

These are two more pages of prelims for JSA, featuring Bad Billy, and Evil Mary:) Anyhow, they are for sale on ebay now, and also here for your viewing pleasure! Below are the finished pages as they left my drawing board.

JSA#25, pages 16-17 prelims on EBAY!

2011-05-10T19:11:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260782086268&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Above are two preliminary drawings, used to create the actual pages in JSA.

Here are the pages as they left my table! Page 16 went to inker Bob Wiacek, while I inked page 17 myself, due to tight deadlines. I also inked other pages in the issue. With p 17, I recall that I printed my prelim out in blueline, on a sheet of Strathmore paper, and just inked, using a Hunt #102 crowquill, Pitt brushpen, and a brush loaded with Pelikan ink, to fill in black areas. P 16 I lightboxed in pencil.

Birds of Prey cover, with Batgirl!

2011-05-09T01:31:00.000-04:00

Hey,
This cover was a fun one to draw, as it was a homage, or rip-off of a 60's DC cover! The editor, Mike Carlin, loved it, but then, editorial above him made him black out the Batgirl figure, for some reason that seemed important at that time. I know this is a business, and they need to sell comics, but moves like this are just pointless, and arbitrary. Plus they ruined a good cover.

Birds of Prey is trademark and copyright 2011 by DC Comics

Superman/Gorilla Grodd prelim for trading card art on Ebay

2011-05-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-art-Jerry-Ordway-prelim-Superman-Grodd-/260781616402?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb7cbad12#ht_500wt_1156

This is the sketch done for the art director at DC handling the Upper Deck "VS" series, and shows how to pack a lot of content into something that was printed a little larger than a postage stamp:) Below is the finished line art. Note that with something like this, you often have to "over-sell" the idea. Superman now has a bag of money in one hand, to help sell that he is robbing the bank, not just stealing a vault, while under Grodd's mind-control. Be careful around intelligent apes, I always say! Jer

Birds of Prey#100 cover sketch on ebay!

2011-05-07T19:54:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260781005685#ht_500wt_1156

Hey, this was a small layout, done for editor Mike Carlin's approval, back when I did a bunch of Birds of Prey covers. Mike was always easy to work with on these things, and this cover run I did remains a favorite of mine. Note the small figure of Judo Master, on the corner of the sketch, done by me to help figure out the way the costume would work on the female version of Judo Master. As Carlin was most always on schedule, and rarely missed getting these covers done in time for Diamond's solicitations, I sometimes didn't have interior art as reference for the cover images. I probably had just the list of characters to include, and most had appeared somewhere previously, except maybe the lady Judo Master.
For comparison, the finished cover is posted below.

As you see, some elements are different on the final art, depending on the editor's direction or even my own desire to sneak more characters onto the cover. I don't recall which reason applied here. Jer

JSA#25 pages 1,2 prelims, on Ebay

2011-05-01T20:27:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jerry-Ordway-prelims-JSA-25-pgs-1-2-original-art-/260778036271?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb7950c2f#ht_500wt_1156

Here's two JSA prelims on ebay now! Check it out!

Here's how they turned out in pencil!

from this storyline, collected here:

Kid Flash upper deck trading card prelim on Ebay

2011-05-01T20:22:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260778039163#ht_500wt_1156

Here's the layout for a Kid Flash trading card done for DC licensing a few years back, for editorial approval, as well as to work out the details before drawing on the good paper:)

also provide the finished drawing, not on Ebay!

2011-04-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260777418105#ht_500wt_1156

Here's the layout for the double-spread in JSA#24, which features the subway car from Captain Marvel's origin! This was really helpful to do as a small layout, and then enlarge and trace off onto the finished page, because both perspective points on the main shot run off of the 8x11 layout, but can be placed on the drawing table with ease, outside the image area. At full size, those perspective points would be hard to manage.

Here's the finished pencils, so you can see how the important stuff was settled before I got here!

thumbnail layouts for a 10 page Wildcat story/JSA 80 Page Giant

2011-04-29T04:16:00.000-04:00

Here's an insight into the work process. I wrote this story, and after my plot was approved, I broke it all down in small layouts, to pace out the action and make sure I had a good blueprint for my finished art. Most of it was done in a regular writing pen on a sheet of 11x17 paper, with the splash page done in more detail, as I liked the rough enough to tighten it further, so I could enlarge it for light-boxing onto the drawing paper. Sometimes a really tiny rough can help you , with a busy scene. I guess when I hit a layout I like, I know better than to try and redraw it on a bigger sheet, because you can lose what appealed to you at this stage. Compare the splash to the finished page, posted earlier on this blog. Best,JER

Here's the finished pencils for the Hellboy pin-up

2011-04-28T00:31:00.000-04:00

These pencils came out pretty well, if I say so myself. Compare to the layout I posted earlier to see how important it is for an artist to have a decent roadmap to use in completing a drawing. There are times when a drawing just flows, and then there are times when you just fight the piece, maybe even starting over in frustration. In my personal experience, I do better in the pencil stage when an editor does not ask for figure changes on a sketch or layout. "Turn the head to the left," or "tilt the torso backwards just a bit" comments always mess with my head. What may be small adjustments often will throw off the whole figure to me, and if I attempt my finishes from the original sketch and just "turn the head to the left," I get into trouble! In many ways, I enjoy doing interior pages more because no layouts need to be submitted for approvals, as they do with covers.

One of my weaknesses is a desire to jump to the finish stage prematurely, such as beginning to ink before the whole drawing is down on the board. But then, I like venturing into scary territory on paper, as I like inking from a bunch of scribbles to "find" the drawing.

Hellboy is copyright and trademark 2011 by Mike Mignola

JSA#87 page 12 on ebay

2011-04-24T04:39:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I am listing this page on Ebay, but I figured you'd like a larger scan, to see all the cool detail. This story was set at the Tower of London, and was a bit of a challenge to find specific reference for.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260774025308&ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Mighty Man pin-up prelim

2011-04-23T02:59:00.000-04:00

Here's a prelim for a Mighty Man pin-up done for my pal Erik Larsen, for his Savage Dragon comic, a few years back. It was meant to echo an old Shazam Treasury edition cover from the 1970's. Also up on ebay as of 8 am tomorrow. Enjoy!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260773377875&ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT#ht_500wt_1359

Power of Shazam trade edition prelim

2011-04-23T02:54:00.000-04:00

Hi, this is the prelim/sketch for the softcover edition of my Shazam graphic novel, up on Ebay Saturday morning. The hardcover image was meant to be more design oriented, while this was just a nice action image. Note the logo I hoped would be used for the regular series, as well as this edition. Not to be, though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260773380647&ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT#ht_500wt_1359

Hellboy prelim

2011-04-23T02:49:00.000-04:00

Hey, I just posted this sketch on ebay, done several years back, for Mike Mignola, in exchange for his pin-up for the WildStar trade paperback. After drawing this rough, I pencilled the pin-up, and sent it to Al Gordon to ink, but I have no idea what happened, or why it was never used. Kind of a shame. The pencils are shown in my Modern Masters book, linked below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260773382161&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1359

Shazam#42 cover

2011-04-21T01:36:00.000-04:00

Hey, here's a scan of the cover to Power of Shazam#42, trademark and copyright DC Comics 1998

Shazam#2 cover

2011-04-19T02:44:00.003-04:00

Hey, here's a fun Shazam image I did a few years back for the Power of Shazam comic series! Done in Dr Martins' watercolor dyes and ink on 2 ply Strathmore drawing paper

JSA#24 prelims on Ebay, and here

2011-04-16T16:07:00.001-04:00

Hey all, I am posting these here for your viewing pleasure, but note they are also up for sale on ebay at the following links:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260770057936&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260770051914&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Superboy Prime layouts on ebay

2011-04-12T20:53:00.001-04:00

Hey I just put these up on ebay, but posted larger here for your viewing enjoyment:)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-art-Jerry-Ordway-prelims-Adventure-Comics-/260768344878?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb7012b2e#ht_500wt_1156

JSA#23 page 1 prelim

2011-04-08T22:37:00.000-04:00

Here's a look at the splash page prelim for the JSA story arc featuring the Marvel Family. Enjoy! Also on ebay for bid, no reserve, at : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260766150932#ht_500wt_1156

Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis (Jsa (Justice Society of America) (Graphic Novels))

Lights Out Finale tonight on FX/Wildcat page

2011-04-05T23:42:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I just watched the "Lights Out" finale tonight, and it was great. Sadly, not many watched this show, and it's now a one season wonder, same as "Terriers" another entertaining, offbeat show on FX that was cancelled. Lights Out works fine as it was, with a nice ending and all, but I really loved the characters.
Lights Out

Anyhow, it got me thinking of this JSA Wildcat story again:)

Hey, here's a page from JSA- Black Adam and Isis

2011-04-05T23:16:00.000-04:00

This page had to be edited, I guess to make the bad guy less creepy, so here's what it looked like as pencilled. If you want the collection, check your local comic shop, or Amazon.
Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis (Jsa (Justice Society of America) (Graphic Novels))

Infinity Inc finally coming out in collected edition!

2011-04-03T01:37:00.001-04:00

This image is a copy of the pencils for a DC who's who page for Infinity Inc, to accompany the text.

A commission of Captain Marvel

2011-04-03T01:00:00.000-04:00

I drew this for a fan not too long ago, kind of a fun idea, and a way to get tiny Mr Mind into the picture in a creative way.

USAgent #2 cover sketch, also up on ebay

2011-04-03T00:37:00.000-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260762882227#ht_500wt_1156

Hey, here's another cover sketch from around 2001, of USAgent. I was going for a rip-off of Steranko's great SHIELD cover, with Nick Fury in Space, but the final cover has the figure changed a fair amount, to blunt my homage a bit. And the editor was right! He is swimming towards the underwater base on the printed cover, which makes more sense. Enjoy, and if you like it enough to follow the ebay link, even better!

Ordster's Random Thoughts: Another ebay piece, this one Tom Strong

2011-03-31T17:45:00.004-04:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260759837712&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260759837712&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

Another ebay piece, this one Tom Strong

2011-03-31T02:04:00.000-04:00

Here's another ebay auction being held now. I did this sketch for editorial approval, and then drew the actual Tom Strong cover using it as a guide. A cover sketch like this can be loose or tight, with the idea of selling the concept to an editor.

My current ebay auction

2011-03-31T02:00:00.000-04:00

Hey all, this is now up on ebay, but thought you'd like seeing a better image of it. It's a tight layout, used to print in blueline on drawing paper, and inked, for publication. I think this may have been the first time I did this process.

Read Bibbo's twitter feed!

2011-03-23T23:21:00.001-04:00

Hey all, I just saw that my pal, Bibbo has started a Twitter account under "BibboBibbowski@twitter.com"

I am posting a page of art from a Wildcat story, in last year's JSA annual, with Bibbo!

My ebay auction

2011-03-22T00:47:00.001-04:00

Hey, here's the ebay auction I am doing, along with the art. Hope you check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260754205681&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

I'm back after two years! Yikes!

2011-03-22T00:31:00.003-04:00

Hey, after a few years, I decided to try my blog again. Kind of embarrassed to have it sitting here, on blogger with no new info or art. I am currently drawing the last few chapters of the Lobo serial in Weird Worlds, out from DC. This has been a busy few years for me, thanks to some fun projects like an arc for Superman-Batman, and DC Legacies issues. With Superman-Batman, the editor wanted to see me do the art in greyscale, which was a lot of extra work. I think it came out fine, but it took me a while to decide how much grey would be too much for the colorist to deal with. I am posting a page here, for all to see. Also, I have linked an ebay auction I am doing, just for anyone who cares. I am dipping my toe into the ebay selling pool, and may do more if the response is good. Thanks again for checking out this, and the auction !

Double page for JSA Kingdom

2009-02-02T15:51:00.001-05:00

Here's a page I pencilled for Brave and Bold #11

2008-01-20T19:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a recent pencilled page I drew for The All New Atom #19, published by DC Comics

2008-01-19T02:41:00.000-05:00

Inks over Mike Weiringo

2007-08-13T22:39:00.000-04:00

I heard today of the untimely passing of artist extraordinaire Mike Weiringo, and it just hit me on so many levels. Not only was Mike a terrific artist, but he was a decent guy, and in the prime of life. And just like that he's gone. Life is full of surprises. I was reminded by Mike Carlin today that Mark Gruenwald passed on at the same age (44) and the same day (August 12th) eleven years ago. It sounds trite to say, but it is a reminder that every day of life is precious.

I know that Ringo's work will live on, in collected editions, just as Mark's work does, which is some consolation.

This Captain Marvel piece was pencilled by Ringo and inked by me, for DC's 1994 presentation catalog, when Mike was briefly attached to draw the monthly Power of Shazam comic. Sadly, he withdrew from that project. I would've enjoyed working with him on that. He had grown so much as an artist since then, peaking with his work on his project Tellos, and his recent runs on Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. What a terrific storyteller he was , with clear, easy to follow stuff. His pencils elevated every script he worked on, and he will be missed.

Cover recreation for DC Comics from a few years back

2007-08-13T22:26:00.000-04:00

I drew this for a reprint of the original 1960's Secret origins comic, where the original stat was too degraded to use. It was an awful fun job, and I couldn't hide my style too much, though I tried to respect the panels ( which were drawn by several artists originally.) It was more than a tracing job, I can tell you. I believe the World's Finest panel had the most redrawing, by DC editorial request.