Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Dove

This is the 30th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic. Although statistically not common, it is still possible to transmit and receive the COVID-19 virus even after being fully vaccinated. Masks greatly help to prevent this spread. This entry is also one of the seven final "deluxe" entries to this series, with only one more planned left to fully create after this one. This entry was originally planned to be the final piece in this series.

Dawn Granger is the second hero to go by the name "Dove." Both were bestowed magical powers by the "Lords of Order," ancient magical beings who work to govern the laws of magic in the Universe from the opposing "Lords of Chaos." Don Hall, the first Dove, died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Dawn (yeah, their names sound alike) was gifted with the magical power of Dove: a danger-sense transformation into her heroic Dove identity, hyper vigilance and discernment, flight, superhuman agility, enhanced durability, quick healing, along with her hand-to-hand combat skills. Dove is partner to the much more aggressive, Hawk, who she works to calm and pacify a lot. I wanted the peace-loving aspect of this character to come through visually with the use of the peace sign gestures, necklace, sandals, and caftan dress. I also am a fan of Minka Kelly's portrayal of the character in the HBO MAX Titans series, and the dark eyes and eyebrows and side-pony of this depiction are a tribute to Kelly's embodiment of the character.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Dove" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Dove ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Omen

This is the 29th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic. Although statistically not common, it is still possible to transmit and receive the COVID-19 virus even after being fully vaccinated. Masks greatly help to prevent this spread. This entry is also one of the seven final "deluxe" entries to this series, with only two more planned left to fully create after this one.

Lilith Clay originally appeared in Teen Titans #25 in 1970. Though not well known to the general public, her character has been around for a long time. In the early 70's she was a psychic go-go dancer whose powers ended up getting her a membership spot on the Teen Titans team as their second female member to Donna Troy's Wonder Girl. The latest DC Rebirth continuity also had Omen as one of the original Teen Titans members, and as Omen, her power range has greatly increased. Not only does she possess psychic, telepathic, telekinetic, and empathic powers, but she also can create psionic blasts and shields and illusions in the minds of others. Lilith has worked with many incarnations of the Titans teams through DC's history, and she's usually brought back into the story when the more popular character of Raven isn't available to use at the time for one reason or another, it seems. However, in a lot of ways, i feel that Omen is more powerful than Raven.

This look is heavily based on Omen's Rebirth costume and its black and green color scheme. Many fans throughout the years have associated Lilith with wearing green, so it was nice to see that reflected in an official Omen costume. The first Omen costume appeared in the late 90's Teen Titan title and was black and red. The silver necklace in this outfit pays homage to the silver necklace from that costume. Stylistically, this costume pays tribute to the many Grace Jones influenced early Lady Gaga looks that incorporated a loose hood and uses well over 400 individually placed beads in its conception.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Omen" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Omen ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Flamebird

This is the 26th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic. At the time of this posting, the Delta Variant is still a serious threat, and many areas in the United States, like the one I live in, are under advisement for everyone to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. This entry is also one of the final six "deluxe" entries to this series.

All hail the original Dick Grayson Thirst Queen! The character Betty Kane was created in the 1950's, not long after her aunt, Kathy Kane, to combat those pesky homosexual rumors about Batman and Robin. Kathy Kane's Batwoman wanted to aid the Caped Crusaders, and her niece, Betty, became the original Bat-Girl...in order to get closer to Robin because she had a crush on him. AND NO ONE CAN BLAME HER.

Along came the 1960's and DC Comics had a Batman TV show that made big waves in pop culture, and they decided to introduce a new Batgirl character by the name of Barbara Gordon. Kathy & Betty Kane had been long disused, and it seems as though it was decided that those adventures with Batwoman and Bat-Girl took place in a parallel universe on Earth-2. The character of Bette Kane was later created, a tennis champion as a young teenager, a young beauty pageant winner to rival any Tots & Tiaras star, an Olympic level swimmer and acrobat, trained in many martial art forms, an experienced sky diver, wind sailer, and mountain climber. All that, and the only prize she couldn't win was catching the eye of the original Robin, Dick Grayson. She ended up creating the identity of Flamebird and set out to get Robin's attention by becoming a crime fighter. Eventually, she joined the Teen Titans West and was an auxiliary member of the Titans throughout the years. My favorite Flamebird moment occurred during the 1998 JLA vs. Titans miniseries by Devin Grayson & the LEGENDARY Phil Jimenez, when trapped in an illusion of her perfect world, her fantasy was playing a game of tennis against Robin in his original short-shorts/short cape costume, and watching him bend over - over and over - to pick up the ball. Bless her heart.

Flamebird received a bit of a makeover in the Batwoman title when she wanted to serve as a sidekick to her cousin, Kate Kane, who is Batwoman. Bette ended up taking up the new identity of Hawkfire. It's a terrible name, especially because DC has long had a character named Firehawk in its Firestorm stories, but Hawkfire did have a great costume which the chest symbol in this outfit is lifted from and the gold layered bracelet inspired by the gauntlets on that costume. The rest of the outfit is inspired by her two Flamebird costumes, the original containing a tennis skirt and color homages to the original red and green Bat-Girl costume. Her character's history and portrayal contains a level of camp that endears this character deeply in my heart. It's a real shame she isn't used more in comics.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Flamebird" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Flamebird ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Starfire

This is the 23rd entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Starfire is a warrior princess, Koriand'r, from the planet of Tamaran. Her people have the ability to absorb ultra violet light and convert it into energy that gives them the power to fly...which was used as a reason by the character's creators to justify why she and most of her people wear very little clothing. The more skin they expose, the more energy that they can absorb. (Insert side-eye here. I've yet to see Superman fly around half naked, when his powers work on largely the same principle.) She was trained in combat, but also ended up being given to brutal aliens by her family as a peace offering in hopes that they wouldn't be conquered. She and her older sister, Blackfire (Komand'r), were experimented on in captivity, which lead to them being able to project energy blasts called starbolts. Eventually, Koriand'r escaped, made her way to Earth, she demonstrated another of her powers: the ability to absorb language through kissing. She kissed Robin (as in "Batman and...") upon her arrival, and the two ended up in a relationship quickly. She also quickly became a member of the New Teen Titans.

Her relationship with Dick Grayson, the first Robin and now Nightwing, seems to be an on-again, off-again phenomenon, usually based upon which group of fans the comic book editors want to please: the fans who want Dick Grayson and Koriand'r as a couple or the fans who want Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, to be a couple. Currently, Starfire is the head of Titans Academy, where the older twenty-something Titans are training empowered and/or skilled teens how to be heroes.

For the look in this illustration, I pulled mainly from Starfire's current costume that debuted in the Justice League Odessey series and her original costume from the Marv Wolfman & George Perez runs of The New Teen Titans. The current costume features big armored shoulder pads with jewels, and I thought it'd be fun to turn those armored pieces into decorative epaulets. Her earrings are inspired by the design of a pendant from the original costume. The sandals are also inspired by the original costume's boots. Her incredibly long hair and gravity defying abilities lend to creating a wonderful shape around her where her hair can float, almost like she's under water.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Starfire" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Starfire ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Raven

This is the 22nd entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Raven, also known as Rachel Roth, is the daughter of a human woman named Arella and a world-conquering demon named Trigon. She was raised by monks to help her control her emotions, lest they overcome her and she opened the dimensional door to allow Trigon back to conquer the world. Raven originally brought the Teen Titnas back together again in the 1980's to fight Trigon. Raven is an empath who also has many other powers, including flight, magic, and sending her consciousness about in a form called her "soul self." Eventually, with the help of the Titans, Raven defeats her father, Trigon, and is currently a respeced senior member of the Titans.

Raven has had many looks since she was first created in the 1980's by Marv Wolfman & George Perez for The New Teen Titans. Her original look was basically an evening dress, opera gloves and a hooded cloak. Over the years, Raven would get various other looks. When the character appeared in the Teen Titans cartoon with grayish skin and violet hair, visual elements from that design began showing up in the comic books. I tried to come up with a look that incorporates various designs the character has featured into this look.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Raven" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Raven ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Donna Troy

This is the 20th and 21st entries that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Donna Troy is a beloved superhero. As the first Wonder Girl (not counting Wonder Woman herself as a girl), Donna Troy was a member of the Teen Titans. Donna Troy has ha SEVERAL headache-inducing origins throughout her decades existence, but her original is really the best, simplest, and easiest to understand. She was an orphaned baby/toddler, rescued by Wonder Woman from a burning building, taken to Paradise Island/Themiscyra to heal, and in the process was imbued with Amazon abilities. She was then raised by Queen Hippolyta as an adopted daughter and sister to Wonder Woman - and became a sidekick of sorts. Sadly, we got precious rare actual printed material of Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl actually working together. It was more a thing that was talked about than ever shown. And that's a real shame. As Wonder Girl, Donna had a lot of the same powers as Wonder Woman, but not as much. She even had a lasso as well. Donna's first Wonder Girl outfit consisted of star spangled short-shorts, and a red chiton with a golden eagle emblazoned on the chest and the neck and armholes trimmed with a gold pattern that homaged a Greek key pattern She also had red lace up sandals like Wonder Woman did in the 1950s and 60s. But that changed in the 70s, and Wonder Girl got a new full-bodied star spangled red catsuit with a "w" shaped buckle on her golden belt, a golden eagle necklace around her neck, and a long hairdo, aging her up from the teeny bopper pony tail look that she had been sporting.

My take on Donna Troy is a big send up to her first red catsuit Wonder Girl costume, while using the plunging neckline of her more famous version of that costume that George Perez created for The New Teen Titans. It also references Debra Winger's Wonder Girl costume from the ABC season of the 1970s Lynda Carter Wonder Woman television show with the wrap aspect and the stars on the left side of the chest that are virtually the same color as the dress. I also wanted to visually reference the latter starfield pattern that would show up in Donna's later costumes, that always read as sparkly sequins or beads to me, that created a starfield look.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Donna Troy" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Donna Troy and Wonder Girl ©DC Comics 

Reality shifted in the comic books, as they seem to do, and Wonder Woman was rebooted as being younger and just arriving to Patriarch's World. At the same time, New Teen Titans was one of DC's big selling titles, and they didn't want to start over from scratch there, so Donna's origins tying her to Wonder Woman were replaced to being rescued by the Greek Titans of myth, and trained and empowered by them...ad then she just happens to call herself Wonder Girl and wear a Wonder Woman-like costume years before Diana shows up as Wonder Woman...And many "fixes" would appear in the comics to try to make that work. When her connection to the Titans of myth was reveled, she received a new costume (the first with the starfield) and a new hero identity, Troia. Her Troia costumes were dominated by the black starfield, and after a while, silver accessories, as opposed to gold. This second version of her look is the Troia version.

From the hair to the dress and shoes, I was also inspired by singer/songwriter Dua Lipa for this look. Dua Lipa embodies the aura of a young twety-something, vibrant, fashionable, and independent woman, and I feel that Donna Troy is that as well.

Thank you for taking the time to experience these pieces.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Donna Troy 2" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Donna Troy and Troia © DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Bumblebee

This is the fourth posted entry in this PSA illustration series to promote the pro-social and pro-health concept of mask wearing during the pandemic and depicts superheroes in "red carpet" takes on their superhero costumes.

This entry is also tying in with Black HistoryMonth - Bumblebee is Karen Beecher, a brilliant scientist. While Nubia was the first superheroic black woman to appear in mainstream comics in 1972, it wasn't until 1974 when Storm appeared in X-Men comics over at Marvel that the first actual black woman superhero premiered, because Storm was a code name and a persona. In 1975, in the pages of Teen Titans, Bumblebee became the first bonafide black woman superhero in the DC Universe.

Karen was dating a man named Mal Duncan, who worked with the Teen Titans, but for some reason, they never invited him to become an actual member. So, Karen put together an anti-gravity suit with "stinger" beams and dubbed herself Bumblebee, attacking the Teen Titans in an effort to give Mal a chance to be the one who sends her packing - just to make him look good. They discover her identity, and then...yep, they invite HER to become a member of the Titans. (The Teen Titans were kinda' jerks.) Eventually Mal did joint the Titans, and the two were married.

Over the years, Bumblebee has gone through changes. They've made her single again, she's had the power to shrink down to the size of a bee, for a while was STUCK at the size of a bee. In Rebirth, they gave her powers, so she was no longer reliant on technology. Check out the recent issue number 2 of the fantastic miniseries, "The Other History of the DC Universe" by John Ridley, who wrote Twelve Years a Slave. The entire issue is from Karen & Mal's point of view, and it's outstanding. It'll also make you really not like Roy Harper.

For this look, I wanted something less "opulent" and something slightly more "working class." The look homages her second Bumblebee costume, that I feel like she had the longest, and her design from the Teen Titans cartoon, that also ended up being adopted in the comics.

Thanks for taking a look!
 "Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Bumblebee" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Bumblebee ©DC Comics 

A Boy And His Dog: Superboy & Krypto the Superdog

This is a commission piece that I did of Superboy, Conner (Kon-El) Kent, and Krypto the Superdog.  Superboy is a clone using DNA of both Superman and Lex Luthor.  The current DC Comics stories have Conner living with Martha Kent on the Kent Farm and going to school in Smallville, much like Clark Kent did when he was growing up.

For me, this piece was also an opportunity to go back to the rural small towns and farm areas that were nearby where I went to college.  I had the opportunity to go back there earlier this year for a wedding, and I think it really helped me in depicting the small town/rural setting.

This illustration is available as prints. Please use the "Contact Me" form at the top-left of this page to request one and inquire further about pricing and sizes.

8" x 10.5" on Bristol Board
Prismacolor Color Pencils

Superboy & Krypto © DC Comics 2011

DC Comics Heroines 2007

I thought the best way to get the ball rolling here on my portfolio was to write about one of my favorite pieces I did.

The goal of this piece was to portray my favorite versions of my favorite DC Comics Heroines, including the costume details and artist depictions of them. I also wanted to try to depict as many characters as I could in a way that was iconic to the character; to try to communicate something about who that character was.

Some of the artist whose styles I worked to emulate for these characters were: Terry Dodson, Amanda Conner, Nicola Scott, Adam Hughes, Ed Benes, Joe Bennet, Joe Staton, Dale Eaglesham, Brian Bolland, Tony Daniel, Pete Woods, Mike McKone, Michael Turner, Jamal Igle, George Perez, Kevin Maguire, Chris Batista, Phil Jimenez, J.G. Jones, Al Barrionuevo, Daniel Acuna, Matthew Clark, Todd Nauck, Tom Grummet, Bill Willingham, Adriana Melo, and Jesus Saiz.

What follows is a numbered version of the piece, and below that is the key to the names of the numbered characters:

 

01. Jade; 02. Raven; 03. Isis; 04. Supergirl (Kara Zor-El);
 05. Supergirl (Linda Danvers); 06. Aquagirl; 07. Ravager;
 08. Batgirl (Barbara Gordon); 09. Speedy; 10. Misfit; 11. Black Canary;
 12. Oracle; 13. Huntress; 14. Big Barda; 15. Lady Blackhawk; 16. Thorn;
 17. Manhunter; 18. Gypsy; 19. The Question (Renee Montoya);
 20. Batwoman; 21. Batgirl (Cassandra Caine); 22. Queen Hippolyta;
 23. Flamebird; 24. Starfire; 25. Power Girl; 26. Sasha Bourdeaux;
 27. Catwoman (Holly Robinson); 28. Catwoman (Selina Kyle); 29. Spoiler;
 30. Bumblebee; 31. Ice; 32. Miss Martian; 33. Wonder Girl;
 34. Earth-2 Wonder Woman; 35. Wonder Woman; 36. Miss America;
 37. Donna Troy; 38. Fury I; 39. Artemis; 40. Vixen; 41. Firehawk;
 42. Hawkgirl; 43. Cyclone; 44. Stargirl; 45. Liberty Belle;
 46. Earth-2 Huntress (Helena Wayne); 47. Phantom Lady; 48. Red Bee;
 49. Empress; 50. Dr. Light II; 51. Skyrocket; 52. Mera; 53. Katana;
 54. Mary Marvel; 55. Crimson Fox; 56. Nightshade; 57. Thunder;
 58. Fire; 59. Natasha Irons; 60. Madame Xanadu; 61. Zatanna;
 62. Enchantress; 63. Grace

 ©DC Comics 2011

DC Heroines 2007 ©Kevenn T. Smith 2011
16" x 20"
Pencil, Ink, Prismacolor Pencil, Tempera, Photoshop

 This illustration is available as prints. Please use the "Contact Me" form at the top-left of this page to request one and inquire further about pricing and sizes.