2010 FANGIRL OF THE MONTH CALENDAR

Kristin Foxy Allen wrote a Journal not too long ago that took me over to Panels on Pages where the Fangirl of the Month Calendar Project was in full swing.

Each month POP! showcases a different fangirl in all her gorgeously geeky glory and the fine folks there decided to put together a calendar featuring them all. To see a rundown of the girls with their bios and stats just visit the Fangirl of the Month Archives.

If you'd like a peek at how the calendar looks visit the 2010 Fangirl of the Month Calendar page. Please check it out and if you'd like to score your own calendar just visit the POP! Cafe Press store and order away!

Here is a "behind the scenes" look at my contribution to this great calendar! I had the honor of depicting the very cute "NerdyBird" Jill Pantozzi in all her fangirl fineness. Ms. Pantozzi rocks the fangirl colors and keeps all who visit her blog: Has Boobs, Reads Comics up to date with what is happening in the world of comics and pop culture media. Swing by and tell her Stalk sent ya!

Once I knew I would be illustrating Jill as Fangirl of the Month for December I went online to find as much ref on her as I could. I found ample supply on her different sites and quickly roughed out a headsketch to try and get the likeness down. For those of you that may not know, I'm HORRIBLE with likenesses so I need all the ref I can get!

As is usual with my art I got carried away and instead of just leaving a good sketch well enough alone I slapped some color on it using my trusty Prismacolor markers.

Once I felt comfortable enough failing at drawing Jill as cute as she is in real life I began to work on ideas for the actual pin-up. My first idea was to base a costume design on her online handle NerdyBird. I wasn't feeling this design too much at first but once I got done with the piece I looked back on it and saw some potential there. A few ideas sprung to mind such as her being a world class scientist and adventurer who is able to sprout wings and change her size to mimic different birds. Wonky concept I'm sure but maybe usable later down the road!

My next shot at the pin-up design was based on a suggestion of Jill's. She is not only a fan of the Green Lantern books but she also did a cosplay of herself as a RED LANTERN!!! Besides looking great sporting the Red of Rage she carried around a little Dex-Starr plush that made quite the splash along with it's owner at the show. With that in mind my next approach at Jill's asking was to try and depict her as a Red Lantern with a somewhat sour disposition towards Christmas trees.

Not wanting to run the risk of getting into any sort of trouble with DC or the Warner Bros. legal department it was decided that another approach be taken. Thus we come to the sketch that lead to the final image. Having read the Jill was a big, I mean HUGE, fan of THE FIFTH ELEMENT film I opted to depict her in Leeloo's white strap outfit. Jill also wanted to throw her scooter into the mix and I topped it off by adding in a Mondoshawan head on the front of it.

I liked the way this piece just clicked and it became the final image I chose to flesh out in rough pencils.

Of course to see the final finished image please feel free to jump on over to my DeviantART page: Stalk on DA

Thanks to the lovely Kristin Foxy Allen, Jason and the guys over at POP!, and my muse for this piece: Jill "The Sixth Element" Pantozzi!