Flying Monkeys, Everywhere I Turn

I’ve been working on a Wizard of OZ illustration series based on the original book version for the longest now. Ever since I started on this project, I can't help but notice a bunch of Wizard of OZ comics that have/are coming out. It's quite a coincidence. Not that no one has ever thought of the subject, but it's just funny that it's come to my attention since I decided to illustrate scenes from the classic book.

Today at Midtown Comics, as I finished purchasing some Marvel titles, I noticed they had a free WOZ sketchbook promoting an upcoming comic mini-series by Skottie Young and Eric Shanower. Although I try not to look at other WOZ-related comics for fear that those ideas leak into my own work, I gave it the ol' look-a-roo and found the style treatment to my liking; A fun revisioning of the characters, very loose yet expressive brushwork and a rich, earthy color palette (from what I saw in the preview pages). I look forward to following this title when it goes on sale in December. You can find more info on it here.


The cover for the 3rd issue reminds me of my Poppy Field sketch.