Super Friends in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

I participated in my comic book shop's annual auction to raise money for the Cleveland Food Bank. One person won an exclusive edition of my Super Friends in Oz piece that I created for the auction. The illustration is an homage to the Super Friends episode "The Planet of Oz," where Mr. Mxyzsptlk sends a tornado to transport Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman inside of the Hall of Justice to the planet of Oz. Upon arrival, he transforms them into versions of characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book. The three of them have to find their way through many encounters on the planet until they reach "The Wizard" and of course manage to trick Mr. Mxyzsptlk into saying his name backwards, thus forcing him to set everything right.

As an homage, I didn't want to try to create something that looked like an animation cell from the episode. I wanted to inject my own style into it, three-dimensionalize the visuals, and offer more nods to the 1939 MGM musical of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. That meant adding a "Dorothy" to the piece, and while Jayna of the Wonder Twins actually did appear in the original episode, I decided to use Wendy Harris, a character who regularly appeared in only the first season of the Super Friends show. I thought that Wendy's color scheme and design would better meld with Dorothy's and look better alongside the other characters in the piece. And while I'm a HUGE fan of the Oz books, the makers of the movie musical were not wrong when they decided that ruby slippers would "pop" more against the Yellow Brick Road compared to silver slippers that were in the book.

Prints of this piece are available directly from me. Fill out the "Contact Me" form at the left of this page to contact me regarding a print and inquire about pricing. 
"Super Friends in Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©2022 Kevenn T. Smith 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Mera

This is the 7th entry that I've posted in this 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.

I'd say Mera is rather well known, after having been portrayed by actor, Amber Heard in both the Justice League and Aquaman movies. Her character has been around since the early sixties. She has the power of hydrokinesis, which can manipulate water - especially to make it hard. My favorite scene in the Aquaman movie was when she used an entire wine cellar as a weapon and took out evil Atlantean soldiers with wine because of her powers. She is super strong, tough, can breathe underwater and swim really fast. She is currently married to Aquaman in the comics and has also been Queen of Atlantis at times too.

This look came about because I really wanted to do one of someone's back, and showing off the curving line of her back and then a gorgeous train for this mermaid silhouette for someone who's basically a superhero mermaid. I fell into a whole other world rendering her hair, and I did not mind. I had so much fun creating the pearls that went in her hair and her bracelet and the "straps" of her scaled dress. She's one of my favorites in this series.

Thanks for chosing to spend time with my work!

"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Mera" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Mera ©DC Comics