A little while back, I received a question for one of my Mailbag Q&A’s about my Superheroes Doing Ordinary Things theme sketchbook, and, more specifically, where they could see what’s in it. That was when I realized I had never shared that anywhere, or more specifically, I’d never shared it in a post on the site, at least not in a complete fashion. And after that Q&A went up and I noted that I’d never done that, I had a few folks ask me, “Why not?” effectively. That’s a good question, and one I didn’t have a good answer to. So, with that in mind, we’ll be doing just that today.

But before we get into that, let’s talk about the background of this sketchbook. The truth is, I’d always wanted to open one, and had ever since I first learned of the concept at one of my first Emerald City Comic Cons. The idea was incredibly appealing to me. Being able to see a bunch of different artists bring a specific character or concept to life just seemed like a lot of fun. There was only one problem. The first gaggle of theme sketchbooks I saw were always artists drawing one specific character or group of characters (i.e. Jack Kirby creations), and I just don’t love any characters enough to do that. So, I needed an idea that wasn’t just one character or group of characters.

I thought about this for years — truly, it was probably five or six years — before a write-up about the idea of theme sketchbooks for an edition of my now deceased email newsletter The Crossover actually helped me come up with the concept (which I commemorated with a tweet at the moment of inspiration). And it makes perfect sense for me. I love comics where superheroes do ordinary things, whether it’s eating meals, playing sports, or doing anything you or I might do. It’s always been a thing for me. And with this sketchbook, it became an official one. But it happened at least in part because artist Robert Wilson IV helped me pick out an ideal sketchbook for it to reside in (it was an A4 sized — meaning 8.27″x11.69″ — Moleskine), and because he was willing to do the first piece in the book back in 2018. That helped a ton, and it was such a fun starting point for everything that would come.

Anyways, onto the main event, though! Below, you can find all 11 pieces I’ve gotten since 2018 in my Superheroes Doing Ordinary Things Sketchbook. I’ll add pieces to this in the future as others come in. Unfortunately, it won’t be the fastest because a) I don’t go to a ton of cons and b) I keep it to one or two commissions per con, max, save for my first one (when I got four!). Oh, and this is open to non-subscribers, so, consider this where I put my usual note about the value of subscribing to SKTCHD and supporting the work I do.