Best of 2025 :: Published/Unpublished Comic Book Pin-Ups, Illustrations, Trading Cards

Vril Dox II by Barry Kitson

Owner: Margaret Leigh
Artist: Barry Kitson (All)

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Additional Images:

Pencil Prelim

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Artwork Details

Title:	Vril Dox II by Barry Kitson
Artist:	Barry Kitson (All)
Media Type:	Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:	Illustration
Views:	102
Likes on CAF:	11 12
Added to Site:	10/18/2025

Description

DREAM. COME. TRUE.

Barry Kitson takes a suggestions list through his Facebook group every month, where you can suggest two characters, and Barry will choose whichever ones strike his fancy and paint a piece featuring them. If he picks your suggestion, you get first dibs on the piece.

Well, ever since I joined his group in March of 2024, I've been suggesting Vril Dox II, one of my favourite characters, who starred in the L.E.G.I.O.N. series (which Barry was the main penciller for). Even before I started collecting art, even before I really knew it was something I COULD collect, I would dream of getting Barry to draw me a piece featuring Vril. I was lucky enough to have Barry pick one of my other suggestions earlier this year, but opening Facebook and seeing the prelim for this piece here is maybe the happiest and most excited I've ever been for anything comic-art related... except maybe for how excited I was to see the final painted piece. And in my humble opinion, it's one of the best things Barry's ever painted (but I am heavily biased!). I sort of still can't believe it's really real. Barry described creating this piece as "revisiting an old friend", and it's really, really wonderful to know that I had a tiny hand in that, even if it was only me suggesting it.

As an avid collector of space backgrounds, it's hands-down the best space background I've ever seen! I can't get over how many colours Barry put into it, and how they all look so beautiful together and don't clash with the rest of the painting. I love how much the stripe of colour pops against the rest of the dark blue spacescape. And I love that Barry went above and beyond to add some extra details to the stars, with some having little twinkle lines.

As for Vril himself, well, I think Barry's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that even though it's been over thirty years since he regularly drew the character, he still knows how to make Vril look good. The expression is absolutely perfect - you could interpret it as scheming, smug, unimpressed, or judgemental, and all of them work just fine. You might notice some orange sketch lines peeping through, or wonder how Barry achieved the fine shading linework on Vril's face. I wondered that too, and asked him, and it turns out that it's actually an "orange/gold ink" that Barry sometimes uses, and that he usually puts black ink on top of once he's done painting the piece. Apparently for this one, he really liked the effect the gold ink produced on its own, so he kept it, and I'm so glad he did. I wonder if it's because green interacts well with the gold, but it's hands down my favourite shading technique I've ever seen! It keeps the lines a bit more subtle, less stark, and it's what really elevates the piece above anything else in my collection, in my opinion.

Also, I have it on good authority from a few other artists that the L.E.G.I.O.N. symbol is a time-consuming pain to draw, but of course Barry did it twice (at two different sizes!) like it was nothing. It's pretty cool to see him drawing it again.

In the additional images, I've included the pencil prelim for this piece. It's basically a finished piece unto itself because Barry's pencils are just so insanely clean. Nobody does pencil shading like Barry Kitson. Though, I do think I like the shading on Vril's face better in the painted piece, where the lines are a bit softer and blend in really well with the paint. I love looking at the two side by side to see two different stages of Barry's creative process!

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About the Owner

	Margaret Leigh ( 6 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	May 2021
Last Login:	January 2026
Country:	CANADA
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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