Daredevil "The Tides of Change" by Paolo Rivera

Paolo Rivera is absolutely blowing my mind on his nascent run on the relaunched Daredevil title with writer Mark Waid. He has churned out some of the most inventive panels and visual elements that I've ever seen in a DD comic before. It's been really exciting to see him and his father (the inker on the title) cut loose and push the envelope on how DD is portrayed and interacts with the world around him. I'm so glad to see him handling the art chores on DD, especially since I was really disappointed that his Daredevil Mythos project (with writer Paul Jenkins) did not come to fruition.

All of this preamble aside, I'm so glad hat I was finally able to snag an original commission piece from Paolo. He and I had been emailing back and forth for almost two years now, and the stars finally aligned for him to whip something up for me. Paolo was excited about trying his hand at DD's original yellow costume, which he'd never attempted before, and the enthusiastic results speak for themselves. Paolo did a brilliant job of capturing all of that naive bravado of an unjaded DD at the very beginning of his crime-fighting career. The subtle self-confident smirk really says it all, and the crafty use of orange for DD's eyes lends the piece a nice POP that conveys a piercing determination implicit within his gaze. I'm so thrilled to have added such a poignant piece of DD art to my collection. Thanks so very much, Paolo, for doing such an outstanding job. A big thanks also goes out to Global Convention Alliance member and Mister Freeze art afficianado, Patrick Brooks, for agreeing to pick the artwork for me from Paolo at the upcomig New York Comic Con. You guys rock!

Update: Here is a description of the piece by Paolo from his blog:

"I managed to get the above head shot finished just before the con. The patient commissioner had been on my list for nearly 3 years, so I was more than happy to put a check next to his name. When he mentioned the yellow costume, I jumped at the chance, never having painted (or drawn) it before.

I tend to be pretty conservative with my convention portraits, but since I did this at home, I chose to paint ol' horn-head lit from below. To assist me in that pursuit, I enlisted my new digital Matt Murdock maquette, which I sculpted in a wonderful (and free) program called Sculptris. I've been promoting it on Twitter for some time now, but this is the first time I've mentioned it here. Download it. Please. This is the greatest sculpture tool I've come across since Super Sculpey."