Whitebeard/Edward Newgate (One Piece) by Kevin Bolk (AnimeNEXT 2012)

Before you ask: no, I don't have a big scanner than can handle a sketch spread over two pages. Yes, I only use MS Paint, which probably doesn't help matters. But no, I didn't ask for this big a sketch.

I got a Sliurian sketch from Kevin Bolk a few years ago, so I hit him up for Whitebeard, one of the biggest badasses in the popular anime/manga, One Piece.

I left my sketchbook at the table, along with a few printed references and a figure of Whitebeard (in Japan, you can get random figures out of boxes to collect and trade; I pick 'em up at cons and high-end shops). Well, Kevin opted to go with two pages, showing Whitebeard using the powers he picked up eating the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, where he creates earthquakes. That's displayed on screen and in print by him punching the air, visibly cracking it. Like I said: badass. I have to say, the sketch is great, but it might look a little crappy after I scanned it twice and tried to line things up.

Oh, and I also picked up a book collecting some of his online strips from Sucks To Be Weegie, featuring the soul-crushing misadventures of Luigi, the lesser-loved brother of Mario.