Lady Death by V. Ken Marion after Greg Capullo

I had luckily come across V. Ken's Instagram account in 2020 where he had posted that he was accepting commissions through his art handler, and I jumped at the chance to get a piece from him almost immediately =)

But for a little back story to my excitement, I had first emailed/talked to Ken in 2015 just before San Diego Comic Con took place where I had missed getting on his list of pre-commission slots. So, as I talked to him for the first time in person at the convention, I had asked if he was taking any commission work home that he would be willing to draw for fans that didn't get one at SDCC. He wasn't sure, but he did put me on his personal list for the next time he was ready to do some, and all was good =)

So back then, I had originally asked for a Mara Jade commission piece from Star Wars. And I wasn't in any hurry to get it done (no comic art collector can be, lol), when a couple years went by and I saw a new post on his personal webpage telling fans that he was taking on commissions again. I emailed him immediately asking about my original request, but I had misread what he wrote as he was taking pre-commissions for that year's New York Comic Con (2017? 2018?) and not commission pieces in general. But even though he wasn't ready to draw a commission for me, it was a good email because I wanted to change my character idea from Mara Jade into Angela from the Spawn comics anyways. He then admitted that he liked that idea more since he wasn't really feeling Mara and wasn't all that excited to draw her in the first place =) So, we were all set again, and more time passed by until I saw his commission list had opened up again this past August, but this time through his art handler.

Josh couldn't have been any nicer or more professional in his replies and messages to me. I explained to him that I was on a previous commission list with Ken and that I had a totally new idea and character I'd like to be drawn, and he and Ken said it was no problem.

This Lady Death commission idea started by accident with Mike Debalfo years ago where I asked him to do a Lady Death homage cover after a Michael Turner print I had hanging on my walls. And now, these many years later, my collection revolves around specifically asking current artists if they would be willing to draw Lady Death in the same look/feel/layout to some of my personal favorite comic images of the past in their own style. The idea for this piece was to draw Lady Death in homage after Greg Capullo's work on Angela from the Image Spawn comics (so I'm still kinda getting my Angela idea from Ken in a back handed way, lol). Ken's raw pencils are simply incredible in this piece, and his attention to detail is second to none in this current day industry. I'm so happy I can finally cross him off my list of "most wanted commission artists," though that doesn't mean I won't be getting more from him some day in the future =)