Baron Karza by Rich Cirillo after Michael Golden

I haven't done a lot of inking since Neal Adams passed away. Having worked for Neal for the past 2 years it was an amazing opportunity to learn as an artist under his tutelage. The last few weeks before he passed, I was really energized, inking multiple pieces by different artists that I could show him and get his feedback. We had one last great conversation about art the week before he left us. Then any desire to draw or ink was drained from me with the tragic news of his passing.

I started this piece prior to his passing and finally decided to finish the piece in recent days. The pencil original of this piece resides in another collector's gallery, so I wanted to ink it in a similar manner. One thing Neal taught me was instead of inking large areas of black as a solid mass, sometimes feathering the lines adds more of a gray tone feel of the pencils.

I miss showing him different pieces of my work to get his feedback of things I did well and things that needed work. His knowledge and years of experience were invaluable and something I will always cherish. His lessons he imparted in me will stay with me for the rest of my days.

Concerning this piece, I am a huge fan of Michael Golden's art, and his Micronauts work in particular. I always loved the original this was based on and it was a lot of fun taking a shot at it!