Laurel Gand by Gene Gonzales

It's always a good day when I get to add a whole new gallery room to my CAF! This is my first piece of unpublished art featuring a character from the "5 Years Later" era of the Legion. You might know her better as Andromeda, but this version of the character only ever went by her own name.

I've been a fan of Gene's work for almost a decade now - ever since I was a teeny high school freshman scrolling through Pinterest building up my "Legion of Super-Heroes" board! Gene's art is nothing short of prolific, especially when it comes to the Legion. He's probably drawn more Legion art than even some published Legion artists have, and he seems to have a fondness for producing some much-needed art of the more obscure characters and costumes. I bought this piece directly from Gene, which I feel is a rite of passage as a Legion collector. It was great to finally have the chance to chat with him and begin my collection of his work. I get the feeling that in time, I'm going to have a right proper "Legion" of pieces by him!

This lovely Laurel piece was a great way to start. She's an even more under-represented character on CAF than her Andromeda variant is, and I'm delighted to finally have a piece featuring her. You can tell Gene really understood the whole "point" of her costume, that she's something like 70% leg and 30% bulky jacket. I do love how his very clean lines allow the most attention to be drawn to the jacket, since it's the most complex element of her costume, and how he gave it the most detail with the subtle shading and crease lines. Laurel's character really comes across in the pose Gene chose for her - confident and just the tiiiiiniest bit belligerent, like she's offended that someone would even try to pick a fight with her.

Gene's coloured version of this piece (from his Patreon) is included in the additional images.