Dawnstar by Barry Kitson

This absolutely gorgeous piece is a recent ComicLink win! I was so excited when I came across it, because it's incredibly rare to find any Legion-related art by Barry "in the wild", so to speak. I wanted to know a little more about its origins, so I sent Barry a message (and it is still so unbelievably cool that I get to do something like that), and although he couldn't quite remember, he's fairly certain this is a convention sketch he did for someone at a con in Europe.

And wow, what a con sketch it is! I really am a sucker for a great space background, and Barry does some of the best I've ever seen - and I really think this one might be one of the best. I just can't get over how Barry is able to blend such disparate colours in a medium that likes to make everything come out muddy if you use it wrong! You'd never think green, red, and yellow could look so good blended together, or layer so nicely over blacks and greys, but the results just speak for themselves. The pale tones of the nebula lend the piece a very ethereal feel, I find. I'm not sure if the planet in the bottom corner is meant to be Earth or some other world, but I love how the blue and darker green stand out so well against the rest of the piece.

Dawnstar herself is gorgeous, of course. Barry really captured her calm, determined grace, and the way she's perfectly at home amongst the stars. I love all the detail he put into the tassels of her uniform, and how he used those - and her hair - to add an elegant sense of motion to the piece, as if she's hovering in place with her wings, or like she's just come to a stop.

It's also worth noting that after nearly five years of collecting, this is my first full-figure piece from Barry, but I'm really hoping it won't be the last!