TRADING CARDS - Cable

I don't know why there are so many time-traveling mutants from dystopian futures and I don't know why so many are related to Cyclops and Jean, but Cable is my favorite from both categories.

I was actually always worried about recreating this card. When I first started this project it seemed very intimidating -- it doesn't match my style at all. But the purpose of this whole project is to push myself to try new techniques and effects. I found it a lot of fun to work on after I committed to it.

Raised in the distant future, Cable traveled through time and space to bring his paramilitary techniques to our era to aid in the struggle for mutantkind's survival.

Draw Every Day 181-190

This batch covers when I hit my half-way through the year mark and asked for suggestions on what characters I still needed to draw. I got some fun suggestions and started working my way through them, including Silver Surfer, Professor Xavier, Blue Beetle and Cheshire. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for daily updates @natexopher

x-men group poster

so a while back (longer back than i'd like to admit) i drew up all of those individual x-men images hoping to one day compile them in to a group image. for some reason, i could never get it to look quite right. every once in a while, i'd reposition, resize and reconfigure, but it didn't work. so i finally decided to make the changes i needed to make, redrawing arms, changing poses, to make it actually work in a group image. while i was at it, i went ahead and made their costumes a little more mainstream and current... still with a little nate x twist here and there.

hope you all like it!

- nate  x

contest entry: wolverine and the x-men comic cover

a little something for a contest on facebook. there are rumors that the short lived cartoon series might continue as a comic, so the contest is to draw a comic cover based on the previously mentioned plans for season two ... which look a lot like age of apocalypse.

i tried to incorporate a lot of the show's character design in to this image because that's probably what the comic version of a cartoon show would do.

- nate  x

X-MEN: cable and bishop

These guys hail from two different alternate futures in the X-Men timeline... timelines? Neither future looks very positive for humans or mutants. Cable's is more of a constant war and Bishop's is filled with mutant concentration camps. Both guys are huge gun-toting soldier types and both think it's their own responsibility to save the future.

Cable started off a lot more militant, but has become less so over the years. He's still not a guy you want to mess with, but now he might use a staff against you instead of the biggest gun you've ever imagined. His original look was unfortunately designed by Rob Liefeld and featured giant shoulder pads and approximately 75 belts (each riddled with pockets and pouches) wrapped around various parts of his body. Over time this has been simplified and streamlined and he has grown to adopt more traditional X-Team colors. I drew him somewhere between his current costume and an older classic.Bishop is famous for a few things other than the 'being from the future' thing. One is the M brand over his eye, two is the red bandana around his neck, three is a mullet. I opted out of the last one. Bishop's a cool enough character when he's fighting evil humans or robots or aliens or mutants, but now he seems to be fighting good mutants... specifically Cable. This doesn't sit well with me. Sure, it makes the mutant baby hope for the future thing interesting, but I'm with Cable all the way, so Bishop isn't currently anywhere near my favorites list.

Rounding out my X-Men will be some other cool characters.