MiniCharacters - Green Lantern

2016 has been a year of great loss for the creative world and today, it has struck again.

The amazing Darwyn Cooke has passed away today after a battle with cancer. The outpour of love and admiration from the whole comics community speaks volumes of how influential and inspirational he was for so many of us. In fact, just a few weeks back when I started doing the MiniCharacter warm-ups, I drew the DC Trinity and one of the inspirations (apart from Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's classic designs) was the simplicity and strength of Mr. Cooke's style. Especially the optimism and true heroic tone that he imbued these myths with.
He understood the superhero genre like no one did and no matter what story he told, it always felt like we were kids again when looking at his clean, straightforward and colorful storytelling. His art actually made me re-think mine many times and just how much detail was really necessary to tell a tale.

It's in these moments, when someone we admire passes away, that I feel compelled to make the best of my skills. To pay tribute in the best way possible to whom I owe so much of my style; thus, here's a drawing of Green Lantern in that simple, straightforward manner that Darwyn passed onto all of us who were inspired by him.

He was a guy that wasn't afraid to make his heroes smile. And that's saying a lot these days.

Godspeed, Mr. Cooke. And thank you for everything.

Nic.-