Hellboy

One of the most successful independent (if you consider Dark Horse an independent) comic book characters of all-time is Mike Mignola's Hellboy. Great story-telling and a very unique visual style have helped Hellboy continue to stand out on the comic racks. 

From his humble first appearance, in the  pages of John Byrne's Next Men (you really only know that if you are a Byrne fan like myself... also note Byrne co-wrote Hellboy's first mini-series) he has become the subject of 2 theatrical releases, 2 direct to video animated features as well as countless lines of action figures. That type of success is usually reserved for characters from the big two. Hellboy was able to break the mold. The success of Hellboy allowed other Dark Horse properties like 300 and Sin City to get theatrical releases as well.

Mignola has a visual style unlike anyone else in the comic game today. It's very bold and graphic while being incredibly simplistic and geometric.  You can easily tell when you are looking at a Mike Mignola piece of art. That cannot easily be said for most other comic creators. 

This piece took me about an hour to pencil. My wife finds it funny how I tend to draw pieces like this while basically drawing the negative space. The un-inked pencils looked like one of those color by numbers pieces we all loved as children. The inking took place over 3 hours while I watched the Cowboys lose and ate a few burgers. All in all a piece I loved putting together.