Dead Man # 14 (illustrated by Ron Chan)

This is another Dead Man.

He’s been drawn by Ron Chan, who used a white color pencil on a piece of black foam core, giving the character a pretty cool effect.

This Dead Man can be seen in The Sandman Special # 1 (Song Of Orpheus) page 31, panel 4. He is in the front row and is located on the left.

Dead Woman # 23 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

As Orpheus continues to sing, the dead start to rise up from the Underworld and float in the air. They were deeply moved and some even began to cry. This disrupted the standard order of the Underworld, which did not please Lord Hades, but seemed to amuse Queen Persephone.

This Dead Woman is one of the dead who began to float during Orpheus’ song.

She can be seen in The Sandman Special # 1, Page 33, panel 3. There is a lot of dead people in this panel and so I thought it might make it easier if I just point out the actual character instead of trying to tell you specifically where she is located.

Lars did a great job with this character. I really like that she appears to be floating based on how Lars positioned of her body.

Dead Man # 7 (illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa)

Here is another Dead Man. There sure are a lot of these guys.

This Dead Man was illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa. I really like how he included the thrones of Lord Hades and Queen Persephone in the background.

This particular Dead Man appears in The Sandman Special # 1 (Song Of Orpheus) page 31, panel 3. He is in the third row and is located in the middle. He’s the short dead man.

Dead Man # 12 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

This Dead Man was illustrated by Max Rugers and is one of the many dead people lingering in Hades when Orpheus journeys to the underworld to rescue his wife.

This Dread Man appears in The Sandman Special # 1, page 31, panel 3. He is in the right up front and has dark eyes.

Max did an excellent job with this Dead Man. I like the perspective of this portrait.

Dead Man # 2 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

I thought it might be time to kick off a week long character event. This week, for the next 7 days, we will be focusing on those sad and often forgotten residents of Hades, the Greek Underworld.

When Orpheus travels to the underworld to rescue Eurydice he enters a cavern filled with dead men and women lingering and roaming around the landscape. The dead, in Greek mythology, are not often tortured as in Christianity, but Hades is simply where the dead go.

This Dead Man is one of the first that Orpheus encounters. He is visible in The Sandman Special # 1 (Song Of Orpheus) page 32, panel 3. He is in the front row and is located on the left.

There are so many dead men and women in this scene it’s probably going to be difficult to distinquish one from another. I think that with certain characters I will post the panel that the character originally appears in to make it easier for you to find the character in the published comic. Click on the image to enlarge.

I love how Lars interpreted this character. I love the blue/gray that he used to create the perfect atmosphere surrounding this character.

Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints (illustrated by Lars Brown)

There are a few characters within the Sandman universe that present unique challenges when it comes to drawing their portraits. This is one of those characters.

On Truesday, in the afternoon, Dream spoke to the Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints As The Only Evidence Of Their Passing. It is not known what they discussed.

The Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints appear in one panel of The Kindly Ones. They can sort of be seen in Sandman # 64 on page 5, panel 3.

I think Lars did an awesome job with this portrait. I sometimes imagine that when Lars receives a list of characters for the portraits that he has a confused and perhaps amused look on his face because, seriously, how often does someone get asked to draw Dream Ghosts Who Left Glowing Footprints? Well, now Lars can say that he’s drawn them…

Zubaidah (illustrated by Ron Chan)

Zubaidah is the wife of Haroun al Raschid.

During Ramadan, when al Raschid was troubled by the possibility that the beauty of his kingdom would be forgotten, Zubaidah came to him offering to “sooth away the darkness in your soul between my thighs” as a way for him to forget his troubles. He declined.

Ron did a wonderful job with Zubaidah. I think his approach to this character is really interesting and it’s a really gorgeous portrait!!!

Embryonic Silicon Dreams (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In The Kindly Ones, Dream spends the week leading up to his confrontation with The Kindly Ones doing his regular duties.

On Truesday, in the afternoon, he went to the far ballroom and spoke to the cluster of Embryonic Silicon Dreams. He told them about other machines that once dreamed.

The Embryonic Silicon Dreams appear in one panel of The Kindly Ones. They can be seen in Sandman # 64 on page 5, panel 4.

Max did an absolutely amazing job with this character. Sadly, the scan cannot capture the beauty of this piece. Some of the colors don’t work the way that they should. There are a lot of bits of gold throughout the painting and there is a texture to his portrait that I really like. I wish that you could see this in person. It’s pretty spectacular.

The Innkeeper (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In “The Hunt” we hear the story of a young man named Vassily and one of his adventures, told to a young girl named Celeste by her Grandfather.

Vassily leaves his family home and travels to find a girl he sees in a locket. While travelling he stops by an Inn for the night. The Innkeeper, thinking that he must have treasures in his bag, sneaks into Vassily’s room that night hoping to kill him and steal the bag. The Innkeeper opened a secret panel above the bed and swung an axe down into the bed. Unfortunately for the Innkeeper, Vassily was not sleeping in his bed.

While we never learn the fate of the Innkeeper, I think it’s safe to assume that Vassily probably killed him.

Lars did a great job with this portrait. I like the bit of humor he added to this otherwise seedy character.

Roman Citizen # 3 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In August, from Fables And Reflections, Emperor Augustus and Lycius sit in the market place, disguised as beggars, and talk as people pass buy and go about their daily business.

This Roman Citizen is one of the many citizens who visit the marketplace on this particular day. He can be seen admiring the small statues at one of the booths.

He appears in Sandman # 30, on page 7, panel 1.

I really like how Max approached this character. It’s a pretty straight forward portrait, but I like the colors that he chose and the detailed line work on the character really gives the portrait a very “Romanesque” feel to me.

Lady Livia (illustrated by Ron Chan)

Lady Livia is the wife of Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, also known as Emperor Augustus.

She does not approve of her husband’s desire to go into the marketplace dressed as a beggar.

Lady Livia appears in Sandman # 30 on page 2.

Ron said that he was experimenting with brown ink when drawing this character. I really like this portrait. I think the brown ink really works with her character and I think that his line work for her is amazing!!!

Unity Kincaid (illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa)

On June 10th, 1916, in London, Unity Kincaid sleeps and dreams of a tall dark man with eyes that feel like burning stars in her head.

That night, Roderick Burgess attempts to capture Death, but instead accidentally captures Morpheus, the King of Dreams.

After that night, Unity finds it difficult to stay awake and often sleeps 20 hours a day without dreaming…until she does not wake at all. She is one of the victims of the Sleeping Sickness that spread across the world affecting countless people.

In 1932, Unity was raped. Nine months later she gave birth to a little girl, who was adopted. She slept through both the rape and the birth of her daughter.

In 1955, Unity’s parents died and she was put into a nursing home. She would sometimes wake briefly and would never remember where she was.

In 1988, Morpheus escapes from his glass prison.

Unity, now 89 years old, awakes. She recalls having a dream that she had a baby. A year later, Unity manages to track down her daughter and asks for her to come to England.

Miranda Walker and her daughter Rose visit England and meet Unity, who explains the situation about being ill and tells Miranda that she is her real mother and Rose’s grandmother.

Rose returns to the United States to look for her lost brother Jed and Miranda stays in England with Unity.

Not long afterwards, Rose has a very strange night where she enters The Dreaming and is told, by Morpheus, that she is a Dream Vortex that threatens The Dreaming and she must be killed to prevent the destruction of the barriers between dreaming minds and causes all dreamers to be caught into one huge dream until the vortex collapses into itself destroying the minds of the dreamers and damages The Dreaming beyond repair. Rose accepts her fate and agrees to sacrifice herself.

Unity, who is very ill and dying, falls asleep and enters The Dreaming. Unity tells Morpheus that she will accept the role of the Vortex from Rose to save Rose’s life, because she should have originally been the Vortex if it hadn’t been for Dream’s imprisonment and her Sleeping Sickness. Unity then asks Rose to give her her heart, which she does. Once Unity accepts Rose’s heart, in the waking world, Unity’s body dies and the Dream Vortex is eliminated.

This may seem very confusing and really the best thing to do is, if you haven’t, go read The Doll’s House storyline. It’s a fantastic book.

This portrait was drawn by Ibrahim Moustafa and it’s one of my favorites he’s done so far. He makes her seem really elegant and self-assured, which I like. This is a very strong portrait for such a strong and important character in the Sandman universe.

Worlds’ End Patron # 29 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

When Brant is wandering the halls of Worlds’ End he briefly sees three ghostly patrons as a flash of lightening shines through a window and brightens one of the hallways.

This is one of the ghostly patrons.

He is visible in Sandman # 54, page 2, panel 1.

This is another great portrait from Lars. I really like the details on this character. The line work really stands out for me on this portrait. Also, I really like just about any portrait with books in the background it seems…

Citizen Of Baghdad # 104 (illustrated by Isabelle Melançon)

In Ramadan, Haroun al Raschid gives Baghdad to Dream in order to preserve it’s beauty and culture.

This man is walking through the courtyard in which al Raschid makes his proclamation ensuring Baghdad’s longevity.

This Citizen Of Baghdad can be seen in Sandman # 50, page 29, panel 1.

Isabelle did a wonderful job with this character. I really like subtle things like the line work of his hair. Things like that always impress me because it’s the little details like that which really give the characters life.

Newspaper Salesman (illustrated by Ron Chan)

This is one of the first portraits that Ron did for the project and it’s still one of my favorites.

This Newspaper Salesman is seen in one panel in Brief Lives (Sandman # 43, page 2, panel 3).

Bernie Capax buys a newspaper from him before being crushed under a falling brick wall.

Here is the Newspaper Salesman…

Marco Polo (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Marco Polo was a merchant traveler from Italy, who travelled with his father and uncle throughout Asia and met Kubilai Khan.

Marco and his father travelled to Asia in 1269 and returned to Italy after 24 years abroad. When they returned Venice was at war with Genoa and Marco was captured and imprisoned. While in prison he told his exploits to his cell mate. These adventures are recounted Il Milione (the Million, in Italian) or The Travels Of Marco Polo.

Within the Sandman Universe, Marco Polo, while travelling to the Empire of Kubilai Khan is lost in the desert and encounters a Soft Place, which is an area where the borders between Reality and The Dreaming have eroded or are not fully formed. In Soft Places, time loops around itself and dream geographies intrude on reality.

It is in this Soft Place that Marco Polo meets Rustichello of Pisa, who is his cell mate in prison 24 years in the future, and a nice gentleman named Fiddler’s Green. They sit around a camp fire and drink wine and Marco tells the story of his travels and how he became stranded in the desert.

As the night passes Fiddler’s Green leaves and Marco Polo discuss dreams briefly. It is brought to Marco’s attention that while he is in the Soft Place he is simply someone’s dream. Perhaps he is only the dream of Rustichello, or perhaps someone else entirely is dreaming of their visit together. Rustichello leaves Marco Polo in the desert alone.

Marco Polo encounters a tall stranger dressed in black who has just escaped from captivity. He tells Marco that his name is Dream. Dream is tired and thirsty and Marco offers Dream his remaining sips of water.

For his kindness, Dream helps Marco Polo escape the Soft Place and he is later found, lying face down in the desert by his father and their caravan, having just awoken from the strangest dream.

This was one of the first portraits that Lars did. I think he did a great job with the character.

Scroyle (illustrated by Max Rugers)

Petrefax, under the instruction of his teacher Klaproth, is assigned to partake in an air burial on the lower reaches of Mount Calamon. The air burial is being performed by Master Hermas and his two apprentices Mig and Scroyle.

Scroyle is a citizen of the Necropolis Litharge and he came to live in the Necropolis when he was eight years old, after his father died.

At the air burial, each person attending the burial must tell a story and Scroyle told the story of the day he met a stranger, who, unbeknownst to him was Destruction, told him about an older Necropolis which is no longer named and how it was destroyed because there was no care, no respect and no love given to the dead from the citizens of the Necropolis. Once this old Necropolis was destroyed, Litharge became the new Necropolis.

Scroyle was drawn by Max and he did a wonderful job with the character. He captured the eerie presence of this citizen of the Necropolis.

French Citizen # 11 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

This portrait was one of the first that Lars did for this project and immediately I knew he was going to be perfect for the job. He brought a very unique and sort of wicked sense of humor to this character and I found it hilarious!!!

This French Citizen appears on one page in “Thermidor” from Fables And Reflections. She is in Sandman # 29 on page 12 in panel 3. She is one of the women watching the grotesque puppet show with the corpses of two decapitated people.

Hinnegan The Book Binder (illustrated by Ron Chan)

In The Wake, Hob Gadling, along with his girlfriend Gwen, visit a Renaissance Fair.

Hob is not particularly enthused about being at the festival, having lived through the actual Medieval times, but he attends anyway, for the benefit of his girlfriend.

Gwen mentions that there is a bookbinder at the fair who has an authentic book that once belonged to a man named Robert Gadling, who we know was Hob. At one point he worked as a book printer and, according to Hinnegan, made wonderful books with great binding.

This chapter of The Wake is one of the most emotionally moving chapters in the entire series and it’s one of my favorites. This scene in particular feels very poignant and heartfelt. I can almost imagine how Hob would feel looking at this book and at his past when holding that book in his hands.

Ron did a spectacular job drawing Hinnegan. This portrait just seems so precise and perfect.

Rod Serling (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Rod Serling is perhaps best known as the host for The Twilight Zone, an American TV show that ran from 1959-1964 and features stories of paranormal and sci-fi themes.

After Daniel is abducted, Lyta Hall spends her time at home hoping to hear from the police that they have found her son. She is in shock. She is an emotional wreck as any parent would be.

She watches TV although she cannot really concentrate on the programs. At 4:00 am The Twilight Zone reruns are being shown on the station that Lyta has playing in the background as she waits for her son to be returned to her.

He can be seen in Sandman # 59, page 20, panel 2.

Lars did a great job with this portrait of Rod Serling. When I see this portrait Serling looks slightly manic, not calm and composed as he appears when he is the narrator of The Twilight Zone. I think its something in his eyes. Even so, he is very clearly the Rod Serling we all know and love.

Aurelian Citizen # 14 (illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa)

Cluracan is sent to Aurelia by Titania, Queen of the Faeries, to prevent an alliance between folk of the cities of the plains.

When Cluracan arrives in Aurelia, he discovers that the once beautiful and majestic city is now in ruins and the citizens are poor and abused by their rulers and their city.

This Aurelian citizen is one of the men Cluracan sees upon entering the city.

He appears in Sandman # 52, page 7, panel 3.

Ibrahim did a fantastic job with this character. I love the line work on his face and his beard. This is just a great portrait of this character.

Faery # 13 (illustrated by Isabelle Melançon)

This Faery is one of the many faeries to attended the first performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He can be seen briefly in a group of faeries crossing into England with Titania and Auberon.

You can see him in Sandman # 19, page 5, panel 4.

Isabelle did a wonderful job with this faery. He seems like a pretty good natured fellow, which, of course, makes me suspicious. I just don’t trust faeries.

Demon # 12 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

This character presented a unique challenge. This character was not originally illustrated in the Sandman series. This character was mentioned in Dream Hunters (the Amano version) and was only mentioned as being a “demon with a head like a flayed bat.”

This demon was, of course, an illusion created by the Badger in his attempt to make the Monk leave his temple and win his bet with the fox. The illusion of the demon did not frighten the Monk and the Badger’s attempt to force him to flee failed.

This demon is described in Dream Hunters on page 13.

Lars took this character and did a fantastic job creating him and so here he is, for the first time, the Demon with a Head like a Flayed Bat.

Man # 13 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

There is a world where a young man named Prez Rickard was the greatest president the United States had ever known.

The prince of that world was Boss Smiley and his face was everywhere.

This man is from that world.

He can be seen in Sandman # 54, on page 5 in the first panel of the page.

Max did a great job making the portrait seem a bit psychedelic. I imagine that the world would be a bit psychedelic with Boss Smiley’s face everywhere.

Citizen Of Baghdad # 118 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

When Haroun al Raschid and Dream stand upon the fountain in the center of Baghdad for an announcement proclaiming that he has given Baghdad to the King of Dreams in order to prevent the city from crumbling in the minds and hearts of the world, many people are listening to him speak. This man is one of them.

He can be seen in Sandman # 50, page 29, panel 2.

This amazing portrait was drawn by Max Rugers. I really like the contrast between the character and the background.

The Choirboy (illustrated by Lars Brown)

The Choirboy is one of the many serial killers who attended the Cereal Convention.

He is seen in one panel discussing extorting money from the families of the people he murdered in exchange for knowing for sure that they are dead.

It is not clear why he is called The Choirboy. Perhaps he sings while he is killing people or perhaps he only kills choirboys.

The Choirboy appears in Sandman # 14 page 15 and in panel 5.

Lars drew a pretty much straight up version of this character. I really like this one. There’s just something about him that is really striking.

Man # 36 (illustrated by Ron Chan)

This man is a London citizen in 1920.

He can be seen in one panel in the first issue of Sandman. He is on page 14, panel 1.

This is what I love about the Sandman Portraits project. This character is a very obscure character that is barely noticeable in the panel that he appears in. Ron took this character and did an absolutely outstanding job giving this character life. I love the details he gave this character. He made this character feel more than a simple background character that nobody but me ever noticed.

World’s End Patron # 9 (illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa)

This man is one of the people trapped in Worlds’ End telling stories to pass the time while the storm rages outside. Unfortunately we do not know much about this character.

He is present when Brant wakes up and joins the group after he bringing Charlene to the inn. He is sitting at the table listening to the story told by Mister Gaheris.

He can be seen in Sandman # 51, on page 9, panel 5.

Ibrahim did a fantastic job with this character. I really like the details put into his character…the line work around his face and in his armor.

Kubilai Kahn’s Priest # 2 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

In “Soft Places” Nicolo Polo, father of Marco Polo, and Maffeo Polo travel to China and were given audience before Kubilai Kahn. They planned on converting Kubilai Kahn to Christianity, but The Kahn refused saying that his Priests have power to perform miracles for him.

This Priest was drawn by Lars Brown and is incredibly awesome!!!

You can see this Priest of Kubilai Kahn in Sandman # 39, on page 12, in panel 4. He is to the far left standing near a wall.

Here is Kubilai Kahn’s Priest…

Richard Nixon (illustrated by Isabelle Melançon)

Richard Nixon was the 37th President Of The United States….in our World.

Prez Rickard is visited by Richard Nixon one night prior to winning the election for President Of The United States. He attempts to give Prez some advise, such as “Nothing you do in the White House matters” and tells Prez that “while you are in office, you’ll be the worst single president they’ve ever had.”

Clearly Richard Nixon was wrong, since Prez did make a difference and was an incredibly well loved president.

Isabelle drew Richard Nixon. I really like her use of spot color for this drawing. It seems very natural. This is one of my favorite pieces she’s drawn for the project so far.

Demon # 5 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

This demon appears in Dream Hunters (the Amano version) and is one of the visions that the Badger created in hopes of scaring the monk away from his temple and win the bet with the Fox.

This demon is clearly visible in Dream Hunters page 13.

Max did an amazing job with this demon. I love it!!! One thing that you may not be able to tell from the scan is that this portrait has a lot of texture to it, which is one of the things I really like about Max’s portraits. The lighter orange spots on the cape are raised up by tape and painted, giving it a very cool look to the portrait.

I am including the finished painting as well as the back doodle for this Demon.