Bondage Girl # 13 (illustrated by John Carmine)

In Brief Lives, Delirium is lost and wanders into a bondage club.

In the club she encounters a woman named Lisa who looks a little like Death. Once she realizes that this woman is not her sister she becomes agitated and starts screaming that she wants her sister. It is Desire, not Death, who comes to help her younger sister.

This woman is one of the women standing in the background when Desire arrives to help Delirium

She can be seen in Sandman # 41, on page 11, in panel 4.

This is not a typical perspective for a portrait, but it’s incredibly effective and has a definite eroticism to it. This extreme close up is really well done. I like the positioning of her lips over the ball and the positioning of her head with the strands of hair off to the side. This is a fantastic portrait!

Ghost Boy # 58 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

In Season Of Mists, Lucifer abdicates his position as the ruler of Hell and decides to send all of the residents away. He empties Hell of all the demons and tortured souls and locked the doors behind him as he leaves. Some of them returned to where they died, others went to visit their living relatives.

This Ghost Boy returned to St. Hilarion’s School For Boys where he lived for a crucial and influential part of his life.

He is in the auditorium when the Headmaster is addressing the returning students.

The Ghost Boy appears in Sandman # 25, page 14, panel 5.

I really like Anna’s interpretation of these Ghost Boys and this portrait is no exception. I absolutely love her approach to this character. She definitely gives him an ethereal quality with her use of blues to contrast the blackness and give the appearance that the boy is insubstantial.

Island Spirit # 4 (illustrated by Lukas Ketner)

In the last issue of Sandman, The Tempest, we see William Shakespeare writing the final play for Morpheus and the final play of his career.

He writes a speech in which Prospero recounts the imprisonment of Ariel.

“Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
by help of her more potent ministers
and in her most unmitigable rage,
into a cloven pine,
within which rift
imprisoned though didst painfully remain
a dozen years."

This imprisonment is similar to that of Morpheus at the hands of Roderick Burgess, more than 400 years later.

This Island Spirit appears in Sandman # 75, on page 17, in panel 1 and is reflected in the imagination of Shakespeare as he writes the play.

Lukas did a wonderful job with this portrait. There is definitely has a magical feel to the character captured by this portrait, which I really like. He certainly feels like a creature that would inhabit this island prison.

Monk # 2 (illustrated by Max Rugers)

In Endless Nights, the people in Alain’s court live a life out of reach from Death.

As the day loops, Alain entertains his court with a variety of activities such as masquerades and letting his court watch him get squashed by a large bull elephant. Of course, on some days Alain announces that it’s a day of penitence and mortification.

On those days, a group of monks come to the palace and hear the confessions of the citizens of Alain’s court and after the confessions the penitents kneel and are flogged until their blood ran across the mosaic floor.

This man is one of the Monks of Alain’s island.

This is a fantastic portrait by Max. In the published comic the Monk’s robes are dark gray, but I like that Max gave this Monk a red robe to symbolize the blood that they cause to flow with each day of penitence. The deep red is a contrast to the blackness of the background, which really makes this portrait stand out.

It's been awhile since I've shown one of Max's paintings or drawings on the back of his portrait, but I wanted to show this one. It's equally as nice as the portrait and a different perspective on the character.

Here is Monk # 2 from Alain’s island…

Nurse # 1 (illustrated by John Carmine)

Ellie Marsten succumbs to the Sleeping Sickness in 1916 and is admitted into a charity ward surrounded by others who are victims of the Sleeping Sickness.

Throughout the years in the charity ward she is attended on by several doctors and nurses.

This nurse is one of her nurses in 1955. She sits beside Ellie, sometimes reading to her, waiting for her to wake up.

This nurse appears in Sandman # 1 on page 20, in panel 2.

This is a wonderful portrait by John. I like how he presents the character. I like her expression. Also, the use of watercolor for the background and for the highlights in her outfit really make this portrait stand out.

Here is Nurse # 1…

Bar Patron # 6 (illustrated by Lars Brown)

Dream and Death visit a pub in England sometime between 1362-1370 and during this excursion into the waking world Death offers Hob the opportunity to never die and never grow old. He accepts and Dream agrees to meet him once a century to discuss his life, immortality and friendship.

This man is one of the bar patrons in the pub during Dream and Hob’s first encounter.

This Bar Patron appears in Sandman # 13, on page 4, in panel 5.

This is a fantastic portrait from Lars. I really like the gritty appearance of the man, which is historically accurate and appropriate as well as the detailed backgrounds putting this man in a pub in the 14th century. I like Lar’s interpretation of this character having a blackened out eye. Perhaps he is missing an eye. In the published comic his eye is indeed dark, but I always took it to be that he was sitting with this eyes shadowed a little bit. Lar’s approach definitely makes for an interesting character, which I appreciate.

Audience Member # 2 (illustrated by Anna Hybsier)

Tiffany, who was an exotic dancer at the Suffragette City strip club, undergoes a life changing experience when she sees one of her friends, Ishtar, dance so beautifully and with such power and emotion that the club blew up.

Tiffany alone escapes and is given a moment of comfort by Desire, who gave her his/her jacket.

In the final chapter of Brief Lives, Tiffany appears on a talk show and talks about how this experience has changed her life, about how the “palace of sin” was destroyed and an angel appeared to her giving her an Armani jacket.

This woman is one of the audience members of the talk show.

She appears in Sandman # 49 on page 22 in panel 2.

I like this portrait from Anna. There are little details of this portrait that really make this perfect. The line work of her pulled back hair is exceptional and makes a huge, but easily missed, difference when giving this character life.