Zombie In The Box

New York Comic Con was amazing! As great as the show was, the highlight was this box waiting for me back at my hotel.

I knew this box was coming. See, my great pal Roger over at Hey!Roger was working on a new project with a promotional coloring book for the amazing Graphic Solutions Group Inc., which featured some of my monster artwork.

I saw the file before it went to print and was blown away! As I cracked this box open...

...my mind was blown away even further! Staring at me right out of the grave was my zombie!!! That Halloween orange!!! WOW!!!

I was taken back to when I was a kid and how much I loved my dinosaur and Star Wars coloring books!
THIS was my artwork! The quality was beyond my expectations and I honestly got a little choked up.

I sat there and stared at this book flipping the pages with complete amazement. Roger is an amazing talent bringing this all together. Graphic Solutions Group Inc. knocked this so far out of the park with the printing. So far it's like an old cartoon where the ball flies around the world and smacks you in the back of the head! The texture of the pages and the print quality was astounding! Such a quality product it is truly beyond any words I can write here.

I was able to give out a bunch of these at the NYC Comic Con and people loved them! I'm still giving them out and people love them! There is this stunned pause right after I hand the coloring book to them. They stare at the front cover, flip the pages and BOOM! First thing they say to me is what a top notch print it is and how great my artwork looks!

I can't thank Roger at Hey!Roger and everyone over at Graphic Solutions Group Inc. for including my artwork in this promo. Having this coloring book in hand at the show made this a really special experience.

You need design work Hey!Roger http://www.heyroger.com/ is who you need. You got a print job Graphic Solutions Group Inc. http://www.gsghome.com/ will take care of you. Check them both out!

Have a safe and horrific Halloween!

You Have Taken Your First Step Into A Larger World

I think maybe I have seen Star Wars way too many times in moments when I hear Obi-Wan in my head saying things. Of course I don't think that's possible. Seeing Star Wars too many times. Besides hearing Obi-Wan in my head is perfectly normal.

In recent weeks I've jumped into the world of sketch cards. I usually work on a 5 x 7 inch size so it isn't a giant leap to the standard 2.5 x 3.5 inch sketch cards. As an artist it's pretty rewarding creating pieces on such a scale when you make some you really dig.

The biggest challenge really so far was not working on a smaller surface. Finding the right cards and pens to get these images out of my head has been the tricky part.

I've tried cutting my own cards but like having the consistency of pre-cut blanks. I went through several card types made by Strathmore before settling on the 42 pt lightweight vellum finish artist trading cards. They are a bit thicker than what appears to be the standard, but for my own cards is just right, for now. The other cool thing is I can paint watercolors on these without the warping you get from the watercolor cards made by Strathmore.

As for inks, I have used a variety of pens and markers but settled on the KOH-I-NOOR Rapido Sketch 0/.035 and 1/.50 Art Pens. I get the solid blacks without the marker streaks. Of course I discover this about 70 cards down the road. All good though. I still dig em. Oh, and I scored some Copic markers on the cheap so that's been another fun set to play with.

With all that said here are my latest cards. Well, sorta. I've been doing so many I have lost track of what order I've done them in.

My first step into a larger world. Or should that be a smaller one?

Star Wars Sketch Cards

HERDING THE CATS RUNNING AROUND IN MY HEAD

Through my whole life people have asked me how I know what to draw. How did I see the picture in my head? It's kinda hard to explain if you don't experience it. It's like trying to describe something exactly from a dream. You see it but every detail isn't quite there. Certain main things are there and that's the easy part. The rest you can logically kinda fill in. Sorta.

It is elusive. Like herding cats at times.

Funny thing is the idea for the main picture I'm going to write about  started with a dream. Clearly influenced by bubblegum cards from my childhood and some Salvador Dali. Right before I woke up I saw this image. Basically all the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back forming an image of  Darth Vader. So I sketch it up. I started with a basic line drawing of Vader.

Taking one step back before this I did draw a simple line drawing of Vader as the base for the image. Based on the lines I envisioned what lines could be shared lines of the base Vader image. Some weren't there but I incorporated some where I could. Like Bossk's shoulder and Vader's mask.

Once I knew who was going where then I went ahead and fleshed out the image and figured I'd tackle each one separately. I did question if I should maybe try doing this as one big image instead. Yeah, no. 

So I thought Fett would be the easiest. He's awesome and I was really into it.

Yeah well the initial sketch was cool and there are things I really like but clearly his head is off center and his right shoulder is wonky. I also had to reference his rifle because it is different in Empire and Jedi. Image still wasn't working for me.

So I tried this idea and once I finished the line drawing I grabbed some markers and filled it in. Again. the idea has potential but that's not it. Plus the orange background wasn't going to work. Thought was to have swirling clouds around him from Cloud City to help form lines in Vader's helmet.

Then I saw it. I separated the clouds from Boba and I could see it. Here's that moment people ask about. I don't know how I saw it but it was there. Seemed obvious to me. But I had to take the image to this point to see it. I stopped several times and came back to this picture. I knew this other version wasn't it but I had to keep going. Just felt compelled to keep on. 

So here it was. Clouds the same. I realized my dimensions were off and it was boring. So I gave him his rifle and made a smoking barrel instead of clouds. The background for all the other hunters is a blue-green-grey color. So away with the orange.

Now his rifle looked stupid. This looked like a canon. Not a rifle.

Changed the rifle then it was all good.

I colored it up in Photoshop referencing a million pictures and action figures. I found a pretty clean image online and saved it. I opened in Photoshop and sampled the colors for my pallet.  Not only is his rifle different but the  color of his suit and armor is a tinge different from Return of the Jedi.

Still working on the ultimate assembling of the colored versions. But here's the B&W with the whole gang.

In the end I'd say about 70 hours went into this one. Like I said though, still one or two more colored versions to come.

Almost there. Two more cats running loose.

SHARING A BITE TOGETHER

RAAAAARRRRRRR!!!! 

Part of a mural idea I have been kicking around forever. I just think this would be awesome on a huge scale.

Makes me think of the scene in Jurassic Park 2 when the two Rexes rip that dude in half. Like you think getting eaten by one is bad. Then you realize it's much worse if they share a bite together.

Is it just me or is the whole idea about cloning just never turn out very well? Especially if you are a Jedi or work in an amusement park.

TYRANNOSAURUS

ZIGGED WHEN IT ZAGGED

I've mentioned before in previous blogs I used to do a lot of watercolors back in the day. Since most of the color did the work, in a sense, I kept my drawings pretty simple. Then there was also a huge influence from Batman: The Animated Series and Mike Allred's Madman comics.

The line work in my images and how it defines my style seems to be a topic lately and I've been discussing how this has come to be such a prominent element for my art.

This latest image of Nosferatu got me thinking. Once I start inking what I see in my head really begins to take a life of it's own. I didn't plan on having the angular shapes in the background. Once I did the big black jacket I realized I had to balance it out with all the white in the image. I couldn't go with a solid black background or half and half. Just would have been too much one way or the other. So I broke it up.

I guess maybe I just see the images on two totally different levels now. Really a third if I go to the next stage to color. That's really all new to me because I used to envision a rough idea of a final image and now I wind up with different versions.

Still, I think somehow the line sticks out even with all the positive and negative B&W going on.

So here you go. Here are two pics and each with the original pencil line drawing and the inked version.

Nosferatu Ink

Nosferatu Pencil

Hyde Ink

Hyde Pencil

STAND IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU ARE

Funny how all the bounty hunters from Empire Strikes Back get so much hype for not really doing very much more than standing in line. Don't get me wrong. I love them. Of course countless comics, novels, video games and cartoons have expanded these characters into the bad-asses they are. Represented as such in the movies, not so much. Still, never really knowing who these cats were was part of what made them so cool. For my generation, having seen them on the big screen when Empire was first released (without all the other media tie-ins mentioned above) they looked so cool, deadly and freaky you knew Han was in deep crap now that Vader was sending goons after him. As if it wasn't bad enough Jabba wanted him caught or dead, now Vader was throwing his hat in the ring. Sucks to be Han.

Here are three of the six hunters I have been working on. If you look closely you will see where I am going with this beyond individual pics. I'll need to add some more tweaks to each once they are all complete, but it's getting there. I don't want to be so obvious and point out the "big picture" until all the hunters are complete.

Hope you dig my pics of these cats while they just STAND around in their mysterious deadly coolness.

Makes me think of the REM song. I bet they would like it.

The Rosa Valdez Project: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Mural Part 2

Where to start? One Saturday afternoon I went to take measurements and see what space I had to work with. The room to be transformed into the library has these large windows and there are also doors on the opposite wall. There was also an electrical conduit running along the bottom of the wall. Right way the electrical fixtures and windows posed quite a challenge in having sufficient surface space to paint.

Part of being an artist is problem solving. Whether it's figuring out how to draw a hand a certain way, create a certain lighting in a picture, a specific angle or perspective, what technique to use or what medium to work in, there's always a problem to solve. At some point it just occurred to me to make some wooden boxes to be mounted to the wall. Only problem is I'm no carpenter and I'm not a magician either. Fortunately, the organizer for the volunteer effort, Lezlie Gold, is a seriously resourceful person (and possibly magician mixed in there too). Within no time she was able to provide fantastic boxes just as I had envisioned, only better. Two boxes measuring roughly 4x6 feet and the other 3x3 feet, would be the surfaces I would need to create the murals for the library. As these were mobile units I worked on these at home, later delivering them for installation at the center.

The final murals for the entrance I painted on my days off and a few hours here and there in the morning and afternoon on different days.

In the end everything turned out pretty much in line with the original concepts. I think I got pretty darn close to the look of Carle's work and everyone seemed to really enjoy the murals. It was a great experience and I met some super nice people along the way! Was amazing to see all the kids and volunteers work together and be a part of something that many children will enjoy for years to come.

Entrance

Entrance (View from steps)

Steps

Stairs

Hallway

Library Final Set Up

Caterpillar Box

Butterfly Box

Now I wonder where the next place is my art will lead me to?