Pistolero

The speed painting series (some of which I can't show on here, as they have other purposes) were all sort of leading toward this handsome fellow above. I took a little more time with this one, all the while keeping in mind the quick, decisive and vigorous brush strokes I'd been practicing on the speed paintings. He still had to get worked over a little more than I intended, but overall, I was pretty happy with how he turned out.  Now all I need is the time machine to take me back to a time when such skills were relevant.

(Also, of all my work, I need someone to explain why my self-portraits are the most popular pieces.)

WARLOCK: The Movie (1975)

This is my poster for a would-be Adam Warlock movie that I had hoped was going to be included in a Comic-con themed group art show.  I accidentally jumped the gun putting this together, and the event didn't happen.  Remember that Warlock test piece I put up a few weeks back?

The cosmic characters have long been some of my favorites in the Marvel Universe, particularly those penned by Jim Starlin.  Thanos is a fantastic villain (and apparently going to be in the next Avengers movie...). Adam makes for a bizarre hero with a cigar-chomping troll, Pip, as a best friend.  Then there's Drax the Destroyer, who was created to destroy Thanos, but I guess only recently, forty years after his creation.  And the deadly assassin Gamora, who, in her slinky fishnet outfit, was twenty years ahead of the superhero sexpots that would really begin to dominate in the 90's.

Now some may criticize me for lifting these poses and whatnot from others work...but in my mind, those old movie posters were made from set photos, so wouldn't the comics I was referencing be the same?  Anyhow, it certainly owes a debt to the aforementioned Starlin, Ron Marz, Al Milgrom, and many others who brought these cosmic stories to life.

Double O Jonzo

Not really a quickie sketch so much as a quickie painting.  A gift for a friend who needed a little secret agent flair in his life.

It Came from...OUTER SPACE!!!

Today, I decided to break the order a big and post this little number, a collaboration I did with my good friend and fine artist Jason Shawn Alexander.  It all started with Jim Mahfood drawing a crazy robot, which led me draw a bubble-helmeted spaceman, which led Jason to do drawn his own bubble-helmeted spaceman.  It was late, and he didn't get as far into his as he'd been working on other pieces...at the end of the night, he handed it to me and said "Here. Finish this."

Having recently begun to play with my gouache again and enjoying mimicking my beloved paperback and poster illustration of old, I took it and went hog wild for a couple of days.  It turned out fairly well I think.  I presented back it to Jason for his birthday.  Now, I thought I'd put it up here.