Kung-Fu Fightin'

Okay, so I usually never post videos here, or at least random things not related to my art or art in general but I saw this and had to share it because frankly, it's pretty damn cute.

Colossus

One of my favorite X-Men of all time.

11 x 14 100 lb. vellum Bristol board.
Pencils and inks took about 4 to 4 and a half hours total.
I'll be adding some color to this one soon.

Aliens

"In space no one can hear you scream".
That was the tag line for the first in the series of Alien(s) films and one of the scariest movies of all time.

I'm planning on coloring this one and adding a header.

This was drawn 11 x 14 on 100 lb.vellum Bristol board. Total time for pencils and inks was about 4 and a half hours.

Concept Art

Since I posted the end result of the album art fiasco (seen here) I thought I'd post the concept art.
In reality the line art alone is what I presented. It was in a smaller scale format then the finished drawing (which was on 14 x 17 100 lb. vellum Bristol board).
In fact now that I think about it I don't think they ever got to see this concept piece as even before I showed it to them the idea was being picked apart in discussions.
Anyway I liked the little drawing ( 8 x 12 100 lb. vellum Bristol Board) and decided to ink it in and throw some color on it. I am not to fond of the overall design but I like the figure.
I like how the color in the background balances the image better then the black and white end result. Additionally the inclusion of the damaged "angel wings" drives home the idea MUCH better then the scars alone did.

For Frank

As I wrote earlier, Frank Frazetta died last week at the age of 82.
He was a massively influential figure and played a key role in so many people wanting to be artists when they grew up, including myself.
The voluptuous woman is a hallmark of his work as are the womans association to the beast, in this case the lion.
As they stand of the precipice looking into the void of who knows what the lion dips his head in reverence while the woman, stoic and calm, waits for the inevitable.

This took about 3 hours (give or take a little) to fully pencil and ink. I scaled this one at 2:3 (standard comic scale) and left room for copy at the top . I am going to color it and add a header in honor of the man who, when I was 10, made me believe...

Frank Frazetta: 1928 - 2010

Frank Frazetta, the single greatest sci-fi/fantasy painter/illustrator of all time died this afternoon at a hospital near his home in Florida. He was 82.

Frank was the first fantasy artist I was ever consciously aware of and in my eyes he will always be the best.

Tim Townsend put it best when he said: "All hail, the king is dead. Rest in peace, Frank."

When Good Designs Go Bad

Sooooo, aside from the fact I didn't get paid for this piece it was a bit of a nightmare all around.
My friend Erin Clark linked me to a video sometime back about how design goes bad with too much meddling from the client. That's basically what happened with this album cover I was hired to do (for which, again, I NEVER GOT PAID!!!!!!).
Constant interjections and "how about this", "wadda ya think of that" and "let's try such-and-such" turned my great idea into this unbalanced, formally weak pile masquerading as art work.
Well the client loved it until he had to pay me. Then he didn't like it so much.
Visions of the interior of a court room danced in my head until he mentioned the word "bankruptcy".
Lesson learned? HALF UP FRONT!!
I'm probably just going to end up cannibalizing this piece to use its parts in other projects.

The Shadow Knows!

Commission piece of The Shadow for my friend Natalie for her friends birthday. Apparently he's a big fan of the character.
Pencils and inks took about 2 and a half hours; digital finished took about 4 and a half hours.