Some fun commissions from last week in the City of Brotherly Love!
Special Note-Daleks are a PAIN to draw on the fly! I used a dime and nickel on all the circles!!
LORDS OF THE COSMOS: “Lords of the Cosmos” Logo – Final Pencils
Final Pencils for my next “LORDS OF THE COSMOS” artwork. This is the Heroes Logo-“The Lords of the Cosmos” . The planet Aiden and the Sword of the Hero “Aegeus” are the featured elements in this insignia.
I felt this showed the heroic nature of the protectors of the planet and was a great contrast visually and from a graphic arts perspective an opposite design to the Cybernetic hand of Umex I just completed prior to this. Using a triangle and different shapes and elements to the villains logo provides a visual contrast to the different factions in the world of Aiden we are building.
One note- Rings around a planet- very hard to get even close to looking correct! I think this will be a fun piece of artwork to ink… so keep your eyes peeled.
Grim Reaper Pencil Commission
A pencil sketch commission at Free Comic Book Day of the Grim Reaper- some classic imagery!
LORDS OF THE COSMOS: “Disciples of Umex” Logo – Pencils
The first piece of graphic design for my new project “LORDS OF THE COSMOS”. This is the logo for the Villains- the “Disciples of Umex”
A Mechanical Hand covered in artificial skin, with a vast mechanical eye staring outwards outlined by a hexagon.
This is the symbol of the Terrorist Army which is led by their Master: the Biological and Mechanical Terror known only as “Lord Umex”.
The logo could be worn as jewelry, branded into skin, carved into stone, or engraved on metal armor in his army of bio-mechanical/magic wielding/whip carrying/monstrous soldiers. The people of the Planet Aiden view this symbol with abject horror in my upcoming story as the back story of this group of “divine evil” brings havoc to the civilian population.
As a project visual architect, getting the logo and basic design down first is important when world building, Dennis Fallon and Jason Palmatier have been working on the character bible and scripts for about 7 months now, so I am getting started up (or caught up) on the art chores to bring the story of “LORDS OF THE COSMOS” to life- keep an eye out for more artwork and updates as I get time to create them!
Awesome Con 2014 Commissions
Four Commissions from Clients from AwesomeCon in Washington D.C. – Two in Ink, and Two in Pencil. Always fun and a challenge doing artwork onsite with little to no reference, a time limit and tons of lively people!
Whatley Creature Commission
My other Nittany Con Commission from last weekend- a Unicorn/Eagle with a Devil Tail… a “Whatley”
Kitty Pryde Commission
Just a quick fun sketch of Kitty Pryde from the X-Men I did at Nittany Con last weekend. I wanted to emphasize and show her power to move through objects, so she is shifting up through an angled floor/object. Good stuff.
Hellboy Day Sketch
In Honor of Big Red’s 20th anniversary, a wee sketch commission for a client on Hellboy Day! Thanks Mike Mignola for this awesome creation, and some amazing artwork since 1994!
THEY LIVE Pinup – Pencils
“THEY LIVE” is my last “mainstream” pinup in the extended series I’ve been working on from late summer of 2013 before I go back into my next comic book project. If you consider a 1988 horror sci film from John Carpenter “mainstream”, congratulations, we are on the same wavelength! To summarize- a loner (played by Roddy Piper) finds a set of black sunglasses that shows him the “rich” are ghoulish aliens that have the population sleeping through life while everything in print is a subliminal message- so a billboard says “OBEY” as an example. There are also hidden pieces of technology (saucers, broadcast dishes) that monitor the populace while also reinforcing the messages in the print ads saying things like “SLEEP”. The aliens also dress like rich people in the late 80’s and have wrist watches that they can report to their Headquarters on, and also teleport away in case of emergency. You can see alot of that cool stuff in this clip from the film here. It is a like a super powered episode of the OUTER LIMITS, and has some amazing imagery and concepts, and can be categorized as a true underground hit that has a fandom that 26 years later still holds the film in high regard- I just saw a photo goof on the Grammy Awards and Ellen DeGeneris that gave me the final nudge to do this piece and not another pinup- here is the “straw that broke Jason’s back” in my decision making process- and reminded me that “THEY LIVE” is a social statement of rebellion against authority held by the elite. I find that is a theme I will always identify with.
So here are my ref pieces as well as my layout pieces- the composition evolved a bit, but stayed fairly consistent to show as many of the iconic elements in one piece of artwork. The faces on the Aliens were what changed the most- you can see this in my sketches and tracing paper overlays below. I realized that fandom and film reference were inconsistent on the actual facial anatomy, so I really tried to stay close to the film for their appearance. I early on decided the POV from inside the sunglasses was the best and most exciting way to show the Aliens in a group, using their watches, and coming up on the viewer. Then I put 4 of the iconic messages into the background – with OBEY being the main visual piece in the background, with the street signs and newspapers as the “support” messages. So SLEEP CONFORM and REPRODUCE and enjoy this artwork- inks coming soon!
REFERENCE SOURCES
3/6/14 – Nude Figure Studies in Pencil with Model- At Art Alliance of Central PA
Just three pieces from this session, the first one just was a bad one (included) but the second was good, and the last one could be my best figure drawing effort in the two years I have been at it. I felt I just nailed it- foreshortening and all. I was shocked with how fast I warmed up to getting into the swing of drawing this evening, I got in 30 minutes late, and didnt get my warm up sketches, which made the session even more surprising.
… Love those feet!
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