So back in October, I did the first page of LORDS OF THE COSMOS while I was in Florida on a medical emergency with my wife- you can see that page here.

After 17 other pages being done out of sequence to introduce 40+ heroes and villains from the project and two big logos, lets get back on track to page 2- a focus on the planet AIDEN, as seen from a close up over the rings of the planet.  This was a challenge to get another exciting and non repetitive view of a planet- I used some NASA photos to get away from another wide shot of the planet- from page one and the logo design. I think this panel works to move the viewer over the rings to help transition into the atmosphere.

The pages shifts to a planet side wide view shot of GEMSPIRE CITY- capitol of the civilized people of the world of AIDEN.

I took visual cues from Alex Raymond’s gorgeous cityscapes from his seminal FLASH GORDON Sunday Comics work in the 1930’s. I also took some reference from 1980’s film version of FLASH GORDON’s version of MINGO City and 1984’s ARAKEEN City from David Lynch’s adaptation of Dune. I also threw some Greek, and Egyptian architectural work into the city and I hid the Penn State University Legal building (which looks weird as hell) into the many levels of the city.  All of these sources build the DNA for Gemspire from a visual sense, but I felt I kept it very original.  At the same time, the city had to look and seem functional and have some items that will be important to the story- the pipeline system and high docking bridges for the small flying vehicles you see around the top of the city.

So without further fanfare- enjoy this fantastic set of visuals from a world a million light years from Earth!

This was a creation as I was making page, no names for the characters, just the flight crew for the Disciples of UMEX VTOL vehicle.

I based everything off the guy in the hazmat suit, which I had a great photo of a guy at an oil rig wearing one for a while I wanted to use as reference for something, then the rpg character and the engorged tick filled out the composition.

Without further fanfare- more villains.

This photo just came in from Planet Aiden on the Jade Plateau, A Disciples of Umex transport gunship has been offloading missle platforms to a hidden base to strike at civilian cities and shipping lanes!

It is without a doubt- this is why we need THE LORDS OF THE COSMOS! —

Part Command and Conquer (1996 or so) and art David Lynch Harkonnens from Dune (1984), I had to give the bad guys their own aggressive looking transport, and yet another background featuring a menacing base with some radar.  More characters and locations from Lords of the Cosmos are coming soon!

Well the heroes of LORDS OF THE COSMOS have to get around, so I was inspired by the US Marines OSPREY and the Air Force’s C-17 Transport to make this VTOL transport vehicle for the good guys to get around on Planet Aiden with as they battle the Disciples of Umex- there will be characters in front of this, but I really loved the vehicle design.

I drew inspiration from the 1984 film “Dune” for style. The classic Battletech Technical Readout manuals from FASA that I had as a kid in the 1980’s which had some great 2 pt perspective line art of robots and various vehicles gave me a direction for a final look on the page.  Clean and simple, and I really loved the final image, it was fun to draw a some planes for a change!

As we wind down the character designs- The LORDS OF THE COSMOS get another female character AMAZONICA, and her Dino Steed, as well as the Cyborg Samurai (as yet, no name chosen!)

The composition on this was simple, yet effective, and I really feel that I am hitting a stride on drawing accurate and attractive women, so I was really pleased with how AMAZONICA turned out.  Full disclosure she was inspired by the old 1980 Flash Gordon Filmation “Princess Aura” character who I loved as a young lad!  You can see a production still from that show here to see what I was getting inspiration from. Does the tiara on Amazonica’s head look similar?

Anyway- This art really sums up what I like in a nutshell… “Girls, Monsters, Robots” … so It was a pleasure to put pencil to paper for this particular page. Below are the final pencils and my Samurai artwork segregated on tracing paper.

Final Pencils

Samurai layout on tracing paper

Another showcase pinup of the Heroes from the Lords of the Cosmos Team!

Tiedemies the Scientist, The Mighty Man-Tank, & Tenta-Kill the Blackwater Butcher in action on the Planet Aiden!

Notes on this page- I really went for reference on the cloak for Tiedmeies to get the folds as close to accurate as I could make them.  I also used a photo of an old person to get some of the facial wrinkles looking lifelike.

Tenta-Kill was like Belchor, simple and easy to come up with- no idea why, but his entire character came to me in a flash and it looked great.  Basically a “Fightin’ Robo Squid”

Man-Tank- wow.  He has been a main character in my mind’s eye for months, but getting his scale and bulk down correctly has been hard- I had him in a prior pinup (Mechaspring’s page) and then closed him out, I couldn’t get it together.  But using tons of tank reference, and a ruler to keep my lines and proportions correct, I pulled him together- and realized that just like the two headed guy from the last “Disciples of Umex” page- this was in the Transformers art camp again.  Man Tank was hard to do, but I am very happy with his final product- a defensive unit that shoots nets, ropes and has defensive shield generators that is part man, part tank.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it!

“Golut the Tek Dwarf and two of his monstrous creations lurch across Planet Aiden in search of wanton destruction as they hope to eliminate the LORDS OF THE COSMOS once and for all!”

Thoughts and Notes-