Hey all, some of my fellow artist and myself are starting sketch-o-rama back up again. Sketch-o-rama is a theme sketch blog where other awesome artist put up cool pieces based on themes we assign each other, mostly redesigns of cool characters we all love. The theme I came up with recently was to do a redesign of Cobra Commander. I'm talking about the way you envision the ruthless leader of Cobra, the most evil terrorist organization of all time!! This dude should be one badass looking bastard and personally I don't think giving him a serious breathing problem and a skin condition is quite enough for the leader of all this evil! Here's my take, hope you enjoy and I can't wait for everyone else to jump on this one!! PEACE!!!
All-righty then!
Lets get this party started. I recently did this sketch of an old American Greetings property called My Pet Monster. Did he look like this? NAH! He was a tad cuter, but what can I say. I draw what I like.
I challenge the rest of my Sketch-O-Rama cohorts to this: Draw a My Pet Monster, or any other cute and cuddly critter from TV, movies or toy product. Do it any way you want. Big and bad, soft and cute, hot and horny,...I don't care.
THIS IS A CHALLENGE!!! Okay, Sketch-O-Rama-ites, you know who you are!!
P.S. AWESOME Thor piece, Jorge! Can't wait to see how these skills continue to develop!! Thanks for keeping it alive!
My take on the god o thunder. Check out the progress work and details over at my blog Random Bits
Man, has it been a long time since I did a sketch-o-rama drawing!!
Carlos Villagra has finally succeeded in prodding me into putting down my freelance for a few minutes and doing a sketch of one of my favorite Marvel Comics heroes:
THE MIGHTY THOR!
And, by crazy coincidence, the trades have just announced the name of the man set to direct the big screen motion picture debut of the Thunder God.
Kenneth Brannagh
Mr. Brannagh is best known for directing a number of Shakespearian film adaptations, as well as the mediocre 1994 Frankenstein film starring Robert Deniro. Though Frankenstein is not a good indicator, the man is an interesting director. Besides, the Thor I grew up with spoke alot like someone who walked out of one of the works of The Bard.
Anyway, heres my Thor, inked by hand and colored in Photoshop.
BY ODIN'S BEARD!
So a couple of us here at AG and my good friend and ex-co worker Jorge Lacera decided to do a hulk piece. Sometimes when i commit to these challenges the good illustration bug doesn't ever really strike so I end up with these endlesss sketches of randomness. Anyways I figured I'd post them anyways, I am working on an actual piece but it's iffy right now so I'm not sure if it'll ever get posted. I hope you guys like the random sketches anyways , enjoy!
Detail.
-DAY4-
I had two or three more sessions on this painting without updates to have a bigger leap from the last stage to the final painting. The background was the hardest element to figure out.
It was a challenge because I didn't want it to be too painterly and take away from the figures and I also didn't want it to be too graphic. The figures was just a process of building on the light areas and finally adding the final highlights and details. . I definitely wanted Ultraman to be the focus of the piece so he has the most details and strong bold colors. I made the background lighter so the silhouette of the figures could stand out. Now I need to find the right frame for the piece and varnish it when its all over. The varnish will bring out all the dull colors and unify the piece making it glossy and giving it that wonderful wet look. Hope you guys enjoy the final painting and I hope I didn't bore you too much with my rants about painting. I will start work on a new painting but this one will move a lot slower and it will be a fairly big piece. ENJOY AND DROP ME A LINE IF YOU DIG IT!!
-DAY3-
I worked on the piece for about 2 1/2 hours today. First I worked on the grey areas of Ultramans costume, keeping it simple and not trying to get too light or detailed. Then I worked in the red and got it pretty far along just needing the final touches and highlights/reflections. I established a neutral background color which I will later develop into maybe smoke or something that will give interest without taking too much from the figures. I want the final color of the background to be brighter as well, because I feel it will fit the subject matter better. I glazed in a violet color on the shadows of the monster and worked a bit more in the light areas defining them a bit further. I need to let this part dry so I can go in the piece and start defining areas better with more detail and color. I'm thinking one or two more days and the piece will be finished. I'm enjoying this piece and will hopefully carry momentum into more paintings, i need to paint more and maybe it will lead into a gallery show later down the line.
On another note I saw "The History of Pixar" at the Cleveland film festival and it was amazing and inspirational. If you have a chance to check out this film please do, it's a must for any artist with a need to create quality original material.
-DAY2-
This part is where the fun really begins. Now my focus is on applying my basic light areas on the monster and a dark tone of red on some areas of the ultraman figure. Note that the light areas on the monster are very loose and I let the brush do a lot of the work for me. My objective is not to scrub paint but let the paint dictate what it wants to do. This part of the process gives the monster an organic feel and it creates crevices and other fun things that will later guide me when I am refining the light areas. Also note that the light color is still very much a mid tone just to define my lights and darks. Now I let this stage dry overnight.
I don't mean to ramble on but I figure it would be nice to share my painting process, hope you enjoy it!
-DAY1-
Day 1 was a short day of work on this painting because of pesky freelance jobs. I was basically just able to put down my acrylic base coat and once that was dry, my basic figures in oil. The trick about painting in oils is having patience, so I let this stage dry over night so the next day I am able to apply paint without the worry of taking off paint that is already there.
ULTRA MAN!! He's great, spending his time fighting monsters the size of buildings and saving the life of thousands while he's at it! I'm really exited about this piece and I'm glad to say this will be my first oil painting in a long time. This image is actually a photo of the sketch already down on the masonite ready for paint! I've never really painted anything this stylized in oils before but I'm confident I can make this work and I feel up for the challenge. Maybe I will post process pics as I go along but I haven't decided. It feels great to step away from the computer and get you hands dirty. There is so much going on as far as work and freelance so forgive me if the final takes a while but I'm hoping I can buckle down and grind this one out. Everyone stay fresh and if ya DIG IT drop a comment and say hello!
My version of Ultraman vs. Gudon. I won't lie...I don't know Ultraman to well, so I searched google until I found what I thought was the coolest looking monster. I dig the whip hands.
Some Ultraman action is brewing at the ol' Sketch-o-rama! Here's my take on this giant police officer from space....I was inspired by the classic 60's version and traditional japanese woodblock prints.
Can't wait to what what everyone else comes up with.
JL
I have been searching out and downloading old model sheets from Hanna Barbera with wreckless abandoned. Shows like: SPACE GHOST, THE MIGHTY MIGHTOR, DINO BOY, THE HERCULOIDS and JONNY QUEST. This stuff is just plain awesome! Alex Toth was lead designer on most of these...(Doug Wildey created and designed Jonny Quest) and was a master of streamlined character and costume design. Most of the sheets I found are just plain works of art!!!
Anyway, here is a Red Sonja character model sheet circa 1960. It aint Toth, but it was fun...
Our latest Sketch-o-rama theme is hot chick, i decided i'd do a Shanna, the She Devil here's a bit more about her:
"Shanna the She-Devil is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. Originally created as a derivative of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (who was herself a female derivative of Tarzan), she later became the partner and wife of Ka-Zar, Marvel's own derivative of Tarzan. Created by Carole Seuling, Steve Gerber and George Tuska, she made her first appearance in Shanna the She-Devil #1 (Dec. 1972)."
I was randomly surfing the web this afternoon and came across this:
Don't know who put this together but hey at least we got some name credit at the end! This brings up a whole slew of copyright/ownership/usage questions in the digital age. What do you folks think?
Here is my Sketch-o-rama entry for Darth Talon, it was fun drawing this bad girl, here is a little more on this cute chick:
Darth Talon was a Sith Lady in Darth Krayt's new Sith Order c. 137 ABY. She was a female Twi'lek of the red-skinned Lethan group. She had black Sith tattoos covering her body, head, and lekku. These tattoos were earned in ritual combat.
She was trained by a fellow Twi'lek Sith named Darth Ruyn, whom she killed on Krayt's command with a swift decapitating strike of her lightsaber.
What can i say I'm a sucker for a girl that enjoys tatoos and decapitations.
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The new subject for Sketch-o-Rama is a Star Wars villian from Darkhorse comics expanded universe named Darth Talon.
As you can see, she is a bad-ass female Sith with a smokin figure, (which I have decided to show off a bit in my illustration.
Perhaps this move is to distract her enemies while she cuts them to ribbons with her lightsaber.)
Thanks to fellow Sketch-o-Rama participant Jorge Lacera for the idea of the Alphonse Mucha style window treatment in the background.
No posts for a while, so I thought that I would re-visit one of my old favorites from times past...
THE MAN-THING!!!
And beware...
"Whatever knows fear, burns at the Man-Things touch!!"
Quint over at Ain't it Cool News had a contest to design to design an excisting Spiderman Villain for the next movie. The winner will get a couple of cool busts of spidey and venom. I decided to do the Rhino and really give his costume a cool new look. We also had to cast them for the movie, so I decided to go with Dwayne Johnson A.K.A the Rock. I think he would bring charisma and a level of fun that these villains need for the Spideman franshise. I love redesigning these characters and give my take on them. I had tons of fun with this image and it was a completely different way of working for me. I created paths in photoshop for each and every section of the suit to give me the cleanest possilble result. I love it. I hope to work like this more often in the future. I think Jorge and James did an amazing job with them and I think this was one of the better weeks by far here at sketch-o-rama. Big things to come soon!! Till then, stay fresh☻
I chose to cast James Marsters in this role because he not only has the physical looks to match the character but he also has the charisma needed to play one of Spidey's classic villains. I also re-interpreted the character as a monsterous, tragic figure. In my version the vulture undergoes a horrifying physical and mental transformation ala' Seth Brundle in the Fly.
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Here is my rendition of Spiderman's arch-nemisis, Doctor Curt Connors.
Alias: THE LIZARD!
I have read that Sam Raimi originally approached his pal Bruce Campbell for the role, so I decided to do my piece as if it was a film concept for Bruce playing the character, (with all due respect to Dylan Baker).
My goal was to complete this image entirely in Photoshop using textures, photographs (thats me in the lab-coat...) and brush tools. Though I toiled many hours on this piece, I would still like to noodle it a bit more. I feel it has not yet met the point of realism that I would prefer. But all in all, a great learning experience.
I didn't want to be lame and miss this week so I cranked this one out today. I gave myself an hour to color it, so its really kind of sloppy....oh well. It was sure fun beating up Robo though....dude just can't catch a break.
FINAL
Initial sketches
Photoshop sketch
Tight pencil drawing
This one took a while to develop but I'm pretty pleased with the result. I've started to sketch out the initial concept in photoshop because of its flexibility to make a cool pose without being restricted by the edge of the paper or anything like that. I also like to skew things and experiment in photoshop until I get something I really like. I then took this piece and did a tight pencil then a quicky digital color job. I'm posting an initial sketch as well to show were my initial look for my version came from. I can't wait for the next one, but till then...peace out!!
By the way who's watching the big fight on saturday?? i got my money on Maywheater!!!
It was wild re-visiting this great film from the eighties.
I watched it again to get inspired for this Sketch-o-Rama, and found it was just as cool as I remember it to be. Great pacing, witty script, awesome soundtrack, and one kick-ass villian (That 70's Show's Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker.) Check it out if you haven't in a while. You'll be glad you did.
I know this illustration is a bit redundent. Robo is already dead.
But it was fun anyway.
And remember, kids...
"STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!"
This weeks theme of Robocop was a alot of fun. Thought i'd do my own interpretation of the "copper" as a woman, just to stir things up a bit. Fun times...
Why? I do not know.
Just in the mood for some-THING new....
Here's my rendition of the Thing. I would have liked to have seen him in an action pose, but right now hes just chillin. Thanks dudes for letting me join in on the fun.
La Mujer Invisible! This was a fun one, gotta love good ol' "WASP" Sue Storm! Although there ain't nothing wrong with Jessica Alba...hhmmm... here's a bonus Thing sketch as well.
Hello world once again!! (hehe, or just the proud and the few that look at this blog) This weeks theme was redesigning the Fantastic Four. I tried my hand at the good ol' Thing. He is holding the human torch in his hands...literary. I had tons of fun with this one and I hope you guys enjoy it!! Till next time...peace world!!
I've also added the original inks just for kicks.★★★
Aw guys.
Ya went an done it. Great stuff. And in full color.
Well, heres mine colorized.
Here is my version of the good old Tarks. I had fun with this one, all in photoshop once again just a little different look this time. I wanted this one to be more comic book style and I had fun digitally inking it. Looks good from far but believe me is far from perfect when you look at it closely. Anyways hope you guys dig it.