A Little Golden Blog

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T16:19:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas to you all and thanks for following my blog during the last year!

This year I wanted my email card to be in the tradition of the classic Haddon Sundblom paintings that he did for the Coca-Cola company in the early 30s. He essentially created the plump, warm and friendly Santa that we all know and love!

Here's a bigger version (sans text), in case you want to use it yourself for something:)

The Line it is Drawn

2011-12-16T19:42:00.000+11:00

Fun little comp over at comicbookresources -- people twitter in an idea, and then several artists draw it. I did a couple:

Draw the cast of Gilligan's Island as a super team:

Draw a Marvel teamup between Crystar and Rom: Spaceknight. This one's dedicated to all those who were kids in the 80's. Ah, those were the days:-)

And on a sad note, RIP Joe Simon, the co-creator of Captain America passed away today. He was 98:(

Few more portraits

2011-12-02T20:53:00.001+11:00

Sky

Charli

Dean

Recent portraits

2011-11-11T01:05:00.001+11:00

Few recent portraits for you...all worked up in digital and some finished in oils.

Covered: Blade Runner and Kirby's Darkseid

2011-09-28T07:32:00.000+10:00

Couple of 'Afters' for you today -- my version (or should I say homage) to the amazing and talented Al Williamson and his BladeRunner comic adaption cover. Big fan of Al's -- picked up his Flash Gordon and sketchbooks at comic-con. He's da man!

Not a cover, but an (unused) Kirby drawing of Darkseid. I always wanted to see this one in colour, and went for a very small value range to give it alot of atmosphere. Lot's of fun digitally painting those infamous Kirby krackles. Hope you enjoy!

Fanny

2011-08-28T15:06:00.002+10:00

Study of a fanny...from a Drawing Jam thread at the Drawing Board.

Comic-Con: Part Deux

2011-08-08T11:48:00.006+10:00

A small followup to my Comic-Con experience --

The Postcards: I had a few thousand of these postcards printed by Diego and Sons Printing Inc., before I left Sydney. Diego and Sons are based in San Diego and they did a fantastic job. They were very professional and delivered the boxes to my hotel the day before I arrived, so they were ready to be handed out the first day of the con. They printed them on 8.5 x 5.5 on glossy 300gsm stock and looked great. If you have any printing needs and are in the San Diego area, I would recommend them highly!

Paige (Mandy) with the Red Giant cards...ready to go on her first day. She didn't stop smiling...a real professional! Red Giant is an online graphic novel that will be available for viewing here.

Paige again...with the C&T cards...ready to flog my crap to any unsuspecting passerby. Some exciting news is just around the corner about Cog & Turbine...but at the moment I can't reveal anything more other than its a 3d animated kids show for ages 4 -8.

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The Comic-Con 2011 International Souvenir Book: I had a piece of artwork printed in the comic-con souvenir book...and those keen-eyed Kirby fans might recognise the piece I painted over.

The souvenir cover

The published piece

Kirby's original pencils, which I got from Twomorrows Kirby Collector (forget which issue)

My final painting -- bit rushed, but it'll do

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My Loot: Part of the fun going to Comic-Con was meeting alot of other like minded artists, and I spent half of the first day talking with some of the artists at the small press tables. There was alot of great stuff and I tried to pick up as much as possible. I always try to support small press as much as possible because...hey, they're up against it. Here's a couple shots of some of my loot I came back with (and considering I had to lug it all the way back to Sydney I was only able to buy a small portion of what I would have liked to get).

Frank Robbin's Johnny Hazard: Scored an original piece of Frank Robbin's artwork at the con...really nice piece too!

Hope you dig!

d

Comic-con 2011 + LA (Universal) + Vegas baby!

2011-08-06T11:30:00.008+10:00

Heya -- just returned from my business trip to Comic-con in San Diego, followed by a meeting at Disney Studios in LA and then some fun in Vegas. I was over there promoting my kids show Cog and Turbine as well as my online graphic novel Red Giant, which goes live next month. But you don't wanna hear about that -- just show me the pictures, right?

Ok...bunch of photos below. Enjoy! These are in reverse order of the trip:-)

Disney Studios -- First up, some piccies of my visit to the Disney, where I had a meeting with the amazing and talented director Rick Jacobson and David Hoberman from Mandeville Films. David and his team have had some great success lately...producing films like 2010's Academy Award nominated The Fighter, which was a really great picture. Details of the meeting obviously need to remain hush, hush, but I can share that its very exciting to be involved with these guys on Rick's WWII flick. More news on that when I'm able to share it!

The iconic water tower. Go Mickey!

On the walls, there was a heaps of animation art...I could have spent a few hours just walking the halls. Forget the meeting...I got shit to look at people!

I said to Rick I'm gonna look like a dick...but I had to stop and take some pictures of the signage. Quintessential Disney -- Dopey Drive. Way cool!

Here's a shot of Rick walking into the building...he was walking on air on his way out!

Universal Studios -- I had a free day, so meet up with the gorgeous Michelle Rose for a fun day at the theme park. I hadn't been to Universal since 1994, and it was even better than I remembered it!

Jurassic Park -- the ride! There be dinosaurs here...

Dem bones, dem bones... dem dinosaur bones!

Don't go in the water!

Is our tram on fire!! what the heck!

3D Homer!

The Simpsons ride waiting area...great lighting!
You're just waiting in line at this point, but its very fun to be immersed in the Simpsons world.

The Simpson ride replaced the Back to the Future ride a few years ago, and it is truly awesome. I was really looking forward to sitting in the Delorean with the flux capacitor, but the new ride is really fantastic so I didn't feel like I missed out. Both Michelle and I giggled our guts out each time we went on it.

Hello boys! That's Michelle...she's a good mate (and gorgeous too)!
Las Vegas -- Ended the trip with a few days in Vegas. Really, it had to be done. My mate James Bennett who is a very talented animator, currently working in previs for Dreamworks Animation and the self-confesed ladies man.

Love the neon at night and how it photographs (so much mood and ambience).

Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego -- So James and I stayed at the Sheraton, which is about 3 miles from the convention centre. That may seems far to some, especially those that come from Australia and measure everything in metric so don't have a clue how far a mile really is. But they have shuttles that run frequently and when desperate, its about a 7 minute cab ride, so no biggie.

Having worked on Spartacus last year, I had to get a shot of the Vengeance booth. Can't wait to see it on the tube next year!

The Heritage Auctions have an amazing display of illustration art...these don't photograph so well but the artwork is amazing to see in real life. Mcginnis, Elvgren...they had some of the giants. Worth the trip alone!

Here's a photo of Dean and Paige at the Mandy booth. I contacted Dean before the con and proposed a deal: If he would allow me to share his booth (mostly as just a home base), I would provide a model who looked like Mandy. Paige was absolutely fantastic -- gorgeous as you can see, but also a real professional. I hired her for two days from Vantage Advertising LLC...she attracted quite abit of attention and handed out postcards for me. I'll just quickly add that I would highly recommend her or them (ask for Ben) for any promotional work you require. Dean was tickled pink (as you can see). In fact, I thought he was going to have a heart attack when she first walked in! More of Dean's Mandy work here.

An original Bob Peak from Excalibur. Droolllll...

Child minding at the con. The girl was non-plussed but I don't think Artoo was too happy!

Stormtroopers galore. Strike a pose, fellas!

The exhibition centre in beautiful downtown San Diego. Its a great town...very similar in alot of ways to Brisbane...but with less yanks.

This is the type of thing you see at Comic-con...no explanation necessary I reckon!

The historic area...some fabulous restaurants serving fabulous food. But boy, those servings are big! Geezuz people...

So this was my first con and I wasn't quite prepared for the strange and bizarre things you see. For instance, this was an impromptu gathering of Disney Princess cosplayers who magincally gathered together for a group photo...and then the crowd's swarmed! None of these are professional actresses or anything...just females who love the characters. Quite a bizarre, but really fun experience seeing this happen.

Closeup of Tinkerbell. She was my favourite out of all the princesses...for two reasons.

A beefed up Mark Hamill...legend!

More troopers...one before and after after going through the car wash.

Lot's of booths...lots of posters...and lots of companies all vying for your dollar. It was certainly a learning experience about how competitive the market really is. Spongebob, Futurama, Captain America...small press, big press...artists alley...YARRGGGHHHHH!

The sketching demo's at the DC booth. Fun to watch and drew a big crowd.

I thought this dude was Captain Canuck...and I got excited and took his picture. He then pointed out that he was in fact Guardian from Alpha Flight. I then noticed his strange crotch area and I immediately excused myself and walked away. Gotta love the cosplay!

Sideshow Collectables had one of the biggest booths...and lots of toys on display. Unlike most people in the animation industry I don't collect them...but it was very cool to see the amazing figures you can buy.

Lot's of people.

This was the Marvel booth...which if you're interested in comics, is horrible because its all about the upcoming Avengers film. I was hoping to talk to an editor but couldn't find anybody unless they were signing. For a company that is apparently looking for artists, they could have fooled me. Hopefully they'll organise it abit better next year!

Where's the comics?

View back towards downtown San Diego. Top spot! After finally going, I hope the con never leaves for bigger pastures...its a great town. See ya next year San Diego!

The obligatory shot of the end of my journey...a view out towards Sydney as we are coming in for a landing at 6am. Good to be home:-)

And that's it! I have a heap more photos but this should have given you a good cross section of my experience, which I've gotta say was alot of fun and I'll certainly be returning next year.

Thanks,

Gene Colan, RIP

2011-06-27T23:27:00.003+10:00

Very sad news in the last few days with the passing of one of the giants of the comic book art world...'Gentleman' Gene Colan. I first discovered Gene's work on his early 80's Night Force comic, and man it just blew me away -- he could draw mood like no one else I'd ever seen. I've since rediscovered the fabulous Tomb of Dracula series, as well as his amazing run on Howard the Duck (Gene was an amazing cartoonist...he could do it all). I am currently enjoying his second run on Dr. Strange.

My tribute below, based on the double page spread he did for the last issue of the regular TOD comic series:

More on Spartacus & Tomorrow, When the War Began

2011-06-23T08:19:00.003+10:00

For anyone who's interested, CG Society just published an article about my work as VFX Art Director on the Starz original series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. You can access it directly from the link below:

CG Society article

I've also updated my professional Visual Development website, with two galleries of work from the show:

Visual Development

There's also a link to my storyboards I did with the funny and talented director Stuart Beattie. You can see that work here:

Tomorrow, When the War Began storyboards

Hope you enjoy!

ET x 2

2011-04-08T12:58:00.005+10:00

Another Liz...based on 'Giant' again, but this one abit more of a caricature:-)

ET February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011

2011-04-01T16:41:00.002+11:00

I re-discovered the 1956 picture 'Giant' when I was working on Baz's 'Australia' a few years ago (it was really his main reference source...and if you watch both films you'll see how close they are in structure). Anyway, without a doubt it's my favourite performance of her amazing career.

My tribute below:

The Bitter End?

2011-02-27T09:13:00.002+11:00

Well, what did you think? The final episode of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (entitled The Bitter End) premiered on Starz last night, and it seems to have gone down very well. Rick Jacobson, the producing director, helmed what I consider the best episodes (Ep02 and EP06) and delivered a kick arse new arena finale, complete with a raging ring of fire and two teams of Gladiators fighting to the (bitter) end.

I'm going to be posting some of the art direction work I did on my website over the next few days (that's one of the look development frames I did above). It was quite the challenging project...5 intense months of fast turnaround high quality television. I'm very proud of the work I've done on this show, and made some great friends doing it. But I won't be returning for Season 2, and instead have turned my attentions to the pre-production of:

Paradise Lost

DISCLAIMER: NOT THE REAL POSTER

Laura 3

2011-01-25T18:01:00.003+11:00

Another one...starting to feel a little fixated...probably need a restraining order soon.

"It wasn't my fault officer, but if she wouldn't be with me..then I couldn't allow her to be with anyone".

At least, that's what the dog told me. In my sleep...over and over.

Covered Star Wars #40

2011-01-18T13:17:00.002+11:00

Here's another one from me...Star Wars #40 by the great Al Williamson (and inked by Carlos Garzon):

covered by me:

lot's of fun painting the At-Ats and Speeders! Hope you like:-)

d

EEEK! TPB out now!

2010-12-28T18:05:00.003+11:00

Jason Paulos, of Hairbutt the Hippo fame, has been doing these great tributes to the classic Warren horror magazines for a few years now, and he recently found a publisher that recognised his talents: Asylum Press. The 'funny' book is called EEEK! and you can see a preview of it here.

He asked me to contribute something, and sent me the cool sketch below and suggested it could be the back cover:

I thought it was a rock'n sketch, and being a fan of the original Warren magazine cover painters incl. Frazetta, Sanjulian, Sutton, Enrich, Enrich etc. I jumped at the chance to do something in the tradition of their work. I did a quick colour key for Jason to see if he dug the approach:

Which he did. I then went straight into finishes, though struggled abit with the hero's face. Jason requested the main vampire in the coffin have the same frighteing eyes as what he remembered from the old TV adaption of Stephen King's Salem's Lot:

I loved that sccarrrryyyyyyy vampire as a kid as well, so gleefully swiped him. Errr, I mean...did a homage. Yeah, that's the ticket. All of which then lead us to the final back cover below:

Of course the print version is filled with all the usual indicia and other misc blurbs, but it printed well so pretty happy with it. Let me know if you dig it!

d

Another Laura

2010-12-19T20:23:00.004+11:00

Heh...this one turned kinda more graphic somehow!

Gods of the Arena trailer online!

2010-11-26T17:32:00.004+11:00

Well the trailer is out! I've been working on this Blood and Sand six show prequel for the last four months as the VFX Art Director, and it's been alot of work and we won't be done until Jan. Last seasons VFX were...well, lets not go there. But the vfx team have worked really hard to lift the bar for the prequel, and I hope it shows. Obviously can't say much more, but will just point you to the trailer. Let me know what you think!

d

Gods of the Arena: Trailer 1

Enemy Ace: Showcase Presents #57 'covered'

2010-11-11T17:17:00.003+11:00

Found this cool site run by a nice guy named Robert Goodin. He hosts a blog, which focuses on cover reworks by all sorts of artists -- check it out below:

Covered: Artists re-interpreting comic book covers

Anyway, I've just been re-reading the Enemy Ace showcase edition (man that Kubert is a master storyteller/draughtsman!) and decided to cover Mr. Kubert's Showcase Pres. #57 cover:

Though I love the way Joe draws Hans von Hammer, I went for abit more of a grizzled pulp hero for mine:

Let me know if you dig and I'l try another one!

Thanks:-)
d

Laura Vandervoort

2010-11-07T13:56:00.004+11:00

Laura Vandervoort - how gorgeous is she? Two paintings below, inspired from her role as Kara in 'Smallville'.

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

2010-10-10T20:05:00.004+11:00

Errr...so sorry about the haitus!

I'll post details about what I've been up to soon, but in the meantime I wanted to post about a new book that's being released --

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [Hardcover]
J.W. Rinzler (Author), Ridley Scott (Foreword)

Received my advance copy this week and all I can say is...WOW! I've been waiting for this book since the series was announced by LucasBooks several years ago. I'm happy to say, it's every bit as jammed packed with goodies as the
deluxe Star Wars edition printed two years ago, and even has the exact same page count of a glorious 372 pages.

I won't go into any highlights, but there are Joe Johnston storyboards I'd never seen before and Ralph McQuarrie drawings and paintings that weren't even published in his massive 'Art of…' book from Dreams and Visions Press (which I have posted about previously). Having become friends with Michael Pangrazio, it was also gratifying to see his glorious Hoth backgrounds given their due (which he painted with animation paints)!

Don't walk to your book store -- RUN!

Back with an bigger update v. soon!

Clash of the Titans remake

2010-01-12T16:57:00.005+11:00

I'm sure like the rest of you creative types, I've always had a list of projects that I would explore if I had access to George Lucas' goitre...and a remake of Clash would certainly be one of them.

Let me just first qualify that statement by saying that it would be through an absolutely desperate love of the original - both the amazing work of Mr. Harryhausen and the ridiculousness of Hamlin's scantily clad Perseus - that remaking this film wouldn't ever be about replacing it. That film was made then (1981), with that particular narrative thread and the back projection and optical effects that were available to the filmmakers then...and I love it.The craftsmanship of the Medusa sequence holds up as one of the classics in movie history...bravo Ray!

But seeing a new version of this story is a thrilling prospect. Leterrier certainly isn't my ideal director (his general filmic vision is much too stepped in a gritty,dirty city realism for my liking), but his work on Hulk was admirable, if flawed (his version of the Hulk, while much better than Lee's, was too real world with all the pitted skin and monstrous veins and they went from the day glo green of the first film to the overly desaturated in the sequel -- or pre-quel or whatever they called). That said, it had alot of great qualities and I enjoyed that film very much.

So all that said...I'm up for this. Going by that new trailer, Medusa certainly moves alot quicker in this film, and that's going to be interesting to see. The Kraken looks a little space alien for my tastes, but the scale is impressive. I don't remember seeing Calibos in the trailer, so perhaps they are holding back on him (since obviously they chose to show the Kraken to get bums on seats on opening day).

At any rate, I'm never one to discount a film based on a trailer so looking forward to seeing this in the theatre. It's not 3d, is it? ;-P

I'll leave you and a quick sketch of the original Medusa to ponder this question --

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T20:06:00.003+11:00

Hoping 2010 is a fantastic year for you all!

To kick things off for the new year, I thought with the release of James Cameron's fabulous 'Avatar' last month I'd post the one piece of concept art I did just before I left Weta Digital waaayyyy back in 2007. Geez, it's been +3 years since I worked on this piccie...how strange. Anyway, If you've seen the film (or the trailer), then you'll obviously recognise the bioluminescent jungle and also the marine power suits.

There's two frames below...Cameron Smith, a lead compositor at Weta, was kind enough to comp this as a quicktime so the camera pans right to left, and then the weapon discharges with a muzzle flash. I didn't keep a copy of that, but I do have one of the flash frames below the main image:

BONUS: I have this as a nice and shiny A3 print, so the first person to spot the Na’vi in the jungle wins it! You'll need to describe exactly where the figure is when you post a comment. Happy hunting:-)

Incoming!

2009-12-12T17:00:00.004+11:00

Opppsis -- apologies for the long delay in updates! How rude of me...especially to those that are following this blog (I owe you all big time for your patience)!

So to get you back up to speed, here's an update of what I've been up to since we last met:

I've finished 10 weeks pre-production on storyboards, working closely with Director/Writer Stuart Beattie on his highly anticipated production of John Marsden's "Tomorrow, When the War Began". Stuarts a very talented man, and it was a fantastic experience being part of this team (which includes visual effects wizard Chris Godfrey). Growing up overseas I never read the book, but most of my mates remembered reading the book in school. The screenplays a real page turner, and I can't wait to see the film next year!

Before that, I was working with Director Greg Mclean (Wolf Creek, Rogue) and his production company, Emu Creek Pictures on various pre-production artwork for a project that I can't talk about, which was really fun. Apparently the artwork and Greg's screenplay are being shopped around various studios at the moment so fingers crossed for him!

Now for some press (and art) --

ImagineFX recently did a short Q&A with me, which appears in the October editions news section:

Oct 2009

The Doc Frankenstein painting was a fun collaboration I did with Steve Skroce. First thing I want to point out is that Steve did some amazing tight pencils for this piece, so he gets most of the credit while I just filled in the blanks with crayons. I sent ImagineFX the pencils, but they negelected to print them. So to correct that mistake, here they are followed by my final painting:-)

'Steamin' Steve Skroce's masterful pencils

Final painting

The Wolverine image is a crop of a larger illustration that I was commisioned to paint for Marvels Ultimate Alliance II website:

Wolverine crop

Nick Fury Crop

Process wise, I was provided with a very rough layout, and very low resolution renders of the characters. I took those, then provided a rough colour key (below):

Panorama colour key

Once that was approved, it was just a matter of rendering it all up. I actually would have liked to taken it further, but they were reluctant to move to far away from the 'game' look. At any rate, it was a really fun project to work on despite the very quick turnaround.

Panorama final

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Back Issue magazine also featured some of my art and a letter I sent them regarding the Steve Gerber tribute issue (below):

John Morrow a fine job with all their line of comic related books and magazines (particulary Back Issue and also the Modern Masters series, which I highly recommend).

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Finally, just an update on the plagiarism story...The book and cover were pulled about a week later by Amazon, though the writer of the book has had a tougher time with the thief, receiving abusive emails and leaving unkind comments on his website and Amazon reviews. I think I got off easy compared to Nick, who ended having to get the Police involved, but thanks for the emails of support friends:-)

More soon!

Plagerism!

2009-08-18T16:59:00.008+10:00

Geez...you hear about these things happening, but don't realise one day it could happen to you.

I recently received an email, alerting me to the illegal use of a piece of my artwork on a book cover being solicited on Amazon.com:

Ashes Divide by Clarence Cage

Apparently it's the unofficial sequel to the movie 300, and the book itself is apparently a plagiarism of a book called Empire of Ashes: A Novel of Alexander the Great, which was written by the author Nicholas Nicastro.

This piece was promoted by Corel Art Expo last year at ADAPT2008, and they may have taken a digital snap at the conference, which could explain how they got a high resolution version:

Big thanks to Mark who alerted me with his initial email, and now both Nick and I have been in touch and contacted the Amazon Copyright Infringement Dept. about this matter.

Geez, there's some dodgy people out there!

Will update when we hear back:-)

PS. I think the worst thing about this is that god awful logo being used on the cover;-)

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Speaking of ADAPT2008, these were the other pieces they used at the Expo:

Middle (Retro Space Battle) and Right (Victorian Morena)

Right (Autumn Eva)

I hope these don't turn up as covers on Amazon too!

Wednesday Comics - My review

2009-07-13T13:32:00.005+10:00

Well this weekend I excitedly went into Kings Comics in Sydney with my kids to pick up the new Wednesday Comics project by DC Comics, and had to walk around the shop before i saw it -- inexplicably they had it in amongst all the other usual monthly nonsense, and it really got lost. That's not a criticism about the WC cover (shown above)...more a failure of Kings to recognise this as an event comic, and have it out on its own. Anyway, I bought a couple copies for myself and a half dozen copies for my mates to see if I could get them interested.

Overall, it's great. The smell of the ink on the newsprint, the texture of the paper...all very nostalgic, and i look forward to picking up every issue over the next couple months. On the whole i would have liked have seen more stories starting in the middle (like you would if you picked up the Sunday papers after having not read them for ages) and some of the creator's didn't quite get the Sunday paper tribute concept, but other than that it was a really great (and fun!) read.

Here's a quick rundown on each episode, with a grade beside each:

Batman: B+
First, this page visually works a treat with the strong WC logo at the top -- props to whoever designed this front page. As for the actual story, it's a great start, with an intriguing set-up and the art (and especially the monochromatic colouring) is top notch. Choosing the browns was a master stroke because it immediately puts the strip in the right tone to match this retro quality to the project. Looking forward to next issue...

Kamandi: A-
This page captures, what i think, is the perfect blend of doing something retro, while not looking like it was drawn decades ago. The colouring has a great water colour feel to it, and the Kirby bar at the bottom was a very nice touch. The setup works well and ends on an intriguing cliff hanger -- whose gruff voice is it?

Superman: C
Way over rendered...missed the boat in terms of finding the balance like Kamandi did. In terms of the storytelling though, i liked the fact that it starts right in the middle of a fight and the last panel is a really good segue into the next episode. Just wish it wasn't over rendered as it's really hard to judge what the line work would have been like if the colours were handled more suitably.

Deadman: A-
Loved this one -- is just as successful as the Kamandi story in terms of the colours, artwork, page density, retro quality etc. All the elements are there, and the page design is great and flows nicely. Bullocks work is very inspiring and i can't wait to see how this develops! Top work guys:-)

Green Lantern: B-
I love the setting and style of the top panel, but some of the other panels are a little vector looking with the thick outline around the characters. The premise is great though, and I really like the tone (it fits perfectly like Kamandi and Deadman), so i look forward to seeing where they take this story.

Just as an aside: looking at both these stories together, one can really see the influence Darwyn Cooke's work has had on the industry and that's a good thing!

Metamorpho: B
I'm not a huge Allred fan, but this is by far the best of his recent work and so much of it works fantastically. Love the top logo, and then panel design....the roll call at the bottom is a really great nod to this old comic format. Colours look great on the newsprint, and for me it's only the way Allred draws the faces that stops this being up with the other A grades.

Teen Titans: D
I think Cheeks is a cracking illustrator, but his very tight, vector style just doesn't translate to the comic medium, imho. The colours and line holds he uses look fabulous on screen, but just feel very washed out when printed in this format. Also, the page design and the constant way he breaks the borders doesn't help the storytelling. I looked at this one for about 30 secs before turning the page, and I'm still not sure what it was all about and what was happening in that last panel. Sorry Cheeks:-(

Strange Adventures: B+
Great! I'm not much of a Pope fan but his work here is really great. This story got me really excited to see more...from the muted colours and wash over the speech bubbles (which really helps pull all the colours together), to the way he designed the panels (that last Foom! is a cracker!) -- it all works. What lets it down a little, and this is obviously just a very personal thing, is Pope's line work doesn't seem very confident and is abit bitsy in places, especially on our hero's faces.

Supergirl: C+
While it's a great story with a gag at the end, the artwork is a little lack lustre (the artist missed a huge opportunity by not integrating the logo into the first panel and it feels incomplete), and the lettering - with the very Image-comic like vignettes - don't work for this type of format. But at least it had a clear beginning and end, so look forward to the next episode.

Metal Men: A
The only reason this isn't an A+ is the colourist was too literal with the hues and let's it down a little bit (and maybe that was just my expectation after seeing the amazing pencilled version of this page). But other than that it's solid gold on all accounts by the writer (great beginning and ends on a hilarious gag) and of course, Jose's art is perfect for this project and he's one of the all-time greats so it's always a treat (and an education) to see his work. Can't wait to see how this develops!

Wonder Woman: D-
Ben seems like a great guy and i think everybody on The Drawing Board appreciates all the time he spends posting his roughs and sketches, but this just doesn't work for me. The logo looks amateurish and doesn't have any weight, the page is way to dense and the font he's chosen is very hard to read. As a cartoonist he does great poses, but it just doesn't gel as a cohesive comic page for me. Sorry Ben.:-(

Sgt. Rock: A
It's Joe drawing Sgt. Rock, so what else can be said? It captures the feeling of nostalgia perfectly...the story intrigues, and though it only takes a few minutes to read, has so much life because the bigger panels are able to breath with the appropriate white space around them. Great job Adam and Joe!

Flash Comics & Iris West: B
This one feels a little bit modern for my tastes, but the artwork is solid, great choice of villian in Gorilla Grodd, and I LOVE the nod to those great old romance comics in the Iris story. This one feels more like a teaser though, so I'll wait and see how it develops before saying anymore...

The Demon and Cat Woman: B+
Colouring is too dark and overly saturated on the newsprint (hope they adjust that for next issue), but overall it's great. Simonson's work has a suprsingly Mignola-esque feel to it, but it's an impressive effort all up with a good setup and premise. Can't wait to see The Demon in action (hopefully next issue:-)

Hawkman: B
I really like the loose brushwork Baker uses in this comic and the water-like colouring really works over it. With only 6 panels, it feels a little thin compared to the Rock strip (simply because in the Kubert strip he has the storytelling nous to place us immediately into jeopardy with our hero), but I'll give this one a little leeway and see how it develops.

Overall, Wednesday Comics is a winner and congrats go to Mark Chiarello for coming up with the idea, DC Comics for being smart enough to see the idea through and really generating some buzz about the project, and all the writers and artists who obviously worked their butts off (despite some of my criticisms above, i can clearly see that everyone put a hell of alof of effort into every single panel). Bravo!

The Spirit + Conan + Diana

2009-06-23T08:24:00.003+10:00

Shock!

Horror!

Two updates in a row!

First, my ramblings about The Spirit --

I've been a Spirit fan since i can remember... just love those classic typographic splash pages, noirish alleyways and beautiful hand lettered pages that Will Eisner created. gorgeous comic book artwork.

Well i had the displeasure of watching Frank Miller's film version on DVD, and it's so bad that i found it virtually unwatchable (i turned it off after about 45 minutes). From what i actually saw, the pseudo SIn City look is totally wrong for the tone of the film, and the tone of the film is totally wrong for (what i believe) Will was trying to do with The Spirit. The visual effects are shoddy, and the storytelling was absolute drek. Shame on Miller...i hope he does us all a favour and goes back to comics and leave the film making to the big boys.

Anyone else see it? Love to hear your thoughts and whether you agree/disagree...?

anyway, here's a quick sketch (NOT based on the movie;-)

A quick caricature of new Tonight Show host, Conan O'Brien:

Few more quick sketches of Diana Rigg as Emma Peel from that great classic show, The Avengers:

It LIVES!

2009-06-19T09:14:00.003+10:00

Sorry about the long time between updates. but i'll make it up to you (i swear) -- there's new artwork below, and i have two new websites up and running. if you have the time, check out my feature film visual development gallery here:

Visual Development 2.0

It's still be finished, but i needed to get it up and running to show the Green Lantern people my work. Fingers crossed i'll be working on that in August at Fox Studios.

My fine art portrait gallery here (where you can also commision a portrait!):

Portraits & Landscapes 1.0

now i'll shut up and post some randon doodles --

Some Batman fun from The Drawing Board to celebrate his 70th Bday:

''

Some Star Trek fun to celebrate the new movie (and how good was it...just soooo much fun):

and finally, some (wholesome!) Smurf action:

There! That should keep you quiet...LOL

:-)

d

King Leonidas, Dick Tracy, Darth Plagueis, The Shadow + mystery celebrity

2008-11-11T21:44:00.003+11:00

some bits and pieces for you --

an old sketch of King Leonidas i dug out:

a sketch of Darth Plagueis stumbling upon the secret of the Jedi powers -- cheerios!

couple of 1930s inspired sketches from The Drawing Board thread

Dick Tracy

The Shadow

and finally, a caricature of a mystery celebrity.

first person to correctly guess the identity gets a free...

Happy Halloween 2008!

2008-11-01T01:57:00.004+11:00

wooooooooooooooooooo!

(and here's some Halloweenish art...another Vampirella.)

Audrey Hepburn caricature

2008-10-17T13:05:00.005+11:00

UPDATED: another Audrey caricature. let me know if you wanna see more:-)

There's been a flurry of caricature action over at The Drawing Board, so here's my very meagre sketch which plays on those crazy hats she wore in 'My Fair Lady'.

Paul Newman tribute

2008-10-13T14:18:00.003+11:00

in caricature form (and inspired by the Mad Magazine work of Jack Davis and Mort Drucker). Paul was a great actor and played some great roles...my fav roles would be a tie between his Butch, and the heroic architect in The Towering Inferno. And, his pasta sauce is pretty decent too!

Shanghai peasant portrait (version 2)

2008-09-28T22:23:00.003+10:00

something always bugged me about this first attempt, and i've since reworked it and much happier with the result. i think i just got carried away with the textures in her face, and it got overly illustrative. this one is much more naturalistic and enjoyable to look at (at least, in my opinion). but let me know if you agree or disagree...

Frankenstein's monster

2008-09-13T22:42:00.002+10:00

just a quick fun one...i always thought that frankenstein's monster would be almost like a rotting corpse, but with an electric current running through his body, keeping him 'alive'. No? Well, you're probably right:-)

Clint

2008-08-31T12:54:00.002+10:00

slight caricature...didn't want to push it to much because he's already playing a caricature in those great spaghetti westerns!

Mandy, MM, Diana + Sophia

2008-08-31T09:56:00.006+10:00

Sorry for the delay in new posts. still going with the movie...can you believe Baz is still shooting scenes? oh well... can't wait to see the epic in the cinemas soon.

workwise, here's a tribute to Dean Yeagle's Mandy character who appears in Playboy (not that i read that magazine) --

there's lots of fun going on over at the Drawing Board in the caricature section, and here's a very quick MM that i submitted.

next, a Diana Rigg from that old but classic TV show, 'The Avengers'...

another Sophia, from reference --

Another Sophia

2008-08-02T01:10:00.001+10:00

from reference...

Edit: received quite a few emails about brushes and techniques, so i put this together to show Painter brushes used and in which way. sorry its still quite general, but if you have specific questions feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

The Simpsons

2008-07-24T08:29:00.002+10:00

a looonggggg time ago i found an old copy of the now defunct 'The Simpsons Illustrated Magazine', and in the back there was this great drawing of Moe's Bar. I don't have the original scan anymore or the magazine, but i did have a blocked in version that i started. anyway, i finished it recently and had alot of fun. if anyone knows who did the original drawing, please let me know.

And this second one is a reworking (ie. i finally finished it!) of an older painting. let me know if you want to see more:-)

Second portrait from Shanghai

2008-07-22T00:21:00.004+10:00

This gorgeous women was one of the agency clients and has such a great profile. She always wore chopsticks in her hair as well, and had this great mix of modern and traditional Chinese. Very attractive...I don't think i did her justice but tried my best.

Galactus

2008-07-18T22:15:00.002+10:00

This was kinda close to the stuff i did for the FF2 film, but as i'm never apparently going to be able to show that stuff (thanks Fox!), this was one i did on my own.

Shanghai peasant portrait

2008-07-08T00:28:00.003+10:00

i was in Shanghai last year, and while out on the film shoot this Chinese peasant (to call her that seems really odd and demeaning, but i can't think how else to describe her because she was obviously very poor) was collecting all the discarded recyclable water bottles that the crew was drinking then tossing away. she was really friendly and seemed interested so i approached her about taking her picture. she seemed fine with it and posed for a couple snaps. i finally got time to paint her portrait digitally using Painter X and took advantage of the great natural bristle brushes and palette knifes. i sure do love that program!

some more Shanghai paintings coming over the next few months.

Star Trek Animated

2008-07-05T12:30:00.003+10:00

i was going through an old hard disk, and found a bunch of sketches that never saw light of day...i was thinking about how to redesign and update the Star Trek Animated show that i loved as a kid. obviously after i had just finished reading New Frontier, and then it turned into something else.

Another Vampirella

2008-07-03T21:42:00.002+10:00

70 Years of Superman

2008-06-29T19:14:00.002+10:00

Thanks to those who liked my Christopher Reeve 'Clark Ken't (and certainly he was the definitive Kent, as someone put it). Here's another tribute for Superman's 70th Birthday...I used a classic Chris Reeve pose from the 1978 movie (as well as the Kent farm):

Ralph McQuarrie's original Darth Vader

2008-06-28T19:20:00.003+10:00

Some more stuff, some new and some old. First up, I always wondered what the opening scene of Star Wars would have looked like with Ralph McQuarrie's original designs, so i painted this sketch up.

More tomorrow:-)

Vampirella, Clark + more Sophia

2008-06-16T22:55:00.003+10:00

some stuff from various threads at The Drawing Board...

First, Harris Comics Vampirella had a real influence on me when i was growing up. No, not because of the skimpy costumes...but because it was my first introduction to amazing spanish comic book artists like José Gonzalez and Enrique Torres. Frazetta did some definitive Vampirella's of course, which is obviously a big influence as well. Here's my two tributes to her:

The other thread is for Superman's 70th birthday, so i did the late Mr. Reeve, who played Supes alter ego with just the right amount of bumbling innocence in the movies:

And finally, more Sophia practice:

Giant Killer Turtle + Australia!

2008-05-22T18:08:00.003+10:00

I was commisioned by Neal Holman to paint his cover for his 'Love, Lust and a giant Killer Turtle" comic book that he's pitching around. Neals a really swell guy, and i enjoyed working over Chad's drawing. Hope you enjoy and more updates coming soon (almost finished with the movie).

PS. did anyone catch the teaser the other day?

Australia teaser

Jula

2008-05-07T23:25:00.002+10:00

my interpretation, from the Drawing Board Jam. She's got a really interesting face...like she's done some hard time so i tried to bring that out is this sketch.

updates

2008-04-29T07:53:00.002+10:00

Sorry for the long delay. I'll be answering questions kindly posted in the comments over the next few days (and thanks very much for anyone taking the time to say hello). not much time, but here's some various paintings and scribbles for you...

Marvel Comics The Vision

Another tribute for Dave Steven's, from the movie The Rocketeer

More Sophia's...

Was Charlie Brown always bald?

A quick Nick Cave charicature

more Sophia + Misc...

2008-03-22T01:25:00.003+11:00

Well after the disapointing news that The Justice League film i was working on didn't receive the tax concessions (despite George's pleas), i've signed on and have been working with Baz Luhrman on his 'Australia' flick. It's great fun and it's going to be one hell of a movie. Big and epic:-)

Geez...the comic world has lost a few giants lately, which is very sad news. Early this week, the creator of 'The Rocketeer' recently passed away. If your a comic fan or saw the 1991 film, then you'll know the character. if you don't know the creator, then check out his amazing artwork here.

Here's my small tribute to a really great artist --

More Sophia's from The Drawing Board that i've done --

Quickie from a Drawing Jam --

Sophia + Giada

2008-03-08T13:16:00.005+11:00

...and a few more Sophia's to come soon.

Giada taught me to cook bolognese papadeli (very yummy).

Better Homes and Garden Iga

2008-03-01T00:21:00.002+11:00

Caricature 002

2008-02-26T21:22:00.003+11:00

just a quick Caricature of a Drawing Board member, done in Painter X using the Square Conte, Acrylic brushes, all painted over a scan of an old oil gesso prepared wood canvas (geez...doesn't that sound all technical and shit).

SG tribute Mark II + Autumn Iga 6

2008-02-20T00:13:00.002+11:00

Another Steve Gerber tribute...a more formal portrait with some of the comic characters that he created and help shape.

The thing thats really hard to duplicate in digital painting, is the thick look of paint. This was an attempt to get that (but not quite there i'm afraid). Hey...maybe i should just pick up some brushes?

Steve Gerber 1947 - 2008

2008-02-17T10:22:00.003+11:00

Last Sunday, Steve Gerber (the creator of Howard the Duck) passed away.

Howard the Duck was a Marvel Comic published in the mid to late 70's, and featured a wise-cracking Duck, trapped in our world. I remember the first time i picked up the first issue at a second hand bookstore, and was absolutely blown away by the character, drawings, tone and most of all...the story! I devoured that thing for almost a full week...every time i'd put it down, i'd pick it up against almost immediately, trying to work out how the hell they did that.

Here's my tribute:

Sgt Rock, Exxon Ceo,Autumn girl and Aliens...WAR!

2008-02-13T23:04:00.003+11:00

just some various images for you...

i was recently asked for some political/editorial samples, and i decided to do a portrait/caricature of Lee Raymond, who was the head of Exxon during the infamous Valdez disaster. let me know your thoughts (yah or nah) and i'll post the other ones as i do them.

now, over at the Drawing Board, the theme for this months Jam is "War is Hell". so i've been thinking about what i was going to do to contribute, and immediately two things popped into my head:

the first, is that the great Gregory Peck would have made an awesome Sgt. Rock. now, if you don't know who that is...then please do a google on the Sarge and the veteran comic book artist Joe Kubert and you'll see what i mean. i picked up the latest Showcase for inspiration also, and i've gotta say...man that Kubert can draw! anyway, here's my Peck-ish Sgt. Rock --

the second image is for Aliens, the great war movie sequel that James Cameron made in1986. i saw this in Canada when i was 18, and it thrilled me and scared the crap out of me at the same time. hope i did it at least a tiny bit of justice:-)

lastly, here's another Autumn Iga (gotta sneak in a girl somewhere, don't i)?

Heath Ledger as the 'Joker' tribute

2008-01-28T22:28:00.000+11:00

F4:2 and Aerial Perspective

2008-01-24T12:23:00.003+11:00

It's been made public on Variety, so i guess its safe to say the Writer's strike has delayed further pre-production on the Justice League movie (i was working on it as a concept artist/illustrator) until later in the year:-(

Artwork wise, here's the Empire magazine cover that i did for Weta last year, for the F4:2 Silver Surfer movie. It was done in a very short timeframe (haw - but aren't they all!) and i was given a very open brief. i provided several different concepts (the surfer in orbit around the Earth, above New York, coming out of a Nebulae in space, and surfing an asteroid field) with different poses in the form of very rough sketches --

-- and this is the one they went for. i painted over a 3d block model which was done before the final look of the 'silver skin' shaders had been completed and approved, so there was alot of painting involved to get this to print quality.

Tutorial wise, i'm not doing anything at the moment for Painter Magazine, but i did do this 'Defining Aerial Perspective' tutorial for ImagineFX magazine (it was out on the stands late last year):

And ImagineFX.com recently asked for contributions to their upcoming Frank Frazetta special issue, so i made a few revisions to this old Conan Frazetta homage and it was accepted. Yah for me, right?

Another Autumn Iga...

Bits and pieces

2008-01-12T18:03:00.000+11:00

Making sure i keep posting regularly --

Just a reminder that Issue 09 of the Corel Painter mag just hit newstands here in Australia (i think we're a couple issues behind it seems because Issue 12 has just been released on the Painter website), and its got my retro space battle tutorial in it (keen eyes can spot it middle right on the cover).

and here's a few illustrations i did from an older QandA section, one about painting effective explosions --

-- and the other discussing different colours schemes for horror images.

I'm still looking at options for prints of some of the portratis and figurative studies i've done, but in the meantime i've reworked a few of them and i think they're almost ready:-)

'Here boy!'

2008-01-11T01:51:00.001+11:00

Superman's boyhood pal... Krypto.

Autumn Iga

2008-01-09T22:52:00.001+11:00

Autumn Iga
a series i did for the drawingboard, based on a model from the UK whom i've fallen in love with.

painting 1

painting 2

painting 3

Various work

2008-01-09T22:34:00.000+11:00

here's lots of work to make up for the last 3 months (i hope). if you like what you see, feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment, so i can guage what people like:-)

Tomb of Dracula homage
here's my homage to Wolfman, Colan and Palmer's run on The Tomb of Dracula, which was a long running Marvel comic series printed in the 70's. i based the face on Jack Palance, which is the actor that Gene based his Dracula on:-)

Supergirl taking a sun shower
just for fun really.

Misc blonde
chanelling Elvgren, Mcginnis, Buell. they were the masters:-)

Airwick 3d tv styleframe
did this for a con-production between Halo Pics and Emerald City. they were having trouble getting the look they wanted, so Chris Hague (who's a top bloke and did the character drawings) called me in to see if i could crack the code. they were pretty happy with the work, but in the end the tvc suffered due to budget and time constraints. isn't that always the case though?

The Black Coat #7 back cover sketch
here's the approved sketch i sent to Ben and Francesco, but due to other work commitments they're both commited to, the last two issues are delayed til later in the year. i look forward to tackling this one because i'm happy with the way the sketch turned out.

Borderlands trailer
I recently worked on a shot for the Borderlands video game trailer (http://www.borderlandsthegame.com/home.htm), which looks like a really cool game. i only did one shot, but it was alot of fun:

i'll be doing more video game work later in the year, so stay tuned gamers!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-09T19:49:00.000+11:00

Happy New year to everybody! Big apologies for the severe lack of updates over the last few months! i've been busy working on a very exciting project as a production illustrator. what project is that you ask? well, i'm...

yes, very exciting indeed. i can't say anything about the flick, but i can say i am working with some very talented people like Owen Patterson (the production designer on The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Speed Racer) and other artists like George Hull (http://www.ghull.com/news/news_main.php), Steve Skroce and some of the key team who worked on Happy Feet.

ok, enough name dropping for now. whew!

Retro Space Battle for Painter Mag

2007-09-25T04:21:00.000+10:00

Continuing my (ahem!) instructional work i've been doing lately, here's a retro space battle painting i did for next months Corel's Official Painter Magazine (which just sounds so damn official!). The commision was to show my process for creating a retro space battle. I also included references to a couple of great "space art" greats, like John Berkey and Robert T McCall. I had to show the complete process over 7-pages, and here's a few of the thumbnails i did in preparation as well. Hope ya'all enjoy, and i've got a few portraits coming soon as well:-)

Linda Carter as Wonder Woman

2007-09-25T04:13:00.000+10:00

God, i love this woman. She was just...so... OMG!

*Let's out a loud girly scream*

I had the second biggest crush on her when i was a little vegemite. First big crush, of course, was on Steve Austin (other wise know as The Six Million Dollar Man) but that's a whole other post:-)

Blonde and a brunette

2007-08-06T22:23:00.000+10:00

Corel Painter Q & A - Issue 6

2007-07-22T18:40:00.000+10:00

Issue 6 is out in the UK now (though here in Australia we seem to be a couple isues behind).

Here's a scan from the Victorian portrait tutorial i did for Issue 4.

I'll also have a painting Question & Answer session in next issue of ImagineFX (http://www.imaginefx.com/).

Raiders of the Lost Ark pulp cover

2007-07-17T00:20:00.000+10:00

with the recent announcement of Indiana Jones 4, i did a fake pulp cover to join in the fun over at the Drawing Board:-)

Dr. Stephen Strange

2007-07-12T14:28:00.000+10:00

For those not in the know, Doctor Strange is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe and a master of the mystic arts, using his abilities to battle evil magicians and other supernatural villains.

If they make a move of this character, i reckon Oded Fehr would be perfect for the part. So here's my version of the Dr. Strange looking very spooky:

Rough

Final

The Black Coat #5-6

2007-07-02T00:10:00.000+10:00

As promised, more artwork:-)

Here's the two back covers i've done so far for the second series of The Black Coat, a comic published by Ape Entertainment (http://www.ape-entertainment.com/).

I was invited by artist extraordinaire Francesco Francavilla (http://www.francescofrancavilla.com/) and the rest of the Black Coat gang (http://the-black-coat.com/) to join in the fun on the new series. Whew, lot's of links!

THE BLACK COAT #5 BACK COVER

Initial Sketch
On the left is Francesco’s original sketch, and my reworked sketch on the right. It was really cool working off Francesco's rough image as a starting point (and very kind of him to give me the freedom to change it if i wanted.

Final painted cover
I wanted to get a very textural feel to this painting, simulating the look of the Brandywine artists. Of course i failed miserably, but it was an ok attempt.

Detail

Final Cover as it appears in print

THE BLACK COAT #6 BACK COVER

Final painted cover
In keeping with the first cover, i used the same design elements like the moon and the boats on the river.

Detail

Cover as it appears in print

I've just received the scripts for Issue #7-8 so i'll post the new covers when they're approved and complete. In the meantime, head over to Ape or The Black Coat website for ordering information (sorry about the obvious plug).

Corel Painter Q & A - Issue 5

2007-06-26T23:15:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned before my hiatus (ahem!), I’ve been commissioned by the Official Corel Painter Magazine (yes, that's the full name of the Magazine) to do a series of tutorials and question and answer sessions. The first of the Q&A is in the new issue, available now at the newsagents. Here’s a preview of the seven questions I was asked --

Shout out if you pick it up. Would be interested if people felt it was actually beneficial:-)

Vader's castle

2007-06-17T13:19:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. i'm back now though, and will be posting quite abit over the next week or so.

first up, this was done for a Drawing Board thread about Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker -- i remember reading in an interview that Darth Vader had a castle, but it was never realised in the new episodes because i think Lucas decided he needed to humanise the Dark Lord. anyway, just playing around and tried to imagine what his domain would look like through the eyes of a scared shitless Imperial Commander walking towards his doom (yikes!) --

i've been getting a few emails requesting 'step-by-steps', so i saved off some stages while i worked on this image. let me know if there's any areas that don't make sense, or if you need more detail:-)

Spidey 3

2007-05-11T02:03:00.000+10:00

have yet to see it, but here's a more cartoony piece that i did for a Spiderman Jam at the Drawing Board. hope you like it (and please leave a comment if you do, I *sniff* don't seem to be getting many *boo-hoo* over the last few days. you don't wanna see a grown man cry do you?

Toot, tut!

2007-05-07T16:16:00.000+10:00

This was fun... I was recently commisioned by the editor of The Official Painter Magazine (http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk/) to create, what looks like will be, a series of tutorials. Though i have yet to see it for sale here in Sydney, the magazine looks good and my first tutorial will be in the next issue (#4).

The first tutorial focuses on my Victorian Morena painting, and the tutorial takes you through the main stages of the painting, beginning with --

1) Finding appropriate reference so I can achieve an authentic look
2) Create a thumbnail tonal and then colour study
3) Illustrate which brushes I use and the settings (you can follow along if you have Painter)
4) Show some of the key phases the painting went through
5) As I’m not afraid to air my dirty laundry, I also showed how the first face I painted worked against the image and how I wasn’t afraid to just paint over it and start again.

There's 4 major stages of the painting, plus about 16 screengrabs (like these):

If you see it, drop me an email and let me know what you thought:-)

--

There's a Supergirl re-design going on over at The Drawing Board, and it just happened that the episode of Justic League Unlimited on Saturday on Cartoon Network had her in it. I always watch this with my kids, and i asked her if she liked Supergirls costume. She said 'no, so after the show we sat down and the top two are what she came up with (i drew them, she art directed). Her main concern was that she have nice shoes:-)

more girls

2007-05-03T11:49:00.000+10:00

are you getting bored yet?

300 parody again

2007-04-19T16:45:00.000+10:00

still haven't seen the movie yet though. is it good?

more quickies

2007-04-19T00:55:00.000+10:00

a quickie

2007-04-18T00:28:00.000+10:00

Jessica

2007-04-06T16:14:00.000+10:00

an up-the-nostril shot :-)

EDIT:

A failed attempt (she's overly crunchy), but it's a good one for illustrating the great marks Painter can make --

Here's a quick tutorial showing the stages and brushes i use --

eva green redux

2007-04-04T18:05:00.000+10:00

just investigating alternative formats and presentation for my portrait work. what do you think?

Casino Royale Green

2007-03-30T10:16:00.001+10:00

based on a screen grab from the movie (and didn't she look so gorgeous in this shot)?

Old Hollywood Eva

2007-03-20T23:19:00.000+11:00

in classic Hollywood starlet mode

Kabuki Eva

2007-03-18T21:02:00.000+11:00

Victorian Eva

2007-03-16T10:32:00.000+11:00

not 100% happy (something about the nose bugs me), but am using the Alla Prima method of painting (basically, doing it in one sitting) so am moving on.

Smiling Eva

2007-03-13T20:12:00.000+11:00

Eva Green

2007-03-12T19:02:00.000+11:00

from Kingdom of Heaven

300 parody

2007-03-09T23:32:00.000+11:00

you'll need to have either read the graphic novel or seen the movie to understand this parody, i'm afraid --

300 again

2007-03-09T01:27:00.000+11:00

spent abit more time on this one:-)

300 spartans

2007-03-07T22:34:00.000+11:00

advance word says its fantastic! can't wait...

Morena sketches

2007-02-28T19:15:00.000+11:00

hmmm...i smell a trend :-)

Fear Agent

2007-02-26T21:15:00.000+11:00

here's my paints over Mike Wieringo's excellent Fear Agent sketch, which was going to be used for an alt-cover by Rick Remender, but they ended up going with another version instead (which is totally cool with me as it was lots of fun to do anyway).

Mike's original sketch

Morena summer garden

2007-02-26T18:04:00.000+11:00

Winter Morena

2007-02-20T16:37:00.001+11:00

Captain Marvel

2007-02-16T12:56:00.000+11:00

Hellboy

2007-02-11T19:32:00.000+11:00

movie wasn't so great, but he's a very cool character and hope they do better in the sequel that's in the works. anyway, i reckon Hellboy as a bit of a street fighter: he's not afraid to grab a zombie's nut sack if he's losing the fight, or -- as in this case -- yank on an ogre's eyeball!

Currently working on:

Victorian Morena

2007-02-10T17:04:00.001+11:00

based her face on Morena Baccarin from Serenity

girl backlit

2007-02-09T14:50:00.001+11:00

Women and Kitty

2007-02-06T20:06:00.000+11:00

Morena Baccarin

2007-02-02T06:41:00.000+11:00

more Painter fun (from ref)

Dune

2007-01-26T12:55:00.000+11:00

A Little Golden Blog

Merry Christmas!

The Line it is Drawn

Few more portraits

Recent portraits

Covered: Blade Runner and Kirby's Darkseid

Fanny

Comic-Con: Part Deux

Comic-con 2011 + LA (Universal) + Vegas baby!

Gene Colan, RIP

More on Spartacus & Tomorrow, When the War Began

ET x 2

ET February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011

The Bitter End?

Laura 3

Covered Star Wars #40

EEEK! TPB out now!

Another Laura

Gods of the Arena trailer online!

Enemy Ace: Showcase Presents #57 'covered'

Laura Vandervoort

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Clash of the Titans remake

Happy New Year!

Incoming!

Plagerism!

Wednesday Comics - My review

The Spirit + Conan + Diana

It LIVES!

King Leonidas, Dick Tracy, Darth Plagueis, The Shadow + mystery celebrity

Happy Halloween 2008!

Audrey Hepburn caricature

Paul Newman tribute

Shanghai peasant portrait (version 2)

Frankenstein's monster

Clint

Mandy, MM, Diana + Sophia

Another Sophia

The Simpsons

Second portrait from Shanghai

Galactus

Shanghai peasant portrait

Star Trek Animated

Another Vampirella

70 Years of Superman

Ralph McQuarrie's original Darth Vader

Vampirella, Clark + more Sophia

Giant Killer Turtle + Australia!

Jula

**updates**

more Sophia + Misc...

Sophia + Giada

Better Homes and Garden Iga

Caricature 002

SG tribute Mark II + Autumn Iga 6

Steve Gerber 1947 - 2008

Sgt Rock, Exxon Ceo,Autumn girl and Aliens...WAR!

Heath Ledger as the 'Joker' tribute

F4:2 and Aerial Perspective

Bits and pieces

'Here boy!'

Autumn Iga

Various work

Happy New Year!

Retro Space Battle for Painter Mag

Linda Carter as Wonder Woman

Blonde and a brunette

Corel Painter Q & A - Issue 6

Raiders of the Lost Ark pulp cover

Dr. Stephen Strange

The Black Coat #5-6

Corel Painter Q & A - Issue 5

Vader's castle

Spidey 3

Toot, tut!

more girls

300 parody again

more quickies

a quickie

Jessica

updates