Sorpho the Atlantian

I went back to my fantastical treatment of Plato's account of Atlantis. I had made this particular character and similar ones before in pencil and now he's on canvas. Personally, I'm a big Atlantis aficionado. And there have been recent trends in archaeology that are suggesting it was a very real place. These findings point to Thera and Crete, home of the mysterious Minoan culture. 

There's a really interesting documentary on the subject hosted by historian Bettany Hughes. You can catch it here on Youtube. Her shows are hard to find here in the U.S. They're quite informative. 

And she's so cultured and knowledgable.

For Sorpho

Acrylic on Canvas

March 2014

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Ornaments of Gold

I really love this song from Siouxsie's Peepshow album from 1988. It's hard to find music with such a visual narrative evoked in it's lyrics. I was actually torn between this song and "Cities in Dust" from Tinderbox of 1985. This is why there's references to antiquity, like Anubis and the Sumerian Lamassu. But in the end, the idea of the allure gold, which looks terrible on my complexion btw, or precious metals (she mentions silver a lot in the song) was what seduced me visually. I switched to a 5-fingered, more proportionate style than my usual 4-fingered cartoon figures for this one. The preview is reduced to 20% of the original, which is vinyl album-frame sized.

Ornaments of Gold

Pencil, Computer

26 September 2013

Ornaments of Gold (Minimal Version)

Star Trek Art: The Sensor

The Sensor 

Pencil, Photoshop

June 2012

I've decided to upload bigger previews of my Star Trek inspired art. Reduced to 25% of the print. My first image in a series that pays homage to the Star Trek universe but in my cartoon style. "The Sensor" is an interpretation of one of the more memorable scenes from 1979's Star Trek The Motion Picture in which Mr. Spock encounters a gigantic copy of the Deltan Ilia that overwhelms him as he attempts a mind meld with it. While most Star Trek fans count Wrath of Khan as their favorite from the original movies, I have a nostalgic place in my heart for this first movie. The effects are fantastic and there's enough camp and overacting in some scenes to keep you awake even through the long V'ger sequences.

Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

My tribute to one of my favorite films "of all time". Some friends of mine were opening a club night with a minimalist/cold-wave music theme and they asked me if I wanted to bring any art with me. Being the only person exhibiting, of course I was honored and it motivated me to make this painting I had been imagining for months! Being a Blade Runner FANATIC I cranked it out in 3 hours. It's 4 foot by 2. Wouldn't a cartoon of this movie and novel be great?

Blade Runner Blues

Acrylic on Canvas

October 2012

iamamiwhoami

They say the northern folk are cold. Jonna Lee and the mysterious collaboration known as iamamiwhoami seem as "cold" as the surface of the sun. Explosive and highly emotionally charged music accompanies surrealistic videos of performance art that is filled with mythic, dreamy imagery. The sound is part danceable, part sad and bitter-sweet, and part ominous at times.

This image was mostly inspired by the video for clump. Although ultimately a caricature (I try to work in the realm of "cute") it brings to mind certain beings from European myth and folklore. Obviously Fairies and Trolls but I was also inspired by the Basque woman of the forest, Basa Andere. A being who seduces men by combing the short fur on her belly with an enchanted golden comb.

Kin

Pencil, Photoshop

October 2012

AUSTRA

It's been nearly a year and a half since the release of Austra's album Feel it Break and personally, I'm still spellbound. I totally missed them when they came to my city, Miami, because I was out of town (of course!). Despite that, you can say I'm pretty floored by this band. While my favorite singer on Earth, Björk, is a great example of unpredictable atonal sound, Austra gives us music that's still surprising and bold while rich in melody and harmony. Beyond that, their songs express a broad range of emotional states and their lyrics are quite poetic. You know, anything I'd say just wouldn't capture it. Personally, I think they're awesome and they were worth depicting in a cute cartoony fashion. 

I had originally made sketches for what I believe to be the six important people that comprise Austra, including the two girls and the young man with that amazing long hair that appears in some of the videos. But I wound up with these three because it worked compositionally. Sources say that the band is really comprised of three. I'm not so sure about that. I may still try and use the remaining three for another portrait. 

This piece is dedicated to the song Spellwork, which already has visuals in the form of the video. But it's one of my favorites. For all I know, their all a bunch of devout staunch athiests. But the song has such a mysterious and mystical quality to it.

Anyhow, I've been making a few of my favorite musicians in this style. I'm just putting out creatively whatever and whoever I draw inspiration from. Musicians give us so much it's only fair to reciprocate. Up next: iamamiwhoami

Spellwork

Pencil, Photoshop

October 2012

The Mutara Battle Part 2, Wrath of Khan Tribute

This is my second illustration to one of my favorite movies of all time, Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. I based Kirk's image on that memorable (kinda funny, actually) scene where he yells "KHAN!" and then they loop his voice over and over again "KHAN! KHAN! KHAN!"

As usual the image at left is reduced to 12% from the original illustration on my hard drive. 

The detail image at right is reduced to 25%.

The Mutara Battle 2

Pencil, Adobe Photoshop

October 2012

The Wrath of Khan in two parts

The genetically advanced, perfect soldier Khan has stolen not only the starship Reliant but the powerful Genesis experiment as well in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In the dramatic ending of the film he follows the Enterprise into the mysterious Mutara Nebula, a turbulent region of space that disrupts both of the starships' sensors and disables their shields. This is part 1 of my tribute to this climactic battle.

As usual the image at left in the preview is the full illustration reduced to 12% from the original, while the detail at right is reduced to 25%.

The Mutara Battle 1

Pencil, Adobe Photoshop

October 2012

Blade Runner Blues painting, version 1.0

After months of imagining myself making a painting for one of my favorite movies of all time, I finally grabbed a 2 x 4ft canvas that I had prepared with shades of blues about a year ago and dropped these cartoony caricatures on it. A local event, Cinema Tekka needed some art, so I cranked this out in about a day's time. This is actually a picture of it before completion. You can still see the pencil marks all across it. 

The major changes being Joanna Cassidy's Zhora character, in which case lightening her eyes did wonders to her. And I added a "spinner", the flying police car from the film over Deckard's head. 

I'll be posting a better picture of the finished thing hopefully later today. I had to rush it to the venue where it was displayed and getting a good picture of it was difficult.

My second image for Green room's Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute

Fort Lauderdale's Green Room goes underground on Friday nights. This weekend the theme is a tribute to 1975's Rocky Horror Picture Show. A few local artists are exhibiting and this is one of my two pieces that will be on display. Both images are reduced by roughly 25% from the original.

Return to Transylvania

Pencil, Adobe Photoshop

July 2012

Anatomy of a Cartoon Starship Part CUATRO

As I mentioned earlier, while it's not required, symmetry works with industrial or mechanical designs, like spaceships for example. After duplicating the "warp nacelles" or engines, rectangular guides are laid out on separate layers to help balance the two sides.

I didn't like the handwritten call letters I started with, so I opted for photoshop fonts. In the case of this particular whimsical cartoon rendition, I felt the giant letters looked appropriate.

Anatomy of a Cartoon Starship Part SAN

I'll honestly admit without hesitation that I'll use the computer to fix certain areas that require "perfectly smooth" lines, like the sensor bands running around the saucer. At a certain point, rectangular layers provide visual guides to help maintain symmetry, which I think is important for this kind of project.

The addition of the warp nacelle sketch on the left starts making this design more recognizable.

Anatomy of a Cartoon Starship Part DEUX

This next step makes one imagine I'm crafting a really ugly image but it demonstrates a process that helps tremendously when making something like this. While I wouldn't do this for every illustration I create, in this case duplicating and flipping selected elements makes mechanical objects (like spaceships) more symmetrical.

Anatomy of a Cartoon Starship Part ONE

As some of you already know, I'm a huge Sci-Fi geek. Primarily "vintage" Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, Doctor Who, to list only a few. While some artists might work in such realms as the bizarre, others the violent, some the shocking and yet others the abstract, I try to stay in the realm of "cute" (at least half the time). So a lot of my recent sci-fi homages have been "cute-ified" to some degree.

Anyhow I want to share with you the "construction" of a cartoon-ified Starship Enterprise. To begin I started by sketching certain parts of the Enterprise that I later merge with other parts recycled from scans of my cartoon Reliant. Both are very similar so it works, me thinks.

It is very cold in space...

Cold Vengeance (reduced by 9 percent)

Pencil, Photoshop

June 2012

The second from my series of Star Trek inspired illustrations depicting memorable scenes and characters but in my cartoon form. The villain 'Khan' was brought back for 1982's The Wrath of Khan, the second chapter from the series. Ricardo Montalbán reprised his role as the genetically engineered über-human bent on avenging himself on Kirk for reasons explained if you watch the movie, obviously. My interpretation is loosely based on one of the original posters for the film. I added the stolen starship Reliant charging as it appears in a scene where the bridge and other areas were enhanced with a red glow for dramatic effect.

Star Trek Art: The Sensor

The Sensor (9 percent magnification)

Pencil, Photoshop

June 2012

My first image in a series that pays homage to the Star Trek universe but in the cartoon realm of my not-too-serious imaginings. "The Sensor" is an interpretation of one of the more memorable scenes from 1979's Star Trek The Motion Picture in which Mr. Spock encounters a gigantic copy of the Deltan Ilia that overwhelms him as he attempts a mind meld with it. While most Star Trek fans count Wrath of Khan as their favorite from the original movies, I have a nostalgic place in my heart for this first movie. The effects are fantastic and there's enough camp and overacting in some scenes to keep you awake even through the long, slow V'ger sequences.

Star Wars May the Fourth Paintings at Green Room Fort Lauderdale

These are six of the eight paintings I made in honor of this year's May the Fourth Star Wars celebration. No surprise to those who know personally me since I'm a huge Star Wars geek. I made them just in time to take them with me to Fort Lauderdale's Green Room where I did "live painting" of a larger eighth one depicting Leia as Jabba's Slave right by the stage. That painting is still unfinished and although I'm not particularly crazy about it so far, it's pretty good I suppose considering it was painted under harsh and sometimes strobing lights.

The Bounty Hunters

IG-88, Boba Fett (1978 Holiday Special), Bossk

Acrylic on Canvas

3 May 2012

Cantina Denizens

Muftak, Duros, Momaw Nadon(Hammerhead)

Acrylic on Canvas

3 May 2012

The Hutt's Captive

Acrylic on Canvas

4 May 2012

Atlantis of the Mind Part One

While its very likely that the legend of the lost kingdom of Atlantis introduced by the ancient greek philosopher Plato in his dialogues Timeaus and Critias is a re-telling of the factual volcanic catastrophe that wiped out the ancient Minoan civilization, there have been many modern ideas and fantasies that have led some to believe that Atlantis was possibly a culture of extra-terrestrial origins. While I for one personally lean toward the recent archaeological Minoan theory, I still enjoy journeying in my mind to an Atlantis of the imagination. A few years ago, from 2004-2008, I began making several drawings and sketches for Atlantean buildings, people and machines of a more science-fictional bend.

Disciploid Two

2005

Pencil on Paper

Disciploid Two (detail)

Disciploid One

2004

Pencil on Paper

Disciploid One (detail)

Sketch for Plato's Atlantis

I have always been an aficionado of the Atlantis myth. This interpretive sketch is inspired by the ancient philosopher Plato's account of a pre-Hellenistic society that has led some believers and adventurers to speculate that its ruins lie submerged in the Mediterranean, among other places. In fact, archaeological findings are pointing to the Minoans and their volcanic catastrophe on ancient Thera as the probable origin of this legend.

Plato's Atlantis

2004

Pencil on Paper

Plato's Atlantis (detail)

Plato's Atlantis (detail)

Queen of Wands

Unintentionally inspired by Björk's song Crystalline from her most recent album Biophilia. I've been a fanatic of her music for years and this album has energized me to start drawing and painting again after an almost two year dry spell. It's no wonder her face came out in this image without my intending it. She's such a muse figure for me.

Queen of Wands (detail)

Queen of Wands

9 January 2012

Pencil on Paper