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

Queen of Cups

Queen of Cups

16 January 2012

Pencil on paper

Queen of Cups (detail)

Queen of Cups (detail)

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)