Metal Christmas to all!!!

Okay, last year I entered the Megadeth Christmas card contest, to design the card that they send to the fan club, and I feared my submission was lost in the junk box, like many emails with attachments seem to do. I re-entered this year and made sure the webmaster got my design by asking for a receipt (brilliant, right?!?!) Here's the blog entry from last year's scenario:
Happy Christmas Anyway.....

I made it into the top ten this year! Very cool, and I get a signed CD for my troubles, which was really no trouble at all....it was fun to think up and draw the card. The competition was fierce this year and the first-place winner was far from a slouch--it's a very, very cool image. I gotta start thinking about next year's design......

Anyway, here's the link, check 'em all out:
Megadeth Christmas Card winners 2010

Bilateral Beast

100th post

I was thinking I'd do something special for #100. This post, however, is just what the whole blog is supposed to be about--sketches.

If only space travel were this easy.....

If you could see planet-to-planet, I mean. Driving in the country you can't even see the next stop sign!

Destroy!––Kill All Hippies

Anyone out there remember TMNT After the Bomb or Mutants Down Under? Some cool stuff in those.....

Yanker's Garage

A musical blast from the past.

On the ride into work today CD101 was playing "Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet.  Man, it's been awhile since I heard that song.  When that cd came out I played the hell out of it.  Non-stop, spin, spin, spin.  Which was a weird for me as a guy whose preferences were mainly rock-metal, that disk spoke to me in a way no music ever had before.  Maybe it was because I was going through my first real lost loves and broken hearts?  Maybe it was the cute manga girls in the videos?  I listened to a decent amount of different-style music but college-rock radio wasn't one of my favorites.  It was also (I think) the first time I thought of an album as a whole entity instead of just a collection of songs, hits and duds.  All the songs on that had a place and a purpose and got equal treatment from the craftsmen involved.  Lenny Kravitz's "Mama Said" may have opened my eyes to that concept earlier, I don't remember.


I think my friend Tim summed it up best when he said "it's great because the lyrics are clever and sensitive and the girls will like it, but then it rocks out with solid songs and there's the weird guitars that make it cool for a guy to listen to."  The guitars of Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd, if I remember correctly.

A few years ago Matthew Sweet re-gathered the Girlfriend musicians and recorded a quick album for his Japanese fans that was later given a US release.  It was quick, dirty and fun, spontaneous and solid.  I wish he would continue to work in that direction instead of trying to re-invent Pet Sounds over and over again.  The rough edges suit his songs much better than the shiny polish of his last few "official" releases.

I should start a music blog.  I could write all day about my collection.  Maybe musicians would start to send me free music?  Probably not.  ;-)

So, anyone else like "Girlfriend" as much as I did?

Mouth & Teeth

More Random Stuff

Cliff Diver

4th of July Screamin' Skull Corvette

Farmer Zombie

FrankNstein's Monster runs

Tree of Life

I've taken this sketch to final, you can see it 

here: Tree of Life Final

Bovine Devilock

This cow's in the Fiend Club, ya know.  Newfits or old, he's in.  Midwest punk.

 

Monster Magnet

Here's a bevvy of sketches of classic monsters. Shooting for a cuter, more cuddly monster for youngsters. Switched from drawing a boy vampire to a girl because, well, he was starting to look like The Count from Sesame Street. I won't bore you with the story of how they were rejected.

Meeting Fallout

I was in another endless corporate meeting yesterday.  God what a waste of time!

Rain Train

Kid's carrying a model train car walking in the rain.  I don't know why.
Probably do this in watercolor when I get the time.  Maybe "if" I get the time!

S.P.A.C.E.

Well, I made it to SPACE (Small Press and Comics Expo) this year!  I'm not really a fanboy comic reader so I'm pretty much out of the loop, and this thing sneaks up on me every year so I'm always unprepared with any kind of business card to hand out and any kind of surplus cash to toss around.  But thanks to my buddy Justin who texted me to let me know yesterday was the day!
Overall the quality of self-published books was much, much higher than the last time I attended.  It was wicked inspiring to see some of the stuff there, some real high-caliber work done by some talented folks.  Of course there's the weird shit too!
I will update this post with links for some of the cooler stuff I came across as I find the time to dig through my goodie bag.  I couldn't afford all the great stuff I saw BUT I got a sweet book called Afrodesiac by Greg Rugg (I think, I will update when I know for sure) and it's way cool.  Unfortunately I bought it on my way out and he was "on-panel" for the show so I didn't get it signed!  Bummer.

The Endless War.....

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God's law;  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  


Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Romans 7:22-24

Another Day After

Day After

Monsters

Test Yourself!

My bread-and-butter is making art for educational publishing.  To denote different learning sections of a book, I get requests to create icons of various sizes and complexities.  Often, rather than getting a detailed description of what each icon will be, I simply get a list of sections for a book with little to no description.  Not only is it "reinventing the wheel" again and again but it's usually so vague it might as well say "draw the air."  
Anyway, the latest list said things like: Living Image, Primary Source, and Test Yourself.  I simply drew the first thing that popped into my head.  It wasn't approved....

ZMG sketches

ZMG sketches.  I don't usually post stuff this rough, do I?  Anyway, I should work on this story, it'd be fun to draw.  When I find the time.....

Bigfoot Emerges

A fun little sketch, hope you like it.  I always enjoy drawing from life.....

Ray-Gun 5: The Laser Lamprey

Alright, this is the last one for now.....this is designed for a space pirate.  I had an older drawing of a pirate, holding a severed head among other distasteful things, which I posted on this blog, and sticking out of his coat was the beginnings of this gun....the handle with the serpent's mouth.  So I pulled those shapes out of that file and started in on this, trying to mix the feeling of old and futuristic.

I guess this also keeps with the nautical theme of the last post.  I don't know why these .jpg files aren't showing up larger when you click on them, but I think I've got it worked out now....so feel free to get a better look at these Retro Ray Guns.

Ray-Gun 4: The Shackelton Crackler

This one is rifle-sized...trying to get back to something very retro, in material and shape.  The ridge of fins on the main body are for heat-dispersion of the plasma core, and the spheres are electrical dynamos for an added two stages, increasing power augmentation of the plasma beam.

Originally was going to call this the "Brass Hammer" but on Friday a co-worker shared with me that modern explorers had found a case of whisky that was left behind when Shackelton's expedition to the South Pole failed. Their ship was caught in the ice and eventually crushed; they had to abandon ship onto the ice, taking only what they could transport.  The article stated that the goal was to reverse-engineer this blend of booze and make it anew--great idea, it practically markets and sells itself!  It comes with a built-in legend.

If you want to read a great book on Shackelton's trip, "Endurance" by Alfred Lansing is the one to read, in my opinion.  Try to get an edition with photos to better illustrate the conditions these men were pitted against, it's truly an amazing story from the end of the Age of Exploration.

So here it is, the Shackelton Crackler!

Ray-Gun 3: The Iron & Glass Corditizor

This heavy pistol utilizes plasma, supplied by an external top-mounted storage capsule, mixed with atmospheric oxygen and electricity from an internal D-cell battery to produce a super-charged blast of energy, vaporizing anything in it's range.
This weapon takes its cues from Steampunk design as much as old-school futurism.  I like all the bells and whistles.

Ray-Gun 2: The Vektor-Light "Lite"

Hand-held cousin to the heavier Vektor-Light rifle, this weapon fires concentrated photons of light.  This pistol comes with an optional long-range target-finder scope with a dial to control the intensity of the blast.

Ahh, I'm not in the mood to invent pseudo-descriptive mumbo-jumbo today.  This gun reminds me of the shape of the old Nintendo gray-and-orange light gun that you used to play Duck Hunt.  I like the shaping at the end of the barrel, and the dial on the back of the "scope" attachment.  Nice and slick and shiny.

I've been listening to a metal band called "Vektor" so I named this one after them.   Check them out, they're retro-thrash with a sound and theme like VoiVod.

Ray-Gun 1: The Atomic Discombobulator

I came across this site with retro-styled space guns, and it inspired me.
WETA Rayguns
I've since been looking at all kinds of these guns, there is a plethora.  I was surprised to find how much Han Solo's gun looks like Buck Roger's!  Check it out for yourself.

I drew a few of my own of varying success so I'll post them and more as they come.  They're fun to design and draw, the shapes are cool to play with.  I was asked if I'm really into Sci-Fi because I'm drawing these guns, I had to say no, I'd much rather look at the Rocketeer than read about him.  There's something about classic atomic style, there's nothing like it.

I picked up the core of this gun from an old drawing of a toy I had as a kid, I'd modernized the action figure and he needed a weapon so this was it.  I added the cool fin and made it sleeker and longer.  It's plain, but I'm liking this one.

All vector, drawn in Illustrator CS4.

ED 209

I let my brother-in-law borrow my RoboCop dvd.  He'd never seen it.  He finally watched it with his wife and to my surprise, they both enjoyed it a lot.  Maybe the people re-making it know something I don't?  I just hope they can re-make it so it's enjoyable to people who loved the original.

Judge Dredd Portrait

My favorite comic book character.  A little "portrait" of Dredd, pencil sketch on the back of used copier paper, I probably should start using real sketchbooks again, because every so often, I get a drawing I kinda like and then the other side is printout, kinda sloppy and then I can't really give it to anyone or hang it up or anything like that.  I like the drawing overall though he's not as "tough looking" as some of the pros draw him.