Monday, April 26, 2010

Derby Fever & Award


Here is another roller derby poster for the Gainesville Roller Rebels. Decided to go for a horizontal design this time. This was supposed to be the last one for the season, but its possible I may design 3 more for later this season.
Also, I just found out that I took First Place in the Single Illustration category at the Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards for my Rock Hall of Fame induction cover of Cleveland Scene. I'm told that I will be getting a plaque or something rad. I was pretty blown away when I found out.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Memorial Slay Derby Poster

Here's the fourth roller derby bout poster done for the Gainesville Roller Rebels from Gainesville Florida. Decided to go with an alternative punk wonder woman theme since the colors are patriotic. This is probably my favorite one I've done so far.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

IRON MAN etc.

So I've been keeping very busy with art projects for the past several weeks. Here are two of my recent finished projects I've got another I'm waiting on approval for that I will post very soon. But for now, I give you IRON MAN.

I remember the exact day I first discovered comic books, I was 11 or 12 and I was spending a day with a friend and his brother and mom. She was driving us back from playing at the park and decided to stop at the local Dairy Mart. We went inside and my friend and I discovered the looming comic rack, filled with superhuman adventures. As we stared at them in awe, I realized at a buck twenty five, I could afford two issues and have some change for candy. So I grabbed two issues of The Amazing Spider-Man (Which I still have today) and took them to the counter to pay. Had I know as I walked out to the car and flipped through the pages, that this new discovery would cultivate and mold my artistic skills beyond what I could have even imagined. I may have put some of the candy back and bought a third issue instead. never the less, I was hooked.

I always gravitated toward Marvel Comics. DC comics was home to some amazing hero's including Superman, Green Lantern and Batman. But I could never seem to connect to them like I could with Marvel's Spider-Man, X-Men and The Avengers. Marvel had characters who I could relate to, normal people who were exposed to Gamma Rays or bitten by radioactive spiders to become who they were, not an alien from another planet who gets his power from the sun. Take Tony Stark, in the comic he had to wear the chestplate to his armor at all times, because the energy unit inside it was basically a magnet that was (same as the movie) keeping deadly pieces of shrapnel from entering his heart. Thus Iron-Man was born. Since I am such a fan of film, it was natural for my love of comics to spill over to the medium. I loved the first IRON-MAN. It's toward the top of a short list of superhero movies I can't get enough of. So of course I'm excited about IRON-MAN 2 coming out soon. What's even more exciting for me is that I know that these two movies are part of something even bigger. Marvel films has a plan of several movies that will interconnect and end in what's rumored to be the biggest superhero film ever made THE AVENGERS. Beginning with IRON-MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, IRON-MAN2 and the upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR films will be topped off with the AVENGERS film that will see Ironman, Hulk, Cap, and Thor as a team. It's exciting times for comic geeks like me. So with this inspiration driving me I thought I would try my hand at IRON-MAN.

This second piece is a character created for FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) I am told he will be animated and put into a short film for a presentation. I was basically asked to create an anthropomorphic FAFSA form who has the attitude and sunglasses of the Fonz from Happy Days.