Staple! Austin 2012

It took a while for me to get this up. BEFORE the show I didn't want to unveil anything too early. AFTER the show, goodness. Well, the Day-job and other projects took me on a rollercoaster. Here are the items I did for this year's Staple! Independent Media Expo. What a blast it all was!

Staplegators illustrated by Brian Hurtt, Everything else (color, layout, Paper-burst on the TShirt) done by me

The idea was to use the Micron-holding Staplegator as the "advertisement" version of Staplegator...

And the "Paper-Explosion" Staplegator for use on items on the Show-day itself! (buttons, program, and...)

The T-Shirt. Super happy with how the limited color-palette worked out. It was a really nice T-Shirt!

New approach to Old Monsters: Cybermen

- A "Retro-Update" design -

Before their return and re-design in 2006, I was met with the challenge of approaching the classic design of the Cybermen, with a dual goal of (a) making them harken back to what older fans would enjoy and recognize, but also (b) make them appropriately frightening to new fans (and not... you know... how new fans likely already see the old Cybermen...)

"we are the knights of Camelot, we eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot..."

I wanted to take the actual elements from the old design; rationalize in-story terms WHY they looked the way they did, and then tear it down to reveal what might be below, literally...

We could infer that not all Cybermen made in the past were created with top-of-the-line resources, there might not be enough to go around to convert thousands, nay, millions of sentient beings to the Cyber race. I'm sure a few hundred thousand were converted utilizing less-than optimal materials.

(which would explain the shroud-like wrappings on the original "Tenth Planet" Cybermen, the Zippers on the tunics worn by the "Invasion" style Cybermen, and the foil&Duct Tape jumpsuit & Moonboots (moonboots not pictured) of the Earthshock era Cybermen...)

So as sure as entropy eventually catches up to everything, so too does it come the old-school Cybermen.


Keeping the general shape, the very SILVER-ness of them... but showing entropy's effect in the exo-skin and insulation degrading and falling away... gaskets and joints deteriorating and falling apart... Those Old School Cybermen had all sorts of quirky weaknesses (such as an allergy to Gold... :) ) So perhaps some parts of it's structure succumbed to entropy whereas other components would still be operational... Underlying synthetic muscle, and fibers not-yet deteriorated cyber circuits, and of course, any remaining bones left over from the original biologic host. I was quite happy with how the design of a ruined, falling-apart Cyberman turned out.

(Of course Steven Moffat & team did a fantastic job with their own dilapidated Cyberman just last year...)

(next: A creature from the depths...)

Hellgirl: Portrait of the Damned

An oldie, but a goodie. I'm still really proud of this one!

Done for an old art contest: designing a Female version of Mike Mignola's Hellboy. Had a lot of fun with this one, from recreating the look of the cover design of the early Hellboy trades, and a reason for each aspect of the design... from the zipper on the underside of her Stone-Hand arm, and why her horns look cut off instead of the "snapped off" look of the standard Hellboy, why a Bomber jacket instead of a rugged trench... I remember doing a lot of prep sketches for this Illustration, which are in a notebook which is surely been lost since 2004.

AAAHHHH! Monster! (Spill Dot Con 2011)

Time to get this show back on the road. I am an artist, for I "art". Here's the latest:

I've been on the Spill.com site for quite some time. They are a group of smart and funny writers, artists and humorists who create Animated reviews to new films, along with blogs, podcasts, and general internet tomfoolery.

For the last few years, the guys have put together a fantastic gathering in Austin Texas, a series of panels, workshops, art-jams, and nights of drinking; a fest called SPILL DOT CON. I am proud and honored to have been asked to create the promotional image for this years' event.

To the uninitiated who may be asking "What exactly am I looking at here?" You see the loveable animated characters of Spill.com (clockwise from top-left: Korey, Cyrus, Leon, Carlyle and the inimitable CoHost 3000 in the center) who have been mutated and combined into the body of Godzilla's arch nemesis: King Ghidorah.

(I cannot claim all of the credit. The Japanese translation by Toshishisa Nakamura, a friend who lives in Japan...thankfully far enough away from the recent tsunami and current reactor problems... but close enough where of course things are really scary. Hang in there, buddy.)

Despite the crazy events occuring in Japan,
Toshi is ever the picture of cool.