Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey, Matrimony

I don't always take commissions. But when I do, I make sure the project is awesome.

So when Joe dropped me a line and wanted his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law flying away in the TARDIS, Just Married, with a bunch of Dalek and Cybermen parts dangling from the back (instead of tin cans)... I said Allons-y!

(Well, no, I actually said "yes" and then we talked price... but you know what I mean)

Viola.

A note of the image: I do have a scan of this image, it's in four parts (because the art was larger than my scanner) and I have to stitch it together in Photoshop. But the problem is, my computer currently can't do heavy lifting in Photoshop because it starts to overheat & sound like a plane trying to take off. I gotta get the computer fixed* So until then, here is a photo of the finished piece, framed, straight from the Alta, Timelord Bride herself!

Congratulations, Alta and Peter! All the happiest to you.

*or I might even need a new computer... :(

Another Album Art Mash-up: Dr. Who vs. The Clash

Fresh off the heels of creating an incredibly intricate mash-up Album "The Wire vs. The Beatles" I was looking forward to something a little easier to handle, So when my friend Beau requested a parody of the Clash's first album with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctor, I could hardly contain my excitement. But art is never easy. This one had it's own slew of challenges.

title: Police Box & Thieves. (rejected title: Hate & Time War)

Namely, the inking... I like to have a nice clean, yet textured look to my inks. This album cover I thought would be a snap since the photo is all 100% black and 100% white, no greys... but there's a lot of splotchy almost-stippling-but-not-quite-stippling going on here that wasn't easy to duplicate. But, duplicate it, I somehow managed to do.

Here's a colored version (I freaking love that it only took me one minute to color this piece)
and the original, for reference.

This is not the last Album Art Mashup that I will do. I plan to do MANY More.
(especially more Doctor Who ones) :)

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...)

LEOG - Time Travel & Alternate Timelines

Penciled months ago, edited quite frequently over the course of the last few months, and finished during a coloring RUSH last night, the Time-Travel LEOG Illo.


The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen (LEOG for short) on Spill.com is one of my favorite Podcasts, and Time Travel is one of my favorite genres/storytelling devices. And here illustrated is the quite large LEOG crew, each as a character from one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who. Listen to their Time-Travel themed episode by clicking this link.

From Left to Right, (with full-fledged link storm)

11th Doctor's upper half: Grant (also of TV Dudes & Greatest Drunk Stories Ever Told at Loungegeeks.com)!
1st Doctor: Jason "Fish" Fisher!
2nd Doctor: Randy (also of Rogues Gallery Comics & Games in Round Rock Texas, TV Dudes, Loose Canon Comics at Loungegeeks.com)!
3rd Doctor: Greg (composer of the LEOG theme song, (also of TV Dudes at Loungegeeks.com)!
4th Doctor: LEON, the imitable host of the LEOG podcast!
5th Doctor: CYRUS! Stalwart LEOG CoHost, sound engineer and editor of the LEOG podcast!
6th Doctor: Beau (also of Loose Canon Comics at Loungegeeks.com)!
7th Doctor: Rubio, of johnrubio.com (and follow him on twitter)!
8th Doctor: Cat!
9th Doctor: Peter!
10th Doctor: Harris!
11th Doctor's legs: Grant (again)

It all comes full-circle. See the links to past LEOG episodes at the League Lounge on Spill.com!

Classic Rock / Dr. Who mashup covers

Part of the regretful thing of losing my webhost is that all of my old illustrations haven't seen the light of day for a long time.

Of course, to readers of this blog, who might be new to my stuff, it's all new to you!

This was the first in what was (at the time) going to be a series of classic Rock covers re-done with some of my favorite characters or elements from sci-fi or fantasy fiction.

Naturally, mashing up a cover by British rock band "The Who" and Classic British TV Sci-Fi show "Doctor Who" was a no-brainer.

Using the layout of The Who's "Who Are You" Album, I've depitcted the aftermath of an adventure of the first TARDIS crew of Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, Susan Forman and her Grandfather, the Doctor.

The episodes from the 60's, 70's and 80's just didn't have large budgets... which of course gave the show a very cheap look. I always loved the idea of having huge & expensive looking sci-fi mayhem accompanying the classic "Doctor Who" characters, and the best way that can be done would be through comics. I'd love to see a new series of comics featuring the classic characters. Alas, at the moment US's IDW and Britian's Dr. Who magazine seem to focus (understandably, of course) solely on the newer batch of Doctor Who characters.

OK, geek ramble over. Enjoy the image!

Old Enemies

The Doctor: You've come here to kill me, of course?
The Master: But not without considerable regret.
The Doctor: How very comforting.