Wizard in BLEU.

A Blue Wizard, ol' what's his name?

A quick concept sketch of something I'd like to turn into a statue for a project we're doing at work. Largely for creative fun, also to get my hands used to working in clay as I have oh, so many projects I'd like to do in sculpture. Let me know what you think!

Castle Grayskull, but COOLER than you REMEMBER!!!

Mattel is trying to pull in pre-orders, so they can re-make the coolest playset that possibly has ever been!  But bigger, including all our favorite features in the old castle, and much, much more!

Everything that was a sticker, or cardboard in the old playset will now be fully sculpted and painted! All the weapons, the computers, the throne, a working “Jaw-Bridge”! It will feature a trap door, a fully enclosed dungeon, two NEW secret doorways, a working elevator that goes not just to two levels, but now a new roof level! This thing will be huge! Measuring in at just over 2 feet tall!

Check it out at www.mattycollector.com and pre-order yours today!!!

Just imagine what this castle playset would be like not just for your MotU Classics figures, but even the old original figures! Or any monster or fantasty figures that you own!  This playset will be the be all, end all of ultimate castle playsets, and in my opinion, well worth the price tag.  

If you’ve been collecting the new MotU Classics, even casually, then this playset is a must!  This is what He-Man and Skeletor are fighting over! Get it pre-ordered today! No charge will be put on your card, you pay when it ships a year from now. (We need to give the FourHorsemen (www.fourhorsemen.biz) time to build the thing. But imagine how cool it will be to gift this to yourself or a loved one NEXT Christmas/holiday season!

“Now YOU, have the POWER!!!” :)

30 Day challenge done.

I've posted everywhere but here... Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart. Durring the month of August I did a "design a figure a day" challenge for 30 days.
The result was of course a lot of ideas, but mostly me drawing toys I'd want to not only create, but collect.
As well as get some drawings of characters out there that I've been holding onto for almost 20 years!
Though the challenge is done, I could do another 30 or 60 days of adding to the different "lines of toys" that are in my mind.  But instead. I'll soon run some polls, and see what the public liked. See what you all might like to have on your shelves or in your pockets?  You tell me!

Thanks for looking! Hopefully sometime soon I'll be posting shots of clumps of clay that hopefully resembles something you see here!

Add to Résumé: Castle Grayskull!

I've recently had a dream of an opportunity to work with Eric Treadaway of the FourHorsemen Toy Design group, to do the design work on Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull Deluxe Statue!
We all got to see it for the first time, painted up in prototype glory at San Diego Comic Con, at the AFX booth!
When I was approached to work on this, the direction from Icon Heroes and Mattel was to create a look that would be consistent with what's currently being done with Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics line of collectable action figures. (minus the scale of course)
I knew also at that point that I was to work directly with Eric and Mattel for approvals.

It was an amazing experience to look over the various designs Castle Grayskull has had over the years in a variety of media, from the old mini comics, to the Filmation and MYP Cartoons, and of course, the old toy itself.  Like anything that's been in media for 30 years, it's gone through quite an evolution! We also pulled from early concept art created by Mark Taylor for the Castle as well as the prototype sculpt that he did. 

One of the most exciting things to do was design the "rarely seen" sides of Grayskull, the right side, the back, and the roof. We feel that exploring the whole environment of the Castle's exterior is ideal in a statue format such as this. There's a nod to just about every era in He-Man's history in this statue.
We hope fans enjoy the design overall, a lot of love went into it.  I'm as anxious as the rest of you about finding out when it will be made available and for how much!

I can't wait to display it right along side the other various MotU toys and statues that I own. I'm very grateful to Icon Heroes and Mattel for letting me have this opportunity.  Special thanks of course to Eric Treadaway, working with him on this was like going over to your best friends house and playing with your favorite toys in the sandbox together.  And lastly, thanks to Pixel-Dan for the great shots of the finished prototype!

www.iconheroes.com
www.fourhorsemen.biz
www.mattycollector.com
www.pixel-dan.com

Happy 45th Outer Spacemen!

Very happy to show this fun poster I got to do for the Four Horsemen and Mel Birnkrant, creators of the new Outerspaceman figures that you can buy here! While these new figures have only been around for a couple of years... The characters were created by toy mastermind Mel Birnkrant 45 years ago!

This poster is a part of a unique package, featuring re-issues of the first four modern OSM figures, but with colors created by Mel for this special release. They are very striking in photos, and even more so in person! Well worth the "exclusive pricing" if you ask me.

If you look close, you'll find the newest OuterspaceWOman, Terra Firma! :)

Thanks again to Mel and the Four Horsemen for letting me come over and play.

Four Horsemen 2010 poster!

The guys asked me, or did I ask them... anyway we did this poster, of the four properties the Four Horsemen have designed on their own. Symbiotech, Seventh Kingdom, Magma CORPS and Gothitropolis. They had this on display at their booth with AFX at SDCC 2010. All these characters, or most of them anyways, are in either figure form or prototype, soon to be figures. Maybe some of the characters are just teasers of what could be or will be... The Four Horsemen love to surprise! It was a blast to paint, albeit a bit challenging on composition. You can get this poster at www.storehorsemen.com if you'd like it on your wall!

Merry Christmas to all!

May your Christmas season be full of joy, and good times with family.
And if you're traveling, may you be safe, well, and enjoy the travels.
Merry Christmas!

Masters of the Universe Classics... Merman

I love the new Masters of the Universe Classics figure line, sculpted by the Four Horsemen, and available exclusively on Matty Collector.com.
Merman is one of my favorites, and as such I did this piece as an update on his old card art that you can see here. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

What?

Fast flash lines... Love me them flash lines.

The Allustrious Queen Alexanndraaaaaa!

Now that SDCC is over, and most people have seen the packaging on the Four Horsemen's Queen figure from the 7th Kingdom, I suppose I could post this.

Part three in the 7th Kingdom series! The mighty Human Kingdom Queen and her warriors!
If you want to learn more about the 7th Kingdom and the Four Horsemen toy design group, go to www.fantasticexclusive.com and be sure to check out they're forums!

Comments are always welocome... Except the ones that are just happy I've posted on my blog again. ;)
(I say that with love, really I do!)

Iz Queen Warrior

A friend of mine wanted a painting of his wife, as a variant of the Queen Alluxandra, 7th Kingdom figure. Confused? Hey I don't question the clients, I just paint for them. Either way you look at it, it was still a fun little concept. He wanted the style to be like my other 7th Kingdom paintings that I've done for the Four Horsemen. If you've no idea what I'm talking about, head on over to FANtastic Exclusive and check out the forums. ;) That is if you really want to know more... Or if you want to just check out the art, well here you are and there you go! Have a great weekend!

Will there be an actual official Queen painting here in the future? Time will tell! :)

Pelican... Day job stuff.

I did this a while back. I like pelicans. Done for my day job at Imagine Learning. Nothing more to add other than enjoy! Or slap me with a crit should you desire.

Fuerza-What?!

As if He-Man and all the characters of the Masters of the Universe weren't wacky enough... There is also a little line called Fuerza-T. What is Fuerza-T? Why haven't you ever heard of it? Well, it's a knock off line that used the old molds of the original Masters figures, but repainted, and re-arranged into new characters. They were available somewhere in South America, if anyone has more info, feel free to leave comments and enlighten us all. Needless to say, this piece, was done for a very good and very patient friend of mine, he's waited a long time for this artwork that depicts the mighty Platino and the ferocious Felinor locked in mortal combat. Poses inspired by Earl Norem's work on Masters, so even this piece of artwork is a knockoff of sorts. Nonetheless, it was great fun to do, and I'm very happy to be done with it. Let me know what you think of these guys! Can you find what character parts from MotU made up these characters from Fuerza-T?

The United...

A good friend of mine, Mr. Tom Akel, asked me to do a little poster for him for his Heroverse comic team, "The United". If you want to find out more about Heroverse, just check out the site! (clicky the linkies)

Tom is a great guy, and has a lot of fantastic ideas on comics. This was a quickly put together, so please be gentle on the critiques... Bah! Give me heck on it, I needs me some growin. :)

I was for the most part just following the standard costume designs already established on the characters, but there were a few characters Tom let me play with in terms of their look. I was surprised at what he let me get away with! Thanks again Tom!

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention, he was giving this out at New York Comic Con that was a few weekends ago as posters.

Ahsoka Tano

My daughter's favorite Jedi, as well as something I put together for a friend. The spunky padawan Miss Ahsoka Tano...

I played with a different rendering method for colors this time. I did the flats, then copied that layer twice, set the original flats layer as the dark shadows, made the medium layer more of the local colors and left them at a medium value, then a light blue tinted layer from her force power. I intentionally didn't show and color casting from her lightsaber onto her to stay true to the movies! Hahaha. (really just lazy.)

The Ahsoka Tano character is trademarked and owned by Lucasfilm.

It's not a very Christmas-y image I know, but nonetheless, I wish you all a happy holiday season, and a Merry Christmas!

Wonder Woman Day III

This year I was invited to participate in Wonder Woman Day! I was asked to donate some artwork for the auction event that would bring money to some Domestic Violence Shelters. You can read up on it and see other artist's work that also contributed here: Wonder Woman Day III
I contributed one piece to each event, one in Portland Oregon, and the other in Flemington New Jersey. I hope for the best with this great event! And if you live in either area, be sure to stop by and join the fun!

unnamed woman portrait

Another day, another sketch. The woman is no one in particular, I see a bit of my wife in her, a bit of Marcia Cross? Maybe it's Wonder Woman!? Who knows? Maybe you see someone you know in her too? It's just a sketch.

Yikes!

Ever feel like this when you wake up? Welcome to my reality every day. (kidding... Sorta.)

Bad-ck Anatomy

Just a fast study on back anatomy... Not sure it's any good so get a look quick, who knows when a mood swing will hit me, and I'll come to my senses and take this one down. If anything, this sketch reminds me how much I need to keep at it. 10-20min. tops warm-up sketch.

Tiger Sketch

Sorry I've been quiet lately. Thought I'd post a sketch or two in the next few days.
Tigers are always cool. Always wanted a pet tiger... Not practical with kids though I suppose.