Merry Christmas!

I hate to be one of those bloggers who just disappear, but man...I got overwhelmed with juggling projects, general end-of-the-year stuff, trying to get everybody's presents, and get ready for vacation, which I am now officially on!

At least I left something cool up on the post for awhile...over on Siebertron.com they now have a video of that little guy transforming, and his name (thank the stars of Cybertron!) may NOT be Dirt Boss, but Scrapper - way cooler.

I got called back onto the TF2 game, doing something so cool that it kills me I have to wait until May to show the stuff I'm working on. I'll just say TF fans are going to be happy! But that means I'll be working all kinds of overtime, so posting might be spotty in January, expect a lot of sketchbook art and...gulp...Hannah Montana art. Ahem.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Forklift Drone!

Dude...I am so happy to see this on Siebertron.com today.


I was sooo disappointed that this character didn't get a figure last time around. He was my favorite drone of the seven I designed, all that's left is the Mixer Truck, and then all my drones will toys. And I tell you now, if they make my Triple Changer Shockwave, AND call him Shockwave, my head will explode with glee.

Now I realize these guys don't fit in the movie canon, but I started working on these guys long before the movie concepts were final, Hasbro was very happy with our submissions for approval, so we kept going. We started off with a little guy (Forklift) and medium guy, (Car/Swindle) and a bigger guy, (Truck/Dropkick). Hasbro liked them so they ordered more. You can see the evolution of the characters complexity beginning with Swindle, and ending with Shockwave, about the time the concepts from the movie were handed off to ILM, who continued refining the characters even more.

So, in the end, they didn't match, but I'm happy to say I'm working on the TF2 game, and this next set of game characters I've been working on should match up pretty well. And even I don't know what the toys who/what/look like at this point. So don't ask!

Doodles from last night.

Just fooling around...I must be the last commercial artist to take a crack at the new Joker.

Topps Two

So I came back with these, much more economical sketches to get approved...and I've not heard back!

So I guess I won't be doing them after all?

Submission for Topps

I was wondering about doing some sketch cards, so got a contact, and whipped up these sketches for a test submission.

I got accepted, but they pay so little, I doubt I'll be able to make time for it, but we'll see...

*the sizes are 2.5 inches X 3.5 inches - regular card size.

War Machine - V2 Final

So here it is, something good enough to get posted for critiques. Still a little over designed; too many segments, but this where another artist could take a refining pass to keep the idea fresh until a final gets picked. Hypothetically.

So that's my big idea for War Machine, Rhodey's humvee to Stark's sports car.

War Machine - V2

Here's the shape block-ins. Minimal shading and detail, color correction, etc.

Now on to the final pass, shoring up a few areas, adding seams and mechanical bits, graphics, shadows - you know the drill.

War Machine - Revisited 04

War Machine - Deployed.

So that's why he's got these big wing things on his back;

1. Break up the silhouette between WM and Iron Man.
2. House concealed large weapons.
3. Additional power routing, to make him more powerful than the Mark III suit.

And this is the big idea that never really got finished last summer, after being all inspired right after seeing the movie.

.

Now I show this to the Art Director here at Bad Flip, and he whips out his red pen, indicating reworks.

These arms and legs don't match the rest of the design, things would knock into each other, limiting movement, and the the stance is a little wonky, weird twists below the knee...needs another pass.

So expect War Machine V2, something good enough to get on the BFP website...

War Machine - Revisited 03

Here's the colored version, with details and additional graphics.

You'll notice that it says 'Undeployed.'

War Machine - Revisited 02

And here is a nearly fully realized grayscale of the design. I added in more seams that weren't in the original drawing, and other bits and pieces of 'tightening' to up the ante a bit. Now on to color and additional details.

War Machine - Revisited 01

All right. Every time I look at that last one, I like it less and less. So here is a work in progress, a polished version of that final. This is the first pass, to recreate all that was in the original, with a few revisions as I go...

This is purely a portfolio piece, I have months of Transformers work I can't show until summertime, but I need some higher end stuff to get work now!

Cyclops Steam Punk

This is a design by Adi Granov, for a story by Warren Ellis for Astonishing X-Men : Ghost Boxes #1. It's Steampunk X-Men, and it's awesome.

I like everything about Cyclops, but to me it seems no one has really nailed an iconic look for him. But this design is so cool, and perfect for the story, I got a little inspired!