Happy Halloween - Sweet Dreams Tonight!!!

Diz..Marvel...Star Waaaaaaaaaah!?

I call this sketch 'Kneejerk Reaction.'

Transformers Prime : Rage of the Dinobots #3

Transformers Prime Shockwave, and.....

Hmm.  I don't think they've announced the actual name of this very shiny character yet.

Overall, it's your basic two guys standing there pose.  I liked the chance to get some lens flare in there, along with more molten slag, and the barrel rim of Shockwave's gun arm still red hot and smoking.  Atmosphere, sparks, and distant burned out buildings tie it all together.

Here's the layout for approval...

...and the final pencil and ink art to take digital.

So #4's image won't be released for another couple of weeks, I'll post the week it goes up for preorder - I think it's a good one!

Also, I'll be at the Long Beach Comic Con, Nov. 3rd and 4th, you can find me at #1401, Ken Christiansen/Bad Flip Productions.

Transformers Prime : Rage of the Dinobots #2

Grimlock SMASH!

Number 2 in the series, I was asked to do a dino-mode Grimlock spotlight.  I did a number of thumbnail sketches, but John and I landed on this composition - it had a nice ying/yang balance to it, and it afforded the opportunity to feature a little bit of the worn torn Cybertron.  And I haven't done molten slag in a while, so here was my chance!

Here are couple of the thumbnails, the one we picked, and my second favorite.  Again, it was to feature the rage of Grimlock.  But, they already had a similar cover going with a like pose, so it was an easy decision to move forward with what became the final image.

Here's the layout for approval.  Basically a blown up and redrawn from the thumbnail.  Finding some more details and adjusting the perspectives.  Once that's approved, it's on to the final, where I further clean up the lines and details, and get it ready to go digital.

And there it is, ready to go to color.  This one will be out in December!

Also, I'll be at the Long Beach Comic Con, Nov. 3rd and 4th, you can find me at #1401, Ken Christiansen/Bad Flip Productions.

Transformers Prime - Rage of the Dinobots #1

Look out!  Dinobots!

I'm finally back to do some covers for the Transformers - working for Editor John Barber at IDW!  We connected at BotCon last spring in Dallas, and a bit later he asked me if I wanted to do some covers for this new series.  Of course I was in.

Stylistically, I was asked to use the Fall of Cybertron Dinobots, but add in some Transformers Prime aesthetics.  To me, that means the traditional G1 and Cybertron game look of 'stacked' metal, and the Prime style being 'wrapped' metal.  So I just made a few tweaks here and there, it was approved - so I was off and running.

Here is the layout sketch, with a title treatment put in to make sure the composition fit.  Swoop need a few tweaks to get him to fit in the space better, though.  It was a tight fit to get everyone else in there - I'd call this a 'Bouquet of Dinobots.'

And this is the set up for final, half pencils, half inks.  This got scanned in, for digital paint for final.  The original art will be for sale, I'll be posting the originals in the Facebook Page Original Art Gallery sooner than later.

And the issue comes out in a few weeks!

Also, I'll be at the Long Beach Comic Con, Nov. 3rd and 4th, you can find me at #1401, Ken Christiansen/Bad Flip Productions.

Star Wars Fighter Pods 05

OK, here's some contributions to Wave 3!  This will be a single post, as Wave 3 seems to be a little lighter in the 'new' department.  Got enough hologram figures?  Me too.  Though there are some that I love, like the blue hologram Leia - that's just about perfect.

OK, on to the show, let's start off with pilots, shall we? 

Action Pilot Luke, sans helmet.  And I tell you what, that looks to be a Hoth flight suit in the drawing, so maybe he'll come around again with the right paint job.  Which, for you non-Hyper Star Wars Nerds, that's a light gray color to the boots and gloves.

Mr. Wedge Antilles - For whatever reason, I was assigned a whole batch of pilots - I have no idea why, before all else, did Porkins get the first release.  No matter, now the gang is all here...

Biggs - Apparently the coolest guy around.  Until Luke meets Han, and is shown what cool really is, outside of Podunksville.  And then he dies.

Jawa with Zapper - And that's all the it - there's around 20 or so characters that I just had time to break the pose and kind of clean it up.  Here's one of them, hunting R2 units on the sands of Tatooine.

Biker Scout - in a 'KILL THAT EWOK...NO, THE OTHER EWOK' pose.  Another one shot design.

Super Battle Droid - Some poses for essentially the same model.  Not really sure on what happened, the product seems to have lost a little bit of the style.  This may have been a revise on my part though, and the team went with the original design.

Grand Moff Tarkin - every kid's favorite character.  But as an adult nerd it's pretty awesome the have action figures of this character.  He was from Wave 2 by the way - and I much prefer Eric Siebenaler's contemplation re-pose.

Yoda - Another one from a previous wave I forgot I worked on.  I think I was so excited about the poses we were able to pull off for Wave 4, I forgot about this classically posed Yoda.  Get that flight suit Luke repainted, and kids can recreate the scene on Dagobah, where Luke threatens Yoda with a such a crude weapon as a blaster!

Naboo Starfighter - they never just seem fat enough, do they?  I like the cute factor in the drawings better, but the product is probably a little more accurate to the film version, and the Fighter Pod style.  This was one of the first assignments I had for Fighter Pods.

All right, that's Wave 3 from me on Fighter Pods!

Rocketeer Final

Rocketeer Color

OK, and here's the paint test for ol' Cliff Seacord.  Yep, I think it'll work.  Of course, I framed it in comic cover format, so there's some empty space.  So I thought I'd come up with something a little more graphic, to work on some border treatments...

...and hey, it gives me a chance to do a Betty-In-Peril portrait too!  So we're not quite done with this one yet, still need to clean up the drawing and paint it up!

Rocketeer Sketch

Well...just to have SOMETHING new up, here's the sketch for the Rocketeer study I've been wanting to do.  No telling when it's actually going to get color, but I think sooner than later.  It will have a simple background, I'm considering just having him hit with a spotlight.  Probably from the enemy dirigible he will eventually have to take over...?