Son of Plushtooken

Got a new computer and wanted to try a Photoshop rendering to start getting it limbered up. No sketch this time, just straight into Photoshop and finished in about 3.5 hours.

I have been talking to some friends about trying to produce a small line of creepy, monster plush characters with some sculpted parts. I did some quick pencil drawings of about 15 characters and we all seemed to like this little guy. He is based on the custom plush character I did a couple years ago for a gallery show. the original piece sold real quick and alot of people comment on how much they like the lil' critter.
I'll post some shots of the finished plush when he is finally brought to life.

Rotten Rex Update!!

Rotten Rex should be ready to be cut into parts this weekend. From there I will finish sculpting various details under the arms, between the legs, the belly and finishing the tail. Still a little bit of work left on this, but will finish in about a week if all is good!

'I am Not An Animal'

Here is the finished Sasquatch painting that I did for the show in the American Greetings art gallery. About 20 hours to complete, all in acrylic paints. Had so much fun doing this painting, forgot how much I love to paint. Just a few more of these and I could have a gallery show of my own someday...
Perhaps...

Rotten Rex:In Progress

Here are some shots of my undead dinosaur sculpture entitled: Rotten Rex.
Rex is 15 inches tall and weighs as much as a 2 year old child! I am hoping to get the sculpture done by the end of the month. He will be produced as a 15 inch tall articulated collectors vinyl figure. So far he is looking quite bad-ass, and I am hoping that he will be the first in a series of over-sized vinyl figures. Stay tuned to my blog, and I will continue to keep you posted on Rotten Rex's progress.

Sketchin' with Sasquatch

I am splitting my time these days between sculpting a 15 inch Tyrannosaurus and painting a portrait of Sasquatch.
Life is good!
The Tyrannosaur is for Lullubell Toys, and should be done in about 2 weeks, (will post photos this week).
The Sasquatch portrait is for a group show to be held in the American Greetings art gallery here in Cleveland. It will be 24 inches wide by 30 inches tall, so Sasquatch is gonna be BIG. The title to the piece will be: 'I Am Not An Animal, (hence the suit and tie in the portrait).
Will post more photos once he is finished.

Comicon 2011!

Got a few photos from San Diego Comicon I want to share. I was invited to participate in my first Comicon Panel 5:00 on Friday afternoon. It was a great experience getting to meet Monsterverse publisher/writer: Sam Park for the first time, (Sam and I collaborated on the story: 'Claws of the Werewolf' in issue 2 of Bela Lugosi Presents: Tales from the Grave. I illustrated, he wrote the story.)I actually sat next to one of my favorite artists in comics today, Dan Brereton. In this new age of digital art/painting, Dan shows us what a true master of traditional media is capable of.
While waiting to go into the Monsterverse panel on Friday, I happened to notice a well dressed, elderly gentleman that looked strangely familiar hiding behind a plant in the upstairs lobby.I recognized him right away as actor James Hong! James has probably appeared in more television shows and films than any actor in Hollywood (Outer Limits, Kung Fu, Senfield, Kung Fu Panda, Blade Runner... the list goes on and on. Google his name and you will be AMAZED!)
Many years ago I had actually sculpted an action figure of James as the villainous Lo Pan from the film: Big Trouble in Little China' for N2 Toys. He was familiar with the figure, and seemed to be excited to meet me. I even coaxed his companion (his daughter?) to take a photo of us.

Return to Weta Workshop

Just got back from trip number two to the Weta Workshop in New Zealand. Incredible, life altering experience. Richard Taylor and his guys are submerged in the wonderful craziness of The Hobbit, and I saw first hand what an amazing process it is for the talented guys and gals at the workshop to design and execute the many costumes, creatures and environments that have made all of the Lord of the Rings films so very special.
Success and fame has not effected Weta's guiding light: Richard Taylor. He is an awesome guy whose genuine love of what he does seems to effect everyone around him at the studio. While visiting with him he mentioned owning two American books on the garage kits hobby. Terry Webb's: Son of the Garage Kit that Ate My Wallet, and Revenge of the Garage Kit that Ate my Wallet. Two books that unbeknown to him, I had done the covers for!I had been having Richard sign all kinds of stuff for me over the last year, it was great to return the favor and sign these books for him.

Vinyl monstrosities!

Here are two sketches straight from my sketchbook that I did for a huge, 15 inch tall vinyl toy I am sculpting for Lullubell toys. Thats right, 15 inches tall! I will be posting some photos of the sculpt in progress over the next few weeks. It's gonna be MAGNIFICENT!

Zombot T-Shirt

Did this design over the course of a couple nights last week after the day job. Wanted to get a t-shirt graphic concept out to a company that had asked me for a design a while back.Liked this enough that I may color it up for a Zombot Ghoul comic book story that a company is in negotiations with me about right now.
May be a busy month. Getting ready for a trip out to New Zealand to spend a week with the amazing folks at the Weta Workshop. Hoping some of their amazing skills will rub off on me...

Claws of the Werewolf

Previews and Aint It Cool Newsjust posted some of the first images from Bela Lugosi's: Tales From The Grave issue #2! Not only do they show the cover (done by seven time Academy Award winner: Rick Baker) they have one of my pages from Sam Park's story: Claws of the Werewolf posted there as well! Loved working on this book!
You can also pre-order issue #2 from this site...so grab one before it's gone!!

Ciller Clown Color

Here is the finished clown rendering. Quick down and dirty. You can see when compared to my sketch that the client played around with the facial/head proportions a bit...I guess every bodies a critic!
(just kiddin', Matt!)

Clown Costume

Hey!
How 'bout that! I actually have something that I am allowed to post!
(...er, I hope so...Matt?)
I finished the art for writer Sam Park's CLAWS OF THE WEREWOLF comic story that will appear in issue 2 of Monsterverse Comics: Bela Lugosi's Tales From The Grave (issue 2 will have a cover by 7-time academy award winner Rick Baker!)but can't post anything from it right now. So when my buddy Matt Hawkins requested some concept art for a presentation he is making in L.A. in a few days, I jumped at the chance.
Anyway, here is the concept sketch...I will post a color version as soon as I get-er-done.

New Zombot Ghoul Photos

Howdy!
Got some new photos of the Zombot Ghoul figure for some trade ads. They look pretty cool so I thought I would post them...
Thanks to Hal Stata for the great pics!

Skeleton Beasts

The downside of alot of the projects I am working on at the present is that I cannot show them to anyone. I am getting ready to finish up my story for issue 2 of the 'Bela Lugosi's: Tales from the Grave' comic. (I just just learned make-up/effects master Rick Baker will be supplying the cover for issue 2....Wow!) And also finishing the sculpt for a vinyl toy for Lullubell.
Anyway, Here are some past concept/designs I did for a line of skeleton-style assembly toys called Skeleflex. I loved this project and was really into it, and was proud of the designs I did for the line. Thought I would post a few until I get something new to put up. Hope you like 'em.

Joker's Wild

Been busy working on some sculpting jobs and finishing up some comic book work, but found some time to pump out a relatively quick Joker rendering. I have been struggling with my style lately, trying to channel a bit of that 'MADBALL" craziness into my character sketches and comic book work. This piece seemed to capture the right blend of these styles, and I am hoping that I can conjure up some more drawings that have this flavor.

Twisted Whiskers!

Twisted Whiskers!

As I mentioned in my last post, we here at American Greetings Properties have a few shows on a new network called: The Hub. One of the shows that I did development artwork for is called Twisted Whiskers. If you've tuned in to the show, you will see that some designs may have made it into the program (Zippy the Greyhound) and some have not: (Giant, un-named St. Bernard). As most designers will tell you, it's all part of the process. A lot of what I did for the show either did not make it in, or was 're-visualized' by another artist before going into the final shows. Once again, it's the nature of the beast, and I still had alot of fun working on this show, and still have all my pre-conceptual artwork to remind me of what I did.
O, yeah. And I can show it to you guys, too!

And Now For Something Completely Different: Maryoku Yummy

Howdy!
A new kids television network called The Hub launched last week with a couple of our American Greetings Property-created programs as part of their roster. I happened to do alot of design development work on these shows, so I thought that it would be appropriate to show you guys a bit of what that entailed.
First up is a preschool property known as Maryoku Yummy. I know, I know, most of you are familiar with my monsterific side by way of Madballs, Monster Hunter and the other varied creepy crawlers that inhabit this blog most of the time. But I was very proud to be able stir up that softer side of my design skills, working on this program for almost 6 months to help a talented team of artists visualize the world of Maryoku Yummy .If you have children at the preschool age, or just want to check out a cute, positive, good natured bit of children's entertainment, tune in to the show. It is really very sweet.
Hey, variety is the spice of life, and man does not live by beast alone.

Monster Toys Are Go!!

I haven't posted in a while...been very busy on a comic book project for the Monsterverse comics title 'Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave'.Did take some time out to start work on some figure concepts for a vinyl toy manufacturer. Here is one of the first drawings I did for them, straight from the sketchbook. Though the final concept for the toy has changed a bit, I still like this first sketch. Hope you do too!

1 Hour Sketch Challenge: PREDATOR!

Howdy!
Did a quick one hour sketch challenge yesterday with Carlos Villagra to break in a new sketchbook. Lots of fun, and challenging in the limited time. Tried to draw as much from memory as possible, but had to cheat a little by googling the T-Rex skull...
Hope you like it...

C.H.U.D. Custom Celsius Figure

Just finished customizing a Ganmetal Celsius figure for the Show at T.A.G aka Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles on July 10th, 2010. Read all about it on Spanky Stokes site and if your in the L.A. area, come on down. My custom C.H.U.D. figure will be selling for $300.00 and will be available there. Take a look at the list of amazing artists participating in the show on Spanky's site, as well as a number of photos of some of the additional custom entries. Looks like a lot of fun! And when the show is over, and the lights go off in the gallery...my C.H.U.D.'s eyes will be GLOWING IN THE DARK!
Thanks to friend and fellow artist Chris Ryniak for hooking me up with the show!

New: Zombot Ghoul Photos

Just got these in.
Here are some of the first photos of the completed Zombot Ghoul build-up that I have been displaying at conventions in the last few months. These kits are still available in the Groman Store...
I will be updating the Zombot Ghoul Model Kit Order store link soon, with added photos of the box-art and parts breakdown.
Thank you Toby Shingleton for the great photos!!

A Visit to New Zealand and the Weta Workshop!!

A dream come true is not the half of it. I just got back in town after spending a week in wonderful Wellington, New Zealand and the Weta Workshop!
I have watched King Kong, and The Lord of the Rings films countless times, and have always been amazed at the writing, direction and production design. One visit to the Weta Workshop and you'll find out that quality make-up, prosthetics, miniatures and digital effects are job 1. And mastering over it all is the amazing, Richard Taylor. When you see the incredible handiwork that goes into the variety of props, costumes and miniatures that these artisans create, you realize just a fraction of the detail of these items makes it onto the screen. Richard is nurturing a team of artists who will all carry on with that same intense sense of detail that has become a staple of anything created at the Weta Studios.
After a whirlwind tour of the shop itself, (no, don't even think about asking to see anything from The Hobbit) we spent a few evenings dining with Richard and some of his wonderful crew. I have to say, this was one of the greatest times of my life and one that I will never forget.
Can't wait to go back...