Beach Blanket Beastie

Here is an interesting piece of art I did many years back as part of a series I was working on called 'Beasts and Babes'. The black line is a film positive transparency layed over the top of detailed marker and pencil color. The line work and color got a bit mis-aligned over the years, but this illustration has served me well. Not only did it inspire the sculpture for my best selling resign model kit of the same name, but it went on to become a popular 4 color, silk-screened t-shirt design produced by a local company.
Viva la Beastie!

Sketch-O-Rama: Vampirella!

This was a piece I did last week for our Sketch-O-Rama blog. I was a big fan of the old Warren Magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy and Eerie published in the 70's. These magazines showcased alot of awesome up-and-comers at the time as well as some old pros. Guys like Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Neal Adams,Alex Toth, Esteban Maroto, Alex Nino, Ramon Torrents, Sanjulian, Alfred Alcala,....I could go on and on. I was not as avid a follower of Vampirella at the time, but always loved some of these incredible artists renditions of her that popped up from time to time on the covers and interior art.
Also, Forrest J.Ackerman, the creator of Vampirella and publisher of Famous Monsters Magazine died on December 4th, 2008. Thats me in the photograph with Forrest J. back in 1992. I was on the west coast promoting a Halloween product line I created called Calvin Corpse and the Cryptville Characters, (that's the 18 inch Calvin Corpse doll I am holding) and was lucky enough to have met him at a local horror convention.

Masters of the Universe

Sketch-o-Rama has a new challenge, and boy if Jorge Lacera didn't deliver in spades over at the website. Go there and check out his take on the evil villian SKELETOR from the Masters of the Universe toy line. Here is my contribution to the cause: HE MAN AND BATTLE CAT. I decided to sketch this out traditionally with pencil and do some quick photoshop color, trying to keep it loose, emphasizing composition and lighting.

Watchmen Are here!!

Yes, I went and saw the Watchmen movie on Friday...and I liked it! I still consider it a property that is virtually un-filmable by modern man, but I did find the new film quite enjoyable for what it is.
We recently agreed to each do a Watchmen character drawing for our Sketch-O-Rama posting this month. Carlos has posted a way-cool Dr. Manhattan, and I have followed up with my version of the Comedian.
Here it is for shits and giggles.

Return of the Cyclops

I did some quick finishes on this last night. Been pretty busy lately so I have not devoted as much time to it as I would have liked, but I am still happy with the result. I piled on the textures and experimented with some different brushes in photoshop. Tried to keep it dark and moody, but that color would just not go away!!
Some of you may get a twinge of familiarity from the composition of this piece. Many years ago during an art history course I discovered the work of the Spanish old masters/modernist painter Francisco Goya. I was particularly taken with his infamous 'Black Paintings' done shortly before his death. This cyclops rendering is a tip of the hat to a painting he did in 1819 called 'Saturn Devouring his Children'.
Though my image is a bit disturbing, google GOYA'S image and you will see an image that will haunt your dreams and nightmares.

Cyclops concept

Howdy,
I did a few concept sketches for a friend of mine who needed a cyclops type creature for a project he was working on. I came up with a design that I kinda liked, so I decided to do a color exploration to try some textures and color. I got so jazzed while working on it that I started a larger, color rendering of this bad-boy full body, from head to toe. I am almost finished with that piece and will be posting it soon. Until then, here is the beasties head.

TYRANNOBOARDUS REX!!

For those that do not know, I went to the hospital a week and a half ago with viral Pneumonia, and was there a week. I am now home and slowly getting the use of my lungs back, and have been broken hearted at not being able to participate in the ALL HANDS ON DECK Gallery Show at American Greetings. It is now Monday, the show is up, and I am going every which way of stir crazy, waiting for the thumbs up from my Doc to get back to work. The Deck show looks absolutely awesome...(great work, Keith Corcoran and company!!) and I just could not help but try to be a part of it. I slammed through my deck today, using acrylics and prisma color pencils, chosen mostly to avoid anything with toxic fumes and vapors. Now I submit to you all the result: TYRANNO-BOARDUS REX.
I just hope it's not to late to get it in the show!!..
James Groman

My Pet Monster?

I spent the day working on a My Pet Monster project at AG. I have always loved the character, and enjoyed revisiting this old brand from the 1980's.While working on it I decided to do a quick My Pet Monster sketch, and in the process the poor guy kind of got...'Gromanized'. What can I say...I make no excuses. So here he is in raw sketch form, with a quick Photoshop color version as well.
Now time for an early New Years Resolution. This year I did not do nearly as much free-style sketching as I would have liked to, but 2009 is going to be different. I am going to make a serious attempt at trying to do a new quick sketch for this blog on a more timely basis. Like this drawing of My Pet Monster, I have hundreds of heroes, villians and monsters that I have been wanting to sketch up my version of, and this is going to be the year to do it.
So let this be the first of many...

South African Pygmy Plushtookan Warrior Fetish Figure

I was recently asked to participate in the Midwest Plushform Show and create a customized plush figure as part of a gallery event and auction for Toys for Tots. Busy as sin, but just could not pass up a chance to join in the fun. There is quite a line up of talented folks that are taking part in this show, so pop on over to the Shoparooni website SHOPAROONI and check out the list of artists, and the date of the show.
Until then, here is my South African Pygmy Plushtookan Warrior Fetish Figure.

The Mighty Thor!!

Man, has it been a long time since I did a sketch-o-rama drawing!!
Carlos Villagra has finally succeeded in prodding me into putting down my freelnce for a few minutes and doing a sketch of one of my favorite Marvel Comics heroes:
THE MIGHTY THOR!
And, by crazy coincidence, the trades have just announced the name of the man set to direct the big screen motion picture debut of the Thunder God.
Kenneth Brannagh
Mr. Brannagh is best known for directing a number of Shakespearian film adaptations, as well as the mediocre 1994 Frankenstein film starring Robert Deniro. Though Frankenstein is not a good indicator, the man is an interesting director. Besides, the Thor I grew up with spoke alot like someone who walked out of one of the works of The Bard.
Anyway, heres my Thor, inked by hand and colored in Photoshop.
BY ODIN'S BEARD!

New Madball Paintings

Yes, I have been missing in action for the last few weeks.
I am overloaded with freelance and some other personal projects that need my undivided attention, so the blog has been neglected once again.
But, I did realise that I hadn't posted my two new Madball paintings that I had done a few months back. These were created for our American Greetings Madball Gallery Show. I challenged myself to get these two painted as fast as I could, and ended up spending 2 hours a piece on them...
Don't be too impressed, they are only 6 inches square in size.
So, here they are, for your viewing pleasure, (or horror...)
DUSTBRAIN and SWINESUCKER!!

Boose & Gar are at San Diego Comicon!!

They're here!
I've finally got my first shipment of the Boose & Gar Collected Graphic Novel! I am taking a bunch to San Diego for Comicon, and will be passing them out as a promotional item to comic shops, dealers, distributers, movie stars, film producers, or franklly, any one who will talk to me...
When I get back from the show I will be offering them up for sale on my blog, so check this site out in about 2 weeks to get yours.
And soon I will be starting on my next publishing project...

San Diego Comicon Madball Exclusive!!

Howdy!
I'm off to San Diego Comicon today, and will be stopping by the Basic fun/Underground Toys booth at the show to check on Madballs and see how things are going with the 1000 signed and numbered limited edition Madballs art prints that they have at the show.
Thats right! The first 1000 people to stop by their booth at the show will recieve one, 20" by 20" , limited edition art print of our Blech Beard the Pirate signed by the artist (me!) with the purchase of any Wave 1 or Wave 2 Madball!
These are beautiful, full-color prints on high quality, heavy stock ,acid free paper. They will be given out contained in a huge protective envelope with an official Madball sticker of authenticity. Come to the show, and get one while they last.
Wow, it is Thursday, and the show started yesterday...they may be gone already!

Inside the Studio...

My wife took this photo for the opening pages of my Boose & Gar collected comic.
Thanks, my sweet!

Arrrr, Madballs!!

Its Madball painting number 3! This time it's Blech Beard the pirate, a real cool Madball design from Wave 2, (should be on toy shelves right about now!). I also did this painting as an addition to a Madball art-gallery show we will be having here at American Greetings.
Uh, Oh...I feel my painting hand a-twitching... could I actually get a Skull Face painting done in time?
STAY TUNED!

Boose -n- Gar Front and Back Covers

Here is the nearly finished front cover image to the Boose n Gar Collected book! (I say nearly because I have been known to tweek these things right up until the day it goes to print.)
I enlarged the background to allow for the logotype to be applied, and added a blue border treatment. (A homage to the border treatment on the comic's original covers in the 80's)
I also began coloring the image to be used for the back cover as well, and here it is. More of a portrait study of the two heroes, in a more relaxed moment between adventures.

The Boys Are Back...

I have mentioned before on this blog that I created, wrote and illustrated a comic book back in the 1980's-90's called Buce n Gar. At the time the book's sales were on a steady increase all the time, and there was a group out there who even started a fan club. But when the last seven pages of the 100 page story arc I was working on were lost at the printer, and I was offered a new job right out of college, I abandoned the publishing world and went on to have a rather lucrative career in toy design.
About 3-4 years ago, RAK graphics publisher Robert Kraus found the lost pages, and I at last had my complete 100 page Buce n Gar comic back together. And in the interest of finally seeing this large part of my artistic past finally complete, I am now planning to publish this entire, 100 page epic myself. I have cleaned up and re-typeset every page, and recently began work on a brand new cover for the book, (which you see here.) I have also decided to re-design the logo, and go with a new spelling for Buce's name. It will now read: Boose n Gar.
This cover is still in the finishing stages, but will be completed soon. My planned book will be over 150 pages long, and will contain the now complete first saga of Boose n Gar as well as a number of my other early works.
Finally, after all these years.
Stay tuned for further updates...
(Special thanks to my friend and co-worker Dave Fedan for his constant incouragement during the course of creating this new cover. )

Charlton Heston:1924-2008

I heard the news that Charlton Heston died this weekend. This demanded that I pick up a pencil, and honor him with a sketch.
Heston was one of my all-time favorite actors. The voice, the presence, the face that seems to be carved from of stone. Like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Gregory Peck, Charles Bronson and Steve Mcqueen, there isn’t a movie star alive today that can touch him when it comes to his stature as an iconic, larger than life hero.
Some of my favorite films he starred in are: The Naked Jungle (fighting killer army ants), Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Warlord, The Big Country, El Cid, Will Penny, The Agony and the Ecstasy (as Michaelangelo), Major Dundee, A Touch of Evil (great film noir), Planet of the Apes (the great original), Soylent Green and The Omega Man, to name but a few.
If you ever want to see what I believe to be the inspiration for Indiana Jones, check out Heston’s ‘ Secret of the Incas’.
If a ‘real’ Batman movie had been done in the 50’s or 60’s, he would have been my choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The sketch that appears here is based on Heston’s portrayal of El Cid from the 1961 film of the same name. The actor is best known for his oscar winning portrayal of Judah Ben Hur in the film: Ben Hur, and as Moses in the Ten Commandments. But my favorite, big-budget film epic with him in the lead is El Cid, the story of Spain’s greatest historical hero. Don’t take my word for it, the film was just released as a limited edition collectors set DVD with a ton of way-cool extras. No CGI here, those massive, castle and beach assaults and battles are all extras, props and sets. Do yourself a favor, and check it out.
Charlton Heston is a true hero’s, hero.
Who do we have today: Keanu Reeves?

War of the Collossal Freaks of Frankenstein's Planet Comic Book Page!

This comic page was sent to me by an anonymous source from somewhere in Florence, Italy. It was rumored that a comic book adaptation of WOTCFOFP had been initiated, but no one had any samples of the art until now. This page was sent to me with an original typewriter written plot synopsis for the film, which I believe to be the first document used to pitch Clint Eastwood back in the 1960's. I am committed to tracking down the source of this find, and attempt to piece together the rest of this strip, if it indeed does exists.

War of the Collossal Freaks Trailer

Film Fan and archivist Jorge Lacera has begun reconstruction of the original movie trailer for this lost film. This is a work in progress, but like The Time Machine in HG Wells classic story, it gives us a glimpse of this amazing treasure from the past. Anyone out there that may have uncovered any news or images from this film, please contact me on this blog.

YO, JOE!!

Saxton Moore is having a Gi Joe art contest over at his blog and Channel Frederator, and I decided to add an entry.
Back in the late sixties/seventies Hasbro introduced The Intruders to the GI Joe Adventure Team toy line. The Intruders were billed only as 'Strongmen from Another World' and their point of origin was never revealed. They looked like a mix of Neanderthal, Pro Wrestler, and Alien Warrior. Most likely this was Hasbro's attempt at creating a foe for the Joe's that could not be associated with any specific world nationality or ethnic group.
Anyway, I decided to make them the subject of my contest entry, which I did in the vein of a vintage paperback book cover.

Sushi Pack Premier on Saturday Morning November 3rd on CBS!

For the last couple years a number of us at American Greetings have been in development on a Saturday morning animated show called Sushi Pack. It is based on a way-cool property created by the talented Leo Espinosa, and is animated by our buddies at DIC. But make no mistake, me and my fellow designers at American Greetings Properties have been instrumental in the design of the show. I myself have contributed artwork for backgrounds, props, vehicles, robots, monsters and other additional characters for the show. And it has been loads of fun! My proudest addition was the design of the Sushi Pack's main vehicle, which I affectionately call The Iron-Shrimp.
This post will begin to take you through some of the work that I've done on Sushi. But make sure that you jog on over to the blogs of the rest of the 'Pack' to get a small taste of the talents behind the show. Namely, Saxton Moore and Carlos Villagra. I will be posting additional links as other artists from 'The Pack' begin to post their various contributions as well.
And do not forget...
TUNE IN ON SATURDAY MORNING...AND EVERY SATURDAY THEREAFTER FOR...
SUSHI PACK!

Sushi Pack Designs

Happy Birthday: Jim!

Wow!!
This last weekend was my birthday, (it aint none of yer business how old I am...) and my wonderful wife surprised me with a road trip to East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania to visit the world renowned :
FRANK FRAZETTA ART GALLERY!
All that I can say is this: If you ever get a chance to see a Frazetta original oil painting (or his watercolors, pencils or inks , for that matter...) you have absolutely gotta do it! We are talking images that are hailed the world over as some of the most recognizable and incredible pieces of fantasy art of all time. Though the subject matter he chose was science fiction, fantasy and horror, his color, skill and technique is undeniably world class. I have a long list of artist/illustrators I collect and admire, but none come close to Frank Frazetta. He is truly a master.
I remember a book purchased for me by my mom when I was a kid called: "BACK TO THE STONE AGE": By Edgar Rice Burroughs. The cover had a heavily muscled blonde warrior with spear in hand staggering towards a gigantic wooley mammoth whose head was literally splitting the forest before him asunder! This image simply took me to another realm in my appreciation of paperback book cover art. For the first time I could actually see that this was a painting on the cover. For the first time I felt moved as much by the technique of the artist as the scene he was depicting. I could see the brush-strokes, the underpainting, and even the canvas beneath! And it was awesome!
For the first time I am posting art other than my own on my blog. These paintings moved me when I first saw them in the bookstore as a kid, and move me even more as an adult when I see the actually canvasses themselves. I strongly urge that you go to the official (Frank Frazetta) Website and get more information on the man and his gallery in the Pocono Mountains.
I want to thank my wife Tracy again for this incredible trip. And for the signed, numbered and framed Masters Deluxe art print she bought me of Frank Frazetta's THE MAMMOTH while we were at the gallery.
Shes even gonna let me hang it in the living room...

OMEGASAURS!

Another Kaiju blast from the past...
This was a cover I did for a proposed comic book many years back called OMEGASAURS. It depicts a battle between two of our lead Kaiju characters ICON-REX (the red reptilian menace with horns,) and THE CHRONOSAURUS (the green insectoid beastie).
We had about ten spec pages penciled up by now renowned comic book artist Darryl Banks. Darryl was in college at the time, and I had met him at a convention and was quite impressed with his work. A number of things happened that caused us to abandoned pursuing this property any further, but a look back at the pages Darryl drew and my acrylic cover painting make me dream of what could have been...

Kaiju Krispies

Recently I participated in a project called Cereal Killers for Doktor Victor VonCreep at Creepsville Industries. Alot of heavy hitters are involved in this project, so I was excited to be able to contribute. Anyway, the project involved creating a piece of art that represents an old cereal box illustration much in the vein of Count Chocula or Frankenberry cereals. I did the box for a fantasy cereal called Kaiju Krispies, which appears today on my Blog...

Madball Backer Card!!

Its Madball mania here at the James Groman Blog!
Here is a rough-almost-final version of the new Madball backer card graphics in all it's B-movie Sci-Fi glory! Its hard to see, but I am one of the members of the screaming crowd running in terror from Hornhead.

Madballs sighted at San Diego Comicon!!!

MADBALLS AT COMICON!!
Toy Tokyo was selling the new Madballs at San Diegos 2007 Comicon event!
They were released in preliminary packaging...(different than what they will appear in upon their November release to stores...) and sold 5 balls for $25.00! Kid Robot was also selling the DVD copies of the original first episode of the animated series that ran in the 1980's.
Anybody out there see them at Comicon? Drop me a line!!

DARTH TALON

Here she is...our new Sketch-o-Rama subject for this month....
Darth Talon!!

The Macabre Man-Thing

When I was a kid, Marvel Comic's "Man-Thing" was one of my favorite characters. I would dig through the comic book racks disgarding "Spiderman", "Captain America", "Fantastic Four" et all in search of the new issue of "Werewolf by Night", "Tomb of Dracula", "Monster of Frankenstein" or "The Macabre Man-Thing". Mostly because I dig anything with monsters, but partly because I loved the work of the one artist who worked on all 3 titles at one time or another: Mike Ploog. Mike could draw monsters, and his style reminded me a bit of Bernie Wrightson (another favorite of mine...). Seek out some of Mr. Ploogs work if you get a chance. You'll find that Hollywood discovered his talents long ago and he has worked as a storyboard artist and production designer on many a Sci-Fi/horror film. (most notably Ralph Bakshi's "Wizards, John Carpenters "The Thing" and "First Bood" to name a few...)
But remember this one thing as you look at the awesome array of monsters and beasties that flow from Mr. Ploogs fingertips...

"Whatever knows fear, burns at the Man-Things touch!!"

THE LIZARD STRIKES!

Here is my rendition of Spiderman's arch-nemisis, Doctor Curt Connors.
Alias: THE LIZARD!
I have read that Sam Raimi originally approached his pal Bruce Campbell for the role, so I decided to do my piece as if it was a film concept for Bruce playing the character, (with all due respect to Dylan Baker).
My goal was to complete this image entirely in Photoshop using textures, photographs (thats me in the lab-coat...) and brush tools. Though I toiled many hours on this piece, I would still like to noodle it a bit more. I feel it has not yet met the point of realism that I would prefer. But all in all, a great learning experience.

DEAD OR ALIVE, YOUR COMING WITH ME!

Heres my sketch for Sketch-o-Rama.
ROBO-SLOP!

Ben lookin' Grimm

This was done for Sketch-o-Rama.
My second attempt at Mr. Grimm as a full-on, photoshop critter.
Kinda like it. Just about 2 hours in Photoshop during lunch at A.G.
May do a clean-up, and more finished pass at it.
Or move on....
we'll see.

Thark Portrait

Here is my final Thark image.
If you take a trip over to Sketch-o-Rama you'll see it there too. With a different background.

Thark Sketches....

Awesome news from the world of entertainment.The rights to Edgar Rice Burrough's (The man who invented Tarzan) novel: "A Princess Of Mars" have been purchased/optioned by Disney/Pixar. Having read most of the books in this John Carter of Mars series, I am totally jazzed to see this project underway.(well, almost underway...) Hollywood has been trying to make this property into a film for over 60 odd years or so.
We here at Sketch-o-Rama have decided to do drawings of one of the lead alien races in the books. They are 15 foot, four armed creatures called Tharks. This particular Thark in my sketch is named Tars Tarkus, and he is John Carter's most trusted friend throughout a number of the books. Can you imagine one of these guys animated on the big screen?
Here are a few of the rough sketches that led up to my finished pencil (displayed on the right of the image.) I have posted a stand alone image of my finished sketch on the Sketch-o-Rama blog.

Emperor of Frankenstein's Planet!!

Here is a drawing I did of the omnipotent Emperor of Frankenstein's Planet. He is flanked by his two most trusted bodyguards, and has in his possession hero Artemus Axel's flight helmet, which is the astronauts only means of communication with the world he used to know.

I created a triptik version of this illustration as well by combining it with my two earlier freak warriors.

"Spontaneous Embellishment!"

Check out my previous post to see the rough pencil drawings from which these inks sprang. Once again, I did these at lightspeed, not wanting to over-think or over-render them. By the time these were concepted, penciled and inked, I figure that I must have spent about an hour and a half a piece on them, tops. In alot of ways, I am quite impatient with my art...(or is it my extremely short attention span?). I guess it stems from my background as a toy designer, churning out drawings as quickly as possible to convey a given concept, then moving on to the next. I think in some ways these two guys benefitted from the limited time I spent on them. I kinda like their choppy, spontaneous treatment.
Color comes next, and I'm gonna do it quick!...

More Freaks!!

Recently unearthed!
I found this lobby card for the 1967 production of Sergio Leone's "War of the Collossal Freaks of Frankenstein's Planet" in a folder in the basement of a local theater here in Cleveland. Long thought to have never existed, this rare find is even signed by Clint himself on the backside!! Amazing!
( Uh, really this is just a lobby card I pieced together from existing WOTCFOFP art. I am in the midst of gearing up to start creating some new artwork for this concept, and thought I would wip this up to help get in the mood.)
P.S. Check out Carlos Villagra';s way-cool four armed freak on his blog. I think there will be more coming soon from him as well.

T-Rex-ariffic!

I have had a little dinosaur project in the works for some time now, and have been playing around with some concepts using textures in Photoshop. Here is one that I feel is on the track of what I am looking for.