uh... what do you know

So I did my drawing of Slave 1 and after I scanned it in I accidentally inverted the image. And I liked it. So here it is inverted.

We're Back - Slave 1

Slave 1
The coolest ship in the star wars universe? I might argue against that now, maybe. But as a kid, no, there was no ship more awesome, more iconic or more badass. Did it help that Boba Fett flew it? YES.



I mean LOOK at that thing. How fucked up is that?

From Wookieepedia -
"Some people mistakenly believe the Slave I's design was inspired by a lamp post outside the ILM building. But Nilo Rodis-Jamero, an art director on The Empire Strikes Back, said that his design for the Slave I was actually based on a radar dish. It was later on when the ship was being constructed at ILM that someone pointed out that it resembled a street lamp, and from then on people just assumed that that had been the original source of the design."



I think it looks like a horses head. And how awesome was it that he flew it vertically?




The Challenge: Draw Slave 1. Examples: in flight, in combat, on the landing pad in Cloud City, delivering Han to Jabba, etc

Finally caught up.

Okay so I was able to find some time today to finally finish the Battle of the Planets challenge. I tried something a little different this time. I was inspired by various fake retro posters I've been seeing pop up on the art blogs I like to follow.

Also after making a joke in my initial post about Keyop, I decided to illustrate him. I gotta admit that his dune buggy tank was pretty cool.

That was just a week right?

Okay, so lots has been happening in my life that has kept me away from this blog. I started things here after I was laid off from my job as a way to keep myself creating. Well I have since found a job. One that is awesome and fun but takes me away from my home for the time being. All of this is good but leaves little time for me to create stuff for myself and your viewing pleasure. I wish to keep this blog going especially since Kir and I seem to be having fun and we've gotten a good response from it.

So basically I need to get better at managing my time now and to begin with I need to play a little catch up.  So here is my completed Evil Lynn. I could have kept working and changes certain things but there is a point all artists reach where we have to walk away.

Cheers.

a week off

Hello all, Bill and I are taking this week off.

So until next week, enjoy this great Grimlock from Joel Carroll!



GAH! So awesome. When I told Joel what we were doing here, he jumped on the chance to draw Grimlock. I love it. Thanks, Dude.

You can find Joel on twitter, tumblr and deviantart as well.

Gatchaman - Jun the Swan

It's not hard to guess which character I like the best from BOTP.



Not hard at all.

Battle of the Helmets

Okay this challenge will delve deep into my childhood and pull out two of my most favorite things: Battle of the Planets and helmets.

Long before the lame Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and even before the well liked Voltron there was Battle of the Planets. G-Force was the original 5 person team with all the familiar archetypes : Leader Guy, Jerk Guy, Fat Guy, Hot Chick and Little Kid. I was really young when the show was on, but loved every minute of it. The best part was the fact they they dressed as bird people with... you guessed it Helmets!!!

I loved loved helmets as a kid. They were the ultimate accessory for any character to go from being okay to truly awesome. I'm fairly certain my love of helmets stems from G-Force. I wanted so bad to have a bird shaped visor. The closest I came was a C.H.I.P.S. motorcycle helmet.

The other problem with BotP was they didn't have any toys when I was young. My stand ins were a couple of Tonka Play People who were motorcycle guys. The other issue is that their helmets didn't come off. This was true of most toys at the time. It wasn't until GI Joe came along that toys finally got removable helmets.

So your probably asking yourself about now, if they didn't have toys for them when you were a kid, what is this weeks challenge going to be? Or you might just be saying to yourself, "Get to the point man!"

As I said the show was on when I was really young and as I grew up few people I encountered in Grade School or High School had ever heard of the show. Then the 90's came along and I went to art school and met tons of my fellow nerds. One such friend told me to look up Gatchaman on the new fangled world wide webs. Boom, all the memories came flooding back, plus I learned a great deal more about the show and it's popularity in it's home, Japan.

Then a mutual friend of both myself and Kir mentioned he was going to Japan for vacation and would we like him to pick anything up. Hells yeah! I told him anything Gatchaman that he could find. I had no idea what was available, but he certainly came through.

With Bird Boomerang

So Heroic

After years of pinning I finally had a Ken action figure. The little child in me beamed in happiness. Sadly the figures helmet doesn't come off, which I learned the hard way. He has a weird square shaped half head underneath. Other toy companies later came out with Battle of the Planets figures in the early 2000s, but the thrill of the hunt was over for me so I never purchased any of them.

So for this weeks challenge I'll expand it to include any of the characters because I know Kir's got a real soft spot for Keyop and 7 Zark 7.