Straight from the Doodle Book to the Blog, in Bat-tastic-color!



Oh, and if you bothered to read this, you can buy Batman:Year One on iTunes and some other services ahead of the release date TODAY ONLY! You're welcome.

Yesterday after work I had to run to the bookstore with my wife. She picked up a little photo album for a project she is working on and I picked up a three pack of those little moleskin sketch books. I went small and cheap for these as it was going to be an experiment. Surprisingly I do like the feel of the paper for drawing on, I can see why people suggest these.

Anyway, I decided I needed to keep a more concentrated Doodle Book, you know not so many bits and pieces of paper everywhere. Though I was happy to see a little flap in the back of each book that could hold pieces of paper : )

I want to try to put something in it everyday with hopes I will post the drawings from time to time. I have kept sketchbooks in the past, but much larger than these 3.5" x 5.5" pages. I thought the smaller size would force me to carry it with me more often than not. So all that said, here''s my first group from the Doodle Book.







Obviously they all can't be winners, looking at that Captain America I don't know what I was thinking on that one. I also need to take it with me when I am out and about as I did get the comment from my wife that "I always draw cartoons!" I guess I need to put all of those semesters of life drawing to good use.

Earlier in the week Reis at Hey! Look at my toys! sent out a call for some trades. So, while I was getting an envelope ready for the two I had on hand, a few of my other minifigs decided to show them the door. I don't blame these two for jumping ship now.



Wow that whip has to sting! That's the last time I give my security team a week off. Okay, so, while those two were leaving the EHQ (Eclectorama Headquarters) here is some incoming post.

First is a printed invite I had drawn up for my Niece's baby shower. I included my Niece, her cat and her husband. I tried to personalize it a bit, she likes to shop and he works in the sound and lighting industry. Hope they like it. I had these printed at Faulkenberg Printing Company and I couldn't be happier.



Then there are these sets of awesomeness! In the package from Faulkenberg was a few packs of the first ever Eclectorama Trading Cards! I must have a fan at Faulkenberg, it's really kinda of cool seeing artwork you worked on in a format you never thought you would see artwork you worked on. Don't get me wrong I have had stuff printed both in my day job and as a freelancer, some for Star Wars Kids Magazine back in the day. But this is artwork I just did for fun.



I was sent five packs, I of course I am keeping the one I opened, but was told that all the packs had the same cards... oh and one sticker. So that means I have a few to giveaway! Should I have a contest, a drawing, or just send them at random. Hmmm decisions, decisions. Let me think on it and I will make an announcement next week. I think I will even do a few artist's sketch cards to sweeten the deal. What does everyone think?





Have a cool weekend and thanks again to everyone at Faulkenberg Printing Company, especially the Eclectorama Fan ; )

I can't say I am the world's largest Superman fan, but I do loves me some Max Fleischer's Superman.

Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?
I ask this of all victims, I just like the sound of it.

Anyhoo, I felt like I owed myself a drawing, and I do like Batman so I drew me a Batman...



Then a friend told me I forgot the Keaton Lips, ha ha, so I fixed the drawing...



I dug it so much I made myself some wallpaper...



Then I thought I would share and so I made you people some wallpaper...

click it to get it biggie, batty size and get jiggy with it!
(sorry I scaled it for my monitor, hey what do you want for free!)

Oh, I have been thinking of doing commissions... anyone interested?


EDIT:
A little re-color ala Kenner...

As an old friend of mine used to say "HERE"S SOMETHING FOR YOUR EYE!" which usually had me ducking because it was followed up with some sort of attack like Cato Fong in the Pink Panther movies. In this case it's some more artwork, sketches, doodles whatever you want to call it. These are done for fun.

First up is poor old Ponda Baba. What if the whole run in with Luke and Ben in the Cantina was a mistake, then this poor guy got the short end of the stick... wait didn't his buddy get killed? Now I have to go watch the movie one more time, damn you feeble memory! Still to loose and arm while trying to relax in a bar, right?



I have to say I am pretty excited that this guy is getting a new version in the Hasbro Star Wars Vintage line, complete with stump.

Next Jboypacman asked in some earlier comments if I ever drew monsters... you know I haven't in a long time. I did a set way when I first started working in toys for some basketballs, I will have to see if I can dig those up from an archive. So, I drew up this guy up for him.



Why he is offering up a flower is beyond me, just seemed to be a good thing for him to hold. Again I am thinking this was a scene in the movie right before someone drowned...Great! Now I have to go re watch that movie!

I ended up taking this one and setting up a little sticker for my favorite comic shop, if you dropped by from the shops facebook page welcome and hope you enjoy the sneak peek. Jboy if I get it made I will send ya some.

I have been feeling like doing a DC sticker for the shop and I have it narrowed down to two characters. Hawkman and Aquaman. I will end up sooner or later doing both, but I want to see a show of hands for which one should be first. So leave a comment and vote for one, or you could offer up another suggestion, but you better be prepared to work I will need a tag line too. What's is in it for you... um bragging rights? I don't know I will think of something.

I really meant for this to be a weekend post, but one thing led to another and on and on. So with that said here's something I thought was pretty sweet. As you may know I make these little illustrations that a great little comic shop down in Florida then prints up for stickers. The shop of course is Tate's, the illustrations vary from hero to hero and are pretty much just what ever I feel like sketching up at the time. I do get requests from the team at Tate's for special events, only on occasion and for something they need quick. It's a pretty sweet little gig and the pay is awesome!

Anyway a few weekends back Tate's hosted a Dark Horse Day and of course I had already did a sweet little Hellboy illustration months ago. I thought they might use it, but was not sure. Turns out they did. Do you rember the one,here it is in case you need a refresher.



Okay the part that I thought was sweet was that Mike Mignola was present at the event. Surely you know that he created Hellboy right? I am somewhat a fan of his artwork, and by somewhat I am totally a fan of his artwork. You would think being a Batman fan I would have known more about Mr. Mignola's other hero, but my son was actually the person that introduced me to the wonderful world of Hellboy, which I fell for hook, line and sinker. Comics, movies and toys, I loves me some Hellboy. Plus it's a cool thing that my son and I share, because lets face it a lot of times us parents are lame and do not follow all the anime our children are into and they do not always love the heroes we are into. That's all okay, but it is even cooler when there is that one that just clicks. Now, I can't say I have every comic or toy, but I think I have enough to satisfy my desire for the character. With that said here are a few of my favorites that I picked up over time.

First up is the Graffiti Designs Hellboy. This one actually sat for a really long time in our local comic shop before I picked it up. I used to get a chuckle out of the description on the package every time I went. It said something like "Comes with a Big Ass Gun!", loved it. I really like the simple style of the figure. It's pretty honking big, but not too big that he couldn't sort of fit in with some of the other figures on the shelf. I can't peg the scale, but he stands about eight to nine inches tall and could go as a big player in the Batman the Animated Series Universe, though he would tower over even the Clayface figure.



Next, and years later, I picked up this one from Mezco. Hands down one of my all time favorite toys. This thing screams Mignola's style. It is like they reached into one of his comic books and ripped it right off the page. I actually have a couple of these. this one and one with his trench coat that came with a group of Vampire Heads. Plus there is one out there I have yet to get, the Rocket Pack version... well that and the large version. Still I am constantly on the look out to score a good deal on either.



Rounding out this post is this little bad boy. He came packed with a Best Buy release of the animated feature Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron. Talk about a bonus, how cool was it to kill two birds with one stone?An awesome little animated movie and a sweet figure. This animated Hellboy is from Gentle Giant, actually my first toy from the company and what a toy it is. I love it just as much as the other two. He came with a couple alternate hands, though the open right hand of doom is my favorite.



I never did pick up any of the small Movie Hellboy figures, not because I didn't want to, just they were always sold out every where I looked at the time. I guess I am lacking that scale in the collection. Still I have enough different sizes to keep me happy.



I have a few of the other characters that I will post about in the future, plus a few little figurines that came in another DVD bundle as well. till then I'm leaving you with the sweet part of the whole comic book shop arc of this post. This here is Mr. Mignola at the Tate's Dark Horse Day event...

photo courtesy of Tate's Comics, photo by A. Pants

How cool is that?

Okay, I decided to try this. I am going to try and post a couple times during the week and possibly a little post on the weekend. It's not that I am tired of posting stuff, I just want you to have some quality stuff. I will try an artwork post and a toy post and I am not sure what on the weekend maybe an art toy post : )

This will be the art post for the week. I love reading other artist's blogs where they show a little behind the curtain, a sketch, a technique here and there. I have been trying a few things out, trying to nail down some processes. This one is not going to be that in depth, mater of fact you might think "big deal" but none the less it is something I tried and was pretty happy with the results.

I have come across an iPad and while we mainly use it to look up recipes or watch YouTube videos of Basset Hounds and Bulldogs doing crazy stuff, I did load Sketchbook Pro on it for the occasional doodle. I haven't had that much luck doing wonderful sketches on it. To be honest the last time I did a finger painting I was a wee little lad, but one Sunday morning over coffee I did whip up this little colored sketch.



I am pretty proud of it. As drawings go it's not high quality or a rush it to press type drawing, but it does beat my usual scribble all to hell. I even tried out the layers to add some colors. Then I thought hey! Let's take it and email it to the main machine and finish it up in Illustrator! Sketchbook even exported with all my layers intact and in a PSD file format, sweet.

So here is what I did in illustrator.
edit: The shading was done back in Photoshop.



Like I said, no ground breaking tips or tricks, more of a "hey I can use this thing to draw with my fingers and then clean it up later" sort of thing. I usually use Photoshop to sketch out ideas when I am near a computer, when I am away from one any scrap piece of paper I can get my hands on will do. I will then take the image, either JPG or PSD straight form Photoshop (or a scan from the paper) and digital ink it in illustrator. This iPad thing just gives me another option for sketching.

I will try to remember to take some screen shots of a drawing in progress if anyone cares to see stuff like that. I do have one where I saved the rough sketch and the line work before coloring it... maybe next week.

"I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some Power Converters!"

Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it? I have been swamped, well not swamped enough that I couldn't do a sketch. I've been thinking about the direction of the blog, artwork, and my toy collecting... not to worry I will still be talking about toys here, unless you like checking out doodles, then I will still be talking about art.

Some things I have been thinking about recently.

1) I need to do a sketch, drawing or doodle everyday! I knew an industrial designer that would start every project with a bunch of odd sketches and say it was a way to get the crap out of their head... I never thought of drawing as a way to purge crap from my brain so I was sort of insulted. I look at it more like working things out and trying different things... Sad little Luke here is a warm up drawing I did this morning, working some things out. It's origin was a text conversation with my wife and my response of "awe, I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some Power Converters", queue light bulb and poof, the Toshi Station Blues above. This is probably more finished than say my warm up sketches, but still I think it is important to draw something everyday.

2) Vintage Star Wars figures, I can't get them off my mind lately. Talking with friends, seeing posts about finishing up sets, blah blah blah, etc, etc. Not sure how I want to tackle my little collection of Vintage Star Wars figures, so stay tuned as I work this out.

3) I wish I was in Florida this weekend for one the Stitch Wars show opens up today and second at same comic shop Mike Mignola is going to be there on Saturday. I usually do not geek out that much on meeting celebs and what not, but come on Mike freaking Mignola!

4) I have enjoyed this little break from toys and I have actually been sorting through stuff to thin down my collection, but in the same breath there are a ton of new things I want for the collection... never ending cycle. This time I'm doing it different.

5) Hitting the local Tex Mex cantina tonight and now I'm wondering what to get...

That is all that is on my mind right now, lunch break over, now back to work! Stay tuned I do have a Spockcation update coming, and if I can stop being lazy I will shoot some toy pictures, and possible post some more sketches / artwork.

Have a great weekend, may the force be with you, live long and prosper, go do something creative!

Whew! I didn't think I would get my entry done in time to make the deadline for the upcoming Stitch Wars Strikes Back show at the Bear and Bird Boutique Gallery. I had actually planned on making a set of three of these for the show, to include Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper and of course this Bounty Hunter but you know how that goes, the best laid plans of wamp rats and men. Being slammed at work with preparing for an even earlier catalog season and taking on several projects for my family including some stuff for my Nephew's wedding in about a week hasn't helped and has me pretty pressed for time (that would include time for blogging, so sorry).

Still I plan on making more punks, even for my own enjoyment, or possibly to set up on Etsy. I just love the lo tech, low brow look of Punks, or Cat Punks as they are also called. I plan on completing my Imperial Collection and move on to some Rebels, then who knows after that.



Since the Stitch Wars show revolves around sewing I went ahead and made this Punk with stitched on elements and a more presentable rounded wood base, covered of course. Punks in the wild are usually painted or screen printed with cat or clown designs and include the fur trim and are weighted down way more than this piece. Plus they have a square wooden base, makes them a little harder to tip I guess. I think I will try and keep the round base, but if I do move toward the more traditional base I will finish it instead of leaving it unfinished as they are usually found. I will also keep the weight down as these are more about displaying as art than playing with.



The fun part about the expanded collection it will give me a chance to illustrate and paint on the canvas for each design, or possibly do some screen printing, sort of giving them my personal touch. I promise to post things here as I get them done, so stay tuned.

Yes I made a tiny hang tag for it as well : )

I will also try and post more illustrations and sketches, some artwork for Tate's Comic Shop, plus whatever fun stuff I have been working on. I have been doing more roughs using an ipad, still not the best, but I think pretty good for finger painting. Well, enjoy the Punk. Be good to each other. May the Force be with you.

"The Captain is nuts, this planet is beautiful, how could it be dangerous?"
(click image to monster size it)

I am so excited about this next little illustration I have been working on I decided to drop a sneak peek up here on the blog. It's funny how you can be checking out sites and one thing leads to another and you are watching an old cartoon on YouTube and you get the notion to draw your version of one of the scenes.



I made a version of this for Tate's Comic Shop to use as a sticker and I am thinking of making a Hi-Res available on my art on the cheap page up above for a free download. Anyone want some free art of a bounty hunter riding a orange, water dino ?

UPDATE: I made a 11"x17" Mini Poster available for download on the art on the cheap page!

Be on the lookout for some more stickers...

Brand spanking new Kirk exploring strange new worlds!



Plus Spock, based on this illustration, doing some Tricordering... or is it Tricording?



Tate's told me these were just sent off to the printers! Also you can Facebook them here, I think they dig the Spock one : )

Last Friday I posted a fun little image of Rebel Pilot Jek Porkins and almost by second nature I included a Mynock (Chicken) Leg for our dashing X-Wing pilot to chew on for his portrait. Almost as soon as I posted it I received my first comment on the post from Dave Lowe of Para Abnormal fame. I think this may have been the first time Dave has commented on my blog. Dave is an artist that I hold in pretty high esteem, not only does he do the daily Para Abnormal blog, but he is also a prop designer of great talent having worked on many shows and a yearly celebration of Halloween at his own home. So, I was pretty excited to see what Dave had to say. Here's the comment for your reference:

"How come fat guys are always cartooned eating chicken?

Sincerely,
Fat Guy in Van Nuys (who prefers pizza)"

Okay, Dave has a sense of humor, so here was my reply...

"First I think that may be a Mynock leg, they taste like chicken so it's an understandable mistake. Second I think he finished the pizza after the cheeseburger and shake, or was it the taco, then the pizza, the cheeseburger, the Mynock leg then he likes his shake... anyway Third, I think I may be having chicken or Mynock for dinner tonight.

Best Regards,
Chunky B, Fat Guy in San Antonio (who luvs him some Tacos!)"

I was pretty proud of myself, having rubbed elbows with a cartooning great, I thought I did a pretty good job. So I waited for a response and as comments came in on loving the image, questioning if Jek could fit into an X-Wing the way I drew him and what not, not another reply form Dave. I thought maybe Dave didn't take it in jest. Then I thought possibly I had chosen the wrong words or even pushed it a little too far, which wasn't my intent. I was bummed, this was probably the second time in my life of drawing that I may have messed up and offended someone (I don't think the farting Jar Jar counts, if so make that three times).

So at risk of further offending and making people on the Internet mad at me I made a version of Porkins with a slice of homemade Bantha-eroni Pizza! Sort of a Peace-a-Pizza offering... though I think the Mynock leg works better, just saying.

Another drawing just to draw and this time it's Porkins! This one reminded me of my Star Wars Kids magazine days, those were the days...

Just drawing to draw, thought I would try a quick drawing to take a break. Enjoy.

click it and tell them Large Marge sent ya!

Here's a few more stickers I did for TATE's comics in Florida! I haven't seen if these were used or not yet, but it's been a blast doing these. Enjoy.









Don't forget to check out the latest Eclectorama Art on the Cheap for your Hi Res Star Wars Trading Card! (yes it's FREE Brian.)

My take on the classic Star Wars trading cards. Collect them all!

click image to see it Galaxy size! Then save, print and enjoy.