The Sandman: one version

So I was all set to do a version of The Sandman (from the spiderman comics)...I had the drawing all finished and went onto google to make sure I had the correct colors - I typed in Sandman and three different comic versions came up. They weren't 3 different versions of the same Sandman, they were three different characters throughout comic history with this name. One of the ones that struck me the most was this guy dressed in a green suit with a gas mask on. I thought it would be fun to do a version of all three of the characters, and the gas mask guy was the first.

In the upper left hand corner is the first comic character named The Sandman. He's pretty much a knock off of the Green Hornet, with the green suit, 'mad men' hat, mask (although his is a gas mask) and gas-gun. It's the 'golden age' Sandman.

The upper right hand corner is the DC comics version of The Sandman. He was created by Neil Gaiman (and while the comic is named "the Sandman," the main character, which I've drawn above, probably isn't named Sandman. From doing very little research, I believe his name is Morpheus and he's the comic's main character. The comic is called The Sandman because the main character is the anthropomorphic personification of dreams.

And finally - the bottom two drawings are the Marvel Comics version of The Sandman. And, in typical Marvel fashion he's quite literally a man made from sand. I did two versions of him trying to figure out if I wanted to draw him with a fist, or just a loose arm of sand...

Anyhow - the first one I finished is the Golden Age Sandman.

Freddy the kid: Freddy Krueger

I've always wanted to go as Freddy Krueger for Halloween. I never did, but one year I bought the glove. 10 bucks. I thought it was pretty bad ass.



Anyhow - I'm in the middle of doing a series of entertainment icons...and since halloween is coming up, I've been concentrating on horror movie icons. One of my favorite villains has to be Freddy Krueger. My dad had my brother and I watch the first Nightmare on Elm Street when we were kids and we spent that night huddled in our beds, scared out of our minds...I remember looking at the door to our room, expecting some form of monster to come tearing through at any minute.

As I grew up - the picture that haunted me the most was of the girl in the body bag walking up the steps (from a basement? I can't remember)...and a creepy scene where Freddy is walking down a alley way scraping his arms against each wall. I saw that scene recently and couldn't believe it used to scare me. His arms grow long to reach each side of the walls, but it comes across as so cartoony. Maybe it's still scary, I'm just watched too many horror movies...

Illustration Friday: Late

I did this painting a little while ago...it's called Zombie Baby Pictures...because it was suppose to be the first in a series of pictures staring zombie babies...I've got a bunch more that I've drawn thumbnail versions...but even whenever it is that I get to those, they won't be on this level...I'm currently working in a very painterly cartoon style...whereas when I did this picture I wanted it to be incredibly realistic (as far as I could draw) but still have lines...so it would have a strange hyper realism to it. And as we all know, Zombies are dead, making this quite a late baby (which is how it ties into Illustration Friday)



I'm also quite proud of the pushpin sticking in the picture - that turned out quite well...

Hellkid

It's been pretty hard finding time to do these...but I'm still trying to fit them in. I've been quite busy at work, and have been finishing up some freelance at the same time. Since it's almost halloween, I've been trying to get all the halloween related illustrations up. I've been working on a headless horseman, but the bridge behind him hasn't really been working out so well...so I decided to take a break from that and work on my kid version of Hellboy. Why do they call him Hellboy, if he's a man? It makes it hard to name a boy version...so I've changed the name to hellkid.

In the original drawing I didn't do Hellboy's big hand, so I modified that in the cleanup...to reflect a first befitting Hellboy.

Lil' Godzilla

Here's Godzilla.

Frankenstein: my version

When I was growing up, I always thought that Frankenstein was the monster's name. Eventually I came to the realization - mostly because I kept hearing Frankenstein's monster - that it was just an unnamed monster and Frankenstein was the fella that created him. Well, all that was when I was a kid.
A couple of years ago - I finally bought the Berni Wrightson illustrated version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I had no idea how long and ridiculous the story actually was (being more used to the monster movie of the 30s as well as Young Frankenstein). I did see the movie version that Kenneth Branagh did with Robert De Niro, of all people, playing the monster. It (like the book) went against everything the other movies made iconic. The monster could not only talk, but converse in intelligent conversation. Well - the book faired better than that movie - Branagh's heavy handed directing (the swooping camera...twirling around the director, who also starred as Frankenstein) as well as all the overacting ruined what could have been a spectacular movie (it did try to follow the book's storyline better than the old 30's movie).
Anyhow - I prefer the iconic 30's Frankenstein. This is my version of that iconic monster.

Lil' Galactus

lil' Jason

The latest in my line of media icons comes from Friday the 13th. I did several drawings of movie villians and this one was the strongest. I'll have more in the coming weeks - but I believe this one will be my favorite. I had a lot of fun drawing Jason in this style, and a tough time texturing the color...but I think the struggle made it all the better. And it ended up being quite a strong painting.

I did two different versions of his mask - one with a lot of red...sort of a gory version and a 'clean' verson.


Anyhow - I love this series of illustrations. I want to do something with them...

The Broom

I was hoping The Angels would be swept out of the playoffs by Boston - I had to settle for them losing in 4. So it'll be a little bit harder to shame the Angels fans, but I can still make fun of them for losing in the first round (much like the A's did all those years). Anyhow - with the sweep in mind I created this character in my new line of drawings...

The Three Little Pigs

I've been working on these for the last few days. I said in a previous post that I had a ton of drawings in a similar fashion - and these are what I've just finished. I want to draw more - I want to keep expanding this line of drawing, and possibly market them...I thought these would lend themselves to a series - as The Three Little Pigs would not only fit into my series of cute characters, but also become a series all to themselves. I did two different versions of them. Originally I wanted them to be completely the same - in the same way that the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were indistinguishable - but what let you know which pig was which was the square behind them:



I started off with the pig shape - wanting just a really cute pig - I figured that once I got into Adobe Illustrator, I could draw in a background behind him. After I finished with the drawing I realized that it'd work better to have more of a hoof on the pig rather than little generic feet (which work with most other characters). So I drew it in next to it (because I could always clean it up and attach it in Illustrator at a later time). Anyhow - I cleaned up the pig, added a square behind him and then copied him two more times. And I had my 3 pigs. I just had to put their signature building items behind them and I was ready to color.



I had finished drawing the three pigs when it occured to me that it'd be fun to do a nude and clothed version. It meant a little more time (but just a little - as I could reuse the pig color and the background color). I like the clothed version better - each one ends up with more of a personality. You'd be able to get more of an idea why each pig would build his house in his particular way.



I still don't know exactly what I'll end up doing with this series of drawings. I'm going to work on getting something licensed - and the more drawings I have, the better chance I'll have towards achieving that goal. In the meantime, these and what else follows can end up in my tiny gallery show in the Nickelodeon hallways this summer. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get enough good stuff going that I'll want to do a real gallery show later down the road. But we'll see...

Panda Menace

Last weekend I did some freelance work for a handbag designer named Nikki Chu. She wanted something that was similar to Hello Kitty or Gwen Stephani's line Hirojuku girls or Tokidoki. So I had a lot of information to grasp, in order to do something in a similar style. What came out of it were some really cute drawings and a few really nice props that I designed in Illustrator.

Anyhow - I ended up really liking they style of Tokidoki - it envokes the cute simplicity of a particular Japanese art. Based on the previous drawings I did and the research - coupled with the cute head shape I've been drawing for a children's board game - I decided to do a series of drawings...again, drawing from all of these other things, but doing it in my own style.

I currently have 4 or so pages full of little characters like this. I'm going to have a lot of work ahead of me to get these things cleaned up and colored. But it was a lot of fun, and I love how the color version turned out. As usual - I cleaned up the character in Illustrator, and did a 'shadow' of bamboo in the background (also in Illustrator). When I colored it in photoshop I erased the lines of the bamboo to give them a softer look.

Anyhow - as always, I'm available for freelance illustration work. If you need to take a look at more samples, check out www.isaacmarzioli.com.

Adelia: Menacing Shadow

I haven’t forgotten about Adelia...

I've just been really busy. I've been meaning to submit my Adelia children's book story, but still haven't. I go back to work in about a week or so - which means I have just about that amount of time to get it done.

In the meantime - I've been working on a lot of freelance projects to fill up all that time I could be slobbing in front of the tv playing a video game.

At the beginning of my haitus I did a couple of watercolor paintings, but haven't had a chance to do much since.

Currently - when I'm not doing freelance work - I'm looking towards the future - getting into licensing. I want to license my characters or prints or posters or something based on something I've drawn. The best bet, so far, would be Adelia. I did this drawing while working on my current freelance (the children's game, whose details I'm not allowed to discuss until after it's printed)...

The scan made it come out all yellow and brown - but it's just blue pencil cleaned up with a regular HB pencil. I thought it was an original idea, but it turns out I am just copying an idea Tracey had for a painting she drew about two weeks ago. In any case, I don't think I'd be able to market this picture any - but I like just being able to draw Adelia. I cleaned it up in Illustrator and then colored it:



It's a different coloring style than I usually go with for Adelia - but one I'm trying to practice for any and all other paintings I do in Photoshop. I hate that photoshop looking painting where it looks like it was painted in photoshop. Everything comes out all rubbery and fake. I still have tendencies in that direction (as I don't paint in photoshop as often as I'd like), but I'm working on improving. I love the way brushstrokes look, and I'm trying to move in that direction. I also repainted (touched up mostly) Adelia without any lines, just to see what that would look like. I think the colors need to have more contrast, but it looks pretty cool without any lines at all...

A completed Children's Book: Puzzled Pauly

I just finished a children's book for Tippy Tales Inc.

The book is called Puzzled Pauly and was written by Ben Orlando. I was contacted by them earlier this month to do all the illustrations.

It was a lot of fun to work on...although it couldn't have come at a worse time. It seems like the second I agreed to this job I was suddenly approached by The Mighty B (a new show here at Nickelodeon) to do some freelance for them...

Well - 'some' freelance is a bit of an understatment - I was asked to do A LOT of freelance for them. It was pretty cool too because I really wanted to work on that show, and I finally had my chance.

But that wasn't all. I had the children's book to draw AND the freelance - and suddenly two jobs opened on Ni Hao Kai Lan (I never could spell that name properly until now, since I've had a lot of dealings with them)...and I HAD to try and test for those jobs.

And, on top of all of this, another small publishing company approached me to do a spec picture for an upcoming book they're doing on Brett Favre. It was a nightmare. I originally agreed to work for them as well - but I eventually had to turn it down because I had no time to devote to it. And while it could have been a good opportunity, it was the only thing I had on my plate that wasn't paying...well, the animation tests weren't either - but at least those were on my list of priorities.

Anyhow - I did the first animation test last weekend on Martin Luther King Jr Day. I spent an hour to an hour and a half each morning, as well as my lunch breaks, working on the children's book (Puzzled Pauly) and then in the evenings Tracey and I would clean-up and color the finished rough pages...all the while I was also doing clean-up for The Mighty B.

It's been a hard few weeks to start the new year...although it'd be nice if the level of interest in our freelance work continued...hopefully not consistantly at this level, but at a high rate...we do need some weekend days off...some time...

Here's the first page in Puzzled Pauly - I can't include the words so none of ya's steals it. I did the original rough and Tracey did the clean-up and the color.

Adelia Green Lantern

I did this drawing over the Christmas break...I got a book on the art of Brian Bolland (which is fantastic! He's one of the best artists in comics) - and in the book there were several drawings he had done of Green Lantern.Well - looking at art books always makes me want to draw - and I had an idea of drawing Adelia as several different popular characters - so I drew her as Green Lantern. It was quite a rough drawing, but had the full idea that I wanted. I tend to cringe at people looking at my sketchbook because I work really loose until I can scan the picture into the computer and redraw it in Adobe Illustrator. this was my sketch:



After I cleaned it up - I printed it out and redrew the body and the position of the hands...using those hand drawn revisions as a reference I changed my Illustrator drawing (that's the nice thing about drawing on the computer is how easy it is to manipulate the lines you've created).And finally - I used my lunch break today to paint it. I started painting it like I did my other Adelia pieces - with the scratch line technique...but as I was going through it I really thought it'd be cool if it looked painted. So I used more of a brush stroke look to the shading. And this is the result:

Adelia: Flying a kite

In December I finished revising my Children's Book Adelia. I immediately sent it to Chronicle Books to see if they might publish it.


I have two big hurdles to jump for Chronicle Books to even consider my book. The first is the overwhelming number of submissions they (and all) publishers receive - and unfortunately the Christmas season is the worst time to submit work as every hack had time to send in their story. After January, things should slow back to the (still enormous) level of submissions and I'll hopefully get a looking at then (I'm hoping by March, at least).


The second thing against me is that Chronicle books already published a book about a small girl and her balloon. I still chose to submit to Chronicle Books first because they consistently have children's books similar to the style in which I draw and write. And while my book also contains a small child (albeit a penguin girl), our stories differ in several key ways - mine is better drawn, colored, and is vibrant and witty. A bit of hubris, maybe, but accurate.


Anyhow - I have several drawings from my book that I'm coloring - While one should usually wait until someone purchases their story, I'm going to slowly color it in case I need to self publish (inevitably, even the best of stories will get lost in the shuffle of the slush pile in big publishing houses). I would also like to give my dummy book the best chance of getting published by including the strongest color samples (when you're an illustrator drawing your own children's book, you submit a dummy book - this consists of the entire 32 page story with rough drawings, I cleaned mine up in Adobe Illustrator, and 2 to 3 color samples).


Here's my latest painting from Adelia.

Adelia: Sneaking...

I was working on a series of Adelias where she was doing a sequence of something. It started with the first book I worked on - where she was walking along and came along a string and picked it up. After that one I drew Adelia sneaking past something...but I was held from finishing it as I couldn't think of anything to have her sneak by. Obviously it should have been the balloon sleeping...and once I figured that out - I got it sorted.

Adelia: The fishing hole (finished)

I finally finished this one! I've been painting it (what seems like) FOREVER! It was a lot of fun though...I usually don't get so complicated with my designs for Adelia - she's usually up against a white backdrop (as she's always running about in the snow)...so it was nice to break out of that. Hopefully this is the first of many new paintings for a new story featuring Adelia.

Adelia: at the fishing hole

I cleaned it up in Illustrator last night. This afternoon for lunch (in between magazine reading at the bookstore) I did a revision on this. I also decided I should do a light study...not set in stone or anything...I believe I'll have the light source come from the opposite direction from where it is in this picture...but I'm one step away from being ready to color it.

This picture is helping me brew another adventure for Adelia...hopefully it goes somewhere...but we'll see...

The Simpsons: The Burger King Project completed

So the 'Simpsonize Me' project is finally at an end (until they call me for the next thing). Originally (this time around) was going to do 6 executives as simpsons characters...but by the time I got the first e-mail about the job to when I agreed to it - we had ballooned that number to 26. And to top it all off they added another 5 characters to take me through the weekend. All in all it was a fun project...it's great to get freelance that pays as well as entertains.

You can find other Simpsons related freelance art (but mostly penguin art) at my portfolio - http://www.isaacmarzioli.com/.

Simpsonize Me: what I'm working on...

This is a project I'm currently working on for The Simpsons and Burger King. I worked with them earlier this summer helping to design a matrix where people could upload a picture of themselves and turn themselves into a simpsons character. It was supposed to be in conjuntion with the movie - we went up against the wire making the program work...you can check that out at http://www.simpsonizeme.com/.
I was contacted earlier this week to turn several groups of Burger King execs into 'kind' versions of themselves as Simpsons characters. This is the original picture:

And this is how I drew them as Simpsons characters...some lent themselves to the project easier than others (also, they didn't want anyone to be sitting and they're all holding briefcases for some reason...):