Frank Frazetta passed away at age 82. Last summer I developed a newfound appreciation for his work. His name kept coming up in all the art classes I was taking. Color theory, posing, anatomy, lighting, composition, etc. I was familiar with his Conan covers and Death Dealer illustrations but had never really studied his work. I think only after in depth studying of these art concepts did I truly realize how talented he was.
The He-Man pic that I just finished was even heavily inspired (doesn’t even come close but inspired by none the less) by the lighting and tone of his work. I’ll definitely continue to study the 60+ years of work he’s left with us.
Here is a comprehensive article by Lance Laspina, who produced and directed a documentary on Frezetta in 2003. link
Okay I lied to you last time, but this is the FINAL FINAL update on this picure. I was not happy about how flat the image felt so I went in and added in some light sources and to give it some more color and temperature.
Okay, final post on this He-Man illustration. It’s all colored. I got the urge to try and mix in some graphic design elements and halftones. I’m trying to bridge my cartoony t-shirt design style and my painterly style. Maybe I’ll revisit it for a touch up someday, but right now I think it’s time to move on. I’m still trying to find the balance between detailed rendering and simplicity that’ll yield the best results.
I’m back! The internet was out at the apt for a few weeks, but I had time to work on some freelance projects and play some video games during the down time. I also went through at least 7-8 more iterations of Skeletor and decided to settle on this.
I’m not sure if it’s the most dramatic of poses but it’s got the epic-slow-motion-before-the-film-is-sped-up-300-action-movie feel. I think in the rendering He-man’s face is too scared now, so I’ll have to bring back some of the energy as I finish up. We’ll consider this a learning experience and apply said lessons to my next piece.
Two more nights of sketching. I think I’m getting close.
I want Skeletor to have that Alien in Ripley’s face claustrophobic feel. I also want him to exude the creepy magician vibe combined with the artistic, spooky flair of Mr.Gone’s cape from the Maxx. He has also been enbiggened to a threatening demon boss size so he’s not just He-Man with blue skin and a different head.
I present to you the beginnings of another 80′s nostalgia art piece; inspired this morning by another nerdy conversation with co-worker Mike. We’d run across this Masters of the Universe Tribute Art Show at G1988 a few weeks ago, and upon looking at all this awesomeness I realized that I hecka wanted to do a MoTU drawing.
Fact: I have a giant Skeletor statue in my cube.
Fact #2: I’m the coolest guy at work.
It’s a Fight Night style design with Frosty the Abominable Snowman vs Polar the Un-Bear-able Icecap. Cheesy, right? I wanted to throw more halftones on the two fighters but it might have been too much.
I just got another idea for these two guys that might make a cool poster.
I decided to do a dyptic of all the roommates past and present for my art party and for hanging on our bare walls. Apparently 14 people have resided at the current Victorian residence I’ve called home for the past 4 years. I did preliminary sketches and several comps before settling on this tone study; however, time ran out before I was able to transfer it to canvas/acrylic.
Taking cues from the compositions of Gustave Dore and the modern layouts of Marko Djurdjevic, I tweaked the arrangement of people more than I would have usually. Besides rhythm, flow, contrast, and various rule of thirds, I also had people in groups based on the rooms they were in, home town affiliations, original roommates on one row, and current roommates furthest in front. Also unbeknownst to you, everyone here is rocking out hard to Eye of the Tiger.
FYI, when typing “roomates” 90% of the time I type “roommages.” I’m not sure what that’s all about. Also, I am going to try and go at least 3 posts without drawing another picture of myself. You all are probably thinking I’m narcissistic or something.
Self-Portrait November 2009
Topical Humor! I hope the handful of you reading my blog enjoy this. Or maybe you feel a bit awkward looking at this picture? Sweet.
I’m not defending or condoning a man’s choice to depict himself as a centaur. I think it’s a shame I hadn’t thought of it myself. Funny enough, I’m also a Sagittarius. Take note ladies, that means I have a thirst for knowledge and adventure as well as that bow and arrow shooting, half man half horse deal. Giggity.
I also missed the Nov 1st – Self-Portrait day event at conceptart.org, so I’ll consider this a personal late entry, if only slightly altered from reality. Side note: I only made myself that ripped because of all the galloping and archery I’d obviously be doing if I was a centaur.
I’ve been slowly cleaning up both my apartment and online profiles and sites. Just like apartments, there can be a lot of maintenance that personal and social networking sites need. The quick-key, efficiency, GTD, productivity nerd in me (that also hates doing chores and likes bright things) would rather blow something up and build it over again then to clean it up. That’s why I just redesign my website every year and why I can only clean the apartment while supervised by at least one roommate to make sure I don’t just dump everything into a furnace.
MySpace as most will agree has become that neglected closet that you keep old camping gear and ex-roommate baggage in. The pristine organized storage center you once envisioned is now full of clutter that you no longer need but think you’ll fix someday. It’s kind of lost it’s charm once it started piling up with unclaimed sweaters and messages from hot girls who are lonely and want you to see their new modeling pics!!!!!!”
There’s nothing people hate more than unclaimed sweaters and advances from attractive young women who turn out to be robots. Many of my friends have gone outright and shut down their accounts. I would say that’s probably along the lines of dumping gasoline on a storage shed and throwing a block of C4 into it. I don’t know if that’s how C4 works. I’m just an illustrator who watched a lot of MacGuyver in the 80s.
The reason I don’t consider dumping a MySpace account the same as “emptying” a closet is that an empty closet has become useful. I still have some friends on MySpace and as has been suggested by many freelancers, PR agents, and all around wise folks, the more places an artist can be contacted the better. Even if that place is a dungeon full of lies and emo music*
“But MySpace is full of 14 year old kids and soccer moms who are just about ready to switch to Facebook right as it is getting outdated” you say. Well, you’re probably right, but I had to go in and delete all my drunk pics old artwork anyways.
And just in case you’re a soccer mom here’s the link: http://www.myspace.com/hoabert
*fact, I kinda like emo music.
