Fanboy Expo Tampa 2013

I can't believe that I forgot to post these pics from the Fanboy Expo a few weeks back. Maybe I just thought of it because so many people I know are at the Tampa Bay Comicon now and I am not. Maybe next year. Anyway, we had a good time and the hotel was really nice. Met some new friends and saw some old ones. Even got to meet a few famous professional wrestlers (Jerry Lawler, Brutus Beefcake) and even met and chatted with Scott Schwartz, Flick from Christmas Story. I was even seated near a metal pole but I couldn't get Scott to lick it. Not even after triple dog daring him. Maybe next time.

Not Adam West but an AWESOME costume!!

Drawing The Rocketeer.

I love The Rocketeer. I remember way back in the early 80's and seeing a comic book that belonged to my friend's older brother and had no idea who it was but how cool he looked!! I went out and got my own copies and the store owner actually helped me find his other appearances since it was rather erratic. As good as they looked, it was rather hard to imagine how much better they would be when they were re-printed with better paper and color! For Christmas a few years ago, I even got the slip-cased collection and it sits with pride on my shelf. Dave Stevens' work never looked so good!!! I was overjoyed when they made a movie and saw it opening day and when I first started working at Walt Disney World a year later, my biggest thrill came from seeing the costumes and the Bulldog Café in person. Sadly the movie did not do well (like most movies I like!!) and The Rocketeer kind of faded away. And then Dave Stevens died. I was moved when I learned he died and thought how fortunate I was to have met him. It was the oddest thing. In the winter between the movie release and my moving to Florida, a friend and I were driving on a cold, wet Saturday when we drove past a local college and saw the sign that they were having a Monster Convention and one of the guests listed was Dave Stevens! We spun round, parked and went inside. These were the days when most shows were only a few bucks and you could walk right in without any lines! Sure enough, we found his table but he was not there. We milled about for a few minutes and then this skinny guy walks up to us with this giant grin and shows us the autograph picture of an old horror movie actor (I don't remember who) that he just got. He was talking to us like he knew us. It was Dave Stevens! He was like a kid in a candy store and was the nicest guy. He talked to us for a good long time and answered all our questions and I even bought a book that he signed (Just Teasing) and got a print of The Rocketeer that he signed as well. That very print is one of my pride and joys and it hangs on my wall right above me even now as I type these words.

Of course I tried to draw The Rocketeer myself several times, but I have never finished any attempts as it didn't look like Dave Stevens' version. I have read that Dave even labored and slaved over his work and I think I did as well and it just never lived up to expectations. I am VERY picky about The Rocketeer! At a recent show, a fellow artist named Danny Haas got to talking and he said that I should draw The Rocketeer. I laughed and told him of my struggles about trying in the past and then got 'round to thinking about it and made him a deal. I would do it if he would as well. He accepted and then I said, "Don't go running off and start clicking (Danny uses a mouse to create his work) so quickly! I need a head start!" He agreed and I was now committed. I really had no intention of starting for a while. Then, while on a plane trip north, I started to doodle him in my sketchbook. And then I made the mistake of putting those doodles on Facebook! Danny saw them, exclaimed, "You're killing me smalls!" And then he preceded to finish his masterpiece in ten minutes!! I already gave you a link to Danny, go see it. It's awesome. He showed me what it looked like in the early stages when it was just his line art and I thought, "that would look so cool as a wire sculpture!!" Maybe one day.

Here are a few of my very old, early attempts at drawing The Rocketeer.

Cut to the present. Here is some of the doodles I already wrote about that I mostly did on an airplane ride.

Don't know if it's obvious or not, but they were done in different intervals as I also cut and paste them into Photoshop in this early stage as well. Here are some of those.

While I liked these first two well enough, I thought they looked too much like the cover of the DVD of the movie that I have so I decided to try something a little different.

Going with this one. More to come soon.

Hopefully.

Enjoy.

Sixth Doctor Poster!

I'm not going to drag this one out any longer. Got too much other stuff happening and we all want to get to it. So without any further adieu or fanfare, here is the Sixth Doctor and his companions.

Enjoy!

Sixth Doctor Poster. Part Three

The girls are painted!!! No, that is not a euphemism for anything. Get your mind out of the gutter. Some consider these two companions as some of the worst ever for Doctor Who but I don't know about that. I liked Peri in the beginning and the end but she was poorly written for most of her run. Mel had even worse material to work with and Bonnie Langford just seems like such a nice person. Watching her on the show was like watching a stage actress. Everything seemed like it was a play. I bet she is wonderful in her environment.

Sixth Doctor Poster. Part Two

Really cranking along!! Granted, having done Colin's famous coat before means that I already have many of the patterns and such in my library and Peri and Mel are just head shots. So Colin is fully painted and ready to go and the girls are inked and ready for paint. Looking forward to actually finishing this one up pretty quickly and moving onto another piece.

Sixth Doctor Poster. Part One

I am really trying to gear up for Hurricane Who again this year (as well as a few other shows) and I want a whole bunch of new work. Colin Baker (yes, the sixth Doctor) is slated to be here this year and I am pretty excited about it. Even tho the fifth was MY Doctor, the regeneration into Colin was the first one I got to watch. I hear nothing but good things about Mr. Baker so I hope I get the chance to meet him if even for a moment.

I started this one off drawing on my tablet while watching TV. I am doing more and more of that lately and I love it! It's a really rough sketch to be sure but it was enough to go on. Thought I would be a bit more "design-y" with this one and maybe play off the bold patterns of his iconic costume.

Here is my original sketch. Pretty loose and quick.

Here are the traditionally drawn pose for the character. Two drawings really that have been spliced (or as I call it: Frankensteined) together.

Now of course comes the "ink and paint" stage. Not really painting but the flat color. All done in Illustrator.

At this stage, I knew I wanted head shots of his two companions so before I got too far ahead of myself, I digitally sketched them out.

Working back into my composition, I spliced all my elements together and started to refine my background. Lots of work ahead for that!!