Ace of Spades

Three caricatures of Lemmy Kilmister, lead singer and bassist of metal band, Motörhead. One is a nod to their well known song 'Ace of Spades', the second is 'Yosemite Lem' a mashup with Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam and the third is 'Lemmy the Motor Head'.

I'm happy to report that 'Lemmy the Motor Head' won the Lemmy competition out of 350 entries on Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Here's some process steps of 'Ace of Spades'.

Monica Mania

Here are three caricatures of Italian model and actress Monica Bellucci from a recent challenge over at Caricaturama Showdown 3000. She was a very tough subject to caricature.

Jean Reno visits Sesame Street

My fun little entry for the Jean Reno caricature challenge over at Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Tennis with friends

A caricature of Argentine tennis player, Juan Martin Del Potro and also some caricatures of Facebook friends. Three used brushpen with digital shading, the other is pencil colourised in Photoshop.

EEEK!

A pinup done for a friend's horror anthology comic called 'EEEK!'. Done in Photoshop.

I wanted to avoid portaying a completely helpless victim, so I included little elements that would hint she has a fighting chance.

For the proprtions of the design I used the Golden Ratio layout. I've never used it much, so hopefully I applied it correctly. You can see how I used it here.

Danger 5!

Late last year I did some art for a fantastic Aussie indie TV series called Danger 5. It's a weird 60's inspired WWII action spoof with Nazi dinosaurs, German/Japanese supersoldiers and other off the wall characters, incorporating the best of old spy movies and the worst of Italian cinema. I was approached to do some art for the DVD and posters and had a ball doing it.

Below is the art of the Danger 5 team, there's also some closeup detail shots and lastly some of the sketches and previous layout ideas. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed producing them. And do yourself a favour, hop on Youtube and check out Danger 5. You won't regret it!

Ricky Gervais

A caricature of Ricky Gervais done for the Facebook Caricaturama Showdown 3000 challenge. Digitally painted in Photoshop.

Wheel of Life, Wheel of Death

Another Steve Jobs caricature. 'Wheel of life, Wheel of Death'. One is part of the Buddhist philosophy which Steve followed, the other is a dreaded sight to any Apple user.

The colour elements are clip art from the internet. I didn't draw those.

Head of Apple

A little tribute to Apple's mastermind and innovator, Steve Jobs who passed away a few days ago. This is based on a younger photo of him circa 1985, around when the first Macintosh computer was released.

Brushpen and Photoshop.

Van Gogh

My rendition of Vincent Van Gogh. I noticed how earshaped his head was in his self portraits, so I thought it would be interesting to explore the concept of his madness and the possible reason behind him cutting off his own ear- the persistent nagging of the artist's self-doubt and the sinister whisperings of his insanity.

For this I used dry brush and Photoshop.

Tom Waits

A caricature of gravel-voiced singer/songwriter, Tom Waits. Ink and Photoshop.

Big Badaboom!

One of my favourite sci-fi movies is a 1997 flick called 'The Fifth Element'. This is a couple of scenes I did from the movie in a comicbook style for a drawing jam on Facebook. It would have been a lot of fun doing a comic adaption of this movie. Loads of great characters and costumes.

OPTIMUS!!!....Optimus??

A bio-mechanical/insectoid reinterpretation of Optimus Prime from Transformers. This sketch was done for a challenge on Facebook. Pencil and Photoshop.

I figured an advanced race of robots would be more organic instead of clunky metal.

By Crom, everything's Smurfy!

Two nightly sketches- Smurfette from The Smurfs and Conan the Barbarian. Both of whom have movies out at the moment.

The Smurfette is a companion piece to another Smurfette I did 5 years ago. Here's a link to the old one.

I can haz Hellboy?

Hellboy and some kittens. Done for the latest OzComics Hellboy challenge on Facebook. A colour version and the original black and white. Pencil and Photoshop.

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

Ah, good ol' zombies. To me, drawing zombies is the culinary equivalent of eating 'comfort food'- a nostalgic, sentimental and relaxing experience. They're always fun to draw, no rules and no limits. Good times with the undead...

Anyway, this was done for a challenge over at the OzComics group on Facebook, I didn't complete it in time due to paid work, but I can never leave a zombie piece unfinished. I originally intended to blend the pencilwork and colours together to get a more painterly finish, but I found it lost the energy and grittiness that was in the pencils, so I just left it as is.

(The title of this post is reference to a song by LMFAO called 'Party Rock Anthem'. It has a great music video with a zombie '28 Days Later' vibe.)

Forms and Figures

Lately I've been making a conscious effort to improve my art (well, I should say more than usual as I'm always trying to improve). Specifically, I've been working on improving my use of values and form and also brushing up on my human anatomy knowledge (which is a neverending task). Basically, filling in all the huge gaps that get overlooked when one is self taught.

Anyway, here are some forms and figures (of the female variety). Why not have fun while you learn, I say.

CLICK FOR UNCROPPED IMAGE (Warning: nudity)

CLICK FOR UNCROPPED IMAGE (Warning: sexy underwear)

Also here was a fun exercise exploring different lighting setups on my older Velma piece.

Great White

A little something for the close of Shark Week. I'm fascinated by sharks and have the utmost respect for them, but the thought of seeing a Great White emerge from the hazy water towards me has always been a thing of nightmares.

This started as a shaded pencil drawing which was then coloured and blended in Photoshop. Here's a link to the pencil sketch.

(...and no, it's not Bruce from Finding Nemo, although when caricaturing a Great White those comparisons are inevitable)

The Power of the Imagination

This piece was done for the themed topic of 'Power' for my reps over at The Drawing Book Studios. My interpretation explores the power of a child's imagination. Digitally inked and coloured in Photoshop.

All things Chewie

You may remember my Hoth Encounter piece I did for Acme Archives a few years back...well, not to sound like I'm flogging a dead Wookiee, but the piece recently resurfaced in a few exciting places.

Firstly, I was informed that my piece was featured in the latest Star Wars Galaxy trading card series 6. As a result, a few people sent trading cards my way to be signed and I ended up doing a few sketch freebies in the process. One of them I coloured up for fun. If anyone wants their cards signed, feel free to email me for my address and I'll try and find the time to do a little sketch as well.



Secondly, I found out that my piece made an appearance in the nerd comedy, 'The Big Bang Theory', hanging as a print in Leonard's bedroom. Blink and you'll miss it, but a spinout nonetheless.


Thirdly, I was happy to hear my Chewie print is available for purchase at both Disneylands in the US! Nothing says Disney more than a big hairy Wookiee. ;)

Well, that's enough of me tooting my own trumpet. I guess a bit of self promotion can't hurt once in a while.

I'll be posting some new work soon. Thanks everyone for your continuing support.

Kafka's Metamorphosis

A caricature of famous writer, Franz Kafka. Considered one of the most important and influential writers of the twentieth century, most of his work only became published and celebrated after his death from Tuberculosis at age 40.

One of his most well known tales, 'Metamorphosis', is about a man who awakens to find himself transformed into a giant insect. That was my inspiration for this caricature. If you look closely you'll notice I integrated bugs and bug parts to make up the features of his head. The parted hair is made up of two large roach-like creatures, his nose is the head and neck of a Praying Mantis and the shapes of the ears, the jaw and cheeks etc, are made from various creepy crawlies. I love looking at art with depth which keeps the viewer coming back for a second look. That's what I was aiming to achieve in this piece.

This was a pencil drawing scanned and coloured in Photoshop. My custom fingerprint brush was used for the textures.

Prince William sketch

A caricature of newly wed royal, Prince William. I'm surprised at myself for drawing him as the Royal family and all their shenanigans bore me to tears. Here in Australia the media and public have been at fever pitch waiting for the wedding.

This was for the latest challenge over at CS3000. I said to myself, 'If you're going to draw a Royal, be as unflattering as possible'. In that I probably failed as I coiuld have been a whole lot harsher.

My approach to this drawing was to pretend I was designing him for the classic UK satirical puppet show, Spitting Image. If you're unfamiliar with the show, Youtube it. Classic stuff with great caricature puppets.

'This is not a pipe'...or a swan

Two entries to CS3000, one done before and one after my previously posted Lou Ferrigno piece. Both of these are anthropomorphic concepts (i.e. taking something, in this case a swan and a smoking pipe, and humanising it). The first is my latest, Natalie Portman from the movie 'Black Swan'. Had a lot of fun with this concept and it turned out alright. Also below once again are a few stages from it's creation. Did my best to wrangle Portman's form into the swan silhouette, the head could have been more swan-like, but you get the idea.


Next is my submission for the Norman Rockwell caricature jam. Many people were drawing Norman smoking his trademark pipe, so I turned the tables. This time the pipe is smoking him!