[JONATHAN] Thanksgiving Spectre!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I definitely overindulged on lots of great food and am still paying the price. But that's a good problem, to have right? :-P

One of the great Thanksgiving traditions that I ALWAYS forget about and am ALWAYS happy to be reminded of is the James Bond marathon on cable! I LOVE vegging out on the couch, watching some classic James Bond films (usually Sean Connery) battling the evil Spectre! When I saw the classic moment of Ernst Blofield petting his cat in that oh-so-evil way, I knew I had to draw a tribute piece!

[JONATHAN] Can't you hear that?

Boom, badoom, boom
Boom, badoom, boom, he got that superbass
Boom, badoom, boom
Boom, badoom, boom, yea that's that superbass

[JANA] A Pant-iful Monday

So, there I was - A Monday of having to wear pants all day, the night drawing to a close and I had... nothing. My sketchbook, while not empty it was disappointing and contained only unfinished things that I did not yet have the right to show. So I turned to my best friend - and worst enemy - DeviantArt! Great place to go for inspiration and yet sometimes the most haughty site to remind you that you just can't f**king draw. Right off the bat I come across an artist I constantly find myself admiring. The Reverend Dave Johnson aka Devil Pig. I'll be honest, I don't love everything he does but it is unrealistic to expect absolute awesomeness from an artist 100% of the time. Not that he doesn't deliver! I just know that I have an opinion and, well, you get the idea. See, this is usually where I start to worry about other people telling me I'm wrong, that I'm under-educated on such matters and then they spill their opinion all over me. Instead I'm gonna say, "F**k it," and this is how I see him. Talented, original, "on it" about 88-98% of the time and one pretty damn amazing artist in terms of color, style and design. I just find myself studying or staring at his work when I come across a new cover, Kwilt Girl, commission, sketch or somethingorother.

So what came up was his most recent journal entry. Normally I don't bother with such wordy things on a site where I just want a glut of eye candy but the title caught my attention. It tempted me with the possibility of more drugs for my eyeballs, otherwise known as art blogs.

So, yeah, I'll admit it... I clicked! Of course they were links to more of his own wordy, opinion-y stuff - from what I understand by word of mouth (no proof!) he is just self-centered enough to do such a thing - but whatever! There was more art being seen and hot damn if I didn't also start to read! Here, I'll let you take a gander at the post that caught my attention.

Johnson Cover Hi-lo

Yeah, first off it's a book I'm into (the first book! Keep up, people!) and it is production arted right into existence just one desk over from me... or at the desk right... next to... ehhhh. Okay, so everyone and their third uncle knows this book but the way Johnson laid out what had been done on the cover put the book and artist in a new light. It made me realize that I so rarely - IF ever - consider such important and insightful stuff when I draw. Sure, I try to think of different and intriguing angles in which to draw a shot/panel from but do I ever reeeeeeeally consider the "depth and priority" of what is going on in the illustration? How about - even MORE embarrassing - the story? And what about discovering detail in the background as a secondary note or maybe the atmospheric perspective defined by lighting? This is some real sh*t here, people! This be some maaaaajor learning, mon! So once again, DeviantArt had done it to me. It gently inspired me, then slapped my upside the head, reminded me of my place and then taught me a f**king lesson.

Goddess, I'm never getting out of here.

[KEVIN] Øede 7" preview

A preview of the artwork for Norwegian project: Øede's debut 7" on Holy Terror. A collaboration in every sense: visually as well as contributing a guitar solo on this forthcoming record.  More Soon.

[JONATHAN] Jetlagged on ELEPHANTMEN

Returned from an overseas trip last night and am fighting the jetlag. Never the fun part of returning from a trip, but it was a fun trip, so I'm thinking about that as I adjust back to good ol' Pacific Standard Time.

One of my "struggles" whenever I go on a trip is what comics do I take with me. I always gotta take something. Especially if there's uncertainty of whether I'm gonna be able to find a comic book shop at wherever I'm going.

On this trip, amongst the comics I took, I brought along HIP FLASK: MYSTERY CITY which was published back in 2005 by Active Images and has since continued as ELEPHANTMEN by Image Comics. I've read this book many times and no matter how many times I go through it, it always reminds me of the first time I saw it and how amazed with it I was (and still am!)

The first thing that struck me when I first saw this book was Ladronn's art. It is very clear why Ladronn won an Eisner for his work on this series. The art is simply and astoundingly gorgeous. Ladronn's influence by Moebius is clearly evident in his clear, simple line work, but then Ladronn takes his art to another level with his gorgeous painting/color work. I remember just going over this book again and again and again and staring at the panels. And I did that again on this trip. :-)

There aren't many consistent science fiction books in today's comic market. To me, HIP FLASK/ELEPHANTMEN is the leader of the pack. Creator/writer Richard Starkings infuses storylines centered around war, crime, espionage, romance, and love with a science-fiction edge. The stories and concepts in this series reflect an evident love for the science fiction genre and are always enjoyable to read. Even though the series has been out for many years, it consistently has a way of feeling different than other books out there - and that's a good thing.

If you've never read ELEPHANTMEN, I strongly recommend you try out ELEPHANTMEN: UNNATURAL SELECTION, which was the first book of the series. The stunning Ladronn artwork is worth the price of admission alone.

Speaking of stunning Ladronn art, if you want to see how he does his amazing work on Elephantmen, check out UNHUMAN: THE ELEPHANTMEN ART OF LADRONN. It is a concept art book showcasing Ladronn's design work. There are character sketches, costume designs, logo designs, 3D modeling screen captures, step-by-step process images of finished cover images and pagework. If you Google-image-search this book, you'll see more preview pages and get a good sense of what the book is like. It's very impressive to see how much conscious forethought and effort is put into the ELEPHANTMEN series. Personally, it is one of my all-time favorite concept art books. It's an unending source of inspiration. I can't help but be motivated everytime I look at that book. I can't recommend this book enough.

In fact, after seeing the UNHUMAN book and getting caught up on the ELEPHANTMEN series, I felt like I had to do an illustration. I was inspired by Ladronn's awesome city scenes, so I did my own rendition of Hip Flask walking down the streets of future Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to have it printed in the pages of Elephantmen #31!

I'm hoping to see more of Ladronn's art soon. I was able to pick up a copy of his FINAL INCAL work (a french comic only available overseas) and, like his work in ELEPHANTMEN, it was gorgeous painted sci-fi work. Though I still like the DC covers he's been doing lately, I really want to see more sequential pages. I'm hoping this is the year that we'll all get to see more ELEPHANTMEN pagework by Ladronn!

[JANA] No pants Monday

So I missed last weeks post and, sadly, there hasn't been too much going on in the draw department... At least nothing that I can really show. So here are some random sketches I thought I'd share and we'll see where we go from there.

A super fuzzy sheep leap!

An test sketch for the Monster and Dame piece.

Another monster/beast I liked the direction of. Perhaps I'll finish him at some other point.

On another note, I recently watched a few episodes of How It's Made on Netflix and found myself experiencing a bit of child-like glee. I am a Sesame Street kid. Sesame Street from the 80s, mind you. I don't know nuthin' bout the muppet with AIDS okay, that's just how (old I am) it is. I remember there being little segments like, "One of these things is not like the others..." and... uh... Oh man, I'm drawing a blank on that cool little guy who walked among the cups. Aaaaanyway, there were occasionally segments that showed things like how a crayon was made and I just found them incredibly fascinating and apparently do to this day. They may not be as info-laden as I'd like but still I recommend you check some out and then lets discuss which are the coolest!

[KEVIN] SUTEKH HEXEN - "Luciform" CD/CS editions

The layout and re-design for the Bay Area band Sutekh Hexen's debut full-length recording "Luciform".
Originally issued as a vinyl LP edition of 350 copies through WANDS Records and going out of print within 3 months, the vinyl edition is now going into it's second pressing and is getting the CD and cassette treatment as well. Beneath are the packaging layout/design for the new formats:

via. Jon Rosenthal from the Inarguable:
"Luciform is defined as "of or pertaining to the qualities of light," which is a perfect description of Sutekh Hexen's shining demonstration of their mastery of the "black noise" style, but I can assure you there is no light here. The six disturbed hymns that comprise this twisted, churning, blackened mass  lurch forward like a searing wind, slowly wearing away at everything in sight. This blistering album, while boasting some of Sutekh Hexen's "cleanest" and most recognizable guitar work, is still masked by Sutekh Hexen's signature, Xenakis-esque walls of horrific, incomprehensible noise. A maddening struggle through pure inorganic sound and disembodied shrieks, this is the perfect balance between black metal and noise that experimental musicians have been desperately seeking from the days of Exmortes and Abruptum. When this album destroys the walls that surround you, lay back and prepare to be obliterated yourself and become one with the noise."

[KEVIN] Servile Sect - "Realms of the Queen" vinyl edition

"Realms of the Queen is our proverbial popcorn trail stretching into the dripping mysteriis of psychedelic mindfulness. Re-issued for vinyl by King of the Monsters.  Featuring a beautiful 

re-design by Thee indica arsonist/tryptamine visionary Kevin Gan Yuen. Limited edition flying saucer-inspired artwork with "irradiated cum from Christ's cosmic cock" 12" vinyl INSANITY"

Process: layout and photography // the primary iPhone photograph close-up of our tour-van's break-pads that was taken on tour with Sutekh Hexen and Folivore back in August. I had noticed an awful grinding and lack of responsiveness from the vehicle and mentioned in L.A. that when we got to San Diego, that we absolutely needed to get them inspected... sure enough, they were completely fucked. As per-usual, its in the details...

CMYK + 1 (metallic silver ink) on the strips of lighter gray in the photograph and the vinyl center-labels and spot UV (raised-ink) on the LP jackets lettering, which will only be visible at certain angles. 

The guys in SERVILE SECT asked me to do something textural with simple typography. When Luke mentioned textures, he wanted something akin to the side of a crash-landed flying-saucer... not that any of us have ever seen one, but it made sense to me and this was the end-result. I will post pictures of the complete packaging/etc when they arrive. Out soon from: KING OF THE MONSTERS RECORDS.

[JONATHAN] My Monster & Dame

So I know I said last week that I'd share my Monster & Dame piece this week. But I realized when I finished it last night that maybe I shouldn't share it just yet! I mean, I am submitting it for the official convention book. Just as courtesy, I'm thinking I should find out whether it made it into the book or not before showing the full image. So as a compromise, I'm sharing a cropped preview. :-)

I decided that with this piece, I really wanted to break away from how I normally color things and try to do more of an atmospheric feel. Instead of actual colors, I focused more on values and lightning. Wanted to give a sense that my dame is a soldier who's playing a game of "cat and mouse" with the monster. Keeping the colors to that dark blue helped convey the sense that these two characters are dodging in and out of the moonlight.

Headed out of town tonight for a 2 week trip. Don't know what my online availability will be like while I'm gone, so may miss the next 2 weeks postings. But will be back as soon as I can.