Beware what you wear.

I’m not sure if this is a spacesuit or a robot.  It looks like it might work for a different, alien species, or perhaps it’s really huge and a human pilot fits somewhere in a little shell of a cockpit.

I found it hiding in another old sketchbook, and I can’t believe I haven’t posted it before.  If I have, please let me pretend this is new, as I just couldn’t find it anywhere in the archives.  Anyway, I love those big arms!  Also, what a freaky head.  I love it.

The last suit you’ll ever wear.

Here’s another “reject” from an old sketchbook.  Often I just like the shape of a drawing, and that was the case of this piece.  The pencils behind this when I found them recently were very vague, but the shape was blocky and round, and I could see it had promise.  So, I threw some tracing paper on the page and traced this out in technical pen.  It’s a little plain, but it makes me think of what might have been the fashion in space-wear if we’s continued on with the superior power-source of steam.  An astronaut wearing this may not be able to see anything, but at least they’ll be tough!

Used drawing with ancient theme.

I have a small surplus of pieces that came from commissions and projects that the client(s) failed to make payment for.  I try to hang on to them for as long as possible in case the delinquent account does pay up, but this one has been waiting a couple of years.  So, I assume they’re never coming back for it.

Here, then, is a wise Chinese-like sage, armed against those who would sass him.  I thought he came out great, but I guess the person who contracted for him did not, leaving him a sad, awesome orphan…

Werewolves are an interstellar problem.

John Scalzi got me again.  This time, while reading Zoe’s Tale, I became obsessed with what the wild, native werewolves on some alien world look like, only to find no other reference online.  So, I’ve made my own again.  In the book, they are intelligent and four-eyed, but not in a nerdy way.  They hunted the human colonists at times, though, and so got introduced to modern weaponry from time to time…

The line work was done by hand, cleaned up with good ol’ Adobe CS5, and then I colored a print out on marker paper with my trusty Copics.

The right tool for the right job.

Remember this one?  A dedicated fan (hi, Milutin!) asked if I had a version of this spacesuit with suped-up arms, and I felt inspired to comply.

I always loved how out-of-poportion Mignola’s Hellboy is.  That giant arm just makes him great.  So, I definitely was influenced by that character when updating this design.  I seriously thought about adding a gun on that right arm, but since I was going over-the-top on this one anyway, I thought I should just add the one thing no one concerned with the integrity of an environmental suit would have near them: Chainsaw!

You need those is space a lot, right?

Reggie is ready.

Working on issue #4 of Father Robot, and I had need to whip up this little piece to reference Reggie facing straight at the viewer.  Just thought I’d share…

New, deluxe model.

With this rig, you’d be ready for anything.

I wanted this space suit to have the look of “too much” room inside the helmet.  One thing that always bugs me about the space suits I see in movies, comics, and even my own artwork is that it always looks like the person’s head is going to bounce off the inside of the helmet if they got a good shakin’.  Unless the neck is being secured by some kind of collar, there’s still many degrees of head movement, and in the rough environments these suits are made for, one is going to end up getting a bruise from numerous smacks against that protective covering.

This design would not only keep that from happening, but leaves lots of room for screens, cushioning, windows, and communication equipment.  Since the technology involved with such suits would be able to see the surroundings better than the human eye (through thick glass), the front-facing port is above the wearers head and service a camera.  The person inside has a screen in center-view, and would be able to take advantage of a range of vision types.

I got the look I wanted for this one by drawing the suit by hand, scanning it into the digital realm, and then printing out several copies of the lifework on marker paper.  I then did the value and local color separately, with Copic markers, combined them in Photoshop, and did a little clean-up and tweaking to get the image you see here.  It was lots of fun.

Father Robot tries self awareness.

Issue #3 is just about ready for mass consumption.  In this chapter, FR comes face-to-face with the reality of his identity, and both he and Reggie have to make sense of the robot’s truth of existence.  What will Clarabelle do?  Can they all escape becoming casualties of war?!

I collaborated with the mega-talented Cody Hagman on this one.  I did the line work and Cody brought life to the drawing with awesome, digital colors.

Party in Portland

Are you going to be in Portland, Oregon in a few weeks?  If so, you should come by my table at Rose City Comic Con and pick up the new issue of Father Robot the weekend of September 20th and 21st.  I’ve got some new artwork for sale (original and prints), t-shirts, buttons, and, of course, lots of cool comics!

 

Maybe when robots fly…

Yeah, I know that background is fairly lacking, but I set out on this one just to play around with some new markers, mostly.  FR doesn’t usually sport no jetpack, but what the hell, this pose was a lot of fun.

Years ago I remember reading one of Mignola’s Hellboy stories where all the investigating agents dropped to the scenes of paranormal activity on jetpacks.  Mignola’s fantastic and graphic way of visualizing things has stuck with me, and I always strive to try and bring a little of the magic that I see in his work to my own.  While my success at that is debatable, I felt inspired by the jet wash he drew in that story.  I swear it streamed out from below and behind those characters’ jetpacks, even when they were landing. However, a fellow artist-friend of mine pointed out that the jet wash/exhaust would actually be hitting the ground while landing and blowing up all kinds of dust.  I may go look up Mignola’s pages and try and duplicate more of what I remember from them later, but for now here’s a quick work-up of our hero in (uncommon, for him) action.

The robot was done by hand, vectorized, and then colored by hand with Copic markers.  The jet wash and dust (and shitty backdrop) were done digitally in good ol’ Photoshop.