NARCO

Let me just say upfront, I do not in any way endorse violence, racial stereotypes, or drug use. The following project is a series of commissioned apparel designs inspired by Mexican narco cinema. If you're offended or confused, just watch the previous link and you'll understand. They're B-movies that share a lot in common with American grindhouse, which means silly over the top with sex, drugs, and violence.

This was a very... difficult project to work on. I think at several points I even considered turning it down because I wasn't sure if it was ethical. "What the hell am I doing?! I'm drawing decapitated cartel victims..." was something that came out of my mouth at some point. And for the love of god, never google image search "drug cartel" with the safe search off. I've seen things I wish I could unsee while researching this project.

But for all the difficulty I faced getting started, I took it as a challenge. What started as morbid sketches that no sane person would ever want to buy or wear, slowly became fun comic book villain-esque character studies. So I put on my Tarantino hat, and just had fun with it. Best not to over think these things right? Bad guys kick ass!

KUTA

Trying to get back on the daily sketch bandwagon for a bit. I'm a big fan of Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, who is doing a contest on his site involving his new vinyl toy "Kuta". Seemed like a good excuse to study Sean's shaping a bit, and bang out a sketch in the process. Fun!

RORSCHACH

I read that there's no giant squid in the movie, but hopefully we'll get to see Rorschach eat Nightowl's beans and sugar cubes (honestly one of my favorite scenes in Watchmen). The only other person I know who eats out of cans is Jack. I remember him eating room temperature Beef-a-roni in a can on several occasions in college, but I was never able to convince him of how fucked up it is...

Sorry about the lack of posts this week kids. Gotta pay them bills.

SKETCH#024

So I meant to add Lockheed to the Shadowcat sketch the other day. Started looking up some info on the most inexplicable X-men cast member ever and was blown away at the level of back story that exists. Turns out he's super intelligent but just can't speak English, he's a spy from another planet, he was exiled to Earth, and he's very selective of Kitty's relationships with men (he approved of Colossus apparently). What?! And here I thought he was just a little purple bit of kid's marketing magic in 'Pryde of the X-men'. I think he even had the voice of slimer making little cutesy dragon noises. That guy got a lot of work back then huh?

X-man 7.5/8

SKETCH#022

X-man 7/8

SKETCH#017

OK, I have a super nerdy question, but I guarantee the purists among us have an opinion on this. The little metal pieces on Mr. Snikty Snikty Snarr's hands, do we like them? I always used to draw them as a kid, but I'm not sure I like them always. I assume they're intended to stay implanted in the skin so he doesn't cut himself every time the claws come out. But he doesn't wear them unless he's in uniform? Didn't he have them when he escaped from Weapon X? My comic book knowledge is rusty these days. Vote for implants, nothing or for a redesign of Wolvie's claw implants.

X-man 6/8

SKETCH#016

Finished the Nightcrawler sketch! The group shot is coming together. 3 character drawings to go, 7 finishes. 

SKETCH#012

X-Man 5/8

SKETCH#011

X-Man 4/8

SKETCH#009

I intended to redesign The Dazzler, but it started looking like someone else. Then I realized that Jubilee is just a rebranded Dazzler, playing the rebellious youth character that the demographic is supposed to relate to. Then I wondered how I've gone this long without realizing that, and then I realized I have better things to think about. This might require a redraw.

X-man 3/8

SKETCH#007

X-man 2/8

SKETCH#005

Art Spiegelman spoke at CU today, giving a lecture on the history of comic books. It was a great talk, and great fun listening to one of the names amongst names give his unique perspective on comics. He acknowledged that he's considered the father of the graphic novel, but modestly added that there's a DNA test pending. Hilarious. My sketch today is a quick study of Spiegelman's characters from the Pulitzer winning MAUS.

SKETCH#004

BAMF!

SKETCH#001

Iron Man by request of Patrick Combs