Masters Of The Universe Origins Part 10!!

The 4 "All-Girl" follow-up to my previous "She-Ra" sneak peak!

BLACK ALICE
A character from DC Comics & specifically tied to this project via the modern DC VS MOTU series. Black Alice's look reminds me so much of the type of work I did in college for character designs, that I just had to include her, she's like a throwback to myself. lol
In this story, Black Alice was practicing rituals to contact inter-dimensional demons through portal phenomenon and was eventually graced (or cursed), with the Demon King of Eternia Skeletor. Black Alice serves as Skeletor's liaison, votary, informant, and as a magical vessel for him to cross through space and time to Earth as either a conquest or an escape!
  
DRAGON QUEEN (as a young girl):
Based on the lead villianess from the Galoob line "Golden Girl and the Guardians Of The Gemstone" which was another (and probably the best known/successful) She-Ra-inspired-competing-line of the 80's. I picture most of these characters to be somewhat younger than their POP contemporaries. Here as a child, the Dragon Queen (once the Dragon Princess) was forced into her role when Skeletor invaded Storm Isle, and killed her parents (the Dragon King/Queen) and many of her people. This act was made to capture, steal, and later control the Dragons that are native to her land. For protection for her people against Skeletor's future plans, the now child Dragon Queen formed an uneasy alliance with the Snake Men Clan's Priest "Kobra Khan." Her assigned guardian is the "Dragon Lord" & her horse is named "Shadow."

MERMISTA/MERMAID:
Based on the 1986 MOTU Annual that shows He-Man talking to a Mermaid, this character can also can fulfill the role of "Mermista." I added a couple of my own minor touches to this design to make her look a little less human. Although usually mistrustful of land dwellers, in this story the Mermaid aids He-Man & She-Ra's traveling alliance with information of the Horde's route thru the sea on giant ships to bring in their forces over from the far off Fright Zone to Monarch, her advanced warning ready's the Heroic Forces for impending danger.
  
PEBBLASS:
Pebblass was added as a guilty pleasure to this series, her name given to her by TG is just too much fun. lol Pebblass represents one of the 5 members of the Rock People who meteored to Eternia in search of peace from a galactic war that tore apart her home world. Fun & flirty, Pebblass & her fellow Rock People have joined He-Man & the Heroic Warriors, to assist their new welcoming allies in hopes of peace from the on coming Horde war.

fun personal facts:
I scored a Dragon Queen figure MIB a couple years back for $20 on ebay, not to shabby...lol
The recent Classics figure of Mermista helped propel her to be finished sooner than later in the art lineup. She is also the only art card that does not have a featured weapon.
Pebblass' gun is based on "Solitaire's" sword from the classic "Rock Lords" line.
Black Alice is a character I wish they would make an action figure of in one of the many DC lines. ;-)

Masters Of The Universe Origins Art Cards Part 9! (sneak peak!)

After a far too long a hiatus...  "Masters Of The Universe Origins Art Cards" are back!!  Here is a sneak peak of the first of 5 new additions featuring none other than 2013 fan poll vote winner She-Ra!  Based on 1 of her many Filmation concept designs, in "my" story line for this interpretation, She-Ra is not related to He-Man, & is the daughter of Queen Hera. The Princess has flown in with her rebel Valkyries from the far off Crystal Castle to Monarch to stop a new foreign invader with a formidable army named General Hordak. Beautiful, smart, & powerful, she carries the sword of protection which was gifted to her by the Sorceress.
2015 is the 30th year anniversary of She-Ra, & I can't think of a better way to celebrate the Princess of Power for me than with some new art for her!

Some designer notes: The spear is based on one of Chap Mei's "Savage Warrior: Beast Raider" weapons. Her color scheme is influenced by both She-Ra and Andromeda of "Wrath Of The Titans."

RAM-MAN recolor for He-Man.Org Redesign Challenge #106

Put a fresh set of classic colors down (& expanded version of the original backer) on my recent Ram-Man design for He-man.Org's Ram-Man redesign challenge. =)

I am the featured artist for "Fan Art Of The Week" on He-Man.Org again XD!!

My most recent work is featured starting 6/19/13 on He-Man.Org!  This time my new "Worruck" from my MOTU Origins Art Card series is the headliner!
See the article here:
http://www.he-man.org/news_article.php?id=3417

Masters Of The Universe Origins Art Cards Part 7!

RAM-MAN: Based on his concept design shown in Mattel's "The Art Of MOTU" (sold at SDCC a couple years back), & colored like the 8-Back card art! In this story he is more like the guardian at the gates of Monarch City, large & imposing!  He is bound by duty but wishes for more.  It's interesting to see Ram-Man with a slightly more executioner look (despite the bright colors) he has always been a force to be reckoned with so now imagine him without the "softer" side... he might be one of the most formidable of the heroic warriors!

CHOPPER (aka JITSU): Inspired by the Jitsu prototype from the 80's (which had monster feet, golden teeth & Tri-Klops' sword), & loosely based on the UK comic colors for his upper torso! In this story Jitsu is cursed for wearing the "dark glove," a tainted object, and it has made him filled with rage as he can no longer remove it, and he is getting more monstrous from it's unholy powers as time goes on. He carries the emerald sword, which some day Tri-Klops will best him for.  He just wants his madness to end and wishes he never laid eyes on the glove that has now imprisoned his mind as he grows weary of his wretched existence!

HEROINE: This character was seen as a possible early version for Teela in Tomart's guide showing MOTU concepts years ago. She was riding a unicorn (who in this tale is named "Charger" after Teela's unicorn in the mini comics). Teela looks up to Heroine as a role model, she is a traveling Paladin from Monarch who goes from city to village all over Eternia with her guard to try and help the downtrodden. She is very good at what she does and serves as a peacekeeper and figurehead for Monarch, bringing hope & kindness... and beloved by all. When Heroine meets her fate she will pass along Charger to Teela who she views as a younger sister.  This color palette was inspired a bit by the look on a recent take of Snow White...

100th POST!! Masters Of The Universe Origin Art Cards Part 5

2013 and another year of Jafaristew!!
Kicking it off with my MOTU Origin Art Card Series... with 2 more entries!!

GORGONE: When I 1st decided to make this into a full series, Gorgone was the 1st character I added outside of the Whitman Origin, as she is a wonderful titan created in the Brazilian comics that I could not resist!She looks like Medusa but is made of rock & is a giant, hence the comparison to the shadow-man figure on the bottom.  She carries a pterodactyl wing as her weapon (colored purple like the creatures in MOTU 200X) which the design was borrowed from the "Stone Age Dinosaurs" line by Chap-Mei. I had her break the frame so she seemed larger than life!

 





AVATAR (aka STRATOS): Mostly Alfredo Alcala influenced, I also included a tribute to the 80's rare blue-beard variant, as well as my own ideas about the character. I made him a bit more Bird-like with the claws & talons.  He is one of Skeletor's minions in this story, following some of the earliest published works about the character! Stratos never came with a weapon back in the day (or even today) although he was often pictured in promotional work for the line carrying the He-Man power sword, so I included a cool sword from one of those 80's generic weapons packs called "Dragons Knights & Daggers" I had as a kid. "Avatar" was noted to be an early name for Stratos along with "Wing-Man."

Masters Of The Universe Origin Art Cards Part 4!

Continuing with my Origin Project I introduce you to the next 3 in the series!  The project started off with the unpublished Whitman Origin characters as the basis, & before I knew it, I expanded the universe "art card idea" to include 50 characters total for the 30th Anniversary of Masters Of The Universe! Next up is the 2nd of the set to include mostly "non-Whitman Origin Comic characters," this time with influence from various sources such as the original minicomics!

TRI-KLOPS: based on his appearance in the Mark Texeira run, most importantly "The Terror Of Tri-Klops!!" This was always my favorite appearance of Tri-Klops as the unbeatable bounty-hunter, I dedicate this one to my brother Randy!

X-MAN (aka TRAP-JAW): based on his appearance in the Mark Texeira comic "The Menace Of Trap-Jaw!!" I have always loved this comic & I made sure to power X-Man (one of Trap-Jaw's original names) up with the "Warrior Ring!" 

 DEMON(S): These appear in the unpublished Whitman Origin Comic as Skeletor's main devoted lackey's, & they also make appearances (with a slightly different look) in the Mark Texeira mini-comic version of "The Power Of Point Dread" as Skeletor's army!

MOTU: HEROIC WARRIORS 2001 Commemorative Art!! (2002-2012)

Hello friends! It's my birthday! To help celebrate let's post some never before seen classic Jafaristew art! While digging through my archives I came across this image that I had created sometime in 2002 based on the "Heroic Warriors," that we're featured in Mattel's 2001 MOTU Commemorative Series of re-made action figures. It's fun to think that I created this illustration so long ago but am still pleased with it! I had obviously planned to do this image as a colored piece (as one of my very 1st computer rendered colors), but the illustration remained uncolored with just inks in an old drawing pad until now! I scanned my art & did some very minor tweeks with the line work here & there to get it more up to my standards, then colored it with my current stye, but thought about what color choices I would have made 10 years ago (as I still remember what I had planned for this piece.) I hope you all like it, as it was a great trip down memory lane for me to see how much more "Anime" influenced I was 10 years ago than I am today, & hopefully long time fans notice the same growth in my art style that I have. So here's the Heroic Warriors...Battle Armor He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms, Stratos, Moss-Man, Buzz-Off, & Zodac (to even the ranks)!! Special thanks to my brother Brian for his input & thoughts, my brother Randy & friend Mike for their continued enthusiasm, & he-man.org forum member Predabot for posting that great scan of the MOTU logo years ago!

Masters Of The Universe Whitman Origin Tribute Part 2

Continuing with my Whitman Origin Project I introduce you to the next 3 in the series!   

MAN-AT-ARMS: With MAA I think I did overall the best drawing, it strongly represents the comic design but I felt the question what if you take the Orange armor color out & make him more tradition "Knight colors."  this proved to be a challenge, as the high mouth guard by the artist's design he could have ended up looking a lot like Extendar (the other Knight in MOTU), but with some careful warm & cool contrasting colors & mini-comic meets Classics & mild Star Wars influence, I think I managed to make a strong piece & a fresh take on the Heroic Master Of Weapons!

TEELA: With Teela, she has a very loose styling in the comic & her costuming changes 3 times in a few short pages, from a Skeletor-Disguise, to her more normal ceremonial-style dress, to the Snake Armor, so I wanted to come up with a way to merge all 3 of those costumes for her "standard look"... so I came up with this "Snake Hood" type of Cleric costuming where both her cloth & armor look like a Red Spitting Cobra, (that I believe her original toy armor is based on). The comic over all has a more "Holy" feel to it than a MOTU story normally does (with the Shephard's Son etc.) so I thought this was befitting. It's more of a "Sacred Snake Order of Maidens" type of vibe I think, lol, but I like it too... =-) She was the 3rd drawing in the series, but the one who's look I started developing in thumbnails first, as both her (& Anom) were not as distinct by the artist's pencil drawings.

ANOM:  I think this is the 1st fan-art done of this particularly obscure character!  With that being said it was a challenge because I had nothing but loose pencil drawings to use as reference to him .  I pictured him early on with darker skin & green/blue hair, but more in a "Kraven the Hunter" type colors... As his color process moved on, he developed colors more like a Circus Ringmaster, & the whip is influenced by Blade's in the 1987 MOTU movie.  For his gloves, I knew I did not want to make them either silver or gold, as that is to close to the pre-established Fisto/Jitsu characters, & this guy is kind of like them meets Beast-Man. Meaning I needed to stray as far away from that as I could, so that he could stand on his own.  After some back & forth on him between myself & my brother Brian, he may be the most impressive final product of the bunch!  

 If these ideas prove to be a popular concept, I will continue & do some more character cards based on the Whitman Origin, & include Shalda, Tez, Moon Spinner, the Shepard's Son, & the Demons.  I will also consider "expanding the universe" to include more characters...
Special thanks to my brother Brian for all of the feedback & advice, & to my brother Randy for his enthusiasm!

Masters Of The Universe Whitman Origin Tribute Part 1

To help celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Masters of the Universe, I decided to do some character cards, this time inspired by the unfinished Whitman comic from the 1980's, done by Adrian Gonzales. You can see more information as well as the art from this interesting piece of MOTU history here.
http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...-origin-comic!

I looked at this comic thread extensively, & then brought in my own ideas of what I thought this Whitman Origin of MOTU would look like if made into a more "adult-collector-style" animated series. The comic itself is a bit darker than most official MOTU stories, but still contains the classic good vs evil, fantasy meets sci-fi that the fans all love. I wanted to pay homage to what I think this comic could represent by making "character cards," hopefully to help bring to life what I think is an interesting take on the origin of Masters. The color choices were made by me, as I re-thought how these classic characters could be colored if presented to me for the 1st time (so rather than just using the pre-established schemes fans all know, I thought about the descriptions of the characters themselves as an influence... example: The original 80's SKELETOR buck is described as a reptile body). Thus why he is more green in color, & his face is more of a bone color than yellow for added realism.  Other accents came from various classic influences (mini-comics) as well as what I thought would look good with my already pre-chosen colors.  HE-MAN is more based on the classic mini-comics & artwork, the Classic figure, as well as a mild "Superman" styled coloration!  Both swords are taken straight from the comic with a more medieval type of coloring.
Hope you like them... as there is more to come!!

UNLOCKING THE VAULT # 3: MOTU Character Sketches '05 UNCUT!!

SY-KLONE (unfinished WIP):
based on the 200X figure

I thought I would help celebrate the new highly anticipated MOTU CLASSICS this week, by "unlocking" my MOTU 200X vault again to bring my friends here on the art blog some of my never-before-seen "Masters Of The Universe 200X" art work!!
This art dates back to 2004~2005...
Since these have never before been released from my archives to the fan community, all the dirt & flubs are there that I would normally clean, so you can really see my sketching process. Hopefully you will enjoy this installment as much as the my other 2, as they are all direct character sketches used as practice!

HE-MAN (Shield-Strike):
based on the newly-tooled armor 200X figure

MAN-E-FACES:
based on possibly my favorite figure of the 200X line...

TRI-KLOPS:
based heavily on the symmetrical look of the 200X figure

RATTLOR:
based on the 200X figure

TEELA (unfinished WIP - UNCUT):
based on the 200X figure with some anime influence, this figure is censored on the ORG by myself for non-descript nudity to meet the board standards, but the figure was a wip & never got to the "uniformed" stage so you can see the UNCUT drawing here!!

SKELETOR:
based on the 200X figure

***Be sure to CHECK out the BRAND NEW MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS line launched TODAY by MATTEL & pick up the 1st 2 figures, HE-MAN & BEAST-MAN...follow the link... MATTYCOLLECTOR