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."

Masters Of The Universe Origin Art Cards Part 3!

Continuing with my Origin Project I introduce you to the next 2 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 1st of the set to include mostly "non-Whitman Origin Comic characters," this time with influence from various sources such as the original card 8-back, & prototypes!

TALLSTAR: She is based on the original 80's prototype figure mixed with my own ideas about the character, I used Nicole Chilelli from SyFy's "Face-Off" as inspiration for the character, & it kind of gives her a circus meets goth vibe... & in this art fanon , she is the last her kind! 

  
ZODAC: One of my favorite MOTU characters, based on his appearance from the 8-backs & "The Power Of Point Dread" record book, where he appeared to have white monster feet...I always loved that coloration as a kid & it was my 1st impression of a character that I very much wanted, the mighty Zodac!

VARIABLE CASTASPELLA

Hi! Those of you who are familar with my art here on the Blog or past & present MOTU sites know that much like Mattel (& Hasbro), I love to do variant color versions of my works. So I thought I would go all 4H "7th Kingdom" on my recent CASTASPELLA re-design, & came up with 5 new (+1 the original) different color varients! Here's a little info on each of the color concepts...

~Filmation Version:

Just like the title implies, the "Filmation version" is based on the blue & yellow scheme Filmation used to portray the "Barbarella" look-a-like sorceress in the original POP animated series. This scheme looks very 1990's X-Men to me (blue/yellow)... not that there is anything wrong with that! ^_- So far over on the Org this seems to be the most popular color design, probably due to the nostalgia factor, or the complimentary colors. This was the 2nd most obvious recolor for me, & the 1st one executed after the original in the series. Makes good sense seeing that the original toy & Filmation version's colors differed so greatly, that this scheme would make a perfect repaint. With it's seeming popularity over the other varient colors, it makes me wonder how this version would have placed if THIS was my "original entry" in the contest? ...hmmm. ^_-

***of note***: this is the first retooled design as I changed the side mid-drift openings to become solid with the leotard.

~Julianne Hough version (aka Dance version):

This scheme was my 2nd conception for the color variation as my original Castaspella was based on DWTS fan-favorite (and Chris favorite) Julianne Hough as an inspiration & model! I had always planned on doing this recolor in some shape or form since Julianne so strongly influenced the original. Not only for her stunning looks, but also the 2-time DWTS champ's "Cha Cha Cha" dress for Season 5 as a basis for the outfit's design. I have plenty of references for the dancing angel in photographs & have been anxious to do an interpretation of her in my art (and will be...). For furthur realism & practice on capturing her beauty for myself, I used her features, body, & costuming to give a certain realism to my Casta's redesign... she's is the hottest girl on the planet for me in 2007, so it only seemed natural to gravitate towards her for some real-life inspiration! One of my reference pictures for the art is shown below...

***of note***this was the 1st version retooled to have the legs changed to match Julianne's bare legs & feature no leggings that the original had. In the end it's prolly my favorite version!

~Christmas Special version:

The Filmation "He-Man & She-Ra X-mas Special" will always be one of the most memorable for me in the 2 series history. It featured alot of the new toys & also was a stand-alone hit that for me... seemed to really end the series. Alot of these versions I come up with when my mind wonders at work... so thinking of possible varients for the series, coupled with the X-mas Season vastly approaching, & most importantly, the X-mas special, I came up with this "Holiday Flavored" coloration that is kind of like when Prince Adam is in the Santa outfit complete with white hair. She is exactly the same as the "Filmation version" with different colors & the 3rd of the series, 4th overall.

~Horde Gothic version:

This was another version I came up with while daydreaming at work... what if Castaspella was Evil? Had gone to The Horde? Or became a Zombie? Or just decided to get her "Goth" on. LOL! I figured the design around her center jewel would easily transcribe to a faux Horde symbol given the right colors, the leotard could become a corset, & I could modify her leggings to become a hot set of tight red pants that a girl had on at our X-mas party @ work, only this time make them "blood red'... I also though the white skin & red eyes would furthur the effect of being Gothic/Evil/Vampyric...& I think it was pretty successful... Hordak inspired colors... friends watching me work on this model seemed to lean towards it, & overall I thought the "dark take" might end up being the most popular of the recolors on the Boards... but that "Filmation" version seems to be the reigning Queen!

~Magician version:

My brother Brian gave me this idea while watching me create the "Horde Gothic" version. He had mentioned that he would have liked the Horde version to have leggings, like a Magician's Assistant... this made sense to me when I thought about it the next day. The Horde version was going to be the last in the series, but I also wanted an even number as that would better replacate the (many versions) I was trying to imply, like would be seen in the 200X Devilman Fewture figures or with the aforementioned 4H "7th Kingdom" having many varients.
I came up with a "Zatanna" (the female magician from Batman) inspired version based on the 1990's animated series. Different enough from the Horde version, & this one still featured the black hair, but no leggings/pants & (a 1st) no shoulder straps. In the end I think it has a nice modern Magician/Assistant or Superheroine feel, & one of the most original in the series... Although, I may take a stab at this version again someday, as when I showed the finished design to Brian who had conceived it in the 1st place, he said "that's not what I meant at all." ...LOL!

~Original Toy version:

I talked in great detail about the influences & why I chose my design based on the toy version of Castapella for this contest in the previous blog entry. Here is the original drawing, in it's original toy-inspired colors, & I am happy to say, still remains one of the most popular of the seires!! Hope you enjoyed this little insight into my creative process, & as always there will be more to come... ^_-

CASTASPELLA (Character Design)

BLACK FRIDAY... Black Magic Friday? White Magic Friday? Anyway you look at it today is Black Friday & I decided to cook something MAGICAL up for my pal Predabot's hosted "MOTU redesign challange #78" over on HE-MAN.ORG since he was nice enough to ask me to participate. Although the charcter on the classic Filmation POP series had an odd vocal styling, I always thought both the animation & toy design had a nice & pretty feel to it.. Almost like something from the cult-camp classic "Barbarella." My design is heavily based on the actual 80's toy. I used 2 models for it, most notibably my all-star favorite celebrity dancer Julianne Hough, as she just might be the hottest chick on the planet for me right now, with her adorable face & atheletic build, ^_- as well as a nude model for some of the upper torso posing. To imitate the "circle structure" on her back I devised a more anime-inspired hexagram, to immitate the look of the clunky toy version to something more soft & delicate ...& fashioned her costume to be something more like a dancer would wear.. So her face, hair-style, revealing dress-style, & legs are all based on Julianne Hough from DWTS. But her upper body build is based on the other model. I am hoping to do well in this contest & I appreciated the opportunity. Bio for Castaspella is in the "stylized hypnotic" card format I did the illustration in. All in all I think I acheived a fresh look for the mage, made her a bit younger in my take, & still captured a retro element so she would fit into the MOTU/POP universe. Feedback is always welcomed.

photobucket link:
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/teelamotu/?action=view&current=Castaspellacharadesign72.jpg

***UPDATE***: My entry placed 1st in her division & 3rd in the Finals! Thanks Orgers!!

ALSO... He-Man.Org member "HORDAKS HENCHMAN" plans on doing a custom figure of my CASTASPELLA design!! ^_^ (He was also the one who created that cool CATRA custom off my design shown here on the blog), I will keep the site updated with pics & info as this custom figure progresses!!

CATRA concept

In January 2006, one of the most participated art contests of all time at He-man.Org was the CATRA (from POP) redesign thread. The goal was to update CATRA for the 200X line and see who had the best design which was voted on by fans/forum members. Seeing the calibur of artists that entered this contest, even being a newbie at the time, I could not resist! Redesigning the top SHE-RA villian was a great challenge! The end result was 20 amazing artist entries!!! I enetred the challenge on January 17th & placed in the top 5 with a 3 part voting system on this entry which is highly based on the classic 80's toy (rather than the cartoon) with my own personal touch.


The image proved more popular than I thought!!! I had recieved a request from expert fan-customizer "Hordaks Henchman" to create a figure based on my design! In order give a fellow artist a hand, I designed a "Character design sheet" for Catra featuring her front & back designs & help feature my "true vision" of the character... I made some minor tweeks here & there, and came up with this character sheet featured here:

The final toy has been customized by Hordak's Henchmen, here's a picture!!



The design has been commented on positively many times by fans and will even be featured in the current 2006 remake comic of "Secret Of The Sword!!!"