CITY STRIKE SCARLETT Avy!!

My good friend Gyre-Viper hooked me up with the unbelievably rare & highly sought after unproduced "City Strike Scarlett" figure from the revised GI Joe: Pursuit Of Cobra line. I just happen to love this figure so much that I needed to make a cool new avatar for the Hiss Tank forums. The imagery went over so well that a appreciation thread for my art was started here.
This was a fun project that like most of my works I keep at it until I'm satisfied, this particular image offered the challenge of having a pretty girl behind a mask (as that is the trademark of the figure) & I used images of ROC Scarlett actress Rachel Nichols, some emo-girl artists, & mostly the figure itself for reference. I can't thank Gyre enough for what he did for me here as he really gave me one of my favorite GI Joe figures I own of all time, & she will remain a cherished piece in my collection forever...

PILOT SCARLETT avatar remake

Pilot Scarlett avatar version 2.0:


Here is an updated version of my G.I.*Joe Scarlett avatar. It reflects Hasbro's Modern Era wave 11 '08 version of the character. Which is a tribute to "Glenda", an international repaint that was done in Argentina by the Plastirama toy company. I really like this version of Scarlett as she is loaded with gear, has a nice new head sculpt with the more formal pinned-up hair-du, & has a great color scheme.
One of my favorites in the '08 line-up!!

TOP 10 Favorites in 2008 (in no particular order):

1. J-ROCK: My favorite bands have been invading the US with a banner year in music!! (I saw a LOAD of awesome J-Rock bands LIVE this year, including Japan Nite '08 (Scandal/The Emeralds/Petty Booka/Ketchup Mania/Detroit7/The Beaches) in NY, Noodles/The Pillows (3rd time!) in NY, TM Revolution in NY, Renter En Soi in NJ, Jam Project in MD, DaizyStripper/Marbell/The Underneath in MD, Versailles in NY, & Dir En Grey in NY... best year for J-ROCK in the US ever!!
2. G.I.*Joe (Modern Era): '08 continued to impress with there best line since the 80's!!
3. Masters Of The Universe Classics: the new collectors brand launched this year with new fully-posable amazing figures online.
4. Transformers Universe: Classics 2.0 brought us some of the best reinvisoned staple TF's yet!!
5. Cirque Du Soliel ~Kooza: one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen, go see Cirque, between the performance & live music, it is a really unique & special... & I was lucky enough to have seen this with my friend Katrin from Germany. ^_^
6. Grindhouse Films: Cult classics & drive-in fare continued in '08 (despite some major industry hits) with some of the best guilty pleasure DVD releases yet.
7. Star Wars the Clone Wars: has made Star Wars all new again with a great new animated series that is bringing new life to the franchise!!
8. Avatar The Last Airbender: Possibly the best animated series ever made ended triumphantly this year with it's 3rd book having what is the best finale I have ever seen!! It was nice to share this show with the fandom @ NYCC.
9. Classic Cartoons: More favorites from the 80's dropped on DVD this year like Galaxy Rangers, Saber Rider, & Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors!!
10. Batman~ The Dark Knight: might be the best super hero movie EVER.

Scarlett Avatar ~G.I.Joe 25th

Hi!
Those who know me best know that I am recently addicted to collecting the new line of 25th Anniversary G.I. Joes... The figures are awesome, I have been collecting them since their initial release this summer after being impressed with online previews earlier this year... These wonderful sculpts with more articulation really are a innovative way to get me back into a childhood favorite of mine (being right in there with Masters Of The Universe & Transformers)... So, after many unfruitful trips to retailers, (including some early mornings at TRU) back on Halloween day I was finally able to complete my collection of 5-packs & single figure waves 1-3 for both myself & brother Randy. With my renewed interest in the franchise (and an approved big-budget movie in 2009), I signed up on a couple Joe Boards (the HISSTANK rocks! ...I am aka Steel Brigade), & of course I have to make a custom avatar for people to recognize me with as I have posted often as of late. So after a couple months of being faceless I finally got crackin' & did this Scarlett avatar. ^_^ She has always been one of my favorites since childhood, (along with Duke, Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow) But I always like to draw the females, so I figured a good way to start with G.I. Joe in my art was an opening avatar with Scarlett!!



I have been thinking about how I would handle G.I. Joe's art style if I was to direct the art for a new animation for it, & one of the things that always seemed in the forefront for my ideas was a subdued color pallett as exampled here. I like the look of the new "Spectacular Spider-Man" (cheeks74) animated series coming up as well as some of the similar art styles & colors found on some of the current Deviant Art galleries I glance at. I always picture the military to be drab & I think Joes should evoke that realism & you will see that in my future Joe works. There is a pretty good chance that G.I. Joe will be my new flavor for a card-format style series in 2008 (like D&D was for me for a while before the fall of the original DDM game in 2007)... As I am hot on the property again & the 25th figures would provide for a different (n0n-sword & sorcerey/fanatsy) element among what is prodominatly my fantasy-inspired work. Basically the best of both worlds with something else I love sounds like a good way to approach the art I create & for this blog in 2008!!

Scarlett's hair & face loosely based on Julianne Hough for modeling...