FRAZETTA Tribute WIP

I'm working on a tribute piece to a man that inspired me greatly, Frank Frazetta, & with his passing, the fantasy art realm will never be the same, as he is one of the best modern artists of all time... this is the 1st stage of my wip drawn in non-photo pencil (but darkened so you can see it here), hopefully my version of his "Princess" will show my gratitude for all of the enjoyment I have been given from his works over the years. This will give you a bit of insight into my drawing process as to how it all starts, as this was drawn from a Frazetta figurine I own & some of his paintings/drawings for inspiration, I hope to have this completed (with backing) in the near future.

BLOODY CUSTOM CD covers pt.2 - ZOMBIELAND & KICK ASS

2 films that I had an absolute blast watching at the movie theater we're ZOMBIELAND & KICK ASS, both of which had fantastic soundtracks, ZOMBIELAND luckily received an official original bgm CD, but never one for the assembled songs, & KICK ASS only had an overseas release & itunes release domestically (minus some of the great bgm). I meant to amend these musical missteps with making compilations for the "part 2" portion of my BLOODY CUSTOM CD covers series. Thanks again to debi-churu for the brushes!! I went gangbusters with these 2 covers, basically using some official art for inspiration, logo, & base covering, & then taking my own twist on the layout/extras to mimic some of the better advertising to create 2 more "bloody custom covers." The ZOMBIELAND selection is a "best of" the official & uncompiled music, while the KICK ASS compilation expands on the import collection with the music not included... graphic design, layout, text, etc. by me...

BLOODY CUSTOM CD cover pt.1 - KILL BILL

Working on some of my graphic design stuff I decided to make more custom covers for "best collections" of some of my favorite soundtracks. KILL BILL will always be 1 of my all-time favorite movies, as well as one of my all-time favorite soundtracks. Unfortunately between the 2 movies, the ost cd's never had all of the music complete from the films, because of this, I've made several compilations either compiling all of the music or for assorted "best of's." So far I have made 4 supplement cd's compiling the music for KILL BILL. The 1st was "The Best Of KILL BILL" followed by "Vol 1 ost ~ Unreleased Cuts", a "Complete Music Collection", & most recently the "KILL BILL Best Selection." (2010) Credit to deviant artists munky-designs & debi-churu for providing base art & brushes for this respectively, graphic design, layout, text, etc. by me...

BIONIC SIX DVD COVER wip sneak-peak!!

One of my custom DVD covers I am currently working on is for one of my favorite 80's animated series "Bionic Six." Using my own scans from the Bionic Six "Super Picture Book", I noticed that the one for Helen (aka Mother-1) was not done by the original character designer Mike Vosburg, but was instead done by the sp book illustrator Vince Perez. To make the character designs consistent w/Vosburg's work for my wip dvd cover I used his original head shots, & digitally edited Perez's work (along with my own digital cleanup & redraw) & got what you see below.
3 artists, 1 image...


*** The full wrap around will be revealed later this year!!

SNAKE EYES (Rescue Mission) WIP

Welcome to JafariStew's Art Blog in 2010!!

I am celebrating my 4TH year with this blog!! >_<
And want to thank all the friends & fans who regularly visit, it's what makes the blog a great experience for me & I appreciate your feedback!!

...2010 promises to be another exciting expression of my art as I have many new (& classic) things planned. I'll be doing more fan-favorites like MOTU & GI Joe, but also have some other stuff planned like character designs for some of my favorite oldskool drive-in style movies. We'll also be taking a look into my artistic past, present, & future with some new art installments I hope we will all enjoy. I plan a big year & will always have something new again each month in 2010.

<---- Starting off we have a rough sketch of the Target exclusive "Rescue Mission Snake Eyes", drawn in late 2010, this was one of my 1st character models made from the last quarter figures released to warm up my skills for an upcoming wallpaper I have planned for GI Joe good guys. Here you can see the general looseness of my sketching process as will as how I start my work (with blue non-photo line art) as I usually go through a couple of these roughs before making a final. This would be a "stage 1" drawing as it's a static warm-up, & most likely not an end pose for the final.

I look forward to the year ahead & hope you are too...

'09 G.I.*Joe Figure Photography!!

As an active member & mod for HISSTANK.COM, I love to do in-depth reviews of current GI Joe product. And with reviews comes GI Joe figure photography, so here is some of my favorite GI Joe (& friends) merch I did shots of in 2009!! My brother Randy got a new light Box for figure photography for 2010, so I'll be back in full force w/reviews & figure pics over @ HISS TANK, & am looking forward to 2010!!

NA EVIL Man-At-Amrs "Rusty Copper" homage custom figure

Much to my surprise & delight, He-Man.Org member "Faceless One" made this custom from a MOTU 200X Zodak into my character design of the New Adventures inspired "Evil Man-At-Arms!!"

In his own words: "The first custom I made from a fanart, in this case Evil Man-At-Arms. I chose the rusty version, as it was in my opinion the best one. The base figure was a 200x Zodak."



I think he did an amazing job & I love seeing my character designs inspire other artists.
So a big thanks to "Faceless One" for alerting me to his custom & letting me post the images here!!

My Original Recolored Art:
NA MAN-AT-ARMS ~Rusty version:
The color scheme for this version is influenced by the Fewture Devilman alternate color fig of "ZANN" made years ago & a rusty tin-man...



Original custom thread link: Evil Man-At-Arms (JafariStew design)

CUSTOM DVD covers (layout design)

Something I enjoy doing is making custom covers for DVDs & CDs. I've shown CD design here on the blog in the past, but here's an example of my DVD work. Using existing images & picking out text, color, design elements, etc. to show my graphic design skills...
Here's some examples done for DVD animation complete collections.


GI Joe: Sigma 6 cover art by Jon Sommariva colors by Jamie Boylan, back images trademark of Gonzo/Hasbro


Galtar images trademark of Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network


Sky Commanders image trademark of Hanna-Barbera/Kenner-Hasbro

*None of these are official & are only done from a design/packaging standpoint, as the titles are not current or upcoming releases & are done for my own personal collective. None of these images are to be duplicated or distributed.

HELIX Avy Bust

It's no secret that my favorite figure from the new GI Joe ROC line is "Agent HELIX. " Wonderfully stylized, beautifully sculpted, & fully loaded, Helix is one of Hasbro's most dynamic & best ROC offerings of 2009... A debatable "Mary Sue", she was created for the EA ROC video game & amped up n the IDW comic from a martial arts/gymnast to an mysteriously autistic super soldier... When images popped up of the EMO-JOE I knew she was going to have a special place for me, & it seems many others, with her starting rep, unique flare, & good looks, she has truly made a name for herself early on among fandom. Either way I love her & wanted her as my new avatar when I was promoted to mod status (thank you) on the HISS TANK website (best GI Joe site on the web imho) . "You Don't pick the Hiss Tank, the Hiss Tank picks you!!" ...

So here is my "rock star" Helix head-shot in a FISH-EYE style view.

ROC Scarlett (covert ops) avatar

Go see GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA in theaters today!! ^_^

HUNT-ARA!!

Created for the MOTU Redesign Challenge # 90 is my version of the Filmation "Princess Of Power" character "Hunt-Ara." Originally modeled after Grace Jones (of Conan the Destroyer fame) Hunt-Ara shows up in a 1st season latter episode of "She-Ra'. With an unusual voice & purple skin (originally supposed to be "African" according to the creators notes), Hunt-Ara is a outlander hero hired by Hordak to capture She-Ra after his minions have failed so many times. Hunt-Ara does not know of the evil Horde as she is from a far off planet, & agrees after seeing false images of She-Ra doing evil deeds.
My version of Hunt-Ara is more Asian in nature & is inpsired by a PV from the visual kei band "D'espairs Ray." She was also influenced by Supergirl's last appearance in the TV show "Smallville", & then tweeked with more Hunt-Ara like colors, & MOTU-style garb.
Here she is complete w/a bio based on the POP animated episode "Huntara", I hope you like her!!

SCARLETT (QUARREL) Avatar remake

This is my 4th remake of my infamous "Scarlett" avatar that I use on the GI Joe boards!! I keep updating the avatar's original image to reflect repaints/retools of Scarlett that are currently available in the modern GI Joe line. This time I not only had to change the uniform color, but also make new hair for her, & decided to also update her mouth to be an open smile. This current incarnation is actually based on an unreleased prototype that I got my hands on from a Ebay seller in China. Not knowing what her release status is, I just had to get her when she went up fpr auction!! Most likely this figure will show up as a '09 Joe-con exclusive. The colors are wicked & makes the "Pilot Scarlett" upgrade a little more real-world military... This deco homage represents her in the UK "Action Force" colors that were placed on her original '82 figure back in the 80's... she also had new blond hair, + a new personality/identity, & was given the codename "Quarrel."
I was one of the 1st to receive this figure in the US, so I also decided to take some photos of her, as well as write a full online review of the figure (for those interested)... It is available on the HISS Tank's website review section located here:
"QUARREL~SCARLETT in hand pics + review"
It's cool for me to have an actual "test-Shot" of one of my favorites, & if for any reason this figure does not get a domestic release, she could quickly become one of the highlights of my collection.
*The photos shown above & below are some of my shots of the actual figure from the review:

*BONUS* Brian's Cliff Jumper!!

I had the privilege of assisting my brother Brian with his submission for the new Shout Factory Transformers DVD set fan gallery!! Presenting Brian's Cliffjumper!!



Brian: Comp., Pencils, Inks, Scan, Colors, Line Work, Autobot Symbol
Chris: Digital Line Work, Autobot Symbol

Optimus Prime DVD gallery art!! (Updated 5.25.09)

*Filling in for the busy month of April is a brand new May entry...

This artwork of G1 Optimus Prime was created in May specifically for the new Shout Factory release of the classic Transformers GI DVD fanart gallery media section that is to be added as extra content to the discs.
Although it was a somewhat of a short notice opportunity, more designed for previously created artwork, I did my best to create a brand-new image, a simple, clean expression of a core character in the classic animation's representation.
I'm hoping it gets selected for the DVD, as it is a great way to have my art on officially licensed Transformers merchandise, as well as great exposure!!
I will update as it becomes official.

Special thanks to Shout Factory for the opportunity, & my brother(s) Randy (for pointing the submission op out) as both he & Brian gave me feedback on the piece.

GY-GOR: MOTU Redesign Challenge #87

This image was created for the Redesign Challenge #87 "GY-GOR" over on He-man.Org. Originally mentioned in Roger Sweet's book "Mastering The Universe," this was a character that was going to be made as a repaint/tool of a pre-existing gorilla mold from a earlier Mattel line "Big Jim." Alas he was never created before the line ended, but we did get a description of what the character would have looked like in the book by his creator Roger Sweet:
"I changed the ape's body color from black to bright yellow and gave him a dark olive-green face and chest. His face in contorted with white teeth snarling in an open mouth of blood red. I gave him a black body harness. From his shoulders I hung a dark maroon cape."
"When I showed "Gygor" to marketing Mark Ellis said that is ********** great!!!"
"Ted Mayer in my design group created a striking full-color illustration of the beast, with He-Man mounted on his back. Gygor was decked out with a panoply of harnesses and weapons."
This inspired a cool redesign contest to recreate the great ape & the result brought the Org artists together for some really superb entries. So this is my take, complete with bio & a new homemade additive female character for the fans...

GY-GOR single:

Being a HUGE King Kong fan, I couldn't resist drawing a big ape for Masters, so I took the elements from Sweet's description, & then added my own touches pulling from MOTU, Galaxy Fighters, DC, & of course real life... I made him more of a being than a steed... The Bio was developed & changed (originally they were going to live in the icey north) many times before I came up with a story I liked. My brother Randy also suggested his ideas to me, & I took the best of all we thought up & added more before I was thru.

FAW-SIL single:

I knew I wanted to make a cave-girl character for this challenge to add to the Gy-Gor bio. Hammer's 60-70's cave girl films were always a big influence on me... & I thought that type of a character would fit well here... So I came up with a female I was calling Ray-Chill, (in MOTU the simple "dash" names are standard), who was going to have some kind of ice magic. I decided that I would drop the magical ice princess motif & save that name for another character in the future... I took some more cues from the Hammer cave-girl films, & also a MOTU KO line called "The Forgotten Warriors of the Universe"... then after browsing some Fossil watches @ the mall I came up with the more prehistoric flavored name, & switched up my total cave motif to a tribal-girl with a bone warrior element. Incorporated her to fit in w/the new bio, & was inspired by some modern winter wear I saw on an emo-girl @ the DMV for the final touch... lol

NEW ADVENTURES OF TEELA Cast ~recolors part 2

Today's post features more repaint ideas I had for my "New Adventures of Teela" cast, & as you can see there is more extensive retooling/reworking of the art here (w/CHARI-VARI) than in most of my original recolored projects...

CHARI-VARI ~ Skeleton version:
This version, like the original design, was also inspired by the Cirque Du Soleil:Kooza show to be a true "undercover" disguise while in the Dark Hemisphere's skeletal legions. Based on the Cirque Du Soleil Kooza Skeleton King's army & a Ninja-girl type.

CHARI-VARI ~ Neko version:
AKA "Cat version"... When thinking of ways that I could retool the suit without busting up the original line work, I came up with a skin-tight subtractive outfit rather than an additive outfit. When I finished the piece, she reminded me of Bruce Timm's version of CAT WOMAN, & I decided to role with the fun, making the fur color the same as the original's hair color & adding a tail & ear motif.

CHARI-VARI ~ Orko version:
Another retool... This time, designed to look more like the character of "ORKO" from MOTU that she is meant to replace in my NA continuity with a new scarf & more "Trollan flavor" to her color scheme.
*This turned out to be the most popular version in a poll on He-Man.Org.

CHARI-VARI ~ Devil version:
An alternate idea from the "Neko" version with a new tail end, horns, & pitchfork... LOL!!

NA MAN-AT-ARMS ~Skeletor version:
My original idea for a recolor, as this is the character that my creation was meant to mimic/replace, thus replicating the colors of the original MOTU nemesis Skeletor!! And based on a mix of the MOTUC/200X version's color scheme.

NA MAN-AT-ARMS ~Grim Reaper version:
An amalgam of a grim reaper & other influences for this original color scheme...

NA TEELA ~ Sahari version:
Based on the oldskool anime "GENESIS SURVIVER GAIARTH" OVA series lead female character "Sahari" for this retooled color scheme...

NA TEELA ~ '90 version:
This color scheme is based on the original 1990 "New Adventures of He-man" animation's version of Teela...

Hope you enjoyed my alternnate colors & maybe saw a new favorite!!