2011 Another Year Of JAFARISTEW !! (Concept Zarana sketch)!!

We are starting our 5TH year here at JafariStew's artblog... & still going strong!! Hopefully we will have some fun surprises planned for the year with plenty of new art, as I am hoping to bring more hand drawn GI Joe & MOTU art as well as art based on Drive-In Movies & Classic Cartoons... as well as more graphic design w/CD & DVD covers...

FIRST UP, this is a FAST sketch based on a Concept GI Joe Dreadnok "Zarana" figure that was shown to me & other guests @ JoeCon 2010 on Hasbro's Tour, very few got to see the figure in person, so I did this rough sketch for HISSTANK to show this somewhat "Appleseed" inspired interpretation! The figure was beautiful & this sketch can only give a faint idea of the actual unreleased product!

CUSTOM DVD COVERS PART 5 "UNHOLY ROLLERS" PC131

Another one of my favorites in film is the drive-in era grindhouse films of the 1960's-19'80s. So naturally I would want to try my hand at some custom covers under my own header of "Paracinema 131." Here I have designed a cover for one of my fave commercially unreleased genre films of the 70's "Unholy Rollers" (a roller derby exploitation bash) starring the beloved b-queen & a personal favorite of mine... Claudia Jennings.

I'm using existing images & picking out text, color, design elements, etc. to show my graphic design skills... This was created for my DVD drive-in movies series.

CUSTOM DVD covers (layout design) PART 4

One of the last (& best) overseas great ventures made by the Japanese animation studio powerhouse TMS... was "CYBERSIX." Intended for the international market, this series has a cult following worldwide. How this ever got made as a Saturday morning cartoon is beyond me, as the comic dealt with many "adult" subject matters, but none the less an amazing animated series was born, & I designed (imho) one of my best custom covers yet for it!!
I'm using existing images & picking out text, color, design elements, etc. to show my graphic design skills... This was created for my DVD animation complete collection series.

CUSTOM DVD covers (layout design) PART 3

Here is some more fun work that I have done for my custom DVD covers... these have met with rave reviews from my friends, & next up is just perfect for the Halloween season, a favorite of mine from the late 90's... "Extreme Ghostbusters!!"

I'm using existing images & picking out text, color, design elements, etc. to show my graphic design skills... This is the latest example created for my DVD animation complete collection series.

CUSTOM DVD covers (layout design) PART 2

Earlier this year I showed you my wip for the Bionic 6 custom cover.
Well I'm proud to say that cover is done, along with several other custom dvd covers.
I'm using existing images & picking out text, color, design elements, etc. to show my graphic design skills... Here's some more examples done for DVD animation complete collections.

Both of these covers are some of my most fun & ambitious to date, with the Bionic Six using imagery that I purchased, cleaned, & edited.


The Gobots cover was a labor of love, as all of the Gobots featured on the front cover are figures that my brothers & I actually owned as children. ^_^

DELORA: MOTU Redesign Challenge #96

This art was created for the near monthly MOTU Fan-Challenges on He-Man.Org.
This time, it's based on Stratos' wife Delora. She has 2 very distinct looks in the comics & cartoon, one is a Female Bird Warrior (much like Stratos minus the fur), & the other is of a Village Commoner.

This particular challenge had a great fan turn-out & was one that I have been waiting for!!

It's funny... I had Delora planned for some time in my head (as she has been rumored to be an upcoming challenge), & at 1st she was going to be more of a faux-plant person, but then I decided on the Native American/Villager ala mini-comic take. I messed around with a green or red outfit for a while, but settled on the red of the mini-comics...
I figure the MOTU character "Hawk" was the female-bird warrior in 200X, so in my Universe, I wanted Delora to be something different. More of a native who used to fight with the Avions, using their feathers in their gear as trophies until her people were mostly obliterated by the Great Unrest & Stratos & her fell in love, despite their previous differences, etc. etc... Her weapons are based on real world Camanche style stuff, & the rest is a bit mini-comic, unintentional 不知火 舞 design (after the colors dropped), & the girl from the bowling alley LOL!!

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...

HELIX Avy Bust (Alt. Colors)

A new background & remixed colors for a fresh Avy of my previous Helix work. The colors where inspired by an alternate color/character design sheet (for the ROC video game) featuring my favorite member of the ROC era... Helix!!

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.