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!!

F-YEAH SUZY HOTROD!!

I created this image as the first of my "Roller Derby" art series, & who better to start off with than New York Gotham Girl legend & USA Derby all-star "Suzy Hot Rod!!" I had the pleasure of meeting Suzy at the 2012 North East Derby Convention in May & presented her with the artwork (& the original sketch), which she loved & said she would have framed!  She is incredibly athletic & a very nice person! Had my pic taken with her & saw the best Derby of my life in an all-star black & white Derby battle!
My plan is to do a series that may include the categories of "Derby Legends, (My) Hometown Heroes, Hollywood Heroes, & Inspired By (Real Rollergirls)."
The character art itself was based on several images & videos of Suzy, & I gave her a type of Flash animation-style look.  For the background "card art," I wanted it to have a feel that I think evokes both the retrostylings of Roller Derby's roots, & the Modern-Day stylings of current Derby's punk-type aggressive art.  I hope you all like it as much as she did!

Custom SG Longarm & fun with Photoshop

My brother randy & I had the pleasure of attending Botcon 2012 in Dallas Texas this year & one of the more limited events we were able to attend was the customizing class.  After a completely grueling day of putting in screws, pushing pins, & breaking model trees we were able to complete a Classics mold Shattered Glass Longarm/(alt head ~Shockwave) figure.  I never knew how tedious & intense making a Transformer could be, but here you have my final transformable result after Randy's blood, my sweat, & a room full of tears. lol

And as a bonus, some fun in photoshop for a postcard for a friend @ work...lol

VD Centerpiece Photo Manips

These were 2 of 4 photo manipulations I did for the Creation Entertainment Vampire Diaries Convention in April 2012.  The 2 photos here feature Nina Dobrev in her "twins thru time" roles as Katherine & Elaina.  It was a joint project with some friends for presentation for a dinner contest @ the Convention which all together featured bleeding candles, these photos, & more to give the peiece an oldskool gothic vampy look.
Special thanks to Tamara, Kim, & Arlene.

SCOTT PILGRIM: GIRLFIGHT!! (T-Shirt Design Contest)

Thanks to Shout!Factory I discovered welovefine, a great online t-shirt shop that has regular contests featuring pop culture & all things loved by geeks, the young at heart, or artsy types!
I went their to check out their "JEM" contest, but saw that they were also hosting a contest for one of my favorite movies of all-time, "SCOTT PILGRIM!!" I have been meaning to do Scott Pilgrim art since I saw the incredible film in 2010 & this was the perfect opportunity to make that happen, so I jumped at the chance to enter the contest. My piece features Scott's 2 loves, Ramona Flowers & Knives Chau in a 2-D battle vs title screen. I think it will appeal to both men & women & I hope you drop me a comment & give a rating to everyone at the following link:
https://www.welovefine.com/vote.php?id_contest=10&m=gallery



Thanks!!

ALICE: UNDERGROUND

Having been recently inspired by all things "Alice", I decided to take a trip down a familiar path to Wonderland. A childhood favorite, I decided to research Alice Liddell & draw influences from the past & present to create my own version of Alice & her Wonderland. Everything from the original story book illustrations, photos of Alice Liddell, modern interpretations (Tim Burton's works & films like "Coraline," & "Labyrinth"), goth/neoclassical music, & of course American McGee's "Alice" video game series (Madness Returns) served as a template for this project. I also imagine Alice in a darker version of Wonderland where she must fight to survive the beauty & atrocities of the Underground, where one's own imagination serves as the power behind it rather than being lost to our modern conveniences as a way to escape the real world. Her dress is made up of tattered pieces from resewing it from constant shrinking & growing, her Vorpal Sword has seen many battles & she is bit beshoveled, unwound, & mad from the whole affair thus far. Her colors are based on the original inspirations for the story (some of the earliest works, rather than the latter & Disney standards), & the dress is more form fitting like a waitress outfit (with a Cheshire Cat face incorporated into the design) & modernized to keep with my own stylistic choices. If popular this may serve as the first in a new small visual series of art cards titled "Alice: Underground."

2012... new year...new ART!!

Here's my brand new Sparta avy!! Made off of the GIJoe Comic Con 2011 exclusive Mission Brazil 2 set! In 2012-2014 I'm hoping to unleash a boatload of new art for you all to enjoy! Plans include a  ROLLERGIRLS, an 80's RETRO ROBOT series (Esso Robot Racers, Commandrons, & Convertible Robots), MOTU (30th Anniversary+), GI Joe, & maybe even my in development "Grindhouse Favorites" various series, & long time Devilman series... it's gonna be a GREAT!!

ROLLER DERBY photography!!!

Those of you who know me best know about my addiction to Roller Derby over the past year, & being a visual person I try to take as many photos at the girl's bouts in Providence as a I possible can. It's no easy task as it's SO Action Packed!! But here is a couple samples... I'm so hardcore. lol

Ginger Bread Person

Had a project at work to do to create a team member as a Gingerbread person, I did that, but also wanted to create my own, so I made a Roller Derby gingerbread girl name "Ginger Snaps!!"

Portrait sketches

2 portrait sketches! The first one s of my good friend & fellow artist Tamara during a session we did in Fall 2011, the 2nd is from that 80's teenage chick from "WeLikIt" ice cream. =-)

Beast Raiders original sketch...

Original sketch for my Beast Raiders "BladeKiller" bio. I found the pose reminded me to much of 200X Skeletor, so I changed it for the final posted previously... It's a nice chance to see my line work & sketching ideas/process.

J-ROCK CD COVERS!!

A picture of the 2008-2010 series of J-Rock CD concert comps I designed for the 2011 J-Rock Party... Yousei Teikoku, Versailles/Dir En Grey, Jam Project/Rentrer En Soi, Vamps CD/DVD & X-Japan Covers/Best!!

BEAST RAIDER height guide

I simple height guide of my Beast Raiders profiles for reference. I use these to help flesh out the characters sizes in their universe for myself & fans. I hope to return to this project some day in the future as I have more characters, new bios. & new backgrounds I wish to express with the range. =-)

BEAST RAIDER volume 2!!

Continuing with more BEAT RAIDERS animation style art!!


The character "MYST" is loosely based (with an original name as the actual figure has none) on a figure from the"BEAST RAIDERS" repaint line "WITCHCRAFT KNIGHT." And I mean loosely based, as the figure that this design is created from appears to be budgeted with a lack of paint, so much so that she seems to not even be wearing anything below her waist!! lol ...so some artistic liberty was taken on this one. lol



In the 1st installment both "THUNDERTHOR" & "BLADEKILLER" were originally for the BEAST RAIDERS line, while TRI-TREMIS here first appeared in WIZARD'S RULE range & was later repackaged for "BEAST RAIDERS." He reminds me a bit of King Hiss from MOTU.

BEAST RAIDER volume 1!!

Hey gang!!
As a new project I decided to create art for the MOTU inspired/knock-off toy line BEAST RAIDER!!
"Savage Warrior-Beast Raider (Warriors Of The Savage)" was a range done by Chap Mei around 2003 & found in discount stores nation wide, hoping to capitalize on the popularity of fantasy lines like MOTU & Jurassic Park at the time. The line featured newly sculpted dinosaurs as steeds with 2 new MOTU inspired leads THUNDERTHOR (could be loosely based on Snake Armor HE-MAN) & BLADEKILLER (a blatant SKELETOR homage) as well as a combination of other figures from previous Chap Mei lines (like WIZARD'S RULE & SOLDIER FORCE) that would fit within the theme of this current line. The range was successful enough to be carried for several years & even was renamed (MYSTERY MEN) & recolored with added figures (WITCHCRAFT KNIGHT) in other countries. Personally I always found the line to be an interesting one with some good quality toys & ideas, as well as a good scale at a very affordable price. It was popular with some MOTU collectors at the time, & still has a following today with some of the items remaining quite collectible among Chap Mei/Fantasy/Dinosaur enthusiasts.
I have never seen any fan-art or fiction done for this line, so the stories in the bios are completely my own, based on how I would handle an animated series based on the property.
I envision it as a darker world than MOTU, with more adult themes.
If this project is a hit with my Fans, I'll continue to add more characters based on the BEAST RAIDERS figures as well as the other already associated lines.
*Special thanks to my brother Brain for his artistic input on the process & my brother Randy for the positive feedback.
Thanks & I hope you enjoy the art & story.

Custom CD Covers 2011

Some more fun with supplied art & graphic design. From around the web (& bought from Amazon) & into my custom series!

THAT FIGURES!!

My art is being featured today on the awesome action figure blog "THAT FIGURES"!!

Check it OUT!!

http://that-figures.blogspot.com/2011/04/fan-article-gi-joes-agent-helix-by.html

DIAL-TONE AVY!!

I like to update my GI Joe HissTank website Avy every few months, & I'm starting off the 2011 year with the controversial Reso/ROC charater "Dial Tone!!" Portrayed as the original DT's sister (Jack & Jill), she's crept into most modern GI Joe media... & even though she's not "new-new" as with most of my Joe avy's in toy form, I felt she was worth her due in my avy catalog as I liked this new female character for Joe a lot & used the figure (rather than the comic or animation models) for reference. Based on a friend (Tabitha), with & without glasses, & several digital camo apps, I went with a homemade camo app as I thought it looked the best & most like the figure. I also screen-lined her so it looks like she's doing her job as a tech & is on your viewing screen. I had a lot of fun with this one!

SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD Custom CD Cover

Easily one of my top 2 top favorite movies for 2010 (the other being "Kick-Ass") was the delightful Scott Pilgrim film... Seamlessly blending real life with comics & video games, it truly is a uniquely wonderful film all it's own. Part of the enjoyment comes from the buzz soundtrack, so here (with Amazon's digital help) I put together a nice little custom CD cover for a 3-cd set (legally) containing the OST, Score, & Video Game music ...nice!

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!!