YUU & ME

GO!GO!7188 Pulp ~Summer Grind Version...

I was lucky enough to attend GO!GO!7188's first solo USA tour & reworked my previous art for the "Pulp/Japan Nite" image to reflect Yuu's new outfit with a new background to reinterpret the orange & black theme of the new tour merchandise.
SHOWTIME: 8.7.07 7:30 Peelander Z/GO!GO!7188
Much to my surprise, GOGO is back 5 months after the Japan Nite tour, this time on their own terms! The day kicked-off with the unfortunate circumstance of my good friend Jeff's gf Jamie being sick & the 2 of them not being able to attend because of it. -_- Jeff's a good man & wanted to take care of her, & was kind enough to take us to the train in New Haven, & pick us up & let us crash at his lair anyway. ^_- With his great directions Mike & I hit the train, subway, & the Knitting factory 2 hours early, & I can tell you the line was already formed!! @_@ We landed about 10th in line. It was very structured & on time for any venue. Smart boys that we are... we went staright for the dealers table stage-left upon entering where new shirts & cd's were sold. Upon our entering I immediately spotted my #1 girl YUU (singer/guitarist) standing by the table, fanboy that I am I rushed over to her & asked if I could take my picture with her, she kindly agreed so I wrapped my arm around her waist & had Mike take a snap. followed by me taking one of him & her. It was a DREAM come true. @_@ One of my top 5 J-Rock bands of all time & I get a pic with my #1 mastergirl! Who could ask for more! We grabbed some new shirts & headed towards the front of the stage on YUU's future side. The show opened up with the performance-punk-act Peelander Z, which was very entertaining with their sentai-style outfits & crowd "on stage/off stage" participation. About 10 minutes later GOGO came out plugged in & we were off!! They ripped through a 15+ set of classics from their newest hit & as far back to their orignal debut material. There was a cute interaction with the band that sparred AKKO's new Kiss-egg collection from a NYC toyshop & YUU's love for Crispy Creme dounuts, plus some extended versions of songs played flawlessly. Faves of mine included their cover of "Cutie Honey" as well as the surf-rock anthem "Aa Seishun"... They did 1 encore that included the fan-fave "C7," & were very kind to their adoring NYC fans. When the show concluded MK & I hung out to see if we could score some autographs & you bet we did. I spotted AKKO immediately in the tix hall & tracked her down to sign my "Best Of GO!GO!" CD (she drew a dog & signed her name + bass)... I gave her my sharpie so she could sign more autopgraphs for "un-pened" fans & she thanked me & patted my shoulder. ^_- MK & I immediately tracked down YUU for an autograph in the art gallery/sales room & thanked her & she thanked us...by far one of the BEST show experiences I have ever had with some truly unique experiences, (like meeting the band!!), & I can't say enough positive things about one of my all-time favorite bands GO!GO!7188!!

YUU passionately singing with many complicated inflections in her voice...GO!GO!7188..the whole band...AKKO (bass)/YUU (guitar)/TURKEY (drums)

YUU rocking out!!
YUU's custom Fender Telecaster after the show!!
AKKO signs autographs for fans...w/my sharpie...
YUU & ME!!
Before the concert @ the Tokyo Alice Art Gallery...She is much smaller than I am but I am leaning way down for the picture ^_-...

*Wicked Pictures taken by Chris Para & Mike Kingman, special thanks to Jeff Katin*

Here's some footage of the awesome show from an AKKO fan on YouTube...
Manatsu no Dance Hall...

Band Introduction + Cutie Honey...

BOTCON 2007 ~Art Blog 1 Year Anniversary Post!

WELCOME! My art blog has been open for 1 year now & I thank you for visting, I have made some great friends along the way as well as some future prospects, & I am proud to say I hope we have many more years together as I will be consistant with updating this at LEAST once a month with more art & the stories behind the creations that I bring you! It's been wonderful having you here & I look forward to our future adventures together... To celebrate the anniversary of year 1, here is a portrait of the Classics Version of OPTIMUS PRIME!!!

Not since 1997 have me and my Peeps been to BOTCON, & I am proud to say that 2007 marked our 10 Year Anniversary & return to the greatest Transformer Con in history! Based in Hasbro's home town of Providence RI made it an easy 1 hour trip for us to go, & for a wonderful time at the local covention center & mall. I did this portrait of "Classics Version Optimus Prime" to celebrate one of my childhood heroes & a toyline that has been with me since it's conception in 1984 as well as the 1 year anniversary of this blog. My brothers (one known as the infamous PoweredConvoy) & I have been fans & collectors all these years but have only been able to venture out to one BotCon (in NY) before this summer (Con was held June 28-July 1) & it was nice to be at a smaller convention & close to home as opposed to the trek we are used to for Anime Cons & the like. We were there to meet the guests & pick up the wonderful exclusive collectables for the superb TF Classics line (& more) which offered some of the best figures to date in TF history. We had a chance to see the "Real Optimus Prime Truck" from the 2007 TF Movie in PERSON, this thing was unbelievably gorgeous, if you haven't seen the new TF Movie, ya should, it's great fun & a fresh take on the franchise & made the "Robots in Disguise" larger than life with action packed excitement!To say we met some truly wonderful people is an understatement. We had a chance to get an autograph from TF Legend voice actor Peter Cullen, who voiced both Optimus Prime in the original animated series as well as in the new TF 2007 Movie. The line was long with dedicated fans & even being there early we were lucky enough to be some of the last of that session to get Peter's graces. He was kind enough to sign 2 items. I had him sign my original CS Optimus Prime & the USA release of the 80's Dungeons & Dragons TV Series DVD Box... Much to my surprise Peter did a "Venger Voice-Over" for me and said "THERE IS NO ESCAPE mwahaha ha ha ha!!!" it was amazing...as I thanked him & walked away, he gave me an additional thrill & introduced me to the audience as I was leaving... "Christopher Para Ladies & Gentlemen..." so yeah, having one of the leading movie trailer voice-overs "sign you off" makes you feel like a celeb, what a moment!

Stan Bush was the other reason we had a very special time at BOTCON. Known best for his work on TFTM OST singing the songs "The Touch" & "Dare" is just some of the highlights of this amazing AOR rockers legendary discography.

He put on an amazing concert on the night of the Awards Party for Botcon's premium members, with Hasbro's stellar 80's cover band "The Cusaks." The show included brand new songs like the hot 2007 TF reworked anthem "Til All Are One", ripping melodic new songs "I'll Never Fall" & "I Got A Thing For You" from Stan's incredible 2007 release "In This Life" & the classic TF movie song "Dare", & closed with the new recording of "The Touch"(2007) also from his new release...much to the crowd's suprise, Stan later covered "The Summer of 69" & "Everybody's Working For The Weekend"... Stan was available for autographs all weekend & was very gracious to his guests, being a long time fan I had plenty for him to sign. ^_- We also got to sit & chat with Stan about his career on Sunday on his final panel, he answered all of our questions & was a real class act to his fandom.

REVIEW: STAN BUSH - In This Life
http://www.stanbush.com/
Want to listen to one of the best CD's of 2007, then checkout Stan Bush's official website & order a copy of "In This Life"... as a long-time fan with radio experience I can tell you it is his most electrifying release to date! All of the songs are well-crafted melodic hard rock with hooks that will have you playing the CD again & again. Songs like "I'll Never Fall" & "In This Life" are some of his best anthems to date & should be the new standard for arena rock. Original ventures like the Spanish-flavored ballad "Southern Rain" & the more commercial neo-classically inspired melody of "Waiting For You" are some of Stan's most inspired works yet. Each song sounds like it belongs with the rest of the album & flows from hard rock to power ballads effortlessly with a lyrical focus on the positive aspects of life & getting through those tough times. This album has some of the best moments in his discography like the exciting guitar riffs & solos, keyboard accents, & soaring vocals on songs like "This Moment" or 1 of Stan's new USA exclusive tracks, the sensational TF anthem "Til All Are One", which is a absolute crunching theme & one of my all-time favorite songs in his career. The CD also includes a brand new 2007 recording of Stan's biggest hit "The Touch" which sounds like a fresh take on a true classic. This new CD has a crisp look with some amazing art sure to grab Metal fans & AOR fans alike. I think this is Stan's best release to date & listening will give you a unique experience in your CD library as the 2007 album your friends need to hear.
---------------------------------
Good times with good friends...
I also had a chance to meet & get an autograph from David Kaye who was very comical, & personable ("where you from?") & voiced Megatron since Beast Wars till the present & will be voicing Optimus Prime in the new CN "TF Animated" series. Other fun moments included the Hasbro Panel, where it was revealed that we will be getting more "Classics" figures! And of course the Awards Party, where we got an incredible concert, a bag of very cool free swag including a TF 80's t-shirt, 2007 Movie Poster, & Movie Bumblebee "BEE-OTCH" air freshner. What was also funny was that one of Hasbro's Lead Girl Rep's, the now infamous red-headed siren Vickie, was all over our table & wouldn't give us a break, she wanted us 4 boys out on that dance floor & she wouldn't give up, too funny from a good-looking Hasbro girl with some mean moves...in the end she won. ^_-
http://www.botcon.com/
might post some pics of my mighty swag later in the week...stay tuned...

Unhallowed Cards 3 ~A Mini-A-Month

*UPDATED!! 9.3.07*
Lyrandar Skyfire Captain... A very useful piece for us fans of "Chaotic Good", I know I liked having him on my team. Not a great looking Mini but I tried to do him justice as he has a very LOTR feel to him. This was the last drawing I did for my "Unhallowed Composition" presented here for the 1st time in the D&D ~AMAM Card format I have been working with. I fully plan on finishing the comp... possibly around Halloween time. With DDM 1.0 coming to an end, (as it was annouced in August 2007), I don't how many more of these DDM cards I will actually be doing as I am not sure of my future just yet with the game. The good news is I'm optimistic about the up-and-coming 2.0... And I also have a few drawings of DDM 1.0 that are already completed, & I promise to finish those up ^_- ....plus most of my favorite minis I have never drawn, so I may just get inspired sometime to draw them... Jafari-style!!



You can see the original "Lyrandar SkyFire Captain" Miniature here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mg/un

Unhallowed Cards 2 ~A-Mini-A-Month

Hi!
Here is part 2 of my new personal project for D&D Minatures "A-Mini-A-Month."
This time featuring the "Dwarf Battlerager" from Unhallowed. This was the 1st image I colored for this project (3rd drawn) & he was actually a Chaotic swap suggested by my brother Brian for the "Cormyrean War Wizard" to have the complete Chaotic Good gel for the combined final "Unhallowed" image (still planned). In the meantime enjoy the "Dwarf Battlerager" as the AMAM card version!


This repaint of the "Vampire Hunter" (based on the actual repaint of the VH that was made) , is dedicated to my champion DDM friend Erik Nelson, who has given me & my peeps so much help & time in both the teaching of the game, as well as with beefing-up our collections. He helped to influence me & my friends collecting, as well as definately starting the DDM game with his kindness in helping a group of us see what an enjoyable experience DDM can be. I can't thank him enough... he actually gave me the following mini for my collection! Thanks Erik, this one's for you!

Introducing: D&D: A-MINI-A-MONTH! ~Unhallowed

Hi!
I came up with this concept of a new art challenge for myself in some of my rare spare-time ...doing at least one art piece of a D&D Mini every month... Thus "A-Mini-A-Month" was born. ^_^ Showcasing at least one of my faveorite D&D Minatures from the 100's to choose from in a character illustration card-style format... once a month. So I developed a card that looks a bit like the official WOTC card's but will be colorizing them different to what I think is a better colored background for the Mini I am presenting. The Mini will be in full color & my drawing interpretation of the actual Minature game piece itself. I think it will keep the blog fresh, challenge myself to work on these inbetween my other ongoing art projects, as well as get to deliver some illustrations of some of my faveorite Minis which may not appear in some of my illustrations otherwise that appear here on this blog. These first 2 where created for a bigger "Unhallowed" illustration (with background) that will probably appear on the blog later, but for now my Mini-A-Month starts off with 2 of my faveorite Uncommons from the Unhallowed series... Vampire Hunter & Cleric Of Sune!



See the minatures the art is based on here at the official Miniature gallery of Unhallowed, DDM's 1st series release of 2007...
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mg/un

TEELA Avatar Mania!!!

Some Art filler for the fans! (Kind of like a live album in a discography... ^_-) as I have been working on several projects which none are quite ready yet, but will be soon... ^_^

Here's some of my Avatar's I created for the MOTU forums, etc. all using my #1 Master Girl Teela!
This 1st one I created in 2005 when I posted my 1st artwork on He-Man.Org. I felt I needed an Avatar to express my art when people saw me for the 1st time & Teela was the perfect choice! It is a mix of Classic & 200X Teela...so I'm celebrating both old & new skool...basically you have 200X Teela in Classic Teela's outfit, the actual Avatar differs slightly from this image as there is a flat pale yellow packground rather than the strong yellow of the Eternian sky used in some of my imagery (based on the 200X Animation color palette). This is the full version of the image. I use this pic as my Teela "template" for her hair & face porprtions & still use a version of this basic Avatar today...

The following Teela Avatars were all created in 2006...
This next avatar was made as a promotion for the "MOTU BERSERK" Illustrated Story, I specifically drew it for the sadly now defunct "Grayskull Chronicles" website to generate some interest, & it certainly did! The final avatar was cropped to titalate the viewer... ^_- Although this scantily clad Teela will not be the final version. Neither will the other version seen in a preview in this blog as I am currently still working on this Jungle Girl Adventure project at this time ...although I promise the final version will be something very similar! ^_-) Anyways the fans seem to enjoy the sexy romp that awaits & this was a great way to see what the hardcore art fanbase thought, & thankfully they liked it! ^_-


This Teela Avatar was made for He-Man.Org as an update taken from my "King Of Castle Grayskull" work with a new background, & remains currently unused...
This final Teela Avatar was created for this blog (as a profile image) recolored off of the SD Art Collection featuring 200X Teela in "classic colors"
More ALL NEW art to come so stay tooned!!!...

GO!GO!7188 Pulp ~artblog exclusive

I was lucky enough to attend one of my all-time faveorite Japanese bands GO!GO!7188 (go go nana ichi hatchi hatchi) very 1st USA performance on 3.11.07 at the Knitting Factory in NYC with my pals Jeff & Mike! This piece is a tribute to GOGO & my fave girl, Yuu, setup like a "pulp style" cover or t-shirt, & inspired by the 60's & 70's exploitation film grindhouse-style surf-rock that seems to fuel GOGO's wonderful music!


The show itself was called "Japan Nite US Tour 2007" & was made up of 6 bands, the only one (even with our vast knowledge ^_^) which we were really familiar with was GOGO as we are longtime fans, but it also featured some REALLY nice surprises, like the marching rock band "Asakusa Jinta", Okinawa Jpop band "HY", & all girl-brass aces "Pistol Valve..." There was also some nice moments by the loud alt rockers "The Emeralds," & the wacky punk-inspired "The 50 Kaitenz." We had an awesome time, Jeff took a TON of pics, & treasured cd's & coveted t-shirts were bought by all!

Anyone who knows me well enough, (or was @ the concert for that matter) knows what a GOGO fanatic I am as well as that I have a major crush on lead singer/guitarist oober cute shortstuff Yuu, so I made sure I got as close as I could and spent the show about 3 feet away from her & her gorgeous axe! *heart*
Being this close to Yuu made my my night ultra sweet & absolutely unforgettable as they ran through a barrage of my fave GOGO surf-rock songs from their earliest days to their current hits!

*wicked pictures taken by Jeff Katin*

http://www.breast.co.jp/gogo7188/
http://sxsw-asia.com/JapanNite2007/tourdate.html

Leslie ~Queen of Terabithia

A special dedication image to Leslie Burke, Queen of Terabithia...

Ever since I've seen the film "Bridge To Terabithia," & become quite enchanted with it, I've felt the need to do some artwork based on my faveorite character... Leslie, here she is leading you away from the troubles of day-to-day, & into a magic land ready to capture your imagination, while making you strong enough to confront your greatest fears!...
Since the movie is based on a book, the image is presented as a "breaking the frame" book cover...


BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA - PAN'S LABYRINTH ~MOVIES January - February 2007

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
From time to time I like to take a moment away from my artwork gallery & mention some artistic things that I find inspiring or that I just really enjoy, & events, movies, & music are in that catagory... so I'm gonna do a little fanlove here for 2 movies I saw these past 2 months that really blew my doors off...At first I thought Pan's Labyrinth was going to be "the movie to beat" this year when I saw it in January (& I am still with high hopes for fan faveorites like Spider-Man 3 / Transformers / 300 etc. possibly taking the #1 spot for me as "Best Film of 2007.") ...I also think in taking an overview of the year as a whole it seems that 2007 will easily be one of the best movie years we've had in recent times ... But then sometimes a movie shows up like this one & it just hits me... hard... although I never expected it to...never mind having it possibly be the BEST film of 2007!
That brings me to this FANTASTIC family film that way surpasses anything in depth, emotion, & real-life types of stuff with a mix of fantasy & imagination than I have seen in years... I highly recommend seeing "BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA"... The cast is sensational & the movie is brilliant! It's the first time I had seen this type of subject matter handled in such a realistic way for a young cast & even though the fantasy element is what drew me to see the movie, the movie ended up being so much more than that & I can't praise it enough for how refreshing, charming, & what an emotional experience it was. So ya, I loved it...
"KEEP YOUR MIND WIDE OPEN..." One of the major reasons why I loved the film so much was for starlet AnnaSophia Robb, who played "Leslie" in the film... a quirky, fashion savy student writer, & basically summed up why we need more artistic, creative imaginative, free-spirited people in this world, who are able to take you away from the day-to-day, and invigorate your passion & mind. I know everyone who I went to see the film with adored her & she took us on an emotional rollercoaster ride. She was basically the girl-next-door us artsy-types wish we had growing up next to us when we were in our youths...
So go see the film & find out exactly what I'm talking about, it's definately a bonified classic in my opinion... ^_-
PAN'S LABYRINTH
So...I've seen quite a few films already for being so early in 2007 but the other STAND-OUT feature I saw (so far) this year was the dark & somewhat disturbing "Pan's Labyrinth." definately a hard film to watch & like BTT, the fantasy aspect was only a smaller part of a bigger story. This film is astonishingly beautiful, & also very emotional & violent, so it's defianetly for the 16 & up crowd. The film is presented in it's original Spanish dialogue with English subtitles (which I vastly perfer) and has a haunting soundtrack that you will immediately recognize upon hearing it again. This film is more about war (& growing up inside of one) than the mystical elements, but presents both aspects in a solidly frightful way & will defiantely be a film you won't forget, although I can't recommend it to everyone like BTT, (although with the multiple academy awards it just won, I'm sure it will reach a broader audience) I can recommend it for those with an open mind & a love for indie-house foreign films that break all the normal stereotypical boundries... brave films that make bold statements, instead of being the usual types of films that we are bombarded with & get immune to... so if it sounds like your kinda movie... do yourself a favor & check it out... it ROX!

GRAPHIC DESIGN ~ J-ROCK CD Covers

I don't often post my graphic design work here but it is my artblog, & GD is art so...
Every year I host J-Rock (Japanese rock music) events & this past February was one of them in which I designed 12+ covers for a collection.
Featured artists were GALNERYUS, ANNA TSUCHIYA, & MUCC! ^_^
I'm presenting 2 here:
The 1st one is for the buzz-rock group KETCHUP MANIA & is a spoof on the classic Heinz label...



The 2nd is for the disbanded Visual Rock cosplay group PSYCHO LE CEMU & is a reversable cover based on a a "Graphic-T" series...

GRAYSKULL RANGER

UPDATE: WINNER!
results - 104 voters - 10 submissions
#1 JafariStew: 48 (46.15%)
#2 Osgood: 19 (18.27%)
#3 Bootleg: 12 (11.54%)
#4 cacci: 6 (5.77%)
#5 TIE - Mister Andersen & heftysmurf76: 5 (4.81%)
#6 TIE - ben & SlyVenom: 3 (2.88%)
#7 Monikasvo: 2 (1.92%)
#8 Irian: 1 (0.96%)

Congrats to all the participants on some excellent entries! And a special thanx to all the Orgers who voted for me! I really appreciate it! ^_^

Created for the "MOTU redesign challenge #71: Female Ranger prototype" contest on He-Man.Org...(1.2007)
This was an interesting challenge because it was based on a design of a never-released prototype of a figure for the original 1980's MOTU line. The figure had 2 designs, one that resembled a female Native-American, & one that resebled a female barabairian with a very Frazetta influenced style. Being a big fan of MOTU, Rangers (from D&D), and the female-form, I had to give this one a try.

I went for a backstory envolving my Ranger being a descendant of the GREEN GODDESS, & then keeping with a ranger-style attire, added an element of mystery, goth, & a minor touch of Native American.
I tried to include what looks like maybe had a bit of influence on the 4H's "Jungle Attack He-Man's" bow (shown here in the proto-sketches) as the Ranger weapon of choice...
Hope you like her!!!

BLOOD WAR ~ D&D Minis - 1st Art of 2007

Hey there!
I just finished my latest fanart work from the most recently released line of D&D Minis entitled "Blood War"... It features the 2 Chaotic Evil minis "Doomguard" & "Skeletal Reaper" before a skirmish!... check it out & PLEASE let me know what you think! Thanks!!!



If your unfamiliar with "Blood War" or DDM in general, here's the official gallery of all 60 "Blood War" minis, you can see the "Doomguard" & "Skeletal Reaper" minis that this artwork is based on.
Thanks again!

Blood War gallery:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mg/bw
Official DDM page:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/minis

***This picture was actually created before the DDC "Prelude" piece, but was finished afterwards due to me wanting to have the "Prelude" piece in time for the DDC USA DVD release...***

2006 J-ROCK MUSIC MOMENTS:

On a side note, unrelated to my art...2006 was a heck of year, being a J-rocker, (Otakon proved to be one of the best 2 I have ever been to, since 1st attending in 1997), and when thinking of 2006, I can't help but think of my most cherished moment. The chance I had of being 1 of the last 15 (of literally 100's of people behind me waiting in line) who got to meet Yoshiki of X -Japan & Violet UK fame ...(my musical idol!!!) ... I can't thank Yoshiki himself & Otakon enough for this" once in a life time moment" that I will always remember...

It was also great having my brother Brain, and best pals Mike & Jared to share that experience with... ^_^
Otakon also managed to bring one of my all-time faveorite Visual-Kei bands, MUCC, to perform live & later, meet the band for autographs, by far one of thr most J-Rockin' moments of my life...MUCC was by far my pick for "band of the year..."

***UPDATE!*** I'm proud to annouce that my brother Brian, & friends Jared, Mike, & I... all made it on ...(in several scenes mind you)... MUCC'S final 2006 single release "Horizont" (CD single + DVD limited edition UPCI-9510 / 2006.11.08) DVD from Otakon this summer of 2006 & are featured in several clips, most notable the autograph line! How awesome is that, we are NOW part of MUCC's offical discography!

My faveorite ALBUMS of 2006, in no particular order:

1. MUCC - gokusai & 6
2. HYDE - faith
3. DUEL JEWEL - visions ep + singles
4. ANNA TSUCHIYA - strip me
5. MERRY - peep show
6. HIGH & MIGHTY COLOR - gouon progressive
7. GO!GO! 7188 - parade
8. MOVE - grid
9. THE PILLOWS - my foot
10. LAREINE - imperial concerto

Special mention to GAZETTE, TOMMY HEAVENLY6, & HIDEKI for having some of the BEST singles this year! And EVANESCENCE for my fave USA album...

D&D ~DDC "Prelude to Rogull - DVD Commemorative Art"

Hi! In order to commemorate the stellar DVD issue of the Classic Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, released today by the fine people at BCI, I did this DDC artwork, showcasing the 6 kids, on a rescue mission to find Uni, who has been kidnapped by the Red Dragon Rogull!!!
Featuring Hank, Presto, Shiela, Bobby, Diana, & Eric, in one of their many battles in the realm, this one is dedicated to all the Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series fans out there, as well as BCI for releasing one of the best series of the 80's on DVD and going above & beyond to make it the best DVD release of the year! And of course to my Family & Friends who will be running out to buy the DVD set with me today as well as my online gang at Helix Town Square, all of you are the best DDC fandom out there!

"...Where are we?"


..."There is NO escape from the Realm of Dungeons & Dragons..."

***Check out my good friend Sealgirl's fantastic page dedicated to the Animated Realm of Dungeons & Dragons! Tons of stuff for DDC fans to have fun for HOURS!!!***
http://www.thevirtualrealm.co.uk/

MOTU RENEGADE STORIES: BERSERK!!! ~Sneak Preview~

To help celebrate a year of fanart at He-Man.Org, I wanted to thank my viewers by showing them a SNEAK PREVIEW of one of my future illustrated stories for 2007!

Here is some of the ROUGH character designs for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE RENEGADE STORIES: BERSERK!

Enjoy the preview for this ALL-OUT JUNGLE ROMP & tell me what you think!

STORY PREMISE:
Set shortly after Hordak's reign on Eternia, a defeat delivered by none other than his former apprentice Skeletor, the Evil Warriors are at it again, and a battle in the sky leads the Masters chasing Skeletor & his minions to the Berserker Islands where are story begins to unfold...





Bear in mind that these are rough preview character designs based on the action figures and creative license & are subject to some changes before the illustrated story is released. Thanks!

D&D ~ DDC "A Way Home..." HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

While working on an avatar of Sheila from the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon, I started undertaking a MUCH larger image for the background, which in turn led to this more modern type of imagery of the classic theme to the show...the kids finding a way home. For oldskool fans of one of the most incredible cartoons of the 80's, in almost every episode our young heroes are faced with the option of sacrafice, to help themselves or another, and the option they usually have to sacrafice is the portal leading home... to Earth... away from the D&D Realm...
This image I created shows one of my faveorite character's, Sheila, facing that sacrafice and hesitating before stepping into the portal that leads to the Carnival that the children entered the realm from.


Check out the DDC on DVD coming December 5th 2006 in the USA from BCI (the company that released the award-winning He-Man, She-Ra, Prince Valiant, Flash Gordon, etc.) it promises to be one of the best DVD animation releases EVER with TONS of amazing extras including a hardcoverd book by WOTC making all of the DDC characters playable in the actual D&D game as well as a radio-style drama of the final unmade episode "Requiem!"
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6453
BCI Master of DVD Documentaries Andy Mangles:
http://www.andymangels.com/
wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_%28TV_series%29

Filmation style TEELA for JUKKA

On Oct. 25th, a dear online friend of mine from Finland, Jukka, celebrated his birthday. It is a long standing tradition that Jukka has recieved art from He-Man.Org on his special day orchestrated by his friend Mikko. This past September, Mikko asked specifically of me to draw a Filmation (classic) Style Teela, seeing that she's possibly Jukka's all-time faveorite and knowing that both he & I are such big fans, he though this would be perfect. Developing a great friendship with Jukka over the past year, I was happy to contribute! What was AMAZING was so did a very large handful of the talented artists at He-Man.Org, ALL drawing Filmation/Classic Teela, showing one of the best support projects I have ever seen for any member ever (all unknown that the others were doing this) and definately the most art I have ever seen made for any specific individual! AWESOME!
I'm sure Jukka now knows how valued he is by his friends in the community!
Jukka was also nice enough to create a picture of Teela for me on my birthday making it an extra special event...he knows what this boy likes to see and I loved the picture he did for me.
I decided to do a Filmation Teela that still expressed her trademark look, but with a bit of my own personal style. I also decided that I wanted the pic to compliment both the artwork of Teela that Jukka created for me, as well as the one I did for myself on my birthday, thus a back-view of our fave MOTU girl, in Filmation colors, facing the opposite direction of my b-day piece, with a classic Filmation-style colored sky...



to check out the birthday thread & some of the other amazing art for Jukka at He-Man.Org copy & paste...
http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?t=142969
To see Jukka's art for my birthday, view his wonderful Teela by copying & pasteing all of the following as one!
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/teelamotu/omake/
?action=view&current=jafari_birthdaybyJUKKA.jpg
&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

BIRTHDAY POST ~CLASSIC TEELA!!!~

Today's my BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!!!
I thought I would help celebrate with the .Org community by creating some new art for today & making this Art Blog PUBLIC!

WELCOME!!! ^_^

A little known fact is it's not only my birthday but also HE-MAN'S birthday! The Filmation animated show started on Sept. 5th and it is this airdate that is now credited with He-Man's birthday!

And speaking of birthday's this image of classic TEELA started off in her birthday-suit! I drew it earlier this year but never put her leotard on, so she just stayed naked untill today!! I decided to finally finish this image the way I intended... with her atop Castle Grayskull's tower at sunset looking back at us the viewer for a private moment...
This also celebrated my 500th POST at He-Man.org!

500th POST CLASSIC TEELA B-DAY ART:


new updated sky 9.21.06

SD MOTU: BUZZ-OFF + SY-KLONE + MOSS-MAN

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!

The SD MOTU thread proved to be very popular with the fans! Popular enough for me to continue on with doing more than the original 20 I started with.
I promised the fan-base that I would work on more SD characters inbetween my other projects & that's what I intend on doing!

What was funny is I could tell fans were getting anxious after a couple month delay, anxious enough that my friend "Thatman" started a thread asking when there would be MORE!!! LOL!

SO...Here's the 3 LASTEST characters!
SERIES 2 MOTU: batch 1
BUZZ-OFF! SY-KLONE! & MOSS-MAN (Mattel Flocked version)!!!

KING OF CASTLE GRAYSKULL (~mini-comic tribute~)

On 7.01.06 I decided to tribute one of the amazing covers from the classic MOTU mini-comics in the updated 200X style.
The classic mini-comics helped to define MOTU, and I thought it would be a nice way to pay homage to the MOTU artists I grew up on!
I did a 200X version of one of my faveorite covers "King Of Castle Grayskull" by the talented Alfredo P. Alcala!
I set this up as an art challenge for other MOTU artists to try their hand at a cover tribute... and we ended up with some AMAZING WORK!!! Everyone who participated gave it 100% and I was so happy with the results in the end...maybe I'll do it again someday! ^_- There's a lot of great covers still waiting to be reinvisioned!
Here's KING OF CASTLE GRAYSKULL (one of the original 4 comic covers)!!!


And I did a "CLASSIC Colored Version" for "Grayskull Chronicles!"



Here's a close-up of TEELA from this piece...

And a close-up in "Classic Colors"...