Congrats to Jason Lysinger, the winner of our last contest.  Jason correctly guessed that the image was from the wonderfully bad “Hercules in New York” movie (Arnold Schwartzeneggar’s first ever movie).  If you’re ever in the mood to heckle a movie… check out this one.  Arnold’s accent was so thick (and his delivery so bad) that they actually dubbed another generic voice over him.  Luckily, on the DVD you can listen to the original Arnold track.  This is definitely my favorite movie that features a mythological hero wrestling a bear in Central Park.

As part of his prize, Jason requested the above sketch of Esmerelda.  Thanks, Jason… your sketch and free comics are on their way to you!

Stay tuned for another contest coming soon!

Heh heh… this image is based on my all time favorite horrible movie.  One of those that’s much more fun to heckle (a la Mystery Science Theater 3000) than to just watch.  Back in college, we used to have “Stupid Movie Night” and this one blew us away.

HERE’S THE CONTEST…

If you are the first person to EMAIL US the correct name of this movie, you will win two of our comics and a free sketch of the character of your choice!  It’s that simple.

Want to give it a shot?

(Disclaimer: If you have actually watched this movie with me, sorry… you are not eligible!)

A great comic that I picked up a while ago is The Cryptics by Steve Niles and Ben Roman.  Basically, it’s about the adventures of Wolfman, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Jekyll/Hyde… as kids.  It’s a really silly concept that leads to all sorts of awesomeness.  Ben Roman’s art is the perfect blend of edgy and cartoony… it really sells the whole thing.  I hope they make some more comics with these guys soon!

This image was a blast to draw.  I actually finished it quite a while ago, but just now got a chance to color it.  If you enjoy it, you should definitely check out the book!

Growing up, I enjoyed stories with Thor, but he was never my favorite.  I think the King James-style dialogue made it kind of hard to relate to him.  Well, a couple of months ago I picked up the Thor relaunch by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel, and it blew me away.  Straczynski does such a great job of incorporating the mythological characters into modern day Earth in fun and unique way (Asgard in Oklahoma?).  And Coipel’s art… wow.  The guy’s characters really feel solid and powerful, without being over-the-top.  He’s just one the most impressive artists I’ve seen in years and has inspired me to get better.

My sketch of Thor has him in the new outfit from this series.  It was fun to work with the highlights of the lightning in white sharpie.

Easily one of my favorite animated films from the last few years, Kung Fu Panda is full of so much fun energy and great character design.  Master Oogway here would have to be my favorite from that film.  I really enjoyed how they portrayed him as both frail and strong at the same time.

Apparently, there is a sequel on its way to theaters in 2011 (Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom) and a new series on Nickelodeon later this year… so thankfully we’re in for much more kung-fu goodness!

I recently found this video of Doug TenNapel speaking at the Art Institute Inland Empire to a group of incoming freshmen art students. He covers a surprising amount of ground in this talk, including artists’ obligation to the truth, how to stay inspired, and his writing method. If you’re a fan of Doug’s (like me) or want to learn more about creating comics, you should definitely check it out!

This has to be one of the oddest cartoons every created. If you don’t know, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack tells the tale of young wanna-be adventure and his exploits with a loser pirate and a benevolent whale that they call home. For sheer quirkiness, only Ren & Stimpy seems to be competition. I’ve been watching it since it premiered last year. I keep coming back to it, because it is so unpredictable and creative… and sometimes disturbing. Between the plethora of wacky characters that show up every episode and Flapjack’s 150% enthusiasm… it’s a pretty unique ride.  I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I sure enjoy it.

I did the above sketch while watching an episode. It was fun to do some coloring in Photoshop on it. It’s been awhile…

By the way… keep checking back because soon we will have a HUGE announcement to share with you!

Ok, I think I got the Psychonauts bug out of my system for awhile. Above you can see Linda, the supposedly horrible monster that lurks within the lake at the psychic camp in the game. When you go inside her head, you discover that she really is more scared of you than you of her, as you become a giant Godzilla-like creature that is terrorizing the peaceful citizens of Lungfishopolis. I always thought it would be fun to smash some buildings, and it is.

That’s right… even more.  I told you I couldn’t stop drawing these Psychonauts characters, designed by the excellent Scott Campbell.  This time we have two of the main villains of the game and Lily, the pseudo-girlfriend of the main character, Raz.

At least a couple more of these are on the way…

Psychonauts characters are just way too fun to draw. I couldn’t do it just once. Here’s two more… the first is Ford Cruller, who is your mentor in the game (and is summoned by waving a piece of bacon). The second is Boyd, the super paranoid security guard whose mind is my favorite level in the game.