Trooperfest

The 501st Legion's Trooperfest is going on now and I will be one of only a few artists on hand. I have yet to see who is actually attending, but I do know besides myself, Chris Trevas and Alex Buechel will be theretomorrow and possibly Jamie Snell from Ohio. So, I will be there with Star Wars related stuff, including prints, sketch cards and originals. Steve Sansweet of Lucasfilm will also be in attendance. Should make for an interesting time, so come on down and get your Star Wars fix.

The above image was swiped from their site and you can get more info here.

Rudolph F. Zallinger

 Allosaurus Attacking Brontosaurus (1960) by R.F.Z.

 The Age Of Reptiles (1943-47) by R.F.Z.

 Dinosaur sketches (1976) by me



Back in September, I decided to revisit a couple of dinosaur books from my childhood. I still have them and hadn't really looked at them in years and I wanted to see just how far the field of paleontology has come in the last 50 years or so (the books being written in '59 and '60). Surprisingly, the only really obvious 'mistakes' were in bone structure, where and how the legs attached to the body. I know that they now know that it would have been impossible for some of these behemoths to even hold their own weight had their legs jutted out from the sides instead of below the body.

But, even more revealing to me, was just how much the artwork (in Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Reptiles, 1960) by Rudolph F. Zallinger had an impact on me as a little fledgling artist. Although, structurally inaccurate, the images of the dinosaurs and the surrounding environments captivated me when I was young. The artwork is beautiful with deep, rich colors that I had never seen before (or since) and upon reviewing them, I was almost immediately thrown back to those younger days and even felt some of the excitement that I used to feel when looking at them then. Very inspiring, actually. No wonder that I hung on to them all these years! One can almost feel the heavy atmosphere and humidity in these scenes. I tried then to recreate some of those dinosaur images when I was ten and the bottom sketch is one of those. I just couldn't get those deep blues and reds, but I know I had a blast trying! I think a little bit of Mr. Zallinger artwork is still rattling around in my work to this day and why wouldn't he be?

Here is a brief snippet about R.F.Z. from wikipedia:

Rudolph Franz Zallinger (November 12, 1919 - August 1, 1995) was an American-based artist notable for his mural The Age of Reptiles (1947) at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and for the popular illustration known as March of Progress (1965), one of the world's most recognizable scientific images.

Biography

Zallinger was born in Irkutsk, Siberia in 1919. He attended Yale’s School of Fine Arts on scholarships during the Great Depression, was trained as an illustrator, and he taught at Yale after graduation. The Peabody Museum hired him to paint the mural in 1943 at $40 a week, and Zallinger took a crash course in paleontology to prepare for the job. After that, the museum appointed him as the “artist in residence”, a position he held until his death^[1].


I think a visit to Yale is in my future to see those murals.

Koi Wrangling 2011

Just recently, the Belle Isle Aquarium received a federal grant to replace the roof, which is much needed, so the top cartoon was done for that wonderful news.

And the bottom toon is for tomorrow's (Sat. 11-5-11) Koi wrangling event to move the 'deadly' creatures to their winter habitat located in the basement of the aquarium. Volunteers are always welcome, so come on down to the island at 9am to help out with the move. The kids love this, especially the big ones and the more helpers we have the quicker it goes.

Happy Halloween!

Muck Man #20

The origin of Muck Man continues! Click on image to engorge.

TJS Automotive Repair Logo

Recently, I finished up a logo design for TJS Automotive Repair shop located in Madison Heights, MI and here is the final design as it will appear on their t-shirts and other advertisments. The car used for this design is based on one of the owners own cars, a 1968 Grand Prix. I had a lot of fun doing this one and I seem to be getting better at doing cars, as long as I can put my own twist in there somewhere.

Muck Man Theme Song!

My Chicago based uber talented musician buddy Chris Quigley has honored me by writing and recording a theme song for my Muck Man character. When he approached me a few months back about doing something like this I thought that I would keep an open mind and be gracious for whatever he came up with. I didn't think that this would be too difficult a task to accomplish since I'm a fan of his music anyways. But, when he sent the link with the demo, I have to admit that just before playing it I had a secondary flash of anxiety that it wouldn't capture the 'essence' that is the Man of Muck. I then reminded myself that I would probably like what I heard. All doubts (which were pretty much nil, anyways) were immediately cast aside when the first guitar licks festooned from my speakers. To say that I was pleasantly pleased would have been an understatement. It does have an infectious guitar riff that I seem to be humming all weekend. Come on! Muck Man has a theme song! How cool is that?

Chris and I go way back to high school and as he has said that I liked him even when his music sucked, I can say the same that he stuck around me even when my art sucked! I fondly remember him giving me flack about my dreamy big-eyed self-portraits. Good times. So, go and check out his site for witty remarks and even better tunes. I believe that he is currently tearing up the Chicago night club scene, so if you live in the Chicago area, check him out!

Check out the Muck Man Theme here.

And here is the instrumental version.

So, make sure that you go to the Quigman's site and tell him just how cool the Muck Man Theme is! I command you.

And for your veiwing pleasure, a toon of Muck Solo, as seen above.