Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Patrick Thomas Parnell created today’s sketch of Rambo. I first met Patrick at MegaCon earlier this year. I don’t think I’d ever even seen his art before. Patrick was doing these really cool, tall/thin color sketches for a reasonable price. I asked him if he’d be interested in doing a Stallone piece for my collection and he chose Rambo.
Pretty cool, huh?
I discovered this Captain American piece over at Bleeding Cool in a post called Put a Comic Icon on Your Wall. As Rich Johnston says, they’re “incredibly stylish” and “completely unlicensed” which means they may not be around for long.
I recently discovered the art of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr. through a post called Lost: The Saturday Morning Cartoon over at io9.com. As you’ve probably figured out already, Myers drew the cast of Lost [including the smoke monster] as they’d look in a Saturday morning cartoon. Cool idea and cool end result.
You can see more of Michael Blaine Myers, Jr.’s art here and here. It’s worth checking out!
This week we have a watercolor piece of Sly as Jack Carter by Fatima Camiloza. I saw Fatima’s art here and noticed that she was doing ten dollar 4″x6″ watercolor pieces. I liked Fatima’s art enough to give it a go and the piece above is the end result.
I’m extremely pleased to have a piece by Fatima in my collection… and perhaps there will be more in the future!
What with all the talk lately about James Brolin playing Jonah Hex in the up-coming movie and Darwyn Cooke providing the cover to Jonah Hex 56, I’ve been thinking about my favorite artists who’ve drawn the deformed gunslinger.
This is Howard Chaykin’s prelim for the cover of Jonah Hex #4 which was cover-dated February 2006. It’s interesting to note that this appears to be an older Jonah Hex than we normally see and the powerlines in the background would indicate that the story takes place later in Hex’s life. Chaykin said that…
“My inspiration for the image – and this is based on memory, as opposed to actually looking at the artwork in question – was a cover for a MAX BRAND paperback by an illustrator named Roy Andersen – who did a beautiful series of covers for Warner books back in the seventies or eighties…”
The artwork appeared in Rough Stuff magazine #4 and can be found in back issue bins in most comic shops.
The piece above by Darwyn Cooke accompanies the write-up for Jonah Hex #56 in the latest issue of Previews. Although Cooke is only providing the cover [Phil Winslade and others illustrate the tale by Justin Gray and jimmy Palmiotti], it may be worth the price of admission.
If you’re a Frank Miller completist, then you’ll want to pick up the first issue of Jurassic Park: Redemption since Miller provides the cover. The mini-series from IDW will run five issues and is written by Bob Schreck with art by Nate Van Dyke. Tom Yeates is also providing a variant cover to the first issue, so be sure to let your comic shop manager know which cover you’re after should you decide to get one.
Future issues will feature covers by Arthur Adams, Paul Pope, Bernie Wrightson and Bill Stout.
Re-imagined covers and posters are popular. Recently we checked out Laz Marquez’s cool redesigns of classic Hitchcock movie posters. Marquez followed that up with some re-imagined Stephen King book covers. Turner Classic Movies offered up some re-imagined classic/iconic movie posters that were also very popular.
Designer, Steven Finch recently posted five re-imagined Marvel comic series that he recreated as dime store paperback covers. It’s a cool idea and he promises more are coming.
Thanks to io9.com for the original link.
I had the good fortune to meet Ray-Anthony Height at MegaCon this year. I was talking with a con buddy who had a table near where Ray was set up and I saw him knock out one cool sketch after another. It didn’t take long before I checked to see if Ray would be interested in doing a Stallone sketch. He was, and created the nice Rocky piece that you see above.
You can see more of Ray-Anthony Height’s art here and here. And if you’re so inclined, tell him I sent ya!
When I was a little kid first reading comics, one of my favorite characters was the Rawhide Kid. In 2003, Marvel decided to bring back the Rawhide Kid in a mini-series called Blaze of Glory. It was supposedly a humorous take on the Kid as being gay. I said “supposedly humorous” because I didn’t read it.
Marvel is bringing back that Rawhide Kid in a new mini-series called The Sensational Seven. Although the change in the Rawhide Kid’s character still bugs me, I might give this series a shot. Written by Ron Zimmerman with art by Howard Chaykin the story will bring together some of the most popular Marvel western characters along with real western legends.
When Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp are taken prisoner, The Rawhide Kid sets off to rescue them. Along the way he meets up with The Two Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Red Wolf, Doc Holiday, Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid and others.
If this sounds like something that you’d like, then you might want to check out Zimmerman’s interview at CBR.com where he talks about his plans for the series.
Here’s a pencil sketch of the The Hulk for a Marvel trading card set. It was drawn by Andrew Robinson and appeared [in much smaller form] in Rough Stuff #4 [April 2007]. Yep, the same Andrew Robinson who drew The Punisher and Nick Fury cards. Here’s what Andrew said about the piece:
“I think this is the only time [for publication] that I’ve drawn the Hulk, and man, did I have a good time.”
Looking at the drawing, I can’t help but smiling. The funny thing about the Hulk is that I’ve never really cared for the character. Outside of his “guest appearances” to fight Ben Grim or Spider-Man, or the X-Men, I probably have read less than a handful of Hulk comics. The best of those being Hulk drawn by Jim Starlin and Alex Nino in the Hulk’s own magazine. But, although I’m not a fan of Hulk stories, I am a fan of Hulk drawings. Perhaps it’s because there are so many ways that artists can draw him. Andrew Robinson’s take is one of my favorites.
Vin Diesel recently posted the art above on his facebook page. It’s pre-production art for the proposed sequel to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Man, I hope Riddick gets made!
As promised, here’s a pencil sketch of the Nick Fury for a Marvel trading card set. The art is by Andrew Robinson and appeared [in much smaller form] in Rough Stuff #4 [April 2007]. Here’s what Andrew said about the piece:
“Nick and the commandos in one war and I was in another, the battle of tangents. In this case I used Photoshop after finishing the sketch, to cut out background figures and move them slightly to avoid bad tangents. For example Nick’s right arm seems to be leaning on a commando’s back. So to correct this bad tangent, I just moved the background figure to the left.”
The “Saul Bass-inspired” Tron credits has folks talking. Steve Kasansza posted a link to an equally “Saul Bass-isized” opening sequence for Lost.
Jon Riggle is back, this time with his take on Sly from Demolition Man having a bit o’ rat. Jon is an illustrator and photographer. He also created the Sci-Fi comic strip Sonic Jack and is available for commissions. You can see more of Jon’s art here and here.
Thanks to Jon and John Beatty for the gift.
