I'm gonna STEAMPUNK yo ASS.

When I think 'steampunk,' Tank Girl always comes to mind. But I suppose that any girl.. in a corset.. looking really tough and hardcore.. works all around in general. You betcha.

Steam punkish lady. I love big gloves and goggles.

I want to draw some wierd mechanical thingy too...more later.

Steampunk Punk Rocker

Quick one I did from seeing a post on Boing Boing about a guy who made a steampunk electric guitar. Looked pretty bad ass so I thought I would draw it. Hooray!!!

Flying Monkey

One more Oz piece before I get to my Steampunk contribution. I had wanted to do a flying monkey but figured no one was going to do the apple tree, so I did that one first.

I had originally planned to put a simple background on this one, just some ominous clouds, but the monkey pops so well against the colored paper I'm now afraid to do anything else to this lest I screw it up.

Uncle Pennywhite's Verticopter

"Reggie what do you reckon is under that tarp?"

Well, I knew what was under the tarp. It was the verticopter. I pulled off the tarp and showed her.

"Smashing!" she said, "Let's try it!"

I told her that's exactly the sort of thing we should not try. The first thing her uncle told me after inventing anything, he would set down his wrench or whatever and say, "Reginald. See this? Don't ever touch this."

Abby didn't care what her uncle said, "He's my mother's baby brother, and who listens to babies?"

It was at that moment I knew I was going to like this girl a lot. I mean, if you could like a girl and all.

the thumbnail:


to see more detail: click here.

to read the expanded story go here.

Sketches

OK, Kennon asked to see so here are a few thumbnails for themes that I can't seem to wrap up. First is Batgirl for bat, she's the closest to being done. Next is Iron Man for cyborg, because technically he is. Third is Female Creature From the Black Lagoon on a JetSki for jet. And last my rollergirls for, you guessed it, rollergirl. I still want to finish them.

Steampunk V 1.1

The Goddess of Steam. She rules the Southern states and some say that she is the embodiment of the Steam. The giver of life to the complex gears and pistons that run the fragile world. Again I did the duplicate photoshop thingie for the other side. It gives her this weird feeling of perfection etc. She looks female obviously, even thought all her arms are complex and rather masculine looking machines.

Will there be more later on this week? Who knows...

Steampunk V 1.0

First Steam Punk thingie from me. More to come later on this week. I got an idea for something, but i need to work out some thoughts on paper first. Will see. Anyway, Steam Punk Gutter Rat is this one. She has a small arm upgrade, you can see some damage on it, but it is still servicable. They say it was made in the time when machines were built better. Most likely from the Science State of Detroit.

New Topic: STEAMPUNK

okay this weeks topic is ... Zombies! just kidding. i already did that one. no for really tho, STEAMPUNK. thats right the mery olde times of yore in her mothers country of england is run completely on steam. so lets see anything steampunk. look it up on the web if you dont get it. i really liked chris bachalos book steampunk. beautiful art but really hard to read.

so toot toot bust out that boiler and get to drawin.

the boys

party man

"say, C.S., what do you like to do for fun on a friday night?"

"i like to watch a movie and then stay up into the morning drawing OZ stuff!"

(this should be my last Wizard of OZ post. no promises though.)

Beatnik Batman

Hate to disrupt all the awesome OZ stuff, but here's my bat. Oz stuff to come....

Wicked Witch, Lion

Here's my Wicked Witch. It just kinda fell out. She used to be pretty but years of using black magic took it's toll on her body.



My Cowardly Lion. I wish I had put more time into him, but I like his worried expression.I might need to take another crack at him and do a whole body sketch.


I love this theme. I actually did something like this about nine years ago just to entertain myself. I have the old drawings in a sketchbook at my folks house in Texas. I'd kill to have them on me so I could post them...I remember the flying monkey I drew was actually pretty cool.

Wicked Witch Ink

Not sure if I will color it, but here she is. Not sure about Dorthy. Thought she might have died on her way down to this new world, or some kind of spirit. No real idea. But here is the wicked witch

Monkey Napped

VERSION B : 4.20.07

see a side-by-side comparison of the original and new versions.

the monkeys fly in. the monkeys beat the stuffing out of the scarecrow and the other guys. the monkeys carry dorothy off. long shot of dorothy being carried off.

i wanted to pull the camera in. follow her up from the ground and into the sky. originally i planned to show her high above, but the drama of being lower, with the tree line, and just being nabbed, is a little more visceral.

(technically, the left wing should prolly be in front of the tail, but i wanted the visual element, so, you know, whatever.)

to be absolutely frank, while these are the explanation of my rationale for this piece, from the very moment i suggested this topic, this is the image i saw in my head. i toyed with making her shoes silver as they are in the book, not ruby, but i thought that element would stop the viewer at a point where i didn't want him thinking about the small details.

i know. this is a sketchblog. i had to go to finish on this one.

so, here's a sketch or two.

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this is a sketch i did for the monkey, kind of working out the elements. i knew i wanted aviator scarf, goggles and (i thought) hat, but the sweater had to go. monkeys are vest wearers, and a vest wearer mine shall be. i am making a real effort to develop my backgrounds, so there's a little witch's castle in there.

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this is a quick sketch, a test to see what "traditional" versions of the characters might look like in my style.

this topic is addicting. i do want to tighten these guys up, apply some ideas i have for them.

Because the Wizard of Oz is MIGHTY.

Dorothy: I've taken a more fantastical approach to my Oz designs. I went with with a younger Dorothy. It was important to me that despite being physically small and unassuming, Dorothy was full of character, courage and smarts– a girl who was the embodiment of what her friends lacked.




The Scarecrow: The Scarecrow in my mind's eye was not only mentally deficient, but was also physically inhibited because of his 'thrown together and left to rot' nature. He's an amateur–made doll whose outward appearance would not be so unsettling if he had been cared for.




The Tin Man: Past depictions of the cold and heartless Tin Woodsman never really satisfied me. None of them looked like they could topple a tree, much less be built for that purpose. I wanted my version to look functional, yet damaged and worn, from all of the heavy work. And speaking of which– if the technology in Oz is such that a walking metal man could be made... you'd think he'd have something a bit better than an axe.




The Lion: I wanted my Lion to look like a subservient, pitiful, and utterly defeated beast. One that looks to have the potential to be a king, if he could only bring himself far enough out of his phobic and depressed pit. I also thought it would be interesting if he were neither completely man nor completely lion; A misunderstood, outcast, and rejected half-breed of a thing who just wants to be accepted.




Size Comparison Model Sheet:

the eliete royal guard

oh whats this? two posts from joe in a row?!!!! wow. what a lazy sucka. an elite royal guard to the wizard, the wonderful wizard.

BATTUNA!

well there he is in all his glory, and he cant seem to be left alone.

Ravenous Brains

If he only had a brain .. indeed, for the Scarecrow is no stranger to the taste of flesh, and when the hunger claims his whithered bones of wood and straw, he is transformed into a being so ravenous that all who live in the land of Oz shudder to the sound of his Undead howls. And the wizard? Well - he has the biggest brain of them all. Undoubtedly the most delicious, too.

Apple Tree

Hey, a tree's gotta eat.

Wizard of Oz Thomas style etc

This is another one I just sorta did. The Tin Man. The Wicked Queen (thinking some kind of Rocky Horror Picture show like girl/guy thing) infected a rival country with a nanotech virus. The virus would eat away at the host and use its body parts to make more useful things, like Ipods and televisions. The problem is that this lands people were highly adaptable. Their bodies converted the nanotech machines and instead of eating them away, they recreated them into the Tinmen. Cybernetic robots and machines. This Tinman is named Robbie and he is out for the heart of the Wicked Queen. Only then will he finally have rest from the constant whirrin and whizzing that moves about inside his cold hard chest.


So like... I am sure everyone would have me do some kind of cyber girl or half nekkid girl... or something else. Instead of just draw an evil monkey hehehe. With drugs involved, ala monkey on your back. And of course it is some kind of mutant thingie, with lobster claws because the Wicked Witch is some kind of mad scientist thingie. So anyway here is my mad monkey wit a bow tie and wings.

Get your Oz on

Warner Bros called. Someone in the pre-production department of a new movie franchise they're working on saw our blog. They want us to do some development/concept drawings. Sets. Characters. Scenes. Those sorts of thing. They're relaunching the "Wizard of Oz" for this generation. They're planning to do all the books, so any of the characters are open season. It will be live action, but of course, there will be CGI elements. They're looking for things to inspire the creative process, so kick it in your style.

This, is, of course, only hypothetical. It is, however, the topic for the week.

Bats DRIVE ME BATTY!!!

Man, I hate drawing bats... not sure why.
Oh well- in the spirit of collective awesomeness... here goes nothin'!

PIKABOO

PIKABOO

GOTTA CATCH 'EM AAALLL--!

*note: I am not liable for any head explosions. thank you.

Batter UP!

When your baseball bat turns into an actual bat it forces one to evaluate one's life. Billy thought it might be time to be nicer to Esmerelda, the girl in the lunch room who dressed all in black. She'd said she'd get him, and while he wasn't for sure this was her doing, it seemed like the sort of thing she would do to him if she could. Regardless, he determined next time he saw her he wouldn't call her "EsmerSMELLda."

I made something!

Here's my bat. He's very Ferngully, not sure how I feel about that...

A Cyborg monkey emerges.....

So this isn't cybernetic shtuff.

I am posting it with this little tiny thumbnail to add mystery. Is it cybernetic? Is it a ninja? Is it a donkey cyber netic ninja monster thing? Who knows... click on the linkie.

Purple Foxbat

I wasn't trying to do a realistic bat of any particular species, just scribbling something batlike on the paper. This was done on blue Artagain paper, and colored with Prismacolor marker and white acrylic paint pen.

Count for Life, yo...

Alright, here's my bat. This is also a proper tattoo entry. Not like the lame one I claimed for a tattoo on the rollergirl.

New topic - Bats

Since we are the AUSTIN Sketch Squad, and it's April, I nominate Bats as this week's topic. Vampire bats? Baseball bats? Your cousin Floyd who's just a little bit bats? That part is up to you.

Have fun!

Bubbles the Cyber Chimp goes for a walk.

The Unforeseen Disadvantage of Cranial LCD Replacement

it seemed like a good idea, but then it was ice cream time, and the luster of the new head wore off.

Not happy about his arm

Surprise! I've actually managed to post something. Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend.

wanna cyber???//

LOL WUT.

I adore you guys. All the awesome art makes me happy on the inside.

"It's you, David."

From An American Werewolf in London (1981):

Jack: Now, I'm really sorry to be upsetting you, but I have to warn you.

David: Warn me?

Jack: We were attacked by a werewolf.

David: I'm not listening to this!

Jack: On the moors, we were attacked by a lycanthrope, a werewolf. I was murdered, an unnatural death, and now I walk the earth in limbo until the werewolf's curse is lifted.

David: Shut up!

Jack: The wolf's bloodline must be severed; the last remaining werewolf must be destroyed. It's you, David.

Lusius, Cyborg Saint

...And another version of the same guy (you'll notice some design differences). Here's how I did it.




The second sketch (and the idea, really) was based on an older drawing I did about a year ago...

Sy Berg

Sy Berg of Queens, NY reminisces about the good old days of the 2086 Mets.