Hilarious!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Seattle/ETP trip...
The view here is from above-several thousand feet above the ground-in flight to Seattle.
I traveled late in the day and as i was flying west-from Jersey to Washington state-i followed the sun on it's decent-beautiful sights, such as the snow capped mountain ranges and rivers of the northwest-I am uneasy with flying, yet love to watch the images from the window...
Here's a view from my room on the 15th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown Seattle-the ETP crew and I (for the uninitiated the ETP stands for the EuroTrash Paradise talk group-we're film geeks, the lot of us-but 1stly were all good friends) were all bundled into a group of rooms on the tenth floor...that is until I arrived Thursday evening and tried to check in.
It seems that two of my ETP brethren had some air conditioning troubles with their room and wanted to get a room with one that worked-the thing is, they got MY ROOM- the slight awkwardness of the situation didn't much matter to me after I saw the priceless look on the young lady's face who was waiting on us-when she then asked my name and she realized she had just given my room to my friends her "deer in the headlights" look made it all worthwhile...;o)
Below we are looking downhill (lotsa hills in Seattle-reminded me of the streets of San Francisco-the place not the tv show) past a few of my buddies at the famous Pike Place Fish Market.
We had a very aromatic stroll thru the place,enjoying the smells,the tastes (they give out lotsa free samples) and the sights (HUGE frikking Alaskan King Crab legs, salmon the size of a St. Bernard and a distinctly ugly and prehistoric looking creature called the Monk fish) and at the end of it we ate at a great little place called the Pike Brewing Co.
a brewery/restaurant where we had a fine meal and many brews (including a sampler of six small glasses of ale-light to dark- including my two faves the Naughty Nellie-now renamed the Naughty Neily-and the Kilt Lifter-fill in your own comments...;o)
Afterwards our resident Beer Snob,Bryan,proceeded to spill a mug of ale all over our fearless leader, Wolfy (perhaps in response to Wolfy's and my blasphemous ale sampler drinking style: we downed each glass like a whiskey shot) and then we moved on to our next destination...
...the infamous Seattle Underground!
Yes, we descended into the selfsame darkness that TV's intrepid reporter and part time monster hunter, Carl Kolchak did when he sought out the mysterious Dr. Richard Malcolm-otherwise known as the Night Strangler.
I'm sorry to say we never got to see the great old building Malcolm hid away in all those years as our tour guides insisted no such place existed...
...yeah...
...right.
But the tour itself is a joy to experience (even on this, my second trip to the place) thanks certainly to the sights of bits of historic old Seattle and the very entertaining tour guides, but mainly to the consumption by we ETPers of even more brews which are served in a bar attached to the sight of the tour's starting place...;o)
After our exhausting jaunt thru the dark,cobwebby corridors of Seattle's past we had worked up quite a thirst so on our way back to the hotel we stopped for a well deserved brew or two at a little Irish Pub called Fado.
Therein we were served several tall glasses of various ales (and a round of shots of Jamison's) by a buxom lass whose name escapes me (tho her ample form does not) which,considering the amount of brews we consumed over the course of that day, I'm surprised i recall as much as I do...;o)
Bryan took a picture of the aforementioned lassie and meself which I have yet to see-methinks it shall not please me wifey...ahem...;o)
Naughty Neily...
Below is a pic of our pleasant evening at the Casa del Senn- Bryan and his lovely wifey helped make this an enjoyable time by serving up BBQ, brews (he IS the Beer Snob after all) and baked goodies-all capped off with film viewings (a Santo flick and TARGET EARTH) on his LARGE TV screen (someday i too will own such a device!)
The photo below is of the ETPers enjoying a couple fantastic burgers and shakes at the famous Dick's Burgers (and yes,the various rude puns one immediately thinks of were traded amongst us all weekend ;o) we had stopped at Dick's on our way to see a film called OSS 117 (see above blog entry for details on this funny movie) which we saw at a small "arthouse" kind of theater-very enjoyable night and I wish I could go see films with this group of guys more often...;o)
The below shot is of Wolfy and Brucie enjoying the good food served at a Thai restaurant called Ayutthaya. (I had the accurately named Heavenly Beef-yummm) Many Singhas were consumed.
I had never had Thai food before and I look forward to the next time (but I'm taking a cab there as it was about 14 blocks on foot-all UPHILL! but the walk back-DOWNHILL- was much more relaxing-lol) especially if we are in Seattle again...;o)
Well, that was but a small fraction of the doings by the ETP last weekend and i wish i took more pix (I missed a few sights as I was also appearing at the Emerald City Con in my duties as comic artist-a great show run by great people-thanks to both friends and fans alike-someday i shall return) and i hope to add a few more that were taken by my brethren soon-until next we chat...
That's All,Vokes!
I traveled late in the day and as i was flying west-from Jersey to Washington state-i followed the sun on it's decent-beautiful sights, such as the snow capped mountain ranges and rivers of the northwest-I am uneasy with flying, yet love to watch the images from the window...
Here's a view from my room on the 15th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel in downtown Seattle-the ETP crew and I (for the uninitiated the ETP stands for the EuroTrash Paradise talk group-we're film geeks, the lot of us-but 1stly were all good friends) were all bundled into a group of rooms on the tenth floor...that is until I arrived Thursday evening and tried to check in.
It seems that two of my ETP brethren had some air conditioning troubles with their room and wanted to get a room with one that worked-the thing is, they got MY ROOM- the slight awkwardness of the situation didn't much matter to me after I saw the priceless look on the young lady's face who was waiting on us-when she then asked my name and she realized she had just given my room to my friends her "deer in the headlights" look made it all worthwhile...;o)
Below we are looking downhill (lotsa hills in Seattle-reminded me of the streets of San Francisco-the place not the tv show) past a few of my buddies at the famous Pike Place Fish Market.
We had a very aromatic stroll thru the place,enjoying the smells,the tastes (they give out lotsa free samples) and the sights (HUGE frikking Alaskan King Crab legs, salmon the size of a St. Bernard and a distinctly ugly and prehistoric looking creature called the Monk fish) and at the end of it we ate at a great little place called the Pike Brewing Co.
a brewery/restaurant where we had a fine meal and many brews (including a sampler of six small glasses of ale-light to dark- including my two faves the Naughty Nellie-now renamed the Naughty Neily-and the Kilt Lifter-fill in your own comments...;o)
Afterwards our resident Beer Snob,Bryan,proceeded to spill a mug of ale all over our fearless leader, Wolfy (perhaps in response to Wolfy's and my blasphemous ale sampler drinking style: we downed each glass like a whiskey shot) and then we moved on to our next destination...
...the infamous Seattle Underground!
Yes, we descended into the selfsame darkness that TV's intrepid reporter and part time monster hunter, Carl Kolchak did when he sought out the mysterious Dr. Richard Malcolm-otherwise known as the Night Strangler.
I'm sorry to say we never got to see the great old building Malcolm hid away in all those years as our tour guides insisted no such place existed...
...yeah...
...right.
But the tour itself is a joy to experience (even on this, my second trip to the place) thanks certainly to the sights of bits of historic old Seattle and the very entertaining tour guides, but mainly to the consumption by we ETPers of even more brews which are served in a bar attached to the sight of the tour's starting place...;o)
After our exhausting jaunt thru the dark,cobwebby corridors of Seattle's past we had worked up quite a thirst so on our way back to the hotel we stopped for a well deserved brew or two at a little Irish Pub called Fado.
Therein we were served several tall glasses of various ales (and a round of shots of Jamison's) by a buxom lass whose name escapes me (tho her ample form does not) which,considering the amount of brews we consumed over the course of that day, I'm surprised i recall as much as I do...;o)
Bryan took a picture of the aforementioned lassie and meself which I have yet to see-methinks it shall not please me wifey...ahem...;o)
Naughty Neily...
Below is a pic of our pleasant evening at the Casa del Senn- Bryan and his lovely wifey helped make this an enjoyable time by serving up BBQ, brews (he IS the Beer Snob after all) and baked goodies-all capped off with film viewings (a Santo flick and TARGET EARTH) on his LARGE TV screen (someday i too will own such a device!)
The photo below is of the ETPers enjoying a couple fantastic burgers and shakes at the famous Dick's Burgers (and yes,the various rude puns one immediately thinks of were traded amongst us all weekend ;o) we had stopped at Dick's on our way to see a film called OSS 117 (see above blog entry for details on this funny movie) which we saw at a small "arthouse" kind of theater-very enjoyable night and I wish I could go see films with this group of guys more often...;o)
The below shot is of Wolfy and Brucie enjoying the good food served at a Thai restaurant called Ayutthaya. (I had the accurately named Heavenly Beef-yummm) Many Singhas were consumed.
I had never had Thai food before and I look forward to the next time (but I'm taking a cab there as it was about 14 blocks on foot-all UPHILL! but the walk back-DOWNHILL- was much more relaxing-lol) especially if we are in Seattle again...;o)
Well, that was but a small fraction of the doings by the ETP last weekend and i wish i took more pix (I missed a few sights as I was also appearing at the Emerald City Con in my duties as comic artist-a great show run by great people-thanks to both friends and fans alike-someday i shall return) and i hope to add a few more that were taken by my brethren soon-until next we chat...
That's All,Vokes!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Commissions...
First we have a romantic tryst between the Green Goblin who has a little love potion for his honey and Harley Quinn-The Joker ain't gonna be happy about this:
Then we have a montage of images from the classic KING KONG as seen thru my eyes:
and lastly the most recent piece is based on an old-1936- pulp novel's contents page (see attached original) perhaps a touch racier than most of the art on this blog but i don't think it'll hurt anyone's sensibilities...;o)
Then we have a montage of images from the classic KING KONG as seen thru my eyes:
and lastly the most recent piece is based on an old-1936- pulp novel's contents page (see attached original) perhaps a touch racier than most of the art on this blog but i don't think it'll hurt anyone's sensibilities...;o)
Sunday, April 6, 2008
A Vokes Studio Tour - don't touch anything...
A friend has asked to see better views of my studio than the little peeks i give in the inserts to the right- i've been asked this before in other forums and i have to say i get a kick outta seeing other's studios myself.
So for those of you who are curious (and those who aren't ;o) my studio-such as it is- looking from more or less center of the room and revolving around from left to right (clik on the pix for a bigger view) ...
All it amounts to is a roomful of art, books,movie memorabilia,toys,posters,more books and -oh yeah-a few artist supplies...;o)
...bored yet?
That's All,Vokes Folks...;o)
So for those of you who are curious (and those who aren't ;o) my studio-such as it is- looking from more or less center of the room and revolving around from left to right (clik on the pix for a bigger view) ...
All it amounts to is a roomful of art, books,movie memorabilia,toys,posters,more books and -oh yeah-a few artist supplies...;o)
...bored yet?
That's All,Vokes Folks...;o)
Friday, April 4, 2008
HELLBOY 2
Monday, March 31, 2008
I,MONSTER: LSOH Amicus Tribute
Below is an illustration i just finished for old buddy, Dick Klemensen's magazine LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS.
The mag is lovingly devoted to the great British film company (the "Shoppe of Horrors" of the title) Hammer Films- They are best known for their horror films such as HORROR OF DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. They have also been responsible for introducing wonderful actors like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed.
The amusing irony of this is that the piece I'm showcasing today isn't from a Hammer Film, tho it DOES star Lee and Cushing.
No, it's from an Amicus Film (a "rival" of Hammer's back in the 60s/70s) called I,MONSTER.
Dick wanted to change the focus of his mag for one issue to another famous studio's work-a change of pace after 36 years of publishing-it promises to be a great ish!
The story of I,MONSTER is actually an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novella THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
The main character in this not so successful version of the tale is named Dr. Marlowe and his alter ego, Mr. Blake-this odd altering of the character's names makes no sense as the story is a rather faithful adaption of the book.
I've been doing illos for Dick's book for quite a while now and i always look forward to the subject of the next issue-Along with Brit artist Adrian Salmon and Bruce Timm (the animated BATMAN/SUPERMAN among many other credits) and a handful of other artists and writers, I'm doing my small bit by drawing one of my favorite actors, Christopher Lee.
I thought I'd share with you fine folk the various steps I took to get to that final image.
These were the 1st sketches I did after deciding which film I wanted to do-quick ideas without any thought to details,likenesses,etc-just those 1st images that pop into your head-most times these ideas are the best.
then I scanned the sketches into the computer-i use Adobe Photoshop for tweaking any scanned art-nothing fancy,just changing the size or positioning-maybe switching an image left to right-moving bits of the art around to get a different feel or composition.
In this case i dropped the idea of the full figure to get closer on his face and placed Dr. Marlowe/Jekyll over Blake's/Hyde's right shoulder-having both versions of his character helps the duality of the theme.
Then i print out a copy of the scanned sketch,place it on the lightboard and "clean it up".
Then again on the LB to put it on the paper (a rough Bristol) while firming up the details better.
After that i go to the inks and wash (sorry i didn't stop to scan the inkline before finishing-i sometimes get caught up in the work and don't stop till done) black for Blake and a grey line for Marlowe-giving it the illusion of "distance" from the foreground.
When done i scan it again and play around with it in Photoshop-I layer a title over the finished piece and then i actually added a slight "diffusion" filter to the foreground figure-i thought it added a cool "atmosphere" to it-it even kinda looks a little bit like an old book cover illo to me-that brings us back to the 1st piece at the top of this post...
... and hopefully a satisfied Mr. Klemensen...;o)
The mag is lovingly devoted to the great British film company (the "Shoppe of Horrors" of the title) Hammer Films- They are best known for their horror films such as HORROR OF DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. They have also been responsible for introducing wonderful actors like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Oliver Reed.
The amusing irony of this is that the piece I'm showcasing today isn't from a Hammer Film, tho it DOES star Lee and Cushing.
No, it's from an Amicus Film (a "rival" of Hammer's back in the 60s/70s) called I,MONSTER.
Dick wanted to change the focus of his mag for one issue to another famous studio's work-a change of pace after 36 years of publishing-it promises to be a great ish!
The story of I,MONSTER is actually an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novella THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
The main character in this not so successful version of the tale is named Dr. Marlowe and his alter ego, Mr. Blake-this odd altering of the character's names makes no sense as the story is a rather faithful adaption of the book.
I've been doing illos for Dick's book for quite a while now and i always look forward to the subject of the next issue-Along with Brit artist Adrian Salmon and Bruce Timm (the animated BATMAN/SUPERMAN among many other credits) and a handful of other artists and writers, I'm doing my small bit by drawing one of my favorite actors, Christopher Lee.
I thought I'd share with you fine folk the various steps I took to get to that final image.
These were the 1st sketches I did after deciding which film I wanted to do-quick ideas without any thought to details,likenesses,etc-just those 1st images that pop into your head-most times these ideas are the best.
then I scanned the sketches into the computer-i use Adobe Photoshop for tweaking any scanned art-nothing fancy,just changing the size or positioning-maybe switching an image left to right-moving bits of the art around to get a different feel or composition.
In this case i dropped the idea of the full figure to get closer on his face and placed Dr. Marlowe/Jekyll over Blake's/Hyde's right shoulder-having both versions of his character helps the duality of the theme.
Then i print out a copy of the scanned sketch,place it on the lightboard and "clean it up".
Then again on the LB to put it on the paper (a rough Bristol) while firming up the details better.
After that i go to the inks and wash (sorry i didn't stop to scan the inkline before finishing-i sometimes get caught up in the work and don't stop till done) black for Blake and a grey line for Marlowe-giving it the illusion of "distance" from the foreground.
When done i scan it again and play around with it in Photoshop-I layer a title over the finished piece and then i actually added a slight "diffusion" filter to the foreground figure-i thought it added a cool "atmosphere" to it-it even kinda looks a little bit like an old book cover illo to me-that brings us back to the 1st piece at the top of this post...
... and hopefully a satisfied Mr. Klemensen...;o)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Falconer: the EAGLE years
While I was working on EAGLE,back in the distant 80s,i realized i could finally use my old character of Falconer if I figured out how to fit him into the continuity.
As Jack Herman and i were going to establish that in our "history" the Earth was invaded by a planet of conquerers called the Talik back in the late 1800s-our homage to WAR OF THE WORLDS,I guess-it was a natural to show that Falconer was part of the revolution against the invaders-in fact a leader of freedom fighters-because i established in my Falconer back story that he was around then battling vampires and monsters.
He first appeared in a flashback to that time being told by Talik police detective Devlin in ish # 8:
Then, in ish # 12 we told the story of Eagle's origin-as this story contained how Richard Adler/Eagle received the accursed "ORB" we again found a way to incorporate Falconer into it.
After the invasion was contained the ORB,within a robot body, became Falconer's companion-the close proximity of the powerful energy prolonged his life- He meets Eagle in 1957 when he was 111 years old!
Eagle,at the time a paid assassin for the dread Red Dragon organization,had come to kill Falconer,but the old man kicked his butt- the orb-apparently-wipes the hate and darkness from him and he becomes a student-and virtually a son-of Falconer's.
They have several years of friendship during which Eagle grows as a fighter and as a man- until the day Falconer's body just gives out.
These events lead up to Eagle becoming one with the orb and the rest is history.
So i managed to take two of my favorite creations and merge them into one continuity-a Vokes universe as it were...;o)
As Jack Herman and i were going to establish that in our "history" the Earth was invaded by a planet of conquerers called the Talik back in the late 1800s-our homage to WAR OF THE WORLDS,I guess-it was a natural to show that Falconer was part of the revolution against the invaders-in fact a leader of freedom fighters-because i established in my Falconer back story that he was around then battling vampires and monsters.
He first appeared in a flashback to that time being told by Talik police detective Devlin in ish # 8:
Then, in ish # 12 we told the story of Eagle's origin-as this story contained how Richard Adler/Eagle received the accursed "ORB" we again found a way to incorporate Falconer into it.
After the invasion was contained the ORB,within a robot body, became Falconer's companion-the close proximity of the powerful energy prolonged his life- He meets Eagle in 1957 when he was 111 years old!
Eagle,at the time a paid assassin for the dread Red Dragon organization,had come to kill Falconer,but the old man kicked his butt- the orb-apparently-wipes the hate and darkness from him and he becomes a student-and virtually a son-of Falconer's.
They have several years of friendship during which Eagle grows as a fighter and as a man- until the day Falconer's body just gives out.
These events lead up to Eagle becoming one with the orb and the rest is history.
So i managed to take two of my favorite creations and merge them into one continuity-a Vokes universe as it were...;o)
Unpublished Projects: Josef Talon Falconer: the (almost) series
(the text for this piece is a "work in progress", dear readers- soon as i finish it I'll update - for now enjoy the art of an artist who ALSO was a work in progress...;o)
This project underwent many variations since i first came up with it a few years before i became a pro artist-so that would be late '70s, early '80s.
These last three pieces were updates- the cover that Matt and I did was sitting around-still is- and i scanned it then did a wash over it.
the Drac and Falconer sketches were for a story i was gonna do back in '01-never got past the sketches-lol...;o)
This project underwent many variations since i first came up with it a few years before i became a pro artist-so that would be late '70s, early '80s.
These last three pieces were updates- the cover that Matt and I did was sitting around-still is- and i scanned it then did a wash over it.
the Drac and Falconer sketches were for a story i was gonna do back in '01-never got past the sketches-lol...;o)
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