Pay Day

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted. This time of year always seems like my most hectic at work and that carries over to home life as well as we are always trying to finish up house projects. I am almost done with some major ones (well what I consider major, I'm sure they are minor). Anyhoos, this is something I have been meaning to post for some time, actually it's been several weeks.

This is what I like to call Pay Day. See I have this arrangement with Tate's I do a bunch of stickers and stuff and instead of paying me freelance they send me the occasional care package. This is actually the second one this year, the first contained Galactus and a ton of other goodies that have popped up on the blog. Tate's are always good to me and they really keep up with what I am into, they make sure I have a Batman, Stormtrooper (or other Star Wars thing), some Marvel and as in this case some Hellboy. This is also when they send me a ton of the stickers I helped in creating. I can't say it enough I love Tate's and all the people there and I always look forward to doing more drawing for them. To be honest I did purchase one item in this box, but the rest was earned with blood, sweat, and digital ink. Hope you enjoy.

An over view of all the cool swag!

The stickers and cool Tate's Spiderman cover.

Lil' Marvel Dudes! My son already claimed the Iron Man.

This is the one I bought, sweet vinyl cape Jawa!

The Jabba Dark Horse Comic Bag (I helped with the illustration ; ) and a sweet Batman and Robin Pennant from the Sixties.

This was a total surprise for my son and I to share... I knew Mike Mignola signed a sticker for me, but...

...this was above and beyond my expectations!

That's it! I received this package about three weeks back and still amazed at how well they know me and all the cool stuff in there. Big thanks again to Tate and his Family,the staff and all! I received another package from a fellow blogger this past weekend, that one you have to tune in later in the week to see.

Hopefully I will get back on some sort of schedule and as soon as my wife clears out her shoes from the closet, ha ha, I will be putting some more stuff up for sale on eBay (have to make room for that Jawa).

Don't bring a blaster to a lightsaber fight

As an old friend of mine used to say "HERE"S SOMETHING FOR YOUR EYE!" which usually had me ducking because it was followed up with some sort of attack like Cato Fong in the Pink Panther movies. In this case it's some more artwork, sketches, doodles whatever you want to call it. These are done for fun.

First up is poor old Ponda Baba. What if the whole run in with Luke and Ben in the Cantina was a mistake, then this poor guy got the short end of the stick... wait didn't his buddy get killed? Now I have to go watch the movie one more time, damn you feeble memory! Still to loose and arm while trying to relax in a bar, right?



I have to say I am pretty excited that this guy is getting a new version in the Hasbro Star Wars Vintage line, complete with stump.

Next Jboypacman asked in some earlier comments if I ever drew monsters... you know I haven't in a long time. I did a set way when I first started working in toys for some basketballs, I will have to see if I can dig those up from an archive. So, I drew up this guy up for him.



Why he is offering up a flower is beyond me, just seemed to be a good thing for him to hold. Again I am thinking this was a scene in the movie right before someone drowned...Great! Now I have to go re watch that movie!

I ended up taking this one and setting up a little sticker for my favorite comic shop, if you dropped by from the shops facebook page welcome and hope you enjoy the sneak peek. Jboy if I get it made I will send ya some.

I have been feeling like doing a DC sticker for the shop and I have it narrowed down to two characters. Hawkman and Aquaman. I will end up sooner or later doing both, but I want to see a show of hands for which one should be first. So leave a comment and vote for one, or you could offer up another suggestion, but you better be prepared to work I will need a tag line too. What's is in it for you... um bragging rights? I don't know I will think of something.

Helluv a Week!

I really meant for this to be a weekend post, but one thing led to another and on and on. So with that said here's something I thought was pretty sweet. As you may know I make these little illustrations that a great little comic shop down in Florida then prints up for stickers. The shop of course is Tate's, the illustrations vary from hero to hero and are pretty much just what ever I feel like sketching up at the time. I do get requests from the team at Tate's for special events, only on occasion and for something they need quick. It's a pretty sweet little gig and the pay is awesome!

Anyway a few weekends back Tate's hosted a Dark Horse Day and of course I had already did a sweet little Hellboy illustration months ago. I thought they might use it, but was not sure. Turns out they did. Do you rember the one,here it is in case you need a refresher.



Okay the part that I thought was sweet was that Mike Mignola was present at the event. Surely you know that he created Hellboy right? I am somewhat a fan of his artwork, and by somewhat I am totally a fan of his artwork. You would think being a Batman fan I would have known more about Mr. Mignola's other hero, but my son was actually the person that introduced me to the wonderful world of Hellboy, which I fell for hook, line and sinker. Comics, movies and toys, I loves me some Hellboy. Plus it's a cool thing that my son and I share, because lets face it a lot of times us parents are lame and do not follow all the anime our children are into and they do not always love the heroes we are into. That's all okay, but it is even cooler when there is that one that just clicks. Now, I can't say I have every comic or toy, but I think I have enough to satisfy my desire for the character. With that said here are a few of my favorites that I picked up over time.

First up is the Graffiti Designs Hellboy. This one actually sat for a really long time in our local comic shop before I picked it up. I used to get a chuckle out of the description on the package every time I went. It said something like "Comes with a Big Ass Gun!", loved it. I really like the simple style of the figure. It's pretty honking big, but not too big that he couldn't sort of fit in with some of the other figures on the shelf. I can't peg the scale, but he stands about eight to nine inches tall and could go as a big player in the Batman the Animated Series Universe, though he would tower over even the Clayface figure.



Next, and years later, I picked up this one from Mezco. Hands down one of my all time favorite toys. This thing screams Mignola's style. It is like they reached into one of his comic books and ripped it right off the page. I actually have a couple of these. this one and one with his trench coat that came with a group of Vampire Heads. Plus there is one out there I have yet to get, the Rocket Pack version... well that and the large version. Still I am constantly on the look out to score a good deal on either.



Rounding out this post is this little bad boy. He came packed with a Best Buy release of the animated feature Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron. Talk about a bonus, how cool was it to kill two birds with one stone?An awesome little animated movie and a sweet figure. This animated Hellboy is from Gentle Giant, actually my first toy from the company and what a toy it is. I love it just as much as the other two. He came with a couple alternate hands, though the open right hand of doom is my favorite.



I never did pick up any of the small Movie Hellboy figures, not because I didn't want to, just they were always sold out every where I looked at the time. I guess I am lacking that scale in the collection. Still I have enough different sizes to keep me happy.



I have a few of the other characters that I will post about in the future, plus a few little figurines that came in another DVD bundle as well. till then I'm leaving you with the sweet part of the whole comic book shop arc of this post. This here is Mr. Mignola at the Tate's Dark Horse Day event...

photo courtesy of Tate's Comics, photo by A. Pants

How cool is that?

Meanwhile in the backyard...

Gertie has a new friend, and they share one thing in common, they both like to eat.

I present to you the World Eater...

" Ahhh, smells delicious!"

and also the World Eater...

"Hey, don't hog all the grub!"

Yes, two pees in a pod indeed.

I have been waiting to debut this Galactus for quite sometime, it was a sweet reward from none other than my pals at Tate's. I will have to do a better post later, plus show off some of the other swag!

In Florida? Going by Tate's?

Be on the lookout for some more stickers...

Brand spanking new Kirk exploring strange new worlds!



Plus Spock, based on this illustration, doing some Tricordering... or is it Tricording?



Tate's told me these were just sent off to the printers! Also you can Facebook them here, I think they dig the Spock one : )

More Stickers for TATE's!

Here's a few more stickers I did for TATE's comics in Florida! I haven't seen if these were used or not yet, but it's been a blast doing these. Enjoy.









Don't forget to check out the latest Eclectorama Art on the Cheap for your Hi Res Star Wars Trading Card! (yes it's FREE Brian.)

Flash! He'll save everyone of us...

Oh wait wrong flash. Little known fact, next to Batman, the Flash is one of my favorite super heroes. Okay, maybe it is known. This illustration was done for Tate's Comics in Florida for their Free Comic Book Day stickers they pass out (a different version, this one was an "airbrush" version I did for the fun of it).

If I lived in Florida this shop would get a good portion of my pay check. If you live in Florida you should check them out, tell them Charles sent you and what the hey pick me up something nice from their shop for giving you the tip... worth a try.

click image to see larger... if you can, the Flash is pretty quick!

Speaking of being worth a try, do you my dear, dear readers think that people might be interested in me doing commissions of their favorite pop culture heroes? I have been approached and have turned away a lot of offers, but I think if I do it as a commission it might be okay. Leave a comment and let me know.

Tune in tomorrow as I will be posting the stickers and images of the submitted graphics I did for the shop! Hope you all have a great Free Comic Book Day!