Dune Inspired Rock Poster

A gig poster commission that I used to let a long dormant Dune illustration come to life. 

Wolverine Redesign

Well so much for keeping this under wraps for the big reveal. The results are up at Project: Rooftop for the "Look Sharp" contest and this time . . . I ah, didn't do so well. 

Looks like Project: Rooftop's first real upset contest with the majority of the finalists being new faces. Which is great. Yup. Just a mere bag of shells Alice. I had em, and I lost em. Easy come, easy go.

You can read all about my inspirations for this design here, and see the preliminary sketches here. It's a modular costume design. The Sleeves/Hood are attachable to his vest, allowing for multiple looks that are reminiscent of his comic book and movie costumes.

Remake/Remodel IRMA VEP

This was damn good fun. Warren Ellis has brought back his own character redesign meme. Now hosted on the Whitechapel Message board, this weeks challenge was to Remake 1920's film serial femme fatale icon, Irma Vep.

So I decided that to stray from the original is to lose the original's iconic look. So I elaborated on the catsuit's silhouette. The body stocking is a stretch knit styled after a commando sweater with the epulat shoulder pads. The Leggings are of course vinyl and the utility garter belt hopefully adds a touch of french sexuality while serving function. She has a clear plastic faceplate which provides a heads up display for her decrypting super computer.

Vampirella Revamp

My Vampirella redesign for Project Rooftop.

This was a rough one. How do you redesign a character that IS her costume.

I started with the thing I hated most about her classic look. It's her Magic Grow Back Wings. Yee-eee-yuck.
I gave her more anthropomorphic arm-wings. When researching that, I was inspired by photos of bat wings that are back lit and appear to glow red. And from there I was off to the races.

When the wings grow, the full sleeve costume grows over it (Drakulonian Spandex is very stretchy). Since she no longer can wear bracelets without impeding her transformation, the anklets she now wears have a purpose. They are like the Kung Fu rings worn by the Shoalin on their wrists.

The costume zips up the front with the vamp logo becoming a zipper charm. She can now keep her breasts put away for those quieter character moments. Combined with the black shoulder panels, it evokes the classic costume when unzipped. The back is all black aside from the boy shorts. I love the way that the collar + wings creates a bat silhouette. That was an accident.

I think I might have a shot at winning this one.

Update on Friday, September 26, 2008 at 4:23PM by Daniel Heard

4th Place! That's F@*&ing Bull$#!t.

Just kidding it really amazing. Many thanks to the fantastic folks from Project: Rooftop who always come up with new and exciting challenges that eat at the inside of my brain and force me to draw. Special thanks go to Trina Robbins, Dan Bereton and Joe Jusko. The latter two are influences on my work and it's a real honor to have their critiques.

If you clicked here by way of the Contest please post a comment. Give your own a harsh as hell crit, shower me with praise, or just say HI. And click back soon for updates on my work.

The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame

So yeah, almost the entire last year was in one way or the other occupied with work on The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame, just published by Kensington/Citadel.

Written by the excellent Daniel Wilson and Anna Long, it's a very entertaining analysis of the Mad Scientist phenomenon. The majority of my work was creating portraits for each nutcase genius. 

That was Cap'n Nemo, Madame Curie, Dr. No, Dr. Frankenstein. and Nikola Tesla. I was getting paid to draw Dr Frankenstein and Nikola Tesla. Life is rough eh?

Today, Popular Mechanics ran some excerpts from the book with my Illustration featured very nicely.  Go check it out if you havn't already.