Hey all! I’ve got a KickStarter coming up for a new project I’m working on. For now, it’s called Operation Crossbones, and you can keep an eye out for it by following #OpCrossbones on the InstaGrams, the Twit-Verse & the Book of Face. All I’ll say so far is that it involves Pirate Flags and you!
Stay tuned!
– X
Hey! It’s been a long time.
SO! A lot has been going on since the last update. Most notably, I started a new print line. My inner pirate* has bubbled up to the surface, and I have been creating Jolly Rogers using different symbols in the place where the skull in the “skull & crossbones” usually is. Here, take a gander:
I’ve got ’em for sale on a couple of different sites. I have an Etsy store now for selling individual prints, and offering some of them mounted on 5×7 wood blocks. Though, the site I’m most excited to sell on is RedBubble. It’s like CafePress, but not shitty!! There, you can buy my (or other’s) artwork on a bunch of different items, most notably T-shirts! Here’s my buddy E-Rock, a voice actor of League of Legends fame, rockin’ one of my designs in the most Metal way possible:
METAL!! The Gods are pleased!
I’ve had a very positive response from my followers about these Rogers. I sold 4 of 5 mounted prints on wood panels at Convolution, a fantasy-oriented convention held in Burlingame’s Hyatt Regency earlier this month. The guest of honor was none other than Brian Froud, who was the creative director for the beloved films Labyrinth & The Dark Crystal. Here are a few shots from the gallery show:
Yeah, meeting Froud was about as special as it gets. My first gallery show, and my artwork is hung in front of the man who’s work introduced me to the fantasy genre. I gave him one of my buttons. ALSO, my big painting, “Ragnarok”, was bought by Erik Bigglestone, friend and Vice Chair of Convolution, who’s family owns Games of Berkeley. He mentioned that my piece may hang in the store since wall-space at his home is at a premium, SO, if you want to see my work, and y’know, check out one badassed gaming store, stop by Games of Berkeley, and bask in the nerdy awesome-ness! It’s right behind the Berkeley BART station exit, can’t miss it!
Sooo, yeah! It’s been a pretty awesome Fall so far. The Alternative Press Expo was amazing: we reconnected with some old friends, made some new ones & sold a ton of stuff! Furthermore, I was approached by the founder of Alien Ink Cards to create original artwork for a set of themed playing cards. I of course accepted and am now working on one or two “secret” decks. Very exciting!
I am on the Instagrams now, so if ye wanna follow my visual works, check it out!
Till next update! Stay Metal!
-Xander
PS: Stay tuned for info on a Kickstarter / Indie-Go-Go campaign from me, coming real soon!
* When I say “Inner Pirate” it’s a fairly literal statement; Kent family legend tells that we actually have an ancestor that was, in fact, a Pirate. Though, the legends ends with a short drop & a sudden stop. We don’t know his name, BUT, if he was indeed publicly hung from the neck ’till dead, there may be a record of it. Hmm… perhaps I shall hunt for him during my travels to Europe next year.
So, my roommates & I watched the first 3 “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies recently, and the awesomeness of pirates is truly never far from my thoughts (especially since, according to family legend, there is a Pirate waaay back in the Kent bloodline). Add to that sleep deprivation, caffeine & a mind-numbing early shift at my job, and BOOM!! – Cap’n America is born! Behold!
Yarr!!
Furthermore, my girl & I spent 4 days at Comic Con International, and got to board the Jackdaw, the Pirate ship from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, so needless to say, the imagination hasn’t so much sparked, as it has been a raging inferno. I just needed some time to focus it, and forge something awesome out of it.
The Jackdaw! (actually the Star of India, but Ubisoft payed for the sail & paintjob…OMG ship in CosPlay!!)
Me & BlackBeard be maties!
Arr!
She be a beauty!
There will be prints of Cap’n America. Lemme know if you want one! Cheers, Maties!
-Grim
Right now, Multiversity.com is gearing up for the new Abe Sapien series from Dark Horse Comics with an art contest. Everyday they have been posting Abe fanart from some of the great current comic book artists, and the turnout has been awesome! It has inspired me to join in and create something that I feel truly fits with the character. I’m going back to the very beginning of the Hellboy franchise where Abe saves the day by putting a harpoon through Rasputin’s torso, and sets in motion lots of events that permeate throughout the rest of the series for him, big red & lots of others.
Beginning sketches in blue graphite.
Refined sketch, again in blue.
Preliminary inks. Outlines mostly.
Heavy inks. The shadows & shadings are added.
Final inks, refined in Photoshop.
Behold! Color! The finished product, color scheme ripped shamelessly from Mignola himself.
Overall, I am pretty proud of the turnout. There still feels like something is missing in the final product, but I guess that’s a feeling every artist gets. I tried some new things, challenged myself and finished this within 12 hours. I did some hardcore anatomy studies for Abe’s pose from Olympic javelin throwers. I guess I didn’t get the right kind of motion or tense energy in Abe’s physicality that I was hoping for. Ah well, I learned a lot making this piece, and I hope that it catches someone’s eye at Multiversity.com. Also, tentacles are cool!
Cheers!
-Grim
PS: The DoomCrew & I should be at BigWow ComicFest in San Jose. More details to come, but we may have some big stuff coming to the show, so keep May 18 & 19 open.
So, I just finished Xoc: The Journey of a Great White, a graphic novel put out by Oni Press, and I gotta say, I was pretty impressed. It won’t win any Eisner’s, but the message is strong. Matt Dembiki tells the tale mostly from a Great White Shark’s perspective, and gives a very needed heavy-handed and shocking narrative of how humans violate the ocean, and what happens to the creatures that we make movies of, get tattoos of, and overall capture our imaginations.
We don’t do many reviews here at We Doomed, but this particular book lines up with our mission to help out the sharks, especially with the notes at the end of the book where the author details ways the reader can help the ocean’s plight- stopping shark finning, aiding against pollution and other helpful things.
Follow Matt Dembiki’s blog here!
Interesting fact: “Xoc” is the Mayan word for “Devil Fish”. White folks heard it and turned it into “Shark”. Take that one with you to your next pub trivia night!
Furthermore, reading this has lit the flames of inspiration. Here is what sprang forth from my digital pen:
We’ll probably be making some stickers of this. If they sell well enough, who knows? Maybe a shirt will be made!
Thanks for reading folks! Remember, cut those soda can ring-holder-things! Use a battle-ax if you have to…or want to…I don’t really care, just make saving the environment Fucking METAL!
Cheers,
-Xander
Ink wash & paint pens on Bristol paper
This is my new character, Monarch: The Tragic King of California. I’ll be making a lot of pieces with him featured, mostly because all the pieces of him are fun for me to draw: the tattoos, the hoodie, the weird shape of his hands, and of course, the bear head.
To clarify, he is a bear-man. He has all the tendencies of a bear, but is cursed with the form of a man.
Historically, Monarch was a California grizzly bear who “was captured in 1889 in a publicity stunt concocted by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and kept for 22 years in a cage (and became) California’s last captive grizzly”. After his death in 1911, his likeness was used for the California flag. Ironically, his death, and the following death of the remaining few CA grizzlies, signaled the extinction of their species in the region in which they are the state animal for.
In the flesh.
He has been immortalized by being skinned, stuffed and put on display at the California Academy of Sciences, where we can gawk at him today.
His throne.
His skeleton is being used for study at UC Berkeley’s Zoology department, however, his skull is currently missing. Maybe it belongs to The Tragic King, it’s rightful owner.
I’m not much of an environmentalist, or humanitarian, but I have focused causes. And if I can’t help the causes monetarily or physically, I’ll at least make art about it to get the word out there! Every Californian should know about Monarch,
Cheers!
-Xander “Grim” K.
Behold, Monarch. The living tragedy of California. You’ll be seeing a lot of him soon! This is (obviously) just a sketch, but I already have a lot of ideas about him and a pretty awesome painting mostly done. Keep an eye out for him.
Happy Friday!
So, I’ve managed to pry myself away from Assassin’s Creed III long enough to crank out another wood panel painting. I’m really enjoying using those Montana acrylic paint pens, especially on these panels. I recently bought a 50mm-tipped black paint pen and have really been putting through its paces (see below).
For those of you who don’t know, Halloween is my favorite holiday, right next to National Talk Like A Pirate Day. So I decided to combine the two and be a Pirate for the holiday, which for me spanned the weekend before Halloween and the day of, so that’s a lot of swashbuckling! 3 days of rum & saying “Yar!!” I love this holiday…
Anyway, I made a painting inspired by and to celebrate being a pirate and being a decendant of a pirate.
It’s actually not finished yet. I picked up a green 15mm paint pen yesterday to add the finishing elements. I’ll post the final product this weekend.
Happy Halloween, Felis Dia De Los Muertos & Blessed Samhain!
-Grim
It begins…
More later!
Im trying out a new technique: Spray paint & paint pens. I’m planning on making a new fine art series using birchwood panels and Montana Black spray paint:
This is a 12″x16″ panel sprayed with colors Jaws & Seal.
I then drew a stencil of a familiar shape on it:
Then, using Montana Acrylic Paint Pens, I added color flourishes:
This is as far as I’ve gotten so far. I’m still working on the color flourishes so I’ll post again when I make more progress. I really enjoy the coverage I get from the Montana Black line of spray paint, and their color range is amazing. Their pens I really can’t praise enough; great color vibrancy & opacity with durable nibs. Pick some up at your local art store (aka: Flax on Market in downtown San Francisco). Tell ’em Grim sent you.
The Word of Grim 