Diego's Max Costume

With the success of the new Spike Jonze film, I figured by next year the studio would start producing a ton of Max Wolf suits for all the kids to dress up in.

"Why not just make em' now, so everyone could have done it this Halloween?" you ask

Because movie studios and execs have no faith in anything except the all mighty dollar and they were scared no one would like the film and it would make them poor.

A short bit of time on the "Google Detective Agency" to learn that there was nowhere to buy a really good Max outfit and it was decided.

We altered a bunny suit and this is the result. The most awesome Where The Wild Things Are costume for Halloweeen 2009.

You can view the rest of the pics from that day here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168599&id=688020589&l=1efcb18bdf

Psycho 78's, Hudson Valley Horrors

The Horrors never returned my emails, but Amanda from the Psycho 78's dropped me a line one day and told me how much she dug Lady Frankenstein here, so I adapted her and tailored her for the 78's and the result is something I'm really happy with:




Inspired by the trailer I saw for the upcoming roller derby flik with Kristin Wiig; I've done a bunch of sketches of pin-up girls related to the derby outfit closest to my heart and house, the Hudson Valley Horrors based in Kingston, NY where I lived for a few years.
I haven't done the final inking on it, but I really wanted to try out some colors on her, so I just did this kinda slap dash in Photoshop. It still needs a lot of work, and I've got issues with some of my color choices, but overall, I think it'll be kinda bad@ss once it's done.

King Babar

Needed to take a break from drawing so many tentacles, so naturally I just move on to elephant trunks. This is actually an idea I had the other day when Diego and I were looking at some Babar books. I just wanted to see the great king rendered a bit more realistically.

Babar the Warrior King:

Think I might take this one a bit further. Do the whole throne room and deck it out in some lion skins and shields and other cliche African King stuff.

Babar the Hindu King:

This one, I think I might work on some more too. Gonna turn this in to an Indian, Afriecan, Parisian hybrid of some sort. Ganesh meets Shaka Zulu meets the Madelyne.

A Walk in the Park (preview) 48" x 36"

She's evolving in to something new and AWESOME!! Loving this direction it's going in.


And here we have the final sketch before I begin painting this lovely young woman. I'm not completely pleased with the style of umbrella so I left it out. Have I mentioned how much I hate my small @ss scanner by the way?







One of the newer pieces I'm working on for the Marvelous & Co. show next month in SOHO.
She gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Junk in the trunk"

Business Card

That's an actual illustration of my brain. I had to use four different mirrors at nine different angles to draw it.
Turns out, my brain is big enough to fit in a light bulb.
Guess I'm just a pretty face after all. --ack!

Scumbag Alum

The boys from Scumbag College and a detail of Rick.

"I gotta stop sniffing this Ajax."

I don't know if any of you watched this show, but The Young Ones was one of my favorite shows when I was younger. This is a preview of the art I'm doing for my new Young Ones tee shirt. I'll post Neil, Mike and Rick as soon as they're done.

Samhain

Samhain Skinny Bones ©
by Jean Michel

Samhain Skinny Bones,
Samhain Skinny Bones,
Why do you wail and crow

You call your jester
From a bail of hay
To watch him cleave and sow

Samhain Skinny Bones,
Samhain Skinny Bones,
Dancing through the stalks

Find a child that is pink and round
Gobble him bottom to top

The Trouble With Miss Switch - Continued

Just trying to flesh out the composition a bit more before I tighten up the sketches. I think I need to make Rupert's face a might bit friendlier and Amelia's face a hair less manly.

The Trouble With Miss Switch

I don't know if any of you remember, but in 1980 there was something called the ABC Weekend Special and it was a Saturday morning cartoon showcase. Every week they would play a new story and two of my favorites when I was a kid were called "The Trouble With Miss Switch" and the sequel "Miss Switch to the Rescue"

They were about this little girl and boy who realize one day that their substitute teacher is a witch.

This is a sketch of Miss Switch in her day time school marm gear and her night time sexy witch duds.

You can watch the cartoons here if you want,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5CkBTH5l30
but just realize they do not hold up very well. Love the music though.

Midget Boy Mechanic

So, this is the main character of my giant robo story. I still don't have a name that's stuck yet, but I've been kicking around the name David, but I thought that might be a bit cliche. David and Goliath and all that.

He's twelve years old and he's a midget or dwarf or little person. I'm not too sure what the appropriate nomenclature is these days.

Giant Robo Knight

So this is another story that I came up with back in '99 or 2000. It's a giant robo story that takes place in the future when wars are fought in a monumental sized arena between the nations of the world by each countries giant robot warriors. It's kinda like the Olympics, but instead of just glory and gold medals, the prizes are political spoils.

This particular image is of the UK's bot which is a centaur knight. The main character of the story is the pilot of this bot.

The Great American Steampunk Novel

These are characters from a steampunk story I'm writing. The girl is a maniacal and sadistic princess in the story. The Beast is an empathic aqua/terra type beast.

They're Coming!!!

I've finally begun the inks for the Zombie Baby Parade. You can read the poem and find the initial sketches in ye olde blog archives.

A Weird Illo

This is an illustration I keep coming back to and tweaking and working on. Think I may start playing around with it again.