MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hey everyone, have a Merry Chritsmas and a Happy New year! Peace out.

The Brave and the Bold

I was asked by the WB producers of Batman the Brave and the Bold, to do some action poses of different DC characters to be included on the opening title sequence. The best part it's that Kamandi was one of those characters. Kamandi is a DC Comics comic book character created by acclaimed artist Jack Kirby. The bulk of Kamandi's appearances occurred in the comic series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, which ran from 1972 to 1978. Kamandi is a young hero in a post-apocalyptic future. After a huge event called "The Great Disaster", humans are a persecuted minority in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals. I grew up on that plus Kamandi was one of my first Kirby comics.
One of the other many characters was Jonah Hex. Jonah Hex is a fictional character, a Western comic book anti-hero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga.
The right side of his face is horribly distinctly scarred. He was an officer for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, fought at Gettysburg and is normally shown wearing a tattered Confederate States Army jacket. Hex is surly and cynical, and is in many ways similar to Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name or The Outlaw Josey Wales.
I heard the show it's doing well.
BTW needless to say these images are copyright WB Animation and DC Comics.

Batman the Brave and the Bold

Another project I've had the pleasure to work on is Batman the Brave and the Bold. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the name of an upcoming animated television series based in part on the comic book series of the same name. Batman having a pronounced cleft chin, will team-up with several other DC Comics heroes. The show is scheduled to debut on November 14, 2008 at 8:00 pm, on Cartoon Network. I promise after the show it's aired I'll post a couple of my designs. Here is a screen grab from two of my designs.
Enjoy the opening sequence on this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Yg24vfokc 

Dead Space Downfall

Good Anime , low quality in graphics, excelect B movie. It is dark , bloody full goar like a Ramirez film.
The story is pretty much straightforward. Dead planet, host parasitic alien form, comes to ship and kills everyone.
If you are into horror Sci Fi, you may like it.
For the record all of this images are copyright either EA of Film Roman.

Here is one of my "character design" jobs. Miner # 1 covered in blood.



Another "design" for one of the many Slashers...



They actually misspelled my last name after I made them read it back to me properly... it's Tejeda not Tejada.
They misspelled my last name on The Simpsons Movie too, but after I demand an explanation they corrected it for the DVD release. You would think in a multimillion dollar industry the people in charge of the credits would check how to spell everyone's names...once again that's Hollywood for ya.

Walking with Buddha

Here is a model I revised in 2005 from Walking with Buddha for the Ngong Ping 360 Buddhist Cultural Center.
Walking with Buddha is an immersive, multimedia attraction allowing visitors to follow the life of Siddhartha Gautama - the man who became Buddha - and his path to enlightenment.
It physically takes you on a journey through Siddhartha's life. From the opulence of Siddhartha's Palace to the harshness of the Forest, you will feel as if you are truly 'walking with Buddha'. Travelling through the various stages of Siddhartha's life, you will witness his transition from being a Prince at Court to reaching supreme awareness and becoming Buddha.
They only gave me a character design "clean up" credit, after I did some animation walk cycle as reference for TMS, the overseas studio. I also went over the main designs, revised them and of course clean them up. If you ask me that is more than just character design "clean up".
At least I got to be part of this cool cartoon and got to work with Bill Sienkiewicz, one of my many heroes when I was a kid.

Dr. Feelgood Comic Book

In 1997 I was called by Shaun McLaughlin (the producer from the New Batman and Superman Adventures at that time) He asked me if I wanted to do a comic book for Motley Crue, since he knew I was a Motley Fan. His friend also named Shaun was the art director for Motley Crue at the Generation Swine Tour and was looking for a fast comic book artist. They asked me to do a comic book from a script based on the Dr. Feelgood song in "four" days, since the band was already on tour. My comic images would be shown during the rest of the tour on the big screens on each side of the stage each time Motley played that song.
It was very difficult to complete my new assignment since I was already working full time for Warner Brothers designing characters for a Superman episode and doing some storyboards freelance for a Batman episode. It was also my first time doing storyboards for WB and I wanted to impress Bruce Timm by doing a good job, no pressure.
Later after I started, I got a call asking me to do it in "two" days. So I drank coffee like water, didn't sleep for two days and got everything done and shipped on time. I probably did 35 comic panels in 15 hours listening to the Dr. Fellgood song over and over.
The panels were in black and white due to the lack of time. I was inspired by my comic book artists heroes a that time, Jaime Hernandez and Jordi Bernet.
A week later I got a giant check from Motley Crue to me for $ 6,000 dollars. I think it was my best paid comic book work ever.
I wish I had a copy from that check, it was awesome. I spend everything on my drum kit the next day at Guitar Center in Hollywood.
Here are some of those panels.
Thanx Tommy, Nikki, Vince and Mick I would never forget it. I only wish I had a chance to meet you guys and do some more work for the band...maybe some day.

Girls with Guns

From an old sketch book named "Girls with Guns" that belongs to Chris Roman.
I found the sketch book in my library by accident when I was looking for something else.
I didn't even know I had it all this time since 1997. I guess I was the last one in doing a piece for the book...ooops...sorry Chris, my most sincere apologies. And yes, I did this in 1997 not recently.

Hellboy II

Since Hellboy II: The Golden Army it's opening today
I thought it would be nice to have something related to it.
So there...based on a Mignola sketch, but much more simplified.

Update (7-12-08' - 2:41 am)
You are not going to believe what happened today.
I went to see Hellboy II at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks at the 8:30 pm show.
I had a one sheet print out of my tickets, but I thought I get the individual printed tickets when I get there just in case Adriana was late. Adriana was one of my party of five along with Laysha, Laurie and Paul. She is always late.
When I went to do that the operations manager pull me to the side and told me Guillermo Del Toro himself was going to be there for that screening and that he chose those particular seats himself. I guess I got the best seats in the house. We got separate re-assigned seats for that show-time, one on each corner of the theatre, the only unpleasant part of the evening.
So...to make it up to us for the inconvenience they gave us a full refund, a free cool bag full of Hellboy merchandise, including a poster drawn by Mike Mignola, autographed by Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman and Doug Jones.
Oh, and it gets better, we went to dinner at the Arclight Cafe and Guillermo Del Toro and his wife got seated in a table next to us. Obviously we went to talk to him after dinner like the good geeks that we are. He was super cool and nice, very down to earth. Since I'm from Argentina I got to talk to him in spanish and told him I want him to direct my Sci Fi epic Terranova and gave him my last business card. After telling him about our re-assigned seating adventure he even offer to get those seats back to us, because he wasn't going to be at the screening after all. But a lying son a bitch dude that works there said those seats were for the people responsible for the FX in the movie. Whatever...if it wasn't for that I would never meet one of my favorite directors.
We watched the movie and I thought it was awesome. Following the screening was a Q&A with the director. I even got the microphone and got to ask my question.
Like the Simpsons Comic Book Guy would say...best movie night ever!

Fashion Girl

Another girly drawing from back in the day.
I was inspired by my co-worker Shane Glines that day, and I made this sorry ass Shane girly drawing imitation.
All thou, I like the way the jacket texture looks.

Batman Beyond

I was surfing the internet and I bumped into this image.
Ironically I made this myself to advertise the show back in the late nineties.
Since the Dark Knight opens July 18 I thought it was a proper image to post.
And for those cartoon illiterate people Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and India) is an American animated television series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy.
Batman Beyond began airing on January 10, 1999 and ended its run on December 18, 2001. With 52 episodes and one direct-to-video movie under its belt, the series was then put on hold for the new Justice League animated series.

Ninja Skills

Quick marker sketch inspired by Rob Haynes & David Self.
I would always enjoy drawing ninjas in that Daredevil style. It's so perfect for animation.
I can't believe nobody pick it up yet.

The Dark Knight Returns

Another possible good flick coming up soon.
It's sad to think they could make so much money thanks to the late Keith Ledger.
Here is my Simpsonized pass at the classic "Dark Knight" comic book.
I meet Frank Miller at the old Golden Apple in Melrose a few years ago
and gave him the original as a gift to thank him for his talent.
He almost automatically sign my drawing, possibly thinking I was just another geek trying to get his autograph.
I had to stop him and tell him it was a gift.

Iron Man

Well...there you have it. As always, time it's a luxury I can't afford. Since I've been too busy with work to come up with my own BG, I used a Frederic St.Arnaud background.
I liked the movie, it was a good comic book adaptation.

The Abomination

Emil Blonsky is a KGB agent and spy who becomes the Abomination after deliberately exposing himself to a greater quantity of the same gamma radiation which transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
I'm not too crazy about the design for the Abomination in the next Hulk movie. Where are the gills?
I gotta revise those feet and give him nails to match his hands. Maybe some day when Marvel pays me to do it.

Galactus

By 1966, Lee and Kirby had decided to create a Fantastic Four story where the nominal heroes were totally eclipsed by a much larger, god-like concept and power. This culminated in the introduction of Galactus in Fantastic Four #48-50 (March-May 1966)
I'm still not 100 % with this face, I would like to take another pass and make it look more like the Moebius design. Perhaps raise his ears a bit.
Well..duh! How am I going to design Marvel characters in the Titans style without looking at Glen's stuff...It's something about those big hands and feet, I just dig it.

The Scarlet Witch

Is it Raven? Is it Starfire? No it's Wanda Django Maximoff...the Scarlet Witch.
The Scarlet Witch is the daughter of master villain Magneto, the twin sister of Quicksilver and half-sister of Polaris.
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
I would like to dedicate this one to my pal Glen.

Doc. Samson

Doc Samson first appeared in the Incredible Hulk #141 (Jul 1971)
Leonard Samson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He became a college professor and psychiatrist. After Robert Bruce Banner was temporarily cured of being the Hulk by siphoning off the gamma radiation that caused his transformations, Samson—who had been working with Banner/Hulk in his job as a psychiatrist—exposed himself to some of the siphoned radiation, causing his hair to become green and granting him superhuman strength proportionate to its length, reminiscent of his biblical namesake. (His power level has since stabilized to the point that it doesn't matter how long his hair is.) Shortly afterward, his flirting with Betty Ross caused a jealous Banner to re-expose himself to radiation, becoming the Hulk once more to battle Samson.

The Rhino

He is a supervillain and a frequent adversary of Spider-Man and occasionally the Hulk. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita, Sr., he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #41 (October 1966).
As part of a Soviet super soldier program, a super-strong polymer was bonded to the Rhino's skin. A dim-witted criminal, the Rhino mostly robs banks and works for more ambitious villains.

Silver Surfer

I mean no contest, right? Cosmic power trumps brute force any ole’ day of the week. Surfer wins. Or does he? Does anyone out there in readerland have something to say about this? Could the Hulk in fact do it? Win? Against the Sentinel of the Spaceways? Face front, true believers, this is your weekend homework assignment. Who Really Wins: post your opinions in the Comments section, conveniently located beneath this post.

The Black Panther

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and penciller-co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four vol. 1, #52 (July 1966).
When Stegron the Dinosaur Man leads a stampede of dinosaurs down Broadway and he is stopped by Spider-Man and the Black Panther was my introduction to this awesome character. Stegron tries to escape on a pterodactyl. Instead he is knocked into the water by Spider-Man and sinks like a rock.

Dr. Strange

Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ( July 1963 )
Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, responsible for defending it from mystic threats.

Wolverine

Incredible Hulk #181- Wolverine jumps on Hulk. He then jumps off Hulk and kicks Wendigo. Hulk decides that "little man is Hulk's friend" since he fights Hulk's enemies. Wolverine doesn't get why Hulk thinks they're buddies, but he uses Hulk. Wolvie distracts Wendigo and Hulk picks him up and throws him into some trees. Wolverine then brings the full force of his claws down on the Wendigo. With Wendigo down Wolverine attacks Hulk. Marie and George take Wendigo and do his half of the transfer. Hulk and Wolverine battle until Marie performs a spell of subjugation. Wolvie and Hulk pass out, and Hulk transforms back into Banner. George refuses to help Marie anymore and leaves. Marie tries to move Banner but awakens him and retriggers the change. Hulk doesn't like being tricked. Wolverine continues his battle with Hulk while Marie goes back to the cave. When Marie screams Wolverine looks over and hulk knocks him out with a punch. That’s right folks a glancing blow knocks Wolverine unconscious.

WINNER: Hulk, SCORE: Hulk 1, Wolverine 0

Iron Man

I don't know about you, but this is how Ironman looked when I saw it for the first time.
I think Marvel gave him this armor for a long time. It's a classic to me.
What did you think of the Movie? How you like them apples uh?
For those comic book Illiterates...Tony Stark, after being gravely injured and forced to build a devastating weapon, instead created a suit of power armor to save his life and help protect the world as Iron Man. He is a wealthy industrialist and genius inventor whose metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight.

HULK

Since I never got a chance to work on the Teen Titans cartoon because of my full time position with Justice League or never got to draw certain Marvel characters, I really got into drawing the Hulk in the Titans style when I heard Marvel was going to do a new cartoon about it. I came up with 12 different designs of super heroes and villains over this past week-end, including two versions of Dr. Strange and the Black Panther. Here is my first pass at the Hulk just for fun. I'll post the others eventually.
BTW this is my 100 th post, good times!

Update (7/4/08') I heard the new Hulk cartoon got cancelled because of the poor sales with the toys after the latest theatrical release. It really sucks that a bunch of stiff ass toy executives decides what to do in the animation industry, it should be the other way around. The lack of talent and vision of certain people in this industry really bothers me. It's not all about the Benjamins, how about true art and real talent.

She Hulk

She-Hulk has been a member of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Heroes For Hire, Defenders, Fantastic Force, and S.H.I.E.L.D. A highly skilled lawyer, she has served as legal counsel to various superheroes on numerous occasions. Her cousin is Bruce Banner, better known as The Incredible Hulk.
Maybe because of the new Hulk movie coming out I just feel like drawing Hulk characters.

Jafar Genie

I'm an All Powerful Genie that Controls the Power of the Universe...
or something like that, isn't that what Jafar said when he turned into a genie?

Work in Progress

There you go, the original pencil rough and the Tria makers color test.
I still got some work to do on this one. I'll try to finish it before May 2nd.

Ratfink

Another teenager t-shirt production.
Pretty self explanatory. Who doesn't like to party?
I was young and crazy when I painted this t-shirt.
Typical teenager party animal listening to hair bands.
Based on a drawing by Ed Big Daddy Roth.
Aaahhh...the 80's...

Slimer

Of course when the movie came out I had to make my own t-shirt. Here is the back of this t-shirt at the bottom.

The Joker T-Shirt

I remember I specially made this t-shirt to wear at the opening night of Batman in 1989.
I based it in a Jim Aparo's comic book panel.

G&R

After I heard that album for the first time in 1986 I became an instant fan and of course I had to paint my own t-shirt with it.
This t-shirt was ridiculously hard to scan and put together. I just couldn't get those wrinkles to go away. Sorry if it looks a little distorted.
Not too bad for an 18 years old punk.

Metallica T-Shirt

On the next few posts you'll find some t-shirts I painted by hand when I was 19 years old.
I kept the ones with the most sentimental value to me, and here they are.
It was extremely difficult to scan them for this blog, since they were very wrinkle, old and didn't fit on my scanner.
I had to place a sheet of cardboard inside each t-shirt and scan them in two halves (bottom and top).
To make them I used a special paint for fabrics called Ladytex made only in Argentina back in the 80's.
It was a very good paint brand, since I wore them and washed them many times. The fact that they still look good proves it.
About this particular piece I remember seeing a japanese Kerrang magazine with a Metallica note in it. And in one page I saw
a photograph of a fan giving James Hetfield a caricature drawing of him Manga style.
For some reason when I was 19 I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, specially because I was a huge Metallica fan myself. And then it hit me, I though it would be really cool to make a t-shirt out of that tiny photo.
It was very challenging to come up with the design since that pic was ridiculously small, but I did it. I can't believe I painted the logo straight up with no art line, I even knew how to do that logo by heart without any reference.
I never got so many compliments on a t-shirt, specially around Metallica's golden age.

The Silver Banshee

The Silver Banshee. Sketch made way before The Justice League days...maybe in 1996.

Speak No Evil

Talking gorilla for a Batman Beyond episode...An intelligent gorilla named Fingers faces off against a one-eyed poacher. As usual, Batman gets stuck in the middle.

Made you look

I owe you a punch, and if you flinch I owe you two!

Thor

The cartoony version of Walter Simonson's God of Thunder. Sketch made in 5 minutes with a brush.

Colossus Turnaround

My first and one of my many body turns for the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon. The curious thing is I wasn't in the credits at all...hummm...
Hope you like it.

Blue Blood

Practicing with my watercolors and my Enki Bilal style back in 1996.

Lexoskell 5000 X-Rays

We never really use this design in the show, It was just for the heck of it. I wish I had more free time like back then.

The Fastest Man Alive

I remember I had to come up with a quick sketch of 10 minutes for each screening. Here is my first one.

Giant Robo

I grew up watching the live action show. And I really like the cartoon so I made my own marker rough just for fun.

MAGMA

Magma from the Terrific Trio. Gotham gets some extra help in the form of The Terrific Trio, three scientists with superpowers gained from a radiation accident, now fighting crime with full government backing. Alas, behind the scenes, things aren't as terrific as they seem. Spoof on the Fantastic Four...Magma...

The Parasite

The Parasite strikes again. Made for the cover of the Daily Planet.
Photograph by Jimmy Olsen.