Wednesday, October 17, 2012

HALLOWEEN JANINE!


As luck would have it this year, I am having some success with completing my annual "Fun Halloween" illustrations! This year's subject,...The Real Ghostbusters because it's badass.

The End.

I was surprised, (well kinda but not really), at the reaction so many of the lads, (and a few ladies, to be fair), had to sexy Janine in her witch costume.

I long suspected I wasn't the only one out there with an affinity for Miss Melnitz so I decided she needed her own stand-alone, (Well except for Slimer).

So I hope you enjoy Halloween Janine!

Off to work up another,....methinks pumpkin carving,....RGB style,...perhaps with a particle thrower. :-P

And again,....HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Now everyone go work on your costumes!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Well hey there, Janine Melnitz!

Because sometimes things flow easier than others,...I sat down the other night to try and thumbnail a few more concepts for some more RGB Halloween illustrations, (because there's no better way to celebrate the greatest season of the year than by drawing all sorts of Halloweeny stuff), and as sometimes happens,....a new Janine illustration literally dropped out of the stylus.
Now might be a good time to mention that odd phenomenon that occurs with all artists on a pretty regular basis and that phenomenon is occasionally,....you draw something as easily as you always dreamed you could and it comes about as easily as you think it does for all the other artists you admire.
When that happens, you simply ride that wave out and when you finish you whisper very quietly to no one in particular, (or perhaps God or the Universe), "Holy crap, how did I do that?"

This Janine illo' was like that.

It's not easy for me as an artist to admit that I struggle but I really I do. I'm a huge fan of pinup art. Bloggers like Shane Glines, Bruce Timm and the like revolutionized design, form and color. I could stare at their stuff all day and still think, "I'll never be able to do that!"

As much as I love it, it doesn't come easily or naturally to me. I was trained on Mice, cats, rabbits, anything Tex Avery as well as a pretty hefty diet of Anime back in the day.

But this is what this blog is about. The eternal struggle for artistic growth,.....demonstrated here, for all to see, warts and all. Because failing in front of people is scary,....but I think that kind of fear provides a motivated push to let go and just do it.

Or maybe it's just a thinly veiled excuse to do a hot drawing of Janine Melnitz in a sexy witch costume for Halloween!

More to come!

Friday, October 12, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


Welcome, blog readers to this holiest of holy months,...October and in this hallowed, (pun intended), month sits the greatest of holidays,...Halloween. Now initially,...this Amazing Colossal Movie Art Blog was started with the original intent to explore the concept of turning my favorite live action films into their animated counterparts but sometimes,....a thing simply cannot be improved upon.
Case in point,...one of the smartest written and most clever shows to grace the after-school television screens of my early adolescence.

The Real Ghostbusters.

While the various episodes, (upwards of 130 and change, all said and done and once in syndication), varied in quality, a casualty of the early days of outsourcing to multiple studios, the writing was nothing short of cannon when it came to the look, feel and spirit of the original film.

Before it lost it's way and became Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters, I went back day after day for my daily dose of Peter, Ray, Egon, Winston, Janine and yes,...even Slimer. The Snarf of the series but he still had some very Belushi moments in the first two seasons.

So Above you see my tribute, (perhaps one of several this month if I can sneak the time), to one of the greatest shows of my toon-addicted generation and because I love seeing process,....I also love sharing process.

The image started as the loosest of loose thumbnail sketches that looked like I'd put the stylus in my left hand, closed my eyes and went for it.

I had a rough idea of where I wanted everybody and what I wanted them to be doing. Next up, came the tie-down.


The poses and proportions are tweaked and refined, Slimer is added and I begin to get fussy about the models. Next up, final cleanup line. I am a sucker for the kind of self-colored ink lines commonly practiced by Disney, Warners and Bluth so I always end up putting it in.


And here we see the final line before the final color pass. The "Happy Halloween" is added on the pumpkins and I throw a glow effect in once it's gone. I used a similar process for Slimer's ambient glow as well.

Hope you all enjoy! Perhaps I'll try another one soon! Now get to work on your costumes!