LEGO Agents German Comic

OK, one last post for 2008. I got a message from Duke94, an Agents fan, the other day and it reminded me that I never posted this 1 1/2 page comic. I think this comic was only for the German market so all you US fans may never get to see it in print. Heck, I haven't even seen it in print! It is basically a re-hash of the first Agents comic plus a few shots of the semi truck set. I love the last panel!

You can see some of Duke94's Agents fan fiction on his blog... Sigma 6 Telebase

Images removed by me. Sorry.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LEGO Pirates Comics Ahoy!!!

Finally! The New LEGO Pirates sets are out. People have reported seeing them at Toys R Us and you can also get them online through the LEGO store.

I did a bunch of comics for the instruction manuals of several sets. So far people really seem to like them. I think they turned out great and are some of my favorite work from the last year.

Here are links to pictures on the eurobricks.com forums. Let me know what you think!

- 6240 Kraken Attackin' (scroll down)
- 6241 Loot Island (scroll down)
- 6242 Soldiers fort (scroll down)
- 6253 Shipwreck Hideout (scroll down)

I also did a 3 page comic for 6243 Blackbeard's Bounty but I didn't see any photos of the comics online. LEGO may not have used all of the comics I created. I did 2 pages for 6253 but it looks like they may only have used the second page. I can't be sure until I see the manual for myself or someone can tell me if both pages are present.

Last studio pics... I promise!

I know I have already made 2 posts about my new studio, but I have just been too excited about it not to share. I promise this will be the last post about the new place (yeah right!).

I finally got all of my furniture and pretty much everything is set up just the way I want it. There are a few shelves and pictures left to hang but that is trivial in the big picture.

My drawing desk
the "meeting room"
The "lounge"
Everybody seems to like my window treatments and so do I. They are panel curtains from Ikea, possibly the best furniture store ever. Too bad the closest Ikea is an hour and a half away. I had to make 2 trips to get everything.

LEGO Indiana Jones November Comic!

Hi Everyone! I finally seem to be settled into my new place and my workload has also settled into something a bit more manageable. It has been difficult to find something to post about lately since most of my recent work hasn't been printed yet. I got the latest issue of LEGO Club Magazine the other day and it had this Indiana Jones comic inside. I think it turned out pretty well and looks even better with the SFX, which were done very well by the LEGO staff.

This first page was not printed in all versions. I think the European markets may not have gotten it. They got an alternate version of page 2 with the first panel from page one.

Images removed by me. Sorry.

I was actually given the cutter set as reference which really helped a lot. I usually have to work from photos and it is often hard to make out all the details or forms. I have the same problem when I do the Hot Wheels books where the only reference I have for some cars is a side view my AD (art director) is able to dig up on the net. I think it is a universal problem in this biz and I suspect that my ADs are just as frustrated about it as I am.

We'll, there's a lot more I would like to show but it'll have to wait until something goes to print!

FINALLY MOVED!

I am sooooo happy to finally be finished with the moving! My wife and I worked diligently to get the new space painted and cleaned and I am really happy with the results.

My awesome friends helped me move everything in just a few hours on Sunday. I was able to get my drawing and computing areas set up with only a few things left such as connecting speakers and setting up my PC/MAC network. I was bummed at first because the building only gets DLS for internet- no cable. BUT, I must report that I am pleasantly surprised with my dedicated business DSL line, which can download at approx 350k a sec. Not too bad considering the DSL I used to have in my old apartment only got 85k a sec downloads.

I have a lot of work to do as always so I am having trouble getting the rest of the move-in stuff completed. I need to drive (1.5 hours each way) to Ikea and get some book shelves before I can unpack my books and toys. I have a lot of both! There just isn't enough time.

Here are a couple of pics as things are now, but I'll be changing things as I get some more furniture and get completely settled in. The larger space is awesome but not too comfy yet. I need to get a table with chairs as well as a sofa before I will feel 100% at home. Some new window dressings would be nice too.

Moving to a new studio!

I know it has been a few weeks since I posted but I have been very busy. There hasn't been a lot of news lately so I've also had trouble coming up with topics.

As the title says, I'M MOVING TO A NEW STUDIO!!!! Yes, I am very excited about it! I'll be going form 125 square feet to 500 square feet for only about $80 a month more. I should be able to start moving in next week. I'll have to clean the place up and do some basic wall painting first. I also want to go to Ikea and get some new book shelves... maybe some other stuff too. Going to Ikea is dangerous for my bank account because I get into this odd trance and want to buy everything in their enormous store. I can tell by the glazed eyes of the other shoppers that I am not the only person that gets this way ;)

Here is a layout plan of the new space. I have included all of my existing furniture in its current layout to show exactly how much more space I will have.
Check out some photos of the new space. The doorway with the green trim has been removed and the wall is all patched up.
The broken window is now fixed. Look at all the dust on the light fixtures! The space used to be part of a woodworking business. The whole business is gone but there is still plenty of sawdust.
Here's the maintenance guy for scale. Nice, high ceilings
I'm not sure what color scheme I'll use yet. I always have a hard time deciding that sort of thing. Hopefully my friends will have some suggestions.

Still need to call the phone company and get a line into the office. No cable so my only internet option is DSL. Not ideal but the studio is only 5 minutes from my house so I can drive home to upload or download really big files.

I'll post some more pics when I start working on the space.

Newest LEGO Mars Mission Comic

I received my copy of the newest Lego Club Magazine last week and inside was this new 4 page Mars Mission Comic. The Art director made a few small changes to the art (all for the better!). If you have the magazine then you can try to spot the changes...

Images removed by me. Sorry.

The big spaceship on the last two pages is a new model that can be made from the parts of the Hypersonic Operations set. I had to do the layouts and pencils before the model had been designed! Lucky for me that the final design worked in the space I left open.

I just finished a new Agents comic but it is only for the German mag. I also just finished a new Indiana Jones story that took me forever to color. I'm pretty tired but there's a ton of other work to do so I don't have time to be a slacker! Better to be too busy than not have anything at all to do!!! Watch out for the Indy comic in the next magazine :)

Awesome lego builder (pics)

Two posts in one day? Yeah, but this post is about some awesome designs being made by a fellow calling himself Dasnewten. He has lots of great designs over on Flickr. Check 'em out!!!

Dasnewten's photostream (link)

Exo-Farce

Ha ha! Here is a little cartoon I did as a parody of Exo-Force. I think it may have been printed in an issue of Lego Magazine, but I'm not sure because I never saw it. I was inspired to do this back when I was first starting on the Exo-Force project because my mini figs hair kept popping off at the slightest touch.

Hope you liked it :)

LEGO Star Wars Ships!

Here's a 2 page spread I did a while ago for the LEGO club mag. I think it was only used for the European version so fans in the US may not have seen it before

Images removed by me. Sorry.

It was fun to focus on just the two ships and background compared to all the panels and elements in a normal comic. The planets are a little loose but I think they still work since they are not the focus. There were some additional elements at the bottom of the page but I removed them for this post (looks more elegant to me).

I wish I had the opportunity to do more Star Wars stuff but so far I have only done this and one other comic. Who knows what the future holds? Right now I am doing another Indy story and it is turning out very well, IMHO.

Exo-Force: The Lost Images

Are you ready for this? Here are some images from the last Scholastic Exo-Force book. You know, the one that was canceled and never printed!!! I think this book had the most fun illustrations of all the books so I was personally upset when I heard the book was canned.

These have never been seen anywhere so I hope you like 'em. Remember, these are still copyrighted by Scholastic so you can't use them for anything!

Look out behind you!

Ow, my arm!!!

Up, up, and away...

The Golden City... Destroyed!

This book chronicled why the Exo-Force had to leave the Golden City and trek to the dangerous forest region lower on the mountain. The actual journey to the forest was covered in an 8 page comic I did for Lego Denmark. That comic has never been seen in the US as far as I know (only in parts of Europe). Hopefully I can post it sometime so you can all see what happened. A similar story ran in the Lego Club Magazine but was shorter and not as exciting.

Mecha Drawing Step-By-Step

Hi all. I made this drawing a couple of weeks ago and thought you might like to see the incremental stages of the drawing. I took photos with my digital camera as I went along. using the camera is faster than using my scanner and it seems to pick up some of the more subtle colors better than my cheap A3 scanner. (Most A3 scanners cost$1200-$2500!!! but mine only cost about $200)

I decided to do a more traditional "Transformers" style mech this time around. This mech can turn into a car.

1) Rough sketch. I used a blue colored pencil to make a rough under drawing. Blue pencil does not pick up on photocopiers and scanners if you tweak the contrast/brightness settings just right. I added a little dude to the mech's shoulder to add some interest.
2) Inking. I decided to try inking with one of my new Japanese brush pens and it really worked great. I'm left handed so I ink from right to left to avoid smearing the ink.
3) Stupid Humans! Arrrrrgh! I realized that the guy I drew on the mech's shoulder was waaaayyyy out of scale so I enlarged him as much as I could without using any white-out. I think I got the proportions a little weird... people are hard!
4) Inking finished. Finally! This took a while to draw and I'm glad it is done. I couldn't figure out what to do with the lower legs so I just stopped drawing at the knees. I tried to lighten the blue pencil as much as possible with an eraser but I couldn't get it light enough without erasing some of the ink too. The blue pencil could muddle the markers when I color the mech so I decided to make a copy and color the copy. I set the coppier contrast to a higher setting and it dropped out the lighter values of the blue pencil so I had a nice, clean drawing to color.
5) Basic coloring. I didn't have a lot of time so I only colored the guy and some of the translucent bits. Hopefully I'll have time to finish it in a couple of weeks. I still haven't decided what color to make the mech, but I'm leaning towards red.
6) Detail. Here's a detailed shot of the upper torso. You can get a better idea of the subtle color overlays I used- see the faint blue in the face visor? The guys pants color was made by layering a brighter blue and a cool gray.Well, that's all for now. I'll post the color version if I ever get around to finishing it!!!

Wordled

I found this fun web page that takes all the words from your blog and makes them into a single image based on frequency of word usage. You can affect how the layout, colors, font, etc... look. Here's mine.

Apparently I use the word MARS a lot!

Make your own Wordle

LEGO Agents 3 Page Comic!

Hi everyone! Here is a 3 page comic for the most recent issue of Lego Club Magazine. The pages were spread out in the magazine so they were not next to each other in a single group. Each page ends with a mini cliffhanger to get you psyched for the next page. I thought it was a fun idea so I hope it worked out well for the readers.

Images removed by me. Sorry.

The Agents product line has some REALLY cool vehicles. I like the boat and the semi truck. The car featured in this comic is also very nice.

Images removed by me. Sorry.

It was a snap to draw the car since I was really warmed up from working on all the Hot Wheels books for Scholastic. Cars are pretty tough and it took me a LONG time to get decent at it. I think I still have a long way to go before I feel like I'm GOOD at it, if you know what I mean.

Images removed by me. Sorry.

I have a cool LEGO Star Wars spread I want to post too, but I haven't seen it printed yet :(

Cheers!

Back from NYC

I went to NYC for a couple of days for a little business and to do some sightseeing. Of course I went to Kinokuniya because no trip to the city would be complete otherwise. I didn't get to go to Image Anime though :(

Here's a pic of my spoils! A couple of mecha books and a bunch of Japanese brush pens. I currently use the blue one closest to the books but I wanted to try out some of the others to see if there's anything better. Don't know when I'll have time to actually use them 'cause I'm super busy as usual. There were 3 other books I REALLY wanted but I had already ordered them from Otaku.com or J-List (I forget which) so now I just have to await their arrival.Monday's post about the Mars Mission book was set up last week using the Blogger scheduler. I love that feature.

New Mars Mission book for Scholastic!

LEGO Space Adventures: Mars Alien Attack! Available Sept 1st for $3.99

Here's a book I did earlier this year for Scholastic and LEGO. It was actually a very fun project and hopefully the book will do well. I'm sure people will enjoy it, especially if they like Mars Mission!Check out the book and pre-order it on Amazon...

Mars Mission Cutaway 2.0

Anyone remember the first Mars Mission cutaway spread I did when the product first came out? Well, I got to do a sequel of sorts for the recently published "Mars Tech 2.0" 2 page spread in the newest Lego Club Magazine.

Images removed by me. Sorry.

I really love this type of thing! I know lot of people loathe doing tech stuff but I find it irresistible. This image is a hefty 1.1 MB so dial-up users beware!

BONUS! This image actually shows the walker mode for the ETX Alien Infiltrator and the mobile mining unit. Both of those ships were removed from the printed image because the tech call-outs took up too much space. (all the ships were created on separate layers so the art director could move stuff around).

Mecha Sketch and Letraset Tria Markers

Letraset was nice enough to send me a free set of their new Tria markers for me to play with. Thanks Letraset!!! Sadly, that was in mid May and I just now had the time to do anything with them. You can probably tell from my lack of posts that I have been super busy.

The Tria carrying case. VERY nice quality! Yesterday I finally made myself start a drawing. Of course I wanted to draw a mecha because it has been ages since I got to do anything for myself, but I seemed to be missing any inspiration :( So I turned to my toy case and saw the Super Sylph jet from the anime Yukikaze... WOW, what a beautiful design. I decided to use that jet as my inspiration and draw both shapes and colors from it. See the toy here... SUPER SYLPH

I was given my choice of any set from the catalog so I chose Modern Fashion because the colors looked just right for my style. I was sent sent the "regular" fashion set which is quite a bit different and didn't have all the colors I wanted. I was disappointed but I understand how easy it is to make this sort of mistake so I didn't bother telling them about it. I did need some of the missing colors so I ordered a few more marker from Blick art materials (formerly Dick Blick). Blick offers everything at a good discount so I get all of my supplies from them via online ordering. The original set came with a catalog with pretty accurate color swatches for all of the markers. I use dhte catalog to select my colors instead of the Blick online swatches because they were very inaccurate.


The Tria use a unique triple tip system where one end is a "brush" tip and the other end has a chisel and fine point tip. I usually use Copic art markers so I dug those out and did a comparison. I prefer the brush tip on the Copic markers because they are a little softer and return to their original shape immediate. The Tria would stay bent from drawing and you had to manually bend them back . I was pretty put off by this at first but it didn't turn out to be an issue and I got used to it quickly. The Tria were otherwise equal with the Copic markers. One final difference is that the Tri have replaceable ink cartridges and you can easily buy any of the markers individually. Copic markers cost more and can only be bought in sets (at least that was true the last time I bought some).

The Tria system. The brush tip after a single stroke.
Finally, here is the mecha I drew using Micron pens and coloring it with the Tria markers. I took incremental photos as I worked. I need to create a few more pieces and then contact Letraset and let them know that I finally made something. They will probably post the work on their "Manga Artists" site. I'll post all the photos with notes to my blog if they are OK with it. Oh yeah, this drawing took me a total of about 5 hours from start to finish. I was really rusty !!!

LEGO Exo-Force Wallpaper: Humans!

Here's another Exo-Force wallpaper made using art from the Scholastic Exo-Force Collector's Guide. Note that the Sensei image (central character) is an alternate version not used in the book. I like the second version (used in the book) better since it looks more like the character should, but I thought it would be cool to show you something you haven't seen before. The background scenery was done by another artist but unfortunately I don't know who.1600 x 1200

Video test

This is just a test to see if I can upload video from my camera to my blog. So far so good. Watch me draw an anime eye...

I captured this on my Sony Cybershot and held the camera in my right hand while I drew. Sorry it looks so shaky and out of focus :/ I'll have to find a better process. Didn't need to convert it or anything since Blogger did it automatically! The quality really went down from the compression Blogger utilized but it's still not too bad. I have to give kudos to the blogger team for making it so easy!!!

LEGO Indiana Jones wallpaper

Super busy right now but I managed to make this wallpaper for Lego Indiana Jones. Art is from the last LEGO Club comic I did. Hope you like it!1600 x 1200

New Lego Exo-Force wallpaper! Robots!!!

This Exo-Force wallpaper is a compilation of images from the the Scholastic Exo-Force collectors guide. The spider legged Devastator was not used in the book so this is the first time anyone has ever seen it! I used the devastator from the gate assault set as reference but they actually wanted the regular bipedal version so I had to re-do it and you see part of the revised version in the lower left corner of the wallpaper.

Wallpaper size: 1600 x 1200

Test poll results for mecha book

Thanks to the 2% of visitors that actually took the time to vote in the art book poll. There were 10 voters (not including myself) out of approximately 500 visitors over the last 7 days.

Most of you probably don't know about my first art book, Mecha Zone, which was self published and limited to 250 copies. It was a lot of work to make and even more work to sell, but I did have fun with it. I want to do another one, but I haven't been producing any personal mecha artwork over the last couple of years because I am always busy working. That means that I'll have to make a bunch of new stuff if I do make another book. The negative to that is the amount of time and effort it will take, but the benefit would be a lot of cool mecha art!Mecha Zone was printed using the latest print on demand tech. It was printed on glossy stock and even had some color pages. I was proud of it and got good feedback at conventions. Here are a few things I would change or add for the second book...

• Larger format: 8 x 10 instead of 6 x 9
• More pages: 100 instead of 60
• More color pages: At least 20 instead of 15
• More concept and progressive work showing how I designed each mech
• More text: I would like to include some back story or tech info with each design
• Mascot: I'm thinking of adding a cute mascot girl to narrate
• Pre sales: I want to offer pre-orders to my fans and newsletter members to help with production costs
• Higher print run. At least 300, but 500 would be awesome. Demand will decide this
• Higher price: This will be necessary to pay for all the stuff above. Probably $15 - $20 instead of $10
• Free sketches: I'm thinking of giving a free mech sketch to each person who pre-orders. You wouldn't get to choose your sketch, but I would make sure they were all good.

I'm considering doing a "mecha sketch a day" to help create content for the book as well as getting people interested. I would then use those sketches as the free incentives and/or sell them on the blog.

I wouldn't be able to use any of the licensed art I've done such as Exo-Force or Battletech and MechWarrior. I would try to cover many genres though so it would appeal to a broader audience. This isn't something I am doing to make money but it would be great to break even (at least). It could be turned into a "how to draw" book but I'm not too into teaching people how to draw like I do so they can then take work away from me, if you know what I mean.

The ultimate hurdle is simply the time needed to create the art.

Comments and suggestions welcome!

May LEGO Indiana Jones comic!

Hi! This 3 page comic just came out in the May-June Lego Club Magazine. It looks like Lego is branding the magazine in a slightly different way starting this issue with the addition of "Club" as the dominant title graphic instead of "Magazine.

I just got my subscription issue in the mail today and was looking at the list of upcoming sets for the Brickmaster edition... I think I am going to pay for the subscription so I can get those sets! At least 2 of them will be Star Wars!!! I already missed the Indiana Jones jeep and that bums me out a bit.

I was really disappointed when I saw that the magazine designer added arrows to my comic to show the panel flow, but he assured me that it was for the best since the younger kids were having trouble following the action. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind on my future comics and try to make the panels progress in a simpler fashion...Did you notice the hidden Star Wars imagery in the comics? Better look again ;)

Images removed by me. Sorry.

LEGO Castle March UK comic

It has been a while since i posted some new art. This Castle comic was created specifically for the March UK version of LEGO Magazine. I'm not sure if it was ever printed in the US mag so here it is just in case!

Images removed by me. Sorry.

I was given a new set (dwarf mine) just so I could have a troll mini-fig, which is actually pretty big and entirely awesome!

Also, I have changed some of the blogger settings so now more people should be able to post comments, but there should be fewer spam comments. My fingers are crossed. I also learned how to post remotely via e-mail! I am psyched about that!

Majesty 2 actually in production.

As some of you may know, I used to make computer games for Massachusetts based company, Cyberlore Studios. Cyberlore closed its doors a couple of years ago and that is when I decided to become a full-time freelancer.

One of Cyberlore's greatest accomplishments was our original game Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim. I loved making and playing Majesty! I was personally responsible for designing the Title graphic. We even made a one level tech demo for Majesty 2 waaay back in 2003. Now some other company has bought the rights to Majesty and is making a sequel. You can read all the juicy details over at IGN...

Majesty 2 announcement at IGN

Screenshots of Cyberlore's original Majesty 2 tech demo

And here is a teaser movie for the new Majesty that was released on YouTube...


Personally, I think it looks a tad on the mediocre side but I'll wait and see how it turns out. The charm of the original Majesty was more in its personality than the graphics so looks don't mean everything.

New York Comic Con 2008

Man am I tired!

My wife and I attended the 2008 New York Comic Con this past weekend where we enjoyed some fantastic weather and the good company of our many friends. I am terrible about taking enough photos. I only took about 25 pictures for the whole trip. I took 3 pics inside the con but they all turned out blurry and grainy so I only have a few of the entrance to showcase.

The show was at least 2X bigger than last year and it was SUPER BUSY! I am a big guy so it was hard for me to navigate the crowds. My wife had an easier time maneuvering, but she was in elbow range of a lot of people so she had to be on the defensive. She was also in armpit range and since deodorant seems to be rare at cons, that was a danger all its own!

Overall I think the show was great for comic fans, but I would have enjoyed it more if there was more anime stuff (there was plenty manga but I don't read much). Stuff like gashapon, mecha toys, and some anime art books- those are the things I like to see. We only went to the show for part of Saturday and spent the rest of our time trekking around the city on foot. Sunday was spent mostly in East Village up to the Washington Square park. We went to some cool shops such as Toy Tokyo where we finally found a good stash of gashapon and also to Forbidden Planet where they watch you like a hawk to make sure you aren't shoplifting. Image Anime is another awesome store but they were closed when we tried to go. Too bad since they are the major Mecha dealers in this part of the country!

A couple of other places visited on Saturday include the Times Square Toys-R-Us, the Hello Kitty Sanrio store, and the awesome Japanese book store, Kinokuniya. I bought a bunch of fun art supplies at Kinokuniya- I love that place!

Saturday night was fun because we had dinner with the crew from Mirage as well as our friends Peggy and Sean Wang. See Sean's site here... www.seanwang.com

And finally here are some pictures...

Outside the Javits Center
View of the city from the Javits

Inside the Javits front doorsHeading into the CHAOS!
My con badge, an original TMNT water color by Eric Talbot, and some art stuff from Kinokuniya!

Just too busy!

Hey there, sorry for the lack of posts over the last two weeks. I have been swamped trying to get a couple of books done on time. So far so good but it is going to be close and I am starting to get cranky!

My wife and I are going to the New York Comic Con next weekend just as attendees so that should be fun. I wish we could go into the city on Friday but neither of our schedules permit that sort of leisure. I have never gone to a comic con just to go. I always have a table in artist alley so I can't really partake of the activities. Heck, I never even look to see what they have going on. Since this time is different, I have been looking at the con schedule and it looks like there is some fun stuff to do! I also want to see a bit of the city because I have only been 3 or 4 times since I moved to this part of the country 12 years ago.

I haven't had a decent paycheck in about 2 months so I have my fingers crossed that I'll get one soon or I won't be able to buy any new toys or swag at the con :(

My schedule is staying busy and I have a few new projects starting very soon. All good stuff that I am looking forward to working on.

Hope you are all doing well! Cheers!!!


PS:

Here are some cool blogs you should check out!
Random Curiosity : Reviews for anime that is currently airing on TV in Japan. Helps me decide what to watch and the reviews are well written.
24 Frames Per Second : News and reviews about Asian cinema (mostly action and horror). After you see all the cool movies then you can go to Yesasia.com and order them on DVD!!!

Rezolution Miniatures Game Illustrations

When I am not working on Lego projects I do smaller jobs to fill the void. One such job was some black and white illustrations for a miniatures game called Rezolution by Aberrant Games. I didn't even know the book was out until I decided to check the publishers website a few weeks ago. I ordered a copy of the book somewhere online so I could check it out.

The art I did was for the second book, Outbreak. Not all of the work I did seems to have made it into the book. I dunno, maybe they will use it in the next one? I didn't get a credit in the book either but maybe I told them not to give me one. I sometimes do that and I honestly can't remember if that is the case or not.

Here's the cover (not my art)Here's a piece of mine from the interior. I did some fun motorcycle stuff too but only one of those made it in :(Here's a link to the publishers web site in case you are curious... Aberrant Games

These sort of jobs are how I got my start as a freelancer. I used to do a bunch or art for the role playing game Feng Shui by Atlas Games, but that was a long time ago.

Lego Mars Mission Wallpaper #3

Just a quick update today. I made this wallpaper from the second Mars Mission comic for Lego Magazine. I might post again later this week if I have anything of interest to post.

One note- be careful if you read my comments- even though there aren't many of them I have received two spam posts that led to virus protection ads and I suspect they might have actually been trojans if you downloaded anything from the links. This is a Blogger problem, not just an issue on my blog so be careful no matter where you are on Blogger! I deleted the two posts and will keep an eye out for more.

Scholastic Hot Wheels Readers!!!

WOW! I finally got sample books for some of my more recent Scholastic work. I haven't mentioned doing the Hot Wheels books here on the blog because I didn't have anything to show for it. I haven't been able to find any info about the books on the web, probably because you can only get the books through Scholastic's school program. The cars on the covers were illustrated by Hot Wheels/Mattel - I don't know exactly who did them, but they look awesome.
Readers 2 and 3 were done in cooperation with another Illustrator, Ed Wisinski, so the art isn't 100% my style. They still look good though ;) Reader 3 is 100% in Ed's style- he had already done some of the finals so I had to mimic his style. I don't know why he didn't finish the book- I wasn't given any details and I didn't ask.

Here are the titles and ISBN numbers if you want to look them up...

• Hot Wheels reader #1 Start Your Engines
• 978-0-545-02017-6
  
• Hot Wheels reader #2 To the Extreme
• 978-0-545-02019-0
• Hot Wheels reader #3 Off-Roading
• 978-0-545-02018-3
• Hot Wheels reader #4 Street Heat
• 978-0-545-02020-6

These books are 6" x 9" and 30 pages long so they were a lot of work. Here are a couple of pics...

Interior art for reader #1Interior art for reader #4

LEGO Indiana Jones comic #1

OK! Here's the clean art for the 2 page Lego Indiana Jones comic I did a couple of months ago for Lego Magazine. This particular comic was initially created for the "School" version of the magazine so there are lots of animals that have educational importance and Indy comments on each of them in the text so kids learn a little something while watching Indy run around.

I'm working on another one of these right now and having fun. I'm also eagerly awaiting the movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! (click to see the trailer)

Images removed by me. Sorry.

Lego Exo-Force wallpaper

Here's a wallpaper image I made by using a stock image of Sentai Mountain (mountain art by Lego) and a couple of illustrations I did for the Lego Magazine.

The two mechs are combo models made by combining parts from the good guys for the "Sky Titan" and parts from the bad guys for the "Iron Crusher".

I have this particular image printed out at 13" x 19" and hanging in my office hallway.

LEGO Racers wallpaper

What a week! I just finished 50 pencil drawings in 4.5 days and my hand is aching. Nothing like 12 hour days to boost productivity. Lots more still to do, mostly coloring, but I thought I would take a little break and post a new LEGO wallpaper. This time it is the main image to that 2-page spread I mentioned in the last post. I also did 4 smaller cars which I might post in the future.

A trip to LEGO, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and more!

WOW, I am just SOOOOO excited by some of the recent work that I have been doing for LEGO that I can't wait to share it with all of you. Also, I traveled down to the LEGO office yesterday to get some reference for a new job and while I was there I managed to snap a few pictures of the outside.

My AD helped me gather some of the recent magazines that have come out and between them, I have 10 pages of featured content! That is a LOT of time and effort not only on my part but also the writers and designers. It is a real team effort to create a magazine.

I was super psyched to do a 2 page Indiana Jones comic as well as a 2 page Star Wars comic!!!! Both very fun to do. There's also a new Castle comic and a very awesome 2-page Racers layout that I have as my computer wallpaper right now :)

Here are those pictures... hope you like 'em!

Now those are some BIG Lego blocks... at least 6 feet tall!!!