Since she's a sprinter, I gave her strong legs... along with ample curves. This is the second colored pic of Cheetara I've done.
I avoided the classic spots on her upper arms; just didn't want to add it. Most fans aren't aware that she always wore dull-orange tights in the animated series [and that same fabric covered one of her arms]. In the 3rd pic, her enduring skin tone is shown, per the sexy outfit I gave her. And there are several other Thundercat remix pics in this blog:
Those familiar with the animated series will probably agree that Pumyra was one of the most gifted and under-utilized characters of all.
She was presented as a calm-natured female Thundercat based on the puma. She was a healer and medic for the team, and rarely called upon for the most arduous battles. Yet she was extremely agile and swift, capable of acrobatic maneuvers that rivaled those of the talented Thunderkittens, WilyKat and WilyKit.
At the onset of Season 2 of the animated series, she and two other protagonists were introduced [Ben-Gali and Lynx-O] and those two male characters actually got a lot more screen-time than she did [especially Ben-Gali].
When creating live-action/animated series, sometimes writers overlook certain characters not out of spite, resentment or contemptuous intent, but merely out of a lack of ideas and strict time constraints.
I've done animation writing in the past. And those of you that are familiar with that genre of writing know that each 24 to 28-minute feature has to fit into a certain amount of script pages, on average. And you generally have time for an A-story [the main theme of the episode] and a minor B-story [which may be comedic, or an interlude type of presentation].
Also, writers tend to group certain characters as weak/supportive/dependents, while others are independents. The dependents get captured and the independents are usually the ones who come to the rescue [remember Heman and Teela, Superman and Lois etc]. The supportive characters may be spunky and gifted, bu they generally are not capable of overthrowing the supreme villain.
Lion-O was an independent, who despite his youthful persona had the courage and fortitude to lead his wolf pack... or his pride, if you want to get technical.
But Pumyra was definitely tagged as a dependent... in fact, in the later seasons, she was left behind in their old base with Tygra, while the other Thundercats moved to a new planet and set up a new Cats Lair. And the writers literally left her out of the future adventures.
[Screenshots of Pumyra, from the Thundercats Cartoon Series, 1987 - 1990]
In the series, she was known for utilizing a whip/sling as her weapon of choice. But in my remix above, she is more fierce and she is an independent, utilizing modified nightsticks that have blades replacing steel shafts. I also gave her a sexy outfit, and a tight miniskirt with an engineered fabric that gives her freedom to flex her legs.
Perhaps the series writers/creators ought to have utilized her more. And maybe she'll be back in the forthcoming Thundercats cartoon, slated for release next year [The article I wrote about that reboot is over here: http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com/2010/10/cats-from-thundera.html ]
Yet Pumyra will always have a special place in the hearts of all true Thundercat fans. And I'll do my part to ensure that premise:
Two pencil posters I did some time ago: Wolverine and the Incredible Hulk, two characters that are synonymous with the Marvel banner. Wish they'd both be in the upcoming Avengers movie...
Currently Joss Whedon [creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer] has been tagged as the director for the future Avengers film [rumored to be a 3D feature]. It is slated to happen somewhere down the road, after the Thor and Captain America flicks.
It almost looks like they're set for a battle... these two pics are part of a much larger banner image, which I did several months ago. I was just starting out this blog back then: http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com/2010/09/x-men.html
If you're a long-time Marvel fan, you should be able to identify all the characters in that X-men poster.
First I'll show some step-by-step artwork, then we'll delve into current movie developments for the reboot of the New Amazing Spiderman Movie debuting in the summer of 2012.
I presented the inked version of this poster previously Here, in the DSNG facebook fan page. And over the weekend, I've completed the colored version. If you take a closer look at the colored sequence, you will see an evolution of the image in four stages.
The colored version of the second Spider-man poster above is archived HERE.
I've noticed that concept artists tend to create what I've tagged as visual illusions, by integrating numerous layers into a picture, thus presenting a digital collaboration that yields a lot of depth to the work.
They go the extra mile when they color, in order to ensure that there are several layers exploding out of the canvas, almost transforming it from a 2D to a 3D image.
Consider this Spider-man speed painting by freelance illustrator/animator Nico Di Matta:
Very impressive work...
It always helps to showcase realistic environments when drawing a character based in a known city. But even when fictitious/futuristic locations are presented, as long as the greenery, landscape, buildings, roads and other constructed elements are expertly done, the pic will be readily accepted by fans.
Spider-man 4 / New Amazing Spider-man Movie Reboot
By now everyone should be aware that there's a new Peter Parker in the upcoming 2012 Amazing Spider-Man movie. The popular role is set to be filled by Andrew Garfield, shown below:
He is an American-British actor who stared in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [in 2009] and The Social Network [in 2010]. Not too sure if he'll be undergoing some sort of training camp to buff-up slightly for the Spidey role... but on the other hand, no one is truly certain of what direction this forthcoming movie reboot is going to take.
A few days ago, via the hollywoodreporter.com, it was stated that Campbell Scott and Julianne Nicholson have joined the cast as Peter's parents [who will be shown in flashbacks].
And there is a new villain, played by Rhys Ifans, who is joining the cast of bad guys [he'll be playing playing Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard]. Rumors of another Green Goblin character are also circulating, but details are still sketchy.
The role of Gwen Stacy, Spidey's love interest, will be played by actress Emma Stone [she recently starred in Easy A, Crazy Stupid Love, and Friends With Benefits].
Now lets clear up the cobwebs: Sony has officially Cancelled Spider-man 4, so no more Toby Maguire and Kristen Dunst. This forthcoming movie staring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone [slated for a 2012 summer release] is designed to relaunch the franchise, and have sequels of its own. Many fans have already said that the Amazing Spider-man costume shown above is really not that cool, but of course it will always be a matter of personal opinion.
Marvel execs are on board for this, yet I'm not sure why. They did this with the Incredible Hulk, giving us two strikingly different movie interpretations based on diverse origin stories, back in 2003 and 2008. Both of those movies grossed over 240 million dollars in profit, so apparently Marvel is more interested in producing lucrative franchises as opposed to constant chronological feature films.
[Above: The Classic Spider-man Costume, Digital Painting / Concept art]
[Spiderman vs lizard poster by Marvel artist Mark Brooks]
And here is the second trailer for the Amazing Spider-man Movie, which debuted over the past Superbowl weekend:
Personally, I would push for a different direction in this new "Spiderman Reboot" movie. We all know his origins, so just skip the origins and do a completely dynamic story; one which kicks off with Spidey already having his powers and struggling with his life as a college student. From that springboard, an extremely dynamic arc can be presented, involving a lot of classic characters and villains, along with critical flashbacks that show why the antagonists at this particular stage have got lethal vendettas against the web slinger.
I'm thinking out loud. You can leave a comment with the direction you'd prefer for the movie's plot to take. Anyway, director Marc Webb and his team have got over a year to work on this reboot. Lets hope they get it right...
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Teaser Image, for a Work In Progress. These are commission pics of Cheetara and Pumyra.
I think they were cousins in the original Thundercats series. Word is, there's a new Thundercats cartoon currently in the works. Japanese animation studio Studio 4°C has been producing the show, slated to run as 30 minute episodes that will commence sometime in 2011.
Per press releases, the original voice actor for Liono [Larry Kenney] will be returning to reprise his classic role in the 3-part premier episodes.
The first Cheetara concept was done Here.
Stay tuned for the completed images...
By the way, I came across a clip from a cartoon series called Sym-Bionic Titan, which apparently airs on Cartoon Network. it was created by animation director Genndy Tartakovsky, the guy behind Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack.
Sym-Bionic Titan is a cartoon featuring 3 aliens that crash land on earth, while attempting to escape their war-torn world. And per its core concepts, it focuses on high-school drama and giant robot battles. The first episode premiered on Sept. 17, 2010. It commonly airs between 8:00pm and 9:00pm, Eastern time.
In the following clip, one of the 3 heroes, the geek named Octus [who is actually a bio-cybernetic robot], is being seduced by a cheerleader chick named Kimmy. My guess is, she was trying to persuade him to do her homework for her... at least I hope that was her intention.
Fan art of PowerGirl, showing the inked and colored versions. Character owned by DC Comics.
Powergirl is one of the most popular characters drawn by pro-artist Adam Hughes.
More Classic Powergirl & Supergirl artwork below, by DSNG Artist [from the old DA gallery] and the last pic on the right is by Jim Lee:
Presented here are the inked and colored versions.
This year at DragonCon in Atlanta, there was a Steampunk explosion, in costumes worn by the attendees.
As a sub-genre of Sci Fi, Steampunk is basically a fusion of Victorian styled environments and clothing [dating back to the 19th century] and mechanical innovations predominantly powered by steam power, pistons, interconnected levers, gears and other thermodynamic applications.
This pic of Storm, from the superhero team, the X-men, was intended to present a fusion of the aforementioned principles, in terms of her apparel. Her outfit looks both classical and modern. The modified background gear image was sourced as a stock from Wikipedia, while I did all the enhancements in Photoshop.
Although Steampunk is often intertwined with Cyberpunk in terms of proposed concepts, innovations and mechanical designs, they are two completely separate genres.
[A Sexy Poster of Storm of the X-men, by DSNG Artist]
Blade Runner [1982] and The MatrixFranchise [commenced in 1999] are good examples of Cyberpunk, while the Wild Wild West [1999] was perfectly synonymous with the concepts of Steampunk. And you can find a descriptive article I did on the Steampunk genre within my blog a few months ago, over Here.
Popular Marvel Comics artist, Mark Brooks, also produced some Steampunk styled artwork not too long ago. He posted the pics in his DA gallery. I think it was for a personal project, or a comic book pitch...
Sometimes an artist will draw something and put it aside, with the intention of working on it later or utilizing it as a submissions pack. Here are a series of pics that I did some time ago, and didn't post it in my DA gallery. This sort of thing is commonly called sequential art, in which you are supposed to tell a fluent story, compressed into drafted panels of varied shapes/sizes.
This 5-page set was made with the Marvel group called The Ultimates [or The Ultimate Avengers]. They are like an elite team of Superhero Marines. The story is self-explanatory [the heroes storm a corporate building and attack aliens that are disguised as human civilians] and was inspired by a graphic novel drawn by Bryan Hitch. Characters are owned by Marvel.
More portfolio samples are available via these 2 links:
A Salute to a Great Man, plus Marvel Comics Generation X
Terry Dodson started his career as a comic artist back in 1991 at Revolutionary Comics. Since then he has worked for Dark Horse, Malibu Comics, DC Comics and Marvel Comics. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, and I've been following his work since 1998/1999, when he was drawing a series called Generation X.
Since then he's drawn a host of series, penciling them to perfection while his talented wife, Rachael, does the inking. Here are some classic covers from my comic book collection, showcasing his magnificent work.
[Above: Generation X covers, drawn by Terry Dodson & inked by Rachael Dodson]
Evolution is something that no artist/creator should be afraid of.
I remember being told by an animator in Atlanta many years ago: "We never stop learning."
He was in his 60s and I was in my 20s. And back then [while I was working on an animated project to be pitched to Disney called D2] I could draw, but didn't know a damn thing about Photoshop. That man was the one who inspired me to make the leap from classic coloring on paper to digital coloring on a screen. And since then I am grateful that someone inspired me to reach higher.
Terry Dodson is also an inspiration to me in that area, because he also has never stopped learning. Today he is a digital colorist as well, giving life to his own work after his wife places her expert finishing touches to it:
[Above: prelim pencils and colors for Xmen #7, drawn & colored by Terry Dodson]
[Above: Namor, Colossus and Wonder Woman by Terry Dodson]
If you desire to be great, you have to learn your craft from a great mentor. And at the top of my list of art mentors is Terry Dodson. I hope that one day I can be half as talented as he is.
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