Monsters

Something for the Season…

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
I’m very excited–Dear Dracula, a 48-page hardcover children’s book, published by Image Comics, and created by my dear friends, Josh and Vinny, will be available for purchase this Wednesday (October 15, 2008)! If you can’t find it at your local comic book shop or book store, you might try Amazon.com.

The book tells the story of a funny kid named Sam, who’s obsessed with Dracula, and decides to write him a letter–honestly folks, a fantastic all-ages book, especially for the Halloween season.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I was inspired to cook up a little Dear Dracula fan art:

click above for larger view

I promised something more substantial today, and I delivered, right? I mean, come on, background, multiple characters, what more could you ask for? A better composition you say? Yeah, okay, this composition is a little weird. Bah, forget my fan art, just go buy the real thing. Seriously.

Claws For Alarm

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
For no particular reason, a companion piece to my Jason Vorhees sketch, it’s Freddy! Waaaugh!

I now realize that I learn a lot more working on these quick little cartoony pieces than on more complex pieces. The stripped down style really lets me concentrate on form, motion, composition, and color, instead of sweating the details. I think the result tends to be a more cohesive illustration.

BTW, I watched Nightmare on Elm Street recently–it holds up pretty well!

GIGANNN!!!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
Just a little digital painting practice today. The lineart was drawn a couple of years ago for a friend who got me a copy of Godzilla: Final Wars.

Gigan is one of my favorite kaiju from the Godzilla franchise. The version here is sort of an old-timey cartoon version of the classic Gigan, as opposed to the modernized version that appears in Final Wars.

Just go watch Final Wars already!

Domo Arigato Mr. Mugato

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
(Posting early… )

No flashback for this Friday, as promised! Instead, you get the Mugato from the original Star Trek series–the version on the left is based on the creature’s original appearance, and the version on the right is based on the inexplicably innacurate vintage action figure produced by Mego:

click above for larger view

I like to think of the clothed version as what the Mugato species would look like after evolving increased intelligence and developing culture and tools. Maybe in another couple of thousand years, the Mugato will evolve a better sense of fashion. Ha!

*Sound of nerd being mauled by highly-evolved Mugato*

Brainsketball

~ J.Ho ~ 6 Comments
Another quick one; Vinny suggested a “zombie baller”:


click above for larger view

I’m surprisingly pleased with how this one turned out. It sure ain’t perfect, but overall, I think it ‘works.’ I purposely made the shading on this one more ‘contrast-y’ for a slightly more dramatic look. Incidentally, I don’t watch sports (at all) and he’s not supposed to resemble anybody or be from any particular team.

GRAAR… BRAINS… REBOUND! GRAAARRRRR!!!

BONUS POST: ‘Tis The Season

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
I had absolutely no plans for a Halloween post, but Charles first insisted (which had no effect), and then challenged me. I don’t usually take the bait in such scenarios, but I also happen to be a fan of one Frankenstein’s Monster, and thus today’s l’il treat:

Timing me over IM, Charles challenged me to draw Frankenstein’s Monster in 5 minutes, and ink it in another 5. The plan was to color it in another 5, but I didn’t run into him again on IM, so I just went as fast as I could. It took me about 40 minutes to color and typeset this, because apparently, I am a sloth on downers. Oh well, under an hour is still pretty fast… for me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, CHARLIE BROWN!