Egon Spengler by Jon

I haven't had time to do a proper drawing for this blog for a long time, so I thought I'd just do a couple quick sketches of my favorite Ghostbuster, Egon, in the Real Ghostbusters style. People have often called me "Egon", both because of my considerable nerdiness and because my hair tends to spontaneously form into a Harold-Ramis-esque pompadour without my realizing it.

Ghostbusters Geistbusters by Zach

Things have slowed down on this blog a bit, but we keep picking new characters to draw, and the next characters chosen were the Ghostbusters, so I figured what the Hell. I wanted to show them busting somebody, and thought it would be fun to put a famous ghost in the trap, rather than some generic ghoulie. I suppose I could have put Deadman in there, or Starscream, but I just couldn't resist the pun potential in choosing Poltergeist from Justin Aclin's comic Hero House.

Again, this is one where I gave up 75% of the way through because I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew, but ended up going back in after getting inspired (this time by Alex K.'s animation on the new Marvel What The....?! and Sean T. Collins' new comic). I even got fancy with my computer coloring, throwing a Mike Dimayuga panel into the picture frame and using some glowy filters on Egon's stream and the ghost trap. We lose Egon and Ray's ankles, but we're all better off, to be honest. As much as I love coloring, I may try to do an actually good black-and-white sketch next time, rather than going for the finished look. 

Check out a 50-page preview of Hero House here, then order it from Amazon. Then order MY book, Pop Sculpture, from Barnes & Noble!

Captain Caveman by Alex K.

I never watched the cartoon as a kid, so I caught a few YouTube clips of Captain Caveman to get an idea of what the character is all about. I probably watched three full episodes and couldn't figure it out. Oh well, here he is looking like a barbarian.


For Mel <3

The Warriors by Zach Oat

Following Rickey Purdin's amazing entries on this blog is a thankless job, but he always inspires me to draw better, so I revisited my Warriors sketch, which I had given up earlier, thinking it was too ambitious for my skills, and managed to tighten it up a bit and finish it.

I'm not saying it's the best drawing of any of the Warriors -- Ajax, Swan and Rembrandt are okay, I guess, but Cochise comes off looking like a woman -- I'm just happy to have finished it, and to have figured out how to do a crazy gradient background on the colored version.

All-Star Warriors by Rickey

Our next theme is actually The Warriors, the classic Walter Hill film, as chosen by TJ.

I cheated and tossed together an all-star Warriors team made up of (from left to right) wrestler "Road WARRIOR Animal," Mel's Gibson's Road WARRIOR "Mad Max," the Wizard Master kid from Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream WARRIORS, Swan from the WARRIORS, wrestler The Ultimate WARRIOR, and Antonio Banderas's 13th WARRIOR.

So many hardcore warriors...so much ass to stomp.

Batman Lost in Time by Alex K.

Taking a cue from Chris Ward's take on Batman Lost In Time, I decided to Photoshop this entry.

I thought this would be a cool place for Batman to end up.

Orko by Alex K.

I never watched He-Man. I'm kinda glad about that, though. I have enough trouble trying to get my hands on Mattel's DCUC and Ghostbuster toys, I don't have the patience for another toy line. So although I'm familiar with Orko's image, I have no idea what he does. Something magical? Is he an orc? "Orc..." "Orko?" I'm gonna say he's an orc. I painted him like an orc.

Destructor by Alex K.

Sean T. Collins' creation Destructor faces off against a Terminator.
You can't really tell, but trust me: Destructor has turned his hat backwards Over-The-Top-style, so I think you already know who's the winner of this match. I was also going to draw Bender, R2-D2 and some other robots clutching money, screaming and betting on the match in the background, but I got lazy.

Geist by Alex K.

Hello! This is Alex Kropinak with my first post here on the LAW Blog: 'Geist Dude,' featuring Justin Aclin's Hero House character! Remember Ghost Dad?

I was going to put the faces of three HH characters peeking out of the right side of the paper so it resembled the original Ghost Dad movie poster more, plus made more sense for Geist to be flipping the bird to someone, but I got lazy.

In case you care, I make videos for Marvel.com. For example, the stop-motion animated show "Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?!" I'm not much of a writer but I sure do like drawlin' pitchers! I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog but I'm looking forward to posting more!

Boys Club by Rickey

I can't choose a favorite member of Boys Club, so I just chose Pepe from a strip that I think Dave commissioned for use in Wizard once. Pepe's nards hurt, so Andy told him to hop up and down, which led to ungodly amounts of puke for no reason. PERFECT.
And this is my first watercolor painting. I'd be proud of me if I were my own son.

Boy's Club by Sean T. Collins

Andy is funny
Brett is funky
Landwolf is drunk
Pepe is hungry

Together they are the stars of the funniest comic series in the world.

Captain Caveman by Rickey

I like my cavemen with big dumb grins and monkey feet. RESPECK.

Captain Caveman by Ben Morse

Look, if an image of Batman in caveman times starts making the rounds around the same time we're drawing Captain Caveman here, I'm just going to do what comes natural...

Dino-Bat in Time by Rickey

Bruce Wayne coulda been transformed into a dinosaur by the Omega Effect, right?

Boys Club by Zach Oat

First of all, I need to thank Sean T. Collins. Not only did he create Destructor, he's introduced me to literally dozens of indie comics I would never have known about otherwise. So when he chose Boys Club by Matt Furie to be the next subject on the LAW blog, I looked it up and was blown away. Four guys (A frog, a... wolfman? A... bear? Some other thing?) just hanging around, eating, drinking, doing drugs, being naked, spouting catchphrases and vomiting. Funniest shit ever. I was particuarly intrigued by the wolfman-looking character, Landwolf, whose appearance I can only assume is inspired by Teen Wolf. In homage to the T-Wolf, I drew the following:

It's Landwolf in Teen Wolf's basketball uniform, about to dunk over the heads of his friends Andy, Brett and Pepe. I have no idea which is which. Hope you all like it.

Shaving Captain Caveman by Sean T. Collins

LAW goes NSFW! I tried to make this as creepy as Rob's drawing of the Captain. Did I succeed? I think the scrotal stubble is the kicker.

Orko Revealed by Sean T. Collins

Taking a cue from TJ, who He-Man-ified Orko's torso, I decided to Skeletorize his face. Orko revealing he was a double agent the whole time then stabbing Prince Adam in his sleep would have made a great ending to the cartoon.

Batman of Gondor by Sean T. Collins

J.R.R. Tolkien treated his Middle-earth mythology like it took place on the Earth we know, in an ancient time lost to history. So technically, the Omega Effect could have transported Batman to Numenor in the Second Age. You just know he'd have resisted Sauron's corruption, fled the destruction of the island kingdom with Elendil, helped found Gondor and Arnor, and gone on to become an inspiring symbol of good. So that's why I drew the emblem of the Kings of Gondor with the Bat-symbol in place of the White Tree. It's not because I can't draw Batman himself, no sir.

The Captain Caveman Was Here

I used to watch this show all the time when I was a kid, but I only remember three things: he had hot sidekicks, he screamed a lot, and he beat people over the fucking head. That was my favorite part. This is the Captain Caveman head smash ambush in advertisement form. Everyone seems to be having a great time, which is the magic of advertising. It's also the magic of Mel Caylo, who had the Captain Caveman idea for this week's post. Click for bigger version.

Captain Cavemerica by Zach Oat

I don't know if Captain Caveman was designed first or named first, or if he was the result of some sort of decades-long Hanna-Barbera R&D project, but he is ridiculous. Is that a massive beard, or is his body furry and peanut-shaped? I'm sure this was explained in the cartoon, along with where his powers come from, but it has literally been decades since I saw one. So I drew him as one of my favorite superheroes, Captain America, and I dressed his son like Bucky in the background.

It's sad that one of the most iconic images of Captain America I can think of is Ultimate Cap pointing at the "A" on his forehead and saying "Do you think this stands for 'France'?" Damn you, Mark Millar. Anyway, I wasn't gonna color it, but I had a few free moments while watching "Jason and teh Argonauts." So here you go.

Scooby-Doobies Doooode! by Matt P.

I love how I post to this blog more regularly than my own, but I aim to change within the next few days.

Last week Melly Mel called the shots and sent us back to the Stone Age with Captain Caveman.

My earliest memory of Captain Caveman came from USA Networks' Cartoon Express show, "Laff-a-lympics." Essentially, there were three teams of Hanna-Barbera characters each led by a recognizable character who competed in Olympic-type events. The teams were-The Yogi Yahooeys (led by Yogi Bear), The Scooby Doobies (led by Scooby-Doo), and The Really Rottens (led by Dread Baron or, if you prefer, Dick Dastardly).

So, in my contribution to this blog I went with my favorite and Captain Caveman's team, The Scooby Doobies, and included two of his teammates--Hong Kong Phooey and Dynomutt. Enjoy!

Cap'n Caveman by Rob

I hate Captain Caveman. He always freaked me out. Partially because as a man, he was clearly nude, even though he was cognizant enough to wear a cape; also because he was entirely covered in hair, which, as a nearly hairless person myself, makes me intensely uncomfortable and a little jealous. Still, when Mel Caylo says draw Captain Caveman, you do it or you get the shit hugged out of you.

I knew I wanted to bring out Captain Caveman's innate creepiness with a reasonably realistic face, and when I thought of beings who were mostly eyes and noses, I immediately turned to Ringo Starr. So I tried to model the face off of his photos on the cover of With the Beatles and A Hard Day's Night. The cigarette seemed somehow necessary after I finished the eyes and nose. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out in that it's really, really creepy.

The Hair Club Featuring Captain Caveman by TJ Dietsch

When Mel suggested we draw Captain Caveman this week, I figured I could take it easy and just do a quick version of a childhood favorite. Instead, I found it difficult to really capture CC's essence. I think it's the eye/nose combination that really makes him unique. Anyway, I decided to make things harder on myself by setting this drawing in a dance club and adding Cousin It and Hair Bear to the mix. Plus turntables. Anyway, here's the original, pres-Photoshop version.

After scanning it, I went through and basically bleached everything but the black lines by using the paintbucket tool to make just about everything white. I've found the more I do of this, the easier it is to go through and add color in big waves as opposed to really intricate work. I apparently didn't do enough though as this piece still took a lot of zooming in an altering. I then grabbed some images online of the characters and used the eyedropper to match the colors. After that it was just a matter of adding the other colors and patters. And voila, here's the finished product.

Centurion Batman by Rob

I picked this week's subject matter, exactly so I could draw Batman in a bat-themed Roman centurion outfit. My inspiration was of course DC's recently revealed Return of Bruce Wayne comic covers, my stupid-enormous passion for ancient Rome, and the fact that I'm pretty sure my fellow LAWyers would have hated me if I'd asked them to draw Dr. Druid (next time, though).

I took the pose from a Jim Lee Hush pic, and then kind of immediately fucked it up. Between the nightmare happening with Batman's right foot and the fact that I'm not nearly competent enough to draw all those straps around Batman's groin and shoulders, I decided to leave it in pencil to keep it from looking too atrocious. I feel it was a good move.

Punk Rock Batman by Zach Oat

As a fan of DC's Elseworlds stories (as well as the Legends of the Dark Knight toy line by Kenner), I could draw Batman in different historical outfits all day. Unfortunately, I'm not that good an artist, so Braveheart Batman and Black Knight Batman aren't really options. But after catching an advance screening of "The Runaways," I started thinking about the 1970s glam rock/punk rock movement, and after briefly debating if it made any logical sense for Batman to do anything in the '70s other than be Batman, I kinda sorta made him the frontman for the Stooges.



I don't know what the other Stooges look like, but I gave Batman Iggy Pop's chiseled abs and skinny jeans. Of course, I instantly regretted not making Batman David Bowie, since then I would at least have an easy pun. ("A Bat Insane," "The Thin White Bruce," etc.) The name "Iggy Pop" doesn't lend itself to Batman-related puns, although I suppose you could call the band "Iggy and the Bruces." And of course he would perform such hits as "I Wanna Be Your Unofficially Sanctioned Vigilante," "Search and Place in Arkham Asylum" and "Lust for Street-Level Justice." Here's a colored version.



Check out the amazing covers for Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne at DC's The Source.

Holy Stained Glass, Batman!...by Matt P.

Even though it seems like everyone in Gotham has to have seen The Batman at least once in their life, I like the idea of him being a mythical figure. With the theme of a time-lost Batman, I imagine he'd like to keep a low profile when taking out the bad guys to, y'know, not throw off the whole space-time continuum.

So the first idea that came to mind was, "What if someone one happened to catch a glimpse of the Caped Crusader?" So if Bats ran through Medieval times, I bet his insignia would catch the eye of an onlooker and inspire them to create a stained glass image as a tribute or just as a cool idea. I wanted it to be simple and was really pleased with the outcome.

Also, Here's some other cool stained glass images I came across.

Here's the Photoshop color version to give you the full effect:

'Nam Batman by Ben Morse

No lie, when I heard the time-lost Batman pitch, the first thing that popped into my head was to do a Saturday Night Fever riff, but then without any discussion between the two of us, TJ went and did it first, so instead I did this...

I don't love how I did the shading (particularly on the pants) or that the bandana looks like some sort of earpiece, and in retrospect it would have been neat to add some more bat gadgets or touches, but hey, here we are.

Hat tip to the poster for the original Rambo.

Ward's Version of Batman: Out of Time

What if Batman got on a Time Machine and got lost? That was the inspiration here.



This photo manipulation inspired by Rob Bricken and Corey Ian Haim. CLICK photo for Biggie-Fries Version.

Banorko

What if Orko had a banana head? That was the inspiration here.

Disco Batman by TJ Dietsch

After Rob of Topless Robot fame suggested time lost Batman for this week's subject, I was at a bit of a loss. A Batman from anywhere throughout the whole history of time is a bit daunting. So, I went pretty simple and just did Batman as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever, ripping the pose off of the poster. I did the usual pencils then inks, then I had a cocktail and thought coloring it with markers would be a good idea. Here's how it looked before I poorly Photoshopped it.

Then I poorly Photoshopped it, giving Bats a wooden dance floor to dance on, a pschadelic background and a disco ball to dance under. I really wish I could use Photoshop more effectively. Or at all really. Anywhere, here's the eye-melting version.

For more of me, head over to UnitedMonkee.

The Secret Origin of Destructor

I've been chronicling the adventures of Destructor and The Mob since I was in third grade. I've done this in a variety of different ways: Prose stories and histories, long lists of characters, playing "Mob" with my siblings and the neighborhood kids or just by myself, or even simply mentally advancing the storyline by increments as I drift off to sleep. Nowadays of course there are also the comics I've done with the great Matt Wiegle. But the main record of Destructor's world that I've kept over the years is in the form of hundreds and hundreds of drawings of the characters, from the waist up, mugshot-style. I drew these all through elementary school, middle school, and high school, mostly in giant three-tiered sheets of computer paper, the kind that had little holes on the edges. I've got a blue binder full of these things--if you're ever at my house, I'll show 'em to you.

So here are the three drawings I have of Destructor from that period.



This is the earliest extant drawing of Destructor, but it's not the first one I did. I first drew Destructor and a lot of other characters in third grade, but lost all the drawings on a class trip. I redrew him...I'm not sure when, exactly. Several months later, maybe the next school year? So that would date this drawing to around 1987, most likely. Note the spikes and horns, always a very prominent part of how I saw the character. You'll probably be seeing them down the line.



As I got older and "better" at drawing, I started redoing some of the most important characters so that they'd look as cool as I was capable of making them look at the time. I'd imagine this drawing was done in middle school, so around '90-'91, something like that. More spikes, bigger horns.



In high school, I finally bit the bullet and broke the mugshot format, and started drawing legs and feet. I did this in a series of full-body pin-ups on loose leaf, no doubt inspired by the pin-ups in the comics I'd finally started reading by this time. This probably was done in 1995. None more spiky!

Pfft, Orko...more like, Dorko. by Matt P.

I remember being really into He-Man as a kid (btw, I would have loved to have seen the marketing meeting to see the guy who actually came up with the idea to name the show "He-Man." I'm sure the office threw him a free lunch that day.) and I don't really much care for it now. So I don't have any kind of real attachment to the characters more than the main characters, their wacky names, and crazy costumes.

I drew this from a random picture online found here I like the graytones and just smudged it with my finger to give some color contrast. To add a little magic, I just erased in the letters at the top left to read "Orko" as if they appeared from nowhere.

I would like to point out in my search for reference I found this awesome Orko drawn by UK artist, Rob Jackson on his blog.

Orko by Rob

I'm willing to bet I'm the biggest He-Man/Masters of the Universe fan here at The LAW, and even I hate Orko. I always wanted MotU to be more serious swords and sorcery, and Orko was clearly kiddie crap (oh, how I loathed the fact they brought him back for the 2002 MotU cartoon, exactly as goofy as his '80s counterpart). That said, I'm also likely the biggest Final Fantasy fan here, and obviously the similarities between Orko and the Black Mage have certainly not been lost on me over the years.

So I decided to make a Orko version of the 8-bit, Final Fantasy I Black Mage sprite. Or rather, I assumed someone already had, looked around the internet, and couldn't find one. I cannot believe I'm the first person to do this, but at any rate, here it is now. Other than the "O," the position of the Black Mage's left arm and the ear (and the colors, of course), it's 100% accurate Final Fantasy I Black Mage. I was going to draw it on graph paper, and then I realized I could draw it in Photoshop far easier, and color it, too. If this is truly the first time this has been done, then I have performed a very nerdy service for the world indeed.

Orko by TJ Dietsch

Hey gang, TJ Dietsch of UnitedMonkee here. I've been blown away by Zach and Ben's reinterpretations of Orko and decided to keep the ball rolling by drawing him as a cross between one of his burly Masters of the Universe brethren (hence the furry briefs) and one of the Spartans from 300 (the DVD cover of which I clearly swiped the pose and sword from). The idea of his furry drawers ending with no legs and his tunic acting more as a cape in this pose really tickled me. And speaking of pastels, this is the first time I can remember coloring something with pencils in ages. I've tried using makers, but they streak, pool and smudge more than I like. Well anyway, here it is. I sure wouldn't mess with him.

Orko by Ben Morse

Continuing my homage/re-casting theme from last week, I give you Orko: Sorcerer Supreme!

If I didn't live up to the standards set by Marcos Martin, well, that's something I'm prepared to live with.

Destructor by Ryan

Destructor's a wicked cool robot. I love robots. I love hamburgers. I love hamburgers that have silly names because there's all kinds of junk and stuff on 'em. Oh, and Sean's a vegetarian and Destructor's his baby, so I threw a veggie burger in there. Mmmmm, hamburgers for robots.

p.s. How about that Photoshop coloring, eh? Sweet, right?

Orko Redux by Zach Oat

This week we'll be expanding the scope of the LAW Blog to include characters NOT created by LAW members. The first lucky winner? Fricking Orko from Masters of the Universe. Don't ask me how he won -- it's a long story that involves bourbon, a nostalgic YouTube video and no small amount of emotional blackmail. And while I respect Orko as a person, I hate the way that he looks. Looking at him and hating him, I decided to see what I could do to make him cooler. This was the result.

First, I decided that Orko needed legs, because only losers hover. And since he was going to get tired walking around, I gave him a horse. Specifically, I gave him He-Man's robot horse, Stridor. And I gave him Castle Grayskull to live in, too. Basically, I gave Orko He-Man's entire TV show, because if Orko had legs, a horse and a cool castle, he'd be much, much cooler than a half-naked barbarian. And for the first time, I think my sketch looks better in color!

Call him Vampire Hunter O. Hopefully, other bloggers will draw Orko the way he really looks, because my sketch really isn't the best way to kick off Orko week. I'd say buy a Orko comic, but I'd rather you bought Hero House.