Introducing ... A new Online Art Series

"Fire & Desire" by Frank Morrison

Frank is fast becoming my favorite artist for black art. Check him out RIGHT HERE also.

Illustration Friday: "Soar"

Soar.
The butterflies. Soar.
The leaves. Soar.
Woman. Soar.

The Comic I Submitted to Marvel. Part 2

Marvel Comics emailed me back and said they needed "sequential action," so this is part of a graphic novel I'm working on, and I sent them this and the continuing sequence. Hope it does the trick. CLICK HERE to see what I originally submitted.

Introducing ... Coffee Art

Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur have been painting with coffee for several years now. Their artwork is painted entirely in coffee - no additives, just 100% pure coffee. Check out their site RIGHT HERE.

Lilya Corneli's "Patchwork" Series

This is the work of Lilya Corneli. All of her photography has a painting-like texture to the them. Check her site out RIGHT HERE.

"Black"

John P. O'Brien's "Victorian Lady"

John O'Brien has a romantic style. Check his site RIGHT HERE.

Frank Morrison's "Beat Street"

The 24-year old artist who is known for his exaggerated body, who works in watercolor and acrylic, makes his home in Brooklyn, NY. Check out more info RIGHT HERE.

The Whimsical Pop Art of Daniela Uhlig

This is Daniela Uhlig. She combines alot of different styles in one, for instance the frog is one style, the girl is another, and so one. Cool stuff. To see more CLICK HERE.

"Horizon" for Illustration Friday

This is my interpretative spin on the Genesis account. The proper name of this piece is "Eve on the Horizon." It was done in Prismacolor over a black canvas with a Photoshopped "paint daub" filter. I think it's kinda like visual poetry, myself. Enjoy.

This Is What I Sent To Marvel Comics

"Rage Exploding Off the Page"

Casey Weldon's "AppleBomb"

The provocative surrealism of Casey Weldon can't help but catch your eye. Check out his stuff RIGHT HERE.

Sarah Joncas' "The Wind Cries Mary"

The Ontario-born Sarah Joncas has made alot of money from her works. Her style is usually a big expressive closeup of the face with stylized background. See more of her work RIGHT HERE.

Tara McPherson's "Why Do I Do What I Do"

Tara McPherson is fierce. The painter, comic book artist for DC Comics, poster artist, freelance illustrator, and teacher is based in New York City. A recurring theme in her work is a heart-shaped hole through their chest of her characters. Check her work RIGHT HERE.

"Fairy Tale" By Jin

The above work is by Jinjoung Shin of New York, New York. She's got the skeletal thing going on in most of her works, using watercolor, graphite and Photoshop. Her site is Dadaly.net.

Lighting is So Important: Rebecca Campbell

Rebecca Campbell's work speaks for itself: lush colors, spectrum flavors exploding all over the place. Check her out RIGHT HERE.

"Sugar Shack" Mixed With "ButtaFly" Equals ...

Introducing ... "Suga .. Fly"
The immortal piece by Ernie Barnes is morphed into a new work, meshing cultures, blending souls, twisting realities.

"Soul Butterfly"

The Process of "Beauty"

"Beauty In Color"

I wanted to show how it looks when I work in Prismacolor. I start off on a black canvas, and do the sketch in pencil. Then the majestical white Prismacolor is the backbone of it all, the "Stone" foundation. Fleshing out the beautiful mocha color is the fun part. It's all quite simple, not necessarily easy, but simple.
"Beauty in Stone"

Edwin Lester's "Restoration"

Aside from its spiritual nod, I don't know why I like this piece from artist Edwin Lester, but I do. Lester is a self-taught artist from Philadelphia who has taken the art world by storm. Click RIGHT HERE to learn more about him.

"G-Force" Movie in the works? TransMute!

"All members Of G Force Prepare to Transmute into the Fiery Phoenix ..."
We grew up calling it "G-Force". Some of you might have known it as "Battle of the Planets." But to the world at large, it was called "Gatchaman".
And it was a ground-breaking cartoon that pioneered the anime art style.
And now, it just may be coming to the big screen. (There is also a separate movie called "G-force" in the works as well, but it's not the same characters).
The history of "Battle of the Planets" is like so: Tokyo's Fuji Television premiered an all new action/hero series by Tatsunoko Productions.
The series plot: In the distant future, Earth is threatened by Gallactor, a vicious organization that combines terrorist tactics with advanced scientific knowledge in an attempt to take over the world. The only thing standing in Gallactor's way is the International Science Organization (the ISO) and its chief scientist, Professor Kozaburou Nambu. Dr. Nambu uses all the ISO's resources in a "war of information" against Gallactor, but his primary weapon is his pet secret project: five young people who comprise the Kagaku Ninjatai ("Science Ninja Squad").

Inspired by American comic book heroes, Gatchaman not only became Tatsunoko's most successful superhero show, but also set a number of precedents in the SF anime genre. It was the first to introduce the concept of a "team show," where there were five basic character types (hero, loner, big guy, token kid and female) and five colors (red, blue, pink, yellow and green), and the cooperation of all the members of a team was necessary to use their secret weapons. This was later adopted for use in the Giant Robot anime genre and the popular "spandex and latex" live-action hero shows. Compared to other anime shows of the age, Gatchaman showed a degree of realism, depicting grief and death in a way that made viewers take a good hard look at a medium previously considered "just for kids."
Certain episodes were more than capable of terrifying the average seven or eight-year-old--Gatchaman's target audience.
For its time, Gatchaman was a very successful series. The first season (October, 1972 to Spring, 1973) saw the first series climax at episode 53, with the discovery and self-sacrifice of Ken's father. The second season, which lasted until autumn of 1974, stunned viewers with the final showdown with Berg Katse and the death of Condor Joe in episode 105.
Paul Dini has signed to do a screenplay for the new exciting CG-animated movie called Gatchaman for 2009. Most people know Gatchaman as "Battle of the Planets". Imagi Animation Studios and Warner are working all together to bring Gatchaman to the big screen in North America. "Astro Boy" will also get a movie, seems 2009 will be the year anime.
Wikipedia says "Battle of the Planets" 1978) is the first Westernized adaptation of the 1972 Japanese animated television series known as Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman. Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment. The adaptation is generally faithful to the plot and character development of the original Gatchaman series, but significant additions and reductions were made in order to increase appeal to the North American juvenile television market of the late 1970s.
As of February 2007, Sandy Frank's 30-year license to Battle of the Planets is expired. It is not clear how this will affect the future of the series.

"The original series was one of the classics of early anime, and the film will be very true to the Japanese source material," said Dini. "As a studio, Imagi is constantly breaking the boundaries of animated adventure. Not only are their action sequences amazing, but their characters are driven, complex and play for life-or-death stakes. It’s a great environment for a writer with a rather dark take on animation."
Click here for a list of characters in the groundbreaking TV series "Battle of the Planets."

Update: Nicholas Cage, Tracy Morgan sign on for "G-Force".

Illustration Friday: "Backwards"

New Comic I'm Working On

I don't really have a name for it, but the story is coming to me. A spy. A villain. Action. Have any suggestions for a name?

Check out "Loose Juicy Art"

Looove this site, where you can actually buy art. Check out "Poetry in Motion" RIGHT HERE.

A little "Soul On Paper" swag for your Friday. This is one of the pages from my now-suspended-in-animation web site, SoulOnPaper.com (the Web Administrator is totally trippin').

See "The Herald Of The Queen"

A really creative spirit, we've got here. She even shows you her sketches and the whole creative process. Check her artwork out RIGHT HERE.

Illustration Friday: "Little Things"

Check out "Cellar Steps"

This is Cellar Steps, the latest episode of the Planet Saturday webcomic by Monty S. Kane. It’s pretty much awesomely drawn, with some funny stuff intermingled. Check the site out RIGHT HERE.

"Excess"

New "Bayou" Web Comic? One Word: Awesome

This picture is of "Bayou," which is a web comic that was submitted to the new site Zudacomics. Zuda launched in October and they have some pretty cool stuff already. I had to post this "Bayou" though. Awesome. To read more about it,CLICK HERE.

African Art

Let me introduce you to the Philips. This Afrikaan couple have been producing quality art pieces of the African landscape and animal kingdom for decades. John Philip was born in South Africa. His wife, Barbara, hails from Harare, Zimbabwe. She graduated in interior design in the early 1970s. Check out their dual site RIGHT HERE.

WAK: The Modern Day Colossus of Black Art

Perhaps the most widely circulated black modern artist is kevin A. Williams. His pieces, often depicting a scantily clad man and woman, seem to be in a full 70 percent of African American homes and businesses. In fact, his collection of 50 lithograph prints – created under the “WAK Artistry” signature – is the most widely circulated urban fine arts series in the nation. His art has been featured on television’s “Law & Order” (NBC) and “Soul Food” and is said to be Oprah Winfrey's No. 1 artist. He even has an art series with comedian and actor Bernie Mac. This thirty-something self-taught artist has been creating mixed-medium pieces inspired by his coming of age during the 1970s and 1980s. " I try to capture the elements of love," he once said. Captures it he does. Check his site out RIGHT HERE.

"Superstition," My Foray Into Black Anime

This art is actually for a novel I'm writing. You'll have to email me if you want to read a little of it. It's called "Superstition".

This Is One Bad Dude

Check out Joshua Middleton's stuff at his web site here. He's a comic book artist, and as you can see he's pretty awesome.

"Bubble Bath"

Interpretative Portrait of Vick's Childhood Dog

Aint she cute?

Introducing ... "The LightChildren"

I ran across this earlier today. It's really, really cool. Check it out at lightchildren.com.

Sometimes, just chill

'troducing the new salon series: "HAIR"

Club Melanin thumbnail

welcome

3 And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say: “Come!” 4 And another came forth, a fiery-colored horse; and to the one seated upon it there was granted to take peace away from the earth so that they should slaughter one another; and a great sword was given him.
5 And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say: “Come!” And I saw, and, look! a black horse; and the one seated upon it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice as if in the midst of the four living creatures say: “A quart of wheat for a de·nar´i·us, and three quarts of barley for a de·nar´i·us; and do not harm the olive oil and the wine.”
7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: “Come!” 8 And I saw, and, look! a pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Ha´des was closely following him. And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9 And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work that they used to have.