Rainbow Warriors: Movie Night

I made this “Rainbow Warriors” pinup for Sadhaka Studio as a follow-up to another doodle I made for them a couple of months ago based on "The Fearless Zombie Hunters.” When I read the “Rainbow Warriors” comic, I could easily imagine it as a sitcom. I noticed that in a lot of sitcoms they always have people sitting in a couch facing the audience, so I thought it would be fun to have the characters just hanging out watching movies. I also wanted to be faithful to the source material, so I decided to use the same color palette from the comic and have the characters interacting with a black and white background. I had a lot of fun with this one.

Thanks again to Manuel Ríos Sarabia for the invitation!

Robot Vs. Zombie

This doodle is dedicated to my imaginary friend, Adrián "The Insane One" Zambrano. He is the one who came up with the idea of having a Bender-like robot fight off a zombie in a pose like the one in the "Rocky v. Apollo" painting by Leroy Neiman shown at the end of Rocky III (1982). For the zombie character design, I looked no further than George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), where the actors and extras playing zombies had a basic blue or gray makeup. For the robot, I really wanted a design with very basic shapes, like squares and circles, so, I researched some robots featured in movies and serials from 1920-1940. I loved the robots in the Superman animated short film, "The Mechanical Monsters" (1941) and also in the Italian science fiction film, The Mechanical Man (1921). So, a lot of the character design came from those robots. I also had a lot of fun doing the background, trying out different brushes. Hope you like it!

Who will win in this title fight of the apocalypse?

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Nerdmigos Year Two Art Jam!

Help me celebrate the second anniversary of my webcomic “Nerdmigos”! Just as last year, I thought it would be fun to see your take on Nerdmigos characters and situations depicted (or that you would like to see) in the comic strip. So, send your drawings to iamo@live.com and I’ll feature them on the Nerdmigos fan art gallery on Facebook and Webcomics Nation.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Top 10 Movies That Made Me Crave Music

I was thinking the other day that my musical taste was influenced in part (and still is) by movies that I have seen over the years. When I was growing up I didn't have older brothers or sisters to show me the way, I didn't have MTV (I still don’t watch music videos), and I didn’t meet people that I could talk to about music until much later. So, my love for music and my love for movies kinda grew together. Now, these movies are not necessarily musicals (in fact, they’re not), but they each have something that taught me to appreciate music in a way. I list them here in order of importance, not in chronological order, since I didn't see most of them when they were first released:

10. The School of Rock (2003)

Yeah, I guess I’m a sucker for sentimental bullshit, but you won’t find a better rock music 101 anywhere.

9. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Man, that Tarantino sure knows when to cue good music!

8. High Fidelity (2000)

I totally get John Cusack’s music snob character. I really identified with him. Except the part that he’s a scumbag… and a compulsive list maker. Yeah, I know this is also one of those lists. Okay, let’s move on.

7. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

I know what you’re thinking: “WTF? Why?” Well, let me put it this way: The moment I saw this movie, I started listening to rock music. And that’s all I have to say about that.

6. Almost Famous (2000)

This movie reminded me how much I would’ve loved to grow up in the 70’s. I can’t think of a better time to have listened to my first vinyl record and attend my first rock concert.

5. The Boat That Rocked (Pirate Radio) (2009)

I didn’t realize how much I love 60’s pop music. My parents grew up with this music, and my dad worked as a radio DJ for a long time, so, this movie constantly reminded me of them, since they introduced me to this music.

4. The Commitments (1991)

The "World's Hardest Working Band" that introduced soul music to the people of Dublin, Ireland, also confirmed what I knew all along: I have a soft spot for soul music.

3. Singles (1992)

The backdrop of the movie was the early nineties grunge-era Seattle and the musical fireworks sprinkled throughout the film gave us one of the best soundtracks of all time (definitely one of the most listen to records in my collection).

2. The Blues Brothers (1980)

This movie is magical in so many ways! Not only is Jake & Elwood Blues’ “mission from God” an epic road trip, but these guy’s love for music explodes on the screen. This was my first introduction to soul music. I still have the soundtrack on vinyl. It makes me do the happy dance.

1. Amadeus (1984)

This is my favorite movie of all time. I saw this movie when I was 8 years old and it had such an impact on me. It singlehandedly sparked both my love for movies and my love for music at the same time. Timeless and awesome.

Well, that’s it. What’s your top 10?

Ooh Yeah! (R.I.P. Macho Man)

Aside from his distinctively deep and raspy voice, and his "Ooh yeah!" catch phrase, what I most remember about this childhood icon was the KA-POW-pimp-slap explosion of color when he hit the ring. That is what I was aiming for with this tribute fan art for "Macho Man" Randy Savage. So, I apologize for any eye or vision damage this has already caused. Sorry.

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The Fearless Zombie Hunters Pin-up

I made this piece for Sadhaka Studio's pin-up book (availabe July 2011), based on characters from their awesome comic "The Fearless Zombie Hunters." El Angel, Abronsius and Candy.  These are great and fun characters, and I really enjoyed working on this project. Big thanks to Manuel Ríos Sarabia for the invitation and the opportunity. If you are going to Comic-Con International this year, be sure to stop by the Sadhaka Studio booth!

Hice este dibujo para el libro de posters de Sadhaka Studio (a la venta en julio 2011), basado en los personajes de su cómic "The Fearless Zombie Hunters". Me gustan mucho estos personajes, son muy divertidos, y disfrute mucho trabajar en este proyecto. Muchas gracias a Manuel Ríos Sarabia por la invitación y por la oportunidad. Si van a Comic-Con International este año, asegúrense de pasar al stand de Sadhaka Studio.

I also made these individual character pin-ups:

También hice estos posters individuales de los personajes:

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Whatever Happened to 1986?

This was my submission for this year's Comic-Con International Souvenir Book celebrating "1986: The Year Comics Grew Up", the year that saw the debut of Art Spiegelman' Maus, Watchmen by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, among other comics. This is the second time I draw a "team-up" featuring Rorschach and Batman. The first one was "The Last Beer."

Free download at deviantART!

Ésta fue mi entrega para el libro de recuerdo de Comic-Con International para este año, que celebra el tema "1986: El año que crecieron los cómics", el año en el que debutaron Maus por Art Spiegelman, Watchmen por el escritor Alan Moore y los artistas Dave Gibbons y John Higgins, y Batman: The Dark Knight Returns por Frank Miller, entre otros cómics. Ésta es la segunda vez que dibujo en "equipo-up" a Rorschach y a Batman. la primer vez fue "La última cerveza".

Here's another version of this piece. This time referening Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, written by Alan Moore, art by Curt Swan, George Pérez, and Kurt Schaffenberger (also a 1986 comic, and that's where the idea for the title came from in the first place.)

Free download at deviantART!

Esta es otra versión de esta pieza. Esta vez hace referencia a Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, escrita por Alan Moore, arte por Curt Swan, George Pérez, and Kurt Schaffenberger (que también es un cómic de 1986, y de ahí salió la idea para el título).