Playing in Pixels

      Lately I've been looking more and more at pixel art.  In case you weren't familiar, pixel art that is reminiscent of old 8-bit and 16-bit video games from back in the day and are made up of a tiny squares.
 

8-bit pixel image of MEGA-MAN from his days on Nintendo

      I love playing old retro games, like the ones on SNES and the Genesis.  I've started appreciating the art of those games for their nuance nuanced.  I find it weird it took me so long to get into it since while in college I had a teacher who does amazing pixel art works.  The teachers name is Jude Buffum (website here) and I put examples of his work below.

       Works like these above and others from other artist are fun parodies of old retro games and also fun video game versions of some of our favorite cult films.  

Using MEGA-MAN again, here is a screen shot from mega-man x  

         Pixel art can create great depth and super cool images, I mean just look at that bee, so cool and colorful. The limitations of working with pixels are a fun and challenging process, forcing you to be even more creative. If you look at the difference of characters from that age and now, you will notice a huge difference in cast of characters, color and settings. I definitely have an interest in working in pixels and would like to give it a try.

WereWolf  character : Work in Progress.

        I wanted to give my first try with something simple, so I am making a werewolf creature. Since this is my first attempt there is still a lot to learn and I will be making a lot of changes before it's done. So stay tuned for the finish in the future and...

Until next time !

Edited by: Mia Rose Cammisa 

Character Design : Knight of the Demon Watch

      I've been wanting to show more images of just character designs, so why not start out with a classic knight image?

Until next time !

Edited by: Mia Rose Cammisa 

Grumpy Old Marvel Villains

         After a few weeks of posting the MARVEL villains edition to my grumpy old men series it's finally come to an end. This is just a quick recap about why each character was picked.

I already mentioned that Thanos was the main reason I started the series, however when picking the other characters I set up a few rules for myself. First for the others I only wanted to pick one villain per MARVEL hero, so Green Goblin to Spiderman, Red Skull to Captain America, and so on. You could say I'm cheating with Thanos as he is more of an over all MARVEL villain, however he did start with Iron man so there.

I also wanted to get a nice range of scale, size, and color between each villain to show how creative some of the MARVEL character designs can be. Comic books characters can get really crazy looking, especially in MARVEL, but for some reason it works, and I wanted to show that in this series.

I had a lot of fun doing this series and hoped you enjoyed seeing viewing them.     

     

Make sure to check out the whole series in more detail here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

Oh and just in case you are sick of this series, don't worry I'm done with it for a long time.

Until next time!

Edited by: Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Thanos

       Saving the Best for last.  Finally, we come to our last entry in the MARVEL VILLAINS edition of Grumpy Old Men, now we come to.....

THANOS

           Thanos is from an Alien race on a planet called titan, and is a major MARVEL universe villain.  Thanos has been called the mad titan and he certainly earns that title. He was first introduced in the 70's and has been up to no good ever since.

           I have been waiting to talk about Thanos for weeks, he was the main reason I did this whole MAVREL edition to the Grumpy Old Men.  

Original concepts from my sketch book

            I wanted to do a small piece of fan art of Thanos since I found out that he's going to be the next big villain in MARVEL's next Avengers sequel.  I always been a Fan of him and glad to see he is going to be coming to the big screen in a few years.

           What can you say about Thanos?  I love Thanos, his powers, his attitude, his presence they're all great.  I love his crazy outfit and how he's obsessed with death.  I don't mean killing, he is actually in love with the character Death in the MARVEL universe and makes countless attempts to win her heart.  Most notably, he wiped out half of the life of the universe with a snap of a finger in the MARVEL event Infinity Gauntlet.  

Thanos wiping the floor with the Avengers.

            Thanos is the most epic of villains, just nobody can really stand in his way.  The Avengers, Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, and Adam Warlock, even Galactus and Eternity, all have fallen under the mighty hands of Thanos at one point or another.  The mad titan is a classic in terms of a villain and I love him for it.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

I hope you enjoyed, Until next time!

Edited by: Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Leader

        All bow down before the might of.....

THE LEADER

         The Leader is to brains what the Hulk is to muscles.  The Leader, real name Samuel Sterns, was exposed to gamma rays much like the Hulk, only in his case it was his brain that was super enhanced.  Sterns, like so many villains before him, has the simple goal of ruling the world.  He has  had many plans that revolve around overthrowing governments with the aid of spies and other MARVEL villains, like the Chameleon.  The Leader also has tried in vain several times to defeat the hulk. The Leader rarely seems to work alone, instead opting to aline with others to accomplish his goals.  A villain that works with schemes and manipulation, a rare treat in comic books.

A bust of The Leader being grumpy and wearing a  silly devise on his head.
artist unknoen

           The Leader is one of the silliest looking villains, and I love him for it.  He's just a very skrunny green man with a giant freak brain.  They even designed him with pointy eyebrows and a little devil goatee just in case you don't realize he's evil.  I also like that Leader is the opposite to his arch enemy the Hulk, classic brains vs brawn, much like a Superman, Lex Luther scenario.  By far the greatest part of The Leader is his name, it just seems so arrogant, I love it.

Add caption

     A quick side note, look at how silly this version of Leader looks with his stupid butt shaped brain.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos

Until next time!

Edited by the Great : Mia Rose Cammisa 

Grump Old Loki

     This entry we look at the original Avengers villain and brother to Thor....

LOKI

       Loki, in the MARVEL universe is the god of mischief and tricks.  What Loki lacks in power, he makes up for in cunning and powerful magic.  Born to the ice giants, enemies of Asgard, he was hidden in shame for being born so small.  When Odin, Thor's father, defeated the ice giants in battle he adopted Loki as his own.  Loki grew up hating Thor for all the attention and praise he got growing up. He eventually dreamed of ruling all of Asgard.  

Bust of Loki.

         Loki is not only grump, but whiny to boot.  it seems like he can never stop complaining about being adopted and how he deserves to rule.  He's an interesting character in that way, a spiteful spoiled brat with incredible powers.  We get to see the horrors that type of person unleashes.  Loki also got the honor of being the main antagonist in this years summer blockbuster, The Avangers.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

Until next time !

Edited by : Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Apocalypse

     Todays entry in the Grumpy Old Men series is brought to you by the letter "A", as in...

APOCALYPSE!!!

        When it comes to being old and grumpy they don't come any older or grumpier than Apocalypse.  Born over 5,000 years ago in Egypt, he's one of the oldest and most powerful mutants in the X-men universe.  As far as abilities go, Apocalypse has many such as the ability to change and alter the size and shape of his body, very powerful at telepathy and telekinesis, and most important is his immortality that has kept him alive for thousands of years.  His main goal, like many, is to rule and control the world and let nothing stand in his way.  

Another unique trait of Apocalypse is his "four horsemen;" mutants that he cyberneticly alters and controls with his mind to follow out his plans.  He still remains one of the biggest threats in the MARVEL world calling for many, hero and villain alike, to join together to stop him.

A screen shot from the X-men animated series of Apocalypse.

       I love these types of villains in comics and cartoons. The type of villain so powerful that they threaten the world so intently that heros and villains must join forces.  He has several times put the fate of humanity at stack.  He is not only a pure powerhouse but also a supreme intelligence capable of devising very complex strategies and planing.  Apocalypse is a character full of rage and hate and I love him for it. I'm glad to include him into the Grumpy Old Men universe.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

Until next time!

Edited by : Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Red Skull

      Here we have another in my Grumpy Old Men series and it's a vile, evil little man. In all of the MARVEL comics universe you might not find any more evil and malicious than ...

The Red Skull

       The Red Skull, Johann Schmidt, is the arch enemy to the American hero and leader of the avengers, Captain America.  From starving orphan boy to second only in Nazi enthusiasm to Hitler during world war II, Red Skull became a master of disguise, tactical genius, and expert in combat under Hitlers personal training.

Image of comic cover featuring Red Skull

       I mainly like this villain for his amazing design.  The deformed red skull mask, beady yellow eyes, and green, whatever it is that he wears,  just screams horror.  In the comic he has a weapon called his dust of death that turns his victims faces into shriveled red faces, resembling his own.  Like most villains his main goal seems to be rule the world and cause destruction.  Red Skull fuels his evil with his hatred and contempt for all mankind, making him one of MARVEL's grumpiest old man.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

Until next time!

Edited my : Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Green Goblin

      In my last blog entry I posted a series of images I did awhile ago called "Grumpy Old Men."

To see the original post : Click Here

       In that entry I mentioned I recently finished a continuation series of grumpy old men.

      For this new series of 6 I decided to not just make grumpy old men, but to take a handful of MARVEL villains and transform them. I rarely do fan art, however, I loved the idea of recreating portraits of some of my favorite characters in this manner and will most likely be doing it again.

       Starting things off is one of Spider-Man's oldest and most iconic villains...

The Green Goblin

           My first introduction to this character was through the Spiderman animated series of the 90's. It wouldn’t until be many years later that I was introduced to him in the comic books. Even then I always preferred him in the cartoons, call it nostalgia. Green Goblin was also made more famous as the main antagonist of Sam Rami's first Spiderman live action film, though the role was well portrayed the costume was crap. 

Image of Green Goblin from artist Luke Ross

            His powers where basic, enchanted strength and what not, but it was his toys that made him fun. His bat shaped glider, his pumpkin bombs and ghost bombs, and even bat shaped boomerangs. A living Halloween themed villain made the perfect start the new series, and hope you look forward to the next.

Make sure to check out the whole series here: 

Green Goblin,  Red Skull,  Loki,  The Leader,  Apocalypse,  Thanos 

Untill next time!

Edited by : Mia Rose Cammisa

Grumpy Old Men

       A while back I made a small series of 4 portraits, featuring very wrinkly old men.  The series was done as a quick experiment in line that originally started in my sketch book.  They seem to be one of the more popular series I have done.  So I just wanted to quickly talk about how and why I did them in the first place.

First One I made and still my favorite one 

           After I made the first one I thought I'd made a very cool style and decided make a few more, and defining the characteristics of of the series.  The elements that I kept was bold style and abundance of line work.  The lips, all have a similar look as well as the ears.  The shoulders are always trailed off with energetic quick brush strokes, and most importantly their gem like eyes.

  

the second done, that brought over all the elements mentioned above

         I really think the eyes, more than anything, became the main trademark of these portraits. Eyes are very important in cartooning, they have a way of connecting characters together much more then any other human feature, their eyes are certainly unique in that.  They have these cold soulless nature to them, a blank stair with no emotion that sets the mood for each one of them.

Third in the series and what seems to me most others favorite

        The color work was another big part of these pieces once it was brought over to finish.  There where a couple other versions before I decided that minimal was best and kept the pallets for the original four Grumpy Old men to two colors apiece.

The Final Grumpy Old man isn't so grumpy

       The reason I bring these old works up at all is that I will soon be showing and talking about a new set of Grumpy Old men series that I have finished resently.  So stay tuned for more "true believers"

Until next time ! 

To Be Continued !

Edited my : Mia Rose Cammisa

Exaggerated Portrait # 13 : Philip the doodle

        A quick word, this is my 50th blog post and I am so happy how far I've come and how much art I’ve been able to post. I can't wait to see where I am on my 100th post.

PHILIP THE ORPHAN BOY FOUND A NEW HOME.

         Recently I’ve lost access to the adobe programs on my computer which is what I use, a great deal in fact, to work on my art. I don't have the money at this point in time to buy them again so I’ve decided to take this time to experiment with my work until I can get those programs back. I want to go back into playing with clay and carving as well as more with paint mediums, and what ever else catches me.

Pan out for more leg, and a hint of something more!!!

        For a little bit of fun I placed this exaggerated portrait on the leg of my significant other and fellow blogger, Mia.


       Philip seems to enjoy his home; much more then he would on a page of Bristol. Sadly he was eventually washed off but this only adds to the unique story of Philip!


        Philip the doodle was born a little orphan boy with no place to call his real home, never adopted he left the orphanage when he came of age. Philip just would wander for years, from limb to limb doing odd jobs to support his travels. After years of travel Philip found a place to settle down, and he finally felt at home, little did he know his happiness would be short lived. Philip didn’t know that his home world,that he spent his entire life on, was getting ready to take a bath. Sadly Philip, and everything else, didn't survive the flood.
Until next time!



Edited my : Mia Rose Cammisa