Saturday, December 21, 2013

Michael Keaton is--BATMAN! 2103 Fan Commission Piece!

Here is a recent ink commission for a big fan of the 80s/90s BATMAN movies! It's actor Michael Keaton in his memorable role as Batman! I wanted to capture the sense of "dark weirdness" the film evoked, with a touch of Art Deco "posterized" design added! Lots of mood and mystery really flow from this piece! Click to enlarge!



Click below to see the Photoshop-colored illustration!



Saturday, November 30, 2013

1997 DRAGONFLYZ Kid's Book Artwork!

Below are a few uncolored interior pages from a series of children's books featuring the DRAGONFLYZ characters! DRAGONFLYZ was a popular late-90s kid's show that was co-created by Marty Abrams, one of the founders of the famed MEGO toy firm in the 70s! Lots of action, drama, movement, and animals (well, flying dragons, anyway) in this series, making it a fun and exciting assignment! Click each image to enlarge!












Saturday, August 24, 2013

Josie and the Pussycats! 2013 Original Art Commission!

Here is a fun new commission, featuring those darlings of 70s Saturday-morning TV, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS! Click images below to enlarge!


 Below: My very rough pencilled lay-out design for the piece...



Below: Firming up the pencils...I wanted the girls grouped fairly close together, even tho it meant the drum would be obscured. I had another idea for a way to include the famous JOSIE logo..



Below:The logo is placed on the front of the bandstand! Once reducing the overall size of Valerie (far right), the finished pencils are now ready to go!



Below: The finished inked illustration! I used variations of the girl's famous "leopard skin" outfits, trying to give each band member a bit of individuality!




Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Michael Nesmith "Concert Poster" Artwork!

Produced for a website hyping upcoming Monkees-related events, here is my design for a site link for a round of solo Michael Nesmith (or "Nez," as he's known to hardcore fans) concerts! I used Photoshop to produce the "1800s wanted poster" look, along with several "western" borders, bits of clip art, and type! Click to enlarge!



Below: My inspirations used in creating the above poster image!





Saturday, July 6, 2013

Spider-Man and Friend! 2013 Color Commission!

Here was a fun recent commission! An acquaintance on FaceBook wanted a unique gift for a friend who was a major Spidey fan, and, once she sent a few pics of said friend, I whipped up this colorful original piece! Click below to enlarge each step!


Below: My initial pencil sketch to get started! I wanted the gal to be the main subject of the piece, with Spidey doing a friendly "fly-by!"




Below: The final inked version! I adjusted Spider-Man's anatomy, and slimmed down the gal a bit...




Below: The finished color print, which I delivered with the b/w illustration! I tried to keep things simple and striking, with an eye toward using color to bring the gal's drawn likeness even closer to its real-life counterpart!







Thursday, May 9, 2013

Batman's Harley Quinn! A Very Special Commission!

A pal of mine recently came to me with an idea for a very special commission! He wanted me to create a custom image of Harley Quinn, the Joker's gun moll! However, he wanted to see HQ invading his daughter's school grounds, painting up a rock with some special birthday messages for her! After the work was completed, my pal would then paint the actual "message rock" to match the graphics seen in my artwork! Click below to enlarge each image! 

Below: Starting out, with this rough pencil sketch pose!




Below: More elements are roughed in, Harley's pose is modified...




Below: More detail added to both Harley and the "message rock!"




Below: My final pencils, adding text to the rock, as well as Harley's costume details, etc..




Below: My final inked drawing, with added background, including the main portion of the school building!




Below: The final, Photoshop-colored version!



Below: Harley strikes again! The "real life" painted rock!



Monday, March 18, 2013

POWER RANGERS! 1993 "Magic Pictures" Golden Book Pencil Art!

Just unearthed! Here are a few pages from a 1993 POWER RANGERS "Magic Pictures" kid's book, done for the folks at Golden Books! Each page contained a "hidden" graphic element that kids could reveal using a brush and water, and such books were extremely popular! I took on tons of POWER RANGERS assignments then, from custom comic books (see here) to t-shirt art, and so much more! Click each image below to enlarge!






Wednesday, January 30, 2013

"Dirty Work!" 5-Page 2012 Comic Book Story! The Original Art!

Below are my five pages for a great new one-shot anthology comic book, ALIENS AMONG US, from Elevator Pitch Press! This story, "Dirty Work," was a tense tale, written by Bret Bernal, and it involves two exterminators, out to take on the task of chasing pests out of a deserted old hulk of a house, only to find that one of them is the real vermin! A fun and frightful comic story, pencilled and inked by me in 2012! All art copyright Bret Bernal and Al Bigley. Click each page below to enlarge!



Below: In that first panel, I wanted our two main characters to be 
humbled by the looming old house...





Below: I based the finally-revealed aliens on a weird mix of spiders and guinea pigs!





Below: The scripted, published pages, as they appeared in ALIENS AMONG US!







Tuesday, January 29, 2013

WAR GUARD! Comic Book Cover Art! Pencils and Inks!

Here is my cover art for an exciting new comics publisher! This is the front image for WAR GUARD #1, from a group called Advent Comics! It's a great good vs. evil far-reaching adventure, and, in creating this cover art,  I had great fun playing with the various characters that populate the series! Click below to enlarge!


Below: My cover pencil art, worked up from a rough design concept!




Below: The finished penciled and inked cover! 




Want to find out more about this adventurous new line of comics? Just click here!


Friday, January 11, 2013

More DC UNIVERSE Sketchcards! Batman! Green Lantern! Joker!

Here are scans of some of my hand-drawn trading cards, as seen in the DC UNIVERSE set! These "artist's cards" were inserted into boxes as one-of-a-kind incentives to buy the sets! I rendered these using pencils, inks, and colored pencils! It was great to draw some of the more unusual DC characters, such as Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, and Mary Marvel! Click below to enlarge and enjoy! Click here to see past sketchcards!