Welcome to the Terrordome!

UPDATE: The Tyson/Douglas print can now be purchased here.

Okay, if you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember a Mike Tyson something-or-another post I made about a year ago. Well, here's where that project ended up. And no, I hadn't exactly worked on it nonstop for that entire year. This, my friends, is a case of what they call 'procrastination'. While I did have plenty of other projects in that time span, I really am worthless without a deadline, and so I always screw myself and wait til the very last minute to turn it in. I seriously need to take a time management course or something.

If you follow boxing, or sports in general, you're well aware of the shocker that took place in the heavyweight division 20 years ago. 'Iron' Mike Tyson was as close to a sure bet as we had ever seen in the ring. He was an undefeated and indestructible superhero who would annihilate everyone who stood in his path. NO ONE gave his opponent, James 'Buster' Douglas an ounce of hope that fateful night in Tokyo. When something impossible happens in front of your eyes, it's something you'll remember forever. Mike Tyson's defeat changed not only the landscape of the division, but the rest of his life as well. That's why I decided to capture this historic event for my contribution to Gallery1988's 'The Greatest Moment in Sports' show which starts March 4th - 26th.

The 'Manga' look was influenced by the fight taking place in Tokyo. I was definitely inspired by video games like 'Street Fighter' when it came to the action. I highlighted their trademark moves (a la Ryu's Fireball or Guile's Sonic Boom) with Tyson's uppercut and Douglas' jab. All the Kanji was written by my coworker, Chisato. I believe the upper left says 'Final Battle', the stamp on the upper right says 'Iron', and the red headline type says 'War'. She does have a sense of humor and knows I can't read or write a word in Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if she screwed me on the translations. Oh well.

Like the Battlecat poster I finished last month, this really is a departure for me from a style standpoint. Lots of inking and a ton of mistakes made this a lot more time-consuming but a whole lot more fun too. Anything new is always a challenge and I'm never sure how it'll turn out in the end, but I hope you like it.

The poster itself is a 3-color silkscreen printed by the fine folks at D&L Screenprinting. It's pretty damn HUGE at 24" by 36" and there's 100 of them that are signed and numbered. I'll post prices as soon as that's figured out.

Lost Update 2

UPDATE: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAITED AND REFRESHED OVER AND OVER THROUGHOUT THE DAY. UNFORTUNATLEY, ONCE I GREENLIT THE SALE, IT SOLD OUT IN ABOUT 5 SECONDS. DUE TO THE PAYPAL DELAY, A TON OF OVERSELLS GOT THROUGH. I WILL DO MY BEST TO GET THE INITIAL 28 PEOPLE THEIR PRINTS ASAP AND I WILL GET REFUNDS TO THE OVERSOLD CUSTOMERS ASAP. I APPRECIATE ALL THE MESSAGES FROM THOSE TELLING ME HOW LONG THEY WAITED. BEING A FAN WHO ALSO FOLLOWS THE PRINT DROPS OF HIS FAVORITE ARTISTS, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT IS PUT INTO WAITING AND THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF NOT GETTING ONE OF THE PRINTS. I WILL DEFINITELY SEE IF THE POSTER CAN BE RELEASED IN SOME OTHER FORM (LIKE THE TYLER STOUT LOST REPRINT RELEASED AT THE GALLERY OPENING). THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWED THIS PROJECT AND I'M DEEPLY SORRY THAT I COULDN'T MEET THE DEMAND.

Ok Losties, sorry for the delay but "The Crash" will finally go on sale this Thursday at random time here . The price for the print is $200.00 USD. Since I only have a few left, only one will be allowed per person and any multiple orders will be canceled and refunded. Shipping is $10.00 U.S. and $15.00 USD everywhere else. Make sure your Paypal shipping info is updated. Thanks to everyone who patiently waited and checked in. I just wish there were a lot more to go around.

And yes, Thursday meaning "California Thursday".

Thanks,
Eric

Lost Update

Thanks to all the Lost fans who've been patient and checking in for updates on the poster. I've been trying to get it out asap, but hardcore deadlines at work and the fact that they're sending me to Hong Kong for several days next week will delay it just a wee bit longer. I'd like to be in the states for the sale just to make sure nothing goes wrong and you get the goods on time. I've definitely read all of the recommendations and I'll announce a set date but make it a random time. That seems to be the popular choice. Just make sure your Paypal mailing addresses are up to date. I'll post the site when I return the 1st week of February along with further instructions. Again, thank you to everyone who's checked in and supported the project. And I apologize for not getting the poster out sooner. Your loyalty to the show and enthusiasm for the posters have made me really wish it was an open run that everyone could get their hands on. Here's to hoping another Lost poster series happens.

Cheers!
Eric

Grrrrrrr!!!

January brings yet another "Under the Influence" show thrown by the fine folks at Gallery1988 . This time, the subject matter a ton of amazing artists will pay tribute to is He-Man and The Masters of the Universe! I had a lot to draw on for this one cuz frankly, He-Man - along with Transformers, G.I.Joe, and Robotech, ruled my childhood. My room was filled with these crazy action figures. I never had the fortune to get a hold of that badass playset known as Castle Greyskull, but we did have Battlecat, the 2nd best thing about that toy series! By far, he was the fiercest looking character and I knew I had to do my own interpretation of that ferocious feline when it came to my piece.

I know what you're saying, "That poster looks absolutely NOTHING like your other stuff! What the heck happened????" Well, that "flat, simplified" look that came from working on 'The Incredibles' poster series & that I've used a lot over the past few years didn't quite seem fitting on this occasion. The 1st thing that came to mind when I decided on Battlecat was the idea that he looked like a samurai warrior with that head dress and armor. I ran with it and gave it the whole traditional Japanese scroll treatment. Instead of blocky shapes, I broke out a brush and some ink. It was quite liberating not having to vectorize this time and I hope it doesn't completely disappoint those who prefer the style I usually do. Don't panic, I'm pretty sure you're see more of the 'flat' stuff down the road.

For those of you who might actually dig this one, the show starts on Friday, January 8th til the 29th. The dimensions are 14" wide by 30" tall and it's a lithograph printed on some pretty thick, textured paper. It's a signed and numbered edition of 123. I believe it also goes on sale online after the opening. By the power of Greyskull!!!!

The Crash

Hey Lost fans,
I'm not sure if I've ever gotten more inquiries about a project of mine than the Lost poster. As a HUGE fan of the show myself, I can totally understand it. It's such a cool show and the poster series was an amazing collection that celebrates the final season of an instant classic. It was an honor to be included among artists I look up to, and my mind was completely blown when I saw the Lostargs fan poll that voted my contribution 1st! I'm glad I was able to design something that hopefully captured what that show means to me and a special thanks to all who voted and have been following the poster series. I wish I could've met all of you who actually showed up at Gallery 1988 on opening night. That was a very impressive turnout!

The good news is, I do have a few posters left for sale! The bad news is, I have a ridiculously crazy deadline this month that will keep me from getting the posters into tubes and out to you right away. The usual 9 to 5 job is actually more like 8 to 9 these days and I hope you guys understand and bear with me at least for the next couple of weeks. I assure you that I will post a date, time, and web address on my blog once I get everything sorted. Thanks to all those who've dropped me a line and contact info. Unfortunately, I've received more requests than posters available so instead of leaving anyone out, I thought I'd sell on a 1st come, 1st served basis like many of the other artists have. Sorry there are not enough to go around. I collect a lot of things myself and I know that crappy feeling when I miss out on something I really like, or something that simply completes the series. Just check back in every now and then and I'll do my best to get you "The Crash". I do appreciate your patience in all this.

Thanks,
Eric

Ah-lowwwwwww-ha!

The awesome folks over at Mindstyle actually produced that Tiki Stitch I sculpted a few months back as a vinyl you can buy! As a guy who's way more comfortable doing 2-D stuff and struggles creating anything dealing with dimensionality, you can bet I was shocked when I got word that it was being made at all. Their artists did an amazing job creating a dead ringer of the original, and at 10" tall, it's nearly as big as it too. They even got the leis and spear perfect! So if you're looking to add some Hawaiian-themed magic to your living room, study, or in my case, the bar, be sure to check back with Mindstyle this February. Ma-haaaaa-lo!

Come Out and Plaaaaayyyy!!!

I was fortunate enough to get asked by the guys at Mondo to create my very own 'The Warriors' poster. It was a blast to go back and rewatch this cult classic several times. It's definitely late 70's in look and feel, but the story, action, and excitement hold up pretty damn well! It's that rare throwback that was working on all cylinders and strands the test of time. I don't think a better street gang movie has since been made. Although 'Menace II Society' was pretty bangin' in its own right. The poster itself is HUGE at 24" by 36", and at an affordable 30 bucks, hopefully a few of these things will move so I can get asked to do another cult classic poster such as my personal fave 'Born in East L.A.'!

Get Lost!

If you're around the greater Los Angeles area between Tuesday, December 15th and Christmas Eve, be sure to check out the Lost Underground Show at Gallery1988 . All 16 Lost posters will be on display as well as a bunch of Lost-inspired paintings and drawings. I was fortunate enough to get to be one of the lucky 16 artists chosen to create a poster and as a HUGE fan of the show, the pressure was on to do something that captured all my die-hard fanboy excitement. I never thought the poster series would reach this amount of sold-out-in-seconds craziness and get me into the Entertainment Weekly with Sandra Bullock's lovely mug on the cover. Nutso! It's been an insane ride and it's gonna be even cooler to see them all under one roof. I hear there's already a line in front of the gallery...and it's 24 hours away! I'll hope to see you behind that hatch, Lost in a sea of fans just like me!

Yup, Them's Princesses!

Ever since I started designing posters, I've always had this goal of creating my very own versions for all the animated Disney films. Those classics have had such an impact on my art and my career, that I wanted to do it almost as a tribute to the importance
they had on me as a kid. Disney Consumer Products had a cool idea going when they decided to ask a bunch of internal artists to put their artistic spin on the Princesses for a book that was just released, The Art of Disney Princess. You can almost guess immediately what I wanted to do with my pieces. Yup, MOVIE POSTERS!!!

Little Mermaid came out when I was in high school and reinvigorated the entire Animation studio which influenced me to want to get into field that as a career. Although I found I didn't have the chops for animation, it led me down the path to my current position with Disney and it'll always be one of those films that reminds me of how I fortunate I am to end up where I did.

Sleeping Beauty was just an amazing piece of artistic vision. The look of the film made an impact on me as a kid and I remember trying to draw the Maleficent dragon over and over with less than stellar results.

It was an honor to get to 'remix' two of these classic films and I seriously hope I get to do more. Check out the book if you happen to come across it. It's definitely worth taking a look at all the amazing Princess translations my fellow coworkers created.

Lost!

Although I was glued in front of the television all through childhood and my teenage years, watching such gems as Silver Spoons, Alf, Small Wonder, The A-Team, and Saved by the Bell, my career kinda got in the way once I became an adult and my prime time viewing hours were reduced to about an hour and a half a week. I'm not quite sure how I stumbled upon the 1st episode of Lost (maybe it was subliminally planted in my head cuz I work at Disney), but I've been hooked on it since the premiere, and it's become the one show that I do watch religiously every week. The combination of an original premise, an amazing cast of characters, and the ever-growing feeling of never knowing where the story is taking you have all made it the most addicting show I've seen in years - well, at least since Charles in Charge went off the air anyway. So you can believe my fanboy freak out when I was asked to contribute a Lost poster to a series of 16 that are celebrating the show's final season. Each of the artists were given a particular theme from the show and mine was simply called "The Crash." After re-watching the pilot a few times, I realized that the episode follows the plane crash through Jack's eyes. That's where the concept for my poster originated. With Jack as the central figure, all that surround him are the characters and events that fill his storyline - from the love triangle, to the fight for leadership against Locke, to his family ties to Christian and Claire. I used the crash theme as the catalyst to Jack's arc of the series. The color palette is directly pulled from the Oceanic Airlines logo and Dharma logo acts as a 'stamp' that lets you know who's responsible for all of this craziness. It was definitely an honor to be asked to put my spin on the one series I gladly invest in each week. I hope all you fans of the show dig it and I definitely can't wait to see how the story ends.

Check out the rest of the Lost poster series at Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear .

Say Cheese!

I've been lucky enough to work with a bunch of classic Disney and Pixar characters over the years. It's definitely one of the highlights of the job and the sheer amount of characters we have keeps things interesting. I mainly work on all the Pixar and live-action film properties so the chances to work with Mickey are slim to none. Fortunately, a project came along where we got to reinterpret that classic Mickey pose that's on all those vintage tees. I based it on the first random thought that popped into my head so I made his feet into cheese and had him take a big bite outta his left foot. There's not much of a concept here other than I was hungry at the time.

Anyways, enough about me, how hot is the model, Kathy?!?!? She definitely makes my Mickey look a whole lot better. In fact, you're probably like "what Mickey??" Thanks to my coworker/photo enthusiast Ryan for the awesome shots. Check out the rest of his wonderful work at RyPhoto . Cheese!!!

Home Sweet Home!

For anyone planning to attend this year's San Diego Comic-con, I'll be signing all them Disney/Pixar posters at the Acme Archives booth (5429) on Friday at 2pm to 3pm. Hope to see y'all there!

Reppin' tha 626

What happens when you're given this:


and you throw in resin, a dremel, an x-acto chisel, a bunch of paint, some fake flowers, twine, bamboo shoots, plastic mini-coconuts,and a whole lot of beer into the mix and lock yourself in a windowless room for 2 weeks? Well you get this little guy here:





A bunch of the artists at work were invited to transform a "blank" vinyl Stitch into their very own version of the crazy rascal for the Experiment 626 vinyl project which will be shown at the upcoming D23 convention in Anaheim, California. The vinyl is actually pretty big so it was definitely a challenge to complete. I wanted to tie whatever i did to the film's story and setting so I chose to make my own Stitch Tiki Idol. His huge helmet is based on the one worn by the Hawaiian king, Kamehameha. There's a styrofoam block in crest and resin was sculpted over it. All the other added elements (eyes, nose, teeth) are also resin. The wood grain was created by carving directly into the vinyl with a linoleum block cutter. My coworker Tiffany, was nice enough to assemble the lei's using a bunch of fake flowers.

Although it took a lot longer than anticipated, I really got a kick out of working on it every day. There was something cool about stepping completely away from the computer and getting to work with real materials and paint again. That, and just locking myself in a room with all that beer was cool little bonus too. Now I gotta sleep off my alcohol/paint fume/resin particle-induced headache before moving on to the next project.

Queen Gigi

I'm very fortunate to work with a family of talented folks who inspire the hell out of me every day. From the veteran character artists who have seen and done it all, to the designers on my team who immediately took me under their wing and taught me so much of what I now know, to the fresh energy and ridiculously advanced skill of the young interns - there's rarely a day that goes by when I don't learn something new and exciting from them. All of the people I admire at work have not only the amazing technical skill but a love for what they do every day, all while being 100% humble. It really is a quite infectious environment. Not only do we have the fortune of working with a surplus of creative talent, but we are surrounded and supported by awesome project managers who make sure we're organized and on schedule. Frankly, they also keep us from losing our minds when deadlines, meetings, and requests pile up.

After all these years at Disney, I'm finding that inspiration not only comes from the artists and designers (or creatives as we call 'em), but from all the other folks who surround us and keep us in line. I guess I'm just in awe of anyone who is just flat out unbelievable at whatever they do, no matter the skill or profession. The 'queen' in the playing card above is the definition of one of those people. That's Gigi, our Project Manager for the last 3 years. To say that she did an amazing job in that span of time would be an understatement. Not only did she do what PM's do best and solved all of our problems at work but she did the same in our lives as well. Her door was always open if you felt like venting, laughing, or in my case, telling dirty jokes and annoying the hell outta her. What she had to deal with on a daily basis - from juggling projects, to dealing with all the other groups in and out of the company, to making sure we were sane at work and in life was truly inspiring to watch. I know that the example she set definitely rubbed off on a lot of us. Eventually, I think we wore her out with our drama and she has since moved up to Pixar. Seeing as how we can be a bunch of babies every now and then, I really don't blame her, but in the end, we're all lucky to have had her for as long as we did. Not many people like her come through life that often.

Ok, about the card - Gigi was nice enough to lend us her house to use as our poker hall. Even though she didn't play, she still ran the show and kicked us out when we got annoying enough. She has a total of 3 kids - well, one real kid and two corgis who are perched in each arm. Gigi's drink of choice is a Cadillac Margarita (and lots of 'em), hence the crazy double fist action. The card, which is the size of an actual playing card, was her going-away gift from me. I also included a letter with all the dirty jokes I forgot to say just for good measure. The cool thing is, we still get to see her up at Pixar every now and then. I've already got a few new jokes up my sleeve for the next time we meet!

Them Dogs Can Talk!

Here's the rest of the poster series I created for Up. I finally got to see the finished film and to say that I loved it would almost seem like an understatement. It absolutely blew me away which says a lot because one of the perks of working with Disney and Pixar is getting to see the film at various stages of production. To get that access is amazing but at the same time, it's difficult to see the final film with fresh eyes. More often than not, I find myself concentrating on the changes they made rather than the film as a whole. I knew early on that Up was a special film. Even in early storyboard form, it already had all the strong emotional and comedic elements. I guess it was so good that even after round after round of screening it, it really held up and continued to grow and resonate more and more with me. I can't wait to see it again...for the umpteenth time. It's definitely an honor to get to work on a tiny part of the awesomeness called Up.