The MASterpiece Conspiracies

Don't Sell Yourself Cheap - Don't Draw For Free!!!

2012-01-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

I have a couple personal projects I'm working on this year that I'm finally getting off the ground. All of which I don't plan on showing previews for until it's finally done and close to the print/release stage (which is a few months off). So in the meantime I plan on releasing comedic mini-strips every so often that chronicles my daily life so this blog won't go dead and I keep my traffic going. As hilariously exaggerated these strips will be, they are sadly based on true events I've been through. I plan on poking fun at a lot of topics, some including: the struggles of being a freelance artist, racism, stereotypes, and relationships. Instead of complaining and ranting about these topics in text that no one hardly ever reads, this has become a very stress relieving way to express it all through my work. So I hope you all enjoy the first strip and the many more to come that will poke fun at not only myself, but many more topics that have become an issue in the life of ya' boi' MAS.

Without further ado, here's the first strip. And since I don't ever shut up when it comes to describing my work, a supplemental text/description of why I created this particular strip will follow for those curious enough. I know it's wordy, but I HIGHLY recommend you read the description after. Nowadays asking someone to read, let alone something longer than a paragraph is like asking someone to climb the Himalayas with bare feet, but hey...least I tried.

(open image in new tab for bigger size)

This is an issue that has occurred (and still does) so many times that if I got paid every time it's happened.... that I could probably buy a nice condo somewhere. Not to say that I'm this "highly sought after" artist because that isn't the case. But this is such a recurring issue with myself and so many other artists that I had to do one about it.

Don't get me wrong, it is very flattering when someone likes your work enough to ask for a piece of it either way you look at it. But most of us have invested a ton of cash in this career choice, whether it be: attending college for it, drawing classes, promotion, business loans, shows, etc, that it's become either a full fledged career service or a heavy side hustle. A service/hustle that you should be charging people for if this be the case. Us artists are a rare breed, so there are a ton of folks out there who don't know any better whenever they stumble upon someone, or has a friend/acquaintance that can really draw and they ask you to "draw me something" without expecting to pay for it. If you aren't pulling in figures like Michael Bay or Stan Lee, it's normal for the majority to classify anything you love doing as a "hobby", not a "career choice/hustle". That you just love doing it every waking second regardless of what it is or how much time you take out of the day doing it. Hence sadly, as artists of any kind, we aren't taken serious more than half the time when a price is put on our work or services.

But when the conversation leads itself into the tone of the comic strip above (like it has with me many a time) it becomes rather insulting and annoying. I've gotten into many arguments with friends, companies, random folk in the street, etc, whenever this has happened or a stance is made when you actually say "you don't work for free or dirt ass cheap". I've even been thrown off major titles for this reason, and it's something I still to this day don't regret. Only thing that can be frustrating is how some of these people think. They appreciate an artists work enough to get it as a permanent mark on their body, reap the benefits of it, or showcase it, yet they don't want to put down more than the price of a used video game for it, if not any cash at all? Really strange. o_O

In my case, mostly this has led to the "Tattoo Test". Where a person sees that you have some drawing skill and the first thing they usually ask is to prove your talents to them by designing their small business logo, or usually in most cases... a tattoo. Then they spend minutes on end hounding you to death about it and describing their "dream tattoo" before any mention is made that they might have to put down some money for it. Soon after you mention money, they either leave you alone and you never hear them talk about it again, or they get insulted and throw a tantrum as if their compliment for wanting your work on their body is already payment enough. Some would say and have said that my way of treating this issue is bogus, pretentious or that my passion isn't truly there because I don't work for free (my favorite accusation). But it's neither or, it's business. In the past, if I've known the person for a long time and I've done this kind of work for free (big mistake) out of the kindness of my own heart, the requester usually ended up being even more picky, indecisive and critical than any professional art director I would ever imagine coming across. Which in turn makes the request more of a hassle-filled chore than actual fun. This is one of the many reasons I RARELY draw for close friends or acquaintances free of charge. It's something I try to avoid in general just to prevent any unnecessary stress.

But regardless of who is buying your work or how often, at the end of the day, art is subjective. Some one in the end will like it enough to put down a good price for it. So always put a price on your work. The lesson one can take from this, that many artists including myself should ALWAYS stick to is.... (and I quote a philosophical figure in current pop culture)....

"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

- Heath Ledger as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" 2008

-MAS

T-U-R-T-L-E POWER!!!

2011-12-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah it's been a minute I know, but I couldn't leave 2011 without one more post, and I had to take it old school this go round with my homies the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles". I was commissioned not too long ago to do up a big turtles pinup featuring our heroes in a half shell and posse. I haven't drawn anything Turtles related in a while so I decided to bang out a few sketches before I started on anything just to see if I still had it. Turned out I ended up doing my own version's of each Turtle so to speak and strayed away from their more traditional looks. Don't get me wrong, I love the original designs but these 4 have become so iconic that I felt they deserved a bit of their own physical qualities. So made each one unique instead trying to tell which one is which by only the colors of their masks and weapons.

The requester dug it, but not enough to pay money for lol so I stuck with their more traditional look to get this one going. Below is my first layout and I nailed the pose in my head on the first go.... and that hardly ever happens. Splinter was a last minute add-on, hence why he looks so cramped in below.

Initial Layout

A few changes were suggested from the requester after I sent the layout just before I went into the penciling and ink stage. I drew the buildings in a sort of fish eye lens to pay homage to the old 90's film poster with the same kind of backdrop. My original intention was to have Mikey in orange skater pads and Ralph with MMA bandages around his hands, but sticking with the traditional look was what they wanted so I had to go that route instead.

The ink process was probably the most fun of this whole process. I used to HATE inking over my pencils with a passion before, but the inks and colors method fits my style best I think if I'm doing pinups like this. It's grown on me I guess.

Penciled Version

Inked Version

And here are the final inks. The requester offered a ton of suggestions and hints to make this piece look badass so I applaud his artistic eye for that. He is now the proud owner of the original inked piece as commissioned....but I knew I wasn't done with this one just yet >;-D.

Kelly's Original Colors

I was going to send off a color sample to a fellow art buddy of mine, Kelly Brown to offer color advice since he helped a big chunk on my previous Halloween Hotties project a couple months ago. But I'm such a fan of his color work that he agreed to collaborate with me on the colors. If you haven't seen his work, his color work is beast. With his great sense of color theory, and my obsessive attention to detail, I knew this would be an amazing effort.

My Color Details + Add On's after Kelly's half was done

He sent a hirez color sample to me, and left certain details untouched so I could go to town when my turn was up. So there's a reason it may look unfinished at this stage, but that's the was the whole purpose. Since no artist feels that they are at a skill level they are comfortable with, we tend play off each others strengths and weaknesses. We both tend to feed off each other's aspirations to be the best artists we can, so it's nice to have someone working with you together on a project that just won't say "yeah that looks great" or blow it off any errors whenever you show off work. I think the end result was a prime example of that. So you DEFINITELY will be seeing us team up on stuff like this more often, and on some personal creator owned endeavors in the future.

Whenever I draw the Turtles, it takes me back to my days as a youngin' when I could barely draw, and would doodle them nonstop on anything I could find. To this day, they are still some of my favorite characters to illustrate. So looking back on that always brings a smirk to my face. But a fan in Texas recently paid homage to an old TMNT work of mine that was SO DAMN AMAZING that it made me love drawing them even more. Below is a work in progress of John Whitmire's TATTOO of an old TMNT villain pinup I did a few years ago. This, I'm told is still a work in progress tattoo but.... HOW F**KING COOL IS THAT?! :-)

Tattoo over his lower leg of my work.....Too damn cool!!

This is MAS signing off for 2011 and wishing anyone that pays attention to my blog rants, follows my work, or happens to stumble upon this blog by accident.... a safe and Happy New Year. Best Wishes in 2012.

-MAS

Halloween Hotties is Over! Special Thanks and ShoutOuts!

2011-10-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

"Halloween Hotties" has officially ended as of October 25th. Prints of all 13 hotties will be available for purchase until December 1st. So if still you want one, decide before then before they fade into obscurity.

Special Thanks and Shout outs to the special folks who supported this project can be found here --->

"Halloween Hotties Thank You's"

If you want the "Halloween Hotties" to return next year in new form and with new hotties and homages to join in on the fun, simply like this Facebook Post @ My FBArt Page --->

Want "Halloween Hotties 2" Next Year?

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #13

2011-10-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Thirteenth and FINAL homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Dracula".

No homage is complete without one to the prince of darkness. Her initial look was more on the gothic side, but then I remember the Scream Hottie I did in this series already had that look. So I went with a more seductress look for her, almost reminiscent of Angie Everheart from "Bordello of Blood" (who still in my opinion is the hottest vampire character ever in film).

I went through a ton of poses for her as well, and even when I was in the inking stages with one, I looked at it a day later and tossed it out hating it. So eventually I ended up with this one. Most of the images were done on 14x17 board and my layouts on 11x17 copy paper. But I got a bit carried away in the layout stage and ended up with the final inks on the 11x17 to the right. Which is why there's a bit of a cut off with the cape.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

And with all that said, this marks the last day of my "Halloween Hotties", commemorating my love for halloween, horror, and female pinup all in one series. I'll be posted another blog within the coming days with a special thanks to the ones that went that extra mile to support this project.

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #12

2011-10-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Twelfth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

This was another homage that I went through A LOT different layouts for. Some had her with the leatherface mask, some were overly sexy, and some were just plain bad. But in the end I decided since this series does focus on the beautiful hotties as well as horror, that I didn't want to cover her face up with the Leatherface skin mask. Was better to show the aftermath of the insanity that this franchise is popular for so I went with this concept. Which is another reason I added so many spatters and the old photo texture to give it more grittiness.

Original Lineart

Prints of this will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #11

2011-10-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Eleventh homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Mummy".

Another homage to an old school classic. I rarely ever leave a lot of work up to the digital process after I'm done with the lineart. Only in some cases when I know I'll get too carried away with details, in this case I knew I would going in. So to the right you can peep the lineart to finished colors.

Two more to go ghouls and "Halloween Hotties" is officially done and done with. That went by faster than I expected but it's been fun none the less showcasing them all.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #10

2011-10-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

Tenth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Alien".

Had to include a homage to the Alien queen this time. I did an old piece with all the horror icons in one jam piece way back in 08' and probably half the feedback I got was "how come Alien and Predator aren't in it". So this is to the ones who wanted it. I still cant decide if those films are more along the lines or horror or sci-fi but either way, you don't want to cross paths with either one of them.

Original Lineart

Above is the inital lineart. I thought I had my work cut out for me with the colors given the level of detail I put in the lines, but this actually turned out quicker than I expected.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #9

2011-10-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ninth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Frankenstein".

I broke her heart :*(

Can't pay homage to horror without including the classics that started it all to begin with. Frankenstein is probably my favorite classic so I had a lot of fun with this one. I went through a load of different poses and concepts with this as well, some even including Frankenstein himself. But if I did that here,this would stand out a bit too much from the rest in this series given the fact i didn't do that with the rest. I wanted to focus on how much of a tragedy Frankenstein is, which is why I went with this concept in the end. By glance it's obvious Frank stood her up on their wedding day, but if you look closely at the note by her foot... you'll see otherwise ;).

Weeks after I was all finished with this, I randomly sorted through a bin of old sketchbooks of mine dating back to 2002. I saw a sketch I did way back in 2004 during Valentines Day (if I remember correctly) that I haven't even looked at since, and the comparison was so staggering that my jaw almost dropped when I realized.

(left) An Old Sketch from Feb 2004 (right) Recent Frankenstein Hottie August 2011...WEIRD!!!! O_o

Nine down, Four more to go folks with "Halloween Hotties" ! A special thanks to all who have followed me via my Facebook ,Devart, & Twitter from the result of all this. I'd give you all a big bear hug in person if I could. I'll be spotlighting a few folks here once all the madness is over who have helped spread the word on this project, and were a huge help during the process of it all.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #8

2011-10-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Eighth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Candyman".

I'm not gonna' lie, this concept was problem the most challenging in this series and probably the one I did the most layouts for looking for the right fit. Candyman is a really underrated film but it scared the HELL out of me when I saw it as kid. So I had to include it regardless if it was well known or not.

Initially her poses were a bit too sexual in the layout process to the point it was like I was trying to hard with the sex appeal. But in the end I decided subtlety is the best route and to play on props that Candyman is mostly known for first before anything. So I pretty much just worked around the concept of having: honey, bee hives, hook and his coat and decided on the pose right after. To the left is the final lineart for it. If only I thought of that 100 layouts before.....

If you havent seen the film before, saying his name 5 times into a mirror calls him out and he was stung to death by bees after being doused with honey. So below are little details that I just had to pay homage to.

My friend, artist Kelly Brown helped with some color input on this with the background, similar to my previous Myers Hottie. So props to him again for the color advice.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Sketches

2011-10-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Sketches of the Saw, Freddy, F13 and Wolfman hotties,

Here are a few of the MANY sketches I have stashed away from my "Halloween Hotties" run. Swear I can make a book out of all the process work I have from this. But I figured I'd post this now as a nice lil' breather from all the reveals each day. Plus I doubt I'll be talking this up as much as I am now after the 25th when the last print is revealed. So better now than later.

I did in fact lose a scan of a Myers hottie sketch for a guy who placed an order, otherwise I would have included that one here in the pic above but oh well. :( But some of the sketches were to the first 13 people that placed orders for prints.

"Halloween Hotties" Day #7

2011-10-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Seventh homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Scream".

"Scream" is more so aimed at the younger horror crowd so I had to have her in a pose that most people under 24 use as their default profile pictures on social networking sites/You all know what pose I'm talking about...the "overhead profile photo" pose people take with their cell phones. I thought it would fit the theme of Scream perfectly especially after the 4th film.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #6

2011-10-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

Sixth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Chucky".

To the folks who have kept up with my blog this last week.... we are halfway into my homage series to commemorate the Halloween holiday this year. As I stated before, the idea behind this series was my way of paying tribute to all the great horror films I grew up admiring as opposed to creating "female renditions" of horror characters for majority of the films I chose to tackle. This particular piece is a prime example of what I was going for and symbolizes the idea behind this series the best I think. Not saying it's my favorite of the series but it gets the theme across perfectly if I do say so myself.

My Initial Layout

I have a TON of process work with this series that I'm figuring out what to do with because I went through a bevy of different poses with each before I decided on the final ones. But to the right is one of them since I haven't posted a layout from one of these yet. We already have a female Chucky doll called Tiffany so I knew going in that I didn't want her blonde, a doll or look gothic at all like that character. So I went with the idea of just making the hottie come off as an obsessed Chucky doll collector or fan girl so to speak. Hence her obsession is so deep that she bears certain resemblances to the doll itself via, sneakers, hair color, freckles and overalls.

I inked over my layout with a lightbox and changed some alignments with the background before I went to colors. Overall I was pleased with the end result. Shockingly the top three characters I ALWAYS found challenging to draw were: Michael Myers, Chucky and Superman. Their looks have to be very particular otherwise the whole thing ends up being very stiff and an epic fail in general. Thankfully I've drawn enough Myers, and Chucky(without the scars) in my time since, that drawing them now is pretty much like second nature. All except Supes tho..still need a bit more practice with him. In the end I was happy with how the Chucky dolls turned out in this one.

Final Print

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #5

2011-10-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Fifth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Halloween".

I did promise a post ago that I'd post a bit of process work with this series so tis' it.

Original Lineart

My initial layout for this was dead-on with the lineart and I pretty much drew it from scratch.

Colors Almost There

I layed majority of the base colors down and I knew going in I wanted the color scheme to be neutral. But after that was all done,I was stumped and it came off somewhat...dull. So I forwarded it to an artist buddy of mine for his input. Needless to say, I'm glad I did.

Artist Kelly Brown's offers suggestions to bump up colors .

My longtime homeboy Kelly Brown (who is a great illustrator, and someone I actually worked with on my first official comic for the Halloween series) had an EXCELLENT idea for the colors with this one since I was stumped with the color choices.

annnnd Final Colors.

Then after all the input and suggestions from him, we are done.

It's been years since I've drawn anything Myers related since I worked on the franchise years ago so I guess this is a nice little treat for my Myers fans.

But I gotta' give props to Kelly Brown for his help with this one. It worked out really well in comparison to what I had in mind initially. You can check out some of his work here at his blog ---> Kelly Brown Art

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #4

2011-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Fourth homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Saw".

Don't ask me what kind of trap she is in or how she's supposed to escape. Let's she say shes screwed either way. ;)

To the right is a closeup of some easter egg details. If you haven't seen the films, the killer usually digs a Jisgaw piece out from his victims. So obviously instead of a jigsaw shape, I found a clever way to include my initials. I tried to have the woman look similar to the Saw Doll Billy with the hairstyle and cheek paint as well.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

I'll be posting some process work with a couple of the next ones so stay tuned.

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #3

2011-10-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Third homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."The Wolfman".

The print for this came out waaaay better than I expected. I hardly ever hang up any of my work near my workspace but given how the print turned out and as vain as it sounds.... this bad boy is going up on my wall somewhere near a black light (which makes it look even cooler btw).

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #2

2011-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Second homage from my "Halloween Hotties" series..."Nightmare on Elm Street".

I added the distressed film look to this last minute and it gave it way more pop in comparison to the one without. I used this method before in a comic and it's really prompting me to do up more work reminiscent of the old Grindhouse film-styled posters from the 70's in my freetime.

Prints of this one will be available for a limited time. Check my DeviantArt for more info .

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Day #1

2011-10-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of reveals from my "Halloween Hotties" print homage series. First homage up to bat, "Friday the 13th".

Initial Lineart (before Colors)

This went through a NUMBER of different poses in the layout stage until I finally decided on this one. I did get a few inquiries about this series when the teasers went up from people wondering if each pinup would be a female version of a particular horror film. Answer- No. This series is a "HOMAGE" to all the great horror films I grew up watching. So I had to bring in that concept with my love for drawing pinup babes, hence you have "Halloween Hotties". Otherwise if I was doing female renditions of characters like "Friday the 13th" for example, she would have waaaay less sex appeal than she does in this image.

Above to the right is a proof of the final print for this particular one. All Prints are available for sale for a limited time only. All on 11x17 cougar card stock, and $20 each. Payments accepted at MAS@theMASman.com through paypal only.

First 13 orders get a free 11x17 original sketch of the hottie of their choice.

-MAS

"Halloween Hotties" Debuts Next Thursday!!!

2011-10-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

New Teaser of All 13 Hotties!!!

Check my DeviantArt for more info regarding it.

-MAS

Da' GeeeeaaaaaRSss

2011-09-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hehe couldn't help the Chicago Bears reference with that title...Hey Hey I'm from Chicago I had to. :p I actually did this one up for the Gears of War 3 Wallpaper contest over at deviantart. I'm a HUGE Gears head anyway and followed the series since the beginning. So I couldn't resist entering and had to take time out for it. Below you can see the process from my layout to final colors.

Initial Layout

Everyone is curious about the outcome of this latest game since they say it's the "conclusion" and there's heavy speculation as to who comes out alive. So I knew for sure I wanted to implement that dreaded blood omen in the background somehow first before anything. If you haven't played the game lemme just say....you don't want that symbol showing up anywhere on your screen while you're playing it. Then I knew I wanted to make the characters from "Gears of War 3" my main focus. The characters in Gears you can't help but get attached to and are extremely iconic.Plus they finally have female gears in this one! So I had to showcase them as badass as my abilities would let me. The guy with the helmet pointing at the viewer is the brother of two other soldiers that are famously known for dying in every game to the point it's comical. So the creators left this guy's fate up to the fans....hence I had to have him pointing at the viewer here.

Final Pencils

Lately I have been coloring over my inks, but I wanted to go back to coloring over my pencil work this time around to give it more of that grittiness Gears is known for. I noticed some changes/corrections that needed to be made once I was done, and decided to just save it all for the coloring stage. If someone else was coloring it, I would have done otherwise.

Final Colors

And after countless hours of details and coloring this in between freelance and wrapping up "Halloween Hotties" she's finally done. Some of the creatures in the game have this glowing yellow-ish kinda' blood, so I had to mix that in with some normal blood stains as well. All in all I had MAJOR FUN with this. I definitely will consider doing more Gears art in the future since this was my first attempt at drawing anything Gears related and I had more fun with it than I thought I would. It's really sad times for gamers seeing this series end so quickly, but here's hoping I'm wrong. ;)

-MAS

Onimbus Cover Colors

2011-09-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my facebook page a few weeks ago and forgot to post it here. Luckily I got a few more hours to spruce up some of the colors on it. So the image you see here pops out 10xs more than the colored one I posted there. You can check out the rough layout for this a couple posts down.

Cover Spread for the upcoming "Heroes of the North" Ominbus

-MAS

Halloween Hotties R COMING!!!!!!

2011-09-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

Heroes of the North isn't the ONLY thing I've been working on. ;) I have my own side projects that I'm FINALLY getting off the ground. First one is a print series entitled "Halloween Hotties". I had this idea pop on my head November 1st of last year so needless to say I've been anxious to getting around to these ever since. Below is a teaser of just some of the chicas paying their respects to the heavy hitters of horror. Of course I couldn't tease all of the films that I am doing and all the prints here. I Gotta' build some kinda' suspense now. >;-D

As this teaser says, there will be 13 different horror film nods that will be available. Starting October 13th not only will prints be available, but I will be revealing each one everyday until October 25th on my new Facebook Art Page. Email me or message me through Facebook, or My DeviantArt if you want may be interested in a pre-order.

-MAS

Many Things Brewing!!!

2011-09-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Below are some layouts for an upcoming Heroes of the North book I'm taking full reign on.

Yep, I'm doing everything this go round: lineart, colors & letters.

This is probably the most zany story from the series. To compliment that, majority of it is being done in a more kid friendly cartoony style.

Layouts for Upcoming short story called "Q&A with AQ"

Recently Heroes of the North dropped some cool news on their Facebook that an omnibus book (that means a collected trade of readings/novels) will be published by an American publisher! They have a bunch of other artists on board, so I was VERY honored when I was asked to do a jam spread cover for it. The deadline for an image like this is SUPER tight but I've conquered bigger hurdles before thankfully. So expect the final lineart & colors for this sometime Monday.

Adding Terrence & Phillip from "South Park" fame in the background was tempting but I gotta' keep it pro ;).

-MAS

Random Doodles

2011-09-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

The title pretty much explains it all. Gotta' love the old geezer checking out the hotties lol. I drew that old dude from observation. He had to have been having a nice dream because he had a smile on his face the whole time he was dozing off so I had to take advantage. It's amazing the kind of characters you see on public transportation. Three you can tell were Betty Boop inspired, a few MK9 doodles (which is probably in my opinion..the best fighting game to drop in the last decade) along with a few cartoon kittens (like I said...random).

The chic on the right I did about a week or two ago but just got around to posting her here. I started her from scratch on my Cintiq and just decided to color her.

To the surprise of many who know me, I'm not as big a fan of the iconic dream demon Freddy Krueger, but he's become one of my favorite characters sketch.....right behind Jason Vorhees of course. ;) As I stated before, I am absolutely HOOKED on the new "Mortal Kombat 9". So since they announced him as the new character to join the roster I have been forcing people to rage quit on me like mad while I beat them to a pulp with him. The dude is a BEAST!!! No surprise I felt the need to draw him again. Took me around an hr and a few minutes with just a writing pen. They say Jason Vorhees MAY actually join the MK9 roster soon....if that's true I think I may never leave the house.

I was commissioned to do line art logo concepts for an emerging MMA Fight Club here in Chicago. The guy was pleased with the final result but I personally dug the sketch on the top right for the male version better than the final concept they ended up going with here.......(minus that HORRID logo idea I had thought of initially).

-MAS

More Canadian Stuff

2011-08-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ironically enough I have more products in Canada than I do in my own damn country. Hmmm maybe it's a sign I should move. :)

Anyways you may remember this logo I did a couple years back for the horror website Arrow In the Head ran by Canadian movie critic, and actor John "The Pimp" Fallon. They finally got around to making shirts of these bad boys so needless to say, I was happy to see it. You can get more info on where to cop them Here!

Arrow In the Head T-Shirts

Annnnd last but not least are some finished sculpts for some figurine concepts I did for the Heroes of the North series. You can pre-order these bad babies here -----> HOTN Figurines Set 2

(left to right) Black Terror Concept, Final Figurine

(left to right) 8Ball Concept, Final Figurine

(left to right) Canadian Shield Concept, Final Figurine

(top to bottom) Nordik Concept, Final Figurine

(left to right) Madame Doom Concept, Final Figurine

The sculptors are usually dead on, so I'm pretty pumped to get these bad boys in hand.....ESPECIALLY the LED ones.

-MAS

New Heroes Comic Coming Soon

2011-08-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

These are pages from an upcoming comic for ..... wait take a wild guess ;). I'm doing lineart and letters this time around. A DOPE colorists we had in mind for this book had to meet another commitment (F**K!) so that set things back a bit along with me being a few days late with this one. HEY HEY HEY quality takes time dammit! But aside from all that, after weeks of making the rounds to available colorists, it's finally in the coloring stage now by God knows who. Below are a few peeks at the lineart for it.

I went through quite a few changes on the main character that had to be made post-inks. I usually make the characters in the series different from their live action counterparts in the comics so this one was no exception. Unfortunately there was a worry that her new design looked a bit too similar to a previous character from the last book. So I had no choice but to change it back to her original design as you can see below.

I'm personally more fond of the other costume on the left but it DID in fact mirror a previous character so....yeah.....I missed the mark here, but there's always next time. The character is an business mogul/assassin named Hornet, which is played by popular cosplay model Marie-Claude Bourbonnais in the webseries. So don't email me giving me crap about her breast size being too big....they are like that for real. :)

-MAS

New Figurines Coming

2011-08-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Heroes of the North has me busy as you can tell. August 1st marked the one year anniversary since the launch of this project. It's been quite the learning experience, and despite any set backs that can occur in a project, I couldn't ask for a cooler crew of writers, directors, and actors to be involved with.

But enough of the mushy stuff and on to some art goodies. I figured the last 12 figurine concepts I did were my last batch. But my surprise, they brought me back to do two more concepts coming down the pipeline.

The concept above is all colored and finished but still awaiting approval (which is probably the biggest one Ive done). But the one below is good to go and is on its way to the sculptors at Gensen Hong Kong.

In case you were wondering whats up with her left leg...her power is invisibility.

Below are concepts for the final figurine above that I sent early on. I sent the first one standalone and it actually got approved.

But after taking another glance, I ABSOLUTELY HATED the first concept so much that I requested a redo and luckily the more dynamic pose was chosen instead. Just goes to show, it pays to step back from your work from time to time.

-MAS

The Wonders of a Wacom

2011-07-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

I probably shouldn't post this because it's almost shameful looking back on my older work. But I'm like that with everything I design....I usually end up hating the hell out of it years down the road asking myself "what the hell was I smoking when I considered that finished?"

So since I'm currently working up a new portfolio,and sprucing up prints (new and old) for the fall season, I decided to go back into some old pieces to do some retouching. Now that I have a Wacom Cintiq, it makes this process all the less tedious and boring. So I retouched up an old MAS rendition of Harley Quinn and an old Rambo piece just to see the difference.

As you can see from the examples above, you will know why I will NEVER resort back to using a mouse again for digital work. There were MANY subtle changes that was needed to make these images look better overall that I couldnt achieve with a mouse before. I was too broke to afford one back then, so I had no choice but to color with a mouse because honestly......any tablet under 400 bucks is pretty much garbage. I almost feel like I have to do this to all the work I have posted that I colored with a mouse now. A shameful confession indeed.

-MAS

My Commission Info

2011-07-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

Figured since I don't have any specifics about my commission rates or info anywhere publicly, that I might as well post all that good stuff here on my blogger for any who may be interested. Here are a few rules I go by that will help this process go by smooth and easy for everyone involved.

The Way it Goes:
1.)You ask for what you want . YOU HAVE TO BE SPECIFIC IN WHAT YOU WANT! I can't begin to tell you how much of a pain it is for artists to admit about their hatred for changing finalized work without warning. So send reference photos/examples or whatever supplements you can that will make your requests clear and to the point to keep things moving fast.

2.)I quote you a reasonable price.
3.)$$$ is transfered to my PayPal. (only paypal for now folks, sorry)
4.)I get started on your requested commission within two days.
5.)Thumbnails are sent to you for approval.
6.)Once approved, I give you a delivery date on the final.
7.)I Finalize.
8.)I Deliver.

It's as simple as that. Now on to the most important part....$$$$$$$PRICES$$$$$$!!! (below are pics to help with some examples).

Bust Sketch Pencil

Bust (Shoulder up) 9x12

Sketches (Pencil) $15

Clean-line (Pencil/Ink): $25

Traditional Color: +$25

Digital Color : +$25

Additional character/s:+$5-10

Clean Line Waist Up

Waist Up 9x12

Clean-line (Pencil/Ink): $40
Traditional Color : +$20

Digital Color : +$30

Add a character/s:+$10-20

Full Body Clean Line

Full Body - 11x14 or 11x17

Clean-line (Pencil or Ink) : $50

Traditional Color : +$25

Digital Color : +$30

Add a character/s : +$15-25

Full Body Digitally Colored

Full Commission (with background) 9x12 or 11x17

Full Commission with Background

Clean-line (Pencil/Ink): $60

Traditional Color : +$30

Digital Color : +$50

Add a character/s:+$15-25

Full Commission with Extra Characters

Requests can range from anything, so don't be timid about your requests. Just TRY to keep them reasonably presentable so I at least wont be shameful by not posting your final commission anywhere on the net. Weird requests for "Homer giving it up doggystyle to Marge Simpson" or "Super Mario getting beheaded by Jason Vorhees" isn't something I think that will have folks knocking down my door for more commissions. (Yes, I've had some VERY ODD requests before that I had to turn down)
If you want to post the final commission somewhere feel free. I only ask for you to be respectable by giving me credit linking back to my My Website or My DeviantArt.

That about sums it up. :) Email me with serious inquiries only at MAS@theMASman.com or @ My DeviantArt (if you have one).

JaZzY!

2011-06-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

This is a piece I actually just finished up this weekend for an amazing artist by the name of Francisco "Pacman" Perez. His color work is so damn good that I had to do a homage of his original characters from his personal project entitled "Wind Jazz".

I took some liberties on some of the designs in parts here, but not too much out of respect. The designs of the characters are so off the wall, that this was quite possibly the most fun I've had with a pinup in a while. It's always good to draw characters whose designs aren't bound by so many restrictions and you can just let loose. It's probably why I had so much fun with this one.

-MAS

Good Portfolio Reviews These Days...

2011-06-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

.....Are almost as good as dead. If you are a freelance artist like myself, you probably are hunting down gig after gig after gig. Constantly getting your name out there, and filling your work schedule with as many projects as you can manage. But don't you hate it when you get those lifeless responses from recruiters saying in so many words ..."you aren't good enough"? Well it so happens, I applied to one position a while back and I happened to receive 3 emails from different recruiters for the same position saying such. Usually, depending on the email, I'd either take it as is, or respond with a simple thank you, etc. But this particular one somewhat annoyed me because I knew they were full of it. The wording was almost the exact same from each recruiter to the point it seemed robotic. Sadly it probably was but here was my response:

"Hello ________,

Thank you for the response about the position at _______. Not to be rude, but this is probably the THIRD EMAIL I have received from ________ regarding the same position I applied for WEEKS AGO informing me that I didn't get the job. Without an valid reason as to why, on top of the typical misleading press kit saying that my resume will be kept on file.... the reminders about this are becoming a bit ridiculous. Which just makes it clear that: none of my files have been throughly looked over, I wasnt contacted by phone , my resume wasn't looked over, nor that my files are ACTUALLY in your database for future consideration. Please forward this to all in charge so this wont happen to someone else. Hopes crushed the first time for any designer is bad enough, than being reminded about it every other day from the same job they only applied for once. Thank you."

And also, I'd like to point out, that I have a site tracker on my portfolio sites, and no one from this particular location I applied for even glanced over it once during this whole interim. Yeeeeaaaah.....CAUGHT!!!! What ever happened to recruiters nowadays actually LOOKING at work and websites for more than 60 seconds? No one actually REVIEWS anything anymore sadly, they just GLANCE OVER work (if your lucky) and call it "reviewed". That is NOT a portfolio review folks, or a good review in general. Granted art directors don't have the time to extensively shift through work alone and point out what needs work to every submission they recieve. But at LEAST they can put some useful thought into their responses. If you ever get an honest thorough opinion about your work in this day in age, (whether it be good or bad) consider yourself lucky. Hell, blessed even.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

More HOTN stuff...again..

2011-05-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

I know I know, folks may be getting bored of only seeing work from my "Heroes of the North" run on this blog lately. But it's all that seems to be taking up most of my time these days. Below are pages from the latest issue entitled "Pacifica:Origins". You can read the full comic online of course here. Lineart and Colors by me of course.

My run on the series has been a true learning experience more so than any project I've tackled in my six year freelance career. Mainly due to all the job titles that have been put under my belt at random since I began my run . What started from a single pinup led to: comic artist, toy designer, concept artist, inker, and sometimes letterer & editor.

I can't complain since I love what I do and it keeps food on my table. But I have recently lightened my duties on the comic aspect of the series to focus more on other projects. Not only that, I always felt my color work paled in comparison to my linework as far as comic interiors go. So this is the last color work you will see from me for a while in a comic. I will just be lending my pencil and ink talents to the remaining books. Thankfully the next book will have me teaming up with a personal friend of mine that I've brought on board to help. He's a veteran in commercial illustration, whose color work I've looked up to for years, and nothing short of breathtaking. So needless to say, if all goes as planned....between my linework and his colorwork, the next comic will definitely blow readers away. That may have sounded a bit cocky, but don't take it personal...it's just art kiddies. ;)

Peace and Luv,

MAS

New Toy Stuff

2011-04-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

More Heroes of the North stuff again. These are the last batch of figurine concepts sent over to Gensen Figures for the sculpting phase.

I figured I'd might as well share the notes I send over to them to give a better insight on how I'd like to see somethings turn out in the final sculpt. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. So far they have been pretty dead on the money with my concepts so I'm always excited to see the final sculpts.So that's 12 twelve figurines in this whole set. You can peep those and some of the latest ones at the HOTN store here ---> Latest Figurines

Peace and Luv,

MAS

KhaRuPTed Spidey - Colors By MAS

2011-04-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

I rarely do any plugging for other artists because quite frankly..... no one hardly does it for me. But thats not the attitude to keep. Plus some of the artists I know, or look up to, produce work thats so damn cool that you can't help but see how your skills compliment theirs. Khary Randolph is no exception, and I've looked up to his work for a long time. So i was bored one day and felt the itch to color over someone else's work, and stumbled upon this cintiq sketch he did of Spider-Man over at his deviantart. Took me about an hour or hour and a half tops.

(Left to Right): His Cintiq Sketch, My Colors

Check out some of his work at his His DeviantArt and prepared to be amazed.

I plan on doing more stuff like this in the future just for the hell of it, or on an actual project. For so long I've been working solo on projects, that I'm longing to team up with other great artists on stuff like this. But time is money, and folks nowadays rarely have a lot of both sadly.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

A Recent Commission 4 a Fan

2011-03-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

It's rare when I have time to do any commission work for regular followers of my work. Let alone anyone thats willing to put out a reasonable amount of cash for one. But yet there's a select few who do. Hence, this one was a recent request from a fan through my DeviantArt. An original character of their's named "Valentine".

Initial Layout

I've been so used to penciling before I go straight to colors with my freelance work lately, that inking this was actually quite fun. I haven't inked over my work in quite some time so I was surprised at how FAST I knocked this one out. Usually I'm like an 80 year old man with carpal tunnel when I ink with mechanical pens, and brushes (which is why I hardly ever do it). But I think drawing a 26 page comic with just a writing pen for my last gig, helped me get a bit more comfortable with inking my own work.

On the right is the final version after a few requested changes to get the character exactly how they wanted it. If you are curious as to what he's throwing, his weapon of choice is energy charged Valentine candy. Odd character yes, but thats the beauty of doing commission work. The concepts are usually a challenge within itself. So it's up to the artists to make it look as badass as possible without it coming off too distracting. Thankfully, they were really happy with the end result.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

I'm Not Dead ;)

2011-03-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd post at least SOMETHING here so the few who follow knew that I wasn't dead or just sitting on my ass. :P

So I compiled a few process comic work from some Heroes of the North comics I wrapped up a while ago. I won't go through the same song and dance describing my process in full detail since I am writing this in a bit of a hurry. But I will point out the first two sets of images below I went about a bit different than what I'm used to. It was a 26 page comic I did the lineart for from scratch over my layouts with just a simple BiC writing pen.

Process work from the "Crimson" comic (below)

You can only imagine how cramped my wrists were after I was all done with the coloring and lettering. But it was truly worth it in the end, and way more fun than I expected. I always love the flowing feeling a pen gives me in comparison to a pencil anyways so I may attempt this again on another project down the road. You can peep that full comic in all it's writing pen glory here ---> http://heroesofthenorth.com/COMICS/CRIMSON_COMIC/CRIMSON_COMIC.php

*Note: It's also the most controversial of the whole stories planned for the webseries... so you sensitive folks have been warned.

Process work from the "Crimson" comic (below)

Process work from the "Black Terror" comic (below)

Aside from trying to catch downtime from the sporadic life of freelance, I'm heavy at work on the next issue in the Heroes of the North comic series, ontop of FINALLY getting started on pages from my first creator owned webcomic. I don't want to jinx my time schedule for it by saying too much. But I am proud to say that it is finally in the works after 2 long years of brainstorming with the same characters, and designs. All I'll leave you with is that it will hit before the world ends sometime in 2012 ;p and that fans of my previous horror works will get a sure fire kick out of it. :)

Peace and Luv,

MAS

Been WAAAAY BUSY!!!!

2011-03-08T01:12:00.000-08:00

I have been INSANELY busy lately work wise, which is a good thing. Hence this blogger has been getting hardly to no attention at all. :(

I promise I will make up for it within due time. :)

Peace and Luv,

MAS

A Cintiq Practice Run.

2010-12-23T02:21:00.000-08:00

Figure I'd give this blogger a break with all the HOTN stuff Ive been doing and post something new. And since its the holidays and I have some kind of downtime (if thats what you wanna call it in my crazy life), might as well take advantage. So I managed to play with my Wacom Cintiq a bit more. As SOON as I got it in the mail in early July Ive been doing freelance work on it since and never got a chance to really play around with it as much testing out new brushes and such. This being the first time and it's almost January.... A fact that's shameful and something to be proud of all at once I guess lol.

Anyways I did this baby up from scratch and timed myself with a BluRay playing in the background. Took about 2 hours give or take 15 -20 minutes. You can see my progression below.

I was dying to get a Cintiq since it was first released because coloring digitally by hand with a mouse for the last 6 years slowed me up a great deal. Plus my wrist started cramping up like crazy during the last project I did with a mouse about a year ago. I knew then it was time to make a new investment. This is a practice run so you may notice I tried ditching my usual airbrush style with the coloring. It's something I'm slowly trying to grow out of since I'm honestly getting bored with it and it's becoming an aged coloring style somewhat. I honestly havent found a new technique I'm satisfied with yet using this thing, but practice makes perfect I guess.

Annnd another one just for kicks....

Peace and Luv,

MAS

The Origin of DOOM!!!

2010-12-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

The 3rd comic entry to the Heroes of the North series is up online now at their site.

This time we focus on the origin of the model/mobster Madame DOOM.

Pencils and Colors done by myself of course. Lettering done by Keiren Smith (no relation).

I went for a film noir approach with the colors to achieve the feel of old school gangster films of the 50's. So I used a limited palette of pastel colors throughout and had a few colors pop out for special moments. I avoided using too much grey because I am honestly SICK of hearing any attempts that any artist does using red, black, white or grey together being compared to "Sin City". So I avoided it as much as I could.

Hope you all enjoy it. Theres many more to come. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

LOL ROCKIN' WATER ROCKS!!!!

2010-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

LMFAO this was just too funny to not post. Remember these from a post I made about two years back about some water bottles I was hired via Pepsi Co. to did logo designs for?

(see below)

It's been two years and I have yet to even see or drink a sip of this anywhere in a store. At least this video below tells me that people out there are enjoying it. Always good to put a smile on the widdle kiddies faces :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Light Em' UP!!!

2010-10-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few samples from the 2nd batch of "Heroes of the North" figurines Im designing. These have already gone into production and Im extra excited this time around to see the final scultps from Gensen Figures. Reason being...these figurines will sport LED lights! So I cant wait to decorate my work area with these bad babies when I get em'.

Above is the crazed vigilante hero of the HOTN team, Black Terror, whose origin comic I had a blast doing and viewable online @ the HOTN website. Black Terror and a few other characters I did take liberties on design wise early on when I was approached to be a regular artist on the series. In comparison to how he looks in the live action webseries, I wanted to exaggerate the grim reaper/death look. So I tattered his jacket a bit at the ends, made his skull mask a bit more form fitting, and decided to have his eyes glow red whenever he got pissed. Hence the eyes will glow red in this particular figurine. It won over the crew so thankfully they decided to stick with it whenever I drew him later.

Here showcased is then model turned disfigured psycho mob boss Madame Doom. I decided to design the base she is standing on like a catwalk or model spotlight to reflect her model roots a bit more. So it will be cool to see how the light comes up from below in the final sculpt.

And Above is the ice princess Nordik. Her ice base will be translucent and will light up blue. Not all of the figurines will sport LED, so she wasnt initially on my list of figurines to design with the intention of LED features. But the head of the project saw my design of her iceberg and decided to go for it. It definitely helps add more to her figurine after the fact.

Theres more to come so stay tuned. And for those who ordered the first batch, a BIG Thank You! The support is more than appreciated. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Canadian Love.

2010-10-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

"Heroes of the North" is steady going strong and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. So much in fact that we made it into the Montreal Gazette. To the left is one of the clippings from the newspaper entry featuring work by yours truly and lettering by Keiren Smith. (dont ask me why they squished this particular art clipping to fit the text but people get the point nonetheless).

And if that news wasn't cool enough, the National Archives of Canada requested copies of the figurines and comics I designed along with everything else Heroes of the North. It will be displayed in their museum and part of their digital library. So in a sense, we made Canadian history since we will be preserved for future generations, no temporary nonsense. :)

Out of my 7 years designing and chasing companies in the U.S. I'm ironically getting more publicity and appreciation from Canada in the design game than I have in my own country. A damn shame if you think about it, but it's funny how things tend to work out for the better sometimes. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

They Are Coming....

2010-09-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Kinda of an update...not really but had to share the new final photos of the first four figurines from the "Heroes of the North" series I designed.

They have gone into mass production and preorders can be taken @ the official HOTN site or through Amazon (just search Heroes of the North).

Production on the next batch has already gone underway, and those will feature LED lights!!! So needless to say I'm having a helluva' time designing them this time around.

Of course giving credit where credit is due...the amazing Gensen Figures company in Hong Kong handle all sculpting duties just in case anyone still wondered if this is all my doing. I just send off the designs and specs.

Peace and Luv,
-MAS

TERROR Unleashed!!! Canadian Style!!

2010-09-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Back again with another Heroes of the North update.

This time to let all who follow this blog know, that the latest origins comic I completed is up online @ "Heroes of the North.com". Below are a few sample pages in no particular order from "Black Terror: Dark Origins"

My design schedule nowadays is so busy that I had to skip on the lettering process this time around. So Keiren Smith, wife of superstar comic artist Ty Templeton, handled lettering duties this time around for this particular 10 pager.

Be sure to check out the episode that relates to this comic as well after you're done having a read. It may fill in some loop holes. My boi John Fallon of "Saw 2,100 Feet" and Arrow In the Head.com fame is the staring character Black Terror.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

They aren't Dolls, They're Figurines!!!! >;-p

2010-09-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

I neglect this blog too much so sorry to the folks who actually give a damn and check here often. I've been BUSY AS HELL!!!!! :-O Sleep is a luxury now but it all counts for something in the end hopefully right? Case in point, the pics below.

One of my current projects "Heroes of the North", optioned me to not only to illustrate the comics, but design the upcoming toy line of their heroes/villains. Gensen Figures out of Hong Kong did the sculpts and I've been more than impressed with the job they've done with my concepts. They are DEAD ON!!!

Showcased here are just 3 of 4, from the first set that can be ordered at the HOTN store or through Amazon. The fourth figurine is still in the final stages.

Theres definitely more where that came from, I just passed on concepts for the next set. So in total there are going to be 12 of these bad babies available in the end.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS' Comic Process 101

2010-08-06T20:19:00.001-07:00

This is gonna be a bit long winded (Half of you are probably mousing over to that "close window browser" button as we speak after you just read that). So if you interested grab a drink, light a cigarette, or whatever and enjoy the fun.

I decided to use one of the many pages from a comic I recently wrapped up called "The Canadian Shield" as my guinea pig on how I go about creating a comic page.

After the details of the project were discussed I worked closely with the writers Yann and Michel Brouillette, and the big boss heading the project, Christian Viel who is also series creator, writer, director,produ - (f**k it I can write an entire blog in itself naming everything that guy has been doing for this project lol) to make sure the end result was to everyone's liking.

1.) Anyways after I'm given the go-head to beast on the pages, I start doing layouts for each. I always do my layouts in sharpie marker so I can shade in shadows quicker and bring out important areas of focus. I send it off for approvals and wait. From my experience, usually if a client doesn't respond right away, they either want something changed or they thinking of a nice way to say they hate it without hurting your feelings. Thankfully I got a quick response on these and they dug it.

2.) Once the sketch is approved I go str8 to pencils. This part of the process I enjoy the most because the lineart in my eyes can either make or break a book. Hence thats the main reason I make my lineart as tight and clean as I can possibly get it. Backgrounds can be a pain at times but they have to be done. Only thing that can be difficult at times is making sure they aren't too busy to the point they take away from what the reader needs to focus on most in the script. But this one in particular was a breeze and I had a lot of fun with it. Once that was approved then I went to lay my colors over it in Photoshop.

3.) Now remember back in step 1 when I stated if there's any delay in a response from a client they either: want something changed or they thinking of a nice way to say they hate it without hurting your feelings. Well that happened here lol. Once the initial colors were laid down, they seemed to have taken away from the depth I had in my lineart. They noticed this as well and I had to rethink my strategy. They were cool about it but we both agreed that the colors weren't really bringing out my lineart as much and a lot of depth was lost. Plus I went a little too glare heavy on the figure in the foreground, which can come off tacky as hell. It's like putting new rims on a busted ass vehicle..... they just don't go well together.

4.)I had an idea that would make the book stand out more and I still to this day kick myself for not thinking of it sooner for the sake of saving myself time. Since the story takes place back in the WW2 days I figured why not color it as if the viewer is watching an old scratched up movie from the 50's or just stumpled upon an old worn out comic? So I went back into each page and recolored them all with that in mind. In the end I added a TON of film reel scratches, spills, burn marks and other effects to make each page look aged. Im not gonna' even go off and name some historical old film no ones ever heard of I had playing while I colored majority of the pages. Grindhouse: Planet Terror was on constant repeat majority of the time...

******************************

In the end I was very happy with the results and so were they.:)

The whole comic can be digitally downloaded at the following links in CBZ and PDF form.

The response has been beyond amazing and over 5,000 downloads of the comic have been recorded in under the first week of release. Needless to say I'm beyond grateful for the response and fan support everyone's been giving the project so far with this only being the first issue. Ty Templeton and Oliver Raymond both contributed guest cover talents to this issue and they did an AMAZING job paying homages to the golden age comic era.

And as a bonus, below is a teaser for the first episode that goes along with the comic...

Become fan of Heroes of the North on Facebook where you can get up to date news on this Canadian Super Hero series, webisodes, merchandise, exclusive artwork from yours truly and from some of the most talented pros in the art biz.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

I Just Went Beserk!!!

2009-06-10T16:49:00.001-07:00

When I started out drawing, I used to be SO TIMID drawing from scratch with a pen that I'd never even consider even doing thumbnails with em'. Now I almost cant stop using em' whenever I daydream in my sketchpad.

So needless to say, you'll see various iterations of characters (like Wolverine shown here) in my sketchpad done from scratch just only with a bic pen and grey maker.

Wolverine has to be one of my favorite Marvel Characters to draw due to the fact I can go as crazy as I want with his look. So obviously he's a character I draw quite frequently whenever I catch mindblock and can't think of anything at the time.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Too Bad So Sad

2009-06-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well these are concepts that WERE goin' to be characters for 2 comic projects filled with so much hot air that they ironically never took off. The short haired chic with the gun was a separate concept for another project as well.

Usually to salvage my time and efforts wasted, I end up doing SOMETHING cool later with concepts I had intended for use on a team project if the design is 100% from my head. So you will be seeing these characters surface again at some point in some medium.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

3 Years...Really?!

2009-04-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to re-designing my website. Damn shame after so long I know ..... but my low patience for coding is to blame.

But I just realized a coincidence while I doing so, in May my site will turn 3 years old. Awwwwww how cute lol. Can't believe it's been that long tho'. Seems like yesterday I just went live with it.

The makeover won't be TOOOO drastic, just way better navigation and layout wise. My best friend is helping me out with all that noise and it's coming out GREAT. The dude is a BEAST when it comes to coding. So needless to say.... I cringe at what's up now in comparison to what we did with the new look.

A LOT of new work and fan art will go up once it's all done and done.....but I hate teasing. Let's just say you'll see why I been so quiet these last few months. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Meet 'Rad Rabbit'

2009-03-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of doing some package designs for Mattel Inc's famous "Hot Wheels" toy line a while back. Well since this first batch is being sold already, I guess it's cool to showcase this design I did for their Easter line.

I remember being influenced subconsciously by the movie "Doomsday" (don't ask why) and wanted him sporting tattoos, a colored spiked mohawk, and a bit more chain jewelry. Obviously given the demographic, I had to throw that idea out the window before I even got started because it was way too edgy. But I still like how this turned out none the less.

These were the first batch I threw their way before we got to the final coup de graw you see on the package pics below.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

No, I'm Not Dead....

2009-03-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

.......At Least Not Yet Unfortunately.

It's sad times when every other week I'm hearing of great artists/pros losing work and getting laid off left from companies they've been with for years. It's harder times than ever to be an artist now during this shitty economy. So needless to say on top of my freelance coming in at a boring/slower rate than normal, it's been wearing me down and I been losing motivation like mad lately.....Cause and Effect. You know...that dreadful "burnt out" feeling all us artist get every now and then.

As disheartening as this realization is, I need a boost to be perfectly honest so I'll be posting new work in a the coming weeks. Besides, I don't think I ever went this long without posting something on here anyways.

In the meantime, visit my other pages listed on right. I'm sure there's something you may have missed, if not then I AM TRULY impressed. :)

So apologies to the 2 or 3 of you that actually visit this page for the lack of updates. More goodies will be posted in the coming weeks.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

I Got An Arrow In My Head

2009-01-27T07:11:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard of Arrow in the Head.com or John Fallon
then you're not as hardcore of a horror nut as you may claim to be. I was recently requested to do up a new logo for the popular horror site and it was possibly the most fun I've had doing a logo.

Figured I'd share a bit of the creation process below. I did a bit of promo work for his indie film Deaden, so needless to say I knew what his tastes were when he shot his ideas to me for the logo. Since it is a horror site, the blood and zombie touch was a must. So after the first round of sketches we pondered over below, we decided that .......

1. was charming but way to similar to Joblo.com's older logo (their supporting site)
2. was a bit too simple
3. eeeehhh.....
4. too villainous looking without the mystery

So, I did another batch of concepts and he suggested the addition of the slick knife you see him holding. We ended up both liking concept #4 and I went with that.

Since this logo was going to read fairly small (especially on the site) I couldn't add too much linework detail. Otherwise it would just look like a big ol' inkblot from far away. Had to focus on the important details, which is the biggest challenge in creating any logo. So the key elements you see are the only ones hit with the most light.

Just to add a bit of emphasis, I added an army of undead with arrows in their heads behind the head honcho leading the pack.

After a bit of color and fixups we were done and ready to go. Overall it turned out cooler than I envisioned, which is always a bonus.

If you want to get the heads up on the latest horror news check that site often. The reviews and articles are funny as hell too. Horror, Humor and Hotties...what more can a horrorhead ask for?

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Drink Up, It's Good 4 U

2009-01-09T20:40:00.001-08:00

Figure I updated this blogger since it's been a good minute.

Just news on a fun logo project I landed in late 2008 finally went to print and is being sold God knows where. A kids sports drink called "Rockin Water". Yeah you remember it a few posts back. I haven't tasted it yet, but I'm guessing is similar to Vitamin Water. They changed some of the colors in parts I noticed to match each flavor but overall it turned out great. You can check that biz out at their site here Rockin Water

Forgot which stores are carrying these to be honest, but if you happen to get a chance to see or even sip on one remember who helped designed it. And if you, or any kids you know get sick from it, forget who designed it and pretend this post never existed. :p

Peace and Luv,
MAS

No Clever Title Here...

2008-12-16T08:05:00.001-08:00

This was a commission I did for a fan and fellow Silent Hill junkie. I love the series so I was ultra pumped when this character was requested.

A recreation of a cut scene from the game was what they wanted. You can check that out below to get an idea.

Below are just some random babe sketches from my sketchbook I decided to put on one spread.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Vampric Pages

2008-12-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

These were a few pages I did for a Vampirella submission a way back in the summer. Man time flies. I had fun with these and did them fairly quick. About 90 mins a page I think because I remember being done with each page by the time I was done watching various DvD's. Plus a convention was just days before so I had to have something to show off.

But of course, every time I look back at certain older works, there's things I would change. So these are no exception. I may do these over because these would be pimp fully fixed and colored. Vampirella is one of my favorite female heroines to draw anyway.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Commission Time!!!

2008-11-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

I'll keep this short and just have my DevArt do most of the talking.

For the ones interested click the "Commission Info" tab below for the guidelines.

(i'm available for comic page and likeness requests as well even tho' it's not listed)

Paypal Payments Only. Hit me up here, MAS@theMASman.com, or my DevArt (if you have one) to Inquire About Pricing or any other questions.

Note I will NOT start on any requests until money and request are delivered first. You are somewhat of a client so to speak so if you droppin' $$$, you are a priority. That way we can prevent this famous incident from happening between us.....

..

That is all. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

My Fair Harley

2008-11-16T07:26:00.001-08:00

Yeah I know, it's been a minute since my last post. So another creative walkthrough was due.

I frequently keep my DevArt Page updated to keep traffic up, but was really stumped at the next fanart piece I was going to post. So I posted a journal about it and "Nolan-ized Batman Villains" was the most requested.

Now as much as I LOVED the hell out of Heath Ledgers Joker in "Dark Knight" , I'm seriously sick of people saying "Why So Serious?" everywhere online now. So I chose to devote some attention to his underrated sidekick Harley Quinn. Plus shes my favorite Bat- villain next to Bane, so it was an obvious choice.

******************
Initial Idea/Layout:

I knew I didn't want her to be as gothic and dreary as the new Joker. Harley is a more whimsical character. So I wanted her design to be just that, only not as comical as the comics. So design wise I went along the lines of making her somewhat of a rave punk girl.

As far as makeup goes I knew I wanted it to be clean and not just plopped on sloppily like Jokers. Plus Harley is a woman, and we all know how how much time women spend putting on makeup anyway ;). I added the famous theater sad/happy face masks to serve as hair locks too.

******************
Coloring Stage:

I layed down purple as my main color and colored on top of that with different colors. To make things faster for myself I sometimes add highlights and shades while I'm laying down flats (that is before I add heavier shadows and highlights). Later I saw she was fading into the background too much for my tastes, so I added a neon pink highlight around her for separation.

******************
Final Image:

And a few more minutes of little details and upping the lightness.... I was done. The top to me had too much negative space so I added the Batman logo just for kicks at the last minute. And finally instead of her drawing a sad face on the window like I had planned in my layout, I added my initials instead. Why didn't give her pupils you ask?...because it just looks a lot cooler without. :)

I have a fun lil' poll you can vote on too over at my Deviant Art Page here on who should play the next Harley Quinn if she happened to be in a future film. I'm personally for Brittany Murphy, so thankfully she's getting the most votes.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

More Marvel MASterpiece Madness

2008-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Marvel gives us back 10 Artist Proof Cards we can do whatever with once we are done with our first set. Marvel had to approve these as well before I sent them off, and thankfully I sold all of mine.

The characters you see were requested from various buyers .

From top left to right: Gambit, Nova, World War Hulk, Venom, and Invisible Woman

Bottom left to right: Black Queen, Goblin Queen, Firestar, Phoenix, and Mary Jane.

I thought going in, it would be a PAIN to draw on cards that small with such detail but luckily it wasn't. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Logo Stuff.

2008-10-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said I was touching up on Illustrator again....well there was a reason to the madness. These are some logo designs I did for a client in Cincinnati by way of a friend through my work with Hot Wheels. True...all in Illustrator and True...I didn't want to see a bike for a week after I did that. :P

This was rather fun considering the fact they didn't approve the sketches I liked most. The sketches I liked were more on the edgy side and a bit more dynamic but they wanted to tone it down a bit since it's for a kids water drink. In the end these turned out great and we were both happy with it. Not sure which color they ended up picking for the guy so I decided to post them all, because I liked them all too. It's been a minute since I did logo designs and I have more logo projects coming out down the road that I'm doing.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS does "marvel MASterpieces 3"

2008-09-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

These are just a few cards I completed for Upper Deck's upcoming "Marvel Masterpieces 3" set.

With each pack there is a random original card like this included by whichever artist that participated. Once Marvel approves the artwork shown, it's cool to show off so here goes. :) These are the ones I'm most proud of, hence they get top billing. ;)

There are some incredibly talented pros in the comic biz working on this project as well, so needless to say I was way honored to be a part of this. I used to collect cards like these when I was younger and now I got to be a part of creating them. Funny how things work out. Plus it's kinda like my first Marvel project too. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Page Progression

2008-09-06T20:11:00.001-07:00

Below is a page from a 5 page Top Cow comic sample I decided to revise after some helpful feedback from one of the editors and a few friends. On the far left, the first draft of that same page. Then my layout for the second revision in the middle, and the new revision on the far right.

Shameful in comparison I know.

There's still small things I may change in the end, but for now tis' it. I was more focused on speed in my first draft. Hence the many more mistakes and better choices I overlooked.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

TMNT Animated

2008-08-18T05:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't used the Illustrator program in MONTHS sadly because none of the work I did up until now required much use of it.

As you all know I am more keen on using Photoshop and Painter with my work. But it's time to change things up a bit.

It took a while to get used to the program after not using it in so long. But after a few minutes of trial and error, I got the full swing of it again.

What's cool about it is that it's making the dreadful task of inking over my own work fun. Plus the coloring stage is insanely quicker in comparison to when I colored over this more cartoony style in Photoshop.

And of course you can't have a Turtle without Dat' Fool Casey. I like the mysterious skater-punk look from the old days. So I tried pulling that out a bit more here. I may give him some tattoos but who knows.

Below is a small walkthrough of yet another unfinished Donatello piece (my favorite Turtle). I didn't want to spend too much time with my lineart and knew inking over pencils that were too detailed, I would lose my mind. Hence I just used my rough to give myself a bit more freedom with.......

....the inks. Which lead to the easiest part......

...the colors.

If you were an avid TMNT fan like I was growing up, you'll know why I colored him the way I did. Out of all the figurines, he was the only brown colored Turtle. So I plan on coloring the rest of them in all the old school toy colors. I think it's better that way anyways instead of trying to tell them apart just by bandana colors and weapons.

I'm still detailing various parts a bit more for my own tastes. So keep an eye out on My Deviant Art Page for when I post the finals and the rest of the gang that you don't see here yet. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

A Sinister Step-by-Step

2008-08-16T00:29:00.001-07:00

I haven't done a step by step for a while. So I figure one was due.

The subject of course is Mr.Sinister...my FAVORITE X-Men villain. He's just so damn creepy.

I always try to put my own spin to established characters whenever I draw them, especially Marvel characters. Their costumes are constantly changing over the years it's hard to love one, let alone remember how they look exactly. So rather than going through the trouble of googling for the right image for reference.... I make up my own design or play on elements I remember most about them.

With Sinister here, his costume is already simple so I basically added a few more complexities to him like the tattoos and spikes. Gave him more of an industrial gothic look.

This was all done in photoshop and with a mouse of course. The best, and probably most fun part of this were the frills of his cape floating in the air.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS Yogurt Please

2008-08-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

This were a few storyboards boards I completed for a Yoplait commercial a few months back. Not too long ago got the go head to post them.

This was by far the easiest and quickest project I had in my career. Mainly because the deadline was so tight. Plus the art director knew EXACTLY what she wanted and gave me a lot of ideas to work with.

Not sure if this concept ended up being what they went for, but I guess I won't be 100% sure until I see a new Yoplait commercial thats nothing like this huh?. ;).

Either way, I got paid and the client was happy nonetheless so it's all gravy, or should I say its all yogurt. Naw too lame.... let's stick with the gravy. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Deviant Behavior

2008-07-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

On top of having a main website, blogger and myspace...I thought having anything else would be a bit overkill. So I contemplated for a while on whether or not I should even start a Deviant Art profile or even promote it. ***For those who don't know what DeviantArt is (DevArt or DA for short).....in lamens terms, it's like a myspace for artists.***

Click the Tab Below To Visit/Add my DevArt Page

I made an account back in October 07, somewhat as a placeholder and started posting scraps and old work. The response and criticisms I received then was a bit overwhelming and helpful. Some even have listed me as their favorite artist among some legends which is BEYOND wild. :O I still shake my head shocked and honored whenever I see something like that. :)

All artists, designers, photographers, or art lovers ...... I highly suggest you get one. It's the most inspiring site I've ever been on. Some crazy artwork on there, good networking, and majority of the people on there (artist or not) are very respectful.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

WomenZ

2008-07-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Normally when I'm testing anything out in Photoshop or trying to get in a groove.... I'll use a random doodle or grab a chic off myspace to use as my starting point. Sometimes they turn into other characters, or end up looking exactly the same. But I rarely do this nowadays because usually people get the wrong idea that if you draw one person...you'll draw their friend...their friends best friend, their friend's best friend's dog, and so on. So it usually depends on my mood or if I'm getting paid whenever I do stuff like this.

I'm still pretty focused on my creator owned stuff in my spare time. So whenever it comes to creating my female characters, there are 3 things I'm influenced by most ; 50's pinup, female rock/hip hop musicians, and Suicide Girls photography/punk goth culture.

You'll rarely see any of my female characters without either one of those qualities most of the time.

I try to keep their attitude and strongest qualities pretty much intact since most of my women tend to look the same in the face. But none the less...practice like this makes perfect...and no artist is 100% perfect yet now are they? ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Cyclops ... Grow A Pair!!!

2008-07-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Out of any X-Man character, I can't stand Cyclops the most. Just the stories I read and seen him in are always too emotional or invole some love triangle. Just Optic Blast some shit and man up homie!!! LoL.

But he slowly earns back his brownie points whenever I play with him in a Capcom fighter. Plus I love coloring his optic blasts (which is 99.9% of the reason I drew it).

This was pretty much a quick freehand sketch done all in sharpie and colored in Photoshop. I should have used a reference since this was my first attempt at the character but whatever. I only wanted to play with this for an hour anyway.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

R.I.P. Michael Turner, 1971-2008

2008-06-28T21:07:00.001-07:00

I just heard of Michael Turner's passing today from complications arising from his ongoing fight against cancer. So I had to sketch his famous character 'Aspen' quick in his honor.

As simple as it may look and cheesy as this may sound (to some), this was one of my hardest sketches to do because I choked up quite a bit while I drew it. He was a big inspiration and I can't believe he's gone at such a young age.

I met him for the first time along with Frank Mastromauro, a few years back at a show and he was one of the most humble artists I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. He took time to: check my work out, sign stuff, shoot the breeze, and watch me drool over a 20 minute Aspen sketch he pumped out for a fan. :) To finally have met an artist I've held in such high regard for so many years like Turner, was good enough for me - let alone his great down to earth attitude to boot. So that moment will always be a lasting memory with me.

He showed a great deal of respect for: his fans, his work, and the people around him. Even after his first bout with cancer, I saw him still trucking through a show later on crutches eager to meet fans with a smile on his face like it was any other show. Whether or not you were a fan of his work, you have to admire his tenacity.

In the end, (from this artist) Michael Turner was a great inspiration that I had a HUGE respect for. He's one of my top favorite artists of all time. He will truly be missed and my heart goes out to his family, close friends, and fans during this time of grief. This one really hit close to home for me.

R.I.P. - Mike. I hope your paradise in heaven is just as beautiful as the worlds you created and shared with us all through your work.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

She's Just Drawn That Way

2008-06-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

-------------------------------------------------

This was my first attempt at a Jessica Rabbit study that got way out of hand. A 10 minute sketch led me to coloring this for nearly 6 hours.

I had no intention of coloring it like I did because the lineart was pretty minimal and very rough as you can see to your right ----->

I had lots of fun with this one tho' because I went out of my normal coloring style more so this time around. It brought back some good memories of my long lost love .... good ol' traditional animated films. The cgi stuff still is dope nonetheless.

Plus Jessica Rabbit is one of my favorite animated characters anyway.

-------------------------------------------------

For the ones that actually keep tabs on my work, may have noticed that my coloring style has changed dramatically in the last year.

Reason being is that I've grown accustomed a very different and somewhat unorthodox way of coloring digitally now in comparison to how I used to do it back then.

Once I'm satisfied with how a certain part is colored, I flatten as I go and move on to detail another part of the image. This method recycles itself until I am done. In the end I make a separate layer for the fun stuff (FX, glows, flares, etc).This way saves me BOATLOADS of time, and my coloring doesn't feel as restricted.

So in a nutshell I feel like I'm painting on a real canvas more so than being bound by my lineart or layers as much as I used to. Which is why the colored version Mrs. Rabbit (above), and more of my most recent work is looking like this now. One thing that hasn't changed though is that I still use (and prefer) a mouse over wacoms when I color.

Only downside to this is that if a client wants a major change on a piece, thats more of a chore for me this time around. But in the end it's usually worth it.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

Halloween on Friday the 13th!!!

2008-06-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

Today marks the long awaited follow up to "Halloween: Autopsis" finally uploaded for a limited time only as a free download over @ Halloweencomics.com. Below is one of the final promo images I completed for it.

"Halloween: SAM" is a short story chronicling the final days of the man who treated the maniac named Michael Myers. Halloween: SAM" is a look at the last year in the life of Sam Loomis, and also a glimpse into his complicated past. Written by Stefan Hutchinson, and Illustrated by Marcus (MAS) Smith.

Click here to check out"Halloween: Sam"

Happy Friday the 13th too!! :D Contrary to the superstitions, I seem to have the best luck and most fun filled days on Friday the 13th. Yeah I'm weird....thank you. :)

For all my fellow horror hounds, celebrate this day well with plenty of beer, sex, drugs and horror movies (preferably Jason ones) as any would be horror victim should. Just kidding about that drugs part. :) And if your aren't legal drinking age yet, I was referring to ROOT beer ;P

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Too Cool :)

2008-06-05T17:44:00.001-07:00

Below is THEE official cover for the upcoming "Halloween: Sam" short story set to be released exclusively @ halloweencomics.com. This marks my second official Myers tale with writer Stefan Hutchinson. Finally got the go-head to post this.

The Myers folks really took a liking to my approach with this one and I'm proud of how it turned out. There's so many things people say they see in this, Some say the shape of the blood looks like it represents a heart, which I didn't realize until after I was done with it. But when you read the story you will see how symbolic this image really is.

It's the greatest feeling to see a project you've slaved over for a good minute, FINALLY come to light. So to see it receive publicity on sites I frequently visit is truly the icing on the cake so to speak. :)

Most of the articles are pretty much the same but below are links to coverage on Sam and other Halloween goodies coming from the Myers camp. You'll notice the familiar ones I drew of course ;).

Coverage @ Icons Of Fright
Coverage @ Fangoria.com
Coverage @ Arrow In the Head.com
Coverage @ Dread Central
Coverage @ ShockTilYouDrop.com

Peace and Luv,
MAS

FIGHT ME!!!

2008-05-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a Capcom 2D fighting NUT! So anything Street Fighter and it's ON!!!

None the less I find myself using some of my favorite characters from the series from time to time, or whenever I feel like improving my speed in photoshop.

As I said a million times before in previous posts, I can't stand inking over my own pencils. Hence I usually just find myself coloring right over them in Photoshop as you'll see below.

"Ryu"
Pencils - 1 Hour
Colors - 2 Hours
Total Time = Do the Math

"Elena"
Pencils - 30 Minutes
Colors - 4.5 Hours
Total Time = 5 Hours

"C.Viper"
Pencils - 1 Hour
Colors - 3 Hours
Total Time = 5 Hours

Also anyone curious about how I keep track of time while I'm doing stuff like this?....I always have a DvD on while I'm doing a piece. So usually I add up the amount of DvD's I watched after I'm done. :)

Peace and Luv,

MAS

Myers is Coming...

2008-05-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

The promotion (or lack there of) for "Halloween:Sam" has started to rear its head around the net. The people over at the Halloween camp are finally releasing the ones I'm most proud of. This sentimental one of the Myers man himself holding is childhood clown mask being one of them.

Anyways "Halloween:Sam" will be released online to fans @ halloweencomics.com early June and is a follow up novella to the 2006 comic "Halloween: Autopsis" which I illustrated as well. :) Keep an eye out for it.

As you can see below I did a version with the decayed features from the Rob Zombie remake as well. But since this story takes place sometime before "Halloween: H20", I was asked to change the mask last minute.

Being busy enough killing people and dodging detection, I'm guessing Myers wouldn't have enough time to wash his own ass on a regular basis, let alone keep his mask clean from decay. So I always prefer drawing the "Rob Zombie Myers" mask just because it makes more sense to me. Plus it looks so much more menacing while keeping true to the original.

Peace and Luv,

MAS

DAMN MAS!!! YOU SCARY!!!

2008-05-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Only the Family Guy fans would find that title humorous. Anyways, I figure I post some scary stuff in my plot to corrupt the youth of America.

I dont' think I've ever done a picture before that's garnered so much attention like my first Myers vs. Jason pic I did last year. It's funny what an hours worth of BS'ing while watching a horror movie could lead to.

Since I was in the middle of the "Halloween: Sam" project when I posted this on my myspace....rumors of an official brawl between the two kept popping up all in the message boards, my inbox and "supposedly" with others involved with the franchise. So I was kind of nervous at the time wonderin' if the rumor was gonna get out of hand. But none the less I was surprised at the attention it received.

Obviously I was compelled to do another one, but this time I devoted more hours into it.

I been drawin' Myers professionally since mid 2005, so he's somewhat second nature now. Before he used to be one of the HARDEST characters for me to ever draw. You either have to be ON-POINT with his mask or make it interesting in your style for it to work. One smirk or added wrinkle where it shouldn't be and the whole thing is messed up.

But Jason on the other hand, is my favorite and easiest character to draw PERIOD! So there's times still where I get put on a Myers project and send a prelim sketch in for approval and they send it back for me to change it saying "your Myers pose is too menacing, like Jason"

Below you can see the new one I drew up. Nothing too crazy but more time spent on it than the first one above. I went in designing this new one as if I was creating the banner poster for this wishful film. I LOVE movie posters that have little to no text on them. The image alone should sell you almost without the title. Which is why I hold the grey "Freddy vs.Jason" poster in such high regard. The "V" versus symbol in the middle I combined with the shape of Jason's hockey mask decal, and Myers thorn symbol in case you didn't catch that at first glance. ;)

But click on the link below to see how I went about coloring this one.
MAS Colors "Myers vs. Jason" - Step By Step (PDF)

Colors took about 2-3 hours so there's a lot of parts in it (highlights mainly) that you can tell aren't as polished as I'd normally go about most of my work. But this was for fun so no need in me going too crazy.

------------------

Also, since the release of "Halloween: Sam" is approaching, I'd figure I post another promo image I whipped out for that a while back. I illustrated close to 40 images for it and would consider that project one of the main reasons my coloring has become a bit more moody and dark.

I still have to make sure I still keep my vibrant color eye intact since illustrating stuff for ages 14 and under keeps me paid A HELLUVA lot more than horror or comic stuff has. But more news on the more kid-friendly projects I been knee deep in since the beginning of this year soon ..... or whenever they say I can actually post it. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

The Devil Made MAS Do It

2008-04-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

I'll keep this short as I can since I tend to get long winded doing these. Plus everyones fondness of reading seems to have went out with VHS' players lately. Anyways as many times I've played and love the Devil May Cry series, this is my first attempt at ever drawing the character from it - Dante.

Like I said before in my last post, lately I've been getting somewhat PSD'd out from coloring on the computer since I do it so heavily with my freelance stuff. Plus I haven't had much time lately to spend on fan pieces like these.

So here's the first sketch. I knew exactly how I wanted him to be posed first off so this sketch didn't take long at all. I do almost all my layouts with a black sharpie marker to block in key shadows. I used a red marker in spots to label which parts were his coat, etc. The W and B letters you see on his gun are indicators for me when I'm detailing his guns Ebony and Ivory later. Hence the letters 'B' and 'W' for black and white.....Duh. :)

Now onto the inking stage. Obviously most people who worked with or know me personally, can attest to how little patience I have when it comes to inking. I'm more keen on penciling and coloring. ;)

Since I knew didn't want to spend too much time in Photoshop coloring this, I decided to grey tone the shadows in with a marker.

So here's the inks after I added the grey tones. Not only does the grey tones add depth to my inks, it's just so damn fun to use whenever I am drawing something. :)

-------------------------------------------

Now here is the final image with the added reds and photoshop FX. I went the manga approach for the first time in a while coloring this. I would have used halftone patterns but decided the grey tones were enough. So here is the badass in all his glory.

Anyone curious as to what he's hovering over, if you are familiar the game it's one of those evil marionette puppets. I just got too anxious to get this out of the way to finish it. Total time was about 2 1/2 or 3 hours off and on I think.

I want to play the 4th game so DAMN bad it hurts. They need to put him as a secret character in Soul Caliber 4. Darth Vader is a good choice but Dante or Cloud from Final Fantasy are loooooong overdue in my opinion.

Anyways hope you all dig this fun lil' step by step. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

The OLD Skool' Approach

2008-04-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Might as well update on a taste of what I been doing in my new sketchpad. ;)

I use grey tone markers often, but I recently bought some new color paint markers because I rarely use them as much. :) At times I get sick of being at the mercy of my computer when it comes to coloring. So I been finding myself breaking the habit a lot lately.

I haven't sketched traditionally with color markers like this from start to finish in a good while. So it's always good practice going back to the tools I used to doodle with when I was just a wittle wittle baby.

I try to not make sketches like these last no longer than 30-45 mins since I'm just goofin' around with my tools. I'm still a Photoshop nut at heart color-wise. But the old skool' method is still always fun and something I will never be against doing.

The 1st chic obviously is fan favorite Goldie from "Sin City" and the 2nd is just some cool looking babe I made up.

Meant to post these up when I finished them but hey...life calls. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Halloween: Sam - Coming June 2008

2008-04-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

Well the folks over at the "Halloween" camp decided to FINALLY get the ball rolling with promotion of "Halloween: Sam", which is basically a follow up to my work on 2006's Halloween: Autopsis comic. Yes myself, and writer Stefan Hutchinson will be reuniting on this one, but I must warn all of you expecting it to be a comic. Contrary to discussion on various Halloween forums on the net, this is NOT A COMIC. It's a short novella I supplied just over 30 images for.

For everyone not as familiar with the franchise, "Halloween:Sam" will be an official story to the actual character Sam Loomis - (that old detective that was obsessed with preventing Myers' reign of terror on the world.) The events that happen in this will shed some light on his origin and affect the Halloween universe in a BIG WAY.

Thats all I'll say on that without giving anything away. But needless to say I'm honored as all hell to be apart of such a pivotal turning point in the Halloween franchise again. We will be releasing promo on it image by image until it's release on halloweencomics.com in June. So above is the first of that batch I illustrated. We are saving the best images for last of course. ;p

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Check Out the Doo!

2008-03-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

I love drawing characters with whacked out hair designs. So here's some doodles I decided to test my speed with.

If you are a zombie fan, and don't know who Trash is....then shame on you. Linnea Quigley's portrayal as the zombie Trash from "Return of the Living Dead" I think ushered a lot of lil' boys into early puberty in 1985 (that was before she turned zombie of course... or maybe not to some of you pervs). ;p I popped the DvD in and decided to sketch her out. I'll be drawing this beauty again for sure in the 2nd part of my "Monster Mash" spread.

Estimated Time - 1 Hour (Including Colors)
__________________________________________________________________

Haven't seen Neil Marshal's "Doomsday" movie yet but I will next week for sure. Not expecting much but pure mayhem and fun, just like I did with his last film 'Descent'. :D

The villains look so hardcore I had to draw one tho. Didn't have a reference so some likeness may be off but I chose Sol. Just playin' around with this one, hence nothing too tight or finalized in comparison to my other stuff.

Estimated Time - 2 Hours

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MASpace Makeover.

2008-03-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

"Sick of same routine? Tired of getting ignored by the big-headed celebrities and supermodel myspacers? Well for 30 seconds, and 3 mouse clicks, you can add artist MAS on myspace and break the cycle!!! :O

With a newly designed profile page and frequently updated "Slide" portfolio... you can add artist MAS to your friend list!!! Unless you are begging for free shit, this once and a lifetime offer comes equipped with guaranteed email response, funny bulletin posts, and links to other cool goodies!

And for those constant nosy asses that check in often and don't add, this profile comes equipped with art and other content exclusive to 'friends only'. Take that stalkers! :D For 14.99- I mean free...ADD MAS NOW!!!"

www.myspace.com/theMASpace

HAHAHA wow....I should be shot for posting that. :P Just a new look to my myspace is all. Like I always say, add me if you have an account and feelin' the artwork. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Post 'Pepper Project' Please!

2008-03-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

Yes I know that title is lame......SUE ME!!! :P

Time to shed some light on some random art work o' mine again.

This one I completed for 'Imaginary Friends Studios' Pepper Project artbook coming out in June. Check out more info on that at their site or on my previous blog in Feb 08 yappin' about it.

Now here's how I went about creating my version of Stanley Lau's character "Pepper". If you seen the different renditions he and other artists have done of her, you'll notice one big thing they all have in common......(besides being incredible) they all are warm-hearted. So of course I had to add a dash of 'evil' and 'gothic' to go along with the Pepper. ;)

1.) I drew up the lineart image you see in pen from start to finish for about 15 minutes after I brainstormed the pose I wanted. So not much time spent in this stage obviously.

2.) Going with the unapproachable theme, anyone covered in blood holding two blades and glowing eyes I'd steer clear of. So I added those elements here. The red would have been a funny nod to the character by titling this one "Red Pepper" but for some reason I wasn't happy with my concept yet.

3.) I added some highlights and more color and still wasn't feeling it. Then by accidentally deleting my color layer, I had this cool effect showing just highlights on top of a black background as a result. So I went with it and decided to play with this idea more.

4.) Thankfully my clumsiness added more of a ghastly vibe to her, which was a lot cooler looking. I thought the composition was off a bit so I added some volume to her hair as if she was floating or straight out of a "Grudge" movie.

5.)The lighting was added with a custom brush in photoshop, but I always have to play stuff like that more after the fact so it won't look too separated from the actual image. The tattoos were done with the pen tool and VERY FUN to do.

The character is always wearing this crazy headphone set on her head.So it was a given to add that element here but yet put my own twist on it of course. So I made sure to bring out the concept of the demon skull more (thats on the headset) as if it's screaming into her ears commanding her to do.....whatever it is she does. As another nod to the character, I made sure her blades were shaped like the letter 'P'.

6.) Later, I had like two clouds I added from photos I had as reference and they didn't pop at all when I dropped them in. :( So I added ALOT of highlights and just started making new ones as I went along to add depth.

Now finally you have the final pictured above...."BLACK PEPPER". I must admit this was by far one of the most fun times I had on a piece. More so because she reminds me of one the characters I developed for my horror graphic novel. So it's always interesting to see how some of my ideas and elements can crossover when I'm doing a lot of projects at once.

The team running the "Pepper Project" were nice enough to post this entry on their Deviant Art Page along with the other beautiful works displayed. So far a lot of people are taking a liking to this.... so of course MAS is grateful for the love and support. :)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

the EVO 'o' NarutO

2008-02-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

I did this out of puuuuure boredom a few nights ago.

NARUTO!!! Now I have NO CLUE what the anime series is about or the character. I played the fighting game once, (very fun by the way), and know he's a teenage ninja that has a HUGE fan base with kids. So I was curious to see how I could corrupt this lil' bastard. >:D Lol jus kiddin'.

I just felt like testing my speed again and he ended up being my guinea pig since I like drawing characters with spiky hair anyway. So heres a step by step....sorta. :P

1.) First off, Naruto's overall design just PISSES ME OFF TO NO END!!! On top of that typical anime cheese factor, there are too many elements from other characters on him that don't quite balance in my eyes (as you can see in the diagram I made below). It's as if someone threw a kid into the junky closet of a 14 year girl with a love for manga and video games....watch him crawl out and said...."f**k it, that's Naruto". And what's with the cat whiskers on his cheeks? ARRRGH!!!!! Never mind don't bother answerin' .... I digress. :)

1. cont) I knew going in I was going to color this, so my pencils couldn't be too loose because I didn't want to spend too much time coloring. In some cases my layouts tend to look better than the pencils later, but thats usually if I'm rushing. In this case I was rushing and I do prefer the more mysterious look I gave him in the layout in comparison to the pencils. Brainstorming the right pose for him, and my layout took about 10 -20 mins total.

2.) Later, I redrew the image with the layout as my guide. Now about 15 minutes into my final pencils: the most fun part (the hair) has been completed within the first couple minutes. This results into me already being bored to tears with him. So as you can see I stopped halfway to wake myself up with the coloring stage.

After a couple flat colors, highlights and fx, I consider myself done with the final you see above. The coloring overall took about a total of 2 hours give or take a couple minutes. Everytime I do random sketches like this and decide to color them, I always tend to make use of my time in photoshop by experimenting with new/faster techniques. So that can usually drag on at times like it did here.

The end result, I was somewhat pleased with given the fact I went in kind of blind on this one. The ones who have seen it say I made him a bit mean and older than he normally looks. Well.....if you haven't fallen asleep reading everything up until now then you'll know why I am pleased to hear them say that. ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Don't Make Me Pull The Magz Out!

2008-02-08T18:31:00.001-08:00

Throughout the course of my freelance experience, I've done a slew of editorial illustrations for both low and high profile magazines.

'Black Enterprise' being one of the high profiles. I always remember folks around the neighborhood reading it, seeing it on someone's dining room table, or at a barber shop in my younger days. Who would of known 15 some odd years down the road I'd be drawing for them. So none the less, it's an honor anytime they call me up for work.

I always have to approach each assignment by going outside my preferred detailed comic style and use a more cartoony style. Mainly because I like to put a humorous spin to each article they send me. Plus alot of folks that know me personally know how much of a smart ass I can be at times :P. So I like to put that element into my artwork often.

My mother has been an avid reader of it before I even started working with them, so I try to make her a character in some of the finals. (Shes the nurse pictured above with the white hair). You may have seen a bunch of these already scattered on my site but you can say I made this spread sheet as a guide for myself.

That way I can look back at it and make sure that any new ones I do in the future aren't similar to the ones I did before. The last two on the far right (top and bottom) will be in their upcoming April issue.

You can check them out in any state, bookstore or newstand. Yeah.... MAS got it like that. B)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

WAHHHHZZZZZZUUUUUP?!?!?

2008-02-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm back to post on this step-child of a site that is my blogger. I admit this blogger gets neglected a bit so apologies to folks who visit often. You know those things called 'deadlines', 'life' and 'bills'?.... yeah thats been kicking my ass a lot lately so now you know. :)

First bit o news, 'Imaginary Friends Studios' is holding an art book draw off featuring their female mascot character named 'Pepper'. The book will be sent out to every major entertainment and art studio in the country. So why not join in right? A ton of artists are already participating, so I figured I'd contribute a couple as well before the deadlines up.

'Black' Pepper' - WORK IN PROGRESS (small image)

My schedule is sporadic enuff there's no telling if I'll send in more than one, but thats a rough sample of what I been playing around with for that project. And by rough I do mean ROUGH....these aren't even half done. And if you look at some of the work thats in the book already you'll understand why I'm going nuts on the finals. ;)

News on the on the 'Halloween Front'......

Also head over to official comic site of the Halloween films ---> 'HalloweenComics.com' to download a Michael Myers desktop done by yours truly - but minus the shameless self promotion of my website as you see above. :P It's in the 'Downloads' section of the site.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

BRING ON 2008!!!

2008-01-01T18:37:00.001-08:00

Damn time is flyin'...2008 already and still not one damn flying car in sight. >:(But anyways heres the first art of the year from ya boi. Had to kick it off strong.

Raise your glasses to another year of art and horror. Bring it 2008! :D

Peace and Luv,
MAS
www.theMASman.com

MAS' Tutorial

2007-12-22T01:33:00.001-08:00

It's been a minute but I'm back with my very first tutorial.

SUBJECT: ULTRAVIOLET

I recieved quite a few messages not too long ago asking more about my creative process. More so as to why I'm not heavy on using wacom tablets when I color my work digitally. Well I can say one of the reasons being is that If you've had many ramen noodle filled days like I did in college, you grow accustomed to certain tools without the benefit of certain luxuries like a big wacom. So after a certain amount of time I got comfortable using the mouse.

Granted I've tested and attempted to use wacoms on my works before, I feel more comfortable with the mouse more so because I feel like I'm finger-painting more so than just drawing colors on. Plus by the time I'm done with my lineart, I usually don't feel like holding a pen in my hand again when it comes to coloring.

That will probably change when I start getting more comfortable using wacoms of course. So I'm not against using one at all and will in future work I'm sure. But for now...
MOUSE I LOVE YOU!!! ^_^ <------ *God those smilies are SO DAMN ANNOYINGLY CHEESEBALL but it fit so well*

Anyways I put this little thang up for the folks steady wondering. Big Props to everyone that post tutorials elsewhere because this was quite the chore to put together. Savour this one because it will be a while before I do another I think. Click the image below to read it all in full.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS Models

2007-11-04T20:27:00.001-08:00

I've neglected this blogger long enuff so it's time for another post.

And as of today this is the LAST TIME you will hear me speak of the "H25 YoT" DvD. Just got a copy of the UK version in the mail that came out last week and was blown away at how much better it is than the US version. They went NUTS on the packaging and its now a 4 disc set. I did a couple of small re-edits to the comic inside as well...... so I recommend you buying it like.........NOW!!!! (c below as to how) And with that you will never hear of this again. :D A year and some months old so its time I stfu about it until the next "Halloween" bomb drops. ;) ;) ***whistles***

Ok now movin' on with this post. This one is just for kicks tho. My next post will be well worth the wait and a lil info on why the HELL I been as quiet as a church mouse lately ..... man I'm a tease ain't I? O:-)

Anyways in case you haven't noticed by the pics in this one..... I like drawing women. Not for obvious reasons :D but there are so much more variety of female to experiment with than they are male. Some can debate that but this is MAS' blogger BEYOTCH...........DO SUM'N!!! :P Nothing more fun than havin an endless list of options to play with when I draw em so it can get addicting after a while.

So basically in my spare time, or during my breaks, I pump out quick female head shots or cartoony pinups to pass time or cure my boredom if Im not drawing something creepy. But most of the time I use these sketches to test out new techniques in Photoshop and Painter I havent done yet or tryin to per-fect.

Most of these I just tried out new brushes/techniques or challenged myself to complete each one in under an hour for speed sake.

Also the ones who have worked with me before will tell you how much I cant F**KIN STAND inking over my own pencils >:( So lately I just been photoshopping over my own pencils. Saves time and I'm less restricted to the lineart. So these bevy of babes I colored all over the pencils (except the freckled babe I did in sharpie).

HA!!!... And now this one on the left. Good ol Vampirella. I swear she's underrated but shes my favorite heroine to draw by far. Dawn and Witchblade are a close 2nd. I went cartoony as hell with this one as you can tell because I was just passing time. But I figured I'd mock her outfit a bit. One seriously has to wonder with a body like that and all the fighting she does.... those puppies should be poppin' out constantly!!!!

More news and good sccchhttufff to come with the next post kiddies. :D

Peace and Luv,
MAS

"H:25YoT" DvD - UK Release

2007-09-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Back with some cool news on the Halloween front. The UK release of the "Halloween: 25 Years of Terror" DvD will be released October 22, 2007. Marking the first time some of my work will be released overseas.

Words cant describe how honored I am for the people there to see it. Love it or hate it, either way...it's one of the best "cherry on top" feelings when I can share my art with as many people as I can.

The whole experience from this has been amazing and I'm grateful of the work, exposure and partnerships thats come from it. So it's been one hell of a ride and there's definitely more stuff cooking up on the scary front.

The pre-order for the UK 4-disc behemoth edition of 'H25' directed by Stefan Hutchinson, which also includes the original 'Halloween' movie is NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER! This is the only way to get a copy of the 'Halloween: Autopsis' comic in the UK, as the regular release does not carry it.

Click Here For More Info & To Pre-Order!

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror - TV Spot
I still get giddy watching this. I mean how often do you see your work spotlighted on TV's across America!!! No hate in the world can rain on that kid.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

V

2007-09-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

My writing buddy hooked me up on to this show. It came out when I was born so of course Im just now seeing the episodes on DvD. I'm usually not too big on the heavy intergalactic sci-fi stuff, but I was really impressed by this one. So I was compelled to whip out a couple images as a homage so to speak.

For the new schoolers like me who are curious to know what the show is about, basically ..."aliens/lizards come to earth disguised as humans in peace, but when their true motives to enslave mankind are exposed...O it's ON!"

The cast was great, the main female villian was HOT (Lord Have Mercy)! and it left me wanting more. I highly recommend watching " V" if you haven't yet. It was great!!!

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS presents "The PowerPuffs"

2007-08-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

I figure I'd drag this one over to this blogger just in case you all havent seen this yet. Besides all the work I can show off I can somewhat next week so I'll save it for that post ;). But here's a couple images I did for a sketch jam where the theme was "reinvent your own childhood cartoon".

Not really a childhood cartoon I admit but I chose the Powerpuff Girls. You are a str8 hater if you didn't like at least one episode. I was always a fan of the style and characters so when it came for me to reinvent them I figure I go all out and go for a more realistic movie approach. Made em young adults and exaggerate their persona's a bit more in their appearance.

Blossom - I accidentally made into the hottest one of the three (in my opinion). Sprinkled some freckles on her since most redheads have em anyway and made a look a bit sassy. I could never grasp her character fully in the show besides being the typical leader so I just went off my own ideas revamping her. In the story she is very bitter of how the group has disbanded but deep down longs for the old days.

Bubbles - is the innocent carefree one of the bunch so I couldn't loose the pigtails and big eyes. In the script I wrote, what once was a kind lovin gurl, had grown into a self centered model too involved to care about other peoples problems.

ButterCup - is the rough bad ass I had to have her in leather, dressed all black rebel and rebel like. Turnin her into a biker is even more of an obvious choice so I kinda ditched that idea and just gave her a bit more of a Suicide Girl goth rock feel. Shes the loner in the group but always down for helping out those in peril just for the thrill of the action.

Since they are women now I ditched the "girls" and decided to just call em "The Powerpuffs".

Mojo Jojo - This charming lil pet is one of my several takes on MojoJojo. I personally cant stand it because it doesn't work with what I had in the story but it was my first attempt. As you can tell I been drawin alot of horror stuff lately to keep my lights on so the vibe rubbed off in my approach a bit. I even transformed the villian from the series "Him" into somewhat of a sadist but I hint at it more in the outline instead of actually showing it. Powerpuffs cant be gory by any means....just action packed but I always loved that creepiness that villain had to him.

The rest are just me getting into it more. I'll keep goin on and on for what I already have in mind so let me shut up now.

I want to find time to develop this more but im focused on my own horror comic i hope in releasing in the next year and steady keepin the freelance up. So when I find time for this I will.Hopefully this will become more than a "just for fun" project down the road but like I always say "I can dream right?" ;)

Peace and Luv,
MAS

MAS Muscle

2007-08-15T23:49:00.001-07:00

TOLD YOU I WAS COMING BACK!!! Been a while since I posted here but like I said... I saw the busy schedule comin' so I had to make time for it.
Anyways moving on....In the September issue of "MuscleMag International"(out on stands now/cvr above), some of my work is featured in a double page spread (pgs 138-139). I was chosen for a particular section to illustrate overlays on body builders. This was very different than what I am used to doing for most clients just given the fact that there was no room for imagination or much style. I had to be DEAD ON with the muscle placement. ESPECIALLY since I'd have people all over the world callin me out on a mess up since alot of doctors and sports folk read it. Yes I knew the pressure going in.... they call it Muscle Mag fool. :P

I was given the photos to work with just to give em a taste of how I'd complete the overlays first off. So I whipped out a couple of sketches over em', sent those off, and thankfully it was to their liking they said keep truckin. The art director then overnighted me higher quality versions (since it would take forever and a day to send it to me otherwise cuz the files were so big). Thankfully I saved my PSD files I was working with because I would have had to start all over from scratch and my deadline was just days away. :O

So hours later, you have the final images shown above. The row I completed is on the top of the photos I had to work with. I just compiled them together so you lovely folk would get a better idea of what I had to do. In the end I was very proud of the result, and especially seeing it in print. Then the many weeks of waiting for my check followed. :P A Lesson learned when I dont abide by these 2 words when it comes to working for clients......"DOWN PAYMENT!"

Peace and Luv,
MAS

Sixty Minute Slinging

2007-05-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

I usually, if not always have a DvD in the background running while I'm drawing. Not only cuz my attention span is short as all hell, but I find it the best way to time myself with any piece. Its always easier to think of how many or what movies you watched instead of timing yourself critically by using stop watches or glancing at the clock too much.

With this certain sketch, a quick symbiote textured Spiderman of course... it took me a total of 60 mins give or take a few. Normally Im a bit more critical of my backgrounds and getting the perspective right with ariel/city shots like this. But since it's a sketch, if my perspective is close to being on point...Im happy given the fact that if I wanted to actually finalize this, I can simply correct minor changes and add more detail to buildings etc by lightboxing over it.

Peace and Luv,
MAS

X-Rated

2007-05-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

Ok first official art post I guess on this thing. I've taken sort of a zen break so to speak these last few weeks. In other words, I been going straight since 2002 drawing other people's stuff (from college projects, commissions, freelance, etc).... that I've pretty much halted for the time being on looking for more freelance. Hence taking on very few or no other projects outside of "Halloween" and "Deaden" to take off for some "me" time. Refurbishing my skills a bit, polishin' up the portfolio and finalizing my own creator owned comic project mostly. Might as well take advantage of the free sketch time I've been getting lately right? Right.

But without further ado, I recently watched "X2" this past weekend and been on an X-Men kick ever since. So I just pumped these sketches out for fun soon after. Plus I need to brush up on whats happenin' in the "X" world anyway.

First off is the big ol Juggs. Since his character is a bit more circular in design I went for a more cartoon approach sketchin this one. Juggernaunt is a very easy character design wise so the simpler the better I think.

Second is the bad ass Wolverine. A bit overplayed lately in my opinion but I still like the character. Gotta give props to a guy under 5'8 that can dominate nearly any enemy 10x's bigger. After seeing his character tear up in "X2", I felt compelled to draw him the way his character should look....nasty and as scrappy as they come. Which is why I was more fond of his feral appearance in the old days when he had his bone claws. My art buddy Brian thinks this would make a great tattoo. Good to always hear that people still see hints of my old tattoo design days in some of my work now.

Finally, Wolverine has a female clone from what I know, and her name is X23. No particular approach I had with pumpin this one out but I kinda wanted her to look a bit more sassy than she is in the comics. The comic renditions Ive seen portray her as a bit too innocent
and anything closely
related to Wolverine
in my opinion....isnt anywhere near innocent.

Anyways I figured Id devote sometime to my blog and post a couple sketches I did recently. All done by simply laying out the proportions and key elements like eyes,nose,mouth, with a light lead pencil (2H or lighter). I try not to spend too much time getting too detailed with the pencil since I know I'll be going over everything with a simple bic pen. I tend to favor sketching in bic pen mainly for 3 reasons...

1.)Forces you to make choices faster with your art, which overall helps you find your style better.

2.)The parent, or the eraser as some may call it...isnt there to clean up your messes, so this forces me to make little or no mistakes at all. And if I do happen to make a mistake I know how to fix it or draw somethin in place over it to not make it as apparrent. Which leads to....

3.)Speed! Any artist in the comic profession or any art profession knows, the faster you are the better. Especially when it comes to doing sketches at cons for fans. Luckily I survived my first go at that and pulled thru like it was a normal everyday thing. So until I get into my comfort zone with that again I'm chillin' on doin' con sketches.....that is if I ever make a con appearance. It been YEARS!!! But I'm trailing off subject. If you have a line building, and you're barely done with the first sketch, that line is gonna dwindle quick regardless how good you are. Bottom line....people got other things to do and the only person with 100% patience for your work is you.

***Note: The information posted on this blog isn't an end all be all insight. This is how I work and facts gathered from my experiences,talking to other artists, etc. Plus it makes me sound all professional and shit. :D***

Thats it for now. Im sure I'll be posting more come the month of June. Drawing all these made me yearn more for another Capcom "vs" title. I think everyone who was a fan of the first few ones can agree when I say "Capcom...HURRY UP AND RELEASE A NEW ONE!!!"

Peace and Luv,
MAS

First Post and News

2007-05-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since I joined the blogger with fellow artist Brian McGee and the Sketchbook AllStars. So I figured I'd go solo this go round with my own blogger entitled..."The MASterpiece Conspiracies."

On this blog you will get news on my current/upcoming projects. But most importantly, how much blood, sweat, and caffiene it takes in creating my artwork. I'll try to update as much as I can this week but will take a bit of a hiatus from it during June and July cuz I know for a fact Im going to be too swamped to care. But soon after expect the updates to flow. So stick around and hope you enjoy whats to come.

Been so busy with a current "Halloween" project along with working on other adaptations, that Im still in the process of updating my own official site www.theMASman.com

So everyone thats been wondering what's up with that, thank you for your patience and bear with me. New work and all that other good stuff will be going up there very soon.

Peace and Luv,
MAS