The Sinister Circus: a look back on early efforts

Clowns have always fascinated me. There's something magical, mysterious and courageous about clowns from the classic jester and party clown to the circus and rodeo clown.  So it's no surprise that I would paint clowns at one point. The Sinister Circus is a parody of our world as I saw it around the turn of our current century.  From politics, pop culture and societal norms to technology, recreation and evolving markets.  We live in the Sinister Circus but are we the clowns or the audience being led along by them?




(note: these have all been sold many years ago and I thank those early patrons. )

H2G2 paper art toys

The original set. Well, almost original. Marvin was a redo because the first one was attacked by a small dog. Poetic, right? Dy, a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had bought the original Marvin from one of my H2G2 themed series which I start about this time of year since Adams' birthday is in March. She loved Marvin so much she asked if I'd make a few more. So I did and soon Ford, Zaphod, Trillian and Apeman...I mean Arthur joined the paranoid android.

I then got to working on Deep Thought which I wanted to be a bit more grand than the main line. Of course, there wouldn't have been a Deep Thought without the pan-dimensional hyper intelligent beings wanting an answer to the ages old question to life, the universe and everything?

Then there are the Vogons. What can I say about the Vogons that hasn't already been said or expressed in their eloquent emotive poetry? So I again 'broke form' for the character of Jeltz. 

I wrap up this installment with my favorite character from the movie: Slotty Bartfast. It was difficult to decide on which expression to give him so I went with the face he made just before Arthur asked him if he was happy with just hanging the sense of it all and keeping busy.

The next round is on its way...

Vogon paper toy!

Just completed this character for a fan of H2G2. He stands just under 5" tall and so will be quite intimidating to the other art toys I've made for her, but not so intimidating as his  open poetry book!

Empires Comics Vault has some of my art for the month of January

Cinder Minions!

Art of Toys has my latest batch of paper art toys I'm calling MINIONS.  These little fellows are eager to join you at work on the desktop or at home amongst your awesome collection!

Playing around...

I think posters and bills make a scene when building a city, town or even an outpost.  Most times I rummage through my old folders of artwork that I've done and sometimes I'll hunt down images of local shows and movies.  Then there's the ever present product ad.  Several model companies have images you can download and print but I like making my own.  So, with the idea that I'm planning a science-fantasy set, I decided to kick off with my second favorite giant done up like an OBEY poster.  Feel free to download and print (you'll need to rescale it) and use in your own scenery.  If you do, I'd like to see the result and be able to add it to this post. 

Enjoy!

Monsters are Back!!!

Long before the robots there were monsters and movie parodies.  As robots began to take over my creative direction, the monsters took the roll of foils and foes for the robots. Often, they got relegated to a background element. Not any more. Time for my little monsters to take the stage again so here ya go! 

Oh yeah, I mentioned movie parodies too, didn't I?

This is Tommy as Saruman the Wise with his buds.  Originally, I was going to title it: "One does not simply walk into Mordor... and Not come out with a souvenir" but that's a bit wordy...even for me.