Monkey Bucks

Here's a promo coupon I got to paint, probably for some early 90's LucasArts Adventurer edition. It's actually amazing how much of this kind of stuff I was trusted to do with little or no content notes from above, which made it tons o' fun.
I'll see if I can track down my activity pages with the art lesson and the Guybrush paper dolls.
Watercolor 4 X 9 1/2

--Starchie

The Curse

I have a buy off on my rough for Telltale Games "Tales of Monkey Island" cover. Still too early to post any of it as I'm in early stages of the illustration. In the meantime, here's part of my tiny contribution to Curse of Monkey Island. I believe Larry Ahern and John Ackley pitched me their idea of a LeChuck with a flaming beard so I was thinking his skull could be silhouetted in the fire. I think my Elaine is a variation on a design Larry had done, but I do sort of like something about my slender version of the Voodoo Queen.
Pen on paper 8 1/2 X 11

--Starchie

Cartographer's Cabin

I have a rough sketch for the Tales of Monkey Island pre-order cover in the pipe waiting for final approval. I'll post it at some point soon.
In the meantime, here's a color test done for Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge probably painted in 1990. In this game we had the luxury of being able to draw backgrounds on paper and scan them giving us a greater range. This was my first background test of a cartographer's cabin painted in gouache. Peter Chan was a fiend with color markers and we ended up doing a lot of the backgrounds in marker as it was much quicker than painting.
Gouache 5 X 9

--Starchie

The Dawn of Monkey Island

So I've been invited by Telltale Games to create an illustration for their Special Pre-Order edition of Tales of Monkey Island, a five episode series of adventure games coming this summer from Telltale. It's fun to get a chance to reconnect with Monkey Island since it was one of my first jobs at LucasArts, and I was fortunate to contribute artwork to various Monkey Island projects several times throughout the years.

I'm sketching the concept right now and I will plan to document the progress in stages. I'll have to wait until we are closer to the official unveiling of the cover to let you know what I'm up to but in the meantime I'll post some ancient concept art from the original games. Here's the sketch for my first Monkey Island cover done in 1990.
Pencil on Tracing Paper 8.5 X 11

--Starchie

Vintage Suda

Here's an old one. An early Ernie and Suda portrait. I made this image to fit an old frame I was given which once housed a gorgeous Jeff Jones painting. At one point I had real cob webs and dead spiders draped across the frame to add a little atmosphere. Over time those trappings sort of fell away but I still like the idea of customizing a frame to fit a painting. On that front I've still got a few ideas floating around in my skull.
Acrylic 8 X 10

--Starchie

Blue Bear

Here's a little gift for a friend's new born son painted one evening while watching a particularly terrifying episode of "Breaking Bad". Fortunately the image was immune to the suspense and horror I endured.
Acrylic 3 X 5

--Starchie

A Bit of Process

Here's a cover I did a couple of years ago. The magazine provided the blank cover format so I was able to digitally sketch into it on a Cintiq tablet. For the final illustration I pulled back in the composition so the characters were not overlapping the logo, something the magazine didn't tend to do though they were agreeable about letting Sam & Max cross into the white logo area. Also, I thought showing some of the white floor in the final helped balance that white logo field at the top.

The painting took on a style of it's own as I worked on it, an extra choppy, scumbly effect which I observed happening as I was doing it and didn't try to fight. I sort of liked it at the time though I think I prefer the tighter composition in the sketch.

Acrylic 11 X 14

-Starchie

Surfin the Highway Nominated!

A couple of weeks ago the Eisner Award judges nominated Telltale Game's SAM & MAX SURFIN' the HIGHWAY Anniversary Edition in the category of BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM-REPRINT. Since I've done only a smattering of comics in my career I suppose it's fortunate for me that they have a reprint category at all.

Telltale Games motivated the project and it was tough sifting through all the old material and patching and cleaning up some of the new pages that hadn't been included in the original. Once I got through that I wondered about how a new volume of this book should look. I had scrawled a rough concept, wanting to have fun with the idea of this book being some rare dusty relic from Grandma's attic. Posing as Max I drew and wrote on maps of the Philippines for the interior covers and scanned a real Sam & Max police badge to use in a collage. It was fun to cobble together the disturbing author photo made from an antique snapshot found in my wife's grandparent's basement.

Jake Rodkin at Telltale did the heavy lifting on the project. Pages were scanned from old film and originals, painstakingly cleaned-up, graphic design of the covers, emboss mechanicals devised, colorful personalities wrangled. Two versions of the book were created; a paperback with the embossed cover and the Limited Edition hardcover with signed numbered bookplates. That's the one that's up for the Eisner, alongside some very cool books including Vol 1 and 2 of the Hellboy Library Edition by my old pal Mike Mignola.

Telltale is so excited about the nomination that they have some bundles on sale that offer various combinations of the books, games and other Sam & Max items. Check out: TELLTALE GAMES EISNER SPECIALS.

Some of my extremely talented collegues are nominated for Eisners as well, all in the BEST PAINTER/MULTIMEDIA ARTIST:
Enrico Casarosa's Venice Chronicles
Scott Morse's TIGER!TIGER!TIGER! also nominated for BEST LETTERING
and Jill Thompson for Magic Trixie Sleeps Over

The Awards are presented during San Diego's Comic-Con International at the end of July. Should be a fun night.

--Starchie

Sini-Max

From an old "I Am 8-Bit" show, here is Max the lovable rabbity thing depicted as my all time favorite arcade game character, Sinistar. "RUN COWARD! RUN! RUN! RUN!"
5X7 Acrylic

--Starchie

Creatures

Here's something I worked on a long time ago. Garett Sheldrew conceived the designs for the human characters and this was my painting of the whole line-up. There's an actual story in there somewhere. Was fun to do a somewhat broad cartoony take on this monster that I'm so fond of.
10X16 Acrylic

--Starchie

Max Tat

My scanner is offline for the moment but when it's back I'll be posting a bunch of character paintings and such in the near future. Just to keep things moving here's a glimpse at one fine Max tattoo. The recipient is Matt Kristek, a funny and talented cartoonist/filmmaker who I knew even before he was old enough to make the decision to disfigure himself with such mocking, belligerent skin art. Maybe I should learn to do these myself.

--Starchie

Mod Mecha Max

Here's another version of the terrifying Max robot including a bit of the cockpit view.
10X16 Acrylic

--Starchie

Steam Mecha Max

At one point I had talked to a company about making this toy. The top of the head would pop off revealing the little Captain Nemoesque Sam & Max pilots sporting goggles, top hats and ascots. Sadly it didn't happen but if I wish hard enough...
10x16 Acrylic

--Starchie

The Duchess

I have about four or five of these stuffed German chimps who stare at me while I nap. They have a blank authenticity to their expression that you don't commonly see in a toy. The modern version is not nearly as sincere but the old ones are still fairly easy to come by. Like real apes they're often missing earlobes or fingers or the hair is worn off the knees. Better than new.

2X3 Acrylic

--Starchie

A Valentine

A sentimental image to share with your Immortal Beloved.

--Starchie

Ditty

Here's a Toybox piece done for a charity auction. I enjoy doing figures against a chopped-in white background. I can have fun with the characters without getting bogged down in a location. And I like letting some of the under painting peek through.
These characters are still puzzling to me. I can never count on the way they will turn out. I'm fairly satisfied with this version of them, though. Any time Ernie plays the uke, it's a ditty, hence the repeat title. Somebody let me know if I start recycling my posts.

--Starchie

LeChuck Lives!

This posting marks two events - ONE; I realized that I have somehow continued to blog here for just over a year and TWO; The first appearance of a human nipple in a post. This amazing tattoo work was created on the living tissue of brave Monkey Island fan Alex Melgarejo who graciously allowed me to share these shots. I sort of recall posting that source artwork here but for the life of me I can't find it (must be the lead poisoning). The Tat was done by Bulgarian artist Ivasha and just goes to show - Be careful what you draw, because someone may choose to inscribe it on their body for all time.

--Starchie

Her Enduring Charms...

Another secret of strange allure, revealed!

--Starchie

The Ghost

Here's a small painting done for a charity art auction from some time back. Still messing around with the black trees.
6X6 Acrylic

--Starchie

Graven Image

This little studio run by Joseph Reiter came to me and asked to do a statue of Sam & Max. It recently started shipping and is one substantial hunk o' flotsam - and I mean that in a good way. I did the sketch on the right and I like the simple lines of the sculpt by Joe Simon. Symbiote Studios offers the statue at their site.
http://www.symbiotestudios.com

Here's a nice shot by Adam B from a review on the site What's Your Obsession: http://www.whatsyourobsession.com/
More shots there although Sam's head is placed weirdly askew in one of them as they are in some of the shots at Captain Toy where, though they seem to like the item, Sam is not quite assembled to the base and is sporting his lid sideways.
http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_011209a.htm

--Starchie

Happy New Year

Ernie's Holiday Ditty

The Visitor Pages 8-9

The Visitor Pages 6-7

The Visitor Pages 4-5

The Visitor Pages 2-3

The Visitor

This holiday tale appeared in the Hellboy Christmas Special, a one shot anthology published by Dark Horse in 1997. Besides the feature story by Mike Mignola, the book contained contributions by Gary Gianni and Geof Darrow. This story is lettered by Lois Buhalis.
Maybe best not to read with kids who are still fond of Santa Claus.

--Starchie

Cratchet and Son

From a couple years ago. I never tire of depicting Sam & Max in a Charles Dickens setting. It inspires a sort of out-of-character sincerity in them that I enjoy.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Picnic

Here's another Toybox greeting card. I enjoy chopping in the white around the characters and looking for the simple version of a painted Christmas ornament or a bottle. I own the blanket, and used its colors to drive the rest of the palette.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Father Christmas

Another installment in the Greeting Cards from Previous Years series. This was fun and I somehow managed to keep from overworking it. The paint is fairly thin, almost watercolory.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Sleigh Ride

An early "Toybox" greeting card. This one got me onto the kick to do paintings of these characters just for fun, with no overly specific narrative in mind.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Marley

My friend Dan Scanlon is posting his previous Christmas cards on his site. Seemed like a good idea worth either ripping off or "paying homage to". I try to do either a Sam & Max or a Toybox card every year. Haven't painted this year's card yet but in the meantime...
4X9 Acrylic on Bristol Board

--Starchie

Flint Paper

An old character design for the canceled Sam & Max Freelance Police game. I like working in this rough pencil with built-up acrylic wash style. It's quick and can look remarkably finished even though it's loose. Does that make any sense?
8x10 Pencil and acrylic on bristol board.

--Starchie

Autumn

An older Ernie and Suda painting. It's somewhat unfinished but over time I realized I wasn't going to work on it anymore and am actually pretty satisfied with the shaggy edges. I need to remind myself to paint shaggier.
Acrylic on Canvas 9X12

--Starchie

Your Eyes Are Like...

At last. The secret of her allure revealed.
(Real post coming tomorrow)

--Starchie

Grim

Enough cuteness. Here's a horrible clown.
8x10 Acrylic on chipboard

--Starchie

I Don't Draw Like This

I know people who do this style really well. This was my first stab at this kind of broad color swatch way of doing a caricature on a Cintiq tablet. It was kind of fun to try on such a non-intuitive way (for me) of painting.
I'd like to try this style with real paint sometime.
8x10 Digital

--Starchie

Little Walt

As a requested antidote to all the "creepy" posts, here is a somewhat "cute" entry. One of my first acrylic paintings designed to go in this handmade frame by Alexa Eurich.
10x10 Acrylic

--Starchie

Vice

Here's a stray Day of the Dead painting I should have posted a few days ago. It sort of became a self-portrait along the way though I don't think I have his problems.
4x6 Acrylic

--Starchie

Happy Halloween

Toybox - Page 12 - The End

Toybox - Page 10 - 11

Toybox - Page 8 - 9

Toybox - Page 6 - 7

Toybox - Page 4 - 5

Toybox - Page 2 - 3

Toybox - Page 1

This story was was painted long ago for a DC comics anthology called Fast Forward. The mandate for the stories was "Do whatever you want." I had this handful of characters rattling around in my head for a while and tried cobbling together a world for them to inhabit. Posting the first page today, then two pages a day until Halloween.
Pen and Ink on bristol with Gouache colors. Lettering by Lois Buhalis.

--Starchie

Zombie Cheerleader

This Halloweenie post is a pin-up I did long ago for Pixar story artist Rob Gibbs when he created his zombie romance story in the first issue of the comics anthology Afterworks.
Pencil and digital.

--Starchie