Archie McPhee and me

Years ago I used to buy odd tchotchkes from Seattle's Archie McPhee & Company catalog. In those pre-website days you would actually submit a printed form in a stamped, hand-delivered envelope accompanied by something called a personal check which was a voucher of sorts for funds to be transfered from your bank in exchange for goods. It was all very quaint.

One of their adopted corporate icons was the charming and enigmatic Bibo the "god monster." On one of my order envelopes, in a sad grab for attention, I included a drawing of Bibo and was pleased when they printed it in one of their subsequent catalogs. I recently happened across the image posted on their blog after they discovered it in a stash of old customer envelope art.

Ball Point Pen on 6X9 1/2" envelope

--Starchie

Maniac Mansion

Here's a big oil painting of the Edison Family done long ago for a reissued edition of Lucasfilm Games' Maniac Mansion. The back of the box has a photo of an eerie haunted house-type hallway. Originally I was commissioned to do a tiny painting to be hung in a constructed scale model hallway,... until someone realized it would cost more to create a scale hallway than it would to make a full-sized one. At that point the commission was revised to ask for a full size portrait. I thought of it as a Disney Haunted Mansion style piece and painted it in a weekend in oils with a few fairly large brushes.

Oil on Canvas 2X3 feet

--Starchie

Big Guy's

Here's a caricature of Dick Swan. Dick had a great comic store in the south San Francisco Bay Area for many years and he shares my love of 60's toys especially Nutty Mads and Weird Ohs models. He still sells rare comic books on ebay. I can't remember the occasion that prompted this drawing but was fun to depict The Big Guy as one of those great old "fink' type toys.

Pencil and Ink 8X10

--Starchie

Mermaid Tat

Here's a tattoo design I did for a friend I used to work with. Although a bunch of my images or characters have been made into tattoos I think this was the first time I set out to design a tattoo. I like how simple it is and how the ends hook back on themselves but it doesn't quite look like most tattoos I've seen which is possibly why it was never confirmed to skin.

If you like it and want to use it, go to town. I'd love to see it etched onto a person.

Pencil 6X9

--Starchie

Maybe a Print?

Here's a comp I did for Telltale's Sam & Max Season 2. We didn't choose it but I thought without the text it might make a fun print to do in the near future. As far as hyper-over-stated detail it seems to show some potential that hasn't nearly been tapped in this sketch.

Digital 8X10

--Starchie

Misu Mina

I don't do too many pin-up type gals. This one has been seen before. She is the better half of the pair of gangland villains from the un-produced game design "Sam & Max Plunge Through Space." This image started as a super rough pencil sketch. I pulled it together with acrylic washes and was pretty happy that it retains a lot of the roughness that can sometimes get worked away too much in this kind of painting.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

P. Mudpuppy

Here is my contribution to a local art show that kicked off the infamous Petaluma Butter and Eggs Day weekend which itself is a celebration of debauchery and unleashed id in a David Lynchean vision of quaint parade floats and cute babies in fluffy chickie costumes. The Petaluma River cuts through the western downtown area and the art show at the Heebee Jeebee Boomerang Gallery is called the River Monster Project.

Acrylic 9X12

--Starchie

And Another...

Here, of course, is the comp for the final LeChuck's Revenge painting. Looks like I hadn't yet thought of the idea of the dead bird plume and what is Elaine doing there besides looking like a man? It appears I reversed the values of the clouds and sky for additional eeriness and tried punching up the phoney baloney lighting on the figures. All in all a handy exercise I guess.

Gouache 7X10

--Starchie

LeChuck Unexploited

Here's another unused cover idea for Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge. It's the second of three. I sold the first on ebay a month or so ago and I still owe you a photo of the unique item I bought with some of the cash. This painting is also one of the images that appear in my INTERVIEW at Alternative Magazine Online.

Gouache 7X10

--Starchie

I Hunger

Somebody stop me if I'm repeating. I hunted around and did not find this one in the archives so here we go. Anytime I'm asked about favorite classic arcade games I first think of Sinistar. There was a tiny arcade across from my art school in the 80's where I would play Battlezone, Joust and especially Sinistar. The idea of a skull-shaped, ravenous doomsday machine just speaks to me for some reason. This was my submission for the first I Am 8-Bit gallery show several years ago. Sinistar's catch phrase was "I Hunger" so I decided to depict him as a demanding baby.

Acrylic 6X12

--Starchie

Starchie's Pawn Shoppe

Here is a location in the town of Toybox; your very own Starchie Spudnoggen's For Sale and Trade establishment. This was done for a story about a scarecrow named Fishbone who's found by Ernie and Suda in an irrigation ditch after his butter cracker eyes have been eaten by birds. Selflessly deciding to help him replace his lost eyes, they find their way here.

Acrylic and prismacolor 9X11

--Starchie

Hellboy Vent

It's a proven fact that everyone loves to draw Hellboy. This was done years ago, and I don't know if Mike Mignola ever actually drew Hellboy with such hugely broad shoulders or if that's just how I got it into my head when I painted this. I would paint it very differently now but there was still enough that I liked about it to post it. Here's a slightly recent-er Hellboy painting I did (still with the enormous shoulders, hmmm). Guess I should try him again sometime.

Acrylic 10 X 12

--Starchie

Dawn of Suda

Suda's design came from a doll I built in high school. I had a contest with one of my friends to each try and create the most horrible doll. Her hands and head are clay, the body cloth and the dress was found in a thrift store bin. Her eyelashes are made from an old paintbrush.

My friend's doll wore a pink dress and looked like a toddler who someone had deflated. He kept her in his closet so he wouldn't accidentally see her at night. He wins for horror but over time Suda has cute-ened up. She's extremely difficult to capture but I know it when I see it.

Suda doll: Red clay, acrylic, fabric 16" high. "Family Portrait" Acrylic 6"X9"

--Starchie

Joe Ranft

Last weekend Joe Ranft, the legendary Pixar story man would have turned 50. If you don't know about Joe, Google him and you will be enlightened. I did this painting of Joe after having worked with him for years on the Cars story crew. It was based on a photo that I had taken of him on a research trip on Route 66. I was fortunate to be able to give him the painting before he passed away in the Summer of 2005. He hired me at Pixar almost 9 years ago and I still think about him every day. Miss you Joe!

Acrylic 8 1/2X11

--Starchie

Critters

Yet another set of characters for an un-produced animated feature project. Enjoyed trying to angular-ize my default rats, the ones that wind up in any on my comic projects though I still opted for my standard droopy nose. Was fairly pleased with the Guinea pig as well.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Monkey Memory for Sale

The painting sold and very soon I will post what I am using the funds to buy.

I've posted an auction for one of the three comps I did for Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge. This painting was done to express one of the ideas I would take to final. It was meant to convey the idea and less meant as a finished illustration. I thought a keen Monkey Island fan might find it worth having as a piece of the company's history.

But for me, there's actually something I want to buy on ebay and I always prefer to sell something to help pay for whatever the next uselss item will be. If it all works out I'll share the result here.

7X10 Gouache

--Starchie

MAX IMP SAYS VOTE!

Telltale Games is currently fielding votes for which of their series of games should be the next to release for the Mac. Max Imp insists that you go to their site and cast your vote for Sam & Max.

Imagine Max Imp's disappointment if Sam & Max is NOT chosen or perhaps loses by the one vote YOU may have cast. He might be inclined to take up residence in your furnace, compelled to skitter around in your attic during the night or crawl up into your sinus cavity while you sleep to lay his terrible eggs. Do your part!
Go to TelltaleGames.com and cast your vote for SAM & MAX!
Thank you. That is all.

--Starchie

Naughty Tiger

Here's another Tiger, obviously more of a science-fictiony character. Had fun with the colors and the chunky strokes around the face, though his muzzle is a bit funky. All in all I was pretty happy with this guy.

8 1/2X 11 Acrylic

--Starchie

Year of the...

Here is another character from the unmade feature pitch I referenced earlier. My standard washey acrylics on top of a loose pencil sketch xeroxed on bristol board. I fixed his near leg in photoshop because it was a hair undersized and always bothered me. He doesn't quite sit on the ground right but it was a very quick painting so I forgive it somewhat. Tigers are fun to draw and paint and I have another one I want to do this year, which is part of the Toybox cast of characters.

8 1/2 X 11 Acrylic

--Starchie

The Fantastic Mr Some-Other-Guy

This is one of my favorite character pieces done for an un-produced feature project. It started with a very loose soft pencil sketch, xeroxed onto bristol board and painted in thin washes of acrylic. It was one of my first in this style which I became fond of for the stretch when I was doing a lot of these.

Acrylic 8 1/2X11

--Starchie