Scary Godmother

Here's a pin-up I did long ago for one of Jill Thompson's charming and popular Scary Godmother comics. Jill is great at populating her own rich worlds with amazingly colorful, funny characters and I had a lot of fun with this piece. And if she wants to send the pin-up back to me I'll add in Scary Godmother's little wings which I somehow managed to overlook and which Jill was way too polite to mention.

Pen and Ink 10X15

--Starchie

FUN!

I just needed something to post and found this image buried in my hard drive. I feel like I've posted it before. Maybe it's in one of the sketchbooks.

It was done for the animated series - I would pitch in on characters and locations whenever possible. Usually quick pencil sketches with some ball point pen and a bit of tone.

Posting this will force me to get on the ball about launching the Sam & Max blog. Let's call the launch date October 31st just to plant a stake in the ground.

Pen and Marker 8 1/2 X 11

--Starchie

The Sea Hag

Here's an image I cobbled together in honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Since I didn't talk like a pirate and nothing requires me to write like a pirate I did this instead. It's painted on a piece of thick cardboard on top of a loose sketch. I didn't want to get bogged down in planning it out too much. Just wanted to make a picture.

Acrylic and Prismacolor 11X14

--Starchie

Ancient Purcell Art on ebay

A friend of mine posted an auction for a some original pages I did for his book Fish Police. They were done around the same time as the first Sam & Max comic and are penciled and inked in the same style. I sort of like the John Candyish salesman guy and remember having fun drawing the pissed off octopus.

If you've ever browsed some of my comics pages to possibly purchase, he's posting the four page story on ebay. Steve Moncuse created Fish Police and wrote this short, and even if you don't bid on the auction you should at least thank him for being the one to publish the first Sam & Max comic book.

Pencil and Ink 10X15 x 4

--Starchie

Pirate Contract

So if it was really a contract it probably wouldn't have a bunch of pirate skeletons scrawled all over it. I can't quite remember how this piece came to be. Something about trying to dress up a document with images. I like something about it though it doesn't quite make sense anymore.

Acrylic and Digital 11X14

--Starchie

Blue Girl

Here's a character design from a previously referenced un-produced feature project. I like figuring out color schemes for characters and trying to get the costume to play well with the character. This was loosely washed onto a rough pencil sketch on Bristol Board.

Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Piratey Panorama

Here's a sketch done in the archaic medium of pencil for a Monkey Island 2 background. I honestly haven't played the game in so long I don't remember if I actually finished this one in markers or if Peter Chan finished it or if it was even used in the game.

I sorta like the shapes and sometimes don't mind doing these puppet stage kind of compositions. Somebody remind me when I lose my mind and start reposting the same images.

4X16 Pencil

--Starchie

Buzz, Woody and George

Here is one of the first tasks I was given at Pixar about 9 years ago. George Lucas was accepting what I believe was an AFI award and Pixar wanted to congratulate him on the back cover of the printed program book. The mandate was to mix George's and Pixar's worlds, and as the cloaked Buzz and Woody Jedi idea was going nowhere, and my favorite Lucas movie is American Graffiti, I pitched this "cruisin" concept.

Since Woody wears a cowboy hat I originally tried putting him in Bob Falfa's black '55 Chevy but it ultimately felt too obscure compared to John Milner's iconic yellow Deuce Coupe sporting the THX plate.

It was a quick and fun painting but was published in black and white with a printing glitch causing it to be reproduced in low-res, so this is the first appearance of the piece as it was intended.

Acrylic 8 1/2X 11

--Starchie

Aiieee Robot! PART 2!!

Here's a second take on the robot character and true to form, I'm often more partial to the first impulse. Though I don't mind this painting and I'm happy with the colors and shapes, I prefer the guy in the last post. This one has more of a C3PO vibe and feels a bit more predictable as the put-upon service-bot in my opinion.

6X10 --Starchie

Aiieee Robot!

Here is a character design for an animated feature pitch. I found a stack of designs from this project and will post them over the next few days. I tried to be aware of the very broad volumes for this guy and as robots go he's one of my favorite that I've done.

Acrylic 6X10

--Starchie

Sam & Max Blog Coming Soon!

Miraculously, I've managed to keep posting here fairly regularly for about two and a half years. I still have loads of material to post as long as people continue to show up and look at it.

I thought it might be worth creating a blog strictly for Sam & Max while Spudvision can remain a catch-all for any other kinds of art, especially Toybox which is the home of your very own host Starchie Spudnoggen.

I'm working on the format for the Sam & Max blog and will post a link here as soon as it launches.

--Starchie

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