Rosario Dawson

This is my entry for the Rosario Dawson challenge on FaceBook's Caricaturama 3000. Painted in Photoshop.

Happy Birthday Walt Disney

Happy Eleventy-First Birthday Walt Disney!

Leader's Edge spot illustration

I have a new spot illustration in this month's Leader's Edge magazine. This is Peter Drucker, author, teacher and business guru, who quite literally wrote the book on modern business practices. He is worshipped like a god in many business schools, which is what I was trying to reflect here. Thanks to Ted Lopez for another fun assignment.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Here's my sketch of the day -- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Johnny Cash

I wrapped up a commissioned illustration, which I can't show you, but here's a painting of Johnny Cash that I can show you.

Boris Karloff

Here's my sketch of the day featuring the late great Boris Karloff, who just had his 125th birthday come and go on Nov. 23.

George Virl Osmond

Here's a spot illustrationI did for this month's Leader's Edge magazine. This is George Virl Osmond, father of Donnie, Marie and the rest of the Osmonds. Thanks to Creative Director Ted Lopez for another fun assignment.

Halloween

I always try to get in at least one Halloween painting each year. This year I painted a tribute to one of my all-time favorite horror movies, John Carpenter's Halloween. I've probably seen it a dozen times over the years, and I'm sure I'll watch it a dozen more before I've shuffled off this mortal coil.

Freddy Sketch

Here's my sketch of the day: a quick little sketch of Freddy Kreuger. Trying to get into the Halloween season.

New York Observer

My latest NY Observer cover is on newsstands today. The article ties in the 50th anniversary of the musical Annie with the unlikely idea that anyone can be rich one day. Here's Mitt "Daddy Warbucks" Romney, Honey Boo Boo and her pet pig Glitzy. Thanks to Ed at the Observer for a fun assignment.

Leader's Edge Election Cover

Here is my first cover for Leader's Edge magazine, an insurance industry publication. Creative Director Ted Lopez was great to work with--easygoing with a clear vision what he was looking for. The cover article is about the many possibilities for the insurance industry that could result from this year's presidential election. The editors wanted to see Obama and Romney nearing the finish line to the presidency with several winding paths all leading to the White House.

I submitted four sketches, seen here, and they ultimately chose the marathon runner theme, seen in sketch #2.

This one would have been fun, mostly for the chance to paint the little Paul Ryan in the doghouse on top of the car.

 This is the sketch they went with, but as you can see, although Obama is pretty close to what appears in the final art, Ted thought Romney's figure looked a little odd with the giant water bottle, so I completely redesigned him during the process.

 This was probably the safest of the four sketches.

This would have been fun just to draw Obama and Romney in a fight to death on top of a cliff.

One more image you might be interested in, early on throughout the process the idea had been to make the final art much darker and gloomier. A late editorial decision resulted in me changing the background and overall lighting entirely to something a lot happier (think--Wizard of Oz, as I was told). I have to admit I kind of miss the cool stormy sky I painted below, but I'm overall very happy with how this turned out. It was a lot of fun and I hope to get a chance to work with Ted again soon.

Hellboy

This is a personal project I've been working on for a while now. I had to put it aside for a couple of weeks while I tackled some other jobs.

Oh Clint, Clint, Clint...

My sketch of the day. I've seen the footage of Clint Eastwood's rambling and semi-coherent performance at the Republican Convention several times now, and it just makes me sad to see one of my favorite movie heroes grow old.

Ghoul Power!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love horror movies, good, bad and everything in between. One of my gateway drugs into my personal obsession with horror was the Ghoul, who hosted a late night TV show featuring some of the worst horror movies ever made when I was just a kid. So it was a no-brainer when the supremely talented illustrator Mitch O'Connel invited me to contribute a piece to the Ghoul Power! show at the Kollective Gallery on September 8.

http://www.facebook.com/events/364096523659704/

Jack Kirby

My sketchy painting of the day is the one and only Jack "The King" Kirby, who would have turned 95 years young this coming Tuesday.

Star Wars Prints

I just added two new tattoo-themed Star Wars prints to my Etsy store. "Droids Don't Cry" and "Maul" are available now as signed, numbered, limited edition prints on high-quality, acid-free art paper. The droid print, you may notice, is actually my take on the famous Norman Rockwell illustration "The Tattoo Artist."

New York Observer Cover

This is another fun cover for The New York Observer. The article is titled "Our Cheating Hearts" and deals with society's pervasive attitude toward cheating. Depicted here are Kristen Stewart and the good old Wall Street Bull. Thanks as always to AD Lauren Draper for another fun assignment. Here's a link to the original article. http://observer.com/2012/08/our-cheating-hearts-honor-integrity-and-playing-by-the-rules-are-all-out-of-style

Marilyn Monroe

I know, the world needs another Marilyn Monroe caricature like I need another hole in my head. But at least I used a reference shot of her that's more Norma Jean Baker than Marilyn. This was painted in Photoshop. I have to say, I'm particularly proud of that umbrella. :)

The New Postcards Are In!

I'm getting my latest postcard promo mailing ready. If you'd like to be added to my mailing list, shoot me an email at mark@markdraws.com.

Rich Pineda

This is a caricature of my new bud Rich Pineda. Rich is a really amazing tattoo artist. I first became aware of his work when he tattooed my Bela Lugosi painting on someone. Check out more of Rich's  work on Facebook.

Christian Bale

Christian Bale did something pretty classy yesterday when he visited the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooter. Here's a painting I did of him. I even managed to squeeze in a couple of hidden Bat logos.

Audrey Tatou

Here's my entry for this week's Caricaturama 3000 challenge on Facebook. This is French actress Audrey Tatou in her signature role from the movie Amelie.

Jack White Sketch

Today's warm-up sketch was of Jack White, formerly of the White Stripes and now carrying on one heck of a great solo career.

Bruce Campbell

Here's a painting I did of one of personal favorites, the great Bruce Campbell. If you haven't seen the Evil Dead films, especially Army of Darkness, then you really need to sign up for Netflix and get watching now. The reference for this illustration, incidentally, comes from Evil Dead 2, to be precise. Above is the final color version. Below I thought you'd like to see the black and white painting that lies beneath. I don't always work with this method, but sometimes you can create some great effects by painting entirely in grayscale first, then use a series of color, overlay and multiply layers in Photoshop to create some very cool effects. I thought the overall caricature ended up having a bit of a Graham Ingels Tales from the Crypt look. The wacky color scheme above shows the heavy influence of the great Basil Gogos, who painted most of the Famous Monsters of Filmland covers when I was growing up.

Tattoo You

This has to be one of the cooler tributes to my work that I can imagine. Tattoo artist Rich Pineda was asked to recreate my Bela Lugosi painting in
Ink. He did a fantastic job, and I'm really flattered.

New Store Open!

Recently, I've been getting requests for prints of my work, so I'm happy to announce the opening of my brand new Etsy store, where I will be selling signed, limited edition prints of my work.  Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarkHammermeister

George Lucas Sketch

Sketching George Lucas. About 90 minutes in Photoshop.

R.I.P. Ray Bradbury

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so as long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away." - Fahrenheit 451

 I was sad to hear that Ray Bradbury died today. I had what could be described as a "troubled childhood". No need to get into details, but when things were rough one place I could always turn to in order to get away from my troubles were with books. One of my favorite authors back then was Ray Bradbury, who introduced me to Martians and monsters and book-burning firemen and evil carnivals and so much more. Thank you, Ray, for everything. Rest in peace.

Mitt Romney

Just finished a painting of Mitt Romney I've been working on an off on for a couple of weeks now. Painted in Photoshop.

Audrey Hepburn, for a Wittygraphy caricature contest.

Oregon Duck

This was an unusual, but fun, project I did a while back. I was hired to paint the University of Oregon Duck mascot in a portrait style for some merchandising.

NY Observer Cover

My newest NY Observer cover is on newsstands today. The article is about the new style of racism in the world, in which public figures (such as John Galliano, Taki Theodoracopoulus and Ashton Kutcher, seen here) say and do things that range from the racially insensitive to the morally reprehensible. This was another fun assignment. Thanks as always to Lauren Draper.

Hulk Sketch

This is a little sketch painting I did as a tribute to my favorite scene in The Avengers. If you've seen the movie, then you'll know what I'm talking about. If you're one of the two people who hasn't seen it yet, I won't spoil it.

The Commercial Observer

I painted the cover to this week's Commercial Observer "Power 100" issue. The Commercial Observer is one of the sister pubs to the New York Observer. The Power 100 is their annual listing of the top movers and shakers in New York's commercial real estate industry. The trick here was being able to include five figures in the space while giving them something to do; in this case, building the headline. Thanks to Scott and Jotham for a fun assignment.

ImagineFX Image of the Month

Very cool news. My Helena Bonham Carter caricature is the featured Image of the Month in the latest issue of ImagineFX magazine. A few years ago when I decided I wanted to learn how to paint digitally, I began seeking out tips and tutorials everywhere I could. ImagineFX was one of the sources I turned to monthly (still do, actually). Flash forward to today and one of my paintings won one of the weekly forum challenges (a caricature challenge, of course) and is now appearing in the pages of the magazine that helped me learn many of the skills I apply on a daily basis.

The Mortgage Observer

This was a fun little project. I was commissioned by Carl Gaines at The Mortgage Observer (sister publication of The New York Observer) to paint two portraits of a couple of the magazine's columnists. The trick here was to not get too sucked into painting lots of tiny details since these would ultimately print at only a couple of inches tall.

Jennifer Lawrence - Final

I really liked how the sketch I did of Jennifer Lawrence turned out, so I decided to take it to a more finished state.

Jennifer Lawrence Sketch

90 minute sketch of actress Jennifer Lawrence from The Hunger Games.

George Takei

This is a very last minute painting I did for an art fundraiser I just found out about in honor of George Takei's 75th birthday called Takei Back the Night. I knew I wanted to paint Sulu and I thought, why not let my geek hang all the way out and paint the Mirror Universe version, scar and all.

And then this happened...

So apparently Norman Reedus really liked my painting of him.

Christina Hendricks

Here's a painting I did of actress Christina Hendricks from AMC's Mad Men. There's something about the show that keeps me tuning in. I can't quite put my finger on what it is though. ;)

Norman Reedus

I was recently commissioned to do a painting of actor Norman Reedus, who plays my favorite character, Daryl Dixon, on The Walking Dead. I tried to make this a sort of companion piece to my other Walking Dead painting I did recently. As usual, this was painted in Photoshop.

NY Observer Cover

It's New York Observer cover time again. This is NYC Comptroller John Liu, who is currently embroiled in a campaign financing scandal. Design Director Lauren Draper asked for Liu in a classic Nixon pose. Thanks to Lauren, Scott and the other fine folks at the Observer for another fun assignment.

Norman Reedus sketch

Sketch of actor Norman Reedus, who plays my favorite character Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead. This is the first stage of a commissioned painting I'm working on.