Holy Hellboy and Batman tatoo, Batman!

I get asked every now and then to design tattoos for people. For some reason, folks like to think that just because you like to draw or doodle, that you have a magical pencil somewhere at home that can produce these amazing pieces of art, worthy of being permanently applied to another person's body. Me? I don't have anywhere near that level of confidence in my abilities. To these people, I normally give a "sure, maybe I'll give it a shot" or something along those lines, never actually intending to even make an attempt.

There have been a few instances over the years though, when I've been asked to draw something for somebody that I've actually gone through with it. Not for tattoo purposes, but just sketches for friends. To my amazement, some of them have even ended up getting framed and hung up on walls. I would never hang anything I drew on my wall, as again, I don't have that much confidence in what I do.

One friend in particular, who was the first person I really ever sent a sketch to, has done more to boost my confidence over the years that just about anybody except my mother. His name is Brandon, although I affectionately refer to him as Binky, and we met on an Xbox Live message board.  It started with a Batman drawing I did for him, which he seemed to genuinely love, as he sent me back a photo of it hanging on a wall in his basement. I followed that up with another Batman sketch for him. Earlier this year I got an email from him, asking me to design a tattoo from an idea he had. I was skeptical at first, as again, I'm not crazy about drawing things that might end up branded permanently on people, but I actually LIKE this person, and I'd hate to draw something and him end up being disappointed with it. When I heard the idea though, I knew I had to at least give it a shot.

The idea was to mix the animated universes of both Hellboy and Batman, which obviously share special places in my tiny black heart. The short version of this brilliant idea is that Joker somehow got ahold of some of Rasputin's books and accidentally summoned a giant monster, and Batman and Hellboy had to put a stop to it. Brandon gave a much more detailed story, which after I read it, I immediately wish actually existed in comic book or movie form. It immediately put an image into my head, and the next day I set out to try and get it on paper, which isn't always easy for me. I decided that seeing as how I didn't have any idea as to what kind of room the artist would have to work on Brandon's arm, that I would do two images, and he could resize and put them together the best way possible.

For Hellboy, I wanted him to be in the middle of the fight with the creature, I figured between he and Batman, he would be the muscle of the two, who would run head first into battle, ready to punch this thing in it's tentacled face. I used lots of reference material online for Hellboy, but the tentacles I just randomly threw in there, figuring the tattoo artist could add, delete, or change as needed. I also just for reference purposes crudely sketched in where Batman's arm would enter the image, grabbing Hellboy by the jacket.

Batman I assumed would be more interested in figuring out a way to get rid of the creature, sending it back to where it came from. Heading into battle head on with this tentacled beast might not be in his best interest. Knowing he would need Hellboy's assistance, I wanted him trying desperately to pull him from the fray to regroup and come up with a plan. For Batman, I didn't need much help, as I normally at some point or another sketch him daily. Animated Batman is especially fun and easy to draw. I envisioned him hanging off a gargoyle from a building in Gotham, with his grapple extended in one hand, and the other grabbing Hellboy. Again, not knowing what kind of room the artist would have, or how much of his arm Brandon was going to get inked, I decided it was probably best to focus on the characters and not so much with the other stuff. You can see again a basic placement of where Hellboy would enter the image.

Here's the two of them, only obviously separated.

I can honestly admit to being pretty happy with them, but I was very nervous when I went to send some pics to Brandon. I knew he had put a ton of thought into this tattoo, and if he wasn't happy with what I produced, I knew he'd be disappointed. I sent him the pics, and thankfully, he seemed to love what I had done. I can't even begin to describe how relieved I felt. I couldn't wait to see what the tattoo artist, a real artist, was going to do with them. 

I'd have to wait a while, as these things tend to take time to set up and actually do, but when I woke up this morning I had another email from Bink, with the completed work. I've been looking at these pics all morning. It's absolutely amazing to see something I did transferred to another human being, permanently. The colors are fantastic, and really improved upon the pencils I sent. I asked to share the photos here on the blog, and was given permission. Here's the finished product:

I'm assuming he will be reading this at some point, so to Brandon, I want to extend the biggest possible thanks for believing I could pull this off. Seeing the sketches I did end up looking so amazing has made me ridiculously happy this morning. I hope you enjoy the tattoo for years to come, it's truly incredible, and I'm insanely jealous of both your brilliant idea and your ink.

2013 Jack O Lantern

Went super easy this year, not out of laziness but because I saw this online and decided I wanted to do it, because it looked so groovy. I think it turned out pretty badass, even if it did only take a few minutes. We also decided to just do one this year, instead of the usual three. Here's the Batcave's Army of Darkness jack o lantern, enjoy!

A Dreddful Collaboration

That's right people, photoshop genius extraordinaire Frank Browning and myself have put our beautiful minds together once again to bring you a Batcave post of epic proportions! The idea was simple, movies are good...but imagine how much better some would be if they had Judge Dredd in them! That's essentially all the input I had in this, I threw some movie titles at Frank, and away he went...

A young man's mother contracts the 2T-FRU-T virus from a rabid prarie dog bite, she gets sick and dies. She returns from the grave, a side effect of the virus, and begins to feed on dogs, nurses, friends, and judges. In Mega City One, even the undead feel DREDD....

In order to get more in touch with the regular citizens of Mega City One, Judge Dredd poses as just another average Joe. Aided by his guide, a local media mogul, Dredd learns the ins and outs of everyday life. What he doesn't count on is his guide's daughter falling madly in love with him. With a jaw line like that, who could blame her?

When every bit of crime has been cleaned up in Mega City One, Judge Dredd invents a time machine so that he can eradicate crime throughout the ages. His first target? Legendary gangster Al Capone. Chicago might believe that Capone is untouchable...what they'll discover is that nobody is Unjudgeable.

In the midst of a massive Cube-break in Mega City One, several criminals have taken control of a shopping center! When Judge Dredd arrives on the scene, there's gonna be a clean-up on aisle Drokk.

When a group of teenagers travel to a secluded cabin out in The Cursed Earth, they unknowingly release flesh-posessing demons. Will Judge Dredd be able to contain them, or will the "Dredd-ites" take over Mega City One?

Brand new from AMC! This October, prisons all over Mega City One have been overrun with zombie perps! Only a ragtag group of Judges remain alive. The zombies may have the numbers, but the Judges have....DREDD.

A teenager has to deal with his girlfriend dumping him among family crises, homicidal paperboys, and a rival skier. Sounds like he could use some back-up....

When the dead begin to return to the streets of Mega City One, they'll face the business end of a Lawgiver. They may have cheated death, but they won't escape Judgement.

BONUS IMAGES!

Once again, I owe Frank Browning a HUGE thank you. He absolutely killed on these, as he always does. Check out more of his fantastic work in our previous collaborations both here in the Batcave and over at Back Online, Back On Duty. While you're over there, be sure and check out Frank's other contributions as a both a writer and photoshop magician.

Frank, thanks again man. This post couldn't have happened without you, and it was a blast to write. I am once again in your debt.

Throw down your pencil and prepare to be Judged!

Yes, yes... I know. MORE Judge Dredd?! What can I say? I'm in love. Anyway, this is a sketch I did this past Saturday of sir Joseph. It's been raining non-stop for what feels like months here, and as such I've been couped up in the house for the most part. I hate the rain, so if at all possible, I avoid getting out in it. Anyway, it gives me time to play a lot of video games, watch a lot of movies, read, and when kids allow it, even draw some. I hadn't worked on anything in a while, got the urge, and who better to draw right now than  Judge Dredd? Like the Boba Fett I did for my brother last year, this one took me around 5 hours total. I actually sketched most of it out pretty quickly, and of course spent a majority of the time shading. Turned out pretty good for my first Dredd.

Bought myself a couple of early Xmas gifts thanks to Kristy Jett's tweet about a sale going on over at Electric Zombie. Basically their entire inventory is on sale, but their clothing looks like it's geared toward you "skinny jeans" wearers, so I've never risked it. Their posters are just the right size though, and are on sale for an amazingly low $2.50 each. Here are the two I grabbed:

Can't wait to get these framed and up on the walls in the Batcave. Thanks for the head's up Kristy!

Zombie Batman by Neal Adams

I've got some brand new original art on display in the Batcave, and it comes from none other than the legendary Neal Adams. I've made it no secret over the years that he's hands down my favorite Batman artist of all time, and I would put his art from the 60's an 70's up against anything that's being done today. As far as  I'm concerned, the man is a God. This Zombie Batman is the new centerpiece of my living room decoration, and it definitely stands out, as well it should.

A friend of mine was lucky enough to have been in attendance at this year's Dragon Con in Atlanta, which named Neal Adams a special guest at the last minute. If he had been announced earlier, I would've made sure I was there to meet him myself, but as I've said a million times before, I have the best friends in the world, and my brother from another mother, Diptastic, was kind enough to not only snag this print for me, but he also got Neal to sign it to me, and told him that I thought he was God. I'm told the look on Neal's face was equal parts confusion and fear. Eh, I didn't want to scare the guy, but I still felt like it needed to be said.

For as long as I have left to live, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank the Big Dipper enough for this. I will forever proudly display this artwork in the Batcave. It stands now as my favorite item in my Batman collection, and can't imagine what would ever take it's place.

Holy Hollywood, Batman!

A while back I was on Twitter, and one of those "Put in my pants in a movie title" things was trending. I rarely get involved with these, but for whatever reason I was bored, so I threw a couple out there. Things like "Let The Right One In My Pants", "I Saw the Devil In My Pants", or "The Great White Hype In My Pants". I chuckled for a second at some of the ones people were tweeting, but then my comic book saturated brain began to wander. What if instead of "In My Pants" I put Batman Villains into movie titles? So I came up with a few, and then it turned into a full fledged idea for a blog post, "What if Batman villains had decided to become movie stars instead of criminals?". The only problem with that being that, again, I have no photoshop skills whatsoever. So the idea sort of went away.

If you've been keeping up with the circle of horror bloggers I currently sort of run with, you're already familiar with Frank Browning. The guy does amazing things with photoshop, and has contributed to Dr. Terror's Italian Horror Week, Back Online, Back On Duty's Slaterocalypse ( during which he did some work for my True Romance entry), as well as a number of other places. What's even more impressive is how quickly he can get these things done, put simply, the guy is a machine. He does not eat, he does not sleep, he photoshops. As I know how busy he stays, I was hesitant to run this idea by him, but I ended up shooting him a  message about it. To be perfectly honest, I didn't ask him just because I wanted to do the post, but also because I knew he was really going to come up with something special and I wanted to see it.

Frank wasted absolutely no time in agreeing to help me out, and before long I started getting the images. They are exactly as I'd imagined them, only better. But enough with the blabbering, let's get on with it. Ladies, gentlemen, and the rest of you...feast your eyes upon...

What if Batman's Villains Had Decided to Become Movie Stars Instead of Criminals?

And without a doubt, my favorite of the bunch, one of my first ideas which turned out way better than I'd imagined it could. I love every single one of them, but Frank absolutely killed it with this one...

While I can take a little for the idea and most of the movie titles, all the credit for this post goes to Frank. I am insanely jealous of his artistic talents, and eternally grateful for his help in making this post happen. It's my favorite thing that I've posted here in the Batcave, hands down. Do yourself a favor and check out his other works at the links above, all are awesome and worth your time. Frank and I are also collaborating on a post for Back Online, Back on Duty's next theme week which is coming at the end of this month, so be on the lookout for the announcement soon. It's another fun one, I can't wait for everybody to see it.

Impostors Life

Gotham City Impostors arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I have found myself hopelessly caught in it's web of awesome. I can't resist this game. I think about it at work, I play it as soon as I get home, I wake up early to play it, it owns me. Those of you who game with me know that this is rare, especially for a game that forces me to play with the public. But this game is so good, even getting cursed out by 11 year olds doesn't infuriate me the way it does in lesser games like the Halos and Call of Duties of the world. That's right, Gotham City Impostors is better than Call of Duty, I said it. Although I may be a little biased. This post is just going to be a random assortment of CGI related goodness. No real point here, other than to show off a little of my latest game-related obsession. 

This first video is the official trailer. No gameplay shown here, but it give you a good idea as to what the game is about and the sense of humor it employs.

Next videos are little animated shorts that DC did for the game. Again, no gameplay but these are a fun watch. I would love to see more, or even an animated feature at some point. You listening DC?

Finally a look at some gameplay as well as a bit of the intro portion of the game that shows you the ropes on how to play, and how each of the different type of gadgets work. I'm partial to the grappling hook myself.

This last video is a look at the FREE downloadable content that was released yesterday. As you can see, a new map, as well as new weapons and new stuff to outfit your character with. The customization is one of the coolest part of this game, and believe me when I tell you I am ALL over the ninja gear.

And finally a little sketch I did last week while I was looking around for images from the game online. I love the little cartoons that pop up during the loading screens and whatnot. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of pics of them online, mostly just this little guy. Don't judge too much, this literally took me about 10 minutes. But anyway, here he is...

Boba Fett

A sketch I did for my brother's new place. He is to Star Wars as I am to Batman, so when he asked for some original art to hang up, of course I went with Star Wars. Decided on Boba Fett because he's one of  my favorite characters, and I had actually never drawn him before. I think it turned out pretty good, especially given that it was actually one of the quickest sketches I've ever done. I started it last Saturday night, and was finished on Sunday morning. I spent around 5 hours grand total on it, and it usually takes me a lot longer to finish anything.

So anyway, here it is, because I had nothing else to post today. He ended up digging it, and I will be personally delivering it to him at the beginning of March, when I'll be taking my first ever trip to the Big Apple. I'm excited and nervous about the trip, but that's another post for another day. But yeah, Boba Fett, hope ya digs it too.

The only Sam cooler than Sam Winchester

Little sketch I did today, as I had nothing else to post and didn't feel like really writing anything. I found this image on Deviant Art an liked it, an thought "Hey, I can do that". So I did. I actually finished it back around Halloween, but not in time to post that week, I was about a week off. Anyway, it's done now, so here it is.

2011 Jack-o-Lanterns

Today me and the kiddos did my favorite of all Halloween traditions, the carving of our pumpkins. We each had one, and I let them pick out stencils for theirs and as per usual I free handed mine. The idea all along for me was to do a Michael Myers one for this year. Being that he's sorta the unofficial face of Halloween, no disrespect to Sam intended, I have only ever done one Myers before. I did it as sort of a nod to the cover of Halloween 5, minus the Danielle Harris in clown suit because let's be perfectly honest here, I nowhere near talented enough to pull that off.

I think it turned out ok, it looks better in person, but you can sorta get the idea from the picture....

The kids both got to pick a pattern from one of my books again this year. My 7 year old chose a skeleton because and I quote "It's like you dad, Mister Bones". You know I'm not arguing with that, so skeleton it is. He's a little friendlier than I like, but still. I drew the pattern on for him and pretty much gave the kid a saw and told him to go at it. Again, this actually looks better in person but here's the end result...

And finally, the light of my life, my 3 year old daughter. We all picked our pumpkins from a pumpkin patch last weekend, and of course my son picked the biggest one he could find, and miss Caitlin picked the smallest one with the maximum amount of mold and imperfections she could find. She insisted that I could clean it up. So needless to say it made for interesting carving. She picked several really large, and challenging designs before I finally talked her into one that would both fit on her small pumpkin, and be a little easier for her to do with minimal assistance. I say that not because I didn't want to help her, but because she's a 3 year old little girl and informs me on a daily basis that she doesn't need my help with anything. So anyway, here's what we ended up with...

It's cute, no? I ended up having to help more than she liked, but she did do quite a bit of it without me. So that's our jack-o-lanterns this year. Not my strongest work, but I think Mikey turned out ok. I still think last year's are my favorite yet. Hope everybody is getting as excited about Halloween as we are at the Bones household! When you finish your jack-o-lanterns, drop me a link in the comments, I'd love to see em.

Some Random Paper Wasting

Didn't have time to write anything else for today, so I'm just gonna post some random stuff in the "Wasting Paper" department. First up, a couple of my son's latest...

With the release of Gears of War 3 a couple weeks ago, everybody in my house has Gears fever again, and my 7 year old is  no exception. Here we have what appears to be a couple of "Lowcust" getting the pain brought to them by Marcus and the Cole Train (sporting his Gene Simmons Kiss platform cleats no less).

Next up, his latest caricature of his dear old dad. I must say he's getting better at drawing me. This time out, I have all my appendages! I'm also apparently now bald, wear skinny jeans and fingerless gloves, and bear a striking resemblance to the Rage Guy.

Remember the post I did with the cd drawings? Well I've done a couple more cd's lately, here they are...

Another Freddy

Michael Myers

Kang and Kodos

And finally one from a really for real artist, and friend of mine. A couple weeks ago I put out the word to any and all of my friends who had any artistic ability whatsoever that I was aware of to help me decorate my mostly barren walls with art. I know a handful of people who draw, paint, etc. and I figured, it's my house, and I'm not really interested in pictures of fruit or farm houses, and there's only so many pictures of my kids I can hang up, so why not hang up art that I actually dig? Last week I got my first picture, from a guy I met while working at the comic store. He always turned in his orders from Previews with some sort of original art, and I always thought they were great, so he was the first guy I asked to do me a sketch. I basically told him I was a 9 year old trapped in a 33 year old body, and I liked Batman and monsters. I left the rest up to him, and here's what he did for me...

Is this amazing, or what? I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when he sent me a picture of it. I think it pretty much goes without saying that I absolutely love it. If there's anybody reading out there who likes to draw, paint, whatever, and would like to contribute to operation decorate the Batcave, drop me a line. I can only offer my most sincerest of thank you's as payment, but some would say that's worth more than money anyway...