The Monster

Here's a random sketch for the week from a few years back. This is a fun little self-portrait...er, quick sketch of Frankenstein's monster. Urrgh!

Dark Knight Sketches

Here a couple of sketch cards that I drew for a friend.  They are sketches of Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker.  These are drawn on my own personal sketch cards and are the types of sketches that I produce for commissions.

On a side note, I loved the new film.  However, I'm still unsure what to think about the new "Batsuit."  I think that the film series' visual designers should be moving the look of Batman more towards the look of the character in the comics instead of further away.  A fabric based suit could look cool (like Spidey's duds in the new films... he doesn't look silly) and still have the implication that the suit is armored underneath.  I found myself constantly checking my mental images of Batman while Bale was onscreen in the new suit and asking myself, "Does this check?  Do I feel like I'm watching the character I've known for so many years?"  I'm not sure.  I think the new suit is too "faceted," for lack of a better term.  There's too much going on, visually, in areas of the suit that should be streamlined and simple.  I have to admit, though, it has grown on me a bit since seeing the first images of the suit many months ago.  

I think when you are watching a film character that has such an established past, you shouldn't have to keep forcing yourself to accept that character design as the character you expect.  Think about Spiderman, for instance, his design is updated but doesn't completely conflict with what you expect to see as the image of Spiderman.  I think that the "powers that be" behind the look of Batman on film would be well served to keep this in mind.

More Star Wars Sketch Cards

Here are a few more Star Wars sketch cards that I drew for Topps last year.

For those unfamiliar with sketch cards... Sketch cards are fun little "one off" originals that card companies include in the card packs with regular cards. So, every once in awhile, a collector will find an original little drawing when they open a pack of cards. Artists working on sketch cards usually sketch anywhere from 100 to 500 cards, depending on how many they have time to produce. It's a fun way for collectors to own a small piece of original art.

Some artists have even had professional personal card blanks printed for themselves to do sketches for commissions or even to give away or trade with other artists and friends. I have some personal sketch cards that I use for these purposes. I'll post a few in the next day or so.

Illustration Art Exhibit

I'm proud to announce that Toucan Art Gallery is hosting an exhibit of my work. More specifically, some original watercolor works from Batman: Absolution, a graphic novel I illustrated a few years back. It should be a fun show and I invite everyone to come by the Toucan and check it out, as well as all the other fantastic work from other artists that Toucan has displayed. I'll be at the Toucan on August 1st from 5 to 9 pm for the opening during the Billings Artwalk. Come by and say, "Hello."

Here are the particulars:

Batman: The Art of Brian Ashmore
August 1 - August 29, 2008

Art Walk opening August 1st (from 5 to 9 PM)

Toucan Gallery
2505 Montana Ave.
Billings, MT 59101

406-252-0122

Star Wars Sketch Cards

Here are a few of the Star Wars sketch cards I produced for Topps last year.

Lord of the Rings Sketch Cards

One of the things that I thought this blog might be useful for is showing sketches and things that I might not necessarily put in a gallery on the main site (when it's active). Here's a sampling of some sketch cards that I produced for Topps several months ago. I've had fun sketching cards for various licenses for them and thought I'd post a few of the Rings sketches.

Baby Steps.

I thought I'd check and see how posting an image works. Here goes...

This is a watercolor sketch of our ol' pal Obi-Wan that I painted recently. Hey, Obi-Wan, why so blue? Heh.

It's a blog!

Hi, and welcome to my new blog.

This is where I intend to keep everyone updated on what I'm doing.  I may post news about upcoming events and projects, random sketches, or even thoughts on books I'm reading or movies I've watched.  I'll try to keep it illustration and art related but I'm sure to deviate from time to time.  

I'm looking forward to it!