Alpha 5unk

Heres' a fun piece i just finished for Meltdown Comics "Power Rangers" art show sponsored by Saban. Crazy i get to contribute to something i vividly grew up with as a kid. So rather than draw the rangers, I challenged myself with giving a minor character a cooler look. Alpha 5 was always that cartoonish robot so here he is with a more Daft Punk inspired tone.

some art notes:

• panting scratched up brass is hard so used different sized strokes for scratches. 
• "Alpha 5unk" was the best title i could come up with, my other option was "Up all night to get morphin" but it didn't sit right with me lol.

Trouble Makers

This one I drew totally for me. I found a very old line art I did one some old work paper and never did anything with it. It was once used as the banner for this blog but I wanted to bring it back to life.

I always envisioned these three trouble makers as a mugshot each with their own personality.
I'm happy with the harsh vibrant colors. I want it to look like this picture was taken on a really unforgiving police camera.

Hope you all like it!  - Mauro

Rock Em Sock Em Boxing promo flyer

Wanted to spruce up my recent Rock Em' Sock Em' art and through a classic vintage inspired Boxing flyer would work!

I made sure to the include the year the toy was first introduced and the dates are pure fiction :-)

Also, Madison Sq Garden because everything great happens there! - M

Retro Rock Em, Sock Em!

Every night in bed i stare at my Rock Em Sock Em robots in my bedroom. not having any real display room for it, it sits on top of a cabinet where I can perfectly see it every night.

I've always been in love with those robots, the designs so simple and beautiful and I wanted to somehow depict that. To show off the cool designs and the "gravitas" of this boxing bout, I wanted to spotlight them from below and show off the cool curves.

Hope you all love this one as much as I do! - M

Pacific Rim, the Movie Poster by Mauro Balcazar

I can't wait for this film.

I've been a fan of del Toro for many years, I've gone as far as meeting the man on a book signing even after my car had been broken into earlier in the day (Thanks you bastards). I had brought him a drawing I made him when i was younger, looking back now it was very rough and it's cool to see how my art has developed over the years. (pictured below). He was a great guy to talk to, very friendly and instantly spoke to me in Spanish when he saw me. Threw me off because it felt like i was talking to a normal person, i don't bust the Spanish out for just anyone, even my GF was awe struck lol.

When you mix my love for giant Monster movies and Robots you get the awesome that is Pacific Rim! I remember seeing the director Guillermo del Toro talk about the film at New York Comic Con (i Snuck into the press Q&A and got so close to asking him a question :-/ ). He talked about the Kaiju Monster films that inspired him making the film and what a great experience Pacific Rim was going to be. I thought, finally, a great Monster Movie done by a Westerner!!!!

The excitement continued when my GF and I bought tix to go see him speak at the Nerdist podcast live after the NYCC. He talked about the film further, going into detail about the Kaiju culture and the awesome Mechs that the films human characters pilot. It was a great night, hearing someone i actually admire talk about movies and his passion for making them (he talked about having to fight the studios to get Ron Perlman cast as Hellboy for Christ's sake!). 

 After hearing all this awesome pacific Rim talk, and after the trailer came out, I really wanted to try and design something that I would have loved to see adorn a movie theater. Honestly, I drew this for myself, when it was all done i stepped back and realize dthat this is why i am so looking forward to seeing the movie. Giant landscapes and two titans battling with the city as there backdrop, it's epic in scale and i get a feeling of wonder. (imagine if Cloverfield had to fight a robot, it'd even the odds lol)  Obviously I'm not privy to the monster designs so i embellished what i could on the poster.

so there you have it, I hope you like it. I know it's not a Modo print ( one day :-) i wish) but a lot went into this poster and I hope you connect to it in some way.

enjoy!- M

There is only one Robocop...MURPHY!!!!

"What's your name son?"........."Murphy!"

I've been thinking a lot lately about the movies I loved watching as a kid. There's a joy i get when reminiscing about my favorite character, costume, quote in a film. I've read a lot of about the new Robocop film and I honestly don't know what to think or feel about it. Will it work? Could it possibly be any better then the original?...

The movie being currently shot has an amazing cast, actors I'd never expect to see in a Robocop franchise; Sam Jackson, Michael Keaton, that just blows my mind. I'm excited that Robocop is coming back to theaters and the social conscious. in 87, the film hit all the right notes about what was happening to the US and it all felt gritty and real even tho there was a giant cyborg walking around. I miss the 80's when I think of films like Robocop.

With this new iteration, one of the major faults I have with the film is the design of the titular character. time and time again with superhero movies, never fails to use the standard muscle suit or the similarly abused "iron man" armor. just look at it, its all black, flat, a boring swat uniform on steroids. There's no love, no soul in it, it's void of any personality and more importantly lacking in Robotic appeal.

 I have no doubt the acting in this film will be great if not good, but for me, I just don't see this version of Robocop having the magic or presence waking into a crime scene. Even as I type this, I'm looking at my Robocop 18" figure from Neca, standing terrifyingly stoic holding his auto-9. The figure itself doesn't look comfortable, he looks so robotic, but then again isn't that the point?

I ended up drawing this photo above just out of pure disappointment and just a little sadness of having a childhood memory raped by a designer's poor imagination. However, I will always take pleasure knowing that my favorite version of Robo has had a long and healthy life in movies and tv show (so not so good) that I can always go back and enjoy. Regardless how the new film turns out, I will go on Believing that the real Robocop, the original Murphy, will still kick ass.

Robots Never Quit

Howdy,

I don't have a real explanation for this drawing, sketch reminded me of a scene from A.I. or some blade runner/Spielberg film. A throw away robot nobody wanted, who knows, but I liked the idea of him just trying to solve the Rubik's cube in some alley alone, proving his self worth, deep eh? who knows, I prob just winged it lol.