"Licensed to Trek"

I'm Back!!!

New year, new art ... "Licensed to Trek" is my tribute to the Beastie Boys and Star Trek.

The Beastie Boys are my favorite hip hop group and 'Licensed to ill" is always on my phone. But what makes my love for the Beastie Boys even greater is how connected they are to Star Trek. From their Trek references in their songs to their music being used in the new Star Trek films, its just awesome. So I wanted to do a mashup to pay my respects to both the Beasties & Trek.

Heres my take on the Licensed to ill cover with the Enterprise. I wanted to paint this as close as I could to the original plane. I used different brushes in Photoshop with textures and imitating chrome was a challenge but fun. Added some nods to the album in the art for fun too.

Hope you all dig it!

"Licensed to Trek"
Beasite Boys & Star Trek Cover

"Licensed to ill"
Original Beastie Boys Cover

Hello Internet!

Hi io9!

Today is an awesome day, I've been featured in io9! I can't say how happy I am and to hear all the nice feedback from everyone about my art. Since my website MrMauro.com can't handle the power of the internet, I'm going to post some of my more recent projects here.

for anyone interested in commissioning work, feel free to contact me @ MauroBalcazar@gmail.com


on to the work :-)

Here are 2 Mural I designed and painted for the Newark Venture Partners in downtown Newark NJ. I went with a very futuristic art deco meets tron feel. It took almost 3 solid weeks of non stop painting to get done.

I did a movie screening this Christmas and illustrated a poster for my favorite Christmas movie, Jingle all the way. Here's my design for the poster we gave away at the screening. also included is the invite i painted for the event.

                              

Now that the X-Files is back on screen, i thought its great timing to show you a design i illustrated for threadless' X-Files shirt contest. Based off of my favorite episode, "The Unnatural", here's Josh Exley in all his Baseball glory. watch the episode, it will make you cry, sorry not sorry. 

Heres a new take on the "Martian" illustration i did. It's based off of a scene in the book i quite liked with Watney trying to pose for a picture as the Fonz. Really liked the book and I hope it shows in this piece. 

lastly, some digital paintings i did on the ipad a while ago of Iron man. This was a fun way to destress after a long day. 

The Martian

I finished reading the book "The Martian" by Andy Weir and couldn't wait for the film to come out. in between the book and the movie, i did this piece inspired by the novel.

this piece is called "I am completely alone here", which is a heavy theme in the book and something that spoke to me so I wanted to capture that. digitally painted over pencils in paper.

go watch the movie, its just as good the book! :-)

Jean Luc Picard as Locutus Borg

this one's a tear jerker, my Picard as Locutus when captured by the Borg. this one almost made me a little sad when they show the scene of him being transformed and he has a tear running down his cheek. the Picard doesn't cry damn it!!! Hope you guys dig it.

Commander Riker, #1 ladies man making it so.

I've been watching all of Star Trek TNG thanks to netflix and i love re watching the series i use to see as a kid. now in my 20's i definitely can relate more to the characters and enjoy the entire series. One of my favorite characters is Commander Riker, played by awesome Jonathan Frakes, who hooked up with a girl in almost every other episode. it always makes me laugh when i watch an episode and you can see him smirk as a girl walks by, it's like you can almost time it. I drew this to pay homage to the man, the myth, and the legend that is William Riker, 1st officer of the U.S.S Enterprise. Boldy go sir!! hopefully one day i'll get a chance to meet some of the cast. that would be really great.