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! :-)

"Shades" - an illustrated look at the famous glasses in pop culture history!

After many months penciling, inking, coloring and designing, my new book "Shades" is here!

"Shades" is an illustrative look at my favorite glasses throughout pop culture history. From the 1933 "Invisible Mans" Motorcycle glasses to the recent tortoiseshell frames worn by "Harry Hart" in the "Kingsmen, Shades captures the gnarliest glasses inspired by my love of films and tv!

As a young shy kid, it fascinated me how sunglasses made people appear so confident and nigh invulnerable. I wanted so badly to be as cool as the characters I saw on tv and felt that a pair of shades would do that for me. Thats what started me collecting all sorts of unique glasses, and as an illustrator, inspired me to draw what made these characters so special to me.

Thats always been the intention for “Shades”, to capture the confidence a pair
of glasses gives a person, the same way I saw these characters in this book as a
kid. I hope you all enjoy the art as much as I did drawing them, it was a lot of fun re visiting these great characters.

If you'd like to see the book in it's entirety, check out my online portfolio MrMauro.com

order your copy via Amazon!

stay Rad!

Mauro

Order a copy of Shades for yourself!

Time Lord Victorious - 10th Dr Who

I'm a Whovian...

Had you asked me what that was 3 or 4 years ago I'd shrug with confusion. But through the magic of Netflix I was able to watch the "Dr Who" series for the first time and loved it. I'm a sucker for what I call "sad Sci-fi", and the Dr is as sad as they come. Maybe thats why I like him so much, were all lonesome travelers out there in space and time looking for the adventure.

What better way to show my love of the series by making some fun art? I wanted to really capture what scared me the most from the 10th Drs' series from top to bottom.

1. Weeping Angels
2. Vashta Nerada
3. Cybermen
4. Daleks

I pondered over a proper layout for a long time and really liked this composition. Has a very rough Hourglass shape to it. Hope you all like it. 

Will be doing a traditional painting of the Dr next!

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

Dead but Delicious... What We Do In The Shadows!

Please Please go and see What We do in the Shadows ASAP! I haven't laughed so hard watching a movie in a very very long time. 

 Immediately after the film i just had to draw one of my favorite scenes from the film with Jemaine Clements Character "Vladislav'. 

The movie is hitting US theaters in limited release in February and you can support the movie by visiting their Kickstarter campaign so please check it out! - M

Wait 'Till They Get A Load of Me!

I just re watched Batman (1989) on Netflix and wanted to do something different. I've been meaning to draw the Dr Seuss' Grinch for a while and i thought Jack Nicholson's introduction line was perfect to use for the Grinch, re interpreted of course :-)

Merry Christmas Grinches!

"Christmas Freaks terrorizing...Wait 'till they get a load of me" 

Happy Krampus!

Here's a little Christmas treat for you naughty little ghouls and girls!

A watercolor and digitally painted portrait of everyones favorite Christmas creep Krampus. I hope to do another watercolor before years end, I have so much fun doing these. 

The Final Level - the Last Dragon 30th anniversary print

Thanks to my friend Craig at The last Dragon Tribute site, I will be at the The last Dragon 30th anniversary reunion & screening of the film in NY Nov 8th. Since my original last Dragon poster was the 1st piece of art I drew, I wanted to make this 30th anniversary really special by designing a new art print for the show.

One of the challenges I had with creating this new piece was trying to re tell a story that I had done in my first Last Dragon poster. My style and art has changed vastly since my first attempt and I really wanted to re do the whole poster. but doing so, wouldn't be fair and a cop out. I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to come up with a great way to show you how awesome this movie is.

Thankfully after a long night of sketches and pizza, i realized that the film in many ways resembled Brice Lees' Game of Death. for example, Bruce Leroy, much like Bruce lee, has to go through different levels of fighters until he reaches the big boss for his final test & fight. I wanted my layout to have this hierarchy to it, showing the minor henchmen all the way up to the big boss, sho nuff.

there was such a bevy of crazy oddball bad guys I could have drawn but I really wanted to include some of my favorites heres. Really had fun bringing this to life and I hope I can share my love of this film with the fans of the film this Nov 8th to celebrate such an awesome film!

Thank you to all the fans of my 1st poster and for supporting what I do!

Shine on!

In the afterlife You could be headed for the serious strife...But tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay

Happy Halloween!!!

It's my favorite time of the year and here is my annual Halloween art piece. I was super influenced by the Squirrel Nut Zippers song "Hell".

Here's a super swanky bar in the afterlife full of Ghosts, skeletons and creeps!

Hope everyone has an awesome holiday!

#boo

T U R T L E...POWER!

I finally did it! For years, ever since the movie, all I ever wanted to draw were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was always afraid however, never really felt good enough or worthy to draw them they way their creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird did. Fear has always limited me in a lot of things and sadly drawing the turtles was one of those struggles.

With this being the 30th anniversary of the TMNT and almost the 25th anniversary of the film, I had to do something to celebrate my favorite film and characters of all time. With mere weeks left until the New York Comic Con, i started to sketch Leonardo, just to get this angst out of me. Wary at how poorly I might draw him, angry at how little confidence I had translating my thoughts onto paper.

Surprisingly, when i had finished Leonardo, I smiled and realized I was able to finally draw him the way I had drawn him in my mind over and over.  Instantly, what started as a one-off turtle, evolved into the final piece you see here. This layout, has been sketched in my head for at least 24 years and i can't believe I was able to finally bring it to life. 

I sincerely hope you all enjoy this as much as I did drawing it, Cowabunga! ....hehe, I made a funny!


I will only make 30 of these available as prints for the New York Comic Con. Any remaining after NYCC will be offered for sale through my site www.MrMauro.com