The Shape of Water

I'm back!!!!! I mean, I never left, just been busy babies!

Here's a vintage inspired poster for the movie "The Shape of Water". Go see this movie, it's beautiful, sad, and moving. If you love Pan's Labyrinth, you'll fall in love with this new film by Guillermo De Toro.

I wanted to do something fun and reminiscent of retro film and dance posters. Trying to be as subtle and non descriptive as possible in the piece so i didn't draw spoilers.

I love the colors in the film and hope I did it justice here.

see you soonish and enjoy!!

The Silver Surfer Skateboard!

And now for something completely different!

I've had this design stuck in my head for weeks and i just needed to sit down and design it. I'm fascinated by Skateboard decks, and even tho i suck at it, i still have some of my boards. Art lends itself so well to these blank decks and I've always wanted a Silver Surfer skateboard.

Seriously, how in the last few decades has there not been a Marvel licensed Silver Surfer skateboard???
The character lends itself so well to the skateboarding culture, and yea surfing too, the simple clean design a just screams to be made.

So i sat down, and designed a retro marvel cardback using Jack Kirby's space artwork. The vivid colors, throwback comic book layout and blister packaging make these perfect for collectors. But more importantly, i wanted the design to make you feel as cool as the Silver Surfer as you skate on a board thats infused with the power cosmic.

I'm hoping one of these boards come into production at some point, would love to ride this and presumably fall off it before i'm too old.

Watch out for more "wish this was real" concept work from me, I had too much fun with this. Enjoy!

* note, the Silver Surfer is owned by Marvel comics and this was created as a production concept.

City of Stars

I've recently come to the realization that a lot of my work comes from a very sad outlook. Wether it's a film or cartoon, i noticed they're all a bit melancholy in the way i see them. I came to this realization the other night while watching "La La Land" for the first time. It was a great movie that I wasn't emotionally ready to watch just yet. You ever see a movie, hear a story, or listen to a song that captures the way you're feeling at any given time and sorta shakes you up unexpectedly?

After the movie, I wanted to translate how it made me feel by capturing it with my art. Driving home i tried to figure out what about La La Land made me feel so sad. I won't give any spoilers, but ultimately the films ending reminded me of my past, decisions I should have made and losing people in my life I wish I hadn't.

I saw a lot of similarities between the music in the film and the concept of love between the characters. You see, from my point of view, love is very much like a song. When it begins you're enamored with it, you can't stop thinking of the notes, you fall in love with the words and the way they make you feel, and it becomes your music, your song. But all things end, and in time, you'd find a new song, a new melody to start a new love affair with. But no matter what new song, you never forget your first love, your first song. And that's ultimately what I wanted to capture here with this piece. I wanted to paint the moment you heard your first song for the last time, the second you said goodbye to it. I think this piece below is a good way to say goodbye to this movie...

i know i've been gone for a little while, between moving and starting a new life its been a little difficult to get back into art. Thankfully i've had some recent opportunities to draw for various art shows across the US and it's been fun getting there again.

While I dust off my brushes and set my sights onto open skies, enjoy this new piece called "City of Stars"

Love,
-MrMauro

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.

"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