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.

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.

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 

Revenge of the Nerds - Tri Lamb Talent Poster

      
 

"Tri Lamb Talent" by Mauro Balcazar

You Damn Dirty Nerds!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi folks,

been working on this one for a week or so and want to show it you guys.  This one is called
"Tri Lamb Talent!" and it's a poster I drew for the film, that I love, Revenge of the Nerds.  Loved this film as a kid and still love it as a semi-adult Nerd. I hope i did it justice, even drawing Lamar made me LOL so hard. I wanted to make it as 80's as possible and even managed to mimic the background off of those cheesy laser class photos.


Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did drawing it! - M

11x17 prints available signed and numbered for 20$ shipped in the US  (secured Paypal)
-Limited to 50 signed/numbered prints-

paypal - agliarept@aol.com

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