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.

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.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Willy Wonka

Back at it again with the blog post

Wanted to show you guys the 1st contribution I've made to the Creature Features art gallery show. This piece was for there Roald Dahl gallery show back in June 26th. I decided to draw the one terrifying scene from 1 of my favorite films, Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I will never forget the insane yet calm expression on Gene Wilder during the boat scene. painting this even gave me the chills, just something about his smile made me uneasy.

Hope you guys dig it, i had so much fun doing this for the show! Whomever bought the original also got a bonus surprise on the back as I painted an Oompa Loompa behind the frame.

The Sailors Way

custom carved "W" and acrylic Oompa Loompa!

Holy Update Batman!

I'm back!!!!

we'll i never really left, just been gratefully busy these last few months. Thanks to happenstance and a bit of good timing I've been doing some art for Creature Features art gallery in Burbank California. If you're in the area this month, check out their Godzilla themed art show, All Art Attack 2!

I've contributed two pieces of art, see below,  for their current show and one is actually painted! Been getting my hands dirty with acrylics and having a blast. happy with how these turned out and I hope to continue painting stuff for their future art shows, i really love that place. You can get limited edition prints of both as well originals only at their gallery so check them out this month!

Gojira - digital

Reptar!

New site is coming!

due to popular demand, mostly my own, I decided to completely change my site. expect something fresh and fun coming this week(end) soon! in the meantime, I will update this blog regularly :-)

MrMauro.com will return in 2016.....for Revenge!!

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!

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

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