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. 

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!

Hail Caesar!...rise of the planet of the apes

After watching rise of the planet of the apes I needed to draw something fast! The movie was so much fun and its amazing how far CGI has come. I honestly forgot the apes weren't real very soon once the movie started. I thoroughly enjoyed the first rebooted film and this one really stands out on its own as a great film into the franchise.

So i whipped this drawing up. and what i thought would be a quick little drawing turned into a full fledged painting, a lot of fun was had with this piece, enjoy!


*UPDATE!!!

after posting this I saw that Caesar himself, Andy Serkis, had liked my photo on Instagram. This has made my day!! really glad I got to draw this. Now go watch the movie!!!

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