VONSHOLLYWOOD

Doyle

2012-01-29T21:40:00.001-08:00

Poe-trait

2012-01-28T14:03:00.001-08:00

Update

2012-01-26T09:07:00.001-08:00

HPL PORTRAIT

2012-01-25T15:04:00.001-08:00

Work in Progress

My Grandma's House

2012-01-23T00:49:00.001-08:00

We used to stay here sometimes when I was little- and I had to stay on the dreaded haunted third floor which was mostly rooms nobody ever went in. They were filled with old draped furniture and who knows what! It was a scary place, Grandma's old house... in Flushing, Long Island. Long demolished, which might be a good thing. Looks very cool now to me though... strange.

Write Stuff

2012-01-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

Further Along!

2012-01-20T09:09:00.001-08:00

Pete Who???

2012-01-19T17:59:00.002-08:00

Please note: I have NOTHING to do with Dinosaur Revolution - for ages!- Or with any release on DVD, blu ray or otherwise. I don't know where the idea came from but evidently people think I am involved. Sorry but that would be the day! Nobody gives a hang what I think about the show or how they should assemble it for release. I have been disconnected from the production since my last storyboard work. Still hope the feature version will be great though!

Albino Dino

2012-01-19T17:41:00.000-08:00

Kind of an aborted "ugly duckling" story from the cluttered cutting room floor!

Work In Progress

2012-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

A zombie border sketch. Stay tuned for update!

What Beaky Was Going to See...

2012-01-18T23:24:00.001-08:00

From the anhanguera sequence in Dino Revo. Oh well...!

Curb Your Dinosaurs

2012-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

Pubert

2012-01-15T08:57:00.001-08:00

Maybe Nerdy But It's Kirby...

2012-01-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

Oz-Borns

2012-01-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ghost Octopus

2012-01-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

I'm Super- Thanks for Asking

2012-01-09T16:46:00.001-08:00

Did this for fun while working briefly on the not-produced Tim Burton Superman movie. Somehow somebody got hold of it and posted it as part of some concept art and people went apeshit hating it! Most amusing that they took it so seriously! Anyway here it is and here's the story as I explained to the poster of the pic: "Just FYI the superman "robo-suit" drawing I made was a JOKE! I only worked on the movie for about 2 weeks and mainly drew monsters for Brainiac's intergalactic zoo. I just made a couple superman pix for fun and to relieve the monotony- no idea how or why anybody has begun to take it seriously. A lot of stuff gets generated in the concept art stage, some of it just for fun among the artists. Anyway, everybody relax about that drawing, puh-leeeze!"

MONSTERPALOOZA COMING,,,

2012-01-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

APRIL 13-15,Burbank Airport Hilton

TJ Guy

2012-01-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

A Great Man Passes: Dan Varner

2012-01-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

"Varner, Daniel Wade. Born April 19, 1949, died January 1, 2012 in his home in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Survived by wife Marcia Bell; mother, June Varner; sisters Betsy (Ray) Troyer; Holly Varner Moe; Bonnie (Michael) Zirbes; many beloved nieces and nephews, cousins, and dear friends from the Minneapolis MN area; and friends and colleagues from all over. Dan was a very gifted painter of landscapes and wildlife, but his passion was paleontology and his paintings of prehistoric life hang in museums throughout the country and are published in books and journals on the subject. He was a kind and gentle man with a wonderful wit and will be remembered and missed by all. Donations to the American Cancer Society. Memorial service at a later date." I am still in a bit of a state of shock and totally bummed that my great pal, Dan Varner, is no longer available to chat with and laugh with and share info and pictures and camaraderie. I talked with him at least once a week by phone and exchanged emails for more than ten years. He was a wonderful man and an incredible artist, which you can plainly see. He wrote of the photo of himself: "Thought you might like this to remember me by... It's sometime in the mid-1990's. That's our truck, Daisy, in the backround and we are surrounded by miles of mosasaurs. That's about as happy as this dude ever got! Pass the plaster, please." For Dan was a guy who actually spent time in the field digging up fossils, no armchair paleontologist, who painted in oils with a classic flair. I will miss him so much. Hope his work will be more widely seen and appreciated. He has a lot of paintings at the Oceans of Kansas website and his work adorns the book of that title by Mike Everhart. Go to http://www.oceansofkansas.com/varner.html
More about this great man anon...

Glub!

2012-01-01T16:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Dino Year

2011-12-31T14:22:00.001-08:00

Ramming Speed!

2011-12-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

Merry Whatever!

2011-12-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

My Wife, Andrea, Sculpted These for Prehysteria

2011-12-22T15:42:00.001-08:00

Great, ain't she?

Prehysteria by the Great Mark Hallett

2011-12-21T16:13:00.001-08:00

Gouache painting by the great Mark Hallett who I somehow conned into helping me sell the movie! From a sketch I did.

Dino Revo N0-Show

2011-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

Another unfinished story (placodus, mixosaurus and nothosaurus were to be featured at one early point)- and to those who have asked,sorry but I have no info of any kind on the formal release of the show. Nobody seems to know, or if they do, they ain't sharing it yet.

Not aTypo for "Shirtless"

2011-12-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Kong of Oz

2011-12-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

One of my non-Books

2011-12-10T04:05:00.001-08:00

Was going to make a limited edition and do a piece of original art in each copy (like maybe 25-50 copies). This a hardcover prototype. Would have cost a lot to make and probably not sell worth a damn- but the one I had made is very cool. At least I have ONE copy of the thing on the shelf.

Kirby Refurbished

2011-12-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Captain America 193 had a cover where John Romita re-drew Jack Kirby's Captain America face- which always bugged me! I re-did the face using Kirby's original pencils as a guide. Not a masterpiece by any means (on my part I mean) but it's kinda cool and much closer to what Jack actually drew. One of those things I think "I should do this sometime just... because!" And today happened to be the day!

Monster Thursday!

2011-12-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

It's Monster Thursday! Please enjoy today's monster!

Crazy?

2011-11-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

Even if you ARE crazy they can still be out to get you!

Moldy Oldie!

2011-11-27T01:31:00.000-08:00

The Great Trek

2011-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

A drawing I never quite liked/finished, but what the hell... from an older movie project.

MIST Opportunity

2011-11-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

So, working on The Mist, for which I did the storyboards, I was also supposed to get to do some creature designs. This never happened for some reason... Frank??? Anyway if you know me at all I can't resist drawing a monster so here is a quick rough thing I did for the spiders... which I never even showed anyone. People like to keep you in the box they found you in I guess.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2011-11-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas, holidays, whatever!

ROARRRGH!

2011-11-24T00:14:00.000-08:00

NOT from the show.

Fermentation's Been Around,,,

2011-11-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

Read from top down, column by column... this is just the first idea and the intro to what would have been a very funny story. Some will hate it, some will not- what else is new? :) Oh, that's an acrocanthosaurus reacting to the singing at the end... NOTE: We sometimes drew the kinds of animals we wanted to feature at the initial storyboard stage and would adjust the specific types as necessary if the science turned out that the animals we picked were not good matches, time and place-wise. Hence the iguanodons may have changed into a specific american type that worked with acro, or the acro might have become a different theropod which would work with a european iguanodon. Also the anatomy at this level was always rough and often the actual models had not been created so there was nothing show-specific to go on. Remember a storyboard is just to work out the plot and staging, not to be taken at all literally in terms of morphology.

Really?

2011-11-14T21:08:00.001-08:00

HALLOWEEN TRILOGY

2011-10-31T03:57:00.000-07:00

Conan the Reminiscent

2011-10-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

Sore Thumb Awards!

2011-10-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Ricardo Delgado- Something About A Friend

2011-10-16T07:09:00.001-07:00

I have known Ricardo for over 25 years and he's a great pal and a great artist. The highest compliment I can pay another artist is to look at something they did and think "damn! I wish I thought of that!" And Ricardo gives me that opportunity with annoying frequency!
His Age of Reptiles books from Dark Horse are well known international successes and done sans captions and dialog- of course I always tease him that this is because he couldn't think of anything to say! And we laugh!
But he has plenty to say and does many other things which many of you probably know and if not you should- so look him up! I am too lazy to detail the man's accomplishments because there are too damn many! But for right here and right now, I wanted to present a beautiful piece he did for me shortly after we met at DIC studios in LA many years agone. I was the Art Director on their Ghostbusters show for one season and Ricardo was working fresh out of college on his first professional animation gig and, once I saw his work, I would freelance stuff to him within the company whenever I could. This piece is from one of those shows, and the first one he did at my request. Beauty, eh? The second is a wonderful drawing he did for me in my copy of his fist Age of Reptiles collection - a great spontaneous sketch which nobody has really seen. Until now! Enjoy- and long live Ricardo Delgado!

It's Natural

2011-10-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

All You Need is UGH!

2011-10-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Mister Miracle/Demon Team-Up for Kirby Enthusiasm Show

2011-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Monster Pets 01

2011-10-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

Drawn yesterday/today. Just 'cause!

Almost a kit...

2011-10-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

I designed and pitched this to Dark Horse. They said "yes", my incredible wife, Andrea, sculpted it, Gentle Giant made the molds... I got a couple and put them together and painted them... and it got shot down in the Dark Horse costing process!
The Thing model, based on the description from John W. Campbell's original story WHO GOES THERE? on which the movies were based, DID make it through though (as the "Space Thing") and that can be still had from Dark Horse. It's VERY cool too but DAMN I wish we made the Cthulhu!

Our Fearfathers

2011-10-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Long story but this will be part of a dedication thing...

Movie Legend Cartoons

2011-10-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Did this last night/this AM along with a coupla others. May put those on later! Was fun cartooning Bela, did it without referece FWIW.

Images from a Dino Video Game Thing That Never Happened...

2011-10-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

This project went belly up long before it even got ON the launching pad. But hey, I got paid to draw dinosaurs for a while, so who cares? Dinosaur Revolution, or whatever it will ultimately be known as when the feature comes out, is for me THE GREAT dinosaur thing I've been involved with, and although we "creative types" see the same flaws in parts of it that everyone else sees (and we know the reasons they are there which not everybody else does) I honestly believe that what is good stands out for me as the best dinosaur stuff done so far, bar none. And have you EVER seen better looking dinosaurs anywhere than ours? Not me!

Brave New Ugh

2011-10-06T07:17:00.001-07:00

The Return of Ugh!

2011-10-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

House of 1,000 Ughs!

2011-10-04T06:21:00.001-07:00

From Ugh It Came!

2011-10-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Son of Ugh

2011-10-02T23:27:00.001-07:00

UGH- The MAGAZINE- of which there is no such thing as is often the case with my great ideas and oh well...

2011-10-02T07:40:00.001-07:00

Carver

2011-10-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

Shelling Out!

2011-09-29T22:29:00.001-07:00

Dinosaurs These Days

2011-09-21T16:36:00.001-07:00

MORE PVS Solo- No Revo!

2011-09-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Revo Outtake

2011-09-17T21:55:00.001-07:00

Yes, Fleas

2011-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Rex has a BooBoo!

2011-09-15T16:30:00.001-07:00

Beasts in Show

2011-09-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Other

2011-09-14T16:41:00.001-07:00

Guan With Your Bad Self

2011-09-13T15:19:00.001-07:00

One more quickie just in case anybody's still looking!

Also from Revo

2011-09-13T03:50:00.001-07:00

DINO REVO PREVO

2011-09-12T21:53:00.001-07:00

Since everybody got cheated on Sunday, here's something to tide you over... Beauty, eh?

DINO REVO RIDES AGAIN

2011-09-09T21:57:00.001-07:00

This picture kind of represents art and commerce- can you tell which is which?
Okay, I have stayed out of this long enough. I kept quiet so as not to annoy critics or to possbily create any ill will against my fellow creative types and the show itself. We all wanted the show to be the best it could be and for people to enjoy the hell out of it. BUT... The way "Dinosaur Revolution" ended up being packaged, marketed (such as it was) and presented almost completely destroyed what we wanted to do and what we wanted people to see. The way they chopped up the longer stories ruptured the continuity, introducing each section with huge ridiculous spoilers which eviscerated whatever storytelling flow you may have been engrossed in. And please understand something; I make no excuses for the flaws in the actual show. As Ray Harryhausen says "we did the best we could with what we had" but we were hamstrung by a couple of pedantic "human flat tires" along the way and if not for the savage and tenaciously visionary producer, co-director, and head of Creative Differences, Erik Nelson, we would have had a complete pile of crap. If we had even gotten a show made at all, which we probably wouldn't. And to continue quoting from my heroes, the great ghost story writer, M R James, said "if the public is not pleased with a story there is no use to explain to them why they should have been pleased" so I am not trying to do that. I just want to say that what you will see is a feeble reflection of the picture we tried to paint. BUT good news is on the way, so stay tuned. The proper version will yet see the light of day and if you don't like it then, well that's okay. At least you won't like it fairly.

He's Baaaaaack

2011-08-30T20:25:00.001-07:00

Cartoony? Naaahhhhhhh...

2011-08-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

Eos!

2011-08-29T14:16:00.001-07:00

I thought these were 3 eoraptors lined up until I adjusted the levels and now see it's two adults with a baby in front of them. Can see the patterns better too. FWIW!

Crab Grab!

2011-08-29T09:40:00.001-07:00

The Testament of Carter Randolph

2011-08-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Being a twist on a short Lovecraft classic!

Ouch!

2011-08-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Anks a lot!

2011-08-23T22:09:00.001-07:00

Sent by a friend.

TWEEEEEEEET!

2011-08-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know. Bunny hands, not enough feathers (there can evidently NEVER be enough feathers!) but it's old. What can I tell ya. Fun though!

Mystery Foto!

2011-08-22T16:08:00.001-07:00

Sent to me by a friend!

For the Love of Dinosaurs

2011-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

And now for a most unscientific cartoon:
I think if people get excited by ANYTHING with dinosaurs in it, young people mainly, they will be stimulated and imbued with the desire to learn more. Then they will read and study and find out how much we know and don't know about the prehistoric world. There is so much good info these days. Websites, blogs, books, models... it's incredible what is out there now. Some of them will go into paleontology and help bring new facts and theories to light- it's all good. My generation was inspired by Fantasia, King Kong and Turok, Son of Stone- not so scientific but FUN as hell and we responded to that. That said, the better the thing that excites them, the better overall. On DINO REVO we tried to make a good show that would be as accurate as possible and still be exciting and entertaining. I always say if I can put a even a shred of something creative into the world that makes a kid happy and makes him want to do his own thing, I will have done pretty good. As for the dino show, soon everyone can see it and decide. Fair enough?

Couple O'Doodles

2011-08-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Watching all the DINO REVO stuff got me in the mood to sketch out some dino stuff. As you see!

Jaw-rassic!

2011-08-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Sketch from a story.

I GOT A MILLION OF 'EM. No, really. A million...

2011-08-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ideas that went nowhere that is! Oh well.

ROMANIA and CHUCKY and ME

2011-08-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here are Don Mancini and Corey Sienega, Writer-Director and Producer of SEED OF CHUCKY with my storyboards in our Romanian offices!

Terra Nova, Terra Schmova!

2011-08-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

No,this image is not from the show! It's not from ANY show, don't worry.
I've seen clips from Terra Nova- and they're full of PEOPLE. Feh. People.
We don't need no stinking people. And DINO REVO has NO repeat shots either. I hate when a show has three minutes of animation and they show you every shot eighty times. We're not stupid, guys, we know when you just flop a shot on us!

EXCLUSIVE! First published storyboard art from Dino Rev show!!!

2011-08-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Much derision was heaped upon me for this fine story sketch. Whatta bunch of maroons, am I right? This pic is golden. Note the pithy succinct verve, the lack of distracting anal non-essential clutter. Not a wasted stroke of the pencil in this fine and potent mesozoic tableau... a moment in time crystallized in graphite in two seconds...
Aaahhhh.

Dinosaurs are Revolting! Wait... did I say that?

2011-08-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic somebody took at the presentation in San Diego! I think it's going to be the best damn dino doc ever- see if I'm not right in a couple weeks!

Melvin Monster Rides Again

2011-07-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

Drawn and Quarterly just put out their third collection of John Stanely's Melvin Monster collection. There were only nine issues of Melvin, the tenth being a reprint of the fist. But I loved John Stanley'w work and his Melvins were replete with the kind of stuff he did so well. Here's a Melvin story I did just for fun and to see if I could do it. And of course as a tribute to Melvin and Mister Stanley.

SPINECRAWLER PREVIEW part 2!

2011-07-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

Get the book and see what happens!

Mister Wilson!

2011-07-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

Check this out! Gahan drew this for me at a Fangoria Convention in Albany, NY (we were guests!) mannnnny years agone.

SPINECRAWLER PREVIEW

2011-07-09T22:45:00.001-07:00

This book will be out at the end of the month, and available at Comicon from IDW so I thought I would present a sampler in the form of the first five pages so interested parties might see something other than the cover.

Why Comics Are Better Now

2011-07-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Why comics are so much better now. Or were anyway... from the legendary COMIC BOOK NERD (from www.twomorrows.com if you wanna get one)... This was in disgusted reaction to the mania for Image comics and their ilk. Ugh. Actually this version differs in some respects from the one we used in the mag. So there's something new to see even if you have the mag. Whoop-de-doo!

NEXT!

2011-07-07T09:56:00.001-07:00

Tabanga... Slight Return

2011-07-04T00:28:00.001-07:00

The new idea is to mock up some poster type images for movies that might be re-made... only maybe better? So as not to pick on GOOD movies but rather ones that have room for improvement, you dig? So says Monsterologist Pete

Those Wacky 60's!

2011-07-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

It was the swingin' sixties! Monsters were big and hot rods were big- so somebody at Aurora plastics said "Hey! Let's put monsters in hot rods!" And so a series of strange hybrid monster/hot rod kits issued forth. Some people liked them- to be honest I thought they were stupid. BUT now in my ollllllld age I started thinking things like - "Hey! Monsters were big- and DINOSAURS were big- so why not Prehistoric MONSTERS!" Hence the attached. More "if I ran the show back in the day" nonsense, I know. But by god it came natural! And I would STILL dig kits like these.

When Creatures Fly

2011-06-25T09:18:00.002-07:00

Creature designs and variations thereon. Plus my favorite one put into context, flying over a misty pond.

SPINECRAWLER COMING NEXT MONTH FROM IDW!

2011-06-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Uncle C has an advance copy! Order on Amazon or direct from IDW or... who cares, just get one!

New Book Cover Illo for for HPL's Literary Executor

2011-06-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

Just did a cover for a book on RH BARLOW, Lovecraft's literary executor, who was also a writer of fiction and poetry and a studfent of Mexican anthropology etc. This is for Hippocampus Press, a very interesting outfit. They are presenting all of Lovecraft's letters to Robert E. Howard (with Howard's replies!) and similar books collecting all the extant correspondence between HPL and August Derleth, James F Moreton and many others. Along with tons of other weird fiction, critical analyses thereof and various eclectic goodies. Here is some info on them: "Founded in 1999, Hippocampus Press specializes in classic horror and science fiction with an emphasis on the works of H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of the 1920s and 1930s. Working closely with the leading scholars in the field we offer unique, high-quality, affordable editions of these important works.
Hippocampus Press founder Derrick Hussey says, "I met S. T. Joshi in the mid-1990s and began to work for him as a volunteer typist on various projects. I soon joined the Esoteric Order of Dagon, an amateur press association devoted to H. P. Lovecraft. Joshi later remarked to me that if I cared to start a small press, he would give me permission to publish his annotated version of the Lovecraft essay 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'. I fairly leapt at the chance and began the process of forming Hippocampus Press."
The first image is my fictional mockup of the Barlow book in the form of an old Arkham House edition and the second is just the art. For the real book. I hope to have more things done for them in the near future, including possibly an illustrated edition of THE DREAM QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH which some have called Lovecraft's Lord of the Rings. Well actually I called it that, but so what? Sounds good.

FROM HELL IT CAME - THE REMAKE! aka The Tabanga Rises!

2011-06-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Naaaaaaaaaaah, no way. But it could be! Tree monster time.