Kindness&Humility

Like most of you, I’ve been patiently waiting for enough time to re-design the entire Masters of the Universe cast as Indie Hipsters, but the talented Mr. Adrien Riemann beat me to the punch. The shame!

While I’m sulking, check out his set of sixteen characters, including He-Man, Man-At-Arms (aka Burt Reynolds), Trap Jaw, and She-Ra. Please note that Skeletor bears a striking resemblance to a hip and bald Carrot Top, who in turns looks quite a bit like Liono when unbald. Maybe it’s just me.

I’d like to explain. When I wrote, “Maybe it’s just me,” I meant that maybe I’m the only person who thinks that Carrot Top is getting dangerously close to looking like a creepy cartoon villian. I was not inferring that I might be the person who looks like Skeletor, Carrot Top, or Liono.

Am I making this more confusing that it needs to be? I am starting to believe that should have been split into two posts: one about He-Man sketches and one about spooky weirdos.

I want his hair right now — and I mean RIGHT NOW!

Skeletor is one bad dude but he's got mad fashion sense.

Whoa, settle down She-Ra. PS: Kate Hudson called and she wants her face back and the Hoff might want his jacket.

Topps really went for it when they put together their 1962 Mars Attacks series. Illustrated by Norman Saunders and Bob Powell, they leave little to the imagination.

After attacking Earth, the aliens took an early lead, due at least in part to their giant, exposed brains, which enabled them to devise dozens of clever ways of killing men, women, children and animals. Methods included, but were not limited to, lighting dogs on fire, crushing folks in compactors, wielding flesh-eating rayguns and controlling giant robots.

One of my favorites parts of any project is all of the planning, ideas, brainstorming sessions, and behind-the-scenes pieces that lead to the end result. These parts of the process usually remain hidden, but I love the sketches that led to all of the machinery that we animated for The Cycle. Here are a few of my favorites (from the sketchbook of Jono Stark, the lead designer on the project).