JaMiE BaKeR: fallout

These are two new original pieces I did especially for the latest Maverix Studios charity art auction, which was held last night to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. They were done on grey Canson paper with a combination of ink, pencil and gouache. I’ve had these characters in mind for a story in an upcoming ROCKET RABBIT issue, and it was a lot of fun drawing these two guys; a fighter pilot from the KITTY KORPS and a tank commander from the DOGS OF WAR. It was It was down to the wire finishing them too; I just finished them about an hour before the show began. In addition to these two fresh-baked goodies, I also submitted 3 framed and signed prints of some of my favourite illustrations from my dad’s Elephant book.

These two pictures were designed to be hung as an opposing pair, as you see them here, but I also tried to make each one self-contained (and at the auction each piece actually DID go to a separate bidder). I made high resolution scans of each picture before framing, and I am considering working on them further in Photoshop, then making prints of them to sell at future comic-conventions. I already have ideas for some other pictures in a similar vein that could be displayed either individually or, if hung together along with these, as part of a big series of prints that would transform a wall space into an epic and sprawling, high-tech cat-and-dog battle royale. It would be just about the cutest darn war that you ever saw.

As to the auction istelf, it was a lot of fun and I will have a full report later, once all the money is tallied up and the photos are developed. More news as it comes to hand!

Thanks to my generous, good friend Bosco, I now own the new ART OF RALPH McQUARRIE book, which collects a lifetime of fabulous artwork by the famous concept-designer and illustrator. If you have an interest in Concept design in general, or Star Wars in particular, this book is for you. Though you’ll have to wait for reprints as this print run is sold out.

When I was 13 years old, I saw Star Wars at my local movie theatre and, like most kids that year, I was agog at what I saw up on that movie-screen. I remember walking out of the theatre into a warm summer night and expressing, to my good childhood friend Stephen, what a bummer it was that real life was never going to be as cool as that movie…

To make up for this sad fact, I sought out information about Star Wars, which wasn’t hard to find due to the worldwide media blitz that even reached as far as the tiny town I lived in. I read a lot of articles about the film, including some on how it was actually made. In doing so, I first became acquainted with the artwork of designer Ralph McQuarrie. His drawings and paintings really fired my imagination. A year or two after the movie had come out I ordered my copy of the original “Art of Star Wars” book, which eventually fell apart from constant reading. In many cases, I found that I liked Ralph McQuarrie’s early concepts better than what ended up in the film, and that is saying something because I liked what ended up in the film a whole lot.

By that point, in my mid-teens, I had already decided that I wanted a career in animation but for a time I considered being a movie concept-designer instead. Wrestling with this big career decision was a somewhat abstract problem because I didn’t seriously believe that I’d ever have a chance to do either job anyway, living in Australia. All the big budget space movies and cartoons were done in the USA as far as I knew.

But that fact didn’t stop me from day-dreaming and drawing… So began a period where I drew spaceships and robots in addition to the cartoons and goofy pictures I had already been drawing for years. It was during this phase, when I was about 14, that I wrote the only fan letter I have ever written in my life, which I sent to Ralph McQuarrie (care of the publisher of the ART OF STAR WARS book, I think). I wrote about how much I was inspired by his artwork and also told him of my desire to get into animation or movie design someday. To my great surprise and delight he wrote me back a very encouraging letter. I certainly wasn’t expecting a response, but perhaps getting a letter all the way from Australia was a novelty for him. Whatever the reason for his taking the trouble to reply, that letter meant a great deal to me at the time. Any encouragement from adults was welcome at that age, let alone from the great Ralph McQuarrie, who had inspired me so much.

Not much later, at the age of 17, I had the great good fortune to actually get a job in animation and I gravitated back to my first love which is drawing cartoons, where I could (and still do) get away without knowing either perspective or anatomy or how to paint…

Years later, my animation career brought me to the San Francisco Bay Area. When going through an old box of stuff I had brought over from Australia, I found the letter from Ralph McQuarrie and was surprised to discover that the return address was from right here in the Bay Area, where of course, those early Star Wars movies were made. When I had received that letter at the age of 14 it was just a letter from the USA and the actual city it came from had not registered in my memory. So, as an adult, I wrote again to Ralph McQuarrie to thank him for the encouragement he had given me so long ago, for the inspiration that he gives me still, and to tell him that I DID manage to find my way into the career I had always wanted, as he had urged me to do. I sent the letter to the return address he had used many years earlier, but this time I got no reply. That was about 10 years ago, I guess.

Most likely he never got the letter, as I imagine that he may have moved in the many years since our first exchange of mail. In any case, after 30 years of getting fan mail from gomers around the world, I doubt that Ralph McQuarrie has the time to reply to even a fraction of the fan mail that he does receive… Hmmm, perhaps he DID get my new letter but feared responding to a stalker who had come to the USA from the far side of the world!

Anyway, looking through this fantastic new book brings back memories of reading all the old “Art of STAR WARS” books. I still get a kick out of looking at all those great paintings, plus, this book contains a ton of wonderful stuff I’ve never seen before, that will feed my hungry eyeballs for years to come. Thank you, Ralph McQuarrie, wherever you may be.

I have some other things that I SHOULD be drawing today but instead I did this sketch of my favourite vampire, and a quick attempt at some colour.

Now that I got Vampirella out of my system (for a while anyway) I can turn my attention back to the other things on my “to-do” list.

The first is a short MS Monster comic story that I am doing for my pals at B-Minus Comics.

I also have to make a picture for the upcoming Alzheimer’s Association charity art auction, at Maverix Studios….

More details on those projects later…

Recently my good friend Rhode held a MAD HATTER’s TEA PARTY in Golden Gate Park to celebrate his birthday. This happy occasion inspired a large group of his good friends to once again put on silly costumes and go out in public to make even bigger clowns of themselves than they did at his 1970s Frisbee Party, held in the same spot a few years ago…

A costume party where nobody wears a silly outfit is a sad thing indeed, but fortunately Rhode has many friends who are happy to dress-up and act the fool (myself included). Many veterans of previous Superhero Parties and Clown Parties were in attendance, so both the silliness of outfits and whackiness of hats was assured. Just seeing the guests arrive in all their finery put smiles on everyone’s faces and got the proceedings off to a fine start.

A super-long table was draped with lacy table-cloths upon which there were fancy tea-pots full of sugary drinks, and plates stacked high with enough sweet finger-foods to make your gums itch. This fine selection of teeth-rotting delicacies kept everyone buzzing until Mrs. Montijo’s tasty, home-cooked food showed up, brought all the way from Stockton by the gracious chef herself, and accompanied by even more of Rhode’s family members.

A feature of Rhode’s get-togethers is the PARTY GAMES. I have to confess that, even though I am happy to make a spectacle of myself by wearing a bald wig, fake moustache or even a skin-tight hero-suit at a costume party, I am very shy when it comes to party games. I don’t know why this is so… Some traumatic episode from my childhood perhaps? A game of Twister that went awry? A suppressed memory of a Dominoes match that ended in bloodshed?….

In any case, the games at Rhode’s parties never end in bad feelings. In addition to the traditional PINATA, at this particular party there was an egg-toss, an imaginary potato-sack race, and a 3-legged race… and it goes without saying that the winner in each event received a dandy prize. GOOD TIMES. A spirit of whimsy kept the tea-party in the land of happy-vibes all throughout the day, right up until the evening when everyone went home tired, well-fed and happy… to vigorously double brush their tingling teeth.

Thanks to Chris, Grace, Kenn and Elaine for taking these great photos.

This is a pencil sketch and quick colour pass, for a pin-up of of my good friend, the frighteningly beautiful MS. MONSTER, in her sinister yet slinky NEW bone-suit costume.

If you’ve attended any comic conventions in California over the past few years you may have had a personal encounter with the un-dead beauty herself, or perhaps you’ve caught Ms. Monster’s cable access HEL on ICE TV show or read her comic books. If not, then you will have a chance to meet her when she co-hosts the upcoming SHOCK IT TO ME classic horror movie festival at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre on the first weekend in October (also hosted by the equally charming, but markedly less beautiful, Dr Goulfinger). Until then, you can find out all you need to know about Ms. Monster at her website.

I started drawing this silly doodle, of HAN SOLO and his co-pilot CHEWBACCA the Wookie, while sitting at my booth at Comic-Con.

It made my pal Rhode laugh so much that I knew I would have to give this drawing to him when I finished it.

Then I put it aside for a while and then forgot about it altogether, until I found it recently, tidied it up a bit and finally gave it to Rhode for his birthday.

I haven’t posted any pictures from my Dad’s elephant book in a while. This is the title page illustration for the chapter on Elephants in Science.