The Real McCoy

This piece was originally created for Gallery1988’s final show dedicated to a fandom with some serious longevity, Star Trek. The show was set to celebrate the franchise and it’s 60^th anniversary, encompassing the original television series, and its multitude of spin-offs.

 

A simple layout and vision for the initial project.

The show or franchise, is loosely based around the concept of space exploration on a much more advanced and grander scale anyone reading this will likely ever see given the level of technologically depicted on screen. The main objective (or prime directive) in the show is to discover life beyond Earth, one primarily of diplomacy and non-interference. The (first) ship named Enterprise, is run by a captain name James T. Kirk (William Shatner), who is joined by a group of series regulars forming the bridge portion of the show (a main setting).  

 

My sketch composite of DeForest Kelley, as Dr. Leonard McCoy, while portraying several other occupations.

I was pretty familiar with the franchise as my parents watched it religiously, on the only television in the house. The show was in syndication, and managed to garner an even larger fanbase long after it was cancelled. It would go on to produce several films, and even a documentary about it’s fanbase. Once again, the issue with tackling a subject like Star Trek which has been around almost twice as long as the last project, there’s also A LOT of artwork dedicated to it. Likes oodles. Tons.

 

'Inked' version of DeForest Kelly, as Dr. Leonard McCoy, masquerading as various other skilled professions.

I spent some time attempting to come up with a lucrative idea, but my deadline was looming, so, I pivoted to an idea I had based off a t-shirt I owned. The shirt depicted a black graphic stylized image of Alfred Hitchcock wearing sunglasses while holding a boombox. It’s such a strange juxtaposition that it gave me an idea.

 

Close up of Deforest Kelley as Dr. Leonard McCoy, well..you get it by this point. 

In the show, there are several characters aboard the ship that they live on, however only a few main cast members are ever really introduced to us. One character in particular always spoke a language I truly understood, sarcasm, and that was none other than the incredible Doctor Leonard McCoy (as played by DeForest Kelley), or ‘Bones’ as he was often referred to. In the show there was a running joke, in which Dr. McCoy would often be placed in a situation he was not prepared nor skilled for. His response would almost always include a reminder that he was ‘..a doctor...”, and most certainly not whatever it was he was being asked to do at the time. I always found it funny, so I wanted to capture this in some way.

 

I decided, that much like the Alfred Hitchcock example from above, I could perhaps ironically design McCoy with different accessories or clothing that told a different story than what his rebuttals were trying to convey. I also wanted to keep the image graphic, but as I progressed through the piece, I realized without color it was just going to look unfinished. I also had the challenge of how I was going to incorporate a way of explaining the image and each of the items McCoy was wearing. 

 

Second panel featuring a brick...and a trowel, plus lots of pretty stars. 

 

I first started by determining how I was going to alter his appearance in order to portray all the different occupations he’s been saddled with. I went through a list of quotes from the show, and picked out the ones that would be an easy enough read. I made sure to give his attire a look that reflected the era the show was filmed (even though it’s set in the future, the abundant 1970’s production values cannot be ignored). Sadly, I couldn’t get all of the ‘occupations’ into the image, but I think it was successful overall.

 

The next task was creating enough contrast from the background and my now inked graphic version of the actor. I determined I was going to have to fill him in with color, which was not initially planned for, given the design, it shouldn’t be that arduous. I decided to offset him with the official logo design that all the characters from the show wear to give the layout a bit more complexity. I then made a creative decision, and used the negative space within him to house some stars. Creatively this was a great idea, but the execution proved to be tedious as I had to painstakingly go in and clean up the overflowing ‘stars’ that ran into the positive space of the image.

 

The third panel which can't be missed, featuring a pocket, and wrench.

With my illustration complete, it was still lacking the context needed to be fully realized. I thought about how I could incorporate some text into the image to relay my piece’s overall concept, and then came up with the idea (based on of something I was doing at work), to use some diagonal lines. I used the primary colors from my palette, and faded them slowly in to the background as to not distract too much from the main image. I’m still not entirely sure how successful the outcome was, but it did accomplish what I intended.

 

I started the image on February 1^st, 2026, and finished it on March 29^th, 2026…it was due on March 27^th, and I was also at a convention that started the 27^th…it was a rough one. I spent approximately eleven (11) hours, and fourteen (14) minutes sketching the image, followed by another thirteen (13) hours, and twenty-five (25) minutes inking it. The painting process itself took fifteen (15) hours, and eight (8) minutes, with a final twelve (12) hours, and eight (8) minutes adding the stars, and editing the piece, totaling in at fifty-two (52) hours, and eight (8) minutes.

 

Final 11" x 14" image on display sarcastically sympathizing with you the whole time.

The 11” x 14” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Star Trek 60^th Anniversary’, a group show honoring the franchise and it’s longevity which opened online April 7^th, 2026, as part of their final (official) exhibition. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here.

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art

 

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (2012; 1999)

 This piece was conceived in part by Gallery1988’s ‘Canon Event’, a group show with unique pieces from each participant dedicated to an impactful scene from cinema. My contribution was inspired by Stephen Chbosky’s film (and book), “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012; 1999), starring a plethora of talent including: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd, and so many more.

Original typographical illustration layout from 2018

The prompt for this show was a bit more unusual, and I initially processed it as a scene from a movie or film that basically lived rent free in my head. However, I reread the synopsis and determined that my original selection did not meet the requisites for the show (or so I felt). My new interpretation was, that it should be impactful or meaningful to me, and therefore required I find content of a more personal nature (not already covered). Luckily for me I have a ton of concepts in the ‘orphanage’ or land of unfinished projects and ideas. Looking over that I realized it was time to do something that celebrated this piece of media. 

 

I don’t remember which came first for me, the film or book, but I have consumed both, and they mirror each other so closely that I cannot see anyone having a preference. The story remains the same, and the creator (Chbosky), both wrote the screenplay, and directed the film himself which is why it’s such an amazing adaptation.

 

The film itself is a ‘coming of age’ story about a youth, Charlie Kelmeckis, who must navigate love, loss, and loneliness during his first year of High School. Along his journey of self-discovery, he meets kindred spirits, Sam, and Patrick whose friendship leads to Charlie’s own realizations about himself and reconciling with his past.   

 

Newer layout for final image which was still...conceptual at best

Charlie’s story spoke to me personally, as there are many striking similarities between the fictional character’s life and my own. One coincidental detail we’re given at the beginning of the story is, Charlie lost his close friend Michael the summer before his freshman year of high school (something I know all too well about). There are many more, some less specific, and more widely relatable, but I’d rather not burden you with my own trauma. 

 

My original intent was to turn a piece of dialog from the film that resonated with me into some kind of artwork, however, I lacked a vision for what that would look like and was leaning towards something more abstract like my ‘True Magic’ piece. I already had some sketches but decided instead to start over while retaining the premise or soul of the original idea (the quote). 

 

I rewatched the film, and set to work on some layout ideas, gathering what imagery I knew I was going to need along the way. It didn’t take too long before I had a solid layout which evolved a little from the initial stages. I wanted to incorporate the green hue used for the film and book covers to touch on its familiarity with viewers. I determined the easiest way to do this was to use the green brick from those covers as a background pattern I could manipulate. I knew I wanted to have an image of our protagonist Charlie, but also needed to include some other elements about his life in order for it to paint an accurate picture of him. Originally, I was going to have my image of Charlie slowly dissolved into the background using the bricks, but after some experimentation I realized, it wasn’t going to look right, and it worked much better as a transitional element instead. 

 

Close-up of a pill bottle, and mixed-tape (IYKYK)

After solidifying my central image, I moved onto the supporting illustrations of Patrick, Sam, Sam’s truck, the cassette tape, and pill bottle. Now most of these elements would make sense to anyone who’s watched the film, or read the book, but for those who are unfamiliar with the content, no worries. Music plays a huge role in the film, and book, as Charlie begins to create his own mixed tapes. In one part of the story Charlie gives his friend Patrick a mix entitled ‘One Winter’, which is well known to fans of the tale, with the playlist available on multiple streaming platforms. The bottle alludes to some of the other themes in the film that would be giving entirely too much away for anyone who hasn’t seen it, or read the book. 

 

My biggest challenge with this piece was combining all the images together. Originally, I wanted Sam’s truck to be exiting out of the bottle like the tunnel from the film/book. Unfortunately it wasn’t achievable with my layout. I knew I was going to use the cassette tape as a dividing agent but wasn’t sure exactly how. Eventually I realized I could use the tape to draw us back towards the scene of Sam and Patrick. To keep the image balanced I added the music notes above our joyriders, which offset the left side of the image. My last issue was how sparse the rest of the image looked, and I still needed to add the quote. I thought about adding more bricks to balance the image since the only place they were visible was at the bottom of the image. This strategy turned out to be a great solution and worked well for housing the quote. 

 

Close-up of 'Sam' (Emma Watson), and 'Patrick' (Ezra Miller)

With that done I sent the image off to the printers for a proof which came back looking great. I did end up making a few edits later and sent it in for final copies. Unfortunately, they were printed before I could catch some minor tangents that I had missed previously. I did however correct the error and then saved it as my new final image for future reprints. 

 

I started the piece on February 27^th, 2025, and finished it on March 30^th, 2025 with some final edits taking us to April 3^rd, 2025. I spent approximately, one hundred and two (102) hours, and eighteen (18) minutes working on the image, with ninety-two (92) hours, and fifty-six (56) minutes of that time being in Procreate. The remaining hours were divided between Adobe Illustrator (two hours forty-five minutes), and Adobe Photoshop (six hours and thirty-three minutes), editing. 

 

Final 10" x 10" image on white pearl linen

The 10” x 10” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Canon Event’, a group show dedicated to the impactful scenes from cinema which opened May 6^th, 2025. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here. 

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art

 

 

THE BLACK CAULDRON (1985)

 I typically don’t have a problem finding inspiration whenever I am creating a piece for any show. In fact, it’s usually the opposite, but not always and in some cases, I have too many options or ideas. This piece was part of the former, because the theme for this show was ‘Back to 1985’. With such a broad theme, I went against my instincts and took a recommendation from a friend (thanks Alice), which is how I settled on Walt Disney’s adaptation of Lloyd Alexander’s ‘The Chronicles of Prydain’, formerly know as ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985).

The holy grail of layout sketches...I had so..so..so many..

The film itself is not necessarily mired in controversy, but it was the last film to be produced in the original Animation Building at the legendary Burbank studios before they moved production to Glendale. The film which was the first of Disney’s animated features to use computer-generated imagery and, also received a PG rating (after frightening scenes were cut), hurting its box office performance. It was such a black eye for Disney, they didn’t even release the film to video until 1997. 

Yikes.

 

Since then, the film has become a cult classic (it’s even currently available on Disney+), most likely in part to it being a much darker film which Disney was known for during a short period of time in the 1980’s (see The Secret of NIMH, Watcher in the Woods, or Something Wicked This Way Comes). Being a child in the 80’s, the band-aid was ripped off completely and without warning. 

'The Horned King', his Gwythaints, and his castle (naturally...where else would a king reside?) 

For those unaware of the plot, I’ll try to paraphrase in the shortest spoiler-free way possible. 

Our story starts with a young apprentice named Taran (Grant Bardsley), and his master Dallben (Freddie Jones), who are charged with the care of a clairvoyant swine by the name of Hen Wen. When Hen Wen alerts both Dallben, and Taran of the imminent danger imposed by the return of the Horned King (John Hurt). Taran is then given Hen Wen and told to hide her from the Horned King, who seeks to use her powers to locate the legendary Black Cauldron. It is along this journey, Taran meets several characters from princesses to denizens of the forest, and even a trio of witches. 

 

I started the piece in much the same I always do…completely lost. 

I haven’t seen the film I think since it was released, as it wasn’t even available to watch at home until 1997 over a decade after it was released. I remember my parents taking me to see it at I believe the drive-in, and that was really my only reference for the film. I recalled the plot with accuracy; however, the details were…murky.

Thankfully Disney+ has the film available for streaming, and after a rewatch, I had my missing pieces. 

The biggest struggle I had with this illustration was nailing a layout. I wanted it to be either simplified (as to avoid getting hit with copyright infringement), stylized, or narrative. I even did something I tell myself NEVER to do, and that’s google what has already been done. I don’t like to do this because I feel it could easily influence me or leave me feeling dejected.

Oddly enough, with this film there really isn’t a lot of artwork outside of the original to draw inspiration from.

 

'Taran of Caer Dallben'', 'Princess Eilonwy', 'Fflewddur Fflam Ministrel of Minstrels', and 'Hen Wen'

With that I set to developing my layout which thankfully didn’t take too long. I really wanted to avoid detail in this piece but eventually…I gave in. I concluded early on that it wasn’t going to work without diving in deep, so…I went with it. 

I started first by sketching out everything rather loosely and then going back in and tightening everything up. I wasn’t sure how I was going to proceed stylistically as I wanted to make sure that the characters had volume, something the animation lacked (for technical reasons). This proved to be somewhat of an undertaking, and I determined to ditch the outlines I spent so much time on and instead use color for definition and provide the volume I desired. 

For some of the characters I had to model myself (like the Horned King’s hand) or create a composite for reference (as with both Taran and Eilonwy). It was challenging, but overall, I think it was successful.

There were also some details though that I had to discard for various reasons outlined below. 

The first item omitted was the skeletons, or ‘cauldron-born’. I wanted to place them just below Gurgi, but as I began to work on them, I realized they were going to be entirely too difficult to see (given the scale). The other issue here was also the perspective of the piece. While I was using a lot of layering, and ‘double exposure’ type work here, I felt that I needed to re-ground the illustration at this juncture as we visually lead back to the cauldron. 

The second item omitted were, unfortunately, the witches. 

I wanted to include them in the clouds that oversee Dallben’s home but felt it legibility was going to be an issue, and due to time constraints I figured, I could always add them later if I wanted to. 

 

'Gurgi', and 'The Black Cauldron' of legend (and title of the piece)

Upon completing the piece, I sent it over to SGX and had them produce a proof for me so I could determine what, if anything needed to be changed/altered/etc. Thankfully the piece legible, so thankfully no edits were needed. 

I started the piece in Procreate* on January 6^th, 2025, and completed it on February 17^th, 2025 totaling one hundred and thirty five (135) hours, and eight (8) minutes. 

*additional work was also done in Photoshop, but it was solely layout editing, and size manipulation. 

 

Final 12" x 18" framed image on white pearl linen

The 12” x 18” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Back to 1985’, an online exhibition paying homage to the films, television, and other media giants from the same year.  The group show opens online March 11^th, 2025, and at this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here. 

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art

 

 

DANIEL

 This piece was made specifically for Gallery1988’s ‘Childhood Sweethearts’ group exhibition dedicated to the teen heart throbs from film and television. Intially this was not the direction I intended to go, but I was inspired by two things: the sudden booming popularity for ‘The Karate Kid’ franchise, and ‘Bat for Lashes’ hauntingly beautiful ballad ‘Daniel’ from 2009. 

The final of many, very similar, layouts.

As I mentioned previously, my direction changed about three weeks into a completely different piece which I have since abandoned (at least for now). While I did enjoy the work I was doing, it lacked the visual impact I wanted, and the subject chosen was represented in a saturated market of similar imagery. I felt my piece would simply be added to the ‘pile’ of similar works, so I pivoted with a different agenda in mind.

Final digital sketches of 'Daniel', his car, and 'Cobra Kai'

I thought about my options which ranged from: Drew Barrymore, Alyssa Milano/Danny Pintaro, Neve Campbell, Sarah Michele-Gellar, Olivia Newton John, etc., but then I thought about pursuing something more commercially viable. It was also around this time that I had started to watch Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ show which was being heavily advertised on the platform. I found the show to be incredibly charming. I was never a huge fan of ‘The Karate Kid’, but the story did resonate with me even if the details were a bit fuzzy. I hadn’t seen the original film in ages and did a rewatch of the original trilogy (which was when I realized I had never seen the third installment). 

 

It was while I was watching the media dedicated to the franchise, I thought it might be more lucrative to create something dedicated to the character of ‘Daniel LaRusso’ played by Ralph Macchio instead. For starters, it’s a smaller market, as I’ve seen minimal artwork dedicated to the franchise, so I though this might be a business savvy choice. Apparently, there is also a new film coming out in 2025 (Karate Kid: Legends), not to mention the wrapping up (I believe), of the final season of ‘Cobra Kai’.

 

I gathered my reference material for my already established layout, which was inspired by ‘Bat For Lashes’ song. My focal point was going to be a profile shot of ‘Daniel’, framed within a circular (orange) ‘sun’ that transitions from dark to light. It echoed the imagery often used in the promotion of the films, so it only made sense to capitalize on that already established theme. Originally, I had intended for ‘Daniel’ to stay centered within the confines of the ‘sun’, however, while I was manipulating my assets I found breaking the border made the layout more interesting. I added the classic car ‘Mr. Miyagi’ (Pat Morita) gives ‘Daniel’ in the film, and then placed his tormentors from ‘Cobra Kai’ on the bottom of the design to balance it out . I considered adding ‘Ali’ (Elisabeth Shue) to the image, but given the gallery’s prompt, that felt like it would start to drift from the original concept. Instead, I determined that some of the setting needed to be incorporated as well for context, so, since the film takes place in Southern California (specifically ‘the valley’), I determined palm trees would work well to indicate the locale (specifically the ones that surrounded the LaRusso’s apartment complex). The last element I was torn on adding was either a bonsai tree, or a silhouette of ‘Daniel’ performing the crane kick. I ended up going with the later in an effort to keep this piece centered around the first film, as the trees play a larger role in the third film. 

 

Close-up of 'Daniel's' classic car gifted to him by his mentor 'Mr. Miyagi'

I also felt like this design would work well with different background colors, and spent extra time adjusting the illustration, as well as some of the assets to make swamping them a seamless process. This did require I remove some overlapping elements, but overall, it was worth the effort. The other challenge I encountered with this piece was finding good reference material for ‘Daniel’, as I wanted it to be based on his appearance from the original film. I ended up having to create a composite for my reference of two or more shots, and had a rough time when it came to painting the final layout as the lighting was different in each. The painting process was also rather laborious for both ‘Cobra Kai’, and the car, but I think it paid off in the end. I also realized right about when I thought I was done, I had forgotten to add the skeleton make-up onto the faces of ‘Cobra Kai’. 

 

I then sent the image to print and was elated at the quick turn-around. The proof looked really good however I decided to make one minor adjustment on the ‘Cobra Kai’ face paint. It was a bit too dark, so I dropped the opacity on the layer by about half, making the details from the underpainting more visible.

 

Close-up of 'Cobra Kai' from the final image

I started the piece on November 17^th, 2024, and finished it on December 15^th, 2024. I spent approximately twenty-eight (28) hours, and thirty-two (32) minutes sketching all the various assets for my layout. The painting process took fifty-nine (59) hours, and three (3) minutes, with about an hour in Photoshop doing some editing (mostly initially layout stuff), bringing the total time on this piece to a whopping eighty-seven (87) hours, and thirty-five (35) minutes. 

 

The 10” x 10” image (printed on White Pearl Linen, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Childhood Sweethearts’, a group show dedicated to the teen idols of film and television which opened February 11^th, 2025. At this time the prints are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

 

Final 10" x 10" framed image on white pearl linen

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here. 

You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting or painting.

 

Website: www.michaelstiles.com

Etsy: Stiles of Art

Threadless: mistiles

LinkedIN: Michael Stiles

IG:  stiles1978

TikTok: stiles1978

Pinterest: Michael Stiles

Tumblr:  stiles1978

Twitter: stiles_of_art