@$$, Gas or Grass

I usually get most of my invitationals to participate in shows at one time, but occasionally a gallery will reach out to me with a request, and I unfortunately have a problem turning down an opportunity to showcase my work. This was the case when Hero Complex Gallery reached out to me regarding their flagship show ‘Righteous Rides Again!’. The show was the gallery’s first exhibition, and this ‘sequel’, landed on the exact same day (week and date), as the original, commemorating their 10^th Anniversary. Now, this specific occasion really challenged me as the deadline between the notice and show was less than I usually need to prepare (work habits). I was also in the process of finishing another work for a different show. Feast or famine, no?

Initial digital sketch for the retro-style poster.

 

Upon finishing said previous illustration, I set work to quickly coming up with ideas for the exhibit in question. The show was based around the theme of ‘rides’, or vehicles, transportation of some kind, to be illustrated by various artists. I looked over the email from the gallery, and it was such a broad concept, I had trouble narrowing down what it was I wanted to do. Eventually, I settled on one of the examples listed from the correspondence with the gallery, and set to work. I chose ‘That 70’s Show’or specifically, ‘Eric Forman’s’ 1969 Oldsmobile ‘Aztec Gold’ Vista Cruiser. I’m not sure what exactly drew me to the selection, but I immediately had a ‘concept’ in mind when I saw it on the list. I was never a massive fan of the show, but it was constantly on in syndication, had a huge fan base, and I had seen enough episodes where I felt I could capture it’s spirit.

 

As with most projects, I started out as I usually do, gathering image reference for my design, while trying to settle on a color scheme as I had my layout already in mind. In retrospect, I think I took some inspiration for the layout, from a piece I had done previously celebrating the franchise ‘Supernatural’, in which I depicted the Winchester’s iconic 1967 Chevrolet Impala, and to be honest, if I had more time, I think I may have chosen to retool that image instead, as I was/am a fan of that franchise. I however don’t like to revisit the same subject because the world holds way too much content as it is, and I’d rather try my hand at something new or different for several reasons. Eventually I found some psychedelic vintage posters on the web which provided the inspiration I needed. It took me longer to find decent reference for the Vista Cruiser as so many shots in the show either obstruct portions of the car, or its physical appearance changes depending on the scene (driving versus being parked), which tracks for a show of this design. I always try to remain as true to the subject matter as possible that I am depicting, and that also means paying attention to the details even when taking artistic license. I felt that if I got close enough to the real deal the admirers of the show will hopefully appreciate it. This reference challenge however also cost me a bit of time, which I was quickly running out of, and made including any other details impossible.

 

With my design locked in, I began to sketch the Vista Cruiser from various reference shots in Procreate, and eventually piecemealed together what you see in the final version. Thankfully, cars are primarily symmetrical so I could simply sketch, copy, flip, and be done with it. I knew I was short on time, so ‘graphic poster’ was the style I went with. Once I was done with the sketch, and made sure there weren’t any anomalies, I dropped it into Adobe Illustrator, and began to vector the main components of the sketch, as I knew in order to save time I could ‘fill’ these areas with color and take them back into Procreate to digitally paint over and add some elements to make it look less flat. I also vectored the swirls, and the sun in the background (both of which went through several revisions themselves due to spatial conflicts within the image), filled them with color, and took them back into Procreate as well. The swirls were left as a white outline, as I determined that having the edges ‘bleed’ back into the image background gave it a closer look to the original source material. The fill was also done with a gradient in Adobe Photoshop, and then adjusted manually in Procreate to fit within the swirls confines. I had to make several adjustments to both the sun and swirls, eventually settling on the final layout. The last detail I had to include was the license plate, which was made entirely in Adobe Illustrator, with some shading done in Procreate.

 

With the image done, I sent it to print, and thankfully it needed no major corrections (I’m getting good at this finally), so I requested a set for the gallery. I should note that I did have one minor fix, but it was easily taken care of and wasn’t a color correcting issue thankfully. The gradients inside the cab of the Vista Cruiser didn’t overlap correctly creating a distinguishable cut-off on my proof. I fixed the issue, resubmitted the image, however, I unfortunately did not make the gallery’s deadline but they were kind enough give me an extension. For me, the problem was two-fold, I was going out of town the same day it was due, and I had cut the whole execution process a wee bit too close. Ironically (?), the images were ready before the deadline, but I was already out of the area by the time it was available for pick up.

WOMP WOMP.

When I returned, I headed straight to the printers and got the work to the gallery before the end of the week, which was the premier of the show.

Oi!

Was I stressed?

Oh god yes.

Did I enjoy my time away?

Yes, but probably not as much as I could have IF I had my $4!+ together.

This friends, is a perfect example of me overwhelming myself to the point of misery.

Don’t be like me.

I had so much anxiety, and the worst part?

I was also working on another project whose due date was quickly approaching, which also overlapped, with another show I had agreed to also participate in which I hadn’t even started.

Yikes!

Did I succeed?

The next two blog entries hold the answers!!!

 

Final 18" x 12" image

 

I started the project on April 10^th, 2023, and finished it on April 20^th, 2023 (coincidently). I’m not entirely sure how long I spent on the project hours-wise. Adobe’s software makes it difficult to determine time frames, unlike Procreate which has a build in monitoring device (so helpful). From what I can determine, I spent five and a half  (5 ½ ) hours in Procreate sketching the layout and vehicle, followed by vectoring out the car in Adobe Illustrator on my iPad, spending almost an entire day (likely close to eight to ten hours [8-10]) going back and forth between my iPad and desktop refining it. The color process took almost eleven (11) hours to complete, with the Vista Cruiser being the bulk of that time. I then spent a few more hours in Adobe Illustrator developing the background and font for the image. I used Hobo Std Medium as my base font, and then altered it to fit within the parameters of the solar body. It's not entirely what I wanted, but I think it works since the type reflects the shows credits. I then spent some time in Adobe Photoshop adjusting the image scale, and placement before sending it off to print. Originally, the plan was to add some distressing in order to give it a vintage look, as well as add some peace signs, or flowers, but time did not allow. Perhaps I can revisit the image one day and include some of these details.

 

The 18” x 12” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Hero Complex Gallery’s ‘Righteous Rides Again!’ a group show dedicated to the beloved ‘vehicles’ of film and television which opened May 6^th, 2023. 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

 

 

 

CASTLEVANIA 64

One of my favorite shows to do all year with Gallery1988 is their annual-ish ‘oNE Sheet’, which requires participants (like moi), to choose a game from the early era of home consoles. Initially I wanted to do a follow up to my piece from last year which centered around my love for the Final Fantasy franchise. While I always enjoyed the initial outing I chose for last year’s contribution, the sequel (Final Fantasy 2* for the Super Nintendo), was by far my favorite. The only issue was, I wanted to do the game justice, which would require (for me), a play through. The problem was however, I couldn’t lock down a version that I could play through quickly enough, so instead I pivoted to another favorite that I could recall more clearly, Castlevania.

(*Final Fantasy 4 as it is now commercially known. It was the second installment to hit the United States but it was actually the fourth installment in the franchise overseas.)

Original concept for oNE Sheet based on the 1st installment of the Castlevania franchise.

While I had a sketch for the original ‘Castlevania’ by Konmai on the NES that I had loosely developed, I decided instead of portraying the ‘original’ outing I should pay homage to one of my favorite adaptions in the series, and quite possibly one of the most despised, ‘Castlevania (64)’, and it’s companion ‘Legacy of Darkness’. While the prior was simply known as ‘Castlevania’, for clarity purposes I added the 64, and I should also note, ‘Legacy…’, was what now would be referred to as an ‘uncut’ or ‘director’s cut’/‘complete’, edition by today’s standards. It is also the first installment to break the trend of it’s brethren, moving us into three-dimensional space (much like Mario did on this system). Since this piece consists of so many characters and elements in the game, I’ll briefly discuss the story as best as possible without ruining so many of the elements it introduced that were unique to it’s design, but there might be some spoilers.

First pass at Reinhardt Schneider.

In the opening of the game we are initially introduced to two playable characters (and possibly cousins given their linage). One should look familiar as the traditional whip-wielding/sword swingin’ ‘Belmont’, who for the first time, is not a ‘Belmont’, but a ‘Schneider’, ‘Reinhardt Schneider’ to be exact. Our second adventurer is a young girl named ‘Carrie Fernandez’, who unlike her counterpart, uses magical homing energy bolts to dispatch enemies, in addition to a set of rings for close combat. Both of their respective connections to the franchise is the speculation of many fans, but most likely, ‘Carrie’ is a descendant of ‘Sypha’, although much like every ‘Belmont’, she too is the last of her clan (an implied trope). Here I could tell their tale, but since I am including a nod to ‘Legacy…’ in this piece, it would only make sense to explain how that comes into play. According to what I was able to untangle during this game’s development, a third playable character was supposed to be introduced, and perhaps even more than that. The additional character was a shape-shifter by the name of ‘Cornell’, who’s adventure takes place as a prequel before that of our heroes. Still with me?

 

A small collection of the vast cast of characters from the game (Renon/Death/Cornell/Tower of Sorcery)

 Good.

 

Okay so, let’s start chronologically to avoid confusion. In ‘Cornell’s’ storyline, his sister is taken for a sacrifice by ‘Dracula’ and his cronies. This requires our hero to infiltrate the compound and take her back. His questline sets us up for the next two adventurers, and includes a few new areas, bosses, and alternative routes through previous environments in the original version of the game. In both of our vampire hunter’s quests, their agenda is simply the dutiful destruction of ‘Dracula’ himself, however, each encounters a unique character on their journey further complicating their success. Each one also has a few of their own levels, and an antagonist in addition to the proprietor they will encounter throughout their journey. The game also features an element of time which can be puzzle dependent, and a few other surprises as well. The cast is also fleshed out with some supporting characters such as vampire hunter ‘Charlie Vincent’, the tortured soul ‘Rosa’, ‘Malus’ the lost child, the mysterious merchant ‘Renon’, ‘Actrise’ the witch, our old pal ‘Death’, and ‘Dracula’ himself. Most, are represented if not outright depicted in the illustration.

 

Carrie Fernandez, our heroine and Belnades ancestor.

 

With the story elements in mind, I turned to my iPad, and began developing the image. I wanted the image to look like an epic poster insert, or perhaps an animated series promotional. I had an anime inspired style when sketching, and to keep myself in that realm, I made sure to have a lot of the medium playing the background. Luckily, I also had all the source material I would even need as I still retained the strategy guide from when I purchased the game back so many decades ago (1999). It proved to be a great resource, especially when attempting to design the specific parts of the illustration like the castle, or detailing the clothing on the characters. 

 

'Malus' the lost child, and the Tower of Sorcery.

 

I went through several variations of layouts, going back and forth between a horizontal and vertical orientation.  I envisioned the piece vertically, but during development, it was obvious a horizontal design would work better for how this piece was progressing. I also ended up redrawing ‘Reinhardt’, multiple times before finally settling on a pose I was satisfied with. Over time, some of my decisions helped make others easier in choosing what, or who, to depict, and how.  For instance, I knew both ‘Reinhardt’, and ‘Carrie’ would need to be front and center. I found ‘Carrie’ to a more interesting design, so she got center stage, and ‘Reinhardt’ was essential in framing many of the transitional vignettes I wanted to display. I kept many of the stereotypical elements in a ‘Castlevania’ image like the moon, title (which is a direct reproduction of the ‘Legacy…’ title color palette), and castle. Most of the images are strict character designs, but in order to keep the image from getting to cluttered I figured some more symbolic representation might be in order. For ‘Rosa’, I used ‘Reinhardt’s’ whip as a transitional device, and had the tail end of it become a rose vine, connecting back to when the players first encounter her in the castle. The crystals, as most players will recognize, are only found in the lair of ‘Actrise’, and also provided me with the option of introducing more contrasting color into the piece. Thankfully, the whip, and moon designs help look a viewer back into the image, and offer continuous eye movement. One element that I did retain from the original concept was the level inclusion. Originally for the NES piece I wanted to include a nod to each stage or boss in the game, here, in the 64 edition, I was able to do that since it primarily takes place in the castle, who’s design and structure I was able to replicate. The only part of the game to take place (outside of the ocean voyage taken by ‘Cornell’ in ‘Legacy…’), were the forest and villager scenarios, both of which I included. While the sewer levels are essentially subterranean, and not easily depictable, I figured I could indicate them with the ‘waterway’ openings I took the liberty to add.  

 

The vampire hunter Charlie Vincent , and Rosa's garden.

The entire piece was developed in Procreate on my iPad which I started on February 5^th, 2023 (the initial sketch I mentioned prior was drawn on August 30^th, 2021), and I finished the piece on April 9^th, 2023 (at 7:43pm to be exact). I clocked in approximately two hundred and sixteen (216 ) hours, and eighteen (18) minutes working on this piece. Most of that time was sketching, with a handful of them (about three), in Adobe Illustrator to create a few of the icons on the bottom of the poster. Originally, I only wanted to include a few icons, but the ones I did have made the image unbalanced, and I was required to add more to reestablish symmetry. Some time was also spent in Adobe Photoshop, editing the piece before sending it off to print.

 

This generation's Belmont heir, Reinhardt Schneider.

 

The 12” x 18” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘oNE Sheet’, a tribute show to video games from early days of the home console.  The show was originally scheduled to run from May 12^th, 2023, through May 27^th, 2023, with all remaining works available on the gallery’s website. 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 18" x 12" image of 'Castlevania 64'.

 

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

 

PSYCHO (1960)

This project was inspired by Gallery1988’s ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’, tribute show dedicated to the films of 1915 through 1963. The gallery wanted artists to create original works honoring films from the decades when there really were only a few major studios.

I took a film class in (junior) college, so I have an appreciation for older or classic films, however I would soon discover my taste was rather…discriminating. I looked through the list of films, and to be honest, most of them were just not vibing with me. I’d seen several of them, but as per usual, I also did not want to select an option that was going to be overrepresented so I immediately dismissed several choices. I decided instead to try finding something not pre-approved, which proved ultimately to be futile. Most of the films I watched were not very engaging, so I reached out to the gallery with some selections I did not see on the list that I recalled from the film class which were excellent.  Unfortunately, these films were also ALL foreign. The aspect of this project I completely missed was, that all of the films they listed, and alluded to (in their description of the show), were all American. So that meant I could not do most of the movies I had seen in the course I took. Dismayed, I reluctantly took another look at the list. This time I decided I would pick something possibly more popular, and one I had yet to see. 

  

Digital Pencil Render of the Bates Mansion.

 

I whittled the list down to a few selections, before locking in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 psychological thriller ‘Psycho’. The film primarily stars greats like Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), Vera Miles (Lila Crane), John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Martin Balsam (P.I.), and was nominated for several awards. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to pick a film I had not yet seen, and this still rang true with ‘Psycho’. I was familiar with the overall plot, and twists, but not the details, nor how this cast of characters even ends up together at the fateful ‘Bates Motel’, to begin with. This meant I was going to have to watch the film, which also required I rent it to stream (seriously tho’…the movie is like sixty years old, and it’s not available to watch anywhere for free at this time? I have like a gazillion streaming services!!! WTH!?).

 

I watched the film once, then quickly began trying to come up with an idea about how to layout the poster I was going to be illustrating. I thought it might be interesting to look at art movements that were taking place during the era the film was made. I was fortunate enough to have my pick from Pop Art, Psychedelic Art, Op Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art. Having just finished the film, I recall the opening had lots of segmented lines coming in and out during the credits, which was reminiscent of the Dutch Minimalist artist Piet Mondrian. I looked at Mondrian’s work and in Adobe Illustrator, I attempted to replicate his abstract method of juxtaposing multiple primary-colored squares with thick black lines segmenting them. I determined I could house an illustration in each square I chose to utilize. I know however needed to contend with what I was going to portray in each square, as well as how many I needed to have, and so forth. 

 

Digital Pencil Render of: Shower Scene/Bates Motel (1960) with the Mansion in the background.

I went back to the film, this time destructing the acts, and main plot points that would need to be narratively conveyed to the viewer chronologically. The film’s plot is not entirely complicated but basically there’s theft, murder(s), and a rather complicated family dynamic involved. When it came down to selecting the subject, there were at least two iconic images I had no choice but to include: The Bates Motel, and the Bates Mansion/Psycho House, both of which still stand today on the backlot at Universal Studios in California which you can see on their tram tour. The house is still the original build, the Motel however has been rebuilt. During the amusements park’s Halloween Horror Nights, they allow guests to walk through this portion of the set, and you get really close to the sets.

I digress…

I had decided on depicting six scenes from the film, and with both the Motel, and Mansion taking up two spots, that left with four more. I determined that the best way to portray the images was to start first with the beginning of our story which starts in Phoenix, Arizona, but ends at the Bates Motel in Fairvale, California. I determined that portraying the ‘theft’, alongside the disposing of evidence as necessary to the overall narrative, even if they are slightly arguably red herrings. The final image I knew had to be the infamous shower scene (plus I had a red square to fill, it made sense), which along with the house and hotel, I supposed only really left me with three selections to actually make.

 

One of the (many) cars sinking into the nearby marshes.

With the images in mind, I went back to the film and gathered the necessary reference I was going to need in order to do this project, and also it was a rental so the clock was ticking. With a solid start on resource material, I began first on the arduous task of illustration the Bates Mansion. As the most iconic image of all the ones I selected, I figured it should be the largest in the hierarchy, which also happened to be the blue square. While the Mansion does play a large role in the film, most of the action doesn’t even take place there. The most difficult task was the porch and surrounding foliage around the perimeter of the house. Satisfied with the image, I continued to develop the other images developing each sketch in Procreate on my iPad using the Peppermint Pencil. Most of the illustration’s didn’t take a lot of time except for the Motel.  I had to get more reference online for the details on the façade which proved tricky considering it had been rebuilt since the film was made. I’m a stickler for staying to true to the original, and I wanted to make sure that the Motel sketch looked like the original. There were also some challenges with depicting the vehicles in this piece as well. I had to track down the makes for each of the scenes with the cars, since I could not get clear shots from the film (lots of dark nighttime footage, and the film is also black and white). Marion’s car in the beginning of the film according to the internet is 1957 Ford Sedan, and during my image development, I somehow ended up with reference for a 1957 Ford Skyliner. I’m not sure if this is the car that Marion trades-in for, or has originally, or it this is just a mistake on my part when I was gathering research. The Skyliner is depicted in the bottom yellow panel, with the Sedan (I believe) in the upper smaller yellow panel.  The smaller image was based on reference from the film, so whatever the vehicle type in that scene, it’s accurately depicted. I also had to outsource my reference for the skyline in the bottom panel of Phoenix. I found a postcard from the 1960’s of the city that I used to historically represent an accurate portrayal.

Digital pencil render and tonal paint of cash from Act 1

With the primary sketches done, I edited them in Adobe Photoshop on my desktop, and once I was satisfied with the layout, I transferred the file back to my iPad to begin painting some minor details in Procreate. I naturally started with the Mansion, and worked my way down to the final (or first image), of Marion driving from Phoenix to Fairvale. I decided on leaving the image within it’s relatively primary color scheme, and simply use varying tints and shades instead to imply contrast or dimension within.  Since I had rendered most of the images with the intention of blocking in color, it wasn’t a difficult task, and thankfully didn’t take too long. My only other obstacle was with the shower scene. I originally planned on having the shower running, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how I would do this and make it look ‘right’. I also wanted to allude to what transpires in this scene without giving too much away (not that it isn’t world infamous anyways but still, show not tell, right?).

 

The Bates Motel (1960), and Marion (Janet Leigh), fleeing Phoenix.

Upon completing the painting process, I took the image back into Photoshop, and began editing it. I cleaned up all the edges, and even went into Adobe Illustrator to readjust the Mondrian layout. I also noticed that both the shower, and the Motel scene weren’t exactly strongly contrasting in the piece enough to see some of the finer details. In the shower illustration, there was a complete lack of contrast between the tile, wall, and shower head. The water droplets were also very underwhelming. I ended up creating another layer and added white to the tile area only, then adjusted the opacity until it had a slight contrast as too much looked off. The Motel was just entirely too dark, of course this was when I noticed the file was set to RGB, which would explain the darker look of the image. I immediately changed the format to CMYK and was taken back by how much brighter the image read. I was also a bit irritate at myself for not noticing this error earlier. My guess is that when I imported the AI file it was formatted as RGB, and since I based the file off its import, it probably took its color profile as well.

Oops.

The motel looked great after the profile change, the shower…questionable, but I was going to leave it for now as I had time to get it proofed before the deadline to roll the dice on it. I did however add some highlights to the water droplets on the shower image, and dropped an Overlay on the neon sign in front of the Motel to give it more contrast and a bit of a glow. Satisfied, and exhausted, I sent it off to proof. Thankfully it came back clean, so there was no necessary edits to be made.

I started the piece on January 8^th, 2023, with the initial sketching stages taking me approximately twenty seven (27), and a half hours (29 minutes to be exact) to complete . The painting process began on January 17^th, and lasted roughly Twenty Nine (29), hours and Twenty Three (23) minutes-ish, for a total of Fifty Six (56) hours, and Fifty Two (52) minutes-ish. This is of course not including the time it took me to build the layout in Adobe Illustrator, or the time I spent editing it in Adobe Photoshop, but I’d estimate it was about another six (6) hours at least, so that leaves us around Sixty Two (62) hours or so for this entire piece which I concluded on February 5^th, 2023. A bit longer than the Blade image which is similar in style, interesting. 

 

Final (11" x 17") image tribute image to Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960).

The 11” x 17” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’, a group show dedicated to the films celebrating the classics from 1915 to 1963.  The show was originally scheduled to run from April 8^th, 2023, through April 22^nd, 2023 with all remaining works available the following day (April 9^th) at noon. 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.

 

*Apparently the prints sold out and are no longer available.

 

UPDATE:

10/23/23

While going through the archives I discovered the final remaining five (5) prints. I contacted the gallery, and they are now in their possession. If interested in purchasing please check out their website.

 

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

DAYWALKER

 

When I looked at the prompt for Gallery 1988’s ’25 Years Later: Movies of 1998’, I was a bit overwhelmed.  There are dozens of nostalgic titles during that year, and I had a really hard time whittling it down to one.  My other issue was, what would I even make?  Sure I could pick ‘What Dreams May Come’, but I’ve already done at least one Robin Williams film (Mrs. Doubtfire). Or maybe I could do something for ‘Pleasentville’, ‘Practical Magic’, ‘Wild Things’, ‘Pecker’, ‘Fear and Loathing…’, or yes, even ‘Dark City’.

Yes…but what?

I mean these are all great films (and not a complete list of the ones I struggled picking), but what would I create?

That’s the pickle…

Eventually, I came across one last title that piqued my interest that I felt deserved some homage, ‘Blade’.

Now, many attribute the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Iron Man’, but alas, they’d be wrong (at least in my humblest of opinions). In reality, the first big screen Marvel comic adaptation was ‘Blade’ starring Wesley Snipes as the titular character in 1998. The production stars Snipes as ‘Blade’, a Dhampir who together with his mentor ‘Whistler’ (played by Kris Kristofferson), take on an army of vampires led by ‘Deacon Frost’ (Stephen Dorff). Snipes is also joined by a great supporting cast including N’Bushe Wright (as ‘Dr. Karen Jenson’) , Donal Logue (‘Quinn’), Arly Jover (‘Mercury’), Sanaa Lathan (‘Vanessa Brooks’), and Traci Lords (‘Racquel’), among many others.

Wesley Snipes as 'Blade'.

To properly capture the essence of the film, I needed to rewatch it, as it had been many years since I have seen it. Thankfully the film is available on most streaming platforms, but I do own the DVD somewhere, exactly where I’m not sure. 

I knew early on that I was going to create another comic book cover, similar in style to the Constantine piece I did. I created at least one or more initial sketches for the piece, but I’m pretty sure this concept took form rather quickly as I had a clear idea of my layout. I first started by collecting reference materials, and began sketching my ideas in Procreate on my iPad using the Peppermint Tool. I then layered the images according to how I wanted them to appear, changed their property to Multiply. I added an additional layer, and then began painting white (using the Round Brush), within the boundaries of each sketch. The bottom image with the DJ and famous opening scene however was a different story. I determined for the sake of balance that I would utilize black here and illustrate the scene as a silhouette considering how impactful it was. Upon completing this step, I exported them as individual PNG files (because we don’t make the same mistake twice kids), and rearranged then back into their appropriate positions on my desktop in Adobe Photoshop, rescaling them on my desktop without fear of losing any image quality. 

 

N'Bushe Wright as Dr. Karen Jenson, and Kris Kristofferson as Abraham 'Whistler'.

I determined at this point I wanted the entire image to be monochromatic with some solid black and white to balance out the variations of red I had chosen. I then applied a gradient and adjusted the layer blending options to pass through (or multiply) on all the sketched images (leaving the painted layers Normal). I then changed the gradient layer’s blending property to Multiply as well and moved it to the top as an Overlay. It had an interesting effect, and I was going to attempt to paint some slight dimensions on the figures using tonal variations (of Gray on the white painted layers) in Procreate. I then exported the layout back to my iPad, and began adding some volume to the image. 

 

Several hours later of painting on my iPad, I brought the work back into Photoshop to finish editing before I moved onto the title or other additional accoutrements.  To be honest, at this point, I wasn’t that thrilled with the piece at all, and It just wasn’t looking the way I imagined. I however was not one to be swayed, so I set to work on manipulating the image in Photoshop using different blending options in the layers panel.  For starters, I determined the gradient wasn’t working the way I wanted, so It was time to experiment.  I took the gradient and dropped it below the images (but above the background image of ‘Frost’), and changed the layer blending options to an Overlay which began picking up all the beautiful sketch lines I had laid down initially. I then took my background image of ‘Frost’ and began playing with the layer blending options there as well until I got to Difference.

BINGO.

This was it.

The sketch was showing through vibrantly picking up all the textured strokes, along with being light enough to see all the details.

Gorgeous.

Now for the other layers.

I ended up duplicating the gradient on the background and brought it up to the top of the layer order leaving it as an Overlay. This had a similar effect as the gradient did on the background image, and immediately brought some life and vibrancy to my piece. I only had to adjust the tint (or lightness), of the red I selected marginally and it was done. 

 

With the images done, I just needed to add the title, and other comic book related elements. Thankfully during my research process I was determined to keep this image as authentic as possible, and came across several images of (Marvel), comics from the decade of the movie’s release. Using these resources, I went into Adobe Illustrator, and created a mock-up design for my image.  Using the original title treatment, I also created a cleaner version for my image in the program as well. Upon finishing these tasks, I went back into Photoshop and pieced these last few elements together. I did alter the colors a bit on the add-ons once they were introduced, and eventually found a combination that worked brilliantly. Satisfied with the image, I sent it off to SGX for a proof.

 

Thankfully the work didn’t need to be adjusted so I ordered a set, and then sought a frame which seems like a simple task, right?

No.

I went through two frames before I ended up simple caving in and using the third which was not in the greatest condition either but I was beaten.

So the first frame I ordered from Amazon, simple enough, right?

Yeah.

It shows up and the cover is scuffed. Like not presentable scuffed.

As in not going to work for a gallery.

Okay.

I then contact Amazon who refunds me the money, and then tells me to keep the frame.

Awesome, I’ll just store it in all the extra space I don’t have.

I then went to Michaels and begrudgingly bought the cheapest frame I could find.

I get home, and start the process of framing my work, and the glass gets caught by one of the backing pins.

Now this particular frame has at least three of these malleable metal pieces around its perimeter on every side, so lets say nine…maybe even twelve or more altogether. It’s bound to get caught on one of them if the glass gets pushed up beyond their threshold.

A truly bad design, and my worse nightmare.

It was over my bed.

It was glass.

I ordered the plastic for a reason.

I had to ship it.

I did NOT want glass.

I specifically wanted plastic.

The glass cracked and broke over my bed.

Jesus wept.

My patience was at an end with this situation.

I grab a trash bag and managed to get all the glass off my bed and into the bag without any of it getting anywhere else. There weren’t a lot of pieces (two to three, the third being the entire plate as it was corner that cracked), however there was some ‘glitter’ on the sheets afterwards.

I carefully took some large packing tape and dotted the area several times with several pieces to collect any fragments of tiny shards.

Operation complete.

I tossed this frame into the box with the other, and then reordered the first frame against my better judgement.

The third frame arrives and is not in the best condition as there are some very minor scratches on the plastic shield of this one as well. I decide it’s worth the gamble, and package up the work to send it out.

 

I started the drawing in Procreate on my iPad, on October 18^th, 2022, spending approximately twenty-six and half (26 ½) hours rendering the likenesses of all the characters in the illustration. I then adjusted the images in Adobe Photoshop for my final layout, and exported it back into Procreate. In procreate I proceeded to spend an additional Eighteen and a half hours (18:32), hours adding ‘color’, before returning to Photoshop for final editing.  Overall I spent about Forty-Seven (47) hours on the piece and finished it on January 6^th, 2023. I worked on it in between other projects I had going on between October and January, as well as having got a really early start on it.

 

The 11” x 17” image (printed on 100lb Cover, thank you SGX), was made for Gallery1988’s ’25 Years Later: Movies from 1998’, a group show dedicated to the films of that glorious year.  The show was originally scheduled to open online February 17^th, 2023, through March 4^th, 2023. 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