UNIVERSAL MONSTERS
Ever since I was a kid, I have been a huge fan of monster movies. Universal really set the bar when they created their concepts of old monster stories, from Dracula to Frankenstein, and they sparked the imaginations of some of the best illustrators and painters in the world.
For my take, I wanted to pay homage to the original black & white films, showing each character in an iconic pose. The originals are oil on board. It was a challenge but one I really enjoyed.
STAR WARS
George Lucas created a world we all like to play in, especially artists. For us it's a landscape that covers an entire universe and continues to grow. Whether you like the original characters or the new crop of stories everyone finds something or someone to relate to.
I started working with Lucasfilm In 2005. I had been working with a friend on covers for Marvel Comics Punisher and was approached at San Diego Comic Con and asked if I wanted to play. Of course, I said yes.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
Unless you have lived under a rock since 1974, everyone has heard of Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Gygax created his game with much love and affection for nerd culture. I played with my friends back In 1976 for a brief time before it was cool to be a nerd. About 7 years ago a good friend asked me to come back to the fantasy world of D&D. We have played almost every Monday since. Working primarily in advertising it was a welcome respite from corporate ad creation to create characters who embody all the traits we all wish we had.
My son, Kyle, suggested to me that I should create some D&D paintings. So here are the first ones I have done. They are some of the most recognizable and iconic monsters in the game.
GODZILLA
Growing up in England and Scotland I would get lost in the Saturday morning matinee movies. Godzilla was one of my favorites. I could not get enough and the folks at TOHO Studios did not disappoint. From Godzilla vs King Kong to Monster X these movies inspired and entertained me for hours. Later I would move into the films of Ray Harry Harryhausen but I never ventured far from the big green guy.
HELLRAISER
I don't know anyone who wasn't familiar with the work of Clive Barker and when I was asked by a friend if I wanted to collaborate on Clive's reboot in comic book form I was in from the get go. Clive had constructed a new story with characters from the original and twisted their world around. We were't the only artists on the covers but ours were the hardest to find, selling out faster than the others. Clive was an awesome collaborator and gave us lots of room to be creative.
THE PUNISHER
I first met Tim Bradstreet In 2003. We became fast friends and for the next few years he asked me to collaborate with him on covers for Marvel's Punisher Max. It was a lot of fun and I even got to be on many of them as we needed images to work from. It led us to work on Thomas Jane's The Punisher. We did the posters for the film and I (out of necessity) body doubled for John Travolta. These collaborations led us to work on many other titles and the director's cut of The Punisher film.
It's been a fun ride and since Tim and I haven't worked together for some time I miss our collaborations and seeing our work on the shelves of our local comic shops.
JENNIFER BLOOD
Another collaborative project with Tim Bradstreet was Jennifer Blood. After Garth Ennis left Punisher Max because he said he had taken it as far as he could (I disagree with this but I think he wanted to get The Boys off the ground at Amazon) he brought us Ms Blood.
A suburban type mom who was also an assassin. I tapped into a friend who was a ballet dancer and asked if she would pose for our body reference. The covers were great but it wasn't until I saw page 1 of issue 1 that I was taken aback. Not the best storyline to share with your 12 yo daughter so I pushed it to the back and moved on. I however am very proud of the covers.
HEXBUGS
Many years ago I met a gentleman who had a company that made awesome robot toys. He had purchased several sculptures from me at an art show and that began a long friendship. He had the concept that these toys could get children Interested in robotics and anything that sparks a child to be creative I am all In.
These images were our concept of what children see when they play with toys. They don't see the toy the same way we do they imagine them In a fantastical world. I wanted to create that world around each of the toys they had at the time. Each of these is based on the actual toys. I printed them on metallic paper and had them encased in acrylic. These now hang in Bob's home office.