BESPOKE HEROES: CUSTOM COMICS

Horror Princess

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Wacom Cintiq

Bespoke hero illustration for private client

The Recipient: A young woman who loves Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, saving animals and American... Horror... Story. Yes, she has a complex entertainment palette.
The solution: The client and I settled on a Disney-style marquee poster, for an animated film about a Disney princess and her beau who escape the boredom of the castle grounds.
As they careen through town seeking adventure, their carriage breaks its axle right in front of the Hotel Cortez, the famous nightmare vacation destination from American Horror Story.
The Princess is elated, her beau, deflated. And as the characters from the horror series emerge from the background of the lobby, the Princess says it'll be all right. Their luggage is in the foyer and it seems they're here to stay... at least for the night.

 

Alternate version:

Another detail the client supplied was that the recipient is an ardent animal lover. So an early version of our heroine was a Disney princess who rescues animals from unscruopulous laboratiories like Obviously Evil Corp.

 

Detail: I love to include little details the viewer will enjoy for a long time, like this very patient cat/pug hybrid she's rescuing.

THE MAP: A Bilingual Mystery Poster

Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Cintiq

Bespoke hero illustration for private client

The Recipient: A grammarian and teacher of Spanish and French, a swimmer who never gets lost.

The Solution: A 1950s detective noir movie poster about a flatfoot who uses her expert knowledge of Spanish and French grammar to crack the code of a centuries-old mystery that will take her on a journey from Paris to Madrid.

World Builder, Music Maker

Bespoke hero illustration for private client

The Recipient: A 12 y.o. boy who likes physics, playing building games like Minecraft and Fortnite, and learning the turmpet.

The Solution: Nikola Tesla said, “If you wish to understand the Universe think of energy, frequency, and vibration.“ John Coltrane, a student of physics, tried to match in his mind and present in his music, his own understanding of energy, frequency, and vibration. I could tell that the recipient, a young man with a love of science and building games like Minecraft and Fortnite, and who played an instrument, might someday achieve mastery of the way all things are made.

Kami: Marine Protector

Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Cintiq

Bespoke hero illustration for private client

The Recipient: A young lady who loves anime villains, kempo karate and marine biology, specifically studying manatees.

The Solution: Two divers swim through an underwater canyon and spy a couple of grazing manatees who feel threatened by their approach and send out a distress signal to the protector of this canyon. The call is quickly answered by a feasrsome ruler of the deep – a kami, a force of nature who cannot be reasoned with. She rises into view and strikes a kata pose, brandishing her fan-fin, which vibrates and emits an iridescent glow as the sunlight disappears above the frightened divers. A form appears behind her. A Giant Pacific Octopus, glowing with the same bright energy as her fan. A nightmare of sailors from Japan to Alaska, come for them. What she wills, the octopus will do. In the quiet of the deep, all the divers hear is their air supply running out as she decides their fate.

The Fan Cave

Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Cintiq

Bespoke hero illustration for private client

The Recipient: A gentleman who loves Tottenham Spurs football, jazz and rock music, pumping iron, and Marvel's Wolverine.

The Solution: Almost exactly as described above. A fan in his cave, enjoying his collection.

Is This A Private Fight?

Adobe Photoshop, Wacom Cintiq

Custom Comic for my Wife

My wife is a survivor, and a fighter for truth and justice. I envisioned her as a futuristic comic book hero, a mechanized robot pilot holding her ground against an alien invasion. She's separated from her unit in a dogfight with three alien ships, and grounded. But she's been through several life changes before, and this one is no different. She grabs what gear she can from the fallen mech suit, and she sets out to find the humans she's sworn to protect.

Queen of Clubs

Custom Playing Card illustration

Adobe Illustrator

The Recipient: A racy tewnty-something Spanish-Welsh Facebook and Instagram model who loves nightclubs and danger.

Birthday Extravaganza

Classic Pulp Comic-Style Invitation

Adobe Illustrator

The solution: A birthday invite to a house party featuring live music and projected horror and sci-fi movies.

Rockabilly Goddess

Adobe Illustrator

Character Illustration

The Recipient: A multitalented, multidisciplinary, multifaceted maven of style and entertainment. That's only being a sliver hyperbolic. The model and recipient for this illustration is super-cool, and I've enjoyed working for her on other projects like my comic book birthday invite and the Mari Sovereign Benefit poster (see Illustration gallery).