First Wave

Yeah, finally artboy makes with the mechs. For a long time, I had a rather fickle relationship with robots. Sometimes I was into them(Shogun Warriors, Astro Boy), but mostly remained indifferent, if not antipathetic towards them(Vicky-Small Wonder). I can't say what fully brought me around, but I'd say that Hajime Sorayama, James Cameron and Hasbro(Transformers) have much for which to answer.

Over the last decade or so, I've been particularly fond of the vintage Weird Science robots and indeed the entire Weird Science genre in general. I was very fortunate to get an opportunity to illustrate period mecha for Isaac Asimov's History of IBotics .
The two illos featured here were part of the production art depicting some of the robot designs from the WWII portion of the book. For the most part, the designs were predetermined, so I just came in to illustrate key scenes or in the case of the Axis Kriegmaschine, the basis for fictional propaganda poster art.

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This is/was the poster art for a completely bent, visciously funny parody of all those contemporary 70's action parodies. Essentially a wacky, over the top imitation of other OTT imitations that might have taken themselves a bit too seriously. There was kind of an odd sensation of stepping into Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine while doing the research for this poster. I had to pour over all this now vintage art from back in the day. Geez, most of it was new art when I was a kid... I was surprised to see how many of these films I remembered seeing as a wee tyke on late night tv.

Let me tell you, this was and still is great art, worthy of any gallery. If you can get your hands on a copy of
What It Is... What It Was!; The Black Film Explosion of the '70s in Words and Pictures by Andres Chavez, Denise Chavez, and Gerald Martinez (Paperback - Oct 1998), you'll see what I'm talking about. And you won't be disappointed.

(The long one is the preliminary. The black boarder is the final art.)

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Goth grrlz...an unqualified plus.
Faeyre gothgrrlz...double-plus good, citizen.

As we delve ever further into the subcult(ure), we're bound to get into some serious TropicanaTwister-style theme and variation. You know, things that may never have been intended to go together, but just work anyway. Then again, its not as though your (torture)garden variety goths and the Kindly Ones(Lilith's Hidden Children*), have nothing in common. Let us consider:

-Both have been feared and misunderstood by the mundane and superstitious
-Both are often seen to embody the beautiful and grotesque(sometimes simultaneously)
-Both observe highly esoteric codes of social etiquette that few outside their circle fully comprehend
-Both can be notoriously image conscious and make wonderful subjects for illustration
Coincidence? You be the judge.

*Apparently, according to one branch of lore, Lilith(Adam's first wife) was washing her children by a stream. Lilith was almost finished when she suddenly heard the voice of The Lord calling her. In her haste and embarrassment, she hid the children still unwashed from God. When asked if all her offspring were present, Lilith answered yes, upon which God exposed her lie and cursed her hidden children to remain forever hidden from the world of Men. These 'Hidden Ones' became the first of the Fae. And the basis for a potentially cool advert for Bath and Bodyworks.

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