Kaiju Redux

Goes without saying, another retake on an older piece from... I don't even remember anymore. Originally did these as an ode to Mr. Tom Perkins' art book. (Scroll down to about the 9th selection.)

(One of several digital drawovers on the original Colerase sketches.)

~ The Kaiju Connection... ~

Quick series of sketches from awhile ago. Had the thought of a back-alley setting, something like The Karate Kid - in fact, it is that back alley, complete with the trashed Hutch in the background. Add to that a weird Guyver-type main character that's apparently run into a bunch of drunk Japanese kids, not quite bosozoku but probably a step up from the hardcore punk kids circa 1990's.

(Once again, I based several of the characters on folks from one of the links above.)

The other thought, besides the fact that I had no idea where this was going, was to have a kaiju that can transform in and out of the shadows, from several story tall monster into a smaller human form - probably without being able to control it, oddly enough. Which in this case, the human form would be Gene Hackman. Or more accurately, Popeye Doyle from The French Connection... which coincidentally is yet another film that has nothing to do with CG or television animation.

(Doyle laughs at everything, from film genres to masked characters that have tendrils for an arm. Ignore the drop in quality on the margins of the page, or the attempt at writing in the middle of the pic.)

Didn't really like this last one, partly because it doesn't resemble Doyle all that much. But I liked the lighting and the pose. And the Hutch he's leaning on.

...Speaking of which, I thought I'd share a bit of the music that helped inspire these. A long out-of-print 3 song mini-disc from a Japanese band called Scarecrow Carried Brain. Their only release so far as I can tell. I even think my Guyver character above is on the mic for the entire album:

 (Click here. Is a safe download from Dropbox I can assure you; ripped straight from the original CD.)

Stuff's amazing, insofar as it confused the hell out of me the first time I heard it. Opening track had me thinking, "Huh, they're playing next to a RxR crossing" before realizing that the drummer is effectively playing a constant drumroll off both the snare and ride as the main beat. Second song has King Ghidorah sound effects coming out of the guitar, while the third song's what I call Spaghetti Westerncore.

Yosh.

Kaiju Ode to Tom Perkins IV

...As well as to QPop Gallery - went there a few weeks ago and got the hankering to draw the above. Will eventually clean up the bottom framed image and color it so as to keep pace with the namesake of this post.

Anyhow, Mr Perkins has an artbook. Reasonably priced and full of polished work (as well as developmental sketches). Highly recommend picking it up if you enjoy unusual creature designs and the occasional Cyrillic comicbook title.

Manticorius

 Larger 2nd pass on one of the previous sketches. Manticore in the background's probably taking up too much of the negative space.