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"Art"
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is my practice to have a sketch book on my person to record my thoughts or draw ideas. I am one of those creatures who believes that when the Muse strikes, you must write it down or you deserve the forgetfulness that follows. This rather peculiar perspective has amounted to a small library of my own journals, bursting with half-formed dreams, unfinished watercolors, notes from books I have read and theories on the Tarot, numerology and astrology. There are also sketches of wildflowers, superheroes and gods. Sometimes I tape in an inspirational postcard or magazine page. A few movie theater stubs are scattered here and there with names scrawled beside them, fellow attendees of that moment in time. From time to time, I do open one of these books and find renewal. Mostly, I use my journals to keep me firmly grounded in the present lest my head explode with all of the incoming information. I like to consecrate each new book with a collage of images that will serve me with fuel until I fill up its contents. A plain unadorned book simply will not do. I have to cultivate the personality of the tome before I can interact with it. So many blank pages can be daunting otherwise.
Recently, I made four sketch books, imbuing them with specific stories and spells, and realized that none of them were for me. I had made them for someone else! I now present them to you and if you feel so inclined as to desire one for your self or a loved one, you may do so in the stormantic Magick Shop! You can also click on the titles of the books to get to their individual sale pages. Otherwise, please enjoy my humble presentation.
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Last year I spent a few months in the desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was surreal to witness the beauty and wonder of that land. Every night I drank in the sight of never-ending constellations. Morning and night the the sun rose and descended in majesty, wearing the prismatic robes of cloud formations. During this time I continued working with my Heroic Tarot clients, but by phone instead of in person. This separation forced me to focus and hone my energies in more direct ways. It made me a stronger reader. When I returned to San Francisco, I found myself drawn to watercolor, due in part to the desert palette of New Mexico. I worked furiously to bring visions of strange creatures to life on paper. The first of these beings I dubbed “The Progenitor.” This work (seen below) lived up to his name, spawning ten more images. It was only after some time had passed that I started to see these beings as manifestations of planetary influences. Mars (the image above) was the second image, then Venus, then Uranus. I realized that I was channeling galactic ambassadors.
The Alien Progeny Series is a collection of ink and watercolor portraits investigating planetary energies from the perspective of the supernatural. Each creation provides a medical intuitive map of their intergalactic composition. Each is for sale (except for The Progenitor which is already in a private collection) in the stormantic Magick Shop (simply scroll down to see them all).
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Yesterday I shared one of my two pieces of artwork from the new art book Transmetropolitan: All Around the World, celebrating the acclaimed comic by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson! We looked at the two boy prostitutes Matt and Luke from Transmetropolitan #40. The above image was based on the young girl sex worked that was friends with the boys. She is never named in the comic and as such has an air of mystery around her. The above image was drawn and by Yours Truly and colored by the fantastic Allen Passalaqua! Below I share my original inks, some reference from the Transmet issue and my preliminary sketches for the piece.
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I fell in love with the art of Stephanie Buscema the first time I saw this rendition of Susan Storm, the Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman. Stephanie has been trained in traditional brush work techniques (without computers! *gasp*) and her work invokes mid-century illustration and design. Buscema’s work can be sweet, sexy, or quirky, and oftentimes all of the above.
Stephanie recently tweeted the above painting of Storm and I fell in love with her work all over again. Stephanie understands the construction of Storm’s tiara (something near and dear to my heart as regular readers of stormantic already know), she did not forget the ruby on her cape, and she gave Ororo some great lip color that cosmetics diva Iman would be proud to wear (see Wild Thing). Those arched eyebrows and curved eyelashes bring glamour and authority and I adore the bronze shimmer on her eyelids. I can only hope Stephanie gets a chance to paint mohawk Storm as well!
Check out Stephanie’s blog, follow her on Twitter, and see her work in Girl Comics (the hardcover came out last year)!
The art of Marc Silvestri was a huge influence on me as a young man. I fell in love with his leggy supermodel heroines and glamour infused narrative style. His mohawk Storm, tanned Dazzler and corrupt Madelyne Pryor are forever burned into my brain. He has a way of making everyone, men and women, so pretty. So, it’s a bit strange that I haven’t had a spotlight on him since this post in 2008! Let’s rectify that omission by looking at a lot of original artwork! Above, we see the X-Women take some time to relax in a tropical paradise. From left to right, Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, Psylocke, Rachel (above), Meggan, Kitty Pryde and Lockheed. That’s a bevy of bathing beauties!
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Former Secret Six (and current Teen Titans) artist Nicola Scott fulfills the dream of many fans of Catman and Deadshot by drawing them in bed together. Your imaginations can take it from there.
Note: We at stormantic do not condone smoking cigarettes.
Empowered creator Adam Warren is a fan favorite here at stormantic and it is always a treat to check out his pencils. It was awesome to stumble upon his version of New Mutant teleporter demon sorceress Magik! Enjoy!
Susan Storm Richards, aka the Invisible Woman is my favorite member of the Fantastic Four and one of my favorite leading ladies of Marvel Comics (What’s that? You were expecting as different Storm?). This original art piece by Adam Hughes does this powerful and beautiful super-heroine justice! And I am loving that he used the old school Fantastic Four logo. If everyone drew the FF costumes this wonderfully, there would be no need for redesigns. Besides, there’s something more sexy about a female character dressed from head to toe. It’s a nice departure from all of the midriff belly shirts out there which I find ridiculous (I’m looking at you, Supergirl!). Seriously, retro is so post modern now that it’s positively fashion forward. Let’s get back to basics! Oh yeah, and Susan’s hair is looking fabulous!
The nice folks at the Gay League just posted a heartfelt review of Princess Witch Boy #1 and 2! Check it out! Here’s a snippet:
“I thought, perhaps from the juxtaposition of princess, witch, and boy that this was probably a cute and breezy, fairy tale like adventure. Well, breezy hardly, though it is a tale touching on the faerie world and as Storm refers to his work, a fantasy memoir.”
Doctor Strange by Collen Doran, creator of the science fiction space opera A Distant Soil. I love this image of the master of the mystic arts because it combines solid anatomy with with an ethereal magical quality. Colleen gives the character grace and elegance with a sense of gravity. Stephen’s face is grave with the understanding of his otherworldly duty. Someone has to keep the chthonic forces of the universe at bay!
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