Inception Comic Cover Contest

This was done for an art contest to create a comic book cover for prequel comic inspired by the film INCEPTION.

I decided to give this a go because I love comic book cover art and contests always really push you to do your very best. Plus, doing likenesses isn't a strength of mine so it was an opportunity to really work on it. I think I got Cobb's (Dicaprio) likeness reasonably well but Saito's (Watanabe) is only somewhat recognizable. I do like the color theory for this one. It's different than the usual, which I always like to see.

Harvard Lampoon Ad

My job placed an ad in Harvard Lampoon magazine recently. It's the longest running humor magazine and is kind of like MAD magazine for college kids, specializing in what some people call "dirty humor" and what I call "funny."

So, in keeping with the magazine's vibe, I was asked to help come up with an ad for one of the patch companies my company owns. While sitting with my marketing director coming up with some ideas I thought to myself, "What do college guys like?" The answer?

Drunk Chicks.

But seeing as I wanted it to be funny and not insulting to opposite sex I decided to take that phrase literally. Thus was born this ad. Hope you get a little chuckle out of it.

Hobgoblin

I went back to my comic book roots for this one. Hobgoblin being a personal favorite of mine.

Meet Mr. Dinks

Just in case you were wondering where the name from my blog came from. This is Mr. Dinks.

Uh-Oh...

As I've mentioned, I've been working on some portfolio pieces as of late and this one stemmed from a rough sketch I had done while doing an illo for author Norman Partridge's story THE IRON DEAD.

While I wasn't really going for an accurate interpretation of Norm's story, it's very obvious where my inspiration for this piece hails from. But then if you've read the story you understand that it's almost impossible to not be inspired by it.

Paint-Overs Are Fun

The server at work went down yesterday and I couldn't access my orders. So, while I was waiting for it to reboot, I went through some old digital paintings that I had done and I found the October Boy. If you still don't who that is I suggest you head on over to Norman Partridge's website or blog or pick up the book Dark Harvest. Believe me, you won't regret it.

Anyway, I saw the October Boy and wanted to go back and really try to give him the attention and detail he deserves. I'm still not really happy with how I decided to draw his arms and hands (but redrawing them would've been ALOT of work and I only had so much time until the server came back up). If I ever draw him again I'm gonna have to do some more research on pumpkin vines and scarecrows to really give him a more natural feel. But, on the plus side, I really like how the "face" came out, I add a few little details that I think add to overall feel and I feel I unified the colors a bit more.

All in all, I really missed getting to work on the Boy and I look forward to seeing him on next year's Run.

Sammy

I did this for a children's book author. This is my take on her main character named Sammy. The books give a great feel of how your imagination could take off and you'd have so much fun with something as simple as a cardboard box.

Anyways, it's good stuff, check her out online at http://www.blodoqandsammy.com/

Penny

This was done by request. The clown named Penny is apparently from a short story where he ferries children across the river to Carnival Town. Never read it but it sounds interesting and the illo was alot of fun. The character design was inspired by the great Joe Olson.

Execution Day

I did this for a contest for the upcoming Resident Evil Afterlife film. I'm not really a huge fan of the films but I love the video games so it was a real treat to get to draw the big baddass from Resident Evil 5. . . The Executioner.

I swear everytime I saw that guy lumbering toward me my stomach took shelter in my throat.

This was also a great opportunity to try a new painting technique which I really like and I hope to use again in the future.

Anyways, wish me luck in the contest.

Peace.

A New Harvest

First off, let me say that if you haven't read DARK HARVEST by Norman Partridge leave my blog right now, get yourself a copy and then come back. I'll wait here.

You're welcome.

Now that you've got that out of the way, let me make you extra excited. Norm's got an all Halloween short story collection called JOHNNY HALLOWEEN coming out soon that has a prequel to DARK HARVEST. It's already up for pre-order at www.cemeterydance.com

I suggest you snatch up that bad boy early because if it's anything like Norm's last collection LESSER DEMONS, it's gonna disappear real fast.

All the best.

Chaney and The Iron Dead

I had a lot of fun doing this one. Super scribe Norman Partridge did a fantastic short story collection called LESSER DEMONS and one of the highlighted stories was called THE IRON DEAD. The illo above is of the "hero" of the story. A man named Chaney. I put hero in quotations because this guy is so badass that he'd make Clint Eastwood turn tail and run like a schoolgirl with a skinned knee. For more info and a chance to read some great interviews with Norm, be sure to check out his blog: http://www.americanfrankenstein.blogspot.com/

He's got a new Halloween story collection out soon so you'd best quit hanging around here and get yourself a copy before they're gone. Peace.

The Joker

I've been behind on things lately. So when I realized I had to get this done for a friend's birthday in two days I rushed a little bit. I would've loved to spend mor time rendering things but I know I wouldn't have been able to finish it in time. But all in all I think it came out kinda fun.

Catwoman

I hadn't planned on doing this one after Harley but a friend asked me for it so here it is.

Harley Quinn

I've been wanting to do an illo of Joker's main squeeze for a long time and since I had a little free time I decided to give it a go.

I also used the opportunity to work on my perspective. Admittedly, a rather large weakness of mine.

Anyway, I like the overall composition, though I wish I had more time to play with the font. Maybe another day. For now, I'm done.

All the best.

The Lost Kids

I know it's been awhile. Sorry about that. I had a death in the family and I'm just starting to get back on the horse.

I decided to enter an art contest, not so much because I thought I could win, but because I thought it would give me an opportunity to expand my portfolio. So, here's a sneak peak at what I'm doing for it. Wish me luck!

Worlds Shall Pay. . .

A few months ago I did a sketch that a friend of mine thought was the greatest thing I had ever done. So, as a thank you for helping me out with some things, I cleaned it up and colored it for him. No idea what I was thinking when I originally drew it.

MS Walk

My mother has MS, also known as Multiple Sclerosis. It's a chronic, degenerative disease that causes your immune system to attack your nervous system. This can cause severe muscle spasms, blindness, vertigo and will eventuallyleave the person paraplegic.


Every year the MS Society has MS Walks that they use to generate donations to help further research into helping cure MS. My mother has started a team, which she has dubbed Sherry's Angels, that, with the help of her walker, will be participating in the MS walk this year.

Through my job I'm creating T-Shirts for my mom's team. Here's the angel I did for them with a few tweaks to the color just for fun.





If anyone is interested in the walk or just wants to donate here's the MS Society's website: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/


Or you can feel free to contact me with any questions. Any help anyone can give is greatly appreciated.


All the best.

If Only. . .

If I made my own video game, this guy would so be in it. Although, something about this seems off. I'll have to play with it more when I have time.

Art Barrage Part Deux

A few more oldies. . .

Art Barrage

Been busy at work so I haven't been able to bang out anything new. So to make up for it here's a a slew of old work. Some digital, some traditional.

Who I am & What I Do

Since this is my first entry I thought I might start out with who I am and what I do for a living. My name's Kevin Nordstrom (no I have no relation to the store, unfortunately) and I'm a Lead Illustrator for a custom design company that makes everything from patches to posters, t-shirts, hats and pretty much else anything you can print or embroider on. Here's an example of one to the patches I did.

On the left is the illustration I did according to customer's description and on the right is the embroidered result.

Over the next few days I'll post some of my older stuff but I'll try to get some new stuff up soon too. Thanks for stopping by.

Peace