Carlos Valenzuela is a professional illustrator and comicbook cover artist from Chile. He has worked with companies in the entertainment field like Fantasy Flight Games, SQP Publishing, Comics Buyer’s Guide, Pyranha Bytes, Avatar Press, Overcast Studios, Arcana Comics, etc. Working on projects from book cover illustrations, posters, interior book art through artwork for collective card games.

A huge fan of the sci-fi and horror movie genre from the 40′s and 50′s, Carlos is heavily influenced by master illustrators Frazetta, Corben, Wrightson and Elvgren plus the classic publications from EC and Warren.

So ladies and gents please regard me as I present you with this vintage and retro feature, enjoy! (And don’t forget to share!)

Retro and Vintage

Terror from Outer Space

The Curse of Dracula

The Curse of the Vampire Queen

Sleep Well, Sleep Forever

Queen Amidala

The Huntress

Jessica Rabbit

Late Edition

The Visitor

A Bat-Note

Super Heroes and Villains

Heroes Attack

Gotham Girls

Fantastic Four

Enter the Green Goblin

The Usual Suspects

Batman

Gotham Babes

DC Heroes

M.O.D.O.K.

Marvel Heroes 3

Horror and Fantasy

Homage to Lovecraft

Red Sonja II

John Carter of Mars

Classic Monsters

The Mummy Rises

Do not enter

Soulrender

Waiting in the Dark

The Barbarian

Princess of Mars

If you’ve enjoyed Carlos Valenzuela’s master pieces you can have the chance be a proud owner of his prints or why not commission him to incorporate you in a classic rendition of a horror or crime noir movie poster, just head on over to his portfolio site to find out more. (Don’t forget to share this article with your friends.)

Where to find Carlos Valenzuela on the web

Portfolio: @artworkfolio.com, @deviantart.com

Social Networks: Google+

The main idea of this project is to create a deck of 54 unique playing cards. Artists and illustrators pick a card each and design it in their own style. When all designs are submitted, the deck is printed in a strictly limited number of copies, which are distributed between the members of the project. In short “The Creative Cards Project” is 54 unique playing cards from 54 top artists with one addition for the backside!

It’s the brainchild of the guys at digitalabstracts.com whose aim is to create something useful, collectable, pretty and unique. For artists and designers to collaborate on an interesting project and show off their unique style and techniques.

Two of Diamonds by Jonathan Foerster

Author’s Website

Three of Spades by Raphaël Vicenzi

Author’s Website

Four of Diamonds by Kervin W Brisseaux

Author’s Website

Five of Hearts by Matt Jones aka Lunartik

Author’s Website

Six of Clubs by Vitalik Sheptuhin

Author’s Website

Seven of Spades by Brand Nu

Author’s Website

Eight of Clubs by Andreas Preis

Author’s Website

Nine of Hearts by Hello Monday

Author’s Website

Ten of Spades by Simplevector

Author’s Website

Knave of Hearts by Jonathan Wong

Author’s Website

Queen of Clubs by Lucas de Alcântara

Author’s Website

King of Clubs by James White

Author’s Website

Ace of Clubs by David Delin

Author’s Website

Joker by Kenny Lindström

Author’s Website

As of this posting the contest that would decide whose design would be used for the backside of the entire deck is still ongoing but will soon end on March 23, 12:00 GMT.

Based on the highest Facebook likes this design seems to be in the lead…

Backside by Giga Kobidze

Author’s Website

Visit Vote for your favourite backside! to check out the competition and make it count by voting for the design you think should win.

The CGSociety is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists. They support artists at every level by offering a range of services to connect, inform, educate and promote digital artists worldwide.

Aly Fell

A freelance concept artist and illustrator from the U.K. He’s into drawing pin-ups, flying things, winged things and spooky things, and Steampunk!

Pirate Girl

The Absinthe Fairy

Lady Frances Drake

Glen Angus Tribute

Judith and Holofernes

Visit Aly Fell’s Website

Jeff Miller

Jeff is a Freelance Character Artist from the U.S. he has an extensive experience in the entertainment industry. With clients that includes Apple, Microsoft, Lucasfilm, Ubisoft and more. His work has graced the pages and covers of publications such as Wired Magazine, 3D World, and 3D Artist.

Brute Chieftain #2

Cover: Ghost Recon for Wii

The Black Eyed Peas tour poster

Cobra Commander

Sparrow

Visit Jeff Miller’s Website

Jaime Jasso

Jaime Jasso works as a digital matte artist for ILM in San Francisco, USA. Enough said!

A Spiritual City

Roman Stone Temple

MULTI CITY

Thekno City

Mayan City

Visit Jaime Jasso’s Website

Steven Stahlberg

With 11 years cg experience Steven was born in Australia, lived in Sweden, Hong Kong, USA, Malaysia, 3 years art school, a freelance artist that has an accumulated experience of 21 years.

Psycho Girlfriend

Squishy (and Girl)

Fairy And Snake

Ghost Child

3d School Ad

Visit Steven Stahlberg’s Website

Soa Lee

Soa Lee is a 3D artist from Korea but is currently working in the US.

Tears

Angel’s time

Taurus

Grace of the snow

Suphia

Visit Soa Lee’s Website

Jean-Sebastien Rossbach

French Illustrator, Concept artist, and author of the book MERLIN (Soleil)

MERLIN cover

Succubus Blues

all the windwracked stars

the Vixen – InQuest Gamer #137 cover

Hrolf Kraki

Visit Jean-Sebastien Rossbach’s Website

Visit CGSociety for more mind numbing inspirational digital works of art. Or if you think you have what it takes or passionate enough about your digital master pieces why not join the society and maybe your work will grace our pages in the near future. Goodluck!

Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.

I’ve gathered a few celebrity caricatures because they are easily identifiable wherever you’re from and the masters behind these works are also celebrities in their own right.

Celebrity caricatures by John Kascht

John is among a handful of caricaturists whose work is collected by The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. His work is included in several monographs about caricature and portraiture, notably: “The History of Caricature” and has also appeared on book covers, billboards, Broadway marquees and more than a few cocktail napkins.

John Kascht’s satirical drawings can also be found on the pages or covers of: Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, Forbes, W, Oprah, Glamour, and MAD magazine, to name a few.

Keith Richards for Entertainment Weekly

Woody Allen for Reader’s Digest

Whoopi Goldberg for The National Portrait Gallery

Joni Mitchell for Rolling Stone

Jack Nicholson for GQ

Jay-z for Entertainment Weekly

Eminem for Entertainment Weekly

Daniel Radcliff for Entertainment Weekly

The Beatles for Entertainment Weekly

If you are hungry for more of John Kascht’s creations head over to his website johnkascht.com or bring him along anytime and anywhere you want to go with “Above & Beyond: John Kascht” app available on iTunes!

If you think that was awesome, sit back because there’s more! I just can’t let you go wandering off without seeing the rest of what the internet has to offer.

More celebrity caricatures from around the web!

Mr. Bean by mazhear

James Hetfield by Steveroberts

Dr. Gregory House by macpulenta

Dr. Jones by crisdelara04

Meryl Streep by Nelson Santos

Clint Eastwood by fillengroovy

Bruce Lee by AndrewMok

Agent Smith by mazhear

Joan Jett by Nelson Santos

Inglorious Basterds by Nelson Santos

Jeremy Saunders has 9 years worth of Key Art experience under his belt and I would like to take this opportunity to share some of them with all of you. But first what is “Key Art”?

A little bit of history

Movie posters have been and still is a big part of the industry since the earliest public exhibitions of films. What began as placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or movie theater in the early 1900s evolved to featuring illustrations of scenes from each individual film or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other movie posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, represented in a wide variety of artistic styles.

What is KEY ART?

Key art is a film poster used to advertise a film. It will be what the viewer remembers about the film long after the film’s original release date. There may also be several versions for one film, with variations in regards to size, content and country of production of the poster. It usually contains an image, or multiple images, composed to tell the story of the film. The titles are often designed to go with the artwork and often the names of the main actors are designed, as well. It might also include a tag line, billing block and contractual logos.

Key art can also be used to advertise a television show. Much of network advertising’s main artwork is known as key art and is used for advertising on web sites, billboards, magazines, city buses, bus shelters and banners. (Source – joseph-rey.com)

And now without further ado, here’s Johnny!

Burning Man

BURNING MAN is the reckless, sexy, funny, moving and ultimately life-affirming story of Tom, a British chef in a Bondi restaurant, who seems to have decided there are no longer any rules he needs to obey. Whatever Tom is up to, his actions seem to be tolerated by those around him.

As Tom descends into darkness, fragments of a different story begin to emerge. All the women in his world are trying in their own, very different ways to help put him back together.

Starring: Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic, Essie Davis, Kerry Fox, Rachel Griffiths (Source)

Che

Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline. Part One is entitled The Argentine and focuses on the Cuban revolution from the landing of Fidel Castro, Guevara, and other revolutionaries on Cuba to their successful toppling of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista two years later. Part Two is entitled Guerrilla and focuses on Guevara’s attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia and his demise. Both parts are shot in a cinéma vérité style, but each has different approaches to linear narrative, camerawork, and the visual look. (Source)

We Don’t Live Here Anymore

We Don’t Live Here Anymore is a 2004 drama film directed by John Curran. It is based on the short stories We Don’t Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus. (Source)

Here I Am

Karen is a beautiful woman with a dark past, but she’s got potential and she knows it. Upon her release from prison she realises the hardest person to forgive is herself. (Source)

Animal Kingdom

ANIMAL KINGDOM is a powerful crime drama exploring the tense battle between a criminal family and the police, and the ordinary lives caught in the middle.

Starring BEN MENDELSOHN, JOEL EDGERTON and GUY PEARCE, LUKE FORD, JACKI WEAVER, SULLIVAN STAPLETON and introducing JAMES FRECHEVILLE. (Source)

Antichrist

A grieving couple retreat to ’Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse…

Starring: Willem Dafoe & Charlotte Gainsbourg (Source)

Beautiful

Searing and luscious, BEAUTIFUL tells the story of Daniel, a shy and introverted 14 year old boy residing in Sunshine Hills, a suburb living in the grip of fear following the rumoured abductions of three teenage girls. Daniel’s two main obsessions are photography and Suzy, a 17 year old Lolita, a dangerous combination of youth and sexuality. But what starts out as an innocent summer holiday becomes anything but, and they’re drawn into a web of seduction, murder and deceit, from childhood fantasy and into the harsh reality of the real world… (Source)

Lucky Country

1902….the Australian Federation is a year old. Twelve year-old Tom’s beloved father, Nat, has dragged him and his sister, Sarah, to an isolated farm at the edge of the woods. But Nat’s dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at their cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence. But their presence becomes more menacing when one of them reveals a secret: he’s found gold. As the lure of gold infects everyone around him the cabin becomes a psychological battleground in which Tom’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test. (Source)

The White Ribbon

A village in Protestant northern Germany. 1913-1914. On the eve of World War I. The story of the children and teenagers of the choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, the steward, the pastor, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers. Strange accidents occur and gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual. Who is behind it all? (Source)

Candy

A poet named Dan (Heath Ledger) falls in love with an art student named Candy (Abbie Cornish) who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle – and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair. (Source)

Suburban Mayhem

Katrina (Emily Barclay) is a 19-year-old single mum who’s planning to get away with murder. Katrina lives in a world of petty crime, fast cars, manicures and blow-jobs. A master manipulator of men living at home with her father in suburban Golden Grove, Katrina will stop at nothing to get what she wants – even murder. When her father threatens to contact social services and take away her child, Katrina sets in motion a plan to wreak suburban mayhem that will leave a community in shock and make Katrina infamous in a way even she never dreamed of. (Source)

Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck. is set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff—headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom—defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government. (Source)

The Motorcycle Diaries

In 1952, a semester before Ernesto “Fuser” Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across South America. While there is a goal at the end of their journey – they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru – the main purpose is initially fun and adventure. They desire to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) in just four and a half months, while Granado’s purpose is also to court as many women as will fall for his pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Granado’s dilapidated Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa (“The Mighty One”). (Source)

Related readings:

Key Art – The Art of The Process

50 Beautiful Movie Posters

Movie Poster Gallery

Key Art Designs

Where to find Jeremy Saunders on the web

Website: jeremysaunders.com

Blog: Jeremy’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

He was cool enough to sit down with Prodigal Concepts over digital coffee and it’s a treat I’m sharing with all of you a short Q&A with Jirka Väätäinen.

Q: Can you give us a brief bio of how you got into design?

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always done a lot of arts related stuff. Being creative and designing is what I am most passionate about, so it was a natural choice for me to get a higher education degree in design and turn my interests into a career.

Q: And who were your inspirations if you have any? People you look up to for inspiration?

There are so many talented people, and so much inspiring stuff out there that I don’t think I can just name a few people! Different people have inspired me at different times.

Snow White – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Q: Aside from your creative imagination where do you go to or what do use to stimulate creativity?

I draw inspiration from all areas of design and visual culture, whether it is movies, fashion, photography, graphic design or so on. So give me anything visual really, and I am good to go!

Princess Aurora – The Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

Ariel – The Little Mermaid

Q: What was your creative design process while working on the Disney characters?

The design process has been very casual, since the project was self-initiated and it was just something I explored for fun. Being familiar with all the characters and having a clear idea on what I was looking to portray, the process has simply involved finding appropriate inspiration from real life people and photos, and then just working towards achieving my vision in photoshop!

Ursula the Sea Witch – The Little Mermaid

Belle – Beauty and the Beast

Meg – Hercules

Q: Can you share with us (*aspiring creatives) some words of wisdom on how we could harness our creativity and standout from the multitudes of creatives out there?

I would just suggest everyone to have fun and find out what the things are that you genuinely enjoy doing – since after all, standing out will require you to do your own thing!

Jasmine – Aladdin

Esmeralda – The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pocahontas

Mulan

Rapunzel – Tangled

Tiana – Princess and the Frog

I hope you guys enjoyed this post as I have enjoyed working on it, be sure to share it with your friends. And I would like to thank Mr. Jirka Väätäinen who has been generous enough to share his time and his work with us today.

Where to find Jirka Väätäinen on the web

Portfolio: @Behance.net

Blog: Jirka’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, LinkedIn

So even though I’m not a huge fan, I am an admirer of greatness and I recognize greatness when I see one and Steve Jobs is one of the great minds of our generation have produced. He will be terribly missed. So in my humble way I would like to say goodbye to him by sharing with all of you a round up of some art work by fans and how they see the genius, the visionary, the innovator, the inspirational digital icon that is Steve Jobs.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

To infinity and beyond…

adayday

koinoi

dylanroscover

Jboogieman

pequeno3d

wretneck

WorkByNight

donnieraycrisp

entertailion’s photostream

Metin Seven

DonkeyHotey

Photo Giddy’s photostream

karagos

Yo-tan

weird-science

The Ideal Beauty of the Human Body in Art

The idea of the perfect human body is a result of culture: religious functions, economy, advertisement and other factors.

The definition of beauty is not an immanent and objective quality of things, since every age, place and social class formed its own ideal of it, ideal beauty is corresponding with the aesthetic feeling of people of a respecting period.

“History of art” as a relatively young science earlier was called subjectively “aesthetics”. Art was supposed to evoke religious contemplation and/or sensuos and mental delight., as the ancient poet Heliodor postulated.

However according to the great historian Ranke the task of an historian is plainly “to tell as it really was..”, and not his own opinions or feelings.

Actually nowadays we are not any more allowed to call something objectively beautiful, only “to me it is beautiful” or “I like it”, especially since art expresse the disorder and confusion of mankind.

It seem, that there is no more ideals and “anything goes”…

- A Short Introduction to European History of Culture

I have always been fascinated by the “Death’s-head Hawkmoth” used in the “Silence of the Lambs” poster ever since the movie came out way back when. For those who are not familiar with it, these moths are easily distinguishable by the vaguely human skull-shaped pattern of markings on the thorax. But if you look closer, the image used in the movie poster incorporated an original sketch by Salvador Dali which he later collaborated with Philippe Halsman called In Voluptas Mors (1951) where he used actual women to form a large skull.

It is by some creative chance that I’ve stumbled upon a similar imaginative individual who celebrates the human body in all it’s glory, manipulating stock images to create a totally new concept. Let me introduce you to the dreamlike but artistically talented works of…

Cecelia Webber

Our featured artist for today once questioned why we are made to feel so ashamed of the human body especially in the Western culture and so much of the rest of the world? “Isn’t the body a beautiful, wonderful thing, deserving nothing less than to be celebrated?” Cecelia alighted upon a petal in her mind, a new-found platform from which she could quietly challenge the status quo: she created a digital image of a flower constructed entirely from photographs of the naked human body.

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Traveler

Reach

Chrysalis

Cerulean

Monarch

Fuchsia

Vivid

Flowers

White Dandelion

Sunflower

Sunflower (blown)

Blue Bell

Blue Lilac

Cherry Blossom

Jungle Pink

Dragon Flower

Note: Cecelia also dabbles in paintings as a medium, you can get a taste of her works of surreal cityscapes in black and white by heading over and viewing them all from her updated website.

Where to find Cecelia Webber on the web

Website: ceceliawebber.com

Blog: Cecelia Webber’s thoughts (NA)

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com features…

When Captain America throws his mighty shield,

All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield.

If he’s led to a fight and a duel is due,

Then the red and white and the blue’ll come through

When Captain America throws his mighty shield.

- opening theme from the 1960′s Marvel animation series

Captain America “The First Avenger”, is the latest Marvel live action incarnation. This will feature Chris Evans as Steve Rogers “Captain America”, and Hugo Weaving as the “Red Skull”.

Captain America first appeared in March 1941, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Steve Rogers, was a sickly military recruit enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum to aid the United States war effort against the “Axis” powers in World War II. Wearing an American Flag themed costume and wielding a disc shaped shield made of an experimental alloy called “Vibranium”, which was originally intended to be made into tanks. The vibranium was created by accident and never duplicated, attempts to reverse engineer it resulted in the creation of “Adamantium”. Which was later bonded with Wolverine’s skeleton and bone claws.

The movie “Captain America – The First Avenger” will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is scheduled for release on July 22, 2011 in 3D. I hope you all enjoy and find inspiration with this roundup. After all “Cap’n” is known for being relentless, surrender is not a part of his vocabulary, a good trait to have for start-up’s in the web design arena.

ninjaink

cruzaderazn

Ashmantle

herobaka

mbreitweiser

ANDREA11179

isikol

hobo95

agustin09

xzykho

Valzonline

deadhead16mb

sneedd

Ceshira

FlowComa

buchemi

zenithuk

Konjur

xxnightblade08xx

NineteenPSG

Jam-Wah

drawsgood

lovetherobot

Cinar

RentonAlex

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.

Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was widely considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources.

Michael Myer’s (a.k.a. drawsgood) illustration’s falls nothing short of awesome. I first got a whiff of his genius when he did an illustrated series of the characters from the T.V. series “LOST”, immediately I became an instant fan and I’ve been stalking him ever since.

Today I bring to you his rendition of DC heroes and villains (note: actually it’s just one villain but I’m looking forward to more and will update this post when Michael is ready with them. ) He creates them in the styles of modern art deco minimalists which caught my fancy this last couple of years. I’ve been seeing them around a lot lately, mostly cult classics of movies or TV and comic book characters. The layout is simple, the color is flat, the font is classic, the texture is vintage or grunge the impact is jaw dropping, well at least for me it is. But I’m hoping to convert some of you today with the help “drawsgood” himself.

Check them out and enjoy! And may you find inspiration in these masterful works of art by Michael Myers!

DC Heroes

Superman

Batman

Robin

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Flash

Green Lantern

“as featured in Green Lantern in 30 graphic inspirations”

Green Arrow

DC Villains

This is the only DC villain Michael has illustrated so far, but I’m sure he’s working on something and when he’s done we’ll post them here. Besides Lex Luthor is all the super villain you need! He’s a genius, unforgiving, conniving, sneaky, rich, no one knows what he’ll be up to next.

Lex Luthor

One day I will have one of this framed and adorn the walls of my personal office, but for now I’m happy just to be able to check them out from time to time.

If you like Michael Myers creations you may purchase a print copy at imagekind.com or make a statement with his wearable artwork as shirts at threadless.com

Find Michael Myers on the web

Website: www.drawsgood.com

Blog: Drawsgood Illustration and Design Blog

Portfolio: Deviantart, Bēhance, Society6

Social Network: Twitter, Facebook, Linked

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…