To Be Continued...

My obsession with comic strips, comic books, spaceships and science fiction started with watching the reruns of the Flash Gordon serials (starring Buster Crabbe) on television. I can still remember being captivated as I watched them early Saturday or Sunday mornings with my Father and brother. As a young artist, the serials made an incredible impression on me and my imagination took off.

I have a good friend who is a huge vintage sci-fi and rocketship collector. He has an amazing collection and awhile back we got on the topic of Flash Gordon collectibles. He remarked that, in his opinion, there wasn't an ultimate Flash Gordon painting out there that truly captured the verve of the beloved serial or Buster Crabbe. Everything was nostalgic and not contemporary. We talked about all the great moments of the serial, the visuals and how it would be a great personal project for me. He then talked me into doing this as a commission for him (as well as using it as a promotional piece).



We started to discuss what it should look like and all the elements that it needed in the homage. I've saved you from viewing some of the awful scribbles that I did while we originally chatted about the scope of the piece. Instead I've selected some of the early thumbnails that came out of the discussions and then you'll see how I progressed and narrowed down the elements and design.


I thought that I had it with this one, so I started to focus on the details. Notes were written and I began looking for good reference.


Then I roughed this one out, one day while looking at the development. Something about it felt "right". Even though you probably can't tell by looking at this rough. The design and composition fell into place. So I started to focus on this one:




And from here I narrowed down my references and started to work on individual studies:


The Buster Crabbe study really didn't capture his likeness very well. But, from here I realized what my mistakes were when I began working on the painting.

Everything developed directly on the board. I don't usually start a painting without doing tight pencil drawings and studies to get my homework done. This way I feel like I worked out my problems ahead of time and then I can concentrate on just painting. This one was an exception. Simply, because I was running behind on my self imposed deadline and I wanted to finish it for the upcoming Pulp Show and start showing friends what I'd been working on for the last three - four months (in between assignments).



I started to draw directly on the board, putting all the elements in place and any problems that arose I simply solved them as they occurred.
Once that I completed the drawing (which took about 5 days), I blocked in my darks with Acrylics and started the painting.


The painting took a good week of 10 to 12 hour days. Fortunately, I found a break in my schedule and was able to paint it within that weeks time with some fine tuning of minor details here and there the following week.


Please view the finished painting at my website: www.douglasklauba.com

Wizard World Chicago

You can see me sitting with the crew from Dynamite Entertainment at their panel on Saturday:

11 a.m.-12 p.m.
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
The Dave Stevens Room: 10-11
Join Dynamite Entertainment and special guests from both comics and other media for an exciting hour of news, discussion, free comics and special BIG announcements. It's a DON'T MISS event!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a word or two in on the panel conversation!
See you there!

Sketchbook: Entry 8

Doc Savage

Another Moonstone Books exciting pulp release is soon to be available this summer: Doc Savage, The Lost Radio Scripts of Lester Dent. Among the choice of covers, you'll find mine along with an alternate by Bob Larkin.
From the start, when Joe Gentile started to discuss this cover with me, the pressure was on. Not from Moonstone (well a little) but my own pressure. I had grown up reading Doc Savage The Man of Bronze. First from Marvel Comics, then the Bantam paperbacks, then the George Pal movie (at least the one sheet looked cool!) and later on the pulp reprints and the fan club from Supergraphics. I had even co-published an amateurish fanzine called "The Doc Savage Fan Magazine" with a friend of mine on his mothers mimeograph machine way back in the mid-1970's.
So, the cover was important that it be identified to it's pulp roots as well as something contemporary for the modern book buyer. After focusing on my concept of the classic Pulp Hero, Clark "Doc" Savage as a supreme adventurer and adrenaline junkie, the process began: thumbnails and the typical scribbles to find effective shapes for the design and composition. I then called upon one of my favorite covers from 1935 as inspiration with Monk driving Doc on their vehicles side board at break neck speed. Before finishing the final painting, I added a bullet hole in the windshield to add to the "story" of the piece.

Sketchbook: Entry 7

General Jack Cosmo

I met the creators of General Jack Cosmo a few years ago in Artist's Alley at Wizard World Chicago and they introduced me to their Sci-Fi universe by handing me one of their GJC Preview comic books. Aaron Shaps is a helluva writer and creator and I was very intrigued with what he had handed me to check out. We became quick friends (along with the rest of the creative crew Mike Beazley and Jim McKern) and... to make a long story short: I was commissioned to do a cover for one of their many ambitious projects, General Jack Cosmo and the Vampire Men of Kothos! Aaron describes him best as a cross between Flash Gordon and Hunter S. Thompson. I wanted to do an iconic image that would serve them best and represented an energetic-in your face- pitchfork ready- action pose for the cover and any other merchandise they had planned. I did pages of thumbnails but this one image returned time after time. Do yourself a favor and pick up #1 and #2 at your comic shop, an upcoming comic con or online.
Find out more at: www.cosmo-verse.com

Sketchbook: Entry 6, Pulp!

The Spider Strikes!
From the Pulp file and right out of my Sketchbook, I have a couple of sketches that I worked on with Joe Gentile at Moonstone Books for approval of our design of the classic pulp hero. Moonstone laid out there plans and ideas to introduce The Spider into their new paperback prose line. Joe gave me the specifics that the licensor was asking for: The Spider ring, suit, cape, gloves, hat, wild hair, fangs (no hunchback) and they wanted me to design an original mask. Moonstone presented our original design and drawing to Argosy which was well received. After a couple of adjustments, Moonstone was given the green light to move forward on the project.

Coming up this week end, April 25 - 27 is the Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center. 70 Yorktown Shopping Center in Lombard, Illinois. More info: www.windycitypulpandpaper.com

This is my favorite show and the one I anticipate every year. Amazing Original Art on display and for sale, 1000's of Pulps, Paperbacks and Movie Memorabilia, Old Time Radio and Pop Culture. Come on out and celebrate 75 years of the Hero Pulp Explosion!

New York Comic-Con: Artists Alley H28

The Comic convention that is sure to be the biggest event all year is fast approaching. The New York Comic-Con is April 18-20 at the Javits Center. I will be in Artists Alley at Table #H28 where you can find my Sketchbook, a small selection of Limited Edition Prints as well as original art and drawings from various projects ranging from The Phantom to Project: Superpowers.
Please stop by to say "hello" on Friday or Saturday! Because of my schedule I will not be there on Sunday.

Sketchbook: Entry 5

Beware: the Ides of March


Indian Motorcycles

After I completed the Bosch Company 100th Anniversary Poster, I was commissioned by a local Indian Motorcycle dealership to present concepts for an advertising poster. This was one of those concepts that developed right away from thought to paper with very little time for preliminaries. One of my favorite subjects is Symbolist art and here I used a Native American Indian to hold back the storm as the Indian motorcycle riders ride through. The project was put on hold and then there was the very unfortunate demise of the Indian Motorcycle Company...