Hey I've got a new blog!
Hello there fine friends, welcome to the new hub of my online existence!
As of now I have just transferred some of my older blog entries over here from but I'll soon be creating a bunch of new content. So be sure to follow me here by bookmarking, using the subscribe feature or even by mailing yourself a reminder to check my blog every week. I recommend USPS First Class mail for the latter. You won't be sorry.
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I have always seen pop culture as double-edged: it can be both off-putting and massively entertaining. While some of my Etsy items are a direct reflection of my love for pop, others come against the notion entirely. I'm enjoying both directions.
Most, if not all of my creations start as traditional paintings. For a long time, I was working heavily digitally but I felt the need to get away from the computer screen. Although I firmly believe that medium has little to do with the quality of artwork, I just needed to get some paint under my fingernails.
From our little dining room/office, my wife and I print, pack and ship all the packages here. They're all put out with love and I try to really make sure that all my customers are happy.
Thanks for visiting! Support your Arts community!
billmain.etsy.com
Featured On
Here are some places around the web that I have had the pleasure of being featured.
Mustache eye wear?
A little illustration for Nate Williams creACTIVISTS site. Plus I finally got to try out my Manga Studio app! The excercise is a Must(have)stache. I’m getting a little older and I need my glasses more and more soooooo…
Here’s the gallery: creACTIVISTS
Double the Dragon, Double the Fun
Double Dragon.
This is a game with so much awesomeness going for it that its hard not to love it. I grew up playing the arcade version of the game at a local neighborhood convenience store. This was one of those places where they had maybe two or three fluttering flourescent lights and what must have been 20 year old pickles in jars on the counter filled with Reanimator bright green pickle juice. Tucked away in the front corner of the store was a line of literally the cream of the crop arcade stand up machines. It really puzzles me, looking back, to understand how this store had such great games. I doubt that the crotchety older gentleman who owned the place knew what he was doing when he was picking which games to put in his store. Maybe he was a time traveller, knowing that his proper selection of grade A game choices would set up a lifetime of illustration fodder for me. Yeah, thats it. Thank you, you space-time continuum tripping sourpuss. Thank you.
Ah, but I digress. The home version of Double Dragon on the Nintendo, as well as the arcade, was perfect in its simplicity. The main difference being the one player aspect of the NES port (but I’ll go on about that later.) The game is perfectly simple; it tells you all you need to know about your motivation for the coming beat down that will be laid to the evil Shadow Warrior gang in the first couple seconds of gameplay. There is no long written out intro, there is this:
WHHHHHHHHAAAAAAT??!!
Those dudes just gut punched your girl and walk away with her like an evil marching band! It’s on like Donkey Kong.
And so you travel through this relatively short yet ridiculously difficult game learning new moves, fighting new enemies and getting closer to rescuing your girlfriend.
As I said, the main difference between the home NES version and the arcade game was the number of players. The arcade game, which came out first, offered two player, simultaneous beat em up action. The players would work side by side, as brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee. The storyline was to rescue their uh, collective girlfriend from this rival gang. So kids around the world got used to fighting side by side with their primary color clad brother in a display of brotherly love that was downright sickening.
On the other hand, the NES port of the game disposed of the two player together aspect entirely. I’ve read online that this was because programmers had problems making the NES work well with the simultaneous fighting but I offer you a different reason. I think that the way Jimmy Lee is revealed in this game offers a bit more exitement to the storyline. In the arcade game, you work your way through the gang until you meet machine gun toting Willy. He is the boss of the gang and when you defeat him, you save your girl. In the home port, after defeating Willy, it is revealed that the until now invisible Jimmy Lee was behind the capture of your beautiful girlfriend. WHAT?! Bro come on, really?
So the game takes on this underlying sibling rivalry that wasn’t really present in the original. I like it, you can do what you will with it.
SO anyway, whew! On to the illustration. This game always makes me think of the Warriors film. Gosh I love that movie. Can you dig it? The costumes, the feel of the atmosphere and the ridiculous attitudes of the characters just made it so fun. In a way, this illustration is dedicated to the fun of that film as well as Double Dragon. In my mind, they go hand in hand.
The characters, Abobo and Chin Tamei even make an appearance in this illustration because what fanboy doesn’t remember the sheer terror when an Abobo appeared or the utter frustration that was fighting Chin?
This is an original illustration made for the bros at PaletteSwap. I was honored to be able to choose the theme for January for the video game cover art blog. My theme: Double Dragon of course!
So, if you’d like to hang this guy on your wall and remember the good ‘ol days with a couple of spiteful, angry brothers, you can go and order a print at my shop.
Giant Robot Post-It Show 8 preview
It’s that time of year again…
The time of year where you struggle to find the perfect gift for your weirdo brother or sister. Well look no further because the Giant Robot annual Post-It Show is here again!!
Curated by the lovely and talented pair of Mark Todd & Esther Pearl Watson, the Post-It Show is now in it’s eighth incarnation. Post-Its are $25 each- cash and carry- for original artwork from world renowned artists!
Stop by Giant Robot 2 in Los Angeles on December 8th from 6pm-10pm and you’ll be able to rub elbows with the masters. Most art sells on opening night so get there early!
For my theme this year, I decided to go with some of my favorite deceased professional wrestlers. Come buy them.
Ravishing Rick Rude
December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999
December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999
Road Warrior Hawk
September 12, 1957 – October 19, 2003
September 12, 1957 – October 19, 2003
Big Boss Man
May 2, 1962 – September 22, 2004
May 2, 1962 – September 22, 2004
Mr. Perfect
March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003
March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003
Macho Man Randy Savage
November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011
November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011
Bam Bam Bigelow
September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007
September 1, 1961 – January 19, 2007
Thanks to deadwrestlers.net for the information.
Illustration Friday- ZOOM
Illustration Friday- ZOOM
For whatever reason, I thought of Rear Window and I wanted to paint Jimmy Stewart with googly eyes. Remember kids, you can never go wrong with googly eyes. Never.
We barf because we love…
It’s not an uncommon thing to say that everyone shows love in their own way. In fact, I’m sure that love looks different in different parts of the world. Yet I sure can’t understand why we have people use the term “love birds.” Um, people, have you seen birds take care of each other? They literally vomit into each other’s mouths. INTO THEIR MOUTHS! Ahem..uh forgive me my friend…just had to get that out.
My wife had a parrot when she was growing up that would fling her deliciously regurgitated nuts and millet up and fling it all around her room. Then she would stare at you with her love eyes and go, “Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiwiwiwi” in a soft voice. She only knew one word, her name. Kiwi. Kiwi lives at the in-laws house. Just for the record, she lives there because of our crazy bird blood-craving cats and not because of my callous, vom-hating heart.
At any rate, I wanted to make a card for all you lovers out there and somehow it got synthesized with my feelings about Kiwi regurgitating on me. Here you go!
You can go right ahead and order one or five thousand of these or my other cards over at my Etsy shop.
Abobo lives, brother!
Still working piecemeal on this illustration project. If you don’t know Abobo at this point you really should.
He’s a Double Dragon villain but more importantly he is the star of his own video game:Abobo’s Big Adventure. I had no part in this game…I just think it’s fantastic. It is fun and highly playable. Did I mention it is free? If you are the kind of awesome that I think you are, you can figure out how to hook up a controller to your computer and play it that way. Do the Googles bro.
Original Abobo:
This is something like how my Abobo will be looking:
Original Abobo image courtesy of the Sprite Database
New sketch
Here’s a sketch for something I’m working that will be done in a few months…
Just thought I’d share. 
Have a great Saturday!
Have a great Saturday!
Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers hug.
I have two brothers. One older, one younger. None of us have the ability to shoot fireballs, fly, turn into statues, frogs, raccoons, jump over lava pits that are ten times as long as we are tall. I know two brothers who do have those abilities and more. You may think that those abilities would make these two guys an inseparable team that could work through any issues, but I say nay. Nay I say!
The Mario brothers were two skilled tradesman who were mystically transported to the Mushroom Kingdom just to be inundated with trials and tribulations of an unearthly degree all in an attempt to save a princess they had just met. We can assume they were benevolent guys since there is never any mention of a reward for saving said princess. That makes me think the the princess became the reward for both brothers. There is an instant set up for sibling rivalry.
If you notice, the brothers are rarely shown on screen at the same time without being pitted against each other. I can say for myself that playing Super Mario 3 with my older brother was a lesson in pain. Every time I passed by one of the levels he had beaten, he would initiate the Mario Bros. mini game and steal my lives and inventory items. A worse frustration was never known. Controllers were wielded like nunchucks, brotherly beatings happened-usually quietly so our mom didn’t make us stop playing. Craziness. I’m sure I did something equally as irritating to my younger brother through a later Mario game. My point is that the Mario brothers breed rivalry even if it is funny at times.
So I decided to paint these guys locked in a forever stare that lends us some insight to their family dynamics. Things were simpler when all they had to do was snake drains and unclog toilets.
So I decided to paint these guys locked in a forever stare that lends us some insight to their family dynamics. Things were simpler when all they had to do was snake drains and unclog toilets.
These guys sold super quick but if you're interested in a custom order please contact me via my contact button above or via my Etsy shop!
Elvis Presley, your hunk o’ burning love.
Random facts about Elvis Presley:
He made 31 movies.
He only played 5 shows outside of the United States. 100% of those were played in Canada.
Nicolas Cage is the only person outside of Elvis’ immediate family to have seen the inside of Elvis’ bedroom at Graceland.
In the 60′s Elvis had a pet dog and a chimpanzee. Because he was Elvis.
Elvis was abducted by aliens on August 16, 1977
He became supreme overlord of the Klatuu nebula on September 20, 1978. This was the fastest rise to power since the Glarkon debacle of Lerdnon 7.
Elvis’ first act of power was to abolish the stardate system and transfer all dating to the Gregorian calendar. He felt star dating was “like, too far out man.”
thanks to hollywoodscoop.com for the great facts. You guys are great.
Weird Al print over at the Etsy...
That’s what the kids call it right? The Etsy? Ok, good.
If you’ve been following this here blog, then you may remember that I painted a painting of the incredibly talented and super hilarious “Weird” Al Yankovic a little while ago. If you wanted to, you could see that here. If not, that’s ok…I won’t judge you.
I reworked the image a bit and I am now offering it as a print in my Etsy shop!
I chose to give Al his vintage look back in the new image. This decision is coming partly from my overwhelming obsession with the movie UHF and partly because it just makes the image more “Weird Al-ish.”
At any rate, here it is!
If you are so inclined, and I do recommend it, you can go and purchase a print of this here painting here.
Ikari Warriors arcade game art
So when I heard that the Summer theme for PaletteSwap was golden age arcade games I was like, “Whaaaaaaaaaat gurl?” What was weird was that there was no girl there, just my cat Mustachio and she looked at me like I was going to give her pets. I was like,”No Mustachio, this is my time. Go do cat things.” Then my wife came into the room and we started breakdancing. 15% of that story is true. I will let you decide which parts.
Alas, the PaletteSwap theme WAS Golden Age arcade games. I was and am still stoked.
I grew up in San Pedro, California. Why is this important? Because that means I was only a hop, skip and a jump away from Torrance and in Torrance resided the Del Amo Mall. What was in the Del Amo Mall you ask? A Game Stop? No! Game Stop wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye of a tiny nerdboy yet. What lived in a dark and greasy corner of the mall was far better.
Aladdin’s Castle
photo from snk-capcom.com
I actually just found out it was the testing center for new Neo Geo games too. Thanks internet!
Aladdins castle was a real video game arcade. As soon as you walked in your senses were going coo coo crazy. Your nose was greeted with sour b.o. as soon as your feet crossed the threshold. You cant keep a good nerd from sweating profusely when he’s playing Rushin’ Attack. Ears were met with the cacophonous sound of a hundred different games blasting at full volume and your eyes were full to the brim of colors, lights, and a huge array of multicultural nerdfare.
Of all those games I played back then I think Ikari Warriors was my chosen illustration this time because it most fits what I really like about the eighties, which take up the bulk of the Golden Age of arcade. I like, nay LOVE, eighties action movies. I actually can’t separate myself from the notion that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the best actor ever. I won’t attempt to justify that. I just lost some of you. I know that but it doesn’t matter. At any rate, Ikari Warriors celebrates the idea of two dudes taking down a whole army, armed with nothing more than a machine gun and a couple grenades. It was super fun and SUPER hard. I chose to model my characters after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris and what came of it is a poster for the greatest eighties movie never made.
Here are some shots of the original game:
photo from flyers.arcade-museum.com
photo from gamasutra.com
Did I mention that you only had a limited amount of bullets? What? Ridiculously hard game.
PaletteSwap’s Tumblr is here.
Ok so I must say that while I was making the illustration, I also decided that I wanted to push it a little farther. I’ve never actually made any papercraft toys before but I saw a couple papercraft arcade cabinets pop up when I was searching for the game screenshots. I have always kind of admired the idea of making tiny versions of bigger things and I wanted to play with it. After following a couple directions from other papercraft sites on how to make an arcade cabinet, I decided to mock up my own version. I wanted the thing to be able to print large but not so that you’d have to get any wonky sized paper or use a larger format printer. The plans ended up printing on two 8.5″x11″ pieces of paper. I used a couple sheets of 110 lb. card stock because I wanted to make sure it stuck around for a while. I made the plans available at my Etsy shop for a nominal fee. The PaletteSwap blog is a non-comissioned art blog so we as artists don’t make any money directly from it. We just love what we are doing. However, I thought it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to make this thing multi task for me as I put a bit more effort than just an illustration.
Anywho, these things look super cool on your desktop and if you spray them lightly with some varnish, they’ll last a long time.
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| Notice, the quarter stacked in the little gutter under the game screen. In arcade language, this means you've held your place for the next game. |
Ron Swanson Approves of This Message
What can I possibly say about Ronald Ulysses Swanson that hasn’t been said more eloquently in the hallowed halls of the Interwebs before? Nick Offerman’s portrayal of manly man Ron Swanson is just great to my wife and I. There aren’t many TV shows we watch now that we don’t serve the cable gods anymore. However, we do Hulu the proverbial crap out of Parks and Recreation.
Perhaps I can’t say it in words but I sure can try with some paint. I kept looking at this blank spot on our dining room wall and I decided that we needed some food related art.
Undoubtedly, Ron Swanson’s culinary leanings tend toward the meaty side of life. Whether its meat burgers made of meat, Meat Tornado burritos, or just a good old fashioned cookout, Duke Silver is a carnivore to the core. I thought it fitting to have him grace our walls with his semi-inspirational slogan for his signature dish, theTurf & Turf. It consists of one 16 oz. Rib-eye steak, one 24 oz. Porterhouse, a cigar and a glass of whiskey. By the way, although commonly thought to be the same, Rib-eyes and Porterhouse steaksare different. I did some research. I’d tell you the specifics but you should really look into the matter for yourself. You know, teach a man to fish…(for sport only, fish meat is practically a vegetable.)
Perhaps I can’t say it in words but I sure can try with some paint. I kept looking at this blank spot on our dining room wall and I decided that we needed some food related art.
Undoubtedly, Ron Swanson’s culinary leanings tend toward the meaty side of life. Whether its meat burgers made of meat, Meat Tornado burritos, or just a good old fashioned cookout, Duke Silver is a carnivore to the core. I thought it fitting to have him grace our walls with his semi-inspirational slogan for his signature dish, theTurf & Turf. It consists of one 16 oz. Rib-eye steak, one 24 oz. Porterhouse, a cigar and a glass of whiskey. By the way, although commonly thought to be the same, Rib-eyes and Porterhouse steaksare different. I did some research. I’d tell you the specifics but you should really look into the matter for yourself. You know, teach a man to fish…(for sport only, fish meat is practically a vegetable.)
I worked up a little print of this painting over at my Etsy shop. You can buy it here…because you are a free American. Unless you’re not. Then just buy it because you’re awesome.
illustration friday -subtract-
Thats all I see in my bank account…Subtraction. Just like everyone else. YAY! Here's a piece I did for Illustration Friday's theme, "Subtract".
Bullet in the Brain - Tobias Wolff
I was feeling a little stuck in a rut so I enlisted the talents of a good friend and former instructor Jeffrey Smith. He acted as Art Director on this and sent me on a little tour of short stories about the extraordinary within the mundane. This story, written by Tobias Wolff, is called Bullet in the Brain. You can read the story here. Synoptically speaking, its about an older cantankerous book critic standing in a line at the bank. Bank robbers come in, the book critic mouths off to them and he receives a bullet in the brain. The real bulk of story actually occurs in the microsecond that the bullet hits the brain and travels through his head. It delivers a shock of memory as his life passes before his eyes.
I’ve found myself wondering from time to time if a person’s life does indeed, “flash before their eyes” if they are killed with no warning.
For the image, I set the scene in a bank. I cropped Anders’ head so it was more of a framing device. Because I chose to use the moment of action as the image, I felt like if the viewer’s eye was panned out too far to see the gun’s muzzle flash , Anders’ bodily reaction to the gunshot, and the masked robber it would be a little heavy handed. (At least the way I kept drawing it.) For color, I kept the "present" in monochrome, as I feel that Anders had lost his zest for the life he was living. It is telling of his nature that he doesn’t think of classic, pivotal moments that one might remember in their last moments. Anders keeps this interaction with his childhood peers deep in his psyche. He feels the heat, smells the air, and sees the yellow summer grass on the baseball field. So, instead of having this meaty, bloody spray shooting out of this gentleman’s head,(as I initially drew) I kept working until I saw something a bit more visually interesting and ethereal. I like the play between the figures in color and the cropped out figure in B&W. For myself, memories are often triggered by something I see right in front of me, so I wanted a little play between the “then” and the “now.”
I started with a simple line drawing with a wash. I used a #6 sable round just to get my major shapes in order without having to fuss later on.
From here, I just started dropping in tone and color. Its kind of an intuitive process when it comes to color choice. There are certain colors that don’t make natural sense to go a certain place but I’ll put them there just because I like how it reacts with the color next to it. I like this stage. Its like a patchwork at this point and I can decide what to leave out and what to push a little further. Now is when I reassess my initial thoughts on where I want to lead the eye, value and which colors to bring out more.
I add a little more focus on the “memory” part of the image and call it done. Last image is the final image.
For the image, I set the scene in a bank. I cropped Anders’ head so it was more of a framing device. Because I chose to use the moment of action as the image, I felt like if the viewer’s eye was panned out too far to see the gun’s muzzle flash , Anders’ bodily reaction to the gunshot, and the masked robber it would be a little heavy handed. (At least the way I kept drawing it.) For color, I kept the "present" in monochrome, as I feel that Anders had lost his zest for the life he was living. It is telling of his nature that he doesn’t think of classic, pivotal moments that one might remember in their last moments. Anders keeps this interaction with his childhood peers deep in his psyche. He feels the heat, smells the air, and sees the yellow summer grass on the baseball field. So, instead of having this meaty, bloody spray shooting out of this gentleman’s head,(as I initially drew) I kept working until I saw something a bit more visually interesting and ethereal. I like the play between the figures in color and the cropped out figure in B&W. For myself, memories are often triggered by something I see right in front of me, so I wanted a little play between the “then” and the “now.”
I started with a simple line drawing with a wash. I used a #6 sable round just to get my major shapes in order without having to fuss later on.
From here, I just started dropping in tone and color. Its kind of an intuitive process when it comes to color choice. There are certain colors that don’t make natural sense to go a certain place but I’ll put them there just because I like how it reacts with the color next to it. I like this stage. Its like a patchwork at this point and I can decide what to leave out and what to push a little further. Now is when I reassess my initial thoughts on where I want to lead the eye, value and which colors to bring out more.
I add a little more focus on the “memory” part of the image and call it done. Last image is the final image.
sometimes a mistake is a good thing
I started this portrait of Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols and didnt quite hit the likeness on the sketch. However, I really liked the drawing that I did get. So I decided to move forward and finish the piece anyway. I like the way that sometimes a drawing will start as one thing and end up taking on a life of its own. Even something as simple as a portrait…So there you go.
Happy Halloween
Vincent Price being his creepily amazing self. one of my favorite actors of all time. i especially loved his work in the Tilex commercials in the 80′s.
