This week's pick:


Thursday, February 11, 2010

G.I. ROBOT by tom fowler



i very nearly didn't get a chance to contribute this week, MY week! i wanted to do a lot more with this, but realized (with help from a lovely yet angry look from my wife) that i had to try and make some money instead. mostly i was trying to emulate the italian painted british war comic covers that i'd found on today's inspiration. i'd originally thought to place jake in the snow of baston; with trees exploding around him and soldiers huddling in their foxholes. but i cannot separate jake from the south pacific.

G.I. ROBOT was one of the first comics to absolutely blow my mind when i was a kid. i think i was in grade four(?) walking home from school with a buddy of mine who was reading this weird-ass book about a robot who came out of a suitcase in the jungle. i was instantly riveted and, reading over his shoulder, just couldn't believe that only a few pages later that same robot was beating the living hell out of a SAMURAI ROBOT with HIS OWN FREAKING HEAD!!!! that image has stayed with me my entire life. it has informed the sense of mischief i try to bring to my work and my undying love of weird.

a little while before xmas (november maybe?) i tweeted to chris, declan, and evan about an idea i had for a challenge if they'd be interested. then we all got busy and i didn't bring it up again. my idea was to do a weekly sketch-off based on a character one of us would pick (me being the first to pick). i had no idea how to collect it, the idea of a group blog being completely foreign to me, so i let it slide. months later during thor week, chris floated the same exact idea and laura put it all together. i want to publicly thank them both for getting something together that my increasingly grampish brain just couldn't seem to process.

btw the title i came up with for my intended sketch-off series?:

"G.I. ROBOTS AT DAWN"

17 comments:

Mitch Gerads said...

Holy Socks! Tom, this is amazing. So intense and GI Robot looks more badass than ever. Absolutely beautiful painting too.

Mitch = Floored.

Mark Kardwell said...

Before this week I'd never heard of this character. Now I'm desperate for some right-thinking Vertigo editor to bring it back!

laura said...

This is flat out gorgeous! I'm speechless!

ANDY KUHN said...

DAYUMM!!! it's fairly clear who has the biggest artistic johnson around here. sweet work, sir!

Ramón k Pérez said...

dear god man! this is spectacular!!

i'd hate to see if you had "more" time... i'm almost glad monique cut you short...

Ramón k Pérez said...

...oh, and now have to come up with a new composition. thanks tom, thanks a lot.

Steve Lieber said...

Astounding work, Tom!

Francesco Francavilla said...

I am gonna give you the same look of your wife (well, almost ;)):
lovely - for the freaking beautiful piece of art you just produced :) - and angry - for the hour you made me spend on the todaysinspiration blog >:(

Perfect cover for this week's jam, Tom!

Cheers,
Francesco

Dan McDaid said...

Fucking YES!

Also, that site you linked to is the tits. Good one!

Doc Shaner said...

Dammit that's a beauty. So you've pitched this, right? Because I want to read this book.

This was a great pick, Tom, in that this is the first character that I had an appreciation for but not a whole lot of familiarity.

Nathan Fairbairn said...

So great, Tom. I love everything about this. Wow.

Craig Zablo said...

Love the feeling of frentic action!

Mike Hawthorne said...

Good God, Tom! This is fantastic! I wanted to paint mine this week too, but like you had to focus on making some dough. BUT now I wish I'd MADE the time! This is inspirational!

Mike

Declan Shalvey said...

Bollicks. This is fantastic man. I can't wait til you do a terrible piece man; i'll rip the shite out of it!

Til then though, this is a wonderful piece man. You are 'bringing it' as they say in the States.

Mitch Breitweiser said...

This one has some BALLS, Tom! Also, I love the Daily Inspiration website. One of my favorite RSS feeds.

Urban Barbarian said...

Coolnesssssssssss!

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