Dave Dorman’s First-Ever Battlestar Galactica Fine Art Print Launches at SDCC

Dear Friends,

I’m pleased to announce that ANOVOS, famed for their wonderful costume and gear recreations for Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek, asked me to do their first fine art print, which is also my first-ever Battlestar Galactica art from the newest series (2004-2009). Here is just a pencil study I did of Edward James Olmos/Admiral Adama, to give you a sneak peek at a small portion of the art. Most of your favorite characters will be in this piece – a hangar scene – and I hope that you enjoy the work when we unveil it next Wednesday night at San Diego Comic-Con (heretofore referenced as SDCC).

I Am Doing Three SDCC Exclusives this Year:

As always, I’m in Booth #4500, which is an end cap booth facing the lobby between the two F Doors. We are in that first row that runs parallel with the lobby. Joining us this year is Blackwatch Comics, which is ABC’s General Hospital actor and amazing writer Michael Easton (writer, “The Green Woman” for DC/Vertigo) and artist Christopher Shy of Studio Ronin fame. Their SOUL STEALER: The Collector’s Edition is launching at the show – an award-winning goth fantasy trilogy in a gorgeous Taschen-style book. Be sure to check them out. They are also offering sneak peeks at a cool historical fiction novel called “The North End of the World” about one of my favorite photographers, Edward S. Curtis, who documented all of the Native American Indians’ customs and images in photography.

I will have a new limited edition Sketchbook of my pencil illustration art for sale, limited to 250 copies, signed by me. I started this tradition last year and sold out, so I realized this was a worthwhile thing to do and affordable for the fans at just $10 per book.

My first-ever father-son collaboration on a Kaiju (Japanese Monster) toy for Max Toy Company will preview at SDCC (just the art, not the finished pieces) for founder Mark Nagata, a rock star in his own right when it comes to toys.

I will be joining the panel for HEAVY METAL on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. in Room #8. As you may have read in my autobiography, my very first published piece of work in my career was a HEAVY METAL cover, so naturally, I want to help them celebrate their 35th anniversary. This is my 30th anniversary in the business this year.

My Captain America art will be in the MARVEL Comics Pop-Up book launching at SDCC.

I will be happy to sign my Crimson Empire and Darth Maul Dark Horse Comics covers for anyone who would like an autograph. Autographs are ALWAYS FREE. I will be doing a signing in their booth, so check out their website for the dates/times.

Okay, I think that’s everything for now. If you’re a blogger, reporter or journalist wanting to connect with me at the show, please set up your schedule with my PR firm WriteBrain Media – denise@writebrainmedia.com or call 630.845.4694. If you haven’t already, please “Like” my Facebook Fan Page – I’m very active on there – it’s http://Facebook.com/DaveDormanFanPage. Unfortunately, I’m over my limit for people I can friend on my personal page, so I flit back and forth between the two pages these days.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Dave Dorman Art Progressives: Recreating Classic Dave Dorman G.I. Joe Art

Dear Friends,

Most of my fans know that during the mid-’80s to the early ’90s, I worked with Hasbro producing G.I. Joe artwork for their Research and Development Department. This art was done as presentation for the Board of Directors to determine whether any particular character would move forward to future production. My task was to paint the characters designed as 3 1/2″ toys to look like real fighting G.I. Joe characters. None of this work was meant for publication, however, over the years, fans and collectors have seen some of this art via the Web or fan club communications. (One of the future projects I am hoping to get off of the ground is a collection of all of this unseen artwork into a G.I. Joe/Hasbro art volume. I will keep you up to date on information as this project progresses.)

I have many fans contact me directly about the art I did during this period. Recently one of those fans asked if I’d be interested in recreating some of those pieces for his private collection. This is not something that I normally do, but this particular fan showed so much enthusiasm that I thought that it might be fun to see how I would approach these paintings almost 20 years later. I took on his commission for the three recreations and now I present to you one of them as an art progressive:

Pencil on Illustration Board Recreating the Character to Be Painted

Progressive #2:

The original landscape for this painting had a textured rock pattern that I applied with very thick gesso. I repeated that technique on this new board as well.

Progressive #3:

Here I start laying in some of the b/g colors, starting with the explosion in the mid left.

Progressive #4:

The b/g is almost complete at this point with the main figure clean so that when I add color to the figure, it will be unencumbered by underpainting.

Progressive #5:

After the b/g dries, I now lay in the underpainting for the basic colors of the figure.

Progressive #6:

Continuing similar to the previous photo, I lay in the rest of the colors for this figure.

Progressive #7:

With the basic tones being laid down in oils, I now begin the detail work with acrylics, starting with the head and moving downward.

Progressive #8:

Work continues with the acrylics, adding more detail to the body and his equipment.

Progressive #9:

At this point, I've completed some of the finer shadowing details and refinements with various shades of gray markers. You'll note final details on the ground and some color corrections for the background. The above is the finished piece.

This piece was 16″ x 20″ oil, acrylic and marker on gessoed illustration board. It is the exactly the same size as the original Hasbro artwork. If you have comments or questions about this piece, please feel free to post them here.

Many of my G.I. Joe fans have asked me about commission work or recreations. This is the first one I have ever done, and I did enjoy bringing back good memories of working with the artists and creators at Hasbro. I would certainly be happy to do more of this type of work if any of you are interested. Please feel free to email me directly at  dormanart@yahoo.com or message me via Facebook

As always, I thank you for your time and interest in my work.

Dave

Dave Dorman New Star Wars Crimson Empire Art, Horror Art, Some Studio Pictures and Some News

Dear Friends,

First off, here’s a video of the new SPECTRUM 18 book: My art is featured at about 2:18 and 5:18 in this video: http://bit.ly/uOTP3G

Also, here’s the new-on-the-retail shelves cover I did for the first new STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE comic by DARK HORSE:

STAR WARS CRIMSON EMPIRE COVER ART By DAVE DORMAN

I got a nice review from Geeks of Doom, which you can see here: http://bit.ly/rSyjuC

I hope some of you are coming out to the “MALEFICIUM” multimedia horror art show at Kosart Effects Studios & Gallery on Saturday night in Westmont, IL – a Chicago western suburb. It is on the order of more of a New York show with the caliber of talent involved, so we hope to see some of you there. I did a fun new horror piece here below, and in keeping with my sense of humor, I did a little “Rocky and Bullwinkle” thing with the title, which I am calling  “The Portrait of an Artist as a  Tortured Soul ,” or: “Cthulu! Gesundheit!”

Cthulu: Gesundheit! by Dave Dorman Oil and Acrylic on Canvas

Okay, here are some goofy pictures of a quick walk down to my “Dave Cave,” a.k.a. my studio. We have a house built into a hill, so we have a walkout basement, and I have taken the entire basement over as my studio. It’s sort of like a “garden apartment” with a lot of light coming in the windows, which are above ground. I didn’t stage any of this, just took some impromptu pictures, so forgive the mess. More pictures to come, but I really must clean some of the mess before I go posting them on the web.

Here’s what you see when you come down the basement stairs. My wife and I are big fans of BBC comedy League of Gentlemen, hence the Royston Vasey signage. At the foot of the stairs is a piece that brings me a lot of joy, a Star Wars painting by my friend Christopher Moeller. On the right you’ll see the hint of my Rocketeer cut-out, which was a character created by a dear friend, the late, great artist Dave Stevens.

Entrance to the Dave Cave...Beware!

When you get to the bottom of the stairs, here’s what you’ll see – my treasured autographs from 501st Members from around the world that I gathered during Star Wars Celebration shows. It brings me a lot of joy to see these every day.

You Are Now in the Dave Cave...

Another Viewpoint of the Entrance to the Dave Cave

My father-in-law built me all of these wonderful built-in shelves and I really use them. You’ll see there’s a “Dog Fight” game on my shelf. My brother Jeff and I played this game as kids. We were never allowed to keep our toys as we were military brats, always moving from base to base and having to give up all of our toys. I saw this one day on eBay and I HAD. TO. HAVE. IT. Now I’m addicted to toys, and intent on keeping every toy I have. Sometimes I share with my son, but not always.

Here are some paintings you may recognize to the right wall walking toward my great room of the Dave Cave. The cleavage painting in latex on the right is for sale. Make me an offer.

Right Hallway of the Dave Cave, Leading Into the Great Room

Here is the wall to the left, walking down that same hallway.

Crimson Empire Cover Art Rests on the Left-Side Hallway Wall

Some of Dave Dorman’s Private Toy Collection on eBay

Hi Everyone,

Like all of you, we’re busy gearing up for Thanksgiving. I will post another blog on this closer to the big day, but I have much to be thankful for this year.

For the next few weeks I will be having a number of eBay auctions, selling some of my toy/action figure/figurines that I have received as samples from the manufacturer. Many of these are variants.  I am selling some as sets, as well as individual pieces. I am not asking collector’s prices, just what I think is reasonable. A lot of these will make fun Christmas/Hanukkah/holiday gifts for the kids, especially if they’re San Diego Comic-Con, Micronauts or GI Joe fans.

So here is the listing from this week’s lots:

A Dave Dorman Original Painting:
http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay&LogUID=iguana58&CurrentPage=MyeBaySummary&migrateVisitor=3

A set of San Diego Comic-Con International Branded Super Heroes Rubber Ducks, signed by me, from my goodie bag as VIP Guest this year!:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665951692&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Space Glider:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665973158&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Acroyear:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665973158&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Membros:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665984113&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Time Traveler
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665987176&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

GI JOE Baroness Mini-Bust:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665993955&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Force Commander CLEAR
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270666010549&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Micronauts Force Commander RED
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270666013169&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

As always, I thank you for your time & interest in what I’m up to.

Dave.