Category: Pulp artwork

Two new articles, a story in progress, and a drawing for practice

lucina
Rocketeer alien series meme

There seems to be a lot going on at the moment. For the next few weeks the ROCKETEER is going to highlight aliens in honor of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party—a local event celebrating everything UFO. (It’s like McMenamins UFO Festival only smaller.) I’ll be discussing pulp-era and slightly later stories with the themes of invasion, alien manipulation, control, and humanity fighting back in stories ranging from the absurd to the deadly. The first in that series came out this week: “Tactical Error: This Star Shall Be Free.”  The story…

Virgil Finlay and the Art of Scratchboard

lucina
Virgil Finlay meme

Before I get to the ROCKETEER’s post-of-the-week I wanted to say something about writing and money. I have been a non-fiction journalist since 1985. I have been paid for my work more often than not. I do not charge for the ROCKETEER, nor will I. Although it takes quite a bit of time and effort to write every post that doesn’t mean they have monetary value. We seem to have this thing nowadays were we feel we’re owed payment for our efforts–always. I’m not sure that’s true. My favorite writing…

Reconstructing Otho

lucina

In this week’s ROCKETEER I’m talking about a character from the “Captain Future” pulp stories, the android—Otho. More people today know him from the Captain Future anime from the 1970’s than the original stories. The anime takes some liberties with the character’s original design. In my post I talk about those changes and how Otho was originally conceptualized. You can read “Reconstructing Otho” on Substack. I’ve been noodling around with some Otho drawings using the original design from the 1940’s. Because he’s supposed to be a master of disguise and…

Inking Round-up May 2023

lucina
Inking Roundup for May 2023

Art is all about practice, and I practice all the time! My father used to marvel at the fact that I didn’t need any impetus to do art, I just do it. This month I’ve focused on improving my line and brushwork with ink. In this week’s ROCKETEER I show you what I’ve been up to, including a short video, detailing my practice pieces for the month of May. You can read this week’s newsletter here.

Linework and New Pens

lucina
Brush and ink after Cartier

Recently, I have become frustrated with the quality of my brush and ink linework. I was aware that  the type of lines I wanted to create should be created with a real brush and ink but I stuck to my brush pens. They are more convenient, certainly more tidy than dipping a brush into ink. Plus, I have good control over them. Decades ago in graduate school I used a dip pen and brushes with ink. Honestly, when good quality brush pens became available I was glad to make the…

Two items of interest today

lucina

I just finished a pulpy commission for a fellow writer of science fiction, Sarah Anderson. She wanted an alternate cover for her new book, as well as something she could use for postcards. I was happy to oblige and here is the result. I have to admit that it’s fun to paint people with dramatic expressions. Screaming and running from a creepy monster…what’s more pulpy than that? You can find out more about Sarah’s new book here. Next, on this week’s ROCKETEER I talk about how I conceptualized my award-winning…

Roy V. Hunt: A Retrospective, a review

lucina
Roy Hunt: A Retrospective book review

I don’t often review books, mainly because I’m either too soft a touch or, if the book is too bad, I don’t want to talk about it. But here is a case of something well worth a review, not just because the book it’s good, but because it’s historically important. Roy V. Hunt: A Retrospective is a treat, both for pulp fanatics and for artists. You can read my review here. 

Is Anyone Incorruptible?

lucina
The Face of Parody/Is Anyone Incorruptible?

Fritz Lang’s visuals for Metropolis (1927) fascinate me. The story is pure socialist creed, but the imagery remains powerful even after nearly 100 years. I remember seeing the re-mastered version with Queen’s soundtrack during college. And I’ve seen the anime remake as well as enjoying Queen’s 1984 video– “Radio Ga-Ga” –immensely. (An interesting year for that video to appear on the scene, in my opinion.) Michael Wm Kaluta created outstanding images for a remake book of Metropolis some time ago. It was his drawings that inspired the title of my…

Earle K. Bergey Cover Reproduction

lucina
Exciting Sports Comparison

You all know that I like to make pulp copies as part of my on-going learning process. My goal as a pulp painter is to become familiar with the original pulp covers and understand them well-enough in terms of color, composition, themes, etc.. to be able to create my own book covers and fine art paintings which accurately reproduce the look and feel of that era. I believe in creating the whole “package” for my books. I want to create an experience for readers which is immersive. And so far…

Robert Graef copy

lucina
Graef copy comparison The Spot of Life 1932

Here’s my newest pulp copy, Robert Graef’s cover painting for Argosy August 1, 1932 featuring “The Spot of Life” by Austin Hall. This story is sequel to “The Blind Spot” by Hall and Homer Eon Flint. My painting is mainly watercolor with touches of gouache and pastel. It’s always nice to have an excuse to get back to watercolor, it’s such a beautiful medium and ultimately my favorite. This piece was quite challenging but very fun to do. I worked larger than I normally do for copies — 12″ x…