Chris Wahl Art

Revolver Rebels

2012-05-23T10:42:00.001+10:00

Two recent illustrations for Revolver magazine in the US. They were for their 'Rebel Meets Rebel' articles where up and coming musicians interview their idols. The first was Jeremy McKinnon (A Day to Remember) interviewing Mark Hoppus (Blink 182), and the second was Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) interviewing Pat Benatar. A lot of fun to do.

Meanwhile in the Australian Outback...

2012-05-23T10:31:00.001+10:00

Two different bits of art but in similar settings. The first one is some Tank Girl fan art done for a recent challenge over at the OzComics group on Facebook. I've been a huge TG fan for decades, and I might have some very interesting news to share in the near future.

The second piece was a mural puzzle done for Optus. In the mural is hidden 26 movies all with an Australian link (actor, director, location etc). See how many you can get.

Wild Thing no more...

2012-05-09T10:46:00.000+10:00

Yesterday saw the passing of Maurice Sendak, children's book author and artist most famously known for his book, 'Where The Wild Things Are'. I loved this book growing up, it really kindled my imagination, and I was lucky enough to be able to make it a part of my son's upbringing as well. This is a little tribute I did after hearing the news. RIP.

Another Björk...

2012-03-27T02:39:00.007+11:00

One more Björk caricature for CS3000. I went a bit wild with this one. I wanted to create something spontaneous without too much planning and thinking. Something full of 'happy accidents'.

Painted in Photoshop.

Björk 3000

2012-03-24T19:33:00.001+11:00

A Björk caricature for Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Painted in Photoshop.

I always enjoy caricaturing Björk, she has a fun, quirky face and personality which lends itself well to exaggeration and experimentation with the caricatures. I've caricatured her a few times in the past, the previous time was for a Caricature Jam on the Drawing Board forums. You can see them here

Ace of Spades

2012-03-11T00:43:00.008+11:00

Three caricatures of Lemmy Kilmister, lead singer and bassist of metal band, Motörhead. One is a nod to their well known song 'Ace of Spades', the second is 'Yosemite Lem' a mashup with Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam and the third is 'Lemmy the Motor Head'.

I'm happy to report that 'Lemmy the Motor Head' won the Lemmy competition out of 350 entries on Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Here's some process steps of 'Ace of Spades'.

Monica Mania

2012-03-06T22:50:00.002+11:00

Here are three caricatures of Italian model and actress Monica Bellucci from a recent challenge over at Caricaturama Showdown 3000. She was a very tough subject to caricature.

Jean Reno visits Sesame Street

2012-02-28T12:54:00.000+11:00

My fun little entry for the Jean Reno caricature challenge over at Caricaturama Showdown 3000.

Tennis with friends

2012-02-14T10:14:00.002+11:00

A caricature of Argentine tennis player, Juan Martin Del Potro and also some caricatures of Facebook friends. Three used brushpen with digital shading, the other is pencil colourised in Photoshop.

EEEK!

2012-02-09T17:08:00.003+11:00

A pinup done for a friend's horror anthology comic called 'EEEK!'. Done in Photoshop.

I wanted to avoid portaying a completely helpless victim, so I included little elements that would hint she has a fighting chance.

For the proprtions of the design I used the Golden Ratio layout. I've never used it much, so hopefully I applied it correctly. You can see how I used it here.

Danger 5!

2012-01-31T21:54:00.001+11:00

Late last year I did some art for a fantastic Aussie indie TV series called Danger 5. It's a weird 60's inspired WWII action spoof with Nazi dinosaurs, German/Japanese supersoldiers and other off the wall characters, incorporating the best of old spy movies and the worst of Italian cinema. I was approached to do some art for the DVD and posters and had a ball doing it.

Below is the art of the Danger 5 team, there's also some closeup detail shots and lastly some of the sketches and previous layout ideas. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed producing them. And do yourself a favour, hop on Youtube and check out Danger 5. You won't regret it!

Ricky Gervais

2011-11-28T00:32:00.004+11:00

A caricature of Ricky Gervais done for the Facebook Caricaturama Showdown 3000 challenge. Digitally painted in Photoshop.

Wheel of Life, Wheel of Death

2011-10-14T00:13:00.003+11:00

Another Steve Jobs caricature. 'Wheel of life, Wheel of Death'. One is part of the Buddhist philosophy which Steve followed, the other is a dreaded sight to any Apple user.

The colour elements are clip art from the internet. I didn't draw those.

Head of Apple

2011-10-08T22:07:00.004+11:00

A little tribute to Apple's mastermind and innovator, Steve Jobs who passed away a few days ago. This is based on a younger photo of him circa 1985, around when the first Macintosh computer was released.

Brushpen and Photoshop.

Van Gogh

2011-10-06T12:19:00.010+11:00

My rendition of Vincent Van Gogh. I noticed how earshaped his head was in his self portraits, so I thought it would be interesting to explore the concept of his madness and the possible reason behind him cutting off his own ear- the persistent nagging of the artist's self-doubt and the sinister whisperings of his insanity.

For this I used dry brush and Photoshop.

Tom Waits

2011-10-03T22:43:00.006+11:00

A caricature of gravel-voiced singer/songwriter, Tom Waits. Ink and Photoshop.

Big Badaboom!

2011-09-01T21:09:00.010+10:00

One of my favourite sci-fi movies is a 1997 flick called 'The Fifth Element'. This is a couple of scenes I did from the movie in a comicbook style for a drawing jam on Facebook. It would have been a lot of fun doing a comic adaption of this movie. Loads of great characters and costumes.

EDIT 9th May 2012- The Multipass pic is getting voiced and animated as a little animatic promotion through my reps. I'll post it when I'm able.

OPTIMUS!!!....Optimus??

2011-08-27T01:26:00.016+10:00

A bio-mechanical/insectoid reinterpretation of Optimus Prime from Transformers. This sketch was done for a challenge on Facebook. Pencil and Photoshop.

I figured an advanced race of robots would be more organic instead of clunky metal.

By Crom, everything's Smurfy!

2011-08-24T15:48:00.015+10:00

Two nightly sketches- Smurfette from The Smurfs and Conan the Barbarian. Both of whom have movies out at the moment.

The Smurfette is a companion piece to another Smurfette I did 5 years ago. Here's a link to the old one.

I can haz Hellboy?

2011-08-18T04:00:00.013+10:00

Hellboy and some kittens. Done for the latest OzComics Hellboy challenge on Facebook. A colour version and the original black and white. Pencil and Photoshop.

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

2011-08-17T09:58:00.014+10:00

Ah, good ol' zombies. To me, drawing zombies is the culinary equivalent of eating 'comfort food'- a nostalgic, sentimental and relaxing experience. They're always fun to draw, no rules and no limits. Good times with the undead...

Anyway, this was done for a challenge over at the OzComics group on Facebook, I didn't complete it in time due to paid work, but I can never leave a zombie piece unfinished. I originally intended to blend the pencilwork and colours together to get a more painterly finish, but I found it lost the energy and grittiness that was in the pencils, so I just left it as is.

(The title of this post is reference to a song by LMFAO called 'Party Rock Anthem'. It has a great music video with a zombie '28 Days Later' vibe.)

Forms and Figures

2011-08-12T17:44:00.008+10:00

Lately I've been making a conscious effort to improve my art (well, I should say more than usual as I'm always trying to improve). Specifically, I've been working on improving my use of values and form and also brushing up on my human anatomy knowledge (which is a neverending task). Basically, filling in all the huge gaps that get overlooked when one is self taught.

Anyway, here are some forms and figures (of the female variety). Why not have fun while you learn, I say.

CLICK FOR UNCROPPED IMAGE (Warning: nudity)

CLICK FOR UNCROPPED IMAGE (Warning: sexy underwear)

Also here was a fun exercise exploring different lighting setups on my older Velma piece.

Great White

2011-08-06T22:57:00.013+10:00

A little something for the close of Shark Week. I'm fascinated by sharks and have the utmost respect for them, but the thought of seeing a Great White emerge from the hazy water towards me has always been a thing of nightmares.

This started as a shaded pencil drawing which was then coloured and blended in Photoshop. Here's a link to the pencil sketch.

(...and no, it's not Bruce from Finding Nemo, although when caricaturing a Great White those comparisons are inevitable)

The Power of the Imagination

2011-08-01T21:08:00.005+10:00

This piece was done for the themed topic of 'Power' for my reps over at The Drawing Book Studios. My interpretation explores the power of a child's imagination. Digitally inked and coloured in Photoshop.

All things Chewie

2011-06-20T22:03:00.012+10:00

You may remember my Hoth Encounter piece I did for Acme Archives a few years back...well, not to sound like I'm flogging a dead Wookiee, but the piece recently resurfaced in a few exciting places.

Firstly, I was informed that my piece was featured in the latest Star Wars Galaxy trading card series 6. As a result, a few people sent trading cards my way to be signed and I ended up doing a few sketch freebies in the process. One of them I coloured up for fun. If anyone wants their cards signed, feel free to email me for my address and I'll try and find the time to do a little sketch as well.

Secondly, I found out that my piece made an appearance in the nerd comedy, 'The Big Bang Theory', hanging as a print in Leonard's bedroom. Blink and you'll miss it, but a spinout nonetheless.

Thirdly, I was happy to hear my Chewie print is available for purchase at both Disneylands in the US! Nothing says Disney more than a big hairy Wookiee. ;)

Well, that's enough of me tooting my own trumpet. I guess a bit of self promotion can't hurt once in a while.

I'll be posting some new work soon. Thanks everyone for your continuing support.