hellboy

Internet,

So Dark Horse announced that there would be a hellboy cover contest last wednesday.  The contest was to recreate a Hellboy cover in the wake of Mignola and Fregredo's ending run of this awesome hellboy saga that has been going since I moved to Minneapolis.  The link to the announcement is here if you want to take a look, but lately the server has been crashing (maybe due to too many hellboy enthusiasts?).

Mike Mignola's Hellboy (and all mignolaverse titles) hold a special place in my heart.  In fifth and sixth grade I really wanted to be a comic book artist.  I created my own little universe that was essentially a rip off of marvel.  I don't know what happened- I lost interest for awhile, and became obsessed with girls, drugs, being gothic, trying to be an actor/director, trying to be a fine artist/ muralist/ tattoo artist/ drunkard.  Hellboy got me back into comics.  In his work I saw this different approach to comic art and storytelling and I was riveted to the sequential form for good this time.  It's been seven years or so making my own comics, starting to attend conventions and recently graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a comic art degree.

The past couple months I've worked to secure a graphic design internship.  Just like Mignola inspired me to  be a cartoonist, MCAD inspired me to tackled graphic design.  I've made some good contacts in my search for a graphic design position, but over the last week I've received emails complimenting me on my work but telling me they are looking for someone with a different skill set.  Three emails back, not one interview, and then this hellboy cover contest beckoned to me.  Is the comic deity giving me a slap in the face?  I don't know.  I still love design, web and typography.  But I had a hell of a good time re-drawing mignola's hellboy cover.

Here is the cover I chose to recreate from Hellboy The Wild Hunt #4:

Below is my image for the contest.

There is actually only one thing about the image I did that bugs me a little.  But I'm not going to tell you, cause that would be wrong.

Also, I did this hellboy image when Hellboy 2 the Golden Army came out.  They had a competition for hellboy art and the winner would get to go to the LA premiere and meet Mignola and Guillermo del Toro.  I didn't win.  I didn't hear who did, actually.  But, you know, I scanned it and touched it up in photoshop and I do still like it.  Ki Bae said, "Thanks for drawing that, Daddy, good job."

So, yeah, stuff.  peace out.

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