Nuthin' but Mech

Calm down, calm down! It's not a typo. I know how to spell 'nothing', okay?
What I am not sure about is how to spell oarsum.
Regardless, oarsum is how best to describe the new book based on the fantastic blog of same misspelled name.
It's chock full of amazing robot art and also this badly postured slackerbot from me, Greg Broadmaugh.
It's an old un' I know, I know, but you know what's also getting old? Your attitude, that's what.

Go buy it or don't.

Villains and Assassins

Strychnin Gallery in Berlin is having a new show opening 10th of August featuring some incredible artists.
I have a couple pieces in the show including this limited edition piece called Robot Killer and one of the Dr. Grordbort's Rayguns.

At the moment, Strychnin is the only gallery in the world to sell Robot Killer and it's limited to 20 prints.


That's right 20. I said 20 and I mean 20. 
After all 20 are sold, I will delete the files but burn one last copy to a USB stick. I will then cover it in peanut butter, eat it, digest it and shit it into sewerific oblivion where only giant rats or crocodiles can reproduce it for their unknowable subterranean purposes.

Although not clinically tested, purchasing one of these prints will likely cure your lumbago and dog-herpes, so between that and the sewer thing, you kinda have to buy one.

The show features some annoyingly terrific artists like George Pratt, Christian Gossett, Paul Tobin, and my personal favourite, Many More.

I will also not be doing the USB sewer thing.

Bestiary of the Cosmos part 4

A new Venusian creature from my Bestiary of the Cosmos series, Milton's Drunken Fussock.

Read more about it here at DrGrordborts.com, and check out the others I posted previously on the blog  here:
Bestiary of the Cosmos pt 1
Bestiary of the Cosmos pt 2
Bestiary of the Cosmos pt 3

Triumph is on its way.

I just received a proof copy of my new Dr. Grordbort's book - Triumph.


At 20 of your finest North American doubloons you'd be mad not to buy one and help me to save towards that private island I've had my eye on.
You be stealing from yourself really - not buying a copy is like burgling the joy from your very soul.
You wouldn't download a pirated DVD, so why would you even consider deleting the happiness from your own heart?
Think of the children for a second. Think of all the little children starving in Africa - it's a sobering thought isn't it?
Well, if you buy my book you'll stop thinking of them for probably like half an hour at least - that's got to be worth it.

ORDER it NOW at WetaNZ.com

More info.

Epac T-Rex Speed Painting

While I was at Epac in Saxon, Switzerland, I did a short speed painting seminar.
In a surprising turn up for the books, I drew I dinosaur.
I know, I know - I like to stretch myself sometimes.
Below is a very intermittent step guide of how it came to be.

Thanks to Patrizia and her fantastic team and to the students that looked after me while I was there and made me feel like part of their family.

Runny the T-Rex ltd ed print on sale at EyeBall Kicks

Art Workshop in Switzerland

Pretty soon I'm heading over to Germany where the Dr. Grordbort's exhibition will be showing at FEDCON, but following that, I'll be in Switzerland for a few days at the lovely EPAC comics and animation art school.
I'll be doing a workshop while there  so if you're local, please come along.

 LINK

Concept Design Workshop Wellington 2012

Coming up in September, I'm doing a Concept Design Workshop alongside Weta friends, Aaron Beck and Ben Mauro, as well as game artist Robh Ruppel.
I believe this is the first time  CDW has been to New Zealand and Tickets are on sale now - spaces are limited  so book soon if you intend to come.

10 Love hurts, 20 goto 10

Up a creek - redux

Another redux of an old piece - like the Diplodocus piece and the T-Rex piece before it, these are all works from about 8 or 9 years ago that I've decided to spruce up.
I really love the idea of setting Dinosaurs in the New Zealand bush, littered with the remnants of a long passed war.
Virtual high hives fives will be delivered to those tank nerds that can identify the three different tanks.

99, I mean 20 Dudes Slugging

I found these today - the last handful of pieces that I drew on my Nintendo DS with Colors from a few years back
I briefly considered doing 99 of these boxers and knockouts as a follow up to 99 Dodgy Slips but then I snapped the fuck out of it.

Tintin pt 3

The last wee bunch of pics.
These were fun colour and light studies, and even though we knew these scenes wouldn't be in the film, it was just about examining a possible style and feel.

If you enjoyed the film, or just want to go deeper into the film making and world building process at Weta, I really recommend checking out the Art of the Adventures of Tintin Ipad app. 
It's one of the most elaborate digital books I've ever seen and well worth exploring.

Tintin pt 2

Both Nestor and Haddock were really fun to work on.
I used photos that I snapped of various people from around the Weta design room to construct key aspects, and followed Herge's lines as closely as possible.
I think the mouth in 'spit-gag' Haddock is Christian Pearce.

iam8bit - Super Magnetic Video!

Tintin pt 1

 

The Adventures of Tintin has been out for a while so I thought I'd show a little of the work that I did for the very early stages of the film.
I have to say, I had very little to do with the film overall, and simply watched as Chris Guise and his team worked their magic at Workshop, while the guys at Weta Digital worked ridiculous hours to bring this cherished world to life.
My small contribution was near the start of the project, and involved simply taking iconic frames or covers from Herge's work and rendering it as realistically as I could in the time we had.
It was a total departure from my normal work, in that I was slavishly faithful to Herge's lines and contours, as well as using photographic elements, which I seldom like to do.
This is not the sort of creative work I usually like, but for some reason I found the whole process quite refreshing.
It's one of the few times that I've just obsessively observed and followed a comic masters work and forgotten about my own creative intentions.
Quite liberating for a change.
If you want to see more, I'd recommend checking out the in-depth art of book Weta has made, and the incredible Ipad version.
More to come.

Zombie Robot plays off-camera Pianola

iam8bit - Meat Gravity Tale - 4D Space Edition

While I was at GDC, the guys from iam8 bit held a neat event - the SUPER MAGNETIC GAME-O-MATIC.
Anyone could wander up and make game titles and genres from a vast array of huge fridge-magnet style words.
I joined in and drew up this on a juicy big Cintiq display (I think I want one....).
Two fellahs came up with the name and genre - Meat Gravity Tale 4D Space Edition - the last cliched epic shooter.
Was about a fun hour or so, and I hope I did justice to the idea.
One enthusiastic game developer wandered past and said they were actually gonna make the game, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
Thanks to Simon Carless from GDC for hooking me up, and thanks to Jon and the guys from iam8Bit!

UPDATE - Read about the event at Gamasutra

GDC Phone Sketches

Some sketches from my new toy - a Galaxy Note phone - it has a damn pressure-sensitive wacom style pen! 

These are mostly from during a recent trip to the US to attend GDC.  Sketched during my spare moments between talks, meetings and whiskeys.

Broken Heap

GB: "Oh hello li'l ditty that I recorded last year! What have you been doing all these months?"

Hastily Recorded Song: "Well, you forgot that I existed and so I left home and started a life of crime"

GB: "Well, I'm sorry to hear about that. Why don't you let these nice people listen to you and then maybe you'll feel better about yourself and maybe get a proper job at Pak'n'Save or something?"

Hastily Recorded Song: "Fuck off, cockface"

GB: " Perfe... what?! You ungrateful little shit!"

Dr. Grordbort's presents: The Deadliest Game

Dr Grordbort Presents: The Deadliest Game from Media Design School on Vimeo.


The Media Design Schools short film based on Dr. Grordbort's is out - stunning work from this super talented class.
My hat is off to James Cunningham and his student team.

Wetacave Dino sketch

Late last year I did a quick art demo at the Wetacave here in Wellington.
One of the sketches was this here T-Rex, and it was quick and fun.
I almost have to apologise, cos this guy is basically the default drawing built into my hand.
Whenever I start idly sketching, this is what comes out.
That or a drawing of a cock and balls...

Mates

The Deadliest Game and K3loid

I'm pretty excited at the moment - I've just finished work on the comic pages for my new Dr Grordbort book (the third one) and it's been a mammoth undertaking.
It's meant I've neglected the blog of course, as I've been head down, illustrating, writing, and generally forging away at what seemed like a small project when I started, but actually took (as any creator of comics and books will attest) a colossal amount of effort.
I can't wait to see it in print, but that'll be months away yet.

In the meantime, two shorts have surfaced that I had a little to do with.

Firstly, a teaser has been released for the Media Design schools amazing, 'The Deadliest Game'.
The full short should be out soonish, and I saw it in Wellington at it's premiere here at the Roxy last week.
It's a stunning achievement and still blows my mind that it was created by students - when I was a student, I made flip-book ninja's decapitate each other in my maths books.
I DIDN'T CREATE VISUAL EFFECTS HEAVY SHORT FILMS!
I have to say that I had next to zero to do with it's creation, but am exceptionally proud to have it represent the DrG world I've spent these last several years developing.

The Deadliest Games Teaser here!

Secondly, but by no means secondly, is K3loid from the amazing guys at Big Lazy Robot in Spain.
Famed for their work on The Gift, these guys have outdone themselves again.
JJ at BLR contacted me what seems like ages ago, to contribute design to the short, and I was intrigued from the start.
It looks absolutely incredible, and in this teaser, features Aaron Becks' work as shown on his blog.

K3loid teaser here

Diplodorkus - Redux

Ho! Long time no post.
Back with an oldie that I've just given a little digital dust off.
I've always wanted to do a book based these 'Dino's meet World War Gone' illustrations, but they looked a bit creaky to me, so I've started to rework them in my spare moments.
Hope you like.
I'm off to Utopiales in Nantes, France next week - if you're going, please come and say hi.

Dr Grordbort's Pomsons ship

 

I almost never show off my Dr G world here on the blog. I like to keep my personal work and my Dr G work separate (even though they are really one and the same) for some reason that I can't quite even make sense of myself...
So breaking tradition, and wanting to put some imagery up here again for a change, and simply because I was so excited to see my Pomsons finally leaving Weta with their shiny new paint-jobs, I thought I'd share them here too.
If you want a bit more info, head on over to the Dr G website.

Purse

All my art energy these days is going into finishing my next Dr. G book and Team Fortress 2, so no new personal art to show (it's like a video game - I have a certain amount of points to spend on art each week. A substantially larger amount is spent on finding funny pictures of cats and a larger amount again is used levelling up my beer gut)
But, and it is a very big butt, I do have a new song to share.
Why's it called Purse you ask? Because I like the word purse. I like saying it. I like typing it.
There I've said it - it's out. Purse. Pursey pursey purse purse.

Dum Dum

New song! This is the first half decent recording of a song I've had in my head and fingers for a while now.
Boy the drums were a workout!

Herpa

Many moons ago, I played in bands. All very noisy, all very loud.
One band, the Goat Rapists, or Ghidrah as we called ourselves publicly, toured all around New Zealand in my shitty, rusty old Mitsubishi Sigma.

Me, Christian Pearce and Brian Holloway, jammed drums, amps and all into that much loved tin can.

Heady days... we played with The Melvins once, and Fugazi.

Ian MacKaye walked past us after the Fugazi show and said, 'good show' or something to that effect, but I interpreted it as "You smoked hobo dicks'

Good times.

Anyoldways, plz enjoy this new musak what I wrote the other day.

Jerg

I've been recording some more music lately.
This is the equivalent of a rough sketch I guess - quick, scribbly and fun.
Hope you like.

Unscripted

Unscripted starts tomorrow - come along if you live in Wellington. There's gonna be a ton of great art there and even some of my coloured scribblings. Just in case things got too classy.

Oh yeah, I should clarify, that despite what the linked article says below, I am not Weta's lead concept artist (although I was for District 9). Weta design  doesn't really have leads except sometimes by project.
There are a ton of incredible concept artists here and I would never lead any of them. Except to the pub. To have a beer. A VPA preferably.

Some information about a thing!

Some more information pertaining to previously mentioned thing!

Utopiales 2011

This year I've been invited to attend the Utopiales Science Fiction Festival in Nantes, France (birthplace of Jules Verne, Bruce Lee and Winston Churchill).
I was also asked to do the art for this years poster as my Dr Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition will be held there.

I can tell you that I was not just a little bit stoked to be asked as previous artists have included James Gurney, Enki Bilal and Moebius.
I should have shat my pants thinking about having to live up to those godly man-god god artists, but you know what? I just downed 15 single-malt whiskeys and a line of horse-strength amphetamine and set about falling asleep at my wacom.

When I awoke, a wondrous artwork had manifest. I  popped it in an envelope and sent it promptly to Mr Utopiales (who lives at the summit of Mount Utopiale where the festival is held each year) . Upon receipt of the work, he immediately wrote back asking for a refund of his payment.

I have not replied as I spent all the money. He does not know where I live and I will attend the event under a pseudonym.

If you live in France and are not a representative of Mr Utopiales, I look forward to meeting you there!

VPA - Venusian Pale Ale

 

And a VPA! The Dr G Wellington on a Plate is gonna be great!
Thanks Garage Project!

Lord Cockswain's Courage Porter Beer

Made by new Wellington brewers, Garage Project.
Brewed especially for the Dr Grordbort's Wellington on a Plate event next week at the Roxy.
Om Nom! I can't wait to drink this thing!

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities - out now

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is out now and getting great reviews.
Very proud to have my work in there amongst so many 'actually' talented writers and artists.

Contributors include Holly Black, Greg Broadmore (this one's me), Ted Chiang, John Coulthart, Rikki Ducornet, Amal El-Mohtar, Minister Faust, Jeffrey Ford, Lev Grossman, N.K. Jemisin, Caitlin R. Kiernan, China Mieville, Mike Mignola, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, James A. Owen, Helen Oyeyemi, J.K. Potter, Cherie Priest, Ekaterina Sedia, Jan Svankmajer, Rachel Swirsky, Carrie Vaughn, Jake von Slatt, Tad Williams, Charles Yu, and many more.

I have my copy and it looks fantastic - and you don't have to believe me, check what at least one other human said:
“The narrative scope and stellar assemblage of writers and illustrators…makes this a book that will be absolutely cherished by fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk afficionados alike.” – Paul Goat Allen, B&N Book Club
Based on this purely anecdotal evidence, I am concluding that this book is great.


Via Amazon
Check out more at the fantastic Jeff VanderMeer blog

Oh yeah, San Diego Comic Con is in a couple short weeks! I'll be there at the Weta Stand in the Darkhorse booth - something exciting is coming for Dr Grordbort fans as well as fans of things that are rad - can't wait to reveal it!
If you're there, come by and say hello.

Problem with Ships - Redux-ux-ux...

Oh, a redux of an older piece - and now with 50% more brushstrokes! For free!
No no, take them, they're yours.

What won't be free however is the limited edition print coming soon at Eyeball Kicks .
For that, I will be charging huge wads of caaaaaaash-money.
Don't have huge wads of cash money? Well get off my blog you smelly hobo/student!

Nah nah, it's all good. You're alright with me.
Just have a bath already.

The Old Sketch Books part 12 - being the last.

We come to the end, for the time being at least, of this incursion into my dark, dank and sketchy sketch book past.
I will have to dig up some more, and if I ever find any that don't make me wretch hairballs I will post them.
Until then, enjoy some nudes and a woman in night vision goggles who thinks she is riding a bike but is not - just like the famous internet cat, but with the ability to see in low-light.

The Old Sketch Books part 11

Judge Dredd - I fucking love Judge Dredd.
I am gay for him to the max.
Does anyone still say 'to the max'? Well they should do.

The top right and bottom right pic were me roughing out ideas for a piece of fan art that I was going to do - a more realistic sci-fi Judge Dredd. Not that Judge Dredd needs any improvement whatsoever.
For my take I was going to keep all the same motifs and signature elements but make him feel as if he were a real future cop with all the necessary equipment.
I might come back to it when I get a spare moment.

The Old Sketch Books part 10

Naked men with boxing gloves and baseball bats.
Completely normal.

The Old Sketch Books part 9

Well at least one of these subjects has their bloody clothes on.

If you will, please turn your attention and note the bottom right thumbnail sketch - that was for this old illustration.
Pow! You have just inadvertently learned a fact that is of no use to anyone at all.
Quickly, down a whiskey and un-learn it pronto!

The Old Sketch Books part 8

More nudie bits - drawing nudes is a default setting I spose.
Dinosaurs are the other default setting - I think they are built into my hand because my brain doesn't need to be involved usually.
That's true of most of my art I guess...

Did I just pwn myself?
High five, me!
*sound of one hand slapping*

YO!

The Old Sketch Books part 7

Less said the better really.
Actually, I will say that none of these drawings are from life, so that perhaps excuses the questionable anatomy a little. No?
I do like life drawing, but I've never published any of those. I far prefer to draw from the old brain sack, but a good bit of life drawing is always a nice change.
Maybe I'll put some up sometime if I ask myself nicely.

The Old Sketch Books part 6

Ha ha! An original Cockswain sketch. I never turned this into a painting an I'm not sure why.
Obviously he became part of the Dr Grordbort's world and never ended up shooting a dinosaur.
Which is a crying, crying shame.
I did other comics many years ago with another Great White Hunter hunting a T-Rex, and I guess this may have been from that period.
I call it my 'unemployed shmuck' period.