Brandon Routh confirms that he has seen The Atom design. He said it! Not me!

Former Superman, now playing Ray Palmer in season 3 of Arrow, actor Brandon Routh has spoken during an interview that he has seen the design for the Atom suit, which I guess I can at least now say that yes I worked on it. He said it! The Atom! Full article here.

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer.

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer.

Arrow season 3

It seems like (and I know so) that lots of exciting stuff are happening in the third season of Arrow this year. During the Arrow panel in SDCC this year, they showed a trailer for Arrow season 3 which featured 2 really big characters, Ray Palmer and Ra's Al Ghul. Yes Ra's Al Ghul as in the one who was in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy which obviously would be a new cast but Liam Neeson has expressed that he would reprise the role for Arrow TV series in a heartbeat! I started working on the illustration for the character awhile ago before I know that they are going to tease him in this trailer, it was another big big secret that I had to keep from all my comic book friends. Ray Palmer is another interesting one, they have cast Brandon Routh who played Superman in Superman Returns in 2006. During one of the panels, one of the show's producer explained that he originally asked DC if they can use Blue Beetle, and DC said they have other plans for him, and then the producer asked again, 'How about The Atom?' and DC said yes.
I think (and again know so) that The Atom is going to be pretty damn cool, probably one of the coolest things I got to work on this year. So besides those 2, they have also announced that the 8th episode will be a 2 hours cross over episode with the Flash which I have also started working on. They are building a pretty rich DC universe on TV, announcing a new character almost every few weeks, Katanna, Komodo, Cupid....
I'll talk about the designs more when I can eventually show and talk about them! All I can say is thank you CW and the producers for making these shows so I can geek out at work. I've attached the link to the season 3 trailer below!
Arrow season 3 extended trailer with Ra's Al Ghul

Roy gets a big boy mask! Graduates to Arsenal!

Many have speculated who would Roy Harper ultimately become in the Arrow-verse. Speedy? Red Arrow? Arsenal? In the finale of season 2, Roy finally put on a mask but with his normal red hoodie street clothes to help team Arrow to fight the Deathstroke army but still without a hero alias yet. The mask is essentially a red version of the Arrow mask, seems abit simple? Well during the San Diego Comic Con, they have finally revealed who he will become in season 3 and the first photo of him as - wait for it - ARSENAL! I've kept my mouth shut for awhile since I started doing his concept back in the middle of season 2. The Arsenal suit was pretty cool to work on but since they have only showed 1 image of it, I will wait until the show airs before I show the full concept and talk about the details further. For now here is a little sneak peek head shot of the full illustration.

Deathstroke's little helper - Ravager

Sorry for the super super late update! My full time work, freelance work and personally life has been so crazy. I'll try to catch up on my updates chronologically so hopefully it make some sort of sense.
Ravager! Played by the cult fan favorite Summer Glau. She appeared in the season finale of season 2. This illustration was really fun to do as usual. I had to again do some further research on who she is, what she is like, how she looks to get a better core idea of what elements I must have in order for her to still read as Ravager in the Arrow-verse. The easy part was that Deathstroke has already been established, so she is essentially an extension of him but sleeker and sexier. We decided to have her abit more stealth and subtle than Deathstroke so shes only in black and abit or orange and without the blue. The make is the trickiest part for this character because they actually want to show part of her face unlike Deathstroke, so it naturally goes into a more superhero realm than the realistic side. Summer Glau's face also has a really strong structure, therefore framing her face without making her look too masculine was abit challenging.
Go Deathstroke army!!

Heir To The Demon - Nyssa Al' Ghul

Nyssa, the less famous daughter of Ras Al' Ghul showed up in the latest episode of Arrow, titled 'Heir to the Demon. I was pretty excited about working on her. One, shes the daughter of Ras, whose named have been popping up here and there through out the season, and hes a major Batman villain. Two, she have never been realize in any medium besides the comic. I actually had to look up her history and who she is. I'm very familiar with Talia, but not Nyssa so it actually made it easier because I don't have an image already stuck in my head of what she looks like. I was working closely with costume designer Maya Mani of course, especially this one we wanted to use alot more texture and different elements that give her abit more eastern flavor. I think she looks awesome on screen, shes badass but also very elegant and sexy, its a good break from the more sleek, clean and realistic combat type modern villains. Shes one of my new favorite characters on the show that I worked on because she has that fantastical element while still feels realistic.

Deathstroke is back!

I've been waiting very impatiently for this one, cause its a pretty important one for me. The new badder and improve Deathstroke returns in the latest episode of Arrow "Blindspot". I was very excited when i find out that I get to do a new version of him, but also comes the burden that Arkham Origin just came out and their Deathstroke is BAD-ASS!!! What to do?? I looked up every single version of him that has been done before to find the core design language of what makes him Deathstroke. Also I want to make sure i'm doing something that is different even if it is in small subtle details. Almost everything has been done........ so the only strong direction is to stick to the style of the show and ground him. The Arkham version is super cool but has a lot of more fantastic elements that I can stay away from, his armors are almost abit medieval inspired. I was also excited when Costume Designer Maya Mani told me that they are finally open to more hard body armor and even some colors other than the black and greys! We've talked about that it should not be a completely new suit the he built, but more like an upgraded version of Slade, so I took alot of the Island Slade elements and incorporated into the new Deathstroke. I know it will be compare to the Arkham one, but I think we found a good balance that it is cool enough but realistic enough so I'm not so worried by the end of it. Enjoy!

Arrow gets a Mask!

Well the mid season finale episode of Arrow aired last week, and man what a great episode! They manage to twist it abit into a Xmas episode by using the idea of the 3 ghosts idea from Christmas Carol and remain being an action packed well written grounder superhero episode. There are tons of cool stuff for everyone from superhero fans to people who just love good action, or people who love a well written show. The coolest part for me, was I get to conceptualize the Arrow Mask in this episode. How he gets it I'll let you guys find out. Its feeling like things are escalating !!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HARDCORE COMIC FANS WILL SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It was also the origin episode for Barry Allen being in the accident that turns him into The Flash, which will be a new DC series on CW. They also introduced Solomon Grundy, in the Arrow universe way.

Vote for Blood!

It is that time again! Another character revealed on Arrow, this time a masked villain, Brother Blood! Like Bronze tiger, I did not have too much knowledge about him, so I had to do my research. He was a Vampire / cult leader in the comic books, but I like the direction they are going for on Arrow. I did quite a few versions of the mask, and we ended up going for a simpler version. I pretty excited about his character on the show because it seems like they are using him to build up to something bigger and badder! Enjoy.

Hey Kitty Kitty!

Another DC character has landed in this new city of heroes on ARROW - BRONZE TIGER. I did not know a whole lot about him aside from that he is part of the Suicide_Squad in the comic books. I did some research, and he wears a Tiger suit. At the end we followed the ARROW tradition to make it more grounded and possible to the real world. It was pretty excited to know that Michael Jai White is playing him, who was Al in the live action SPAWN movie and also BLACK DYNAMITE. The show is getting more and more action pack and with more familiar characters. The latest promo i saw for the new episode looks awesome, it looks like you are playing the Arkham game !!!! Anyways enjoy and more to come very soon! Working on some pretty nerdy exciting stuff that I can't talk about it yet.

City of Heroes

 The 2nd episode of season 2 Arrow has aired and whose new to the city??? Black Canary!!! I was pretty excited when I first learned that she will appear in Arrow and get to work on her because I stopped working on Smallville just before they start bringing in the second round of super heroes which included the Black Canary as well. I felt like this is my second chance! As some of you who knows me in person that i'm a Batman fan, comic nerd, so I try really hard to retain any visual cues from the original source materials. On the previous Death Stroke design, alot of people weren't satisfied because in the comics he only has one eye and that was the network's decision and who knows maybe it'll evolve as the story develop. For Black Canary, I'm just waiting for people to flag that she is missing her signature fishnets. So if you haven't noticed, I implied the look of the fishnets with cross leather straps on her pants. They also announced awhile ago that there will be a FLASH series and will introduce Barry Allen in this season of Arrow. I don't know if I will get to work on Flash or any of his costume yet but to all my friends who knows me well, I'm one tiny step closer to maybe possibly working on Batman, someday ..... someday ..... its coming!!!

The Goat Stampede!

I had the pleasure of designing a new graphic for my friend whose the manager at the Beacon Hill Petting Zoo that is located in Victoria, BC, Canada. The new graphic depicts one of the attractions at the farm, the baby goat stampede. I made a few variations for different color shirt applications and other merchandises. So if any of you who might visit Vancouver or Victoria, make sure you swing by and check it out!

http://www.beaconhillpark.ca/childrenspark/

'Come with me if you want to live! '- T800

Awhile ago my friend Nate over at Squid Kids Ink asked me to participate in his Mini 10-doh series 2. Mini 10-doh is a collectable designer toy inspired by the shape and Nintendo Cartridge hence the name 10-DOH. Each series there are different artists who design the labels for these blind box figures. I don't even remember why I wanted to turn my 10-doh into a T-800 endoskeleton from Terminator but I did the label design and showed it to the boss. Nate was kind enough to complete my 10-doh design with a chrome finish figure and made it one of the 1/80 ultra rare blind box figure. To make my long explanation that you just read short, he shipped my 2 whole case of them along with some postcard size print of the label. Thanks alot Nate!  

The GREEN ARCHER is back for more action! and so am I!

Just got contacted today by the Arrow production that Season 2 is starting up again soon and its time to do some concepts for some and old characters! So stay tune to find out what exciting new characters will be appearing in the new season of Arrow.

Ginger Beard Men

 So one day I saw a photo of my friend Nate with only one side of his hair and facial hair trimmed and the other side way over grown. I thought it was a very interesting imagery and I was in the mood to paint something fun but not too intense so I did this caricature of him and he became my first Ginger Beard victim. After that I was getting alot of good responses and instantly another good friend of mine's name popped into my head and he also have red facial hair. Now I have 2 caricatures of 2 red head men and figured I may as well call them my Ginger Beard Men. I'm still hoping to continue to do at least a few more and have a little series going on, so if anyone knows anyone who has interesting ,wild,  red hair, please let me know!

My friend Nate Mitchell aka victim 1 is also an awesome artist, sculptor, toy maker, go check out his toys @ http://squidkidsink.bigcartel.com/

Some doodles at the coffee shop.

The male.

The female.

space suit

  Tribute to Edison Yan's twisted pony, inspired by Jonathan Tiong's pencil case. — at JJBean Coffee.

SHE-RA ! SHE-RA!

A caricature of my girlfriend as She-Ra, shes really a true warrior princess.

Totoro visited Comic Alliance

Want to thank the staff over at Comic Alliance , one of the websites that I check daily for picking my Totoro painting that I did awhile ago to be in their weekly Best Art Ever section. Check out the site, lots of news about comics, movies, art and all sorts of cool nerdy stuff.

Back from the Dead - Deadshot from CW Arrow

Hey guys, just back from my 5 days vacation in Las Vegas and was completely off the grid. I guess the episode of Arrow with the Deadshot 2.0 aired while I was gone, so here is the production illustration I did for the character.

The true face of Death Stroke - Slade Wilson

Another character I worked on made his debut in the latest episode of ARROW. The true face of Death Stroke - Slade Wilson. I did the illustration for them before they casted the actor, so he looks abit older in my version.

The series ARROW and the character Slade Wilson are properties of DC comics.

Hairy-split skin-monster dance suit

So I don't really know what to name this. These concepts were done for a freelance project that are supposed to be dance suits for a stage performance. The creature starts out almost like a caterpillar or like lion dance, and as the performance progress it detached into 4 segments. The inspiration was actually based on a skin disease called Harlequin-type ichthyosis. Don't look it up if you cannot handle graphic medical images. This might be one of the strangest concept I've done so far and I quite like it.