One of my favorite things about looking back at 80s/90s Turtlemania and collecting bits and pieces of TMNT memorabilia is the wide variety of art styles that were used in all the licensed stuff. Some products had horrible character art that made you wonder how it ever got made, while others had awesome art that I could (and sometimes do) frame and hang on my wall.

One of my favorite styles of TMNT licensing art is the half cartoon/half comics style, for lack of a better term. The Turtles don’t look as cartoony as some versions, the lines are usually a little thicker, and overall it looks more serious. The TMNT board game art is a perfect example. I have a few pieces of TMNT stuff that look like they’re all from the same artist, and I wish I could track down who illustrated it all. Some puzzles, children’s books, and stickers have the same style and I can’t get enough of it.
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Lately I’ve become preoccupied with being a comics creator. You know, writing and drawing cartoons and other funny stuff. Much of my time has been spent sketching and writing notes. Lately I’m concentrating on the digital side of art. I’ll scan my inked sketches and attempt to color them. They’re pretty crude but I’m learning.

The rest of my free time has been spent observing artists I admire. One of my biggest inspirations these days is writer and illustrator Roger Langridge. He’s best known as the man behind The Muppet Show and current Popeye series. Langridge has such a fun vibe to his work while also being technically precise. Some people say he reminds them of legend Carl Barks. I cannot disagree.

Recently Langridge posted this inked sketch on his blog. The individual who commissioned the work was not me but it easily could have been. The piece combines a favorite subject of mine, The Muppets, with the vintage Marvel Comics series I avidly collect, Marvel Team-Up.

Since I started collecting comic books in the early ’80s, I’ve been in love with Marvel Team-Up. I preferred the tidy, self-encapsulated storylines. There was no need to religiously follow each issue like you do with episodic series. The issues paired Spider-Man (usually) with another random hero in tights. It was a great way to sample the Marvel legion.
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In case you didn’t know, our friends Shawn of Branded in the 80s, Jaime of ShezCrafti, and Paxton of Cavalcade of Awesome host a great podcast called Cult Film Club. If you haven’t listened to it, you’re missing out.

Shawn recently put together these awesome “No Tipping” sticker packs featuring the disembodied head of Mr. Pink himself, Steve Buscemi. In Shawn’s words:

These 4 die-cut stickers measure between 2.4″x2.4″ and 3.4″x2.4″, and feature the CFC Logo, Official Membership Badge, our mascot the Phantom Ticket Taker, and the one, the only non-tipper Mr. Pink!

They’re $7 and the profits go to help power their site and podcast, so you should order a few. Like seriously, order ten. Where else are you going to find Steve Buscemi stickers?

Go buy some!

If you’re interested in geek art, you have probably seen some of the awesome work from Signalnoise (aka James White). I’ve been following James on Instagram for a long time, and have always been a fan of his art. Checking out his poster designs for Terminator 2 and The Thing will give you a good sense of his style.

Over the last couple days, James has been Instagramming some very cool illustrations of vintage video game consoles, and today he posted them all on his blog. He illustrated the iconic designs of the Atari 2600, NES, Game Boy, NES Zapper, Super Nintendo’s controller, and the Commodore 64. They’re all great and I’d love to have them all as prints in my office.

I hope James continues with these illustrations, especially if it means seeing some Sega hardware. I’m sure his take on the Genesis would be awesome.

Make sure to head over to his site to read more about his process.

I know I don’t give Masters of the Universe enough love around here, mainly because it (along with Thundercats) was just a couple years before my time and I feel like I missed the boat on being nostalgic about the toys and cartoons. Still, this art print by James Boorman is awesome, and I’m sure you all who grew up with the show will appreciate it.

I’ve been following James on Instagram and seeing his progress on his Faces of the Universe print, and I love his style. Check out his site to see the finished product, as well as a lot of other really great art.

James said he’s looking into setting up an online shop soon, so key your eyes on his Twitter and Instagram feeds so you can snag a MOTU print of your own. Also, he’s got some pretty cool TMNT faces on his site too, so hopefully we’ll see that as a print sometime soon.