LEGO me

At LEGO Land they have bins of random minifigure bits, and allow you to build custom minifigures for purchase.

My intern went to LEGO Land a few weeks ago. I was otherwise indisposed (with SDCC!) so I was unable to attend. But I told the Mrs. that the best souvenir I could possibly imagine would be for my intern to make me a LEGO minifigure.

I was overjoyed with the result. While I only expected a random minfigure made by my intern, she literally made ME a minifigure!

She used a minifigure head with a beard and glasses (totally accurate) and added a hat (accurate when my hair gets too long), added a tie died t-shirt and vest (while I do live in Santa Cruz I own no tie-die) and red pants (ok, she lost me here)...and a shovel.

I can't explain the shovel.

But whatever. How awesome is this? My daughter made me a minifigure...by making ME a minifigure!

I will cherish this forever.

Poisunday Ivy :: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just a little Poison Ivy cheesecake by me for your St. Patrick's Day enjoyment.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Leaping Off the Page

When I scanned this Catwoman illustration into PS the metal spiral of the notebook looked pretty cool, so I left it in the final colored version. It looks like Catwoman is leaping off the page!

Harley Qwednesday :: Post-it Doodle

Another of my famous post-it illustrations for this fine Harley Qwednesday.

Poisunday Ivy :: Vector Ivy

A couple of Poison Ivy vector illustrations done in Photoshop by yours truly.

You can see more character variations on this template at my art blog and deviantArt page.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving Day with lots of food and family!

Transform and poopy pants! :: League of Extraordinary Bloggers

I admit, I'm a bit of a fair-weather Leaguer. I do the League of Extraordinary Bloggers assignments I like and skip over those I don't. Which means I haven't done one in a while. Oops!

I don't know if that's 'ok' according to League by-laws, but whatyagonnado?

This week's assignment, which I could not pass up: "Young Guns"

In the spirit of Young Indiana Jones, Young Frankenstein, or Young Einstein, come up with a “Young ___” prequel or series.

It seems like it's all been done before (to death) though, right? We've seen toddler turtles and Smallville and Young Sherlock Holmes - but what haven't we seen?

I decided to go with Transformers. Not just 'young' Transformers, because we've seen that already too (Wheelie, anyone?) but Transformers that Transform into kid's ride-on and pre-school toys!

Toddlerformers!

Imagine Optimus Prime as a Bigwheel towing a Radio Flyer wagon! Soundwave as a 'See-and-Say'! Megatron as a Super-Soaker! The ideas are endless, as would be the merchandising blitz!

I did some super quick doodles of vehicle modes to give you an idea. If I had more time I'd have done robot modes, but as I imagine it they're youthful looking G1esque robots, incorporating the elements of their new alt modes with design elements of their G1 looks and elements of young kids (ex: Bumblebee is most definitely clad in a striped onesie) to create a beautiful symmetry of design, form and concept. Or something like that.

Hey, it's better than anything Michael Bay has or ever will come up with, right?

Check out some other Leaguers and their youthful pursuits:

ShezCrafti reminds us how cute the aforementioned Toddler Turtles were
Cool and Collected wonders why Clark Griswold is so Vacation obsessed
and Lair of the Dork Horde ponders alone: Did Conan play with dollies too?

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Post-it Scribble

Just a quickie Catwoman Post-it scribble by me.

I don't want to grow up, I'm a Countdown to Halloween 2012 Cryptkeeper

Somebody needs to make this costume idea of mine a reality!

For three years (2008, 2009 and 2010) I participated in the blogosphere's Countdown to Halloween via my art blog Art by Bubba Shelby.

I was absent last year because my baby daughter was born right before Halloween, so sufficed to say I was a little busy through the preceding months and especially through October itself!



This year I decided I had to get back in on the fun, but to do so with Toyriffic instead of Art by Bubba Shelby, thereby not limiting myself to only Halloween themed illustrations (although don't discount the possibility of many art posts by me throughout October!)

Toyriffic affords me greater leeway in what I can post (all Halloween themed of course,) and I will try to do one Halloween themed post every day in October!

So stay tuned, boys and ghouls, and in the meantime check out my previous years' installments below:

Art by Bubba Shelby Halloween Countdown 2008
Art by Bubba Shelby Halloween Countdown 2009
Art by Bubba Shelby Halloween Countdown 2010
 

Harley Qwednesday :: Rockabilly Harley Quinn

Just a rockabilly inspired swimsuit stuffed with Harley Quinn. Because I can.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Batman Returns Inspired Catwoman Illustration

The best part of having art skills is that if I run into need for one of my themed posts, I just draw something!

Here's a new illustration by me inspired by Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman from Batman Returns. I've been lately enjoying working initially with a brush pen and then coloring in photoshop, and have started to play around more with lighting effects/depth.

See more of my art at my DeviantArt page and my art blog.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Art Week - Silver Age Catwoman

Wrapping up art week, and probably the most elegant of the bunch, is this Silver Age Catwoman illustration by, who else? Long one of my favorite Catwoman costumes, this high cut dress well accentuates Catwoman's bare legs, and that's okay by me.

This piece was not inked with the brush pen like the previous two this week. It was inked by a Micron #8. 


Art Week :: Harley Qwednesday
Art Week :: Poison Ivy

Harley Qwednesday :: Art Week - A Crumb-y Harley Quinn

Art Week continues into Harley Qwednesday with this 'classic' Harley Quinn illustration by me and mildly inspired by R. Crumb.

I think it's the massive nipples that remind me most of Crumb, but the stout stature also helps. Probably safe to assume a lot of my work is at least peripherally inspired by Crumb, if for nothing else than the fact that I too can appreciate a curvy gal.

I would love to see a Harley Quinn comic illustrated by R. Crumb, They're both just crazy enough for it to work.

This piece, like Sunday's Ivy, was inked with a brush pen and I really like the flow of it.

Qwednesday BONUS:

Nurse Harley Quinn from the videogame Arkham Asylum! Also inked with a brush pen.

In case you missed it: Art Week: Poison Ivy;
And tune in tomorrow for Art Week: Catwoman!

Keep on Truckin'

Poisunday Ivy :: Art Week - Poison Ivy is teh sex!

This week each of my weekly villainess features (Poisunday Ivy, Harley Qwednesday and Catwoman Purrrsday) will be a new, never before seen anywhere else art piece.

Specifically, they will each be an illustration by the great BubbaShelby himself, aka me, because I found myself up late the other night doodling and came up with a pretty decent representation of each gal ifidosaysomyself.

Kicking it all off, here's Poison Ivy:

Poison Ivy is of course the 'fertility goddess' of Gotham mythology, and therefore it always seems apropos to me to illustrate her in as sexed up a manner as possible. So I went with shiny and voluptuous and bright all that sexy stuff with this one. I also did the original inks with a brush pen, which I rarely use but tend to enjoy the results whenever I do.

Stay tuned this Harley Qwednesday and Catwoman Purrrsday for more!

Poisunday Ivy :: Another Poison Ivy illustration by me!

Poison Ivy lounging on some sort of man eating plant, natch.

I approached this illustration differently than most. Instead of an ink stage, I merely did a final clean pencil stage overlay on top of my sketchy pencils, and scanned/blacked the final pencils in Photoshop. It pretty much gave my pencils the exact look of my inks. I did all the coloring in Photoshop too.

Poisunday Ivy :: Poison Ivy Illustration by BubbaShelby

I finished my Poison Ivy sketch I posted last Poisunday!

Miss Isley's facial expression is much more lively than in the original sketch, which was necessary since the pose is rather straightforward. The costume design was fun; It was my intention to give it a sexy blooming-flower feel, as if her lingerie were the pedals of a flower being revealed as the leafy outer shell opened in the sunlight. Or something like that. I also like how the bra/panty reveal look like a heart, since Ivy is the fertility goddess type.

Here she is with 'normal' skin tone. Because I tend to prefer my Ivy to be more human. Although the pink trim is a bit washed out in this version:

So I tried red instead of pink:

Which brings us right back around to green skin again:

I like them all. Thoughts?

Poisunday Ivy :: Posion Ivy sketch work in progress

Another sketch/illustration work in progress by me, this time it's Poison Ivy!

The pose is uninspired, I'll admit, but I had fun with the costume. This one should look real good in color.

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Catwoman sketch Work in Progress

Here's a little Catwoman illustration I am working on. Below you can see my initial pose layout sketch, which I overlayed and added detail to for the top pic. I also tend to erase a lot. It's more like 'drawing via real time experimentation.'

Note how I tend to draw multiple limbs until I settle on a pose that feels right.

Poisunday Ivy :: Ink on Green Paper

Poison Ivy by me. Sharpie on green paper. No prelim sketch stage - just straight from mind to paper.

Little Miss (Martian) Can't Be Wrong

I decided to draw Miss Martian. Then I decided I should put her on a shirt.

P.S. Miss Martian is also on a coffee mug. Or you can customize your own product!