Spock Model Kit Illustration

It's been a while since I've posted any actual art here on my alleged art blog, so here goes— a recreation of the box art for the Mr. Spock model kit, in my own style. I know, I've been drawing Spock a lot lately. I guess it's due to Leonard Nimoy's death earlier this year.

The Spock model kit was originally released internationally by Aurora in 1972, and was sold in the U.S. by AMT in 1973. It's been rereleased many, many times since over the years. I remember buying all the other Star Trek kits as a kid— the Enterprise, the Shuttlecraft, the Klingon Battle Cruiser, and the Romulan Bird Of Prey— but for some reason I never got the Spock kit. I guess I was more interested in the ships than the characters.

Even though I didn't own the kit, I was always fascinated by the box art, and thought I'd try to recreate it here.

As for the illustration, it took forever! Way longer than I expected. I was trying to be more painterly than I usually am, to match the style of the box art. I bet I spent a lot longer on it that the artist who originally painted it— they probably had to knock it out in a day or two!

The background in particular was problematic and took a long time to draw, as you might expect. It's pretty complicated, and every time I thought I was done I'd spot something I forgot to add. I finally had to push myself away from the computer and say no more, or I'd still be picking away at it come Xmas.

This illustration was drawn in Photoshop of course, on a ton of layers— 54 of them to be exact. That's a lot, but still not a personal record.

You may notice that Spock's not holding the usual phaser and communicator that we all know and love. I agonized over that for a while. Should I draw him holding the actual props from the show, or the inaccurate versions that are seen on the box? In the end I decided that since I was trying to recreate the box art, I might as well stick with what's on it.

I had to do some jostling and repositioning of the various elements to get it to all fit together, since my Spock and three headed snake have very different proportions than the originals.

I always wondered about Spock so aggressively shooting the snake in this artwork. In the TV series he was always the voice of logic and reason; a man of science who was fascinated by alien life. Here he's shootin' first and not even bothering with the questions later. Maybe he just doesn't like snakes.

Here's the original version of the box art for comparison. That mysterious elbow at the lower left is an image of the actual model kit.

I stuck my recreation on an angled image of the box that I found. Looks real! I should go back and draw the sides of the box and print it up

Here's the digital sketch I did for the box art. The snakes didn't change much from the sketch, but Spock went through some minor alterations, mostly in the length and angles of his limbs.

Stay tuned for a step-by-step post on the box art recreation.

I've Had It With These Monkey Fighting People Feeding Themselves To These Monday To Friday Snakes!

This week the Discovery Channel announced an upcoming new special titled Eaten Alive, in which a man wearing a "snake proof suit" will allow himself to be eaten by an anaconda.

I know what you're thinking. "Alright, Bob, that's enough. Your little 'comedy' posts are getting out of hand." Unfortunately this is not me desperately trying to come up with blog content. Sadly it appears to be all too true.

In Eaten Alive, wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie, someone we're apparently supposed to have heard of, will don a protective suit covered in pig's blood to make himself more "palatable." He'll then dive headfirst into the gullet of a live anaconda and presumably film what's inside. Hopefully the snake in question will be bigger than the one in the photo above.

There's no info available as to how he plans to get out of the snake. I'm assuming he'll have a rope tied to his ankle, so they can yank him back out? 

Man, am I kicking myself right now for getting rid of cable! This is truly a Golden Age of television.

Remember when the Discovery Channel aired documentaries about science, wildlife and history? Yeah, me either.

So what about the snake? Does he get to weigh in on this? It seems not only cruel, but downright unnecessary. Surely to Thor we've adequately mapped the inside of snakes by now to see what makes them tick. I could see if maybe the snake had swallowed Rosolie's wedding ring or car keys and he wanted to crawl in and grab 'em, but to do it for the sake of ratings just seems wrong.

Rosolie has tried to quiet critics by assuring him that the snake won't be harmed. He issued this statement on his website:

"For those worried about animal cruelty, I invite you to research my work — read my book "Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon." Then ask yourself: would this person ever hurt an animal?"

Yes! Yes you would! And you don't even have a good reason for hurting the snake. You're doing as a ratings stunt for cable TV!

Normally I roll my eyes at PETA and think they're a bunch of publicity-seeking nutjobs (calling fish "sea kittens" so people won't want to eat them). In this case though I hope they step up and put a stop to this idiocy.

And what the hell is a "snake proof suit" anyway? Is it like a suit of armor, or Kevlar riot gear? I'm imagining it's probably more like a big mail sack.

I can't imagine there's all that much to see inside a snake anyway. Have you ever seen an image of an upper GI endoscopy? You know, where they stick a camera down your throat? It looks like the inside of a pink, slimy tube. I can't imagine the interior of a snake looking much different.

Meh. The Simpsons already did this years ago. And better.