Dune (1984) - The Spacing Guild Navigator

Dune (1984)
The Spacing Guild Navigator

One of my favorite, most interesting classes of characters from Lynch's "Dune" (1984) are the Spacing Guild Navigators (they were mysteriously cool in the book, too).  To me, the Navigators will always look like a fetal slug crossed with a testicular, morel mushroom.  So transformed by their exposure to the Spice Melange, they are no longer human and are the only beings which have the precognition needed to perform the mathematical functions to travel through hyperspace--giving them the monopoly on hyperspace travel (and, SPOILERS, becomes a pinch point in their need for need for Spice to maintain the folded space ways.  The Spice must flow, after all).

When I watched this as an early teen, seeing their monstrous figure wheeled into the throne room in an Art Deco style train canister, I was transfixed.  Even when I later read the book (one of my favorites), I could only see the Spacing Guild Navigators in my mind's eye as those in the David Lynch movies.

All others attempts I've seen on screen seem weird and wrong (says the guy looking at the weirdest, wrongest interpretation there could be of them... yet, it works, IMHO).  Then again, David Lynch's body horror and grotesquerie is done in just the right amount in "Dune" (1984); Like any Spice, to torture the metaphor, too little is bland, too much is overwhelming, and Lynch adds just the right amount.

I will admit that this painting got away from me a little bit.  I tried to get close enough to show details, but I think it may have been too close so you couldn't properly see the tank/train that was holding it.  So, it just looks like the Navigator is floating in an orange room of some sort.  And every time I tried to add a highlight for the glass, it just looked... off.  Ah, well, they can't all come out looking like you envision them in your head; or even some of them, for that matter.  I'll have to work on that.  Sigh...

One more painting, and then one bit of my usual shenanigans, and I will put this "Dune" series to rest for a while.

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.  

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STEP THREE: And here's the finished painting, with lots and lots of back-and-forth with painting, repainting, and re-repainting, and even painting some more.  As usual, there is a point where you wonder if you will ever be able to fix the mess in front of you and, sometimes, you can.  Not saying this was one of those times, but it was sorely improved from where it was many times in the painting process.

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Dune (1984) - Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

Dune (1984)
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

It's another "Dune" (1984) painting, this time the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit.

The Bene Gesserit were carrying out a genetic breeding program for thousands of generations in hopes or creating the Kwisatz Haderach--a sort of Messiah figure of sorts.  However, that was all cut short by the birth of Paul Atreides, one generation early and a male, born to the Bene Gesserit, Lady Jessica... It's a long, complicated story.  I read the book, Dune, long ago and always loved all the wheels within wheels political intrigue among the various factions.

Side Note: It is shockingly difficult to paint/draw someone without eyebrows without it looking very, very weird, lemme tell you.

I think I'll be doing three more "Dune" (1984) posts before moving on to something else equally nerdy that will surely catch my attention.

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.  You may hear artists (of which I guess I can meagerly call myself) refer to the ugly middle part of a painting, and this is it.  Nothing looks good at this point, just getting paint on the canvas... or hardboard, in this case.

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STEP THREE: And here's the finished painting, with lots and lots of back-and-forth with painting, repainting, and re-repainting.

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Dune (1984) - Gurney Halleck

Dune (1984)
Gurney Halleck

It's yet another "Dune" (1984) painting.  "Dune June" marches onward (although, as busy as I've been of late, it will conclude in "Dune July"), with a couple more I have planned to finish the series.

Anyhoo, this time it's an opportunity to paint Patrick Stewart as the War Master for House Atreides, Gurney Halleck; Before he was Jean-Luc Picard, he was Gurney Halleck.  There is such a melange (pun slightly intended) of well-known actors that turn up in Lynch's "Dune", it is always a case of "Oh, yeah, so-and-so is in here, too!"

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.

* * *

STEP THREE: And here's the finished painting, with lots and lots of back-and-forth with painting, repainting, and re-repainting.

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Dune (1984) - Feyd Rautha

Dune (1984)
Feyd Rautha

Hey, hey, everybody, it's another "Dune" (1984) painting.  I guess it is "Dune June" after all.  But, there was no way I couldn't include Sting as Feyd Rautha.  Perhaps David Lynch and Sting were channeling their inner Zardoz, but those black leather bikini briefs (ribbed for his/her/their pleasure?) definitely make a statement.  What kind of statement, I don't think I wanna know...

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.

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STEP THREE: And here's the finished painting.  As always, lots and lots of back-and-forth with painting, repainting, and re-repainting.

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Dune (1984) - Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Dune (1984)
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Continuing on with the David Lynch "Dune" (1984) series, here's Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in all his leering, greasy, sleazy, pustule-ridden glory.  Well, perhaps "Glory" is the wrong choice of words for the Baron, but you catch my drift.  This Baron is mordant, putrefying, and disgusting in every decadent, Lynchian excess.  Because of that, he is definitely a memorable character and when I think of "Dune", this version of Baron Harkonnen with his hover-vest is what immediately comes to mind.

This painting, although filled with more fussy details, was so much easier than the previous, Chani, painting.  It has no doubt giving me enough false-confidence I need to get myself way over my head in some future endeavor.

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.  I noticed the chin was a bit off when I scanned it in, but figured I'd fix that when I started painting.  Something you'd think I'd learn not to do since it has bitten me in the rear so many times previously...

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.  This time I was actually able to fix the mistakes in the pencils (the chin, for example) right away in the first pass.  So, lesson NOT learned, thank you very much!

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STEP THREE: And here's the finished painting.  Lots and lots of finicky details in an attempt at sickly skin textures and whatnot, with varying degrees of success.  Onward to the next one!

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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Dune (1984) - Chani

Dune (1984)
Chani

Continuing on with the David Lynch "Dune" (1984) series, here's Chani, played by Sean Young.

Ugh, I have to admit, this one really kicked my rear end.  I was displeased with the results most of the time, which lead to me leaving it alone for a while, paint on it a little bit, still found it unsatisfactory, set it aside again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  I considered just dropping it and going on to the next one, but then thought I'm just gonna power through, even if I have to start over.  Which I more-or-less did a couple times over considering the amount of acrylic I've slathered on this painting again-and-again.

The weird thing is that I think about how for "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" I was able to crank out 8-1/2" x 11" Acrylic paintings almost daily--some of which I wasn't even embarrassed by--but this one just kept kicking me while I was down.  Ah, well, go figure.  Sigh...

I suppose, in the end, it's OK...  On to the next one!

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.  I should have taken the extra time to make sure the eyes were correct, but I was impatient to get started and figure I'd fix it once I started putting acrylic on the gessoed board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.  Here's where everything started going downhill for a while.  When I saw it, the first thought that crossed my mind was this guy's face sign that shows up on the Internet and it just went down from there...

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STEP THREE: And, after a lot of noodling about, I more or less decided to fix most of the problem and repainted the right-eye and tried to correct some of the worst of what was bothering me, mostly for the better.

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STEP FOUR: After so much more noodling about, back-and-forth, here is the finished painting.  It's... OK.  As always, it looks better in person than scanned in and posted.  (That is one of the advantages of digital art: what you see is more or less what you get, setting aside monitor adjustments and such).  

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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May the Fourth be With You 2026

May the Fourth be With You 2026

OK, I'm only 6 hours late to the official "May the Fourth"--based on a pun so obvious and terrible I am disappointed I didn't think of it myself.  It's also using Jaxxon T. Tumperakki as part of a running joke I've been using for... 11 years now?  What the--what happened to all that time?  Well, let it never be said that I will not commit to the bit.  This time it's Jaxxon wistfully staring off at the Twin Suns of Tatooine as they begin to drop down below the horizon.

To re-explain everything about Jaxxon (and to copy-and-paste part of this from last year's Blog), he's part of my continuing--although not as Quixotic as it used to be--quest to make Jaxxon, the "Star Wars" version of a green Bugs Bunny, into something vaguely popular.  Jaxxon started in the Marvel Comics "Star Wars" #8 (1977), taking place after "A New Hope", in a pastiche of "Seven Samurai"/"Magnificent Seven" and...  And it's a long story.  He's a 6' tall, green rabbit which was loosely based on Bugs Bunny that was in "Star Wars" comics and he caught my attention as a kid.

Since I've started this crazy quest, he's now he's appeared in comics (sure, it's the "Star Wars: Adventures" line, but I'll take it as a win and say he's officially canon, now), and apparently even has a Black Series action figure.  He also is the star of the "Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories" one-shot with Dark Horse Comics a couple years ago (with an awesome Mike Mignola cover).  And he is in the non-canon "Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past", voice by Ben Schwartz.  So, shall I declare myself the winner and say I'm done?  Oh, I'll probably beat that dead horse a little more, still!

BONUS for "May the Fourth": Here's an unrelated link to a hauntingly beautiful song by Jeremy Messersmith's "Tatooine", delightfully animated with paper cutouts from the original trilogy.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quickly scrawled digital pencils on a 3,000px x 2,000px canvas in Rebelle 8 Pro.

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STEP TWO:  And here's the finished digital painting

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Done digitally in Rebelle 8 Pro.

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Happy (belated) Superman Day!

Superman Day - 2026

I don't know why I don't realize these things until they are too late, but last week on April 18, 2026, it was Superman Day.  With Superman being my moral North Star since I was but a child (some would argue I have yet to grow up and I can't say they are entirely wrong), I thought I'd do up a painting of Christopher Reeve as Superman, why not?

After my mentioning I think I've been a little too heavy on digital painting of late in my last post, I figured I had to do up something with traditional painting--in this case it is another Acrylic painting.  Although, I wish I had a better scanner, as the colors are a bit more harsh than they are on the original.

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done with a blue pencil on an 11" x 14" piece of copy paper.

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STEP TWO: I was going to bust out the light box and trace it onto some watercolor paper and thought "Hey, why don't I just scan it in and print it out on some extra-heavy cardstock?"  Also, it was a bit larger that I was intending and shrunk it down to 8" x 10".  I converted the Blue Line to Black, darkened the lines, and printed it out to paint with Acrylic Paint.

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STEP THREE: And here's the first pass with Acrylic paint.  Mostly, just to lay out the basic shapes and colors and give the next layers something to stick to, as Acrylic seems to adhere better when going over top a previous Acrylic layer.

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STEP FOUR: And here's the final painting.  Alas, the finished painting is much more subtle in color and blending than the scanned image shows.  Ah, well...  I guess it's OK.

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 8" x 10" extra-heavy cardstock.

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Dune (1984) - Paul Atreides

Dune (1984)
Paul Atreides

I admit I was surprised to see a Dune 3 trailer already, figuring it would be another couple a few years before it was going to come out.  But, anyhoo, as great as Denis Villeneuve's version is, my "Dune" has all manner of David Lynchian weirdness: Jean Luc Picard/Professor X as Gurney Halleck; men with eyebrows bigger than ZZ Top's beards; Sting running around in a black thong; Spacer Guild members are giant fetuses in steam-powered locomotives; and more festering pustules than you can shake a stick at.  There is something about the David Lynch version that I find compelling for all its strangeness.  Well, that and I saw it when I was a teenager--the prime time to imprint on media.

So, for not much reason, I figured I'd do a run of "Dune" paintings.  I also feel as if I had been doing a bit too much digital work of late and feel like I need to do some work in the actual painting and whatnot.

Of course, I should have done some sort of rhyme or pun with "Dune" and "June", I suppose.  Ah, well.  Perhaps, by the time I'm done with the half-dozen or so paintings I'm vaguely planning for this run, it will be June or close enough to it.

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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils, done on a 6" x 8" gray gessoed hard board.

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STEP TWO: And here is the first pass with Acrylic paint.

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STEP THREE: And, after a lot of back-and-forth and corrections, here's the finished painting.  Now that it's scanned in, I'll toss a coat of varnish on and call it done!  

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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 8" gessoed hardboard.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026 #9

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's the next submission featuring that Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing:
MARCH M.O.D.O.K. MADNESS!

Well, here it is, the last of the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness for 2026. And what better way to send off our favorite Mind Blastin’ Lil' Buddy than to have the A.I.M. Agent whispering “Hush” and all that with a parody of “Goodnight Moon”.

Visit the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog early and often to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing and tell 'em John sent ya!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,500px x 2,000px canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on several layers under the Digital Inks. 

I also added a slight paper grain over the top to break up the plain colors.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026 #8

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's the next submission featuring that Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing:
MARCH M.O.D.O.K. MADNESS!

Here's the next submission to March M.O.D.O.K. Madness.  Why did I choose to have M.O.D.O.K. driving some sort of "Mad Max: Fury Road" style murderous dune buggy?   Who knows, especially since I really don’t like drawing vehicles.  I'm not even all that good at them (although, admittedly, much better than I used to be).  Bleh!  What was I thinking?

One more day to go for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness!

Visit the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog early and often to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing and tell 'em John sent ya!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 2,750px canvas.  I also did a simple grid just to keep everything vaguely in perspective.  Nothin' fancy or exact--just enough to fake it.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on several layers under the Digital Inks.  I decided to keep the inks drawn in freehand, rather than using either the Perspective Ruler or the new hold-shape to snap to a straight line or corrected shape feature that Clip Studio Paint has with Version 5 (basically, the same thing that Procreate does when drawing shapes).  Keeping the lines freehand gives them a little more life for this kind of wacky drawing, whereas if all the lines were precise and exactly straight, etc., it would probably be a bit more sterile.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026 #7

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2026
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's the next submission featuring that Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing:
MARCH M.O.D.O.K. MADNESS!

Well, this took a little bit longer than I intended, but here’s my ripoff… er, pastiche of Frank Frazetta, based on a problematic scene in “Ms. Marvel #7” vol. 1 (1977) where M.O.D.O.K. attempts to take over Ms. Marvel’s mind and make her love and worship him.  It didn’t last long before he got the stuffings beaten out of him, of course, but I could not pass up the image of M.O.D.O.K. in a Frazetta-esque scene, vaguely based on the comic page.

Here's the original page from "Ms. Marvel #7" (1977) in question.

And here is the one of the many "Princess of Mars" covers from Frazetta that I used to base my parody upon.

Visit the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog early and often to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing and tell 'em John sent ya!

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STEP ONE:  Hey, look, I used Rebelle and remembered to do some "Work in Process" pics while working on the digital painting.  (It happened once, I guess it can theoretically happen again.)  Anyhoo, here are the very quickly scribbled digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first and part of a second pass with the digital Gouache brushes.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished digital painting, after lots and lots and lots of back-and-forth.

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Done digitally in Rebelle 8 Pro.

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