Thanksgiving Colored Pencil Sketches

I did these over Thanksgiving weekend at my wonderful mom-in-law's house. Got the faces from flipping through random magazines. Done on vellum 11x14''.

STAR WARS Custom Christmas Cards!

I've released a trio of custom Star Wars Christmas Cards this year featuring a sexy Lando Calrissian under the mistletoe, Bossk the Bounty Hunter/Santa's Helper & a snowflake catching tauntaun, replete with mildly (highly?) amusing Star Wars holiday puns and silhouetted iconography. Outer envelope has a stamped "A long time ago, on a holiday far, far away..."

4.25" x 5.5". Clay coated 12 pt. premium card stock

Cards are available separately or in packs of 10.
OR in the popular 3 pack COMBO featuring of all of them.

The cards are available through my Etsy shop. Click the link for more details.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/castlemcquade


Supply is limited and running out so order yours today!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!
&
May the Force be with you.

Snow Monkey TEA & Holiday Cards

I've teamed up with The Clipper Ship Tea Company to produce the HOTTEST tea of the season -
SNOW MONKEY!

Inspired by my Snow Monkey series, it's a delicious blend of Green Tea, Lavender, Blueberry and Vanilla - REALLY REALLY good! YUM! The owner Melissa is quite the mix master. And I'm not just saying that. Tastes just like my painting looks - it's eerie, you just have to try it.

Stop by the shop this holiday season. If you like tea, you'll flip out - And if you don't, you may be converted. It's located at 80 Main Street in Northport, NY. They are also selling my Snow Monkey holiday cards and signed prints, framed and unframed.

The owner and I are in cahoots now, planning something really cool and potentially BIG. Be on the lookout in 2012...

Also, just released the image as a holiday card, available individually or as a ten pack.
Check out my Etsy store for all the details.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CastleMcQuade

Delight your friends and family with this tranquil image, the perfect remedy for the upcoming holiday MADNESS!

Dean Martin - Westchester Magazine

Got an illustration appearing in this month's Westchester Magazine of Dean Martin - Ring-A-Ding DING! - on the Yonkers Pier for a story about song lyrics that include lines with Westchester references in them. There's a bunch, ranging from Lil' Kim to Steely Dan.

Here's some sketches...

“If You Knew Susie” by Dean Martin
“We went riding, she didn't balk / Back from Yonkers / I'm the one that had to walk.”

Cheers Aiko!

RIP Andy Rooney

Farewell Planet Earth, I shall return!"

John C. Reily

Spot Illustration - Phoenix Magazine

I did a spot illustration for Phoenix Magazine the other week of Tara Hitchcock, morning news anchor of Good Morning Arizona, and her super sunny disposition. Unfortunately, the week before the mag went to press, she retired! The spot was pulled, so as to not not behind the times - doh!  It's cool, still got paid, and met a cool contact.  Cheers Brian!

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln.
Conceptual Poster for the forthcoming movie by Steven Speilberg. Dec. 2012.

Brigite Bardot and H.P. Lovecraft

BARDOT & LOVECRAFT.

Lovebirds of another cyclopian dimension.

Tyrion Lannister

Congrats on the Emmy win Dinklage!
A Lannister always pays his debts.

Michelle Obama - Green Giant

I had a hankering to do Michelle Obama for a while now. Been working on this on the side for a bit, finally finished it up. I was developing a sketch based on Inauguration Night photos and the white dress she was wearing. Suddenly, I noticed that the dress kinda reminded me to the Green Giant's leafy frock and I went with it. Thought it was a cool image, & in line with the environmental aspirations of this administration and Michelle's personal beliefs & renown gardening habits. Go Green!

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK - 1973 Version

With all the hoopla about the new Del Toro produced flick, here's my homage to the original 1973 version. I love the original creature character design, so un-obvious and weird., memorable. Deformed, oblong baby heads, hairy gorilla suit bodies. They were sad... tortured, in addition to being murderous little fellas. Their voices were super creepy too.

From IMDB

"The idea of the creatures coming out of an ash clean-out pit came from the Spanish house that writer Nigel McKeand was living in at the time; it had an old fireplace at the rear with a deep clean-out pit, bolted at the rear. It was so deep, creepy and dark nobody ever wanted the job of cleaning it out. Nigel McKeand stated that the creatures seen are more 'lumbering' than he intended in the script; his version of the creatures were quick, thin, and more demonic."

Perhaps these decisions a product of a low budget, and no CGI but maybe better than the new spastic monkey demons. Haven't seen the new flick though, cant wait. Hope it's dope.

My wife and sister in law called the originals "Toogies" for some reason, so...

LONG LIVE THE TOOGIES!

Brand new 11x17" giclée print available through my Etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/castlemcquade
Hand signed and dated. The perfect gift for fans!

CONAN (O'Brien) the BARBARIAN

The obvious mash-up of the week!

The SEXIEST man on TV, now even SEXIER, that is, if you're into the whole muscle-y thing.

Painted for the infamous ROYAL FLUSH Book 7
www.RFMAG.com

11x14'' print now available on my Etsy store for all you Coneheads out there.

Goth Beauty & The Freaky Beast

Ever notice that the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" is, well, a beast, but still studly? Like an anthropomorphic Fabio. Lantern jawed, barrel chested with bulging muscle and a cute butt. An animal, but handsome, a good looking lion man with wavy long hair, so dreamy.

My version is sniveling, weird... freaky, more Cronenberg than Disney.

Hence, a true test of love for Beauty, it's not just her warming to an overgrown teddy bear. If she could fall in love with the creature above, then that would really be something.

Check out my in-progress thread over at CGHUB, sketches to final.

- Done for the Fairytales Re-Imagined Art Challenge.

Just posted it over at my deviantART account too. Gimme a shout out if you're over there- Cheers!

Extra Extra

Read all about it! The Pitch came in the mail today. I love the smell of newspaper in the morning...

PREHISTORIC Red Riding Hood

I did this for the Fairytale Re-Imagined Art Challenge on CGHUB. Click to enlarge.

Cromagnon Red Riding Hood is about to get chomped by a T-Wolf... but wait, hold up - Red actually looks pretty badass, like she's gonna poke em in the eye & flip outta harm's way. Hmmm... Who do u think is going to win?

(Yes, I know dinosaurs and people never existed together in real time, separated by millions of years, but whatevs. Think of this as more of a Flinstones/One Million BC homage)

Click below to check out my work in progress thread. Super ultra sloppy sketches (yikes)! to the pristine final you see above. Actually I'll probably keep playing with for a bit... never done, always tweaking...

cghub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7243

BLACK RABBIT

Long ago, a tortoise beat a hare in a footrace. It's a tale we all know. The tortoise was cheered by all and went on to live a happy life. The hare... well, things didn't go so well for him. This is his story.

Ridiculed and shamed, his life in shambles, the hare was driven to isolation, to the musty dark of the Fermented Forest! There he became crazed with self hatred, and obsessed with REVENGE. Living on a diet of dusty, odd mushrooms, his mind was warped even further, while his body never aged. He worked out constantly, got super jacked, ultra strong. His legs could crush tree trunks, he could hear a leaf swooshing in the breeze, became ultra alert. He trained ferociously, studying every type of fighting method ever invented, and even created a few new ones. He began to pray to the moon, to Firth and to The Black Rabbit of Inlé. Soon his prayers were answered.

A shadowy figure with a shredded cloak came to visit him one day and showed him pictures of 4 turtles living far away. This figure said that they were the Sons of the Tortoise that beat him.

The hare had become The Black Rabbit, an ancient fighting force from another time, and now it knew what he had to do.

KILL the TURTLES!

I entered this character into a contest a couple days ago on CGHUB about fictional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains. Username - LandofMcQuade

THE PITCH Cover

Here are a couple of BIG detail shots of the cover illustration I did recently for THE PITCH, along with the full version with and without text. The issue is about the upcoming outdoor music festivals at the Kansas City Speedway - "Kanrocksas" featuring Eminem and "FarmAid" featuring Neil Young and Willie Nelson. Check it out the article here http://www.pitch.com If you live in the Kansas City area though, pick on up a copy, on stands as of yesterday.

The final piece is printing 10x11" - so big! - I can't wait to see it in my hands. Hopefully they'll ship me those copies soon - I had a blast doing this, despite the quick deadline and ambitious elements, felt like I had it tracked all the way. The AD was really cool. I heard it's getting a really great response, hope it leads to more covers, for The Pitch and beyond...

The final version I worked on had about 76 layers in Photoshop, was 450 DPI and took up about a whole GB of memory. Was worth very bit. Below is a screen grab of the folder that housed all my files, drafts and reference.