NYT bestselling Graphic Novel Artist/Writer • Animation Background Designer for the 2023 Robot Dreams Feature • Illustrator & Comic Book Artist 🇨🇦
ARCHIVES FIND: I’m sorting through hundreds of old illustrations from my animation, comics, and animation work. This was a recent find—made as part of a packaging design for a German cosmetics product. I have no idea of the final result; the only note is that it was for a product named “Velvet”.
It’s from about 1989, when I lived and worked in Munich, Germany, for a year. Fortunately, I made a deal with a major German art agent, and we had a very productive collaboration. This was one of many commissions they obtained for me in advertising, packaging, and comics-style art.
Moving into the 90s, illustration was rapidly changing as computers and photography dominated the scene, so I transitioned into creating only animation, advertising, and comic book art.
#fashionillustration #illustration #art
UPCOMING ALEX TOTH PANEL: I'm honored to participate in this online panel on April 24th, hosted by the New York City Art Students League as part of the League Comic Fest (April 20-25th).
We'll be discussing what made Alex an "artist's artist" and how he is relevant & revered as a creative master to this day!
Details here (you'll have to copy and paste this link):
/events/21st-century-alex-toth-legacy-of-a-comics-master
DRAGON THROWBACK: I’m sorta-spring-cleaning and digging thru folders of literally hundreds of old originals from comics, animation, and illustration work.
Each one a minor trip down Memory Lane!
This is the black and white art from a presentation board I did for Nelvana Animation here in Toronto, maybe in the 90s (?). They were pitching a SAVAGE DRAGON animated series and needed something to wave around at a meeting. I was hired from time to time to do these. I don’t have the final color art at hand but there was a full color sky with logo etc.
ULTRAMEGA-COMMISSION REVEAL! Here's the final of my "VLSC" (very large secret commission) that I've mentioned a few times...a long time in the making! It's a piece requested by a private client—he asked for a large 24 x 36" drawing to represent the spirit, characters, and key events of the "Planetary" comic book series written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by John Cassady.
It was made on a sheet of Crescent illustration board in ultra clean style—deep blacks, no blue pencil or whiteout, no scrubby erasing. I drew it in traditional style by gridding up a smaller composition drawing, pencilling the final right on the board, then inking each section with brush pens and markers.
This was likely the single most challenging comic book art assignment I've ever had. The difficulty was not only to READ the entire 600+ page series, but afterwards to somehow DIGEST that all down into one exciting montage-style image. The last hurdle was getting it cleanly onto the board without mistakes...a whole different animal than smaller work. Gives you new respect for all those artists through time who've executed frescoes, large murals, giant paintings, etc.!
It wouldn't fit onto my flatbed scanner, so this digital image recording the final art was made using my iPhone. I have a YouTube video about the process in the works that covers it...coming soon!
P.S.: The "Planetary" logo is not on the real piece. Just added it for fun...
@warrenellis@dccomics
A poster I made in the early 1980s, commissioned by Ron Van Leeuwen, the store owner, and done in Pelican inks using airbrush. I vividly remember making it—going through many marker roughs from which he chose his favorite for finalizing. In those pre-digital days the logo in the image is a stat that I airbrushed and then glued on after carefully cutting it out. Thanks to Power Cosmic on X for posting, I didn’t have a good scan!
DOG SQUAD! A recent eBay offering (now sold). Few know of it, but DOG and ROBOT at one point auditioned for a TV series to be shot in New York City...but they ultimately didn’t get the job because the producers “decided to go in another direction”. Doesn’t that always happen?
The series was to be titled DOG SQUAD...or maybe DOGNET…anyway, they later made up for lost time by starring in a 2023 animated film...#ROBOTDREAMS #robotdreamsrivoche
AND...here's another eBay #ROBOTDREAMS art original (see my Linktree in bio for my eBay đź”—): DOG PAREIDOLIA! DOG misses ROBOT, and he may or may not be seeing ROBOT everywhere he goes! Is it PAREIDOLIA, or REAL?!?
#robotdreamsrivoche
(EXPLANATION: Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon where the brain perceives a specific, often meaningful image—such as a face, animal, or object—in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. This tendency to find familiar shapes in randomness is a common human experience, like seeing the "man in the moon," a face in a piece of toast, or animals in clouds. The term, derived from Greek words meaning "alongside or beyond image or form," describes the brain's natural inclination to impose meaning on the world around us, even when none exists. It is considered a type of apophenia, the broader tendency to perceive patterns in random data, and reflects how our perception is shaped by cognition and emotion rather than just direct sensory input.)
DARKSEID IN ARMAGETTO: This new 6 x 9" art for eBay (đź”— in bio for my eBay page & more!) features Jack Kirby's classic villain DARKSEID from his New Gods series, who is shown prowling the heights of Armagetto* (see further description below).
To make this comic art original, I printed out a lightened version of Kirby's pencils (shown in the next tweet) onto a piece of bond paper and glued it to Crescent illustration board. Then I added the background and inked everything to make the final scene. Inks are done with permanent pigment markers.
*About Armagetto: It's a fictional location within Jack Kirby's Fourth World mythology, specifically the capital city and primary living area for the working class, or "lowlies," on the war-torn planet Apokolips. It is situated next to the planet's massive, planet-consuming fire pits, which provide its power and light. The city is depicted as a harsh, oppressive environment where the masses labor under the rule of Darkseid, the planet's tyrannical ruler.
