The Retro Kid Pool

I've been meaning to post this for a long time now. Check out this great Flickr group. They have tons of old school illustrations. Cool, cool stuff. If you're into that sort of thing that is.

The Retro Kid Pool

New Pin-up, Old Pin-up

This is a piece I did for the comic book Warmageddon. I think the issue comes out in the next few months and it should be the back cover. I don’t usually do “blendy” soft light stuff, but I figured it would look better than my usual hard line colors. Yes, she’s is supposed to have two different color eyes.This one is a really old piece (from 2003) that I don’t think I ever posted. It’s a pin-up for a horror book that never happened. It’s a lot like the stuff I was doing for Spookytown at the time…

When I was 10 years old, I was clearly insane

While organizing old drawings and junk, I came across this gem. If you can't laugh at this work of art, then you my friend just do not possess the ability to do so. There are so many wheel-off things here that I don't know where to begin. Let me list some of the things that make a strong case for childhood mental instability. You have to click on the image to enjoy it to it's fullest.

1. I have a "Space Tank", and a pimped-out one at that.
2. My back seat driver is Chewbacca.
3. My navigator (apparently) is The Atom.
4. My friends Han Solo and Aquaman are out on a lovely stroll together.
5. My cat has got my back.
6. A miniature S.W.A.T. van is riding along side of me.
7. I proudly fly the U.S. flag and the Cal Slayton flag.
8. I fire my laser ray at all times.
9. Lastly and most importantly, no matter who tells you differently, I invented the term "Crunk".

Angels and Nightmares

Recently, I was asked to contribute to an upcoming book titled "The Book of Angels and Nightmares". The concept is simple. Each artists get two pages, one page to draw something angelic, pure and good. The other to create something evil, profane and bad. They even got James O'Barr, creator of the Crow to contribute.

I tried doing the literal angel piece but I can really pull off the whole fantasy style artwork thing. So, I got the idea of doing more of a crime film noir piece. Posted here is my angel image. The publisher of the book asked us not to show both pieces, but to save them for when the book comes out. It's scheduled to come out sometime in the Spring. Click on the image below for more details.

Buying Comics Back in the Day

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I was in the small town of Pocahontas, Arkansas. It’s a town I visited a lot as a kid because my parents grew up there and also I spent a week with my cousin there each summer. It’s a classic small southern town like Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show. It had a town square with an old courthouse in the middle, a laid back pace with friendly people and it also had a “five and dime” variety store, namely Peter’s Variety Store, also known as “Joe Pete’s” because Joe Peters ran it.

Whenever I would find myself in Pocahontas, no matter the reason, the one goal I had in my head was a visit to the greatness that was Joe Pete’s. Why you ask? Because, in addition to the tools, candy, combs, shoe polish, umbrellas and other odds and ends, Joe Pete’s had a WALL of comic books. Not only did they the newest issue of Justice League, they had last month’s and the month’s before. This proved invaluable to me, as I myself lived in a small town and got my comics at places like the JR Food Mart, Safeway and Leaks Quick Mart. I wasn’t afforded the luxury of a comic book store back in the day, so I’d often miss issues of my favorite books.

Joe Pete’s was a gold mine for me. There was nothing better than getting a stack of comics (with the price written in grease pencil so you could know how much they were with tax, see image to the left) and catching up on any adventures I might have missed. The place seemed like it was in a time warp. I would visit in the late 70s and early 80s but it felt like it was a store from the 50s and 60s.

Unfortunately Joe Pete’s closed years ago, so every time I go by the empty store front I feel a bit sad, but the memories of the place also make me smile. My wife Heather snapped the picture above of me outside the old shop. When I showed it to my mom (who had to endured my many requests to stop by there growing up), she said it looked like I was waiting for the store to open. Maybe she was right.

Beach Blanket Bingo!

Here's a new piece that I actually did for my day job as a Graphic Designer for an insurance company. I work on a couple of their monthly magazines and they let me do a drawing for story about their upcoming convention in San Diego. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do more.

The empty space at the top and on the left is where the copy for the story went in case you're wondering. And it's a two color magazine, that's why it's not full color.

Back in the Day (or The Rare Art of Cal Slayton)

This should be good for a laugh or two. I'm a bit of a pack rat when it comes to drawings, I have years and years of them. And the majority of them are pretty bad when I look back on them. I mean, I'm fairly happy with the stuff I'm producing these days, but I sincerely hope I look back at these new pieces and cringe.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a handful of drawings I did years ago as a crazy kid with a crayon. I think they all fall between the ages of maybe 5 or 6 to 11. Man, it brought back some memories going through these old things. Hope you have at least half the giggle I did.

Lingerie and Stockings Girl

Here's a new piece I did over the weekend. More experimenting, getting away from my "no line" style I've been doing lately. I really like the way the legs turned out. Also, I use gradients in this one, which I don't really do much. But I think they're done subtley, softens up the piece. If anyone is reading this, I hope you like it!

Catwoman - Julie Newmar Style!

I realized that after doing a lot of these Illustrator pieces that I really haven't done any comic book characters in a while. So I decided to do one and, after a bit of consideration, I thought I'd do Catwoman. I originally sketched Catwoman in her current costume jumping from one rooftop to another. But I started thinking about how much I dug Julie Newmar in the old 60's Batman series. So, I went retro (like I'm prone to do) and did the piece above. I even snuck Batman and Robin into the picture. I hope you dig it!

Retro Girl in a Green Dress

Here's a new piece I knocked out in a couple of hours. I think it has a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" kinda feel to it.

New Illustrator Piece

I like to call this one "Classy Blonde in Blue Aquarium" or something like that. Click image for a closer look at the before and after.