Sharper Image

The Image run of the turtles was a fun read and we loved it. A big thanks to Gary Carlson who did a great job writing the title. Gary is the nicest person in comics. Honest. And he knows his craft. When we collaborated via phone on the Leatherhead/Dr. X storyline that ran through issues 17 -21, I had such a great time.

I want to thank Frank Fosco for the wonderful gift I received in the mail...these two original pages! Wow! I just love it when Casey whacks Leatherhead with his bat , breaking it in half, while Leatherhead doesn't feel a thing. The Triceraton getting his throat torn out by Leatherhead is priceless also! I sure appreciate the pages Frank, thanks so much!

And while we're on the subject, do you fans care to comment on the Image run ? Up for some hearty discussion?

SOLD!

The second set of paintings in the PETER LAIRD STEVE LAVIGNE TMNT ORIGINAL ART SERIES are GONE!

Congratulations to the high bidder.

Wow. That was fast.

LAIRD LAVIGNE ORIGINAL TMNT ART SERIES 2

Okay art fans, here are the next 2 pieces in the PETER LAIRD STEVE LAVIGNE TMNT ORIGINAL ART SERIES!
This time we have a nifty Donatello and a head shot of Mikey!! You know the drill...and you'll find these on ebay!
Just search Peter Laird Art. Good luck!

SOLD!

The first two pieces of art in the new

PETER LAIRD & STEVE LAVIGNE TMNT ARTWORK SERIES

has been sold. Congratulations to the winning bidder for snagging these two premier pieces!

Keep watching here for announcements of new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artwork for sale.


Next up for sale in the series I believe, is a full-color group shot of the four turtles...stay tuned.

**HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT** Peter Laird & Steve Lavigne Team Up To Bring You Original Art! Cowabunga!

Ever wanted an original turtle drawing by Peter Laird, hand-colored by Steve Lavigne?


Well, my friend, you're in luck!

Just like back in the old days, Peter and Steve have joined forces to bring you great original paintings of your favorite turtles!


Why incur all those incidental expenses of going to a show to get your special piece of Laird/Lavigne art when you can save all the time and money spent on gas, admission, food etc., and put it ALL towards that great piece of art! No wasted time standing in line, just step right up and get your art today !

These two are available for sale right now on Steve's ebay auctions, just search "Peter Laird Art" and they should be there. You can also email Steve at screaminged02@yahoo.com for details.

Light and Lively

Found these model sheets from the Light and Lively promotion. Needed something to post so here they are! Ain't they cute?

Pack Rat

We save WAY too much stuff. We found another sales flyer. This one is from KayBee Toy Works and is dated november 1990. We just have to trash all this stuff...

Sewer Stocking Stuffers

Now that the holidays are upon us who remembers these pics from the 1990 Christmas catalog?
Do they bring back fond memories? The text says that the Turtles set costs $15.99 while the Good Guy set and the Bad Guy set costs $16.99. Each set weighs 1.50lbs for shipping. Those were the days.

Mutanimals: The Next Mutation ?

Unused character designs for a proposed second team of Mutanimals. Looking back most of them are silly but I kinda like the beaver. He has a bionic buzzsaw tail. The raccoon mutant is named Ring Tone.

UT!

The turtles team up with the Flaming Carrot in the "The land of Green Fire" crossover series. Here is Kevin's Carrot drawing.

Flaming Carrot TM & © Bob Burden

Amazing Fantasy 15

Or is it? Actually it's just a fun piece of art from 1985 by Kevin and Pete. Steve especially loves this art because he has a thing for Spider-Man.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Foreshadowing things to come, we always liked this 1985 drawing of the main man!
Although Pete never donned a turtle suit for any meet and greet that we know of.

Wingnut.2

Back in the day I tried to keep eveything I could that had anything to do with anything I created. I still have these pics of the original sculpture of Wingnut that Playmates gave to me. Playmates also gave me the original paint master of Wingnut and it's here in a case, on a shelf, in my studio. Playmates sculpts were so intense back then. Best in the biz.

Although I created the batty hero it was Murph who gave him his schizoid personality and created his tragic origin on Huano. Murph also, quite brilliantly I might add, created the weird, symbiotic relationship between Wingnut and the mosquito, Screwloose.

Kiana and the Mirage Gang

As promised here's a picture of Kiana, Steve's husky, as well as the rest of us on the tracks behind the Mirage offices.

Cowabunga Convention Sketch

We all love Pete's turtles so for today here is a swell one from 1987. And it's MICHELANGELO...Enjoy!


Michelangelo TM & © Mirage Studios

Leatherhead Eat Krang

I inked this old drawing by Steve this morning (then laid in some color just for fun) and will be dropping it in the mail to him on monday so that he can hand-color it in the style of the First graphic novels. Then we were going to put it on Ebay and split the dough if it sells.

Back in the late '80's at conventions we'd sell 8" by 11" sketches for around $10-pencils, $10-inks, $10 quick color. We thought we'd start the auction off at $24.99 ? This drawing is 8" by 11".

Good idea?





Leatherhead & Krang TM & © Mirage Studios

Teenage Mutant Ninja Gamera Turtle ?

Ran across this and thought it appropriate since we were discussing Gamera the other day. Pencils by Pete and inks by Steve Bissette. This little gem is from 1988 I'm guessing.

Trial Run

This is a quick preliminary inking of the commission Steve and I are working on. I often do a practice run to see how it'll turn out.
This is 11" by 17" and the original is 17" by 29", if I remember correctly, and they look pretty much the same although I did a few things differently on the big original. I can't be as cavalier as usual because there is no whiteout allowed.


What do you think? Can you tell which turtle is which ?

Big Fun

Back in the late 90's I was working for an agency doing illustration work. We had just picked up a new client and I was asked to recommend artists that could help out with the workload. I immediately said to call Steve. Here are two of the first covers we worked on. Steve handled the pencilling and colors, I inked. You like?




It turned out to be just what the books say...Big Fun!! Fun that continues to this very day.

Mike & Mikey

Mike in the spotlight on the set of the first movie. Then Mikey pauses for a quick pic.

Postcards from the Edge

Here is a promotional postcard Playmates mailed out to buyers to invite them to stop by showroom #711, 1107 Broadway and look at the new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys for 1989. It's 8" by 5" and signed Raphael.
Everyone's FAVORITE TMNT!!

Couch Commission

Steve and I are working on our latest commission now and it's almost finished. Here's Steve's pencils for it. It's huge at 29" across and fully painted in the style of the First graphic novels. All four turtles on the couch with Splinter enjoying a Gamera movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Rip Off

Of all the turtle toys out there, I have a real fondness for this 7" tall knock-off figure. Maybe it's because I collect japanese vinyls or Donatello is my favorite turtle, I don't know.
I only have this one that Pete gave me a long time ago.

Turtle T's

Here are four shirt designs that were in stores for the holiday season 19 years ago.
A lot of children woke up Christmas morning to find these under the tree in 1988.
Pale imitations of Eastman and Laird's artwork...except for that first one... what the heck is up with that?

Yankee Doodle

Pete was always doodling. At meetings, restaurants, on small slips of paper or napkins. Usually he kept them but sometimes he'd get distracted and inadvertently leave one behind. That's when I'd make my move, hovering close by I'd quickly swoop in and grab it and shove it in my pocket. Heh,heh... here's one that's about 4" by 6" with some kind of a weird psychotropic alien lotus flower.

At least that's what I see...

Peter & Kevin

Great pic taken in front of my studio space at the cutlery building in Florence. Know how I remember? Take notice of the top left corner...a Masters of the Universe Evil Horde carded figure. I had my entire collection tacked up on the wall. And a jack-o-lantern & Jumbo Dragun Shogun Warrior behind Kevin. That cover is a HUGE copy of the issue 5 reprint. We shot it full of holes with our air soft guns. Purely by accident mind you...

Guitar Hero

Here's Dan "Metal God" Berger, new editior-in-chief of the vast Mirage Studios publishing empire with a couple of his guitars. This pic is circa 1991 and was taken at our practice space at 221 Lee road in South Deerfield. We ( Dan,Eric,Wally and I) were getting ready to play Sheehan's in downtown Northampton. We brought the house down that night with a killer rendition of Ring of Fire (as covered by Social Distortion) as well as many other cherished classics. Alot of turtle artwork was done with Social Distortion playing on the jam box.
Notice my Mountain Dew can lying on the floor and the Ralston-Purina Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal store displays leaning against the wall in the background. They are sealed in their shipping boxes.

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog

A funny story. In "87 I was living in Easthampton with my pet "Bunny" and was heading to ohio for the holidays. I needed a rabbit-sitter.
Enter Kevin and Steve. They said they'd be happy to watch Bunny. Now Bunny was just the cutest, sweetest little bunny you ever laid eyes on and I find it hard to believe the story of complete mayhem that Steve and Kev told me upon my return.
I'll leave it up to Steve to tell you the whole story in a later post. To this day I still find their tale of terror hard to swallow.

Toy Scouts Inc.

Here's Eric perusing the vintage 60's toy collection of famed Toy czar Bill Bruegman.
We stopped by Bill's Toy House, home of Toy Scouts Inc., on our way to the Mid-Ohio Con in november '89
hoping to find an elusive Aurora Big Frankie. The vintage toys, model kits and action figures were stocked from basement to attic and stuffed into every room in between. Eric bought a bunch of skull stuff if memory serves us.

Splinter in my Mind's Eye

We visited the set of the first movie for a week back when it was being filmed in North Carolina. Fantastic experience! Sleep all day...up all night watching the action. One of the store fronts was plastered with Bade Biker,Gizmo, Puma Blues and Hallowieners comic book covers. Can you find them in the movie?

Octo-Casey!

Speaking of the cereal mini-comics we just love this octopus/Casey Jones mutant that the Shredder plans to create.
Wonder if Neca or Playmates would make it into an action figure? We'd buy it for sure.

"...much better ARMED" Ha ...who wrote that?

Do You Have These?

We always thought these were neat. One of the few times Peter and Kevin illustrated the animated/Archie turtles
in comic form. AND great coloring and lettering we might add. These came free in turtle cereal boxes. Wonder if these are listed in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide? Bet not.

Wrong Side of the Tracks

This was behind the Mirage Studios offices in Northampton on one very cold New England winter's day.

Wingnut

The cool thing about a blog is that you can see stuff you might never have seen before. Such as this very early Wingnut conceptual art. Bearing quite a resemblence to a certain caped crusader. Some of these elements showed up in the Ralston-Purina mini comics where Wingnut made his debut as a bad guy.


Wingnut TM & © Mirage Studios

Sin City

Not the comic, the song by AC/DC. Here we are playing it as I wear the exclusive limited edition Melting Pot t-shirt
by Eric and Kevin. If we weren't drawin', we were thrashin'. Another glimpse into the far flung past.

Biker Benefit

This is a pin-up from 1989 that was donated to a local Harley Poker Run for charity. It was in a drawer because it didn't sell
at a convention. These were done very quickly at the table at shows or the night before to pick up some extra cash to spend on
Billiken kits or old action figures. I used cheap children's tray watercolors for color and a marker to ink it. Don't know what it brought at the biker auction.




Leo is TM & © Mirage Studios

Krang says...

You can email Steve at
screaminged02@yahoo.com
for more info on commissions.









Krang TM & © Mirage Studios