Wonder Woman of the Week and other flashbacks

My third trip to Emerald City Comicon was the best one yet.  In addition to bringing a few more friends along, I always look forward to seeing artists and cosplayers I have become familiar with and who have become favorites.  These three creative minds have already been featured here, but are too  great not to revisit. 
Liana Hee
This week's WWoW comes from one of my absolute favorite artists, Liana Hee.  I believe I have described her in the past as supremely talented, and I stand by that statement.
She is currently a designer for Nickelodeon Animation Studio! She was also recently featured at the Disney WonderGround Gallery as the Artist in Residence doing live paintings for what I must assume was an adoring audience.  Because I have commissioned her twice in the past, I was looking forward to a second in my Wonder Woman series.  Thankfully, she was on board; and I now have a Can-Can Wonder Woman to accompany my Flapper Wonder Woman from 2013. 
(Also, it was fitting, since our group caught a show at the Can-Can Cabaret at Pike's Place Market in Seattle.  I highly recommend that any trip to Seattle should include a show there.)
As always, the amount of detail in Liana's work is amazing and her work has so much life and energy. 

No one make any sudden noises ...

 

Catch our original post here.  And check out her blog and (for you superfans) her 365 day photo project.

Livio Ramondelli
If you're a fan of Transformers, you'll love Livio Ramondelli.  If you're a fan of Star Wars, you'll love Livio Ramondelli.  If you're a fan of laser guns, explosions and probably robots, you'll love IDW artist Livio Ramondelli.

Almost makes you wanna root for the villain!

If his work looks familiar, it may be because he has drawn for such comic titles as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars.  He has provided art and Design for Google, Hasbro and Upper Deck as well.   I made sure to find time to hit his table alongside, my buddy Scott - the perpetual kid who never grew up.  His transformers collection fills a pretty massive assortment of shelves and closets in his house.  I saved the trip to Livio's table as a day three reveal at ECCC.  He did not disappoint.  What I have come to love most about his art is that he captures an entire story in one moment.   I assure you, that's no exaggeration. 

Check our first spotlight here.  And have a look at Livio's homepage and deviantart page. 

Ani-Mia
 Ani-Mia was one of the first well-known cosplayers we featured on the blog. (here) She makes made it quite easy, actually.  She is genuinely funny and approachable and there's a cheeky, very unapologetic sexiness to her cosplay.

I hate lanyards!

Really hate lanyards.

She has been featured in every cosplay and geek culture website and magazine we can think of.  She is always full of love and fan service on her Facebook page, and even with all the travel, she still finds time to fit charity work in with her cosplay with groups such as Comic Book Characters for Causes.  She is also a lovely model of non-geeky things too.

She'll be at Awesomecon next, (mark your calendars!) right in my own backyard. Woohoo! No jet lag necessary.  Check her tumblr for more of her thoughts and deviantart for more images.
Aaaand gratuitous Princess Leia in ...

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Back to the blog.

Artists: Livio Ramondelli, my fourth grade self thanks you!

"Who's a badass?!  Dynamic Poooooose!"

It has been said that I like the Transformers.
To me they were the perfect toy/cartoon idea ever.  I'm not sure if I ever changed my mind.  Planes, cars, tanks and spaceships that turned into robots!?  I don't know who is not supposed to like that. 
I have a lot of memories centered around them.  Weekday afternoons before anyone gets home, just eating cereal and watching the show on the couch.  Going over to my friend Scott's house (the Guy who always has way more toys than you) and transforming the ones he keeps behind glass.  Watching my friend Sarah try unsuccessfully to transform Ironhide before leaving him half-converted on a shelf. 
And that's just stuff that's happened this past month.
So, maybe I never grew up.

One of my favorite things about Transformers was the artwork.  Whether in the comic book, cartoon or on the toy boxes, the artists gave these Robots (in Disguise) real weight and toughness and dynamic poses to boot.  Then, of course, after saving up weeks' worth of allowances, I get them out of the box only to discover they have the articulation of someone who has had a horrific ski accident. 

Not. A. Dynamic. Pose.
Derp.

So it was seeing our featured artist's work that brought all that childhood fun back again.  Livio Ramondelli was one of the first artists I saw  at Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle.  And what I noticed right away was his knack for the dynamic pose; the hero shot, in addition to his fine detail and really strong use of light and bold color.  Flipping through his book at the convention was like someone pulled all these images out of my imagination from when I was a kid. 

That's Better!

 Livio Ramondelli has a lot of credits to his name.  he did artwork for the MMO game DC Universe Online.
His resume also includes obviously IDW's Transformers, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, 30 Days of Night and others.  He also provides art for Dark Horse's Star Wars titles. In other words, he is fourth grade Me's ultimate hero.  

Dynamic pose... close enough

What I like most about his art, beyond the badass poses, are his large, sweeping illustrations - often featuring multiple characters - that tell a story. 
Oh, yeah, I know we say that about a lot of artwork, parrticulary comic book art, but what I really want you to understand is what I mean by "tells a freaking story."

For example, this image.

A sequence of panels could never come close to depicting what went down as well as this piece does in one shot.  (Those poor, poor Jawas)
 

Or this.  Leaving me to still imagine how Boba Fett escaped. But giving me a good place to figure out how painful it was for the Sarlacc. 

The same idea applies to these two scenes (below) I did purchase there.  After going through his book, I narrowed the list down to like 15 different ones, but finally settled on two. 
I'm happy with my choices and the stories they tell.
One, (left) the story hasn't been told yet, but you know pain is coming for someone.  In the other (right), not only are we looking back on what happened, but we also have Darth Vader making a ominous snowy beeline towards us.  Now that is some cool crap!
 

There's more than just Star wars and Transformers.  Check out his website.  And his deviantart gallery. 

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