you shiver with anticipation as you enter the "BotCon" room...

Contest

I am striving to attend BOTCONs now. I wanted to at least submit art pieces to BOTCON 1998 but I didn't muster up the resources in time. When they recolored Inferno to a black Antagony, I promised myself I would attend (to get those exclusives). I found the motivation and time to get a few art pieces out. Funny enough, I dredged up some OLD artwork to go along with my new pieces, and it was an old piece that was sold!

Unfortunately, I didn't win any prizes for my submissions. However, I did get some votes. I ended up helping one day at the BotCon Art room. But from what I heard, the facilities and room were dramatically better than past Art rooms.
Great meeting you "Yarnmaster" Barb and Malin!

While Transformer art is an important piece of the BotCon, it seems more emphasis will be going into contests like the Trivia Contest.

On with the pictures!

Ultra Galvatron

11-Nov-00 Ultra Galvatron in color! Click here to see J-Tron's colors!

30-Oct-99 My "Ultra Galvatron" picture. It was inspired with the Super Megatron concept from the Japanese Star Convoy series.

I actually drew this a few years ago. To my elation, this piece sold at BotCon '99!

BotCon '99 Entries

01-Nov-99 Update! Added prototype sketches of Tracks and Sunstreaker.

Transformers: Generation 2 rekindled the robot-lover in me and I once again took up the pencil to draw Transformers. Comic art armed me with elements of action scenes and action poses. Instead of static, standing robots, I was now able to apply a bit of action and drama into the robots i drew.

Inspired by the G2 Comic book (by Marvel), I made several sketches of old G1 Autobot Cars. Early versions of Sunstreaker were junked but I kept the Tracks pose.

Years later, these are the pieces I finalized. I submitted these three pieces of B/W inked art at the BotCon'99.

Tracks

From concept sketches from the time of Transformers: Generation 2, I updated the original sketch and then inked a final version. The Tracks toy really impressed me. The cartoon version did not. Therefore, my version of Tracks is taken more from the boxart and toy than from the cartoon version.

(I hated Tracks voice on the cartoon)

Sunstreaker

Originally, the sketch took direction from (his brother) Sideswipe's appearance in the Generation 2 comic book. I loved the "armed-to-the-teeth" look and scowl they gave to Sideswipe. I also wanted to convey the "kick butt" attitude with Sunstreaker.

Instead of the original leaping-with-guns-drawn pose I sketched, I decided to go with this "missile throw" concept. I figured we could have the missiles shot from the hand instead of the missle replacing the hand (as the toy did). A crouched pose, a look of mayhem, and some circular motion -- boom! We have an action shot!

BlueStreak

After completing Sunstreaker's rather reckless portrayal. I thought of using a kind of "Batman cape" element in one of my Autobot Car poses. I honestly don't remember how I came up with this idea in the first place. But, I knew I needed to apply this to a car with door wings. I could turn the doors up and give them an emphasized curve. I also added the rear-view mirrors to add a sharp bat-like wing substance to the final silhouette.

A simple running pose could involve the body but it was the wing/doors I wanted to really strike the viewer. Ideally, I would work a building blowing up behind him and so he's cringing from the explosion. This would have added the correct source of light from behind to justify the amount of shadow facing the viewer. Alas, for the amount of time I had before the BotCon, I settled for BlueStreak in an all out sprint -- like he's charging you! It works well with his namesake. Although I depict him in a moment of savagery or desperation, I think it's only a slight stretch of his character.

At the Art Contest at the BotCon, I overheard someone jest, "How do we know it's Bluestreak?" Granted, it's Black and White. Hmm... It can't be Prowl by the lack of police shields; Smokescreen would demand a few solid color strips using black striping. No, it's gonna have to be BlueStreak because he's a lighter color over his entire body. I'm saving a "deep thinking" pose for Prowl. Who knows what I'll do with Smokescreen.

* Images are mine. Please ask before using them.

Legal stuff. I am not affiliated with BOTCON. Just an attendee.
This is not an attempt to infringe on any rights or privileges of 3H Enterprises.
By my reference to "BotCon page", I mean "my Markatron Page of art I featured at a BotCon".

Page ©1999,2000,2001 Mark Wong