promo art by Laird and Eastman for "Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

Seeing as this has been shown at the San Diego ComicCon, I guess it would be okay for me to post it on my blog. I'm referring to the special piece of art that Kevin Eastman and I did for the release of the "Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video documentary, artwork which I saw online tonight at the following link: 

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles/news/?a=104051

There are no art credits for this drawing in this news article, so here's a little clarification as to how it came to be. If I am remembering the details correctly, some weeks ago the documentary dudes thought it would be cool to have a new piece of art for promotional purposes related to the release of the documentary. Kevin was flat-out busy with other stuff, so I thought it might be fun to take pencil in hand and do an updated version of the iconic first group shot of the Turtles, which Kevin had penciled and I had inked way back in 1983. 

That piece was drawn in pencil and marker on a sheet of cheap, thin white paper, and marked the first time in history that the title "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" had been written down in that particular order, as well as the first time all four of the titular characters were depicted together in one drawing. Here's that original drawing:

I penciled a new version of the old drawing, keeping the poses of the original but drawing the Turtles as I would draw them now. It was a little awkward getting the taller and more muscular modern Turtles to fit into those old poses, but I think it worked out okay.

Here's the scan of the blue pencil drawing I worked up and emailed to Kevin so he could print it out and ink it…

… and here's a black and white version in case the blue pencil lines are too hard to make out.

The cool end result is as you see it at the top of the page. -- PL

Blast from the Past #360: TMNT group shot

This is sort of a curious piece. It is not dated, but from the way the Turtles are drawn and the style of my inking on it, I would say it is from the late 1980's or early 1990's. The Turtles have the blank white eye slits we gave them in the black and white MIrage comics… but they also have the initialed belt buckles from the first animated TMNT TV show. And Leonardo has the scabbard and scabbard strap setup from that same show.

So what is this piece? Why was it drawn? And who drew it? I know that I inked it, but it has a certain look to it -- particularly in the way the figures are posed -- that makes me think it is likely -- or at least possible -- that Kevin Eastman penciled it. I just can't remember much more about it. -- PL

Blast from the Past #255: TMNT group shot

(I have the feeling that I've posted this before, though a quick search of the blog seems to indicate otherwise.)

This is a group shot I penciled and inked (with a brush) back in 1986. It was done, as far as I can recall, just for the heck of it. -- PL