Rustam Hasanov

All hail Ulga Von Bloodspiller! The mightiest viking warrior the world has ever known. In her younger years she was sold into prostitution, but quickly learned that brute force can be just as powerful as brute sex. After slaying every madam and pimp in her city she gained the loyalty of her fellow harlots, who served her valiantly on board the viking ship she stole from the very men that used to patron her nightly services. 

She was known for charging into battle nearly topless and beheading every man she saw.  By the time of her death, her empire was the largest in the nordic region.  But alas, her life ended abruptly when she was poisoned by a jealous lover who took off with her golden crown. 

History may have faded the memory of dear Ulga, but her legend lives on. 

A few months ago I had the great privilege of working with this amazing team on the upcoming TV series adaption of The Strain. It was an incredible experience to work beside, and to learn from, some of the most creative individuals I am now proud to call my friends.

I’ve been knocking away at this painting a little bit on my free time to commemorate the occasion. It started out as a sketch I did of Francisco, when he sat next to me. Then everybody wanted one, so I took some quick snapshots of everybody’s beautiful face with my phone and did the best I could at home.

From left to right: Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Keith Thompson, Guy Davis, Guillermo (freaking) del Toro, me, Simon Webber, and finally Simon Lee.

Thanks guys, for putting up with my dumb jokes! Of course a special thank you to Guillermo for bringing me along for the ride!

Here are some closeups!

Francisco Ruiz Velasco, looking mischievous as usual!

Keith Thompson!

Guy Davis, my office buddy!

Guillermo (freaking) del Toro!!!!!

This mysterious handsome gentleman…

Simon Webber!

Simon Lee!

This is a paper towel logo I made for my friend Tim Neenan who is directing a sketch comedy video for a UCB show. It’s a take on the Brawny man logo, in all his housewife-loving beefcake glory. It’s really cool to see it actually printed out on the paper towels! I’ll post the video as soon as it comes out!

A few caricatures!

Just a few creature sketches I made while watching Game of Thrones last Sunday! 

Bubbles the monkey cleans the food Gertrude’s teeth, and in return Gertrude takes Hula lessons with Bubbles. A true symbiotic relationship.

Here are a few warm up sketches from this week!

This one I worked on while I was absent-mindedly watching that Beyonce documentary. As you can see, I’m in love with Beyonce. 

This is basically what it’s like living in Los Angeles. Packs of wild street dogs and coyotes chasing you on your way to the car. 

Walking the plank.

Future nomad. 

About 4 years ago I took an illustration class with Jeff Smith at Art Center. Here are a few sketches from back then to commemorate the occasion. 

It was difficult to focus on the class at the time as I was attempting to balance it with my very work-heavy entertainment based courses.  In retrospect, I think I learned some very valuable lessons while in this class that still stick with me today.  

Jeff really stressed observation and storytelling and challenging yourself to go for the less obvious solutions.  

This first image is a sketch I did of Jeff during one of his classes. In his little speech bubble, I have him saying “I’m a beast”, because he is, in fact, a beast. 

Many of the classes were “on location” sketching sessions. In this session, our model sat near a fire station. 

This was actually just a homeless guy passing through the area where we were drawing. Not one of our models. I hope he didn’t mind being immortalized forever!

This was at Union Station.

This one was at the LA Tar Pits. The model’s name was Earl Van Aken and he unfortunately passed away this past year. He was an incredible model and a great person.

These last two were outside of a very crowded cafe in Los Angeles. 

I don’t know if Jeff Smith is still teaching at Art Center, but if so, I highly recommend his class!

This week, I thought I’d let my dog Lucy have the honor of choosing the winner of this drawing of a bald man!-

Looks like it’s Jeff Victor for the win! Also, my dog hates me now, so thanks a lot Jeff. 

This is little sketch of a woman at the airport in Florida. She was pretending to read a magazine, but secretly eyeing someone off in the corner. I couldn’t tell who, but I hope she got to the mile high club with him later.