"Mix-Up" ("Men in Black 3")
Although the homage was based on another movie rather than any of the previous entries in the franchise, as soon as I heard the synopsis of "Men in Black 3" I knew I needed to revisit one of our earliest gallery pictures.
For those who don't know the story, "Men in Black 3" featured Agent J (played by the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) travelling back to the year 1969 in order to stop an evil alien (the Flight of the Conchords member who wears glasses) from killing Agent J's partner, K (the voice of Major Chip Hazard from "Toy Soldiers"). While there, J runs into a younger version of K (Mikey's brother in "The Goonies") and slowly discovered what made K the man he's going to become in the future.
Borrowing that concept, I thought it would be fun if I had Erik traveling back in time himself to correct a 'mistake'... specifically our homage to the film "Evolution"; the third picture we ever drew for the gallery way back in 2001.
To be honest, it's always been one of those illustrations I cringe at because some of the cheesiest photoshop tricks in the book were on display (aside from what was a really cool background I'm positive I swiped somewhere online). That and even though the Blockbuster Gallery is not solid continuity, the sight of Erik being gun crazy seems way out of character. So, I was presented a unique opportunity to revamp an earlier piece without altering what came before it.
Drawing like my 26-year-old self again felt very strange but turned out better than I could hope, even if every nerve in my body wanted to stop using ball-point pens and haphazardly slapping on colors. But authenticity was key to making this piece work and I knew I wouldn't be finished unless the final product make me cringe. And boy did it ever! It's funny how I received a huge confidence boost working on this picture because instead of striving to do my best, I aimed for the absolute worse.
- Jake