Raspberry. Advanced criticism and professional advice are strongly encouraged.

The artwork in this submission is a mixed media rendering of actor Rick Moranis as the character Dark Helmet from the 1987 Mel Brooks film Spaceballs. The rendering was made using both graphic pencils and charcoal pencils, and the rendering was illustrated on a 12 inch by 9 inch sheet of vellum Bristol.

Spaceballs is a comic spoof of various popular science-fiction films, mainly the films of The Star Wars Trilogy. Rick Moranis’ character, Dark Helmet, is an obvious send-up of the black-armored Jedi Darth Vader. Helmet’s main weapon is the Schwartz Ring, which he uses to generate glowing phallic swords or to torture incompetent minions by sending powerful energy to their scrotums. Also, it never occurred to me until fairly recent that Helmet’s headgear has a somewhat phallic shape to it.

This is my first major use of charcoal pencils in any work. A particular source of annoyance with working in only pencils is that I never could seem to get rich black colors. In fact, jet black ebony pencils seemed to leave a greasy texture that would reflect light. With a charcoal pencil, I could get a very rich black that doesn’t reflect light. That was especially important for this project since Helmet features a large dominance of black. However, working with charcoal presents another problem: charcoal is messy. Controlling the charcoal is more arduous that controlling the pencils.

I am unsure as to whether or not I will use charcoals in the future. I have to admit that I do like the fact that it achieves blacks that my pencils cannot.

Thank you for visiting and may the Schwartz be with you.

PROJECT #343

Comments are welcome, but please mind your language.

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