Early MVCreations art

When MVCreations were pitching for the license to produce a "Masters of the Universe" comic, they sent lot of art and sample-works to Mattel. The artworks by Emiliano Santalucia had an feel of Adam Hughes to them and were heavy on black shadows.

At one point it was suggested that they would illustrate in the style of the MOTU artwork shown at 2002 ToyFair panel. The art was done by Mattel's in-house artist Ruben Martinez.

This more "cartoony" style of drawing also ended up in the Target-exclusive comic for He-Man and Skeletor figure 2-pack.

Below is one pin-up by penciller Emiliano Santalucia depicting He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Orko, Stratos and Skeletor with Castle Grayskull in the backdrop.
Personally I enjoy seeing many styles that the 2002-characters lend themselves, as well as having art that shows what a capable artist can do, when asked for different drawing-styles. 

First Pin-Ups of Heroes and Villains - He-Man

As the news broke in 2002 that a comic for Masters of the Universe was being done by MVCreations with Val Staples writing and Emiliano Santalucia handling the art, it was an exciting time to see how the characters would look in comic-style.

There were four pin-ups shown in various interviews and here I present to you He-Man.

Personally I loved the fact that He-Man was sporting an "H"-symbol that was more reminiscent of the cartoon-version and the the highly stylized logo seen in the actual toy.

Also the stern yet heroic look on He-Man's face was something I liked with Emiliano's execution. He had done a lot of work to get the face right with many early pitched artworks.

The toy-inspired elements from Four Horsemen sculpt are present in the artwork, but Emiliano has given He-Man more standard "hero" physique that was lacking in the stylized figure-version. Some of the hatching-lines are still evident from the way Emiliano used to give shadows and definition to his characters, but as per Val's request; there is more room for the colouring to do the work for him.