I was 14 years old when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" came out in the summer of 1981. I left the theater wide eyed and with my jaw open. What a story! So much action! The Han Solo guy playing the main role of Indiana Jones! It was totally awesome! George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had made movie magic. Raiders hooks you from the very beginning. The rugged hero looking for lost treasure. Betrayal. Spiders. A series of booby traps. A gold idol. More betrayal (c'mon Indy- pick your guides a little better!). Near death. A giant boulder. A chase scene with poison arrows and darts and more near death. And finally escape (which included a giant snake named "Reggie"). The movie just started and you have an action scene that left you breathless and will live in your mind forever. 

   As I have said before, Mike loves Indiana Jones. And you can see it in the sketch cards he had done for these 3 sets in 2008. Today's sketch card is from the Topps Indiana Jones Heritage set, the first of the 3 Indiana Jones sets Topps put out that year, and the one that was the hardest to pull sketch cards. And this one came from the action scene at the beginning of Raiders. Indy had just grabbed the idol, the collapsing cave booby trap is activated, and Indy is running back thru the poison dart traps which are triggered by the weight activated pads built into the floor. You can see darts flying all around Indy in the movie, as well as in this sketch.  Indy is running hunched over, and you can see the top of the idol cradled in his arms. I love the shading that Mike did on this card. I don't talk about it enough, but Mike always does a great job with his shading, and it adds great depth to the cards.

   I love, love, LOVE it when a sketch card can transport you back to the theater seat, into that scene, and you are watching the movie again for the very first time. That's what a card like this does for me. I love it, and I hope you do too. 

   Thanks to all for stopping by and reading. I'm glad 2020 is almost behind us, and hopefully 2021 will be a much better year. Happy New Year to all!

#indianajones #michaelduron #Locoduck #locoduckduron #artistsketchcard #artistsketch #sketch #raidersofthelostark #indy #theidol #poisondarts #satipo #spiders #belloq #thatsjustmypetreggie #sallah #arkofthecovenant

@michaelduron @locoduckduron @michaelduronportfolio 

    Boromir.  Eldest son and heir of Denethor II, Steward of Gondor. "Captain of the White Tower". Elder brother of Faramir. 

   When Gondor was asked to send a representative to Elrond's Council, Denethor chose his son Boromir, a mighty warrior. He volunteered to join the Fellowship to protect the One Ring on behalf of Gondor. He believed the mission to destroy the One Ring was folly, that the ring would be better served in protecting his beloved Gondor. This weighed heavily on his mind and heart, amplified when the Fellowship visited Galadriel in Lothlorien. Galadriel could read his mind and knew the desire in his heart. This desire eventually drove him mad, and he attempted to take the Ring  from Frodo at Amon Hen. Frodo used the ring, escaped, and Boromir realized the error of his ways, begs for Frodo's forgiveness, and died a hero's death defending Merry and Pippin from the Orcs and Uruk-hai. 

   At the Council of Elrond during the discussion of what do with the ring, Boromir says the line that has now become a very popular meme... "One does not simply walk into Mordor. It's black gates are guarded by more than Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great Eye is ever watchful." 

   Boromir was played masterfully by Sean Bean, and I have been a fan of his since. 

   This card is another in the Fellowship of the Ring series that Mike did for me, and I believe it's the first Boromir card by Mike that I have had. I think that Mike really nailed this one, especially Boromir's outfit. A great sketch and I love it. 

   That's all for today- thanks to all for stopping by and reading. Have a blessed holiday season!

#lordoftherings #michaelduron #locoduck #locoduckduron #artistsketchcard #artistsketch #sketch #boromir #fellowshipofthering #thetwotowers #returnoftheking #lordelrond #gandalf #frodobaggins #bilbobaggins #samwisegamgee #aragorn #legolas #Gimli #boromir #merry #pippin #gondor #theonering 

@michaelduron @locoduckduron @michaelduronportfolio 

    A few weeks ago a friend clued me in to a Duron Star Wars sketch that a fellow member had in a Facebook Star Wars group (Topps Star Wars Collectible Card Traders) in which we are both members. Galaxy 5, and in full color, so I was definitely interested. I was unfamiliar with the character, but the owner had done some research and found out it was Maris Brood, a Zabrak who was first a Jedi Padawan who initially escaped the the Great Jedi Purge ("order 66") and hid with her Jedi Master Shaak Ti on the planet of Felucia. After Shaak Ti was killed, Maris was corrupted by the Dark Side and later had run ins with Darth Vader's Sith apprentice Starkiller. Her story seemingly fades away or is unfinished.

   The Maris Brood character is also found in the Wii game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II" as a playable character in the multiplayer fights. She wields twin red lightsabers, as shown in Mike's sketch. I admittedly am woefully lacking in knowledge of Star Wars Extended Universe and Star Wars video games, although I have picked up some recognition of EU characters over the years from sketch cards, but it's definitely not a strong point for me. 

   On to Mike's sketch of Maris Brood, it's full color and has really nice detail. It's from Galaxy 5, which has a bit of an unknown factor for Duron fans as Mike didn't post much of a preview of his cards on the social media outlets back then. So I had never seen this card until it surfaced in the Star Wars group 10+ years after the product was released. Admittedly, Galaxy 5 wasn't my favorite Galaxy set as the watermark background on the sketches from that set was so obvious it almost detracts from the sketch as it's so noticeable. Mike solved that problem for most of the card with the colored in background, but you can still see part of the watermark on Maris' arm. Nothing Mike (or any other artist) could do, it's just the way the sketch blanks were made. Mike did a fantastic job on this Maris sketch as the details are great for a pack inserted sketch. Many artists (especially back then) frankly didn't put as much effort into the pack inserted sketches. When you have deadlines and Topps is only paying you a nominal fee for the pack inserted sketches, at times those factors show up. Artists made their real money with their Return cards, in which they could charge whatever price they could get. Again I digress.. back to the sketch. I really enjoy everything about this sketch- how Mike drew her hair, the horns, her mouth, eyes, lightsabers, and the barely PG boobs lol. I wasn't going to mention them, but come on- they are very prominent in the sketch!  Most likely not a character that has many sketches, so I was very proud to add this one to my collection. Thanks to Sam for selling it to me, and Justin for telling me about it. 

   If you're so inclined, leave a comment and tell me what you think of today's sketch. And as always, thanks for stopping by and reading!

#starwars #michaelduron #Locoduck #locoduckduron #artistsketchcard #artistsketch #sketch #marisbrood #padawan #jediapprentice #shaakti #jedimaster #starkiller #darthvader #vader #lordvader #sithlord #sithapprentice #topps #starwarsgalaxy5 #lightsaber 

@michaelduron @locoduckduron @michaelduronportfolio 

    Ponda Baba. A spice smuggler with partner Dr Cornelius Evazan for Jabba the Hutt, his claim to fame is picking a fight in the Mos Eisley Cantina with the wrong aspiring Jedi. "Watch your step" warned Ben Kenobi as they got ready to enter the Cantina. "I'm ready for anything" was Luke's reply. Luke and Ben knew the best place to find a pilot to take them to Alderaan was the Cantina, and while Ben did the searching, Luke just wanted a drink. Ponda Baba approached the thirsty young Luke and shoves him. I'm going to assume here that Luke was on Ponda's favorite bar stool, which in this cantina is grounds for a fight (yes, I know Luke wasn't actually sitting, but it plays better in my version of the story so just go with it lol). Dr Evazan sticks his nose in the middle of the dispute warning Luke "He doesn't like you".. after Luke gives a half hearted "I'm sorry", Evazan shoots back with the warning "I don't like you either. You just watch yourself.. we're wanted men. I have the death sentence on 12 systems!" I think here it was Luke's nonchalant "I'll be careful" that set off Dr Evazan. Ends up costing  Evazan his life, and instigator Ponda Baba part of his arm. The lesson here: It's not worth it to mess with a farmboy getting a drink if he's traveling with an old man with a lightsaber (really specific lesson, but it could save your life someday). 

   This sketch comes from 2017 Galactic Files Reborn, the last Star Wars set that Mike worked on for Topps. I featured a Dengar sketch from this set back on October 28th. By now Topps had gone to all photorealistic sketches, so Mike had to go away from his normal cartoony or sugar boogerz styles and go more photorealistic, putting a lot of detail and realism into these sketches. I think he does it seamlessly and it shows the depth of his talent. The sketch has really nice detail and color, and as a friend pointed out to me yesterday the starfield background is cool. 

   On a side note, I decided to trade this sketch for a different Michael Duron sketch, so I wanted to feature this one before it left my possession. It's going to a great collector, and he's trading me a great sketch which I'm sure I'll feature in the near future. 

   As always, thanks for stopping by and reading!

#starwars #michaelduron #locoduck #locoduckduron  #artistsketchcard #artistsketch #sketch #pondababa #moseisley #cantina #moseisleycantina #drcorneliusevazan #spicerunners #jabbathehutt #jabba #lukeskywalker #luke #jediapprentice #jediapprentice #jedimaster #benkenobi #obiwankenobi #lightsaber #barfight #dontmesswithamanwithalightsaber

@michaelduron @locoduckduron @michaelduronportfolio 

    Irina Spalko. KGB Agent, Soviet Army Colonel, Scientist, skilled fencer,  Dominatrix. Quite the resume. She was fanatical, even obsessed with the supernatural, which led to her demise in Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In her final scene, as the crystal skull is returned and the aliens open up a time portal to take back their own she pleads (in her Ukrainian accent), "I vant to know. I vant to know. Tell me. I'm ready. I vant to know". She asked for it, and in the end she got more than she bargained for. Vaporized by the evil ET alien lol.

Spalko was played by Cate Blanchett, best known to me as the actress that played Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings movies. It was a great contrast to see her go from the elegant royalty of Galadriel, to the hard, military badass of Spalko. It was also interesting to see her play the villain.

   Mike's sketch of Spalko doesn't have a lot of detail (or a nose as far as that goes), but you know immediately who the character is. Sketches like this prove that you don't need a lot of detail to make an impact.

Sorry for the short post today, but thanks for stopping by and checking it out. 

#indianajones #michaelduron #locoduck #locoduckduron #artistsketchcard #artistsketch #sketch #irinaspalko #spalko #cateblanchett #indianajoneskingdomofthecrystalskull

#raidersofthelostark #indianajonesandthetempleofdoom #indianajonesandthelastcrusade #harrisonford #indy 

@michaelduron @locoduckduron @michaelduronportfolio