Sunday 1 March 2015

MASKart!

After posting a couple of images on my M.A.S.K. Comics Facebook Page over the past few days that had some good hits, I thought I continue on from a previous post - MASKart!



My son and I were doing some drawings.  I drew the above image of Firefly, then printed a copy of it.  The copy was lighter than above, but that allowed my son to draw over it to get some practice.

Then, yesterday, I lightly sketched an outline of Rhino to give Reece something to work with and this is what he came up with -



He's only 5 years old - so It's a good start!

MASKart was a regular feature of the M.A.S.K. UK Comics.  Between the comic strips, the centre page spreads and MASKart, there was plenty of inspiration for me to come up with some ideas.

During my teenage years I drew a number of concept drawings for M.A.S.K.  I had a lot of ideas running through my head and need to get them down on paper.  My Father was a car mechanic and his garage sold and maintained Saab's - so I drew a lot of inspiration from there - 



"Viggen" was my first attempt.  A four door Saab 900 Turbo Saloon.  Like Thunderhawk, Viggen (taken from the name of the Saab Viggen Jet Fighter) is a car that converts into a jet.



It was a fairly subtle conversion - so subtle, I had to draw a top view of the wings coming out so you would know that it had actually converted!!  The idea was that black side mouldings are where the wings are hidden - on the side view it doesn't look like much has happened.

The rear spoiler rises up as a tail wing and the there are machine guns in the front headlights.

My next vehicle - not sure if I actually gave it a name at the time, so we'll call it "Draken" (yes, another Saab Jet Fighter) - is a three door Saab 900.



One thing you will notice about many of my ideas, is that they draw inspiration (steal) from existing M.A.S.K. Vehicles.  Draken was very much a Car version of Condor.



Not a great design - but at least it has a bit more going on that the Viggen concept!!

So far you'll see a theme of Saab's, so you'll be please to know that my last Saab idea is below!



Ok, so this is a poor sketch at best.  Anyone familiar with Saab's will know that the Bonnet (Hood) is hinged at the front of the vehicle.  This lends itself well to becoming a "Shield" for a sort of tank.

We had an Irish Setter at the time and I came up with the idea that M.A.S.K. should have their own Setter.  Other 80's heroes of the time had their "pet" sidekicks - there was Brain in Inspector Gadget and Battle Cat in He-Man.  I felt that a dog, with a Mask that allowed him to talk, would be good.



Of course, V.E.N.O.M. need their own Canine Agent -



Not too sure if these dogs would add anything to the stories or just be a crazy idea.

Where would we be without a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am!  One of the icons of our generation!



Clearly, this vehicle is simply called "Firebird".  It's just really Raven, but without the ability to land on water!



I used to watch a lot of US shows in the 80's and drew from them.  One of my favourites, that no one seems to remember, was The Highwayman starring Sam Jones (Flash Gordon).

I guess the trucks in The Highwayman had a big influence on "Magnum".



The image above isn't very clear - drawn on green paper.  But loosely based on The Highwayman's truck and an image from a book about the future I've had since I was a small child.

Being a large vehicle, it's a bit more complex than some of my other designs.



The trailer section detaches to from a mobile command centre with an anti-aircraft turret.



The front section the becomes a futuristic version of Rhino - even with it's own ATV!

My older brother, Alan, had a toy Recovery Truck when we were growing up!  It was a great toy - I was a bit jealous that it wasn't mine!



I didn't do much to it - I guess I could've done a lot more!



I guess the guns would get in the way of opening the doors!



I guess as ideas go - a Milk Tanker is a bit of an unusual one!  I live in a small village and there are a number of Dairy Farms around the area.  Within our village, there was a company with a fleet of Milk Tankers.

Like some of my other ideas, there is plenty more that I could've done with it!  I guess I didn't want it to be too much like Outlaw!

Speaking of Outlaw - a couple of weeks ago, this design for Outlaw emerged on the internet -


This is a great concept and there was something a bit familiar about it!

I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time, until I came across this design that I worked on in my teens - 


The concept for "Tornado" was taken from a toy tanker that I had as a kid.

I guess that with some of the ideas that I had, I already had an idea of what I was going to do with it.  Some of ideas came to me as I was drawing them.  As with the Outlaw concept above, Tornado is a Semi-Tractor Unit with a Tanker Trailer.

The Conversion is complex - but maybe not as complex as "Outlaw" above.


As I said above, I "Stole" many of my ideas from existing M.A.S.K. creations.  The Jet in the Tanker is very much like Slingshot.  The hydroplane coming out of the Tractor Unit is very much like Gator.

I'd like to think, due to the smokestacks coming done and being weapons on the ATV, that I improved Rhino's ATV design - just slightly!


This is just a silly drawing (a bit like the third Saab vehicle above) that I threw together when I had a few minutes to kill.  It was a Monster Car, that turned into a Hovercraft - a bit like Bandit - but had the added bonus of a jet hidden within.

The Ferrari Truck below was another toy of my brother's that I drew - I'm not sure what I was going to do with it!


I'm sure that whatever I was going to do with it - it was going to be awesome!

But, of course, M.A.S.K. isn't just about the vehicles.  There are also Masks.

When I looked out these images to post, I found list upon list of vehicles and Masks that I had ideas for.  All of the Masks were listed with their names and respective functions.

I only drew a few, however.


I guess I was kind of working my designs around the existing Masks so that they would fit in within the M.A.S.K. universe. 



Ok - so these REALLY AREN'T GREAT but don't judge me too much.

You'll be glad to know that NONE of the above, made it into my script!

I should have some more pictures - I'll maybe leave them for another time!

#assembleMASK #Hasbro #MASKComics

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