Well, since I was complaining a post back that I was uploading way too much Warhammer 40,000-related artwork, I did this illustration to sort of 'wash away' a bit of the grimy gothic darkness of the Dark Millenium.

As you all know, I was always a big fan of the old-school adventure heroes, and who's best at fighting alien threats and rescuing his beautiful lady than Flash Gordon himself!
I remember watching the 80s film and being captivated (even though the movie was a tad bizarre!) by the landscapes and the adventurous, pulp mood of it all.
I delved a bit further, later on, and discovered Alex Raymond's original strips as well as hundreds of homages to this great character and I embraced him even more.

So, this is my tribute to this great hero and his lady, Dale Arden. I quite like how this image turned out. I was going to use a monochrome palette at first, but later on decided that Flash deserved his bold colours. And the alien setting wouldn't have been the same without those Moons.
I had also sketched a much more 'action-packed' scene of him, with Ming looming in the background, but it seemed a bit too much and I wanted to capture that pulp cover style of rendering that I like so much. So I decided to add Ming in a sort of tangencial way, that I think enhanced his stature even more.
Sometimes, when you've got the character fully on an image (especially the bad guys) they can lose a bit of that endless power they threaten worlds with. Plus, Ming always seemed to me to be the type of villain that would have his face carved onto pillars and everything else around him ...

There's another detail that I want to address, as a final note: I didn't alter Flash's original design much or went over the top with Dale's dress, which is something that often goes awry with remakes. I find that my style is orignal and fresh enough to make the characters look new, even in their 'outdated' garments. What do you think?

So, I hope you enjoy this bit of nostalgia and let me know what you think!

Nic.-