Hey Goalie, Ya Got Some Nerd On You.

(Jean Sebastian-Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks wearing what appears to be a Terminator Duck)

A goalie's mask is probably the most personal piece of equipment in all of sports. It does, in fact, save their face from a blistering rubber disc going 90-100 mph; but it also allows them to express their individuality. Hand painted masks that display where they come from, nicknames they might have, and their interests. Some of these goalies share a common interest with those of us who enjoy the "nerdier" side of life.

I was going through a list of goalie masks in the NHL when I came across a Spider Man painted mask. That got me thinking, how many goalies have there been with superheroes displayed on their head. Well, it turns out science fiction and video games were pretty popular too.

So, I've compliled a list of the best "nerdy" goalie masks that I could find:

Spider Man

Venom

Marvel Heroes

(Yeah, who knew Marvel was gonna corner this market huh?)
Iron Man and Captain America

The Incredible Hulk

Wolverine

Thor and Silver Surfer

Batman and Villains

Star Wars






Ghostbusters

Peter Budaj (Colorado Avalanche) and Kari Lehtonen (Atlanta Thrashers)

I had to give these two goalies their own section because both of them had multiple nerdy masks.

Budaj has some really sweet masks. Yes, that's Altair from Assasin's Creed in the top two pictures. The Red Hulk on the bottom two - and a jacked Ned Flanders on the back of it.

Kari Lehtonen Starts off with an homage to Kill Bill with Beatrix Kiddo and O-Ren Ishii

Then he has a quite obscure mask featuring the girls from Final Fantasy x - Yuna and Rikku

Then to finish it off we see Lehtonen in an Optimus Prime mask.

Chris Mason also has a couple of cool designs, Kratos from God of War and Leonidas from 300



Even though the masks they use now are definitely safer, they lack a certain amount of intimidation that goalies in the past were able to execute.

Yeah, nobody wants to get on a breakaway and have to stare down a skull-man or vicious wildcat.

Check out Daveart.com and Griffe for more great designs. The goalie mask is such a unique piece of equipment it's fascinating how many designs there are out there.

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Daniel Strickland and his StrickArt

Please Give a Warm Welcome to StrickArt’s Very Own

Mr. Daniel Strickland

*applause*

Um, hi. How are you? I’m Daniel. You may also call me

Strick, Strickie, Danimal, Danislaus, or Big D if you’d like.

Just please don’t call me Dan …or late for supper.
(All art clicks to view larger)

Moving on. I was born in the marshy primordial bog of

 Baton Rouge, Louisiana back when He-Men and G.I. Joes

roamed the earth. I became an obsessed comic book aficionado

 at a very early age and began crafting my own characters

 as soon as I could fit a pencil into my wee left hand.

 Yes, those were the years I created such cherished childhood

favorites as “Robot-Man” and “Guy With Daggers For Eyeballs.”

 Ah, those were the days…

Some time had passed and, in the year 2000,

I began my attendance at the Savannah College of Art & Design 

to further explore my love for the comics medium.

At SCAD, I had the great pleasure of learning directly under a few

noted industry professionals including George Pratt (Enemy Ace),

 Scott Hampton (The Life Eaters),

and Mark Schultz (Cadillacs & Dinosaurs).

 I graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sequential Art

 (i.e. funny books), Summa Cum Laude.

Since then, I have obtained work doing book cover illustrations,

 mini-comics, posters, portraits, web-comics, an inking gig,

and the occasional graphic novel.
Let’s see. One of my proudest recent comic outings has been
the honor of penciling and inking the web-strip saga entitled
M.O.P.S. (The Martial Organization Protecting Sanitation)
for the kindly folks at ICON Studios.

Working with creator/colorist/graphic designer Heath Tullier,

 writer/letterer/web developer Patrick Rills,

and writer Sean Jandle is always a veritable blast.

To read the fully-colored and lettered strips, please visit

http://www.wefightdirty.net/. If you like what you see and want the

 M.O.P.S. adventures to continue, forget writing to

your local congressman, please write to Heath and Patrick!

Tell them how much you enjoyed the series

 and that you want it to keep going!

Inking other pencilers is a skill I practice honing whenever I can.

I learn so much by doing this. I think inking gets a bad rap

in these days of Photoshop-darkened pencils and whatnot.

 But, I’m gonna tell it to you straight:

IT’S JUST NOT THE SAME! IT’S NOT JUST TRACING!!!

If you’re still skeptical, just print out any large

professionally-penciled comic page you can find on

 Google Images and try it out for yourself. You’ll see that it’s HARD!

 The old-world craftsmanship of inking with a brush

 is all about embellishing forms through use of varying line weights,

 emphasizing focal points, enhancing textures,

and composing in black and white. It’s a noble craft indeed

 and it’s a real shame to see it currently going the way of the dodo.

 

These sample pages are from two different Star Wars books

put out by Dark Horse Comics. All rights reserved.

If you do like what you see and want to hire me to

 ink your next project, please shoot me a line at

dstric21@bellsouth.net.

I’ve also been known to delve into Pin-Uppery.

Just for the heck of it.

I plan on drawing more single images of

classic character favorites and bodacious ladies when time permits.

 If you have any character requests and would like a Pin-Up,

 I am available for commissions. Just write dstric21@bellsouth.net.

 Serious inquiries only, please.

Next is a project I’m super-jazzed to be currently working on

 called Fisher-Cat. It’s a collaboration with Erik Van Buren 

of the Baton Rouge Cartoonist Society (BRCS)

for their latest anthology book.

I’m pleased as punch to be working with him on it.

 Tell Erik how much you liked it here.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly,

 there’s my secret project: GODSPEED.

It’s a character and story I’ve been forming off and on

 for years now. My wonderful girlfriend and art partner

Chandra Potopsingh helped me flesh out this initial story.

 It will be included in the upcoming BRCS  Pipe Dream collection.

 Here’s a sneak peek:

Thank you so much for reading this and a BIG thanks to

 Comic Creators United for having me.

Graciously, Daniel

In summary:

Cool stuff……………………………….................………www.comicspace.com/strickart

Oldish stuff………………………………............................…………..www.strickart.com

If anyone still uses this……………………………….....……www.myspace.com/strickart

F word....…http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Strickland/1557676520?ref=search

M.O.P.S. awesomeness………………………………..…………….www.wefightdirty.net

Web-comic comrades………………………………..........................www.iconstudios.org

Mini-comic comrades/Anthologists..…………….……http://www.comicspace.com/brcs/

Serious inquiries………………………………...........................…dstric21@bellsouth.net

Thanks to you Daniel. That's a lot of top-quality artwork.

CCU can't wait to see more "GODSPEED" and expects

you to come back when it's up to full speed.

Drop him a line folks. I don't think he sleeps.

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