Photon (from Youngblood) pin up by Cully Hamner

A fantastic early pin up of Photon (from Yougblood) from Cully Hamner.

This is labelled as inventory but was actually published as part of a pinup gallery in Team younglbookd 12 😉

Many things attracted me to this piece.

For one, it was a transitional period for Cully as even though he debuted strongly in the industry (GL Mosaic era), he was still rough around the edges. But like all of his Gaijin Studio peers, his learning/growing curve was exceptionally fast in terms of the quality of the work produced. This piece is far ahead of the quality he produced on GL a year or two before.

Then (if memory serves) Cully’s training as an architect really shines here with incredibly detailed and packed backgrounds that remain totally readable. So is the perspective which is completely mastered.

The figure itself is bolder and really pops from the backgrounds. This is probably due to a change of style. The buildings are drawn with precise academic precision whereas Photon is drawn in a more cartoony way which is still in tone with Cully’s figure work on Mosaic. I find that his red energy trail really makes the piece pops. So does the effect on the smoke on the grounds between the buildings. The kind of gritty, dusty effect you would find nowadays in Harren or DWJ’s work.

Lastly, I find that the piece has a strong (original) Firestorm vibe. I mean Photon was obviously inspired by Firestorm’s design but this goes beyond that. I find that this piece’s layout and strong backgrounds really has the same kind of vibe you could find on the covers of the title during the Kayanan or Broderick era of the run.

This one sat on ebay with a price that I thought was too much for an unpublished piece. Then it disappeared to later pop during a C-Link catch all monthly auctions where I was able to buy it for a fraction of the original asking price.