Our solar system is HUMONGOUS BIG. Let’s play some hockey in it!
My professor told me I had to do another not-Caps illustration. So I chose one of my favourite not-Caps players! I may not be a Flyers fan, but I think Bryzgalov is just the biggest CUTIE PATOOTIE. He’s so quirky and weird and loves space (because SPACE IS AWESOME) and that is WONDERFUL.
I’m really proud of my Jupiter. It is my favourite planet.
Acrylic Inks on illustration board, 11”x14”
The 5th piece for my senior Illustration project (and the final new illustration before my show next weekend).
So for the last 4 years, since I started college, I’d always done an “Unleash the Fury” sign for Caps games, featuring Ovi as “the Russian Machine” since, y’know… “Russian Machine Never Break.” (This year, because of the lockout, I rushed the sign I was going to make, and in turn….. it looked like garbage and not like Ovi at all and will never see the light of Verizon Center.) For my senior project, I decided to take this idea and turn it into a serious, realistically drawn and rendered illustration.
The only major thing (other than the style) that I had to change compared to my signs was the hand/arm. I didn’t have the time to paint a whole mechanical hand, so I gave an impression of it with the metal of the hand partially showing. I also added the machine showing to his neck as well. Finally, the background of the Russian flag is completed by the red in Ovi’s jersey.
I’m so super proud of this illustration, and I can’t wait to hang it with the rest of my work in my senior show that opens next Saturday!
11”x 14”, Acrylic inks on Illustration board
(at some point I’ll have to do a comparison of all my Ovi signs to this. hahahaha)
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Rachel has returned from parts unknown so Shinny! is back to continue our best story yet. Special thanks to Sfé for filling in for us while Rachel was gone!
When we last left Shinny, she had just procured two tickets to a Caps game. And now, the wrinkle.
Here is the essential challenge of fandom: How do you share it? With the one who brung you– the man who turned you into a fan and with whom you’ve already shared so much? Or do you share it with your special guy and build new memories? It’s tradition vs the future, Cash vs Reznor, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra vs GI Joe: Retaliation.
Which way will Shinny decide? That part’s easy. How she gets there– that’s where the good stuff is.
Thanks for reading Shinny!
Our comic is baaaaaaaack~
(Next week is my favourite page ever so far, just fyi).
The second in a series of 7 hockey illustrations, this piece is a poster-like illustration focusing on the Original Six (or, for those who don’t know their hockey history, the first 6 teams established in the NHL)!
I chose to incorporate the team’s logo, and a very well-known player for each team. From left to right we have: Maurice Richard (MTL), Darryl Sittler (TOR), Bobby Orr (BOS), Harry Howell (NYR), Gordie Howe (DET), and Bobby Hull (CHI).
Almost all the of my photographic reference was in black & white due to age, so it was fun turning them into full-colour paintings!! I used the Hockey Uniforms Database to make sure I got the uniforms correct.
Done with FW Acrylic Inks on illustration board, 14”x17”
The Original Six illustration I’m doing has me turning B&W photos into colour paintings, and that’s… pretty darn cool.
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And here’s the story we’ve been so excited to tell. In part I the boyfriend wondered aloud how hockey fans are made. This is our answer.
But, as we hope this story that Rachel has beautifully rendered tells, being a fan is more about the connections between people than the connections between people and teams.
There’s Shinny (pre-nickname I assume) at the Cap Centre with her dad, watching the Capitals take on the Flyers. She’s a disaffected little girl, distant from everything around her– particularly her dad.
And then a switch gets thrown. A little girl invests herself in the same silly game as her dad, and now they’ve got something to share. Something lasting. And she begins forming an identity for herself– deliberately– as all kids should be able to do. You build yourself into what you want to be, even if it’s something with a mohawk and an un-ladylike passion for hockey violence.
That’s the off-ice story we like to tell at RMNB. The story of building bonds with a team, with each other, and within yourselves.
Well done, Rachel.
Our webcomic updated today, with part 2 of how fans are made. Definitely one of our best pages.
Finished with my first illustration for my senior project!!!
My portfolio is going to be 7 hockey-themed illustrations, with 4 of them being Caps! And my first Capitals player to be painted is… Matt Hendricks!
I chose this fight to reference because of the crazy emotion going on in his face. The piece is 14”x17”, and painted with acrylic inks on illustration board.
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We are so excited to share this story. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be taking a sepia-tinted look at how hockey fans are made, and how that making brings people together. It’s the Shinny origin story! It’s adorable and demented, and it features Rachel’s best art yet. Follow us to Landover and the Capital Centre of yore.
!!!
Stop by next week. You’re gonna love it.
Usually I only reblog the preview image that leads to the comic, BUT this page and next week’s page are two of my favourites. :D
Russian Machine Never Breaks is proud to announce the debut of our new webcomic, Shinny!
Brought to you by writer Peter Hassett and illustrator Rachel Cohen, Shinny! is a weekly comic all about hockey fandom. It’s the story of how hockey breaks and mends hearts, how it brings people together and smashes people together, and how there’s a place for everyone in it. Plus: hockey jokes.
Shinny is a spunky, twenty-something hockey fanatic. Beside her dad (an oldtimey hockey purist) and her boyfriend (a fairweather fan noob), Shinny sees every side of the hockey world and eventually finds her own place in it.
As a comic, Shinny! is both topical and lasting, telling stories about both current events and timeless hockey milestones. It’s about the people as much as the game, but with reverence for neither and jokes on all. Fans of every team (or no team at all) will find something to enjoy in Shinny!
New comics come out every Tuesday on RussianMachineNeverBreaks.com, as well as here on Tumblr! We’ll also be using this Tumblr to post extra content not seen on RMNB. Stay tuned!
I am SO SO SO SO BEYOND excited to finally be able to share this comic with the world!! Peter & I have a put a ton of hard work into it, so keep your eyes open to this page!! Starting next Tuesday (Jan. 8) we start posting comics!!! :D
My final project for one of my Illustration classes was to design one (or more) illustrations for a non-traditional market. As someone who ADORES goalie mask art, I decided to come up with concept art for two of my own mask designs!!!
The first design is a mask I would’ve painted for myself (if I was a goalie). It shows my love for my team, city, and my passion for art (one of my biggest influences was Disney, hence Spaceship Earth & the EPCOT Center logo on one side).
The second mask is for my friend Dan, who is the goalie for the hockey team here at UHart. The idea he pitched to me was “A brick wall monster with claws,” so we agreed upon a gargoyle-like creature made of brick, with eyes, teeth, and claws made of marble. The yellow background is to match his pads.
Both concepts were done in FW Acrylic Inks & Prismacolor pencils. My inspiration came from mask artist Dave Gunnarsson (if you haven’t seen his work, go check it out. His masks are PHENOMENAL).
Hi! I'm Rachel. I'm an Illustration major at the University of Hartford hailing from Washington, DC, who also happens to be a rabid hockey fan. Go Caps!
When I'm not making art for school, I sew/cosplay, watch Disney films (and think about how much I love EPCOT Center), & illustrate for the Capitals blog "Russian Machine Never Breaks."
...I draw hockey players a lot.
