Another piece of his, for $25:
Snake Dragon in Pen by Gerald Bocian | ArtWanted.com
Face + Palm = _______________
Words are failing me right now.
Upon further reflection...I did some research as to who "Aria Giovanni" and "Alex Del Monacco" are... and thereby figured out why the pictures on the covers of his PDFs look like they do: He's basing them on (presumably) copyrighted images of softcore/hardcore porn stars and glamour models. I tried and tried and TRIED to find the particular images he was working from-
the sacrifices I go through for you guys!- but to no avail. (Part of the reason I was looking for the images was to see how "transformative" his interpretations are- if they're too close to the originals, he could be sued..by the models, by the photographers or even by anyone who may have bought the rights to the images.)
And that one of his friend Yulia? That SO looks like a photo that has gone through some filters. As, now, do the ones based on Aria. ESPECIALLY in comparison to his illustration of another RW person,
Tila Nguyen , aka Tila Tequila. That's the only way I can explain the vast stylistic differences between the pencil or pen illustrations and the others.
I'm SERIOUSLY questioning his actual skills now. Some of the stuff he's selling for $20 I wouldn't have sold when I was just starting out and doing PC illustrations for other gamers.