I was really inspired to do this painting because the Beast Wars toys had these really wicked hand-painted character profiles on them, and I haven't really seen much in terms of traditional art for Transformers.

While I don't have BW Megatron, per se, I have the red repaint known as T-Wrecks (even though I've always referred to it as Megatron), and I looked to him for reference, and I looked to the animation model from the show for color reference. Speaking of toys, I feel like I once again pulled off making a character feel like an action figure. That's something I like doing when I draw/paint characters; it gives the piece a sense of fun (because action figures are fun), like you can reach out and pick him up and pose him. I also kept thinking "Napoleon" to make him look like a conqueror.

Also, I was originally going to have him in a jungle with a heavy red sunset, but a couple orange strokes in, and I had the idea to put him in this lava hellscape. Makes sense, given the Predacons' base is in a volcanic region, though that never crossed my mind, I just got all giddy at the idea and ran with it. Hell, I liked it so much, I almost thought of giving up on putting Megs in it. XD

16 x 20 canvas; acrylics