Master Juggler

...And in this entry, we shall travel back and and forth(but mostly back) through the sporadic mess that is my oeuvre, as we attempt to distil genius and bottle inspiration.  Okay, well maybe it's not as dramatic as that, but this entry does focus largely on updates of older works and ideas that I've had for a while. This may come as a shock to some, but over the years, I have come up with a multitude of ideas and concepts that have sparked my imagination that I simply have not had time to work on (be it due to to a lack of motivation or an actual lack of time), which has inevitably led to a mass of my properties left neglected and unnurtured (which I'm shocked to find is widely not recognised as a real word!).

Oh, Daikan... Will your will the hardships and perils of your quest ever be told?  This, as the date suggests, is a fairly old image, being done in '09, although the concept was thought up as early as '07.  The basic idea of this story revolves around a spiky-haired protagonist (don't they all?) known as the Daikan, who single-handedly challenges an empire of  monsters known as the Sheyde. That's it.  A lot of these ideas may not sound that complicated or even that original but frankly I've long given up on trying to create a completely original story.  That feat has proven, in this day and age, to be quite literally impossible, as well as superfluous when you consider that the highest grossing film of all time is basically cookie-cutter copy of the most common tropes and story structures ever known.  Even Harry Potter is incredibly derivative in it's nature! No. What matters is the execution of the idea you have, the dimensions and believability of the worlds you create(which sadly, still doesn't apply to Avatar).

I dug up the Daikan property in the efforts of honing those aforementioned qualities in my storytelling and illustration. But my head is a fickle one and I've only recently gotten around to developing the world of the Daikan, this being the first step:

Character consistency aside, I think this series of sketches I did begin to capture the spirit and attitude of the world I'm trying to create.  The script for a Daikan one-shot has already been written.  It's only seven pages long and there's very little dialogue (there's roughly a page dedicated to exposition. The rest is all action) but I've packed in as much mystery and intrigue as I could into it.  Oh. Yeah. There's a bit of a "mystery" element to the narrative (did I mention?).  Not a "whodunit" type-deal or anything, but rather a mystery in the behaviour of the characters.

Speaking of characters...

If you'll recall, I proposed the idea of pitting some of my favourite characters from my "Four-A-Day" phase against in each other in a hypothetical universe.  That day has finally come(well, in reality it came a few months ago, but...)!  Remember Night Owl? Or Red Mist? (Probably not, since I didn't actually mention the name Red Mist in the entry I debuted the character)  Well, I do remember, fortunately, and I decided that they'd go toe-to-toe on one Midsummer Night.  Yeah, I know. The moon's a bit of a compositional copout, but Night Owl is a ninja, goddammit! And what kind of a ninja doesn't prance about accompanied by a full moon?! That's just...!

And SPEAKING OF "Four-A-Day" phase...

Here's the last picture I did from that era. Not in the finality sense. Just chronologically. Although, After I finished this I thought I might never go back there again, due to (as I've mentioned so many times before) how much my style has changed! Look at those legs! This is a character I really liked, which is why I proceeded(in spite of the bogus anatomy), but I think if I do do another one from back then, it probably wouldn't be without an update.

So that about wraps it up for today.  Next entry, we'll be getting back to the FuZioN U and it's infinite glory!  My swing has never been so full (think about that for a minute)!

"The Hand That Reaches From the Grave..."

Within the effort to articulate the impetus behind my art and the need to escape the banalty of being uninspired, I've finally found my inevitable return to be necessary (Yes. I talk like this now).  You may have all (three of you) been wondering what eventually became of the self-absorption and inscrutability that was this blog, well the answer is finally here, and it is an emphatic and admittedly underwhelming "Still Alive"... Things have certainly been happening, many of which I cannot discuss until the appropriate time.  In the mean time, though, let's discuss these things:

That's right!  FuZioN things!  I'm back, full-force and so is TJ.  Adjusted colour-pallet and all!  I have to say, the script for the this property is coming along so well! I'm like 50 pages in with no end in sight, but who needs to worry about things like "page count" and "Frames per page" at his stage, amiright?  Even though I'm not a 14-year-old boy any more, TJ's character (who essentially started out as nothing more than a self-insert) still fairly vivid in my head and I'm having the best time coming up with all the dialogue and character interactions.  Guess all the pre-production development and characterisations really paid off... Exactly what is up with those random floating hair things???

In the midst of all the universe moulding(which is still technically in the process, just far ahead enough to start working on basic scripts and such),  I developed a love for drawing TJ and Strike doing the most arbitrary of tasks.  Funnily enough, though, this image was integral to the development of the Sandal Empire (TEASER!) as at the time I was exploring the designs and aesthetics of various cultures 'n such...

"Merlin's Bird!" (Terrible pun)

Another important aspect of the FuZioN-U is the monsters in it.  The thing you have to learn about me is, if there's an opportunity to work cute little monsters into a story, I will do it!  Thankfully (as I'm sure I've mentioned before) the FuZioN-U is essentially built around the interactions of humans with these Pets... named as such mainly because... People keep them as pets(that's the official name for them until I can come up with something better)!  Trust me.  It's not as derivative as it sounds!... I mean, at first it was. Obviously! I was 13 and Pokemon was beyond Colossal at the time and I thought, "Hey.  Wouldn't it be great if we could each have our own little Pokemon to hang out with all the time?"  Which is why a retooling of the concept was necessary...Although, to be fair, the comics I made were never really about the Pets.  All those elements occurred in the background while the story focused on all the high-school dramedy.  Currently, I think I've managed to distance it enough from Pokemon comparisons (story-wise) that it can stand on its own.

The two new creatures featured in the images are Bolt and Merlin's yet-to-be-named Pet. Bolt (the yellow one)  belongs to Raex.  More of this shall be discussed in due time. I think that's a decent batch for now...

It has been over a year since this blog began!  Somewhere during the month of October last year, I decided it was absolutely necessary to have my drawings exhibited and discussed over the internet!  I probably should have had a "Birthday-Halloween-Double-Whammy-Special" sometime ago, but sadly the I missed both ships.  And as I watch them both sail away into that temporal sunset from whence they shall never return,  I can't help but think, "At least I bothered to come back at all!"

"Mr...'Reeks?!'...'Rucks?'...'Rakes?!?'..."

And so première's yet another instalment of one of the most inconsistent (in terms of frequency, not content) and conceited blogs to ever grace the fringes of the internet (Just listen to that hyperbole! I doubt it's THE most conceited blog, but there you have it). Yes, I'm back.  Not only to inform you of my "backness" but also to present some actual art to you. As it so happens, that time has come again, where I where the thought of doing something constructive repulses me so much that doing this is the only decent outlet available to me.  So lets make with outletting...

My passion for drawing cute little monsters has been left so neglected and unnurtured as of late, so this certainly serves as a nice reminder to myself and anyone else who might dare read this that drawing monsters is still something I do (or should do, rather).  I took a surprisingly long time to actually getting round to this.  What's crazy is that this little critter is from my 4 drawings a day phase, and looking at it, I just marvel at all the little ways my style has changes.  Yeah, I  know. We've been through this before. Moving on!

This may come as a shock to some folk, but the majority of the limited amount time I have to draw is spent developing my TJ FuZioN character as it's a project most dear to me and something that has been with me since I was 13 (and as a man at the ripe, old age of 22, I can comfortably say that this is a pretty long time). So naturally I'll have more pictures of that world than any other, meaning that the meat of this post will be almost entirely "FuZioN-U-centric".  If TJ and friends have never been of particular interest to you, now would be the time to stop reading (although objectively speaking, I'd advise you to stick around just to see exactly where this whole thing's headed).

Now, as I'd mentioned, in my last post(all those years ago) I'd devised a new and hopefully more organised method of presenting new characters, which oddly enough means I'll have to sacrifice presenting these posts in a chronological order in order to present the characters' development chronologically(I say this all the time, but just to reiterate: This blog is a few months behind the amount work I've actually put into my drawing.  Hopefully one day I'll be able to catch up and all will be right with the world).  This entry, We focus on the "newest" addition to the H.A.W.K.E Industries roster, Raex Lipton!

Yes, Raex Lipton. Questionable naming-skills aside, Raex's character, along with just about all things associated with the Hawke, is a part of the entirely fictional aspects I decided to put into TJ FuZioN this time round.  He's part of the team that will essentially help TJ realise his purpose in the world(I was going to go with "destiny", but it's such a loaded term nowadays) and take him in when the world turns on him.  As such team H.A.W.K.E. are a sort of surrogate family that adopt TJ.  That he's entirely fictional (instead of being based on someone I knew) says something of his metaphorical implications... but that's neither here nor there.I suppose.

These sketches were the first I did with the conscious thought of including Raex in the FuZioN-U.  I hadn't entirely fleshed him out and was toying with a few notions (One of the notes suggest that he was going to be Merlin Hawke's son!).  The final design and personality is incredibly different from this one.  This one's a lot cooler and more conventional than the current one, although I think the development is for the better.  Certainly makes for a more interesting character to write.  What's interesting is that, although this is the concept art, and thus one of his earliest incarnations,  this is one of the more recently coloured images. So at this point, his colour scheme is is final one even though his appearance isn't. Weird!

Here's yet another picture using the early Raex.  Here, I was just playing around with Photoshop and this is the result.  That H.A.W.K.E. Industries Sign Still feels so... "Vector-y"

At this point the appearance and personality of the character was a bit more concrete in muh head so I felt more comfortable drawing him.  I really loved how moronic his face looked, despite him being something of a genius.  Those balls of light are a clue as to the purpose of those black implants and lines on his arm and neck are, which I have intentionally avoided discussing as the story is still hush-hush for now(and I also don't wan't to contradict myself by stating something so early in this whole thing, only to change it later).

Right now, pretty much all the main characters are done and the story (which is almost 10 years old) has neatly rewritten itself around the new elements I've introduced to tie everything together.  What's left is for me to make the villains more intrinsic to the story-line and pace everything right.  I really like all the stuff I've come up with and I just want to package it all so other people will like it too, which means tightening up character designs,  developing vivid locations, and writing a good script.  This all sounds obvious, I know, but it's nonetheless important, because as legendary comic-book writer Jeph-Loeb once said: "there are no bad stories-Just stories told badly"... At least, I think is was Loeb.  Yeah. I'm cool with giving him credit for that.

The Internet's Best Kept Secretion

Hey folks.  SO.  Here I am… trying to be “regular”.  Stop the presses.  I find it not only interesting that I consider a 3-week interval “regular” but also ironic that the one time I decide to actively engage  myself with this whole blogging thing (as opposed to merely resorting to it when I have nothing better to do) is when there really are better things, or rather, more productive things to do with my time.  Even more “irony-er” is that during these  holidays I have been incredibly busy -in my head AND on paper- with such an incredible array of things that it really wasn’t much of a holiday (not to mention that I‘ve hardly been sleeping).  If all goes according to plan everything will come together pretty soon.  For now though, I still have about a month’s worth of images to get through.

Starting with these:

I haven’t really posted a link or done ANYTHING to promote this fact, but for about 8 months or so, I have had a DeviantArt account,  which means I have also been posting my art on the site and interacting with fellow artists from around the world.  One such artist goes by the moniker HakuzaCaF.   After going through some of her characters and story ideas,  I fell in love with her Mafia White and Black Universe; so much so that I decided to do some fanart featuring the series‘ lead character, Haku.  Yep.  I’m that kinda guy.  Not only would it be good practice, but the character was also a lot of fun to draw.  I feel that one of the marks of a good lead character is an applicability to different media and situations.  Haku over here works as a cute mascot figure, a sex symbol,. a vessel for comedy  and as an action hero.  That's diversity for you.

As for the images, The first one was fairly standard procedure.  No witty anecdotes there.  Whereas, with the second image, I once again took the opportunity to experiment with Photoshop.  About the time this was made, I'd been asking around about how to selectively blur images.  After no solid answers, I eventually devised my own fairly simplistic, albeit limited method, which gave an admittedly static image (well, static's a bit harsh, but it definitely wasn't as tight, fluid or as dynamic as I wanted) a great sense of movement.  Thank you, layer masks.

I really wanted to steer clear of FuZioN U stuff for a while, but as it so happens, this is next image pertains to precisely that...

"Merlin Hawke upside yo Head!"(I honestly have no clue what that means)   Not long after I decided to base Merlin Hawke's appearance on Mr. Laurie,  I knew that the story would have to include one scene with a cain as a little homage to one of Laurie's most well-known portrayals.  This isn't exactly that scene (more of an outtake) but it is more or less the atmosphere that the scene will have.  It will include a secluded pathway in a foresty-type park environment and take place at a similar hour, so...

Colouring this image was an oddly organic process.  I wasn't entirely sure if I would be able to produce what I'd imagined or how I would go about doing it, but I just kept going until... this came out. This image also where I started vaguely defining the look of the story.  I wanted to have a cell-shady vibe to it but also with softer lighting for the atmosphere, if that makes any sense.  Almost like Tekkon Kinkreet. But not quite.

I was going to premiere a new character but, on Sunday I thought up a new and slightly more efficient method of revealing my characters, while also showing their development, so I think I'll save him (Yes it's a dude) for his own entry.  Later.

Nice 'n Fuzzy. Just How You Like It.

One of the hardest things about having an irregular sleeping pattern is figuring out how to spend your hours.  Despite the solace of the solitude that 4AM provides, there's actually very little you can do.  I (and I suppose society, as well) should just be grateful that I have such incredible quiet, time-wasting outlets at my disposal to keep the madness at bay.  One can only imagine what sort of crackpottery I'd be up to at these ungodly hours if I weren't privy to the luxuries of art, the internet and (most relevantly) blogging.  That being said, let's dive in.

Last time I elaborated quite a bit on the intricacies of the origins of the FuZioN U and so I think this week we'll stay away from all of that and instead I'll show some fan art I've worked on.

So earlier this year I finally got around to reading DC's Infinite Crisis and 52 series, which were, in my opinion (does that go without saying?), of the smartest series DC has ever done.  Not only did DC showcase a lot of its "lesser" Superheroes and catapult them towards some much needed spotlight time (Booster Gold, anyone?) but they also gave a really good story.  It was continuity-heavy and pretty elaborate (what with all the tie-ins and 20 year old references) but ironically also the best time for new fans to come on board as the Universe was essentially being rebooted (God,I hate that word! But I'll save this rant for some other, more appropriate time) .  The point being that the series made a huge fan of the Marvel family (The family of Magical DC Superheroes, not that other company), and more specifically this guy; Teth Adam, the Black Marvel! The most Badass man(god) to ever grace the pages of DC comics!  He kicked so much ass in 52.  This guy took on the entire Superhero community (sans the Big Three) on his own! They basically had to cheat to beat him! Just look at that scowl!  That elegance! Do NOT F#%K with Black Adam!

Now, about the images:  A lot of experimentation went into these, and some were, admittedly, not as successful as others.  In particular, with the first one I tried to play with multiple light sources and unfortunately  the lighting from the lightning bolt on his chest didn't really translate the way I intended.  I was going for a sharp, bright glow and high contrast but instead  the yellow light looks more like face paint.  In my defense, I don't have a tablet and it was really difficult to get the kinda strokes I wanted using a mouse.  Anyway, I'll take it as a lesson learned.  I've since developed theories on how our would tackle the problem, were it to present itself again.  Maybe I redo it, or something similar in the future.

Up next I have some sketches.  The first of which  being :

"Is there a doctor in the house?"

My main man, H to the izzO! (Despite my best efforts, it seems the Jay-Z references are here to stay)  Hugh Laurie, and by extension, Dr. House, is the man! (Or is that the other way around? I guess they're both pretty awesome for different reasons) I don't know if I mentioned it when I first posted my Max Martini sketch(too lazy to go and look), but I watch a lot of TV shows.  And sometimes, in an attempt to remain productive while the hours whittle away, I sketch what I watch for practice.  It's not as good as doing live sketches, but practice is practice, right?  Can never draw enough faces...

And on that note:

This next one is meant to be of Tess Mercer from Smallville.  Y'know I really don't think the writers of the show knew what to do with Tess after Michael Rosenbaum(?) decided he wasn't interested in coming back to Smallville.  I don't mean story-wise (not directly, anyway), but rather I mean personality-wise.  First she's badass, then she's cute and misunderstood, then she's a Lex-worshiper, then she's cute again, then she's got daddy issues... Actually I think that last one might explain the rest. In all honesty, I don't think the likeness is captured that well and I kinda fudged the anatomical accuracy a bit, but these are all meant to be quick sketches. I won't be taking 2-hour breaks during a 40 minute show to do a sketch.  That being said, I do like some of the detail I managed to pack in during the 20 minutes+ this took (I usually aim for about 10 minutes, but this expression was particularly tricky to capture). Sketches are fun...

So, I think maybe I should end it here before I write anymore topically ambiguous paragraphs.  It's curious how the mind wonders at this hour.  Perhaps the night really is reserved for dreaming; a time when thoughts violently swing across the borders of a cluttered mind, which may explain why I'm finding it so hard to focus.  Perhaps, it is the act of dreaming that allows us to board our most inarticulable trains, allowing us to focus with a refreshed mind when we wake. Or perhaps (and most likely) I should just post this mutha now.

A Brand New Bag

Hello folk(s)! It's me again.  Rather than state how long it's been, I've concluded that it's best I just get right into it it as I've come to realise how incredibly predictable I've become in my inconsistency (if that makes any sense). So, without any further preamblry(?), let's get into it.

I've got loads of  FuZioN U stuff to present for this entry (as I'd promised over a month ago) and a little extra something on the side as well.  First the FuZioN U stuff:

As the accompanying text suggests this is Merlin Hawke(stupid name, I know, but I was like 14 when I came up with most of these guys), TJ's mentor and one of the few entirely fictional characters in the story. Actually that's not entirely true, because even he's partially based on real life figure, although not in the same way as the rest of the cast.  See, in it's original incarnation, the TJ FuZioN story was a (supposedly) humorous re-imagining of my life in High school, with some bizarre Sci-Fi and Fantasy elements thrown in.  I had Pokemon-like monsters, aliens, hoverboards and Necronauts (more on that later) thrown into the world alongside all the high school drama, with the focus being mainly on the drama.  Then in Grade 9 (if memory serves correctly) I started writing/informally mapping out  TJ FuZioN and the Legend of the Superbeing(more on that later) in an attempt to canonize and organise all the stuff I had referenced in the comics and all the stuff I had floating around in my head (which, incidently, is what planted the seed of this incredible mess I'm working on today). In the story, Merlin Hawke was the main villain, who had orchestrated some insane scheme involving TJ and Strike and an ancient prophecy. So this time around, I've retooled the story and revamped a lot of the characters' roles in it but most of the supporting characters in the story are still based on people I knew in high school in some way or another. HOWEVER in Merlin's case, when redesigning him, I decided to base his character's appearance partially on Hugh Laurie, mainly because... Dr. House kicks ass. Also, while in the original story his was personality was more like Dr. Tenma's from the 2004 (?) Astro Boy TV show (since they actually had very similar roles as characters. Both were insane but brilliant scientists who were guiding the protagonist towards some dark destiny... The parallel was completely unintentional of course!) while this time I plan on making him a lot warmer and more eccentric than insane, but nonetheless brilliant. His stern face and scowl is meant to directly contradict his personality and will be the source of many-a-humorous moment. I should say though that this isn't his absolute final appearance. This was just the image that really added direction to his character. I just want to involve ya'll in the process as much as possible. And yes. This long-winded explanation was completely necessary.


Speaking of supporting characters...

Yay! It's TJ's best Friend Pete!  He mainly plays the role of a sympathetic ear for TJ. As with the majority of the cast, he's based on one of muh good friends from High School.  If he's not with With TJ he's mysteriously disappeared to god-knows-where.  Rumour has it that Pete may in fact be Whiteriver's local Superhero, the Black Arachnid...


Up next, we have...

Good ol' TJ, along with the H.A.W.K.E Industries (I'm not even thinking of explaining this just yet) logo. I must say that I really like finally seeing TJ in "The Red Jacket".  I've pictured him in it for years and have never gotten to actually drawing him in it. So this is a "finally!" type moment for me.  That aside though, I'm not 100% pleased with the image, or rather, with the limitations of my Photoshop skills.  The logo still looks too... Vector-like, for muh liking. Watchagonnado?

And it's TJ again.  This time with... A sword?!? Actually, the sword would take too long to explain fully as it's so closely tied to the story I'd have to explain all of that first (which, as you've probably picked up from my first picture discussion, is fairly complex). What I will say is that it's sort of like a cross between the Subtle knife and... Frodo's sword.... But not quite! At this point my Photoshop skills and my drawing style were starting to go in the direction I wanted them to.  Hopefully it's as impressive as I think it is. Shout out to the Green Lantern.  I am absolutely dreading the movie.


I think that's enough FuZioN U for now.  I still have plenty more, but I shall save that for another occasion.  Right now I think it's time for that little extra something I was promising.

I call it The Death of Wolfboy, a piece from my "Weirdmo Backgrounds" phase.  I know this isn't really a new image but I hadn't talked about it on the blog yet.  It's actually based on the concept of the powerlessness of men against women in relationships.  I'm sure it's not that difficult to interpret.  I posted it as more of a testament to how much my drawing style has changed over the past 6 months or so, since I started on this quest to nurture my passion.  In some ways I've gotten worse, I'll admit, because I'm basically relearning how I draw.  My aim has been to develop solid technique in my art, rather than it just being so intuitive all the time, because I've always felt lucky every time I'd  get something right on the page, without any idea how I  actually did it. Now I'm a lot more conscious and a lot more deliberate with my lines, hopefully for the better. Even these images that I've posted in this entry- which are already several months old- are significantly different from the ones I've recently completed.  Hopefully I'll come full-circle soon enough and successfully marry the skill and the intuition. And yes. This long-ass paragraph was completely necessary.

And with that, I'm out. I'd rather not promise anything because, I probably won't deliver it on time anyway.  Now off the insomniac goes to meditate to some St. Vincent and add a few pages to my visual diary. One day, my body will catch up to my mind, and then I'll be alright.

Omlette du Homage

I heard the other day that blogs were officially out. Yep. It kinda makes me wonder if there's a board of Internet officials somewhere out there monitoring and mandating every every little trend going in and out. And why nobody told me sooner!... Wow.  I think it's safe to say that it's been a while(it's good to know I'm just as awful with introductions,though).  I've been itchin' to update this for a while but, life just keeps going, y'know?  And sometimes some things just run away from you (this being one of them).  But, I think I've finally got a decent footing again.  Which is why I'm pleased to present you with my latest....

If you've been following this blog you'd know that I promised a specific theme for this blog, so for this entry I'm all about the fanart.  Yep(and the yeps. I'm all about the yeps).  Nothing but B-list (and sometimes C-list) celebrities and fictional characters in this weeks line-up, so if that's not your thing, I guess you're out of luck. (Man, I'm rusty!)

And who's this familiar little half-Hawaiian (?)-half-...half-black(??) cutie?  I remember I had said something about dialing up the realism in the Brenda sketch I did a few entries back, and so I have.  It's not bounds ahead of the first one, but I think it's rounder and shinier enough for a repost.  Also, I don't think I would dare miss out on an opportunity to slip in how amazing she is... See what I did there?   But, alas, I think it's time to say bid adieu to Miss Lowe (tear).  Season 22's already started.  Time to get over her.

Awww yeah. Blanka, BOYYYYYYYY!!! I told ya'll there'd be a Street Fighter in our midst!  When drawing this I realised that after all these years of playing Street Fighter, I had no clue what he was! So I looked it up... The official story behind this character's origins is just so absurd that I think it's better that everybody make up their own (or even stick to the one given in the Jean-Claude van Damme movie)!  Still got mad love for him, though.  And his crazy face-biting...

Speaking of Street Fighter..

DOUBLE-WHAMMY!  Oh, how I despise this man!  Those muthaf*%ken "Tiger!" things he shoots out are the most annoying things ever!  First it's a barrage of high ones, then when you start blocking he goes below the belt, then when you jump, "TIGER UPPERCUT!"... SONOFAB%TCH!... So about the image.  I decided to play around with some fonts and filters again.  I wanted to convey the meaning of the sentence through the font.  I don't think it's that successful.  Just looking at it now, I already see some things that I would have done differently.  Also the picture itself isn't as dynamic and as 3-dimensional as I was aiming for.  But, I still like the idea behind the picture:  I was thinking about how the fight between Sagat and his protege, Adon(Best known for being in the Street Fighter Alpha series.  He was actually in the very first Street Fighter, this isn't widely known since only, like, 13 people have ever played it) would mostly likely have gone.  This shows Sagat not even giving his full attention to it and is Tweetin' his boyz, or something...  I'm a fool, I know.

Shaken. Not Stirred...

The names Martini. Max Martini.  He plays Master Sergeant Mack Gerhardt on The Unit. I had myself a marathon of the TV show the other day after a friend recommended it, and I gotta say: I really enjoyed it. It's a pity it got cancelled...  Anyway, all that watching led to a fairly random sketch of Dirt Diver (That's his codename) looking all badass... And there you have it. I tried to keep it as cartoony as possible in order to maintain my style.  Just widening my scope a bit.


So I'm back.  Again.  I hope you enjoyed this entry 'cause I'm planning on being regular again.  Loads of FuZioN U(That is now officially my abbreviation for FuZioN Universe... Eh?) stuff and other kinds of random sketchery to come.  See you soon!

Just Add Salt

Last time on Unlucky Punk....

Monsters reemerged, TJ was redesigned, A Super Fighting Robot Guy changed the layout and Faux Captain Marvel struck a killer pose.  Which leads us to this week's episode. New characters dominate the line up.  Let's get into it!

As the text suggests, the character's name is Night Owl, a volatile vixen, who's more than handy with a katana.  Trained from a young age to become a cold, calculating assassin for a mysterious Agency, bent on world domination (... or something), she parades around in the night felling all who stand in her way.She's yet another character I drew during my "4 drawings a day" era (ahh. What a time that was....).  As I have said on numerous occasions, I didn't draw these characters for any particular purpose.  Just for the sake of honing those skills and building up a my mental library. It's just that sometimes during the colouring process one's mind cannot help but wander off and invent a small backstory in the process.  Speaking of process, this pic's layout took a hell of a long time! A lot of the elements on the page were deceptively difficult (I think I may just make alliteration my new thing... Coupled with parentheses, I'd be unstoppable!) to balance.  I can only hope what I've presented is a halfway decent result.

This was an incredibly enjoyable picture to do, despite it taking longer than what it's simplicity suggests. I almost discarded the image for all it's anatomical inaccuracies, but I ultimately decided against it, and used this image as an opportunity to experiment (I don't know if I've already said this, but not every one of those 4-A-Day characters were gold.  There was some careless and cringeworthy work in there, as well. So I've decided to simply pick out only the decent stuff to work on from now on). I toyed around with so many Photoshop tools that I normally wouldn't touch, just to get familiar.  Overall, a very fruitful learning experience.

And then we get this guy.  There's a funny story behind this image. This was so weird 'cause halfway through colouring this, the dude ended up looking like Ronald McDonald! I just couldn't shake the association! What a struggle it was to stop myself thinking of him as a gangster Ronald McDonald!  I didn't want to change the colour scheme cause I really liked the colours. After hours of tweaking the hues, I think I've managed to sidestep a potential disaster (although I've probably just ruined it for you by mentioning this).

 I don't really have anything noteworthy to say about him.  I really like the design, though.  I've recently had the idea of pitting some of  my favourite characters against each other, and doing a series of battle stills.  This guy (along with Faux Marvel) would definitely be at the top of the list.

Y'know, character associations are a dangerous thing(I'm not really sure if that's the appropriate term or wording, but by character association, I mean if one character reminds you of another, for some or other reason). The other day I showed this to a friend of mine and he instantly thought the character looked like a buff Robert Freeman from Boondocks.  Ever since then, I can't see anything else, even though the colour scheme was rather arbitrarily chosen.  I originally envisioned this old as a sort of King Pin-type figure who owned a chain of notorious nightclubs... Well. There goes that image!

And that concludes this week's episode.  I'd like to mention that entry was particularly jam-packed so I could conclude the Character Design Saga and focus on other more challenging pictures (perhaps "conclude" is a bit... final.  I'll still be doing the designs, just not as intensively as I've been doing as of late).  Next time, a familiar character makes a special guest appearance and a legendary street fighter joins the line up.  Ooooh! this is getting so good!

Lazarus Has Risen...

Y'know, I think Lararus was in on it with Jesus.  And it was all  probably some sort of a routine they took on the road.  I mean, if Jesus was a flim-flam it would explain a hell of a lot!  The entourage, the whole water-to wine-thing...  Wait. Why am I here again? Oh. That's right. It's time for yet another installment of my art prattle. Let's get straight into it, before I go off topic again. (That's the last time I open with an obscure biblical reference... So difficult to segue into art from that!)

Starting with:

I did a bunch of these after I got tired of drawing all those people.  I'd almost forgotten about my penchant for little monster-thingies.  Sometimes you gotta slow down on some of the more "serious stuff" (I put that between quotation marks because strictly speaking, none of it is really serious, but y'know...) and do a lil' doodling.  Besides: monsters are huge and integral element of the FuZioN Universe.  It's a fairly good time to get back in the swing of designing dem' critters...

Speaking of FuZioN...

"Yeah! It's ya Boi!" (What did we say bout those Jigga quotes!?)  This came about when I realised that I hadn't really done the "new TJ" in profile.  So, after a coupla drafts, this is the result.  Additionally, I should mention that I adjusted his colour palette a bit.  His skin colour was slightly off (Too much caramel, not enough coffee) and, since there are other non-white characters with different ethnicities to TJ, I had to diminish the confusion of identifying who was what a bit more than I had before (not that that sort of thing matters, but if it's part of the character's identity, then the diversity has to be apparent.  I mean, ideally I'd draw an all-beige cast to try and keep racial profiling to a minimum... not that all audiences are racist, but we're all prone to our own prejudices and... Oh my god, this hole just keeps getting deeper!). 

As you may have noticed, I switched it up a bit with the backgrounds on that last image. I got bored with my usual layout and thought it was time for a little more experimentation.  Which resulted in the image above and...

Super Fighting Robot Guy!  That may or may not be his actual name, but it's all that came to me at the time.  As I have said before, I absolutely detest design, but I have a lot of respect for those who practise the art (do you "practise" design?  Not sure. Sounds appropriate...).  Bringing order and efficiency to chaos... In a visually pleasing manner... Not an easy thing to do.  However, I can't ignore the fact that I spent the better part of THREE YEARS learning the principles (I didn't get that far though, due to my extreme hatred for it) and so I took a crack at integrating it a little into some of my art (it would also be a good exercise in improving my Photoshop skills).  Hopefully, I haven't spat in the face of all muh designer pals with this little travesty I cooked up.

To my surprise, I enjoyed this a little bit more than I expected. So much so, in fact, that I did it again.

I almost didn't colour this image as I noticed that I made quite a few rookie mistakes when pencilling this- mainly in terms of anatomical correctness and cloth physics- but there was just something about that pose! That arrogance; that swagger (the actual definition of the word)! So dynamic! And the colours were so clear in my head. It had to be done. Also, I don't know don't know why, but this character reminds me so much of Captain Marvel (the DC/ Shazam one, not the bullsh*t  Captain Mar-Vell from Marvel that no one's ever heard of and who's name Marvel won't f#king give up, preventing us from ever seeing Captain Marvel in his own self-titled series or a Captain Marvel movie!), even though the costume or the colours don't even closely resemble those of Earth's Mightiest Mortal. Must be some subliminal thing...

And that's it for now.  I'll be back real soon with more madness.  QUEUE THE CREDITS! (I've really got to come up with a more organic way of concluding these posts!)

"Watchu Want Me to Do?! I'm Sorry!"

So. Yeah... I'm back on muh grizzle.  I've actually been quite busy over this little hiatus, creating some self-proclaimed works of art.  I've got some old, some new and all FuZioN. So without further ado...

First let's get the old out the way.  I don't know how I missed uploading this one earlier, but:

Yeah this is one of the last character designs I completed in 2010, before I was engulfed by all that FuZioN madness.  It's been so long I honestly can't remember anything noteworthy or even any remotely humerous anecdotes about it!  I know I did have a bit of trouble with the colour scheme (quite honestly, I'm still slightly peturbed by it).  It, along with a slew of other images, forms part of collective that chronicle my quest to conquer purple!  SO frustrating, that colour...

And now for something a little more adventurous:

Yeah boi!  A personal best, methinks. It took longer than I can even remember, but so worth it.  I was initially absolutely daunted by the notion of such an undertaking (as this is my first fully coloured environment, not only on Photoshop, but EVER!), but about halfway into it it seemed more and more and more like something doable.  A lot of Burn and Dodge Tool usage on this one... More than I ever thought I'd ever thought I'd use and I gotta say:  Their kinda awesome!  And now I love the Burn and Dodge tools! I can't get enough of them!  You can't pay enough to stop! (Well you probably could but... Woah. Deja Vu!)  I can't really get into the specifics of it right now (because as you well know, the TJ FuZioN storyline is a highly sought after secret), but this image, as random as it initially was(I just wanted to draw TJ doing something dope), marked the turning point in the construction of the FuZioN Universe and inspired an idea so cool I dare not speak of it until you can buy the 2nd volume of TJ FuZioN IN STORES! That's right! You read correctly!

Now that I've got that out the way, (Who knew art could breed such narcissism?) it's on to the next one (that's one too many Jay-Z references):

This picture is, without a doubt, completely random.  I don't know what it is that TJ is looking for through all those papers or why that perspective-bending sign is there, so don't ask.  I actually drew this before the above image (hence, a less complete environment) but I completed the other one first and so here we are. I really enjoy drawing TJ and Strike doing stuff together but I never know what to make them do! And this is the result, I guess. I should also mention that I've recently made a conscious decision to include a lot more texures and overlays to my work (as I have done in this image).  I've mostly only been using them on backgrounds and  "screens", but I'd like to eventually get around to using them on items and environments more...

Aaaaand I think here's a good place to stop.  I'm sorry but, I think this is plenty to get through for now.  Rest assured, I could go on for double this amount and still have images to spare, but I'd like to pace myself... and my hands are tired (it's that carpal tunnel settling in)!  I'm still on the hunt for a reliable A3 scanner (If anyone has a hook up, please do let me know), but don't think that'll deter me from getting all this slghtly-above-averageness to you.  For now, I'm out. Hope ya'll enjoyed. 

That Ol' School Meets the Nu School

In an effort to grasp at some semblence of a social life and become a functioning member of society, I've slowed down on muh drawing for now.  Luckily, I'm far behind enough on my posts to give you at least one more bountiful helping of delicious eye candy before a small drought.

I remember mentioning sometime ago that I was feeling that FuZioN fever hitting me again and that I would possibly venture back into the TJ FuZioN Universe soon. Well, it's finally happened and today I present to you the New TJ FuZioN!:

Just don't ask me why he looks so surprised

Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. It's more like a slight redesign of the old TJ.  In fact, I decided while I was drawing that If my job was done right, then it shouldn't look like I did anything to him at all!  I just recently realised that there are a quite a few adjustments to make when converting a character who's existed in black and white for so long into colour.  Especially when it comes to my drawing style! Certain things just don't translate very well.  Gone is the half-drawn grin thing  that I liked so much (I know he's not grinning in this picture, but I just wanted to give an example of the sort of things that were considered during the process) as are the random "gaps" I left in his hair.  There's also a more conscious consideration for shadows overall, which is where I think the most notable change comes from. I never used to shade his nose at all and it was a surprisingly long process to try and get it to look just right... and I still don't think I'm quite there yet!


While drawing these pics is the main focus of this entry, I also have another surprise.  During the FuZion redesign I decided (on a whim) that a new signature/logo was needed for 2011.  The old one was kind of random and a bit of a rip-off(which I openly admitted before!), so I worked on something a tad more original:

 It's still random as hell, but at least it's all me! No. I didn't go through the "proper design" channels, so yeah it's somewhat unbalanced. Yes.  The tail of the "Z" not 100% smooth. But you know what? I DON'T CARE. I like it. So there! Anyway, back to TJ:  ...Actually, I think I've mostly said everything I could about the redesign... Except maybe I should mention that I didn't follow my usual MO when redesigning TJ(I guess I'm just a rebel like that) since I felt I already knew the character well enough to just wing it.  Weird how it worked out almost exactly how I wanted it to...

The rest of these are just me playing around with different expressions and "face poses".  I ended up adding a slight gradient on TJ's skin in an attempt to make his overall appearance more... 3-Dimensional. It's fairly subtle, but I think he ends up looking so much rounder and... bouncier. (always with the overwhelming vocabulary!)

This was just me messing around with overlays and textures. Just to make all this fairly simple mugshot that much more interesting.

And of course, I couldn't leave out the adorable Strike.  Even though he's gone through a bigger change than TJ, all I basically did to him was make him fatter and more... defined, I suppose, along with the addition of the bare belly, which he never used to have. (how could I have left that out the first time?!)  Y'know, what's actually quite amusing, is the amount people who were surprised that he was red. What other colour could he have been?!

I still have a long way to go before I'll be comfortable with starting the TJ FuZioN comics again.  Not only are the characters going through a stylistic revamp, but the whole universe is getting a makeover. It's still gonna have a lot of the whimsical, offbeat humour(more like, attempt at humour) and the pubescent awkwardness that was so prevalent in the comics I did in high school, except, this time they'll also be a lot more at stake. This time there'll be real consequences! This time it's for realz.