And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Because it's been a while, that's why. This is my first blog of the year, and I think it'd be prudent to get all the admin out the way.  First and foremost, I'd like to reassure everyone that I'm still alive.  Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Secondly, I'd like to thank all (three?) of my new followers and also apologise for having nothing to offer until now.  Despite what my last entry may have suggest, my juggling skills are currently far from masterful, and I've found that I've often had to sacrifice a few things - this blog,unfortunaltey, being one of them for all of December and January - in order to get some of the more pressing tasks done.  I've still got tons on my plate but I think it's way overdue that I make time for this much neglected blog.  But, that's neither here nor there, I suppose. What is here, or what should be here, is my collection of pictures, which I'm about to get to.

Starting with this cutie. I remember promising that we'd be delving back into that mystic nook known as the FuZioN Universe, and sure enough, here we are, kicking it off with one of it's main characters, who has taken an astonishingly long time to make an appearance.  I give yiou Ms. Katrina Summers.  She'll be TJ's foil and eventual kind-of-love-interest.  I know she looks like a bit of a cliche(Attractive blonde as the leading lady is so 90s) but hopefully her personality will make up for it. I assure you, she has quite the personality.

That being said, this isn't her final appearance, but was the the first batch of drawings that showed me the way to go. Her final appearance looks closer to the person she was based on and less... "Depro" (which was the sort of vibe I got from these sketches).

See what I mean?  This is her in her much perkier, more streamlined final appearance.   I also feel this version really allows much more consistency as far, as far as drawing the character goes. Yeah, I know it's just head-shots but that's what I was focusing on at the time.  And yes, the two at the bottom have a slightly different hairstyle/head shape, but the face model had already been established at this point so I didn't think it was that big a deal (plus those two just have so much attitude!)

And this is Lisa Bleu(originally spelt "Blue"...But then I took up French), yet another member of H.A.W.K.E Industries.  I'm not sure what was going through my head when I drew the first Lisa and Katrina concepts but these characters looked way too morose for my liking afterwards.  Her current design(which I've yet to colour) is slightly cheerier, but the badass 'tude is all left intact(I think).  I think  I'll keep the characters details to myself for now.

And last but not least by a long shot, we have Champion of the FuZioN U himself, TJ!  Over my one-and-a-half years of Photoshopping, I've really grown to love doing is messing around with textures.  Especially grungy ones.  But ironically enough, I hardly ever get to use them.  This picture represents one of those moments when I could finally let loose and (tastefully) go crazy with applying some chaotic grunge.One thing I always ask myself when looking at this picture, though, is what could possibly be happening in this moment that TJ would need to stand like that?  Seriously!  Although I suppose it's not half as random as...

This last number. Yes, last. And inspite of it's randomness, I really enjoyed cooking up some poses for Chibi TJ.  Maybe a Gaiden of Chibi TJ shorts might be in order?

Hope this tepid return wasn't a disappointment to all those eagerly in waiting(because we all know how sought after my thoughts are).  I'd like to think the drawings will help make up for my being less than forthcoming with the FuZioN U goings on.  I don't know if I've mentioned this beore, but after reading Nicholas Cole's blog, I've decided become a lot more calculating about what sort of info should and should not be given out.  It's nice to get readers involved and divulge the inner workings of characters and their motivations and roles, but you really don't want to pull the curtain too far back and reveal too much.  Some of the mystery still needs to be retained even if that means keeping aloof at times.  So I guess this is me trying to find the balance. Bare with me.