I See You Drivin' 'Round Town With the Girl I Love, and I'm Like...

...fffunnel cake you.

Even with two weeks to work on it, I still couldn't get this done yesterday. Better never than late... No, wait, I mean.. Ah, whatever, it's done now!

Back to the subject at hand, Peter Pan's a big douche, amiright?! Whenever we see him in a parade, he has Tink in a lantern and is waving her around all like, "Ha ha I have Tinker Bell and you don't!" He thinks he's better than me?! And why the heck would he keep her locked in a lantern anyway?! Wanker.

But he can't bug me anymore cuz we're back home, and back to decent Internet access. We arrived Saturday, but it already seems like forever ago, which may be a good thing cuz that means the manic depression that comes with leaving Disney World goes away quickly. Now on to last minute Christmas shopping and planning next years trip.

(In case you live under a rock, the title is from this.)

The Extra is for the "Magic"

Mmmm... magic.

YAY, I got a short burst of okay Internet connection on our resort's horrible, horrible wifi! So I can finally post this comic that I wanted to go up yesterday! Better late than never. This comic is particularly short, as I wanted to get most of it finished before we actually left home.

So yeah, we're in Florida right now. We went to Animal Kingdom yesterday, and tomorrow will be Hollywood Studios, the best Disney theme park they have, IMHO.

Coincidently, an occurrence similar to the comic came about after I made it. We paid for refillable souvenir cups that were about twenty bucks a pop that are only good at Disney resorts, none of which we're actually staying in, and of course, Disney only has Coke products (and we all like Pepsi). Regardless, we're happy with the purchase, cuz they're DISNEY refillable souvenir cups.

On a side note, my next Disney comic will be a bit more detailed than what I usually draw. That, along with the fact that I have little time to work on it (as we have some activity planned for nearly every day we're here) AND the fact that I might not get this chance again to stay online this long to post it, said comic might not be done and posted until I get back home. Or at least until we get to the motel on the drive back.

Disney World 2011 Begins

I think this is reason enough to see a therapist.

As the title and Tinker Bell fanboyism implies, we'll be leaving for our annual Disney World trip later this week. And also, like the past two years, I'll be tweeting and (attempt) making comics about it.

You'll almost certainly recognize this strips image from the already famous PS3 box art for Catherine. Everyone and their sister has parodied it, and I just figured I'd join the band wagon. That, and it gives me another excuse to draw Tink. I tried replacing the falling sheep of the original image with John Lasseter's head from the judgmental Disney nerd meme, and it was kinda funny, but his photographed, disembodied noggin clashed too much with the illustration.

Oh, and I gave Dad the Y U NO face. So I guess the lesson here is that I'm very unoriginal.

See you in Orlando!

Juliet vs. Fenix

The most badass video game character ever! Oh, and Fenix is cool too, I guess.

Well that's finally done. But maybe I should've taken longer, cuz now all that's left to do is wait for Lollipop Chainsaw to come out. And that's not happening nearly fast enough!

All that's happened between this and the last update was adding the background, which I left pretty simple. Oh, and I made a little bit of a blur around the edges of the characters to help them blend with the background a little better, I trick I learned about in the Wonder Woman animated movie commentary, of all places.

So the lesson here is to be scared to death of girls with chainsaws and always listen to animated movie commentary.

Juliet Vs. Fenix Paint Progress 2

Grrl power.

STILL not done, but I think I'm pretty much finished with the characters and effects. Now I gotta work on the background, of which I probably should've started with first. The background in this isn't final, I just needed a color other than white so that the glow of the sparks would show through better. But it will probably have a lot of pinkish red.

I'm working on mixing the games' two logos, but I don't wanna spend a whole lot of time on it. I'll probably end up live tracing them in Illustrator and just doing a few tweaks. Whatever happens, I'm close to finishing this thing.

Juliet Vs. Fenix Paint Progress

Anyone noticed that Fenix's face in the game bears a strong resemblance to John Travolta?

Sorry for the late post. But it's just another update, so I doubt anyone will be terribly concerned.

This time I started rendering and got the lines colored. You'll notice the lack of a spark between the chainsaws and the lighting that would come from it, and that's because I'm still figuring out how it would look. Before, I just figured I'd use just a plain old spark like I had in the last update, but now I think I'm gonna make it more like the effects from Lollipop Chainsaw, where it's bright pink with hearts and sparkles shooting out. Cuz, y'know, it's a girly chainsaw.

And now for something completely different. We have relatives visiting for the week, so I might not get much done during that time. They probably wouldn't mind it, but I always feel like I'm being rude when I confine myself to my room and draw all day when we have company over. So there may be no update next week. Yes, yes, I'll miss you too, sweetheart.

Juliet Vs. Fenix Base Colors

C'mon Marcus, quit bein' a wuss.

Nothing terribly interesting in this update. I just made a bunch of layer masks and put down the base colors for the "painting" phase.

So let's talk about something else. When I started drawing this, I thought about using fellow chainsaw wielder Jack Cayman from Mad World instead of Fenix. I decided against that eventually because I wasn't sure what to do with his palette. In Mad World, he and the rest of the game are solid black and white, similar to Frank Miller's Sin City, and I thought that'd be too much of a contrast to Juliet's very colorful presentation. He is getting more color in his "guest star" appearance in the upcoming game Anarchy Reigns, but I couldn't find many decent reference images to go by.

That black and white/colorful contrast might've actually made for an interesting image, but I also went with Fenix because 1) there's a lot of hype around Gears of War now that the third game is out, and 2) I thought it'd be cool to pit a Japanese developed character against an American developed one (and Jack was created by the Japan based Platinum Games).

But nothing's stopping another fan artist from making an awesome Juliet vs. Fenix vs. Jack pic.

Moppina

Ooooh this is akward...

I took a brief break form my Juliet and Fenix project to make another Animal Crossing comic. I was trying to think of a good way to introduce Lolly, who of which has been in my town for a while, then fellow artist and Animal Crossing aficionado Amanda Tabb suggested bringing up the always touchy subject of Moppina. And since then Peanut, my favorite female AC neighbor, moved in as well, so I decided to throw her in there too. So cute, girly, anthropomorphic animals all around!

I still would like to do an intro for Stitches, so maybe another Animal Crossing strip will will come up soon enough.

Juliet Vs. Fenix

I guess compared to other chainsaw wielders, it's kinda nice to be pinned down by Juliet.

Well, I've finally got to a point on this project that I've been working on for several weeks that's actually worth showing. What we have is Juliet Starling from the upcoming game Lollipop Chainsaw winning a chainsaw duel against Gears of War's Marcus Fenix.

It's taking forever for me to draw because 1) I've been busier than usual due to taking my old job at the bowling alley back and having a couple of interviews from prospective jobs, and 2) It took quite a while to flesh out the weapons and Fenix's suit, as is usually the case when drawing things that are mechanical and/or have several layers of parts. I redrew Juliet's chainsaw in particular three times, realizing the third version wasn't as good as I thought it'd be and going back to the second version, thus losing about four hours worth of work. But this still has been fun nonetheless.

You'll probably notice the lack of chains and blades on said chainsaws. I figured I shouldn't waste my time on that part yet since I'll have to make some sort of blur effect to make it look like the blades are spinning.

Though the line art, which I think (and hope) is the hardest part, is finished, I've still got a while to go with the painting and shading, and I don't even know that I'm gonna do with the background yet. It'll probably be pretty simple, whatever it ends up being.

...OH, I guess I can explain the parts in green. Those are areas where I don't want the eventual colors to have an outline, so they'll be a guide when I start coloring and will eventually be erased.

So, uh, to be continued.

Cheeky Tink

Warning! This drawing has big butts and I cannot lie.

More old, tiny sketches as I toil away at my current project. The sad part is that, after all these weeks, I'm still no where near finished. I think I may have enough done by next week to at least have a decent WIP image for a post, but don't hold your breath.

Another sad part is this sketch that further fuels my major Tinker Bell crush. I just thought it was cute how she was displeased with her... uh... measurements when she was looking at herself in the mirror in Peter Pan.

But her measurements don't bother me none.

DCAU Watchmen

Then I woke up.

Current project still not done, so more old sketches. With these, I was trying to draw some of the Watchmen in the style of Bruce Timm, as if they were in the DC Animated Universe. Unfortunately, that'll never happen. But you can watch this at least.

Reason's Mom

Turtle neck sweaters for the win.

My current project is going to take a while, and I don't really have anything decent to show yet, so it's time to pull out another old pocket sketch. This is Reason's mom, one of the few times I made a character for the Scary School universe other than the main six. I haven't developed her character much, other than making her look warm and inviting. And, like her son, she's quite lanky.

Lolly and Stitches

But mostly Lolly.



Just a few sketches of a couple of Animal Crossing neighbors that I rather like that moved into my town recently. I'd like to put them in a comic strip, but I pretty much ran dry of ideas after the Birthday Gift Glitch arc. Plus, I'd prefer to make a strip about them specifically, rather than make any old thing and then say "Oh, and then there are these new characters too."

Though Stitches is cute, the idea of a living teddy bear is kinda creepy. Maybe I can do something with that.

Zombie Playing Cards

They're painting the roses red... WITH BLOOD!



Alternate subtitle: They're painting the roses DEAD! OOGA BOOGA! SCARY!

So, yeah, more Disney Zombies. This time, it's the playing cards from Alice in Wonderland, specifically the three clubs painting the roses red and the heart that couldn't catch the Queen of Heart's croquet ball in time. Of course, you don't actually see the cards' beheadings in the movie, but I'll just assume the Queen's orders were carried out.

Don't Look at Mii!

I said never look at Mii!



This didn't actually happen, but I was half expecting it to, as the hair at the top of my noggin has been thinning since high school. Under direct light I become George Costanza

And now for something something completely different. Here's a sketch of a kinda gross image I might have used for another 3DS comic, joking about the warnings it gives on screwing up your eyes. But I dropped it when I saw that Penny Arcade already did that.

Zombie Johnny Appleseed and Zombie Oysters

A suppose there's a moral to this, if you happen to be an oyster.




More Disney zombies, next being Johnny Appleseed, who dies simply of old age in the somewhat obscure Melody Time package film. I thought that Lucifer from Cinderella was the next one to go, but a relative was nice enough to inform me that he's alive in well in the straight to video sequels.

Before Melody Time, Disney made The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and I was considering zombifying Ichabod. But at the end, after the Headless Horseman supposedly "got 'em," it said there was a rumor that he ran off to another town and is married with kids. In the end, I decided that if the movie itself says that's it's questionable if someone died, then I'll just leave it be.

Next in line are the curious oysters from The Walrus and the Carpenter segment in Alice in Wonderland. I didn't do any particular gimmick with them as far as referencing them to their death, because technically there would be no remains to zombify if they were consumed by a Walrus.

Unless there were some reanimated Walrus feces. But the mental image I got from typing that last sentence is bad enough.

Reason Model Sheet

Why's he so skinny? This guy needs to eat a cheeseburger!



Well, this took longer than I thought it would, due partly to me misjudging how long it would take to think up and draw a bunch of poses, mostly due to actually having various things to do these past few weeks such as an interview, drug test, and having relatives over. Oh, and I also got a 3DS and Zelda 3D, which I'm trying very hard not to play even as I type this.

But back to the actual drawing. It may seem unnecessary to make a model sheet of a character that will probably only be drawn by me, but I actually like model sheets just for the sake of looking a them. Even if I don't plan to draw the character on any given model sheet, I just like looking at the various poses and expressions. To me, they're art in and of themselves. Plus, this may look good in a portfolio.

Tim

Power ties ftw.



It's been a while since I've done a post, and I'm still not done with my current project, so I figured I'd post another old pocket sketchbook drawing. This is a sort of interpretation of Tim from the game Braid, which is one of my favorites. In the game, Tim is seeking "the princess," which based on the purposely vague plot could be his girlfriend, sister, mother or the atomic bomb. Anyway at the end (SPOILER!), what seems to be her escaping her kidnapper ends up actually being her running away from Tim to be rescued. So however you look at the story, it seems that Tim isn't the perfect guy.

So anyway, the way I see it, Tim has been using his time manipulation powers for infinity trying to get this girl he can't have, and the confusing plot is because of Tim himself no longer remembering the specific reasons of why he needs this "princess" and what he did wrong in the first place to make her leave him. So I drew him as rather disheveled and a little mental. Oh, and he's looking at his watch cuz of, you know, the whole time travel thing.

Reason Model Sheet Sketch 2

It was the second one from the left, officer!



Another sketch from the Reason model sheet that I'm very slowly working on. Like I said in the last post, I don't wanna put a bunch of stuff up when you'll see it all in the end anyway. I'm pretty much done with the sketching, all that's left is the ink and paint in Photoshop.

This drawing in particular is for size comparisons. I posted this cuz it's the only other drawing I've made that has all the Scary School characters other than that piece itself.

Reason Model Sheet Sketch

Cuz I assume EVERYONE wants to how many heads tall he is.



Not much this week, just a couple of drawings of a Reason model sheet I'm working on. I have a bit more than this done, but there's no point in showing a lot when you'll see it all in the finished product anyway.

So move along, nothing to see here.

Zombie Bambi's Mom (and Zombie Pheasant)

Warning! These images are rather bloody and gross and in horribly bad taste.




Some more Zombie Disney sketches for a possible future project. I got the queen in Snow White, and going down the list of movies, no one else dies until Bambi's mom is shot in... uh... Bambi. Well, Monstro might've died in Pinnocchio, but that's arguable, so I won't bother with it.

I also drew that no name pheasant that was shot by hunters, which may be an odd choice. I was trying to figure out the rules of who would become zombified, and I decided that as long as the death was memorable (to me at least), it was fair game. So even though the bird only had a small part, I still drew her.

It looks like the next one to die would be Lucifer from Cinderella. I think? Does he die? He falls out the tower window, and then you never see him again. A lot of Disney villains have an implied death by falling, though you never see them hit the ground. I've never seen any of the straight to video Cinderella sequels, is he in those? Seriously, I'm asking. If he's still alive in the other movies, let me know in the comments or on Twitter, if you'd be so kind.

Slippery When Wet

Bon Jovi fans look elsewhere.


Didn't he use to drive a boat? You'd think he'd be used to storms.

Also, I hate drawing vehicles. That is all.

Uh... Thanks...

...Could've done it myself though... Just saying...



Another older sketch from my pocket sketch book. I drew this back when I had the idea that Reason never took his left hand out of his pocket for whatever mysterious reason (you see what I did there?), so Samantha is being nice and cutting his food for him. Cuz, y'know, you need two hands to cut a steak. Although now, I allow him to take his hand out, so this makes less sense.

But I guess I doesn't matter. To anyone else, it just looks like Sammy is taking his food. But she has her own food on her plate! Don't be so silly!

Zombie Evil Queen and (Not Zombie) Tinker Bell

Something old and something hawt.




I realized that, since I've quit working at the bowling alley, I haven't done any sketching simply for the sake of sketching. So here are these things, with no relation to each other (except that they're both form Disney of course).

First is a zombified Evil Queen/Witch from Snow White. For a while now, I've had the idea of a big drawing that has zombie versions of the various Disney animated movie characters that have died. I guess it'll be a Left 4 Dead kind of thing, where a small group of living Disney characters are fighting them off. I figured that, if I can't think of anything else to draw, I could go down the list of deceased characters and see what I can do with them. If possible, I want the Disney Zombies to have some sort of gimmick that's specific to their movie and/or how they died, thus the Queen dragging herself around with the boulder on top of her.

Next is a... uh... study of Tinker Bell. All three of my readers know that I like Tink a little too much, and I haven't drawn her for a while. So here are some poses, including a rather meh attempt at foreshortening on the lower right.

Phillip begins singing "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."

Comic Book Cover

FINALLY!



Well, that took forever. I started this project because I wanted to practice drawing muscular, super hero type figures, as I'm not very good at muscle placement. I do believe that I'm better at it after doing this project than I was before, but it I'm still a bit off. And I didn't want it to take this long either, but quitting one job and looking for another took away some of my free time that I would have used to work on this.

I remember talking about before how I, like actual comic artists, left about two inches of negative space at the top for a title, and that I wasn't sure if I'd actually make one or not. But now, I'm sick enough of this thing that I know I won't bother. I'm ready to move on to something else.

Although I'm not sure what I'll move on too. This piece has been in my head for so long, I haven't thought about what to do next. Perhaps one of those "Will work for food" signs.

Hey Phillip, what is Osama Bin Laden getting you for Christ-

Charlie

Wise guy, huh?!



Here's yet another character from the Scary School universe, though he's not in that actual drawing. I haven't fleshed him out very much, I just wanted an antagonist that wasn't part of the paranormal part of this world. He's a bully from Reason's an co.'s school, but he's more comic relief than an actual threat.

Also, I drew this before I decided to have Reason be the only one to wear gloves. I guess I could've easily changed it, but I was too lazy to erase those black marks before I scanned.

Wait! Not too lazy! Too busy! Yes! Much better.

Comic Book Cover Character Color Progress aka Oh God, Not This Crap Again

Yaaay...



Well, I haven't found a new job yet, but I'm still gonna go back to drawing everyday, which means continuing this thing. I'm getting rather tired of it, and some of the muscle placement is still really wonky, but I'd hate just leaving it alone even more. I treat my drawings like leftovers in the fridge. Even if I don't like it, I have to finish it cuz I don't want it to sit there and rot.

Anyway, I've got the base colors down for the characters, and it's a lot brighter than what comics usually do nowadays. I guess at the end I can always mute it a bit, but maybe I'll like the more saturated look.

I've also looked at a few comic coloring tutorials to see how they do light and shadow, and it's sort of a mix between cel shading and the more gradient rendering that I like to do with bigger pieces. So we'll see my attempt at that. Betcha' can't wait! I sure can!

Watchmen Kirbys

Sounds unbelievable. Probably true.

Comic Book Cover Background Color

Are we having fun yet?



YAY, my tablet's back and working! So I could get back to work on this thing! JOY!

But don't get too excited. Some "stuff" has just come up that's gonna require my full attention, and until it's resolved, I won't have time to do much drawing. So even though my tablet's fixed, it'll still be awhile before I can get back to having something new posted every week.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will be with you shortly.

Tablet Get

Da-da-da-DAAAA!

Shiina and David

A g-g-g-GIRL!





More sketches of a couple of characters in my Scary School drawing.

The girl is Shiina, which is a name I really don't like anymore. I want her to be Asian, and thus an asian name, but I can't remember why I chose the name Shiina specifically. What's another good Asian name? Anyway, she's the f*cking serious one of the group, rarely showing a great amount of emotion

The ghost that hangs out in her backpack is David, named after a friend from high school. He's is not the f*cking serious one of the group, but rather the f*cking crazy one. But he's funny crazy, not evil crazy. I imagine most of the comic relief coming from him, mostly by picking on Reason, who is, unlike the rest of the group, not used to the whole paranormal stuff and is scared easily.

Anyway, these two come in a pair, as some of the comedy comes from them being dead opposites. Despite that, they feel the need to be around each other for some reason that I haven't fleshed out yet. Though David died in his late teens in an insane asylum, he could have dead for a long while, so maybe he was friends with one of Shiina's relatives from a few generations back or something. Idano, I'm just throwing ideas out.

If fighting or a lot of action in general were required in this story, it would come from these two. They both know how to fight (hence Shiina's wooden sword/poor example of forced prospective), and I also had a gimmick idea that I stole from Shaman King where David could posses Shiina or anyone else in the group if they need to fend for themselves and needed to know kung-fu real quick like.

Humanoid EVE

And I'm Humanoid WALL•E. Yes, I am. You shut up.





As I've shown before on this blog, not only do I have an unhealthy crush on Tinker Bell, but also EVE from WALL•E. So I drew this a while back, I guess in some creepy attempt to say it's okay for me to like a robot shaped like an upside down egg.