Game On

These are some drawings done in preparation for modelling a video game character.  They are numbered in the order in which they were completed. 

Clearly I wanted to do a tough sort of military man, some tough bruiser you wouldn't want to mess with.  After doing the first two drawings (at the top of the page), thinking about them, looking at images of existing video game characters what with all their tech and weapons, I could see my designs weren't at all near the level they need to be, even in this design stage.  I think my brother-in-law said it best...

"If I were you, I'd load that guy up with a ton of weaponry. You know, a huge machine gun over his shoulder and the belt feed thingie slung over that shoulder as well. Maybe some cool logo on his shirt?" 

I think his last comment was probably the best.  I'll try to incorporate this suggestion in the next drawings. Anyway, he said...

"Just make him look meaner and more accessorized. But the big thing? The big thing is you've gotta give him more attitude."

Thanks, Man.  You're totally right!

London Orchid Society Cartoon #4

For a blog about comics, I'm finally getting around to doing a post about a comic!  

The idea for this one (drawn for the London Orchid Society's newsletter) came from my Christine's comments about how ugly her orchids can be when not flowering.  It was a pretty easy (I hope not too obvious) hop, skip and jump (and a thoughtful dog walk) from those sentiments to the rough drawing seen on the left. 

I'm still working on a general style for these cartoons and the characters and I'm also not entirely stuck on the title, but since audience is small I don't feel a great need to have these things nailed down.  Also, the point is just to get drawing and to get the thing done, not work to any sort of perfection.  I'm pretty pleased with the result.  I think the thing I like best is how the slob talks. 

Crazy Train

I started this drawing a few months ago and finally finished it last night.  I like the Chinese dragon look of the front grill/maw and mushroom car is kind of amusing.  I don't know why it's there except it was part of my initial imagining.  I also like how the cars are not all attached head to tail, but how some branch off the side of others. I was going to draw a track or some sort of environment but that didn't seem so important and might pose too many questions (how do the branched-off cars stay on track? how wide is the train's path? etc). It's fun to see the little people on board and amusing to wonder where they're going and why, as well as what might be happening en route.  

Dune Pigs

Do you ever find yourself drawing something and not really knowing what it's about?  For me it started with the middle character.  His piggy look made me think of the movie Dune (obvious connection, right!?), which led to draw the pig on the right perhaps choosing toppings for his submarine sandwhich, and that led to the Baron pig in his flying chair.  How about an animated version of Frank Herbert book featuring pig-like bad guys in those super cool leather get-ups like they had in the movie?    

Now that I look at it, perhaps they just nabbed the middle pig (he could be in hand-cuffs), and they all decided to stop in at the local Subway for a bite, before feeding him to the worms and presto, story created.

A drawing done last night at Poetry London (CTRL + and - to zoom in/out to see the image better).  My pens died, so the edge of the cliff under the people isn't as dark as I intended - I was trying to suggest light coming from the trench.  Woman's gun didn't come off quite as hoped, but I think the overall sense I was aiming for was achieved - threat, ominous, questions asked, answers not given - leads the viewer to ask questions, what's going on and why?