Iron moms

Hey there! I have new stuff!  Look at it!

SUPER SKETCHES

I did a bunch of sketches today and over the weekend!  More sketches and naked ladies after the jump!

Ratfist Fanart!

Hey guys! I wanted to show you the fanart I did for Doug Tennapel's webcomic Ratfist!

You guys do know about Ratfist, right? He's a rat-themed superhero with a tail that allows him to swing from buildings! Also it shouts his inner thoughts at random times. He's super cool and you should check it out! Also, I included everyone's favorite parody hero, MitterSpam! I wanted to parody Spiderman's first appearance, and can't believe no one in the fanart section has done it yet. The only thing I regret about this piece is that I forgot Milt, his rodent sidekick and companion!

For those who don't know who Doug TenNapel is, shame on you! He's the creator of Earthworm Jim, the nickelodeon show, Catscratch, and multiple awesome graphic novels including Iron West, Creature Tech, and Black Cherry(I defy you to read those descriptions and not be interested). He's a great illustrator and a masterful storyteller and you should check out all his work!

Steller Sierra

Ok this is my last hero! Steller Sierra, the space traveler!

No more heroes. Tomorrow I'll be doing something completely different.

The Green Quill

I didn't like this one at first, but I started liking it after I colored and shaded it. This is based on my friend Katie, who has an awesome procrastibake blog that you should go check out right now. The Green Quill throws quills and fires arrow pens at dobadders because pens are badass weapons. (oh man I totally just made up dobadders)

If you'll notice new stuff on the blog, it's because I'm between websites and I decided to just put all my portfolio stuff here for the time being. I update this more anyways. I'm still working on it, but what do you guys think of it so far?

Also, I'm quickly approaching my 150th comic(I'm counting the heroes as comics because they take just as long). I feel like doing something special, but I'm not sure what. We'll see next week!

Chris Deadhand! Also, cards!

Wow, it feels like I haven't done this in a while , but here's another hero...era..villain! Chris Deadhand can slap on any dead part to replace a part on his body, possibly gaining the powers that were in that limb/body part. He works mostly as muscle for the supervillain mob. Here's the Original:


Oh hey, remember when I said way back when I did a video for the escapist magazine? Well that little video is up in the video gallery! And it made first cut, which means people at the escapist really like it! We're in the top 20 out of nearly a hundred videos! You should check it out, and definitely sign up and vote for us: Radiogame Theatre

Also, I've been working on my card designs. Check out a printout I doodled on:
I'm liking these new fonts I picked. I'm leaning towards the second horizontal or the vertical, not really caring too much for the brick pattern. Also wondering if my avatar should have hair or just a baldish head. It would give more possibilities to doodle in the hair...

Andrea Turbine

Achoo! Feeling under the weather. That's why there's no background on this one. Also, I did it in flash just to see how it would look and how long it would take me. Didn't take that long, but it lost some of its depth and detail and character. I do like how the left hand came out.

This is based on my friend Andrea, who's all about the old school and always gets into trouble, so I made her a into a sleek 1940's style rocketess with rayguns. Here's a version from flash with no lines:

Different, right?

Elisia!

Woah! Look at those blatant photoshop effects! Today's hero is Elisia! Based on my friend Elise! She's a powerful witch with mystical powers, and she's a good or bad depending on how she's feeling that day. I'm hoping the tilted head came out ok, I need to do more practice with that. Here's the original:


Also, I've been taking pictures of random people and drawing them for practice. Take a look:
I should start inking them too.

Phasing Laura and Clarence Stone

I told you I'd have another hero up tonight! YOU didn't believe me! I don't care if it is 2 in the morning I'm posting! So there!

Tonight I have another duo, of my friends Laura and Clarence! Their powers are linked; they can both change density and size, but the more Clarence gets denser or bigger, the lighter or smaller Laura gets! Isn't that cool? I think it is.

I'm fairly happy with this one, especially with the fact that it has a friggin' background! Look at that beautiful wall! I'm also happy with the effects on the heroes and the titles, but the hands and feet need work.

And here's the original ink and some sketches:


Have a super weekend!

Bonnie Burnspot

Hey I did another post today! And I'm actually pretty happy with this one! And there's no real shading to speak of! I have to thank the great Doug Tennapel because his amazing cartoony and simplistic style has inspired me over the years. And his books are all really funny.

Today's hero is of my friend Bonnie! I'm guessing she has fire powers? Fire powers are cool. In fact, I like all elemental based powers solely for the fact they make it easier to do monochromatic coloring. Of course I'm sure there's a huge list of fire-based superheroes' costumes I've inadvertently ripped off taken homage from solely because I'm using the colors red, orange and blue.

Here's a version I started out with without the monochromatic look:
And here are some sketches:
I was originally going to give her fire and ice powers, but I just really liked the idea of her hair bun being a fireball. I'm sure someone will have fire and ice powers, because that would be cool. And hot.

If you haven't noticed already, I've changed the look of my blog. I'm still playing with it, but I think I like this style better. I'll probably do a cool background image and title image soon as well. Also, if you look to the left, I made a page of all the heroes and villains I've done!

Oh man, I'm going to have 5 posts this week! When's the last time that happened?

The Punk

Ok, I'll admit this is a copout, since this is based on my friend Andy, and she already dresses exactly like this, but I calls 'em like I see 'em. She's got super stregnth, an indestructible guitar scythe, and a sonic boom mike. I like the pose, but I'm not too sure about the colors and the shading. That's what happens when I don't warm up before I draw.

Also, sketches:
Oh and I just realized I have 10 followers on my blog! Go me! Hi followers! When I get 50 we can go out and conquer other blogs! BWAHAHAHAHA!

This was supposed to be for yesterday, so there will probably be another one up later today. Probably.

Joe the Evil Hipster Cowboy Lumberjack

Aka: Confused Joe. My friend Joe ( who has a webcomic and a blog you should totally check out, also he's where I got the idea for the month of heroes) specifically requested to be an evil hipster cowboy lumberjack, so I hope that explains it. Probably not though. He has two chainsaw six-shooters. And I think that's a breast cancer awareness wristband? I used a texture on the shirt and jeans, but you can hardly tell the jeans.

Here's the original inks:

LaserMurph

Today is Laser Murph. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the colors. He is supposed to be a bright flashy character but I might change them later. I don't know, I was under duress at the time.

Laser Murph has the ability to shoot lasers from anywhere. Eye lasers, finger lasers, lasers out the ass, he's become somewhat of a celebrity superhero for his powers and it's gone to his head.

EDIT: also, if you wanted to take a look at the original ink version, here it is, I'm kinda proud of the inking:

Also, I'm doing a major image overhaul, redoing my website and business cards(pronounced bus-e-ness) and everything. Today I created a new avatar which you can see here. I plan on putting the blank version on my business card and doodling on whatever facial hair I'm wearing at the time. Or something silly. Depends how I feel I guess. Here's a shaded version:

The Abominable Snow-Mark

Woohoo! I actually got one done in a day! And before 10! AND I'm actually proud of it! I like how this one turned out. I love monochromatic art.

Today's hero is based on my friend Mark! He speciffically asked to be something cold related, so I created THE SNOWMARK! He's made entirely out of snow, and can only survive in the normal world within his special cold-suit. He has the ability to change shape, chill things, and project avalanches of snow at people. Here's the original ink drawing with some sketches:


Also I've ben practicing drawing. Check it out:
I drew her from a story in the New Yorker.
Also, I've been playing around with my self portrait, trying to do a new cartoon avatar:

Hmm, I have to leave early tomorrow, so I don't know if there will be a hero tomorrow. Depends how determined I am tonight.

Spider-Shelly and Nicki Widow

So first off, here are today's heroes(cause I felt like doing a pair for some reason)! These took waaaay longer than expected. Mostly because I wanted to do them in flash but then I hated it but I also hated this but I hated this less and so I finished.

Anyways, these are based off my friends Shelly and Nicki who are always attached at the hip. Spider-Shelly is stronger and can jump higher, while Nicki Widow is more agile and can throw venomous spikes. Both can cling to walls and change the color of their costumes so they blend in with the bad guys. Here's some more sketches:
I think from now on I'll ink them and color in photoshop since I need to work on my inking anyways(look at that shaky line work!!!)

Also, I've been trying to get back into modeling, so I've started speed modeling(trying to get a model done in an hour) again. So I set out to model this:



And in an hour and a half I got this:



So tomorrow I should have a new hero up, and I think I'll do a guy this time since I've already done three girls.

RPD reserves month begins: The Mad Hatress

So a fellow comic maker Joe Hunter started doing a month of megaman bosses, so I decided instead of doing comics this month(and possibly for a week after), I'm going to put one of my friends in the RPD reserves and turn them into a hero(or villain)! There will be less panels, but better quality sos I can hone my figure drawing, creative, photoshop and flash skills.

My first one is sort of an experiment(I reserve the right to redo it in flash at a later date). My friend Noelle(who has a lovely but very NSFW blog here) distinctly said she wanted to be a villain, so I made her into The Mad Hatress! A crazy femme fatale who thinks The Mad Hatter
is a real person and is obsessed with finding him. She likes hammers, knives and scalding tea! Think Joker and Harley Quin wrapped into one crazy burrito.

If you'd like me to make you into a hero, message me! There might not be another post tomorrow as I'll be gone for the weekend to the New York Comic Con. Or maybe there will. Who knows!

Quentin Tarantino and Gadget Greg!

This one I'm not too proud of. The joke is meh and I actually liked the anti-climacticness of that part. But I only did it in 20 minutes and I was drawing all day and the sun was in my eye yada yada yada. I swear tomorrow will be the last one.

But I'm pretty proud of this random sketch of a friend I did!


Also, I started to get back into illustrator and I wanted to do a test to see which program would take the least amount of time while having the best quality between illustrator, flash and photoshop. I used one of my characters from my upcoming RPD heroes comic, Gadget Greg! Here's the starter sketch:


Here's the illustrator version:
Time taken: 8+ hours
Maybe it's that I'm out of practice, but compared to flash I just think the layer and pen system is clunky and takes waaay too long. But these are just my views, I know many people who use illustrator like a second language.
Pros: good for handling big files, interesting style techniques
Cons: takes a long time, don't like the layers system, hard to create lines, brush techniques don't look that great

Flash:
Total time taken: 2 hours.
I really feel like this is my magic comfort zone program. The outline took me an hour and then the fill and shading too just under an hour.
Pros: fast, can get a smooth outline fairly quickly, easy to select, delete, copy and change assets, good for figuring out multiple color schemes
Cons: can't handle large files sometimes, brush tool not as good as photoshop brush tool, using the M key to zoom, sometimes outlines look too curvy

And also here's a version with no line. I thought it looked interesting.



Photoshop:
Time taken: 2 hours 15 minutes
It takes just a little bit longer than flash, and it gives that sketchy style (if that's what's you're looking for) but it's murder on the hand and I really prefer the smooth line.
Pros: can handle relatively large files but slows down when painting, better for blending, patterns, and stylish techniques, shading good for detail and a natural look
Cons: needs a waccom tablet and can be murder on the wrist, sometimes harder to do curves and straight lines

This one I took the flash version and shaded it in Photoshop:
I somewhat like the shading in photoshop because it can look more realistic and more easily get those tiny shading details and highlights.

This one is similar to the last, but I used some patterns for the clothing. It's kind of cool, but it's not really needed.

So, I've proven without a shadow of a doubt that Flash is awesome and there is no reason I should use any other program. EVER. Except maybe Maya.

RPD Gang

Man, not getting a bite from the comic bug this week. But, I did do a lot of sketching for the upcoming RPD heroes comic(and by upcoming, I mean sometime between now and eternity). Here's a sketch of the whole team if they all had superhero tights! Sure, this could work from a design standpoint, but a few of them don't really NEED tights. I think I'd rather go with an avengers "Band of Misfits" look rather than an X-men "shared color scheme" look.

LolaFuerte!

So yeah, I didn't have any good ideas for a normal comic today, so I just did some practice sketches of LolaFuerte© beating up some guy. She's one of the heroes in my upcoming RPD Heroes comic (name still in development). Who's the nameless henchman? All will be revealed in time (by me, later).

Also, more sketches:


Considering whether to go with the "super suit" look or the "t-shirt and boyshorts" look. Leaning towards the supersuit because there's no way a t-shirt is indestructible. It could lead to some very embarrassing "costume malfunctions when bullets or giant lasers are fired.

awkward heroes

Some people have no tact.

But also, I've been trying to practice and get better at exaggerated cartoony characters. Ergo this comic.