Fun_BattleEscape

Day 17 of MTGinktober was "Battle" and I knew I absolutely didn't want to do a traditional battle, so my mind first went to a rap battle (<--severe language warning), but as I thought more about it, as much as I wanted to draw a crowd going "OOOOHHH!!!!" I thought a dance battle might be more visually interesting.

I don't really take dance seriously as an artform, if I'm being perfectly honest, but I do know Les Twins are true artists--there was this interview with Laurent just sitting in a chair and grooving along to some music, and that alone was astounding. That is art. Plus his/their mentality is just wonderful, basically, "just kill it always." Anyway, I knew I wanted to draw two to four people in the battle, so I immediately thought of doing a Les Twins style piece, though I still kinda wish I coulda drawn the Planeswalkers in Les Twins gear. Still hoping to draw modern-day PWs at some point.

What's exciting to me about this piece is it debuts a new technique I thought of. Usually I just have a ton of references open while I draw, but this time, I mocked up the illustration I wanted to do by chopping up and collaging my references. I'd post that previz but I'd imagine it's a copyright issue. Anyway, this piece stars Kaya and Koth cuz, well, they be black, yo, and while I wanted to mimic Les Twins, I knew I wanted a guy and girl team, so it all worked out. I had a great time drawing Kaya cuz it felt like drawing Alexis Blight again and I always loved drawing her hair. By the way, this drawing of Koth marks the first time I've drawn a character without a shirt...Speaking of outfits, I turned a New York Yankees hat into a New Phyrexia hat. Million-dollar-idea royalties, please.

And then Day 18 was "Escape," which gave me quite a bit of pause to figure out what to draw. I read the prompts before leaving for dinner so I can think during the walk and while eating, and I was drawing a blank for a good while. I finally decided something small and ground level in a mad dash from something might be cool, maybe a homunculus weaving between enemy legs. I eventually settled on Squee fleeing imminent murder, as I understand he dies a lot (the Weatherlight saga was just before my time, but admittedly I have little interest in Gerrard and Co., though oddly enough, I love hearing Mark Rosewater talk about that era).

Squee turned out to be tough because there aren't any super clear depictions of him, and the best one is by Greg Staples, but his version looks markedly different (and buffer and more finger-having) than the preexisting incarnations. So for my take, I used Greg Staples' earring, hair, and fingers but the non-royal classic get up. Battle turned out not to be as action-packed as I had initially thought it would, so I made sure to up the action on this one.

Reuxben

Record_DancemovesA

And now we see the crime: unwanted electrocution. The idea of this whole piece is that it is part of a big, multi-artist collaboration of "Dancemoves so Cool, They're Illegal." So this is the "Electrocution Slide."

Easter Eggs: the electricity at near the center (this picture's right) spells out, in cursive, Y-a-l-e. The "a" is right above the penultimately right vertical floor line.

Fun Facts: This was supposed to be the end of the show, but I learned last night that the design people want to use that alternate "initiator" I mentioned last time for the piece, whose right leg is visible just above this guy's head. So now we're going to have this poor guy being shocked to the right and the left. Or something. I don't know what it'll all look like ultimately, since they mentioned possibly dividing up the characters on opposing pages.

But what does that other shock-initiator look like? Good question. Like this, replete with the unerased pencils beneath the inks:


Yes. So I drew this one first, intending to having him shock some guy to his left. But then I realized I wouldn't have enough space to fit the shocked person, so I drew Shocked Guy below. But then I realized I wanted Shocked Guy to have electricity flowing to the right, which would mean he was being shocked from that same direction. I also thought it would be cooler and make more sense if a girl were shocking him. So then, after drawing these two, I drew Monday's Shocker on another page. But the design people are going to use this guy, hopefully deleting the pencil that I didn't bother to erase (because I thought it would never see print). Oh, irony, will you never stop bludgeoning me to a bloody pulp? How much do you want to bet they'll retain the clearly visible pencils in print?

Easter Eggs: the guy is wearing the same shirt as Ben from Ben10.

Fun Facts: I only inked this Shocker as a warm up before inking the shocked guy. His hair style is modeled after this new guy on the Yale Quiz Bowl team, who found his way to the group from my advertisement on the new admits' boards last admission cycle. So far that makes three 2011ers who I know have read my stuff on the New Admits' Site. Neat!

And so that's my contribution to "Dancemoves so Cool, They're Illegal." I am eager to see the rest of the issue's art. Because I'm art director for the Record, the magazine is wrapping up production, and I've only yet seen four pieces that were not my own (one of which looked like a (rough) sketch and is regrettably seeing print, and another which was a (polished) sketch that has unfortunately been cut from this issue).

Wow.

On a brighter note, if you would like a year's subscription to the Yale Record, "America's Oldest College Humor Magazine"--and to help me meet my referral quota by mentioning my name--please check out our Subscription Page. You can pay a measley $10 for a year's worth of great, electronically transported art and humor, or you can hunker down for the tangible, $30 printed version! Be a purist and get the real deal, or be an environmentally conscious friend to future generations and get the email version--you cannot go wrong!

Reuxben

Record_DancemovesB

Odd title, but it'll make sense come Wednesday. So this is our first glimpse into the Yale Record's upcoming "Crime Issue." But surely there is no crime being committed here? Oh, you would be wrong. You would be dead wrong.

Easter Eggs: nothing visible yet; the sole easter egg for this piece (drawn in two segments) is on the left half, which will find its way to Removal on Wednesday. I guess I sort of was thinking of Toshihiro Ono's wonderful series, the Electric Tale of Pikachu, when I was drawing the lightning, but also I thought of Humberto Ramos' Spider-Man web designs, too. But nothing that would particularly evoke either genius.

Fun Facts: This is actually not the original drawing I made for what I will call the gag's "initiator," but I didn't like the original, so assuming the design people decipher my clues correctly, this is the one that will see print.

Reuxben