Fun_BloodBest

Closing out 2013 with my best alter of 2015, I'd say.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_ArmyWish

I've written some important and heartfelt letters this past year (2015).

I thought I'd draw a postcard for once.

Also realized I've drawn on postcards before, but under far different circumstances.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_SnowMeh

Digging deep for this one, a present for someone I knew.

Update 2/14/16: Looks like I posted the snowman art before! This is the first time that has ever happened! Wow. Bonus art, then.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_Yellowcap

It's draining, you see. Met a fellow from Germany, though, who is greatly encouraging.

The shoulder logo comes from his sig. Super secret stuff.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_Yellowcap_L

Trying to get that poofy hat and quasi-military vibe down for inktober 15.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_SpellFear

Also interested in doing more blatant, non-strictly-drawing digital stuff on my art, especially typography, though there's some color pumping, too.

Fear is probably my go-to word.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Fun_Spellz

Inktober 15 really got me craving ink, and I even tried drawing stuff straight in inks.

Partly to scare me into committing to lines and decisions more fearlessly.

1/22/16

Reuxben

Hare_Tok.HareyukiDomo

This is the final version of the token I did. Yes, they actually picked something I did.
Can I count this one as recently going viral? People were reposting for the art, right? Right...

In all seriousness, I've seen people get really excited when I use this token and then they discover I drew it. Haha. At the Battle for Zendikar prerelease, a couple of younger dudes even wanted to ask me for my autograph. How charming desu.

Not entirely sure how you can get these anymore, it was a limited run, and you could only get one randomly whenever you'd buy over 1,000 yen of stuff (there were other tokens in the line-up to potentially get, too). Perfect timing though, as these came out just as Khans of Tarkir dropped, so warriors abounded.

Anyway, studied a bunch of Yukioe for this, including hands and backs and backgrounds. Fun. No armpit hair. Editors amirite?

1/20/16

Reuxben

Hare_BoxSketchesFall

Another rejected sketch from that canceled project.

This one also inspired by Yale, Harkness, Ravnica, Kiki, etc.

1/20/16

Reuxben

Fun_DidiDoodling

Trying to figure out Didi. Bah...turns out Splinter Twin just got banned...
Hope that doesn't make this feel more dated than it already does.

1/20/16

Reuxben

Fun_aWin

A study from a photo of Owen T. for Inktober.

Not sure I've inked a portrait before, but anyway added some Copics, too.

This song came on as I was working on this and I thought it was kinda funny.

1/14/16

Reuxben

Fun_aWin_I

Continuing with the inks for Inktober. Portrait practice from a photo.

1/14/16

Reuxben

Fun_aWin_P

Saw a neat photo and wanted to try to capture it for Inktober 15.

1/14/16

Reuxben

Fun_Spacer

And here we have one of my very favorite pieces of 2015.

The skin tones are super delicate, so it looks really neat in person (pencils and inks).

Inspired initially by the insane stuff Coliandre was doing, it also took wings from this song, cultivating a desire to make something of ambiguous but penumbrally rich narrative.

I was close to giving this to my mentor, but couldn't bear the thought it being more of an insult than anything else; like imagine trying to show Tony Hawk how well you can stand on a board without falling off...

1/13/16

Reuxben

Fun_Spacer_I

Wanted to draw a simultaneously sci-fi-y and traditional fantasy style girl, like a shaman, but a scientist for Inktober 15. Inspired by A Short History of Nearly Everything.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Fun_Spacer_P

Messing around with a variety of inspirations for Inktober 15.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_Tok.HareUkiyoe

Last of three pitches for a token.

Yeah, falling back on the potentially tired yukioe deal, but meh, happy with how this came out, and happy to use him for warriors and whatnot.

Easter Eggs: Umezawa's dealio.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_Tok.HareBrute

Another stab at the token gig. Swing and a miss again.

I wanna say this guy was influenced by Sarkhan or the Mardu style, but pretty sure I drew these during Theros...maybe Jund? Primeval Titan? Anyway, have a hunch we'll see that shoulder pad again...

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_Tok.HareGirl

Rejected sketch for a token. As usual, basically no art direction, just "just draw" so just drew.

Theros was recently out or in full swing, I believe, pretty sure that's why I went with something vaguely Greek.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Fun_ReachHard

Pretty sure I messed this up. Took a break from some practice to see how far I could get without an eraser...ended up using KNKL's line-sculpting technique toward the end.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_BoxSketchesJock

More unused box sketches, this one inspired by Jock's incredible use of negative space. And a great excuse to call back Yale, Harkness, et al.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_BoxSketchesDubba

An unused sketch for a box design. I like turtles.

1/13/16

Reuxben

Hare_Fear.Portland

My fourth Fear comic, but only the second published, as the first two were just sorta practice. Anyway, think back to when Khans of Tarkir was about to come out and everyone was still unsure how these newfangled wedge names would play, that's what was going down when this came out.

Fun Facts: I thought back to Yale channel my hatred of hipsters, since Portland's state animal is the hipster. Fortunately there aren't really hipsters in Japan, everyone is just pretty much about what they're about, no irony. Except lands in front...don't you dare tell me that's intuitive or comfortable to play. Anyway, I do loathe players that stick to antiquated or obsolete terminology and stuff just to prove how enfranchised they are--calling it MODO, calling all cards by their first iteration (all mass -2/-2s are Infest, everything has "Kicker," etc.) etc.

Easter Eggs: GP Portland 2014's venue, angry dudes and Yale in trees, TV Reporter from Pokemon, Sunflower Plains, Fblthp, Mox Sapphire, Arabian Nights Mountain, Jugan, Black Lotus, mana symbols, untap symbol, CNN logo, Lands in Front tats, pi, e, and i.

Ah, memories.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Captain

Went next door to Hachioji to find the captain, but he was out.

Hey, man, can I get in there?

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_BreakfastClothes

Sketching big hats, jamming them into photos from Shinjuku, and rocking out.

Love when they do that kind of thing in animu and stuff, you know?

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Creep

Here's the final digital version (pencils and inks).

The goal was to draw something scary, or creepy, but not gross-out or gorey, yet detailed and with heavy use of black, and on the digital side, I wanted to use purple because I love purple.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Creep_I

Here are the actual inks. This looks so neat in person.

Mixed G-Pen and Sakura microns, especially for the super-fine hatching. So fun. Decided against the tears since they were a little much.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Creep_P

Possibly my favorite piece of 2015...I wanted to draw something really scary for Inktober, but couldn't quite fit it into the schedule.

Anyway, I knew I wanted to use a lot of black, but was on the fence about drawing someone crying.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Thredzz

And here's the final piece (pencils and inks and process GIF).

The technical goals here were to do a fully-colored Inktoberling, especially getting fuller use of the wider range of skin tones I'd recently picked up, though still kind of limited to light-skinned characters.

Just before final touches. I also wanted to see how delicate I could go with the G-Pen on eyes, and to how loose I could get on "live" (meaning no planning or pencils) background elements.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Thredzz_I

Continuing from last time, I wanted her to look like she was rooting hard for Yale, they were winning comfortably, and then they just managed to lose, right at the end. Like this is when she has just realized it's over. A different kind of horror for Inktober, you see.

Difficult to imagine Yale choking at the last minute, I know.

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_Thredzz_P

I kept listening to this album a lot recently and wanted to draw a sporty kind of "Classic Yale" type girl, like the preppy ones you see in magazines and on TV, you know?

1/12/16

Reuxben

Fun_HareHurry_Remix

Having some fun with an old piece set in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku.

1/11/16

Reuxben

Fun_Rainbrella

I love rain, and when it's inconsequential.
I've been trying to figure out a gamer girl character.

I figure she wears one of these satchels.
This probably influenced a later design, now that I look at it again.

1/11/16

Reuxben

Hare_Tee.Hurry

A sketch for a failed T-shirt design. Did maybe 100 sketches in total. Fun.

Stone obvious they weren't going to go with anything, so just went wild.

1/11/16

Reuxben

Fun_IttyBittyGrainOfSand

And surprisingly it wasn't this version that hit harder, though I love that one, too.

Anyway, pretty happy with this one, kinda wanted to go in deeper, but the primary goal was just working on getting a subtle background to set the mood, like you're stuck in her head, just as useless.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_IttyBittyGrainOfSand_I

The reason for the somber mood was to fit a song that just got stuck in my head and rang with a certain clarity of late.

Listened to it a bunch but it never really hit as hard (if at all!) before realizing how helpless the speaker is.

You just can't help.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_IttyBittyGrainOfSand_P

Wanted to draw not just a reluctant hero, but a useless, self-defeating one in a dismal setting.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_TurkeyTax

PhotoJamming this into my favorite restaurant in Tokyo.

The text is a play on how similar the words sound and appear for meaninglessness jibba-jabba, gobble-gobble-gobbldygook, in Spanish and JP.

And plain version, hey.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_TurkeyTax_Lines

I wanted to draw something for Thanksgiving that had a play on the hand-turkey thing.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_Uoodz

Drew Conley Woods during GP Atlanta after seeing a really cool photo of him placed against the organizer's logo, which features a big forward arrow--it was a coverage article about his return to Magic after a short hiatus and all the personal progress he made, so it seemed appropriate. Wish I coulda done a better job on this, really enjoy his podcast.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_PockyDocky

Always wanted to draw on like packaging and stuff, like a box of Pocky.

But the surface is really, really resistant to my inks...

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_FullBlxPnx

Adding some pink to see if it helps, think it did.

Still, over all, doesn't quite sing for me, but helped with a later piece, so not a total loss.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_FullBlx

Trying to draw with straight ink, wanted to draw a tie and running eye make up.

Wasn't thrilled with this one.

1/9/16

Reuxben

Fun_spli.DidiDuo

This Didi ink test has made a mess of us.

1/8/16

Reuxben