Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Fun_PtVDocVtar_L


Studying a documentary I found of Pierce the Veil, drawing out the neat poses I saw.

This was Vic and his guitar.

And we're officially caught up on 2015!!

4/13/16

Reuxben

Monday, December 28, 2015

Hare_DoofVG_ThaD


A little concept sketch for a mystery/puzzle themed project based on Innistrad and Zendikar.


Plus the extended edition hyper remix HD turbo ultra.

4/13/16

Reuxben

Friday, December 25, 2015

Fun_Calt.WraithAwaiting


And a Merry Christmas it is--our little Wraith just got her wings.

Again the throat armor took inspiration from Algenpfleger's Solider token, but other than that, just hardcore riffin', especially on the bg. I chose to make the armor designs vaguely based on the letter M, for Markov.

I couldn't have this token fully colored for the SOI prerelease since I needed to pull this peculiarly rare token from one of my packs in the first place. Once I ripped one, I kept it BW for the event since I didn't want to present a half-colored, not-yet-ready-for-prime-time token, especially when the others were all fully colored up or BW themselves.

4/12/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Fun_DearNeighbors


I decided to color our little experimental letter sketch, from when I randomly bought ice cream for everybody in the share house, all of whom I didn't know.

I used to do stuff like that in college all the time, just randomly leave people snacks and stuff because I'd often win contests in my residential college for free food at the student dive or I'd have spare grub stored up from Commons or the Law School.

I don't like talking to people, so I express my humanity and affection in nonverbal ways, typically through art but also frequently through gifts.

I like art.


I got to eat all that ice cream myself.

4/12/16

Reuxben

Monday, December 21, 2015

Fun_DearNeighbors_L


I found a draft of an old letter I wrote to my neighbors at my old place when I randomly decided to buy everyone ice cream.

I thought it would look funny to draw right over it because I used to be so precious with paper and stuff--never draw on lined paper, keep everything nice and neat, etc.--but meh, just cut to the chase!

I'm in a letter-writing mindset lately.

4/12/16

Reuxben

Friday, December 18, 2015

Fun_Calt.WraithAwaiting_B


And then the base colors for our little wraith, as I've been calling her.

I had to call it a night when I was coloring this so I just roughed in the bg there, and hoped I would be able to remember what I was going for later on. We'll see how that goes soon enough.

4/12/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Fun_TalesOfIchabodFae_L


Hum! Found the lines from ye olde Ichabod Fae piece.

I remember the shape of the overshirt was one of the funner parts, including those scarecrow-like frayed parts.

4/12/16

Reuxben

Monday, December 14, 2015

Hare_Des.DawnOfTheLoser


Another ad thingie I made, with the JP swapped out for some neato lyrics by TV on the Radio. Originally it was about a little viewing station you could watch old Pro Tours and stuff at.

And no, I'm not a Breaking Bad fan, I just like this song, and later found out it had some kind of BrBa tie-in.

I tried watching it, and it was so boring! I was like, this is what all the hype is about? It was like Hal sitting in a living room while a lady was talking incessantly or something and he was miserable having to listen to her(?)...I remember he had a briefcase or something that he was preoccupied with.

It was a while ago. Man, was it back in the US? I can't imagine I've had any opportunity to watch Western shows in JP...don't even have a TV.

Anyway, cards we used were--last call for guesses--as follows:
See Beyond
Propaganda
Evermind
Unblinking Bleb

Easy, wasn't it?

4/12/16

Reuxben

Friday, December 11, 2015

Fun_Calt.WraithAwaiting_L


Studying Algen's soldier token's armor a bit for this Vampire Knight token.

I loved these guys at the SOI prerelease, but couldn't prep any before the event since this was a brand new token type!

Oh, I'd torn up some vampires from KTK, but only before realizing SOI's weren't 2/2s, and they didn't fly.

I ended up drawing this while waiting for day 2 to start.

Colors coming right up, just wait your wraiths.

4/11/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Fun_LifetimeSupply


You ever have one of those lifetimes?

4/11/16

Reuxben

Monday, December 7, 2015

Fun_OKko


This guy won a Pro Tour! But he's just another dude.

Dude, everybody is just another dude.

You? You're just another dude.

Me? I dunno.

4/11/16

Reuxben

Friday, December 4, 2015

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Fun_LvyDvy


Ah, man, one night on the train I saw two people just knocked out together on the train.

Melted my cold, unfeeling heart.

Or so my programmers tell me.

4/11/16

Reuxben

Monday, November 30, 2015

Hare_Des.LetsRewind


A design piece I did. I swapped out the Japanese for some slightly less nonsensical English.

It was themed on memories, since the event was about writing down your memories of the past year or some such.

The cards we jammed here were (last chance to guess...ok here we go):
Time Walk
Island
Secrets of Paradise
Breeding Pool
Brainstorm
Memory Jar
and
Watery Grave
as the beaver.

4/11/16

Reuxben

Friday, November 27, 2015

Fun_Calt.JombiJane


Was not expecting to enjoy this one so much, but it was actually quite nice going. I wasn't in love with the lines, to be quite frank.

Anyway, would not be ashamed to plop this homie down.

Psych! As if I ever get to play Magic any more!

4/10/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Fun_CanetEars


And since I wouldn't feel right just stopping at Eric Canete's inks, I thought I'd try some monochromatic Copic tones on top of the lines.

This is the kind of piece you just get lost in, it was like 3 or 4 or in the morning, and I'm listening to old MTG Potpourri episodes and thinking about life and everything, working on this quasi-abstract design. What even is?

Anyway, another reason I admire him is because he's also a Copic artist. Inks and Copics with a resistance to digital. How about that.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Monday, November 23, 2015

Fun_CanetEars_L


A study of an Eric Canete sketch.

He actually inspired this site, you know. My gosh, we just hit the 9th anniversary of this site a few days ago, and a large part of it starting up in earnest was this guy posting such inspirational ink stuff that I'd study to get amped before doing an ink illustration for the Penny Dreadful.

I actually called this site Removal because he called his Discard! Haha. In Magic, removal is my favorite thing you can do, so it fit for multiple reasons--obviously there's more to the name than just that but it was a great jumping-off point.

I remember being so nervous when I finally met him...I got him to review my stuff at Comic-Con once. I was expecting him to shred me apart, but he was actually quite positive...somewhat vexingly, since I didn't really know how to improve from there. But I don't think he was pulling punches, he's certainly not afraid of letting you know what he thinks.

So...we continue floundering.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Friday, November 20, 2015

Fun_IOHWIR


And the thrilling conclusion to our little study, adding in a rainy background because I love, love, love the rain, accented with the white gel pen for rainy bounces.

I find that when the gel pen isn't particularly crucial it seems to perform satisfactorily, but when we really need it to land, like on a rim, it doesn't quite get the job done. So the hunt continues for a reliable white ink, but fortunately, I have some white Deleter ink on deck I'm looking to try out.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Fun_IOHWIR_B


Continuing the lil study, super reduced colors, just two tones per color.

I always overdo it, so this was a nice little exercise in restraint.

However, I had to kinda squeak in some extra color for the grayish blue since I don't have anything quite that dull, so I had to mix in some flat gray over a light blue. And then obviously I went a little Eisakusaku on the scarf. Love scarves. Schoolgirl uniforms not so much.

But man, Japan loves those giant wooden-plug-buckle "sailor jackets" I call them, don't know what the technical term is. And I love them, too. So cool, yet classic-looking, and guys and girls can rock them.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Monday, November 16, 2015

Fun_IOHWIR_L


Studying the a ref the great Pomodorosa pointed out. I actually saw her artbook in the store one night and thought I owed her a buy, and it's quite an inspiration.

I'm trying to loosen up and not focus on matching exactly...I dunno how off this theory is, but I feel like worrying about being exact is not long-term what I should be after. I want to capture the essence, the spirit of the piece. Also helpful, I'm using pen a lot recently, so it's forcing me to make decisions, and stop worrying.

What, me, worry?

4/10/16

Reuxben

Friday, November 13, 2015

Fun_HeartlessInTokyo


Hey, found an old sketchcard from one of my very first trips to Tokyo.

Drew and colored it on the Bullet train in, no major shakeups.

Lucky duck.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Fun_MoreOrLes


A study of Les Twins with as simple, flat Copics as we can.

My gosh these guys are incredible.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Monday, November 9, 2015

Fun_MoreOrLes_L


I'll be real, I think of dance as an inferior art, if it can even be considered art.

But Les Twins are one of the few entities who actually make me see and understand dance as art.

4/10/16

Reuxben

Friday, November 6, 2015

Fun_Calt.Flarmy_L


Lines from an old Goblin token I was working on.

It's based on Florrie, of all people. I figure as a drummer, she'd make a great Goblin, since the gag is she's banging on stuff with a little mallet thing. Hilarious, right? Right.

Not sure what to do with this...straight to Copics? Inks? I'm guessing it'll be an experimental one, so I'm mainly posting this in case it goes horribly wrong.

No real reason to get on this though, since Goblin tokens aren't really in demand these days.

4/9/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Fun_Looming


I've heard such great things about Andrew Loomis, so I'm starting to study him.

Hope that gets the magic going.

4/9/16

Reuxben

Monday, November 2, 2015

Fun_WrightIsle


This is a study of one of my favorite islands.

I actually prefer/love black, but I feel like we just never get cool or beautiful Swamps, for the most part. Islands are more like a given that they're gonna look gorgeous.

4/9/16

Reuxben

Friday, October 30, 2015

Hare_DoofNoShinpai


The final colors of this fully digital piece.

It was for some flyer about a dangerous street corner or whatever, and he's wearing one of their sweaters.

Notably, I was using my pre-KNKL coloring style, which I learned from studying Chamba and other cel-shaders.

After watching KNKL, I learned there was a bit of a cleaner, tweakable method using clipping masks.

4/9/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Fun_DTKcity


Another ballpoint study from the riot.

I was listening to an old MTG Potpourri while drawing this, hence the title.

4/9/16

Reuxben

Friday, October 23, 2015

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Fun_BaseBallBaroness_L


Just drawing random stuff and seeing where it goes. Wanted to try like a bandana and like a tough girl, and then baseball got in there somehow.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Monday, October 19, 2015

Fun_CityScoop


Studying in ballpoint from Jake Wyatt's post lately.

Environments aren't toorribly interesting to me, but it's not like I hate them. Backgrounds have actually been my bag, but I enjoy drawing them more as an OCD sort of pursuit of perfection, not so much for the sheer fun of drawing settings themselves. It's just a service to make the characters look better, and I love characters first and foremoist.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Friday, October 16, 2015

Fun_USAUSAUSA


Found a photo of an old watercolor painting I did in '14, Fourth of July-themed.

I remember painting this in a Sukiya. I used to camp out there while eating the Mega Cheese Curry (thing is yuuuge), and after missing the last train home one night, I eventually discovered I could use that place as a sub-1000-yen hotel! Just buy whatever you want and you can literally spend the night there since it's open 24 hours! I later would use this sick tech during prerelease marathons rather than make the commute each day.

In fact, here's how you hack prerelease marathons in Tokyo: just hit the FNM leading right into the midnight prerelease (there's usually about an hour after FNM to eat at the local 7-11 or Family Mart before the midnight event), then jam the midnight until morning, then ride around and sleep on the train for a couple hours before the morning's Day 1 (I recommend getting onto the Tozai Line and riding that full circuit up and down since it will lap right back to Takadanobaba just in time), hit up the Saturday prerelease by no later than 30 min before doors, then when the day ends you pop over to Sukiya for a bite and a sleepover, get your boot back to the Sunday prerelease in the morning again by 30 prior, and then by the end of day 2 you're back on the train headed home like you just pulled off a heist. A reeking, stinky, sweaty heist. Don't forget to pack your infinitely futile Japanese deodorant. But it will do you no good, naive child.

Japanese deodorant burns and burns and burns, but it, like goggles, does nothing.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Fun_BosniaHerzegovina


One of my favorite words is "Bosnia-Herzegovina," just based on of how Christina Ricci pronounced it in that one SNL skit forever ago. I had no idea what that skit's context was back then, I just remember how funny the word sounded to me as a kid. Now that I'm older, I'm pretty sure it was about some awful human-rights crimes or war or something...don't want to look it up.

Anyway, long story short, this is a fudepen study from neat photo I saw one time.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Monday, October 12, 2015

Fun_TattoodTears


Just getting rid of this hideous thing. One of my least favorite drawings of recent memory, done for Inktober '15.

Not enough black ink in the world.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Friday, October 9, 2015

Fun_Calt.JombieShroog


And our final of the joomby we colored in-store. How about that.

Slightly worried it'd have too much of a circus or calavera vibe, but I'd say we landed all right.

It was particularly fun digging in on this background, using the XP from the other Copic-based bg I did.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Fun_Calt.JombieShroog_B


Fairly foolhardy, but I packed all my Copics into my backpack for the SOI prerelease weekend so I could color during down time. Ever since I've been able to read cards in Japanese, it's become less crucial for me to hardcore-memorize the set before the weekend, since I can just read the set over a couple times and then look over cards on the spot to refresh my memory.

Well, I got to the midnight prerelease too late for the FNM beforehand, so I had a couple hours to kill before the Midnight, so I got to work on coolering this joomby, coolored live at the midnight shoop.

4/7/16

Reuxben

Monday, October 5, 2015

Friday, October 2, 2015

Fun_Calt.AlphaSchmoOooo


And our second spirit finished from our SOI prerelease prep.

One of my opponents was way into this one.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Fun_AgoraphobiaToday


Trying out a little drill from Jake Wyatt.

It's raining today, so I'm happy.

But I have to leave the house, so I'm sad.

Life is about balance.

At least that's what the Cliff's Notes say.

And sometimes I just want to skip to the end.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Monday, September 28, 2015

Fun_PossibilitiesSunken


A sketch from the train to Tokyo for the SOI prerelease.

Never is always the motive.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Friday, September 25, 2015

Fun_Saltines


And some digital design dressing because whatever. I was thinking of those old Shonen Jump volume covers.

That's my favorite card, but the way.

Vontec comes from my finger slipping trying to type context. Basically meaningless words, just wanted words that looked nice as images.

Blah blah blah.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Fun_Saltines_B


And then some simple base colors for the sketch.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Monday, September 21, 2015

Fun_Saltines_L


This was just some posing practice that kinda kept on going.

4/6/16

Reuxben

Friday, September 18, 2015

Fun_Calt.JombieStressTest


Moar Joombiez for the SOI prerelease.

This looks so pleasing from across the table, all those lovely purples just chilling up the joint.

This was my first time drawing with Copics, too, I just live-inked the background right in there, running mostly on instinct. Really fun, such a novel way to think about drawing.

4/5/16

Reuxben

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Monday, September 14, 2015

Fun_TalesOfIchabodFae


This was a G-Pen live-ink for Inktober '15, vaguely horror/spooky-themed.

I like the noose tie, but it's probably played-out at this point, if we're being totally honest.

Anyway, I figure her name is Ichabod Fae, a descendant of Ichabod Crane. The first born always gets that name, but she's a girl, so she prefers to be called Fae. She handles odd jobs that invariably have some horrific, fantastical culprit behind them, but she manages to bring the best out in them.

Monsters are people, too.

It's the humans you need to worry about.

4/5/16

Reuxben

Friday, September 11, 2015

Fun_Calt.TrianglesOoo


One of our spirit tokens from the SOI prerelease.

I really, really like how sharp the heavy blacks come through when you see this dooder on the table, and the stars really give it some kick.

Good idea, me!

4/5/16

Reuxben