Fun_Oinky

Just a quick little remix of a New Years' sketch to kick off the proper Year of the Piggly Wigglies.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_Oink

Just a quick little New Years' sketch to kick off the Year of the Boar.

Will this be my year?

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Reuxben

Fun_SoThisIs

Ok, here's our first art of 2018! It is a riff on our New Years' ZLM piece from last year, so it's Z and Nyao in the same costumes as that one J.C. Leyendecker painting I always associate with New Years'. To make this more thematic, I drew Z on New Years' Eve, and Nyao on New Years' Day. The props and stuff were inspired by a bunch of vintage New Years' photos I spotted online.

I enjoy really dressing these guys up in formal duds on occasion, likely stemming from "The New Year," by Death Cab for Cutie, which has that classic line, "So everybody put your best suit or dress on / Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once," because it was always like getting to go on a shopping spree with no concern for budget. Giving these guys nice costumes is like giving my friends a little gift I could never give them in real life. I guess it also owes to my love of how fashionable JP comics can get, I'm thinking of Obata Takeshi for instance, whose Hikaru from Hikaru no Go played a role in Z's design, actually. He looks quite dashing in a tuxedo, I must admit.

Anyway, we might as well check in on our resolutions from last year--

Goal 1: Draw more digital pieces.
Quantifiable: 1 digital drawing a week.
Result: Pass.
Just skimming my Instagram, I am confident I was able to do well over 52 paintings! Easy! Can't believe I was nervous about this one.

Goal 2: Draw at least 3 comics and some SLSs
Quantifiable: Coverage Draft, Splinter, and Songs About Chie, + 12 Sick Little Suicides.
Result: Fail.
The closest I got was 11 or 12 SLSes, depending on how you count--I did some Magic stuff that intersected a bit, and I ended up not posting a few cuz they didn't feel good enough, but then again, what's the point if I don't post them? Note, I'm writing this on 1/4/18, when I have some gaps in the archives, so I'll likely backposting these at some point. As for the comics, this was quite a dismal failure. I've started drawing Splinter and Coverage Draft, but the latter is on pause to focus on Splinter, which is stalled on page 4 of 13. This is unacceptable. I got caught up focusing on illustrations that felt more pressing and relevant, as well as the daily sites' posting schedule, which didn't leave energy for the comics. The solution seems quite obviously to forget about illustration for a while, but I feel such pressure to make pieces daily and keep present and to bolster the portfolio with illustrations, which I suspect must be more important.

Goal 3: Draw more fan art.
Quantifiable: 1 fan art a month.
Result: Pass.
This was pretty easy. I forgot about Inktober, which kinda makes this quantity child's play, but treating that as simply one mega-image for the month, I'm pretty sure we've been able to do at least 12 fan arts. The finer print about being more face-shovey about my stuff has been harder, but that definitely has to be a continuous goal going forward.

Goal 4: Study more.
Quantifiable: 30min+ every day.
Result: Pass.
I've been able to keep up the pace more or less coming up on post number 365, though I can't remember why the numbering is off. I actually believe I should be pulling back on this since I need to be making more finished, portfolioable stuff...I've tried compromising by just sketching in pen on paper, or with no eraser if digital...I dunno...it's easy to get carried away and bogged down.

So, we went 3 for 4. The most important goal, to make crucial comics, was the one we missed. 3/4 isn't good enough here.

Goals this year are basically more of the same, since we were able to accomplish most of these without being overwhelmed--

Goal 1: Draw similar amounts of digital pieces and make one portfolio piece a month.
Quantifiable: 1 nice digital drawing a week, 1 portfolioable piece a month.
Method: Just paint. We should strive for experimentation and growth, though...avoid relying on water and falling into similar well-trodden gimmicks. More importantly, regardless of how many digitals we do, we need to make a "nice" one every week, one that we can look at as a real, completed thought. On top of that, we have to develop one painting every month that could be a portfolio candidate.

Goal 2: Draw at least 3 comics and 12 SLSs and some ZLM stuff for the 10th anniversary
Quantifiable: Coverage Draft, Splinter, and Songs About Chie, + 12 Sick Little Suicides +1 or more ZLMs.
Method: Draw Splinter. Work on one panel at a time. We have all these comics written and thumbnailed, you just need to draw them out. So just go and do it. At a rate of one panel a day, it'll take a while, but hopefully it'll be the bare minimum that drives us to complete more than that laughable quota. You did four a day in college, come on, more on Herald day...As for SLS, actually hop on stuff and just do it, regardless of finished quality, just like a YDN brief. As for ZLM, if you have to redraw your favorite comics, do it. Or draw some of the newer scripts. Or something, even just a nice character profile treatment or splash or something. We have to mark the 10 year anniversary. Do it for Z and N!

Goal 3: Draw similar amounts of fan art.
Quantifiable: 1 fan art a month.
Method: Pick stuff I can deal with and draw it. Also, hype it--actually throw it in front of the relevant parties, don't rely on people grapevining it to them. Mimic all those dumb, faux-self-deprecating people you see online, whatever you have to do to stomach forcing people to look at your garbooj.

Goal 4: Study Similarly.
Quantifiable: 30min+ every day.
Method: Same as always, just sketch/study daily off of resources we find online. But crucially, don't get carried away to the detriment of actual work. Study, but don't procrastinate or cower in fear from what we must do.

So those are our goals, we've got to do better. This has to be the year. We must do better. Treat it like life or death.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_TorkoyDoy

A simple, little Torky for Torkoydoy, mang!

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Reuxben

Fun_BoomBust

I try to draw something USA-y around the Fourth of July with my ZLM idiots, so here's this year's, starring Z and Nyao.

I did this one at a time, left to right, so I probably went overboard with Nyao's paints since I was figuring out the flow with Z, but really in the swing of things with her.

The root idea was to use my new Helen Chen brushes to make something fully colored, but again, I suspect I went too painterly with it.

I was trying to get that restrained, minimal coloring style she used for her DC characters, but I just kept wanting to define colors a little too much. They say that knowing when and how to pull back is what makes pros great, so I'm still in that details-out-the-wazoo stage.

Anyway, I was planning to use a black, vaguely Yale-architecture cut out over the background, but it just didn't feel open enough, so we ultimately went with the full fireworks display for the final.

I feel torn about using some copy and paste action on the fireworks, but I resolved not to dwell on this piece too much.

A real behind-the-scenes secret is that I used the same core model for both Z and Nyao, and just drew their differing bodies and expressions over it. Drawing is quite a bit like dressing mannequins with details for their fashions.

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Reuxben

Fun_MemsTheWord

I wanted to draw something for Memorial Day, and this WWII scene suddenly leapt to mind with only about an hour left on the clock.

I took scarce glances at references for the vehicle and rampart things, but tried to keep it as gut-fueled as I could from imagination...I believe that's called a "mood painting."

Plus I'm trying to get more comfortable drawing from imagination, since I tend to rely on references almost as a crutch.

This is how it actually looked with "my" colors, before tuning down the saturation and adding all the blur effects.

Side note: it sickens me that soldiers and civilians around the world are dying for and because of that Orange Fraud. What greater shame is there?

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Reuxben

Fun_BestYears

Today is the 10th anniversary of Removal, which means I've been posting art online for ten years! To mark the occasion, I thought I'd recreate, with minimal tweaks, the very first art I ever posted online, though I did swap in a bluer tone since it felt more fitting for Yale.

My first post was a drawing of my very first series's characters, Ben and Marty, while they were watching the season premiere of 24. I still have the original drawing and (97kb?!) digital file stored somewhere...regardless, my goal was simply to recreate the piece with my present, all-digital process, but not to trick it out with colors and stuff. Looking at the (3MB) update, I feel I haven't progressed enough in 10 years, though I do recognize I've gotten better in some areas.

Marty was inspired by my suitemate, Ryan, who loved Back to the Future, and these two were to star in my very first series, called Four Best Years, which was based on the wacky hijinks of my suite.

The series never got past the planning stages, though, because I soon lost my suitemates to room draw and then spiraled into an abysmal, seemingly unending vortex of self-hatred'n'stuff, but hey, all's well that etc.

Not normal,

Reuxben

FanArt_CatNight

I wanted to draw something for catday, after noticing there is such a day in Japan, owing to, of course, a pun based on how you can choose to pronounce the date in Japanese dakara neko no hi.

I was going to draw Nyao, but then thought, meh, why not try something I normally would avoid, and give some BTAS fan art a shot?

So here's Catwoman, Batman: The Animated Series era.

I used a photo I took in Shinjuku as reference for our little Gotham analog, and I studied Jock covers for managing the more designy presentation, including the bold use of negative space.

I also tried mixing my brushes, so I based it all in Steve Ahn's Ultimate Brush, but used the KNKL softbrush to color Catwoman, and gave the pen tool a try to get the whip to curve like that.

Not sure how successful this was, but maybe-possibly learned a little doing this.

Not normal,

Reuxben

FanArt_ValInTime

I wanted to draw something nice and jerkin' for Black History Month, so here's Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats. It turns out Valerie was the first black character to be a regular on a Saturday morning animated show! That's actually pretty legit. While I've never actually seen the show or read the comic, one of my favorite movies of all time is the Josie live-action (not that I've seen many movies to be a good judge...). I watched it a bunch when I was little (we had it on VHS), and while drawing this I realized how important this movie actually was/is to me!

I've written a little bit about this before, but stories about guys and adults have never really resonated with me, and while drawing this, I realized that seeing this movie so early on was instrumental in my tendency to sympathize with female characters more than males.

I guess part of it was cuz the alternative was like DBZ and stuff, which always felt so much more apparently fictitious, whereas stories about females always seemed just a bit more plausible and that victories there tended to feel more "earned." One of my other all-time favorite movies is "You've Got Mail," haha, so I guess it's the romantic aspects they always shoehorn into female stories that get me.

The biggest female characters to me were Luann from the newspaper comic, and Misty from Pokemon, who combined with the general "Girl Power" movement (haha!) of the 90s to nurture my affinity for female protagonists. I enjoyed the stories overall just fine, but gravitated toward the "uncertain" of female-centric narrative (since male-centric stuff tends to be more "certain"--that is, it's more about "How will I prevail?" as opposed to "Will I prevail? If so, how?"), similar to stories about younger protagonists. Obviously, the hero tends to win in western fiction anyway, but you get the idea. With females (and kids), it always feels like more of an uphill battle, whereas guys tend to start at least partway up the hill.

Anyway, I loved the Josie movie because I remember how funny it was. It wasn't until college when it occurred to me it was a satire on marketing and pop culture! When I was a kid it was just a funny, charming movie with a sweet soundtrack! We started talking about movies one day in the common room, and then Phil mentioned about how underrated the movie was for its great social commentary, and I was like, "haha, yeah," and internally I'm like, "...Heyyyy....yeahhh..."

This piece actually started as a study of a guy from one of the civil rights documentaries I've been listening to lately, as I wanted to draw something for Black History Month, but then I thought it would be important to draw a female. Thinking back to the Women's March, I thought of Josie and the Pussycats, which had a black character, perfect! As a tie-in to their 70s roots I wanted to make the background kinda psychadelic-y, so I did a riff on one of their background stills from the show's theme song.

Bonus early version before I realized it was looking a bit off, and I even forgot they all have "long tails" in addition to their "ears for hats." Anyway, I love this movie and still continue to mock myself when I feel depressed by asking, "who's a rock star?" though I'll sometimes change it to some shade of "who's a great artist?" Haha. Idiot.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_ChristmasCards_ZN

Continuing our Christmas sketch card series from last time, now we have Zero, but dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge, expanding on the hat theme.

Since he's our main dude, I wanted to make his portrait a little more special so I gave him a full costume, but also a little wreath noose.

I chose Scrooge because Z's a bitter, bitter dude befitting a "bah humbug" vibe, though ultimately, it does irk a little that he's the only one in full costume and portrait.

I wasn't sure what costume would best complement Z's for Nyao, but I didn't want to draw her as Tiny Tim or a ghost or something so I just went with the only thematically-appropriate "hat" that I could think of: reindeer antlers, which felt apt because it's animal-themed.

Hmm, maybe Z could have just gone with a top hat and pipe, so he's like a snowman? Anyway, Nyao's outfit was inspired by the Oakland A's...I've always loved how yellow and green look together.

Since Nyao is super strong, I gave her the bag of presents, plus she gets a cookie because I imagine she's eager to take the spoils of doing the work of distributing joy.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_ChristmasCards_VF

I decided to draw some Christmas-themed Copic portraits of my main characters in my little 100yen pocket sketchbook, first up Vicky Vasquez.

This came out a little more somber than I was envisioning, but, as I'm discovering, they kind of tell me what's going on as I draw them...she's a workaholic so she doesn't like being forced to take time off in December.

So she's kinda in shellshock mode without the constant buzzing and bustle of her regular work "life" to fall back on.

Next was Fred, which is a revamp of his first color scheme, based on a sketch from a random session.

This piece determined what I wanted to do with this little series: corresponding, minimally busy backgrounds using red or green, with a Christmas-themed hat.

Usually the guy of the pair is Santa and the girl is the elf, so I thought it'd be funny to switch it around since Vicky's the boss anyway. So, having done these relatively more straightforward shots, I knew I wanted to do the ZLM duo with a little more care next.

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Reuxben

AV_anp.Foolie

Here is the final main April ALT poster, including a spotlight on traditional US gags, Groucho, US comedy styles, a simple joke, a Truth or Dare demo, and an Easter corner.  For a breakdown of the incidental doodads of the poster, go here.

This is a walkthrough of coloring our anchor image. 

The walkthrough of the facial area is here.

I am not sure how the gag flower would work in this case, but just go with it.

The pose, if you caught it, is modeled after Groucho's famous cigar-twiddling one, like the pelican and the pickles, but with the Shyamalaian twist that it's not a cigar but a bill on a string that's being twiddled.

Also, the Joker thing was a reference to the use of that word in Japanese society for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

You'll find the word "Joker" on things that have nothing to do with comedy or light-hearted things, like there's a men's fashion magazine called "Joker," when it should be rather be called, "Expensive Things Nobody is Ever Going to Buy-er."

Of this one cooking manga called "Hungry Joker."

Nothing to do with the concept of the joker as we know it.

I think it just means a "cool guy."

Anyway, here it doubles as actually applying to comedy, too, so hopefully Japanese people learn something about the proper usage of the word.

Or not.

I get paid either way, all the same.
 

*Rimshot* 

And here is the "staff" photo for this anchor.  Fun stuff.
Reuxben