FanArt_ink.Ride

MTGinktober rolls up on Day 28, "Ride," starring Huatli and her Raptor!

Heading into this one, I was going to draw Liliana riding a zombie, but that felt too similar to our season one entry for Transport, so I switched to a backup idea, an Akira poster spoof. The only tricky thing was deciding who was most famously a rider, possibly someone from Kaladesh associated with vehicles--but no one leapt to mind so that avenue was out--or Huatli and her dino pal, though we'd be stretching the strict expectation of a vehicle. But Huatli's my homegirl, so I was amped to get her her second MTGinktober appearance (also one of my most popular 2017 pieces).

I knew this would be an illustration with a ton of potential, as my Dragon Ball spoof went quite big, but wow, this one went huge on Twitter, the biggest response of anything I've posted there yet.

Fun Facts: I actually studied Akira in college, at Tokyo University, in fact. I watched the movie innumerable times, and yet I still don't quite understand it or even remember it terribly well! It's quite strange, but I guess college pressures you to churn through so much stuff so intensely over such a short period of time that sometimes it's hard for even stuff you analyze closely to stick with you. One of the deciding factors on doing this piece was it was a salute to my old senpai, the Tokyo Werewolf, who loves Akira.

Easter Eggs: Plugging in stickers was a treat. We've got Akira's air force star patch, an Ixalan sticker, Akira's Canon becomes Vance's Blasting Cannons (runner up was using "Common," but the double M was too lengthy and Catlacan additionally too obscure), and Citizen becomes Azcanta (Citizen is an obscure token in Magic, so I was entertaining keeping it as is). In lieu of a capsule logo on Huatli's back, since there's no reference for her from behind, I just mimicked her front design.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_Spacelond

A futuristic, fantastical rock formation for today.

I wanted to paint something using purple and yellow plus yellow and green, two two-color color combos I love.

These imaginary landscapes usually come together from just slashing down colors and rotating the random shapes until something chaotically emerges.

I also used this opportunity to test out some new Dave Greco Brushes I got recently, and these are a serious joy to use.

The yellow sky with a moon was also an exciting experiment that seems to lend that sci-fi-y vibe with ease, meanwhile the purple rocks could just as easily suggest a more fantasy feel as well.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_SpaceIsTheFinalCase

I saw these old inks, based on these lines, and thought I should take them to final at long last.

I had just wanted to update the inks to digital and then simply use solid mask for the character with popped red and white over a painted, starry background for a striking but minimal image, but we ended up getting carried away with the character colors.

I was happy how comfortable I felt trying to color via different layer effects rather than purely painting, in my effort to find a speedier way to color. I am trying to simplify more, but there's always another step or tweak I feel I ought to take, so we end up simplifying in certain ways, but then adding complexity in others.

The spacesuit's colors started a lot cooler, but I wound up moving towards a red and white motif to match the original scheme's punchy elements.

Here are a few alternative takes. The left most one is what we posted on Twitter and Instagram, the middle was a sorta vintage look inspired by my usual BW value-check version, and the last one was a neat effect I noticed when just keeping the reflection of the character up.

Not normal,

Reuxben