Fun_GraffitiPart2

This'll be lightning quick because I haven't time enough to breathe. So here are some more grafitti from facebook's Graffiti app.

This is Aang, the last airbender. I did this for a fellow Avatar fan. It was my first time drawing an Avatar character; pretty fun.

This is a vamp'd version of Sasuke from Naruto, which I did for someone.

Finally here's a picture I drew for a fellow Yalie who I don't really know that well, actually, but thought it a nice gesture, especially because the source photo on facebook lent itself well to drawing.

Ok, see you Wednesday,

Reuxben

Herald_SciFi

This week's comic points toward my goal: fantastical stories instead of gags with comedy as it happens.

So this is that prequel to last week's more universal horror story, only it's what I personally fear--isolation from the great people I've met. This one's more action adventurey feel.

Easter Eggs: My birthday; Jade's JCA catchphrase, Tch; my old room number; a lefty; Half-blackened spider insignia for JE's good times and bad; murky, darkness at the heart; courage-starved lion, from chickening out of the JE sophomore dinner; and futile, distanced communication.

Fun Facts: I sneaked in two screaming-guy shots (sorta) in one comic, pretty neat. To avoid confusion, I reluctantly replaced Mike with Allen.

Oh--don't forget to read Herald Comics' newest artist, jack kelly, in his series "note to self." His debut episode is called "colleges."

He looks like trouble to me.

Reuxben

Fun_Howelleen

So we've seen my Herald "Horror Special," which was my take on Halloween for my weekly comic "Lighter Light," but now here is my take on Halloween time for "Removal." I thought it would be appropriate to draw the spookiest kid in JE and emo him up, so I drew this today, just for today's post.

Easter Eggs: None, really. Maybe that I was thinking of that one picture of emo-ized Harry Potter and company while drawing this? I suppose that this is based on a facebook photo counts, right? I dunno.

Fun Facts: It's the same guy from the my "RockNRoll" comic, only now he's more developed. I noticed his eyes had a very odd pose so I tried to replicate that. I also tried to play up his humorously large schnauze along with his long, thin face--according to his self-proclaimed "manorexia."

And now what follows is what I was originally going to post on Monday, before being so rudely thrown off my gameplan by unfounded assaults on my work.

During sophomore advising night, a few people spoke to us about what to do as we chug along in our Yale careers. One of the speakers was our very own JE Master Haller. He has a really cool look: his hair is youthfully super-hip, but he's got a wizened face that contrasts with the hair. So as he spoke, I drew him.

Easter Eggs: Pictured is the shirt he wore at Culture Draw, not what he wore while giving his speech.

Fun Facts: This is my second time trying to draw him (which isn't to say I succeeded this time, either). The first time was while he was MCing the Culture Draw. If I find that doodle, I'll post it, because there's a nice story there.

After all the "adults" gave their speeches, some seniors gave some presentations. This was the girl who presented, but I don't remember her name--in fact I don't think I've ever seen her before or since.

Easter Eggs: She's looking out of the corner of her eye because I think she spotted me drawing her (I was in the front row), so I drew her looking at the viewer.

Fun Facts: I can't remember anything she talked about--but I drew this and Master Haller on the back of some handout they gave us at the talk.

Ok, that's all for now,

Reuxben

Fun_Horror_MO

Welcome to the start of another week. You might notice today's title may seem like a repeat of Friday, but there's a new twist. I feel forced to unveil this feature earlier than I had hoped, but here it is now: the new suffix, "MO," stands for "Making Of," so now you can see what goes into making one of my comics.

We initiate the feature with the thought line of last week's comic, "Horror" because as I feared, the inevitable (in my line of "work") has happened: someone has taken offense with one of my comics. So hopefully this more in depth look behind the scenes will help affirm that there's nothing malicious about last week's comic.

This is a shot from my Moleskine, a little black notebook I log my ideas in as soon as I think of them. This is the "thought line," the text that sums up my idea.

Again, from last week, I said I sent out a call to the Herald comics staff to try to do a uniform Horror theme week, as a Simpson's inspired "Halloween Special." I wanted the Herald Halloween special week to become a highlight of the year for readers, by having greatly different content just once per year, like the Simpsons' annual "Treehouse of Horror" special. Only one other person took part, and he did a very humorous take on it. But all throughout the week, in my daily ponderings of how to approach the theme, I decided that I wanted to actually scare people, even make them feel a little uncomfortable, but unfortunately I apparently offended someone instead.

Here is a page or so later in that same Moleskine. It's the pre-rough draft of what the comic will look like. I'm now starting to visualize my idea, aside from just text, and trying to put it all together in an interesting presentation. You can see the odd framing I wanted to use originally for the drinking and driving scenes.

Here's the proper rough draft. Check out the struggle to figure out that first frame. Also, you'll find the original dialogue differs from what finally appears. Many things typically change from here until the final draft.

And of course here we find our final draft, with Heroine's hair colored in this time. So ends an obviously notfunny comic that tackles an issue by presenting it so as to interfere with careless thoughts of aimless fun around this spooky Halloween time.

All I can say at this point is that anyone who can call last week's comic a joke is clearly missing the point. I would not like to meet the person who would find this comic humorous.

Would you?

As always thanks for visiting and for your support,

Reuxben

Herald_Horror

You're right. It is Friday. Time for a Herald comic.

As Herald Comics Editor, I pushed the comics staff to go for a common "Horror" theme, but that didn't pan out and now I look a quite odd amid non-horror-related comics.

But now you know: this comic isn't meant to be humorous, but frightening. I thought I could hit harder with something more profoundly frightening, plausible, modern, universal. This was actually the second idea I had to evoke horror, but that more personal horror idea will come next week.

Easter Eggs: "Baby" is one of my least favorite words. My sister's horrible car has a stripe too. The hotel's named from a My Chemical Romance song. The my suite number is 319 because both places are horrific.

Fun Facts: This comic is absolutely not supposed to be funny. It also premieres "Heroine," which is a main female protagonist, as opposed to the usual "Hero" character.

Well, I hope that was spooky. Sadly, no one else at Herald comics went for actual "scary" content. Oh well.

Thanks for visiting,

Reuxben

Fun_GraffitiPart1

Today are two facebook "Graffiti" pieces, which I used to be able to do because it was summer and I had time like that, plus a special treat!

This was my very first graffiti; drawn for a fellow grizzly. It's Taking Back Sunday lyrics from "Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)," some of my favorite lyrics after finding out that my suitemates were giving me the boot this year. I forgive them and remain their biggest fan, but it still hurts like heck. Every single day.

Fun Facts: I like drawing guys screaming. This you know.

I graffiti'd this for another co-high schooler. These are two of the guys from Gogol Bordello.

Fun Facts: They played "Start Wearing Purple," the first time I saw them (on Conan!). Also, this was the first time I tried drawing actual people on Graffiti.

And the treat: this is the autograph/sketch Johane "Ruftoon" Matte graciously drew for me at San Diego Comic-Con! She was so nice, she even showed me notebook thumbnails for upcoming Zhaoka comics!

Fun Fact: Right above Sokka you can see "Whoop it up for Yale today" (I used my " Banner" as an autograph book).

More graffiti to come.

Reuxben

Record_Prometheus

After many weeks of strife, the Yale Record is poised to launch its first issue of the year, the "Crime Issue," tomorrow! If you are a Yalie, make sure to snag a copy. If you aren't a Yalie, consider subscribing! You'll be the talk of your town. We've got an electronic, $10 pdf version, or a printed, traditional $30 version. If you feel compelled to bestow some affordable Ivy-laced humor on your community, please kindly help me out by mentioning my name as your referrer.

On to the artwork. I usually have a more detailed piece and then a couple smaller ones every issue, and this is my "big" piece for this issue. You've already seen the minor piece, "Dance Moves so Cool, They're Illegal," and so now I present my flagship piece for the magazine. It's called "Prometheus, the Pyro-kleptomaniac."

While we were pitching ideas for this issue, someone mentioned kleptomania. Then our chairman said, "Yeah, or a klepto-pyromaniac or something, who steals stuff and sets it on fire. Or steals fire,"

"PROMETHEUS!" I screamed, and everyone laughed. And there was my assignment!

Easter Eggs: the Record's mascot, the owl, is on the templey building. Zeus is hanging out with some liver-hungry eagles in the background on Mt. Olympus.

Fun Facts: I gave him long nails because I think it's generally creepy when males have long nails. And I wanted Prometheus to look creepy. And psycho. To play up the maniac part of his description. I concepted the image as Prometheus crazily flaunting his stolen fire, which he is about to stash in his toga. I'm not sure that comes across, but I'm still happy with how creepy I made the guy.

I wanted to give him darker hair, but I decided to play it safe and not overwhelm the picture with such a big chunk of black. I also wanted to make the sheep's skin black, but I decided that I didn't want to risk losing the detail there.

Tune in Wednesday for something a little different. Tune in Friday for a very special episode of "Lighter Light," my weekly Herald update.

To many more 20s of posts,

Reuxben

Herald_ApplePicking

Fridays mean Herald updates. So here we go (hopefully this comic reads better than last week's).

The idea came from when I went on this apple picking trip sponsored by my residential college, Jonathan Edwards. I felt embarrassed and out of place because I was the only guy there; it was a girl event. There was this other guy, but he's on the organizing committee, so I don't think he counts.

As I traveled through the beautiful orchard, I couldn't help but think how romantic the place was. Happy couples were holding hands and enjoying each other's company. But the longer I walked alone, straying from the peppy JEers, the place became too tranquil to evoke anything but fear. I envisioned axe murderers popping out from behind one of the thick bunches of tree leaves and slicing me up. So I made the comic on romance and fear.

Easter Eggs: the skull and bones reference Yale's famous secret society, which I added after I received a letter from someone.

Fun Facts: Hero's got my favorite jacket. The girl's wearing a Nami shirt. The girl's hair is based on a pirate-haired JE girl. The path shot's from a picture I took on the trip.

And thus concludes the posting-est week ever. But Monday starts another three-post week, with updates every other weekday.

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

Fun_Bulldoggery_Preview

You didn't think it could be done, but I did it! I'm not just talking about a Saturday night/Sunday morning bonus post. I'm talking about how (at writing) I just made the Yale network's "Popular Today" top ten list on facebook!

So I'm tenth of ten. But that's just step one. Step two? Ninth.

As a special treat, here's a glimpse into the future. These are some of the several sketches I submitted for a super-secret upcoming project. That's all for now, though. At least I hope there's some incentive to check back throughout the week: perhaps another bonus post is coming up. Or not. You'll see.

UPDATE: Replace the "tenth" and "Ninth" mentioned above with "ninth" and "Eighth," respectively! Yeah!

Anyway, I hope you feel as warm and fuzzy inside as I do right now,

Reuxben

Herald_Physics

If you are reading this from Burbank, California, please, please, please enjoy your stay!

Alright. An eventful week with midterms and art for the Record's upcoming Crime issue. I also laid out the comics section solo (scary).

I didn't execute the daydream concept well, so a clearer ending has the professor saying, "Centrifugal force? Honestly, what were you thinking when you took my midterm?"

Easter Eggs: Regrettably no L=alpha(ng), for my late physics teacher, Mrs. Lang, who is among the best human beings I've ever met.

Fun Facts: I came up with the comic after our professor, who hates the term "centrifugal force," returned our midterms.

So next week begins an unprecedented three-day update week, like Mr. Wieringo always did. Plus a new category will soon join "Herald," "Record," and "Fun." Food.

As always, thank you for visiting,

Reuxben

Herald_RockNRoll

Welcome to a more care-free update. I was originally going to go with some more depressing stuff this week, but a couple of things changed that plan.

First, I had a discussion that made me feel a little peppier, less in the mood to criticize. Second, it's also Parents' Weekend, so I don't want an awkward weekend. I actually drew this with my sister in mind, wondering if she can get all the lyrics and their bands.

Easter Eggs: All of the background text in the final panel is some of my favorite upbeat lyrics from rock songs. The full text is at the end of this post.

Easier Easter Eggs: The Non-hero is based off a real guy who is named in the second panel. Hero's final screaming pose is a rip-off of an earlier post by--ME! I took the screaming guy's pose from my Fun_WMSdrawings post, and plugged it in here.

Fun Facts: I didn't want to make any lyrics completely obscured, so I left some blank space in there rather than squeeze in words.

So here's the background text:

"Rock n' Roll"

Tongue tied and oh so squeamish
I don’t know where to begin
Let’s go back to the middle of the day that starts it all
Well if you wanted honesty that’s all you had to say
The music played with a calming frequency
Simply singing for the girl
The point’s that there ain’t no romance around there

I miss you more than I did yesterday
Oh baby let me in
Ice cream headaches and sweet avalanche
I’m so full of love it deeply sickens me
You look so good in blue

Just give me strength to pen these things
A tangle on the television and the magazine
I found the cure to growing older
Wait, how come it’s already two pound fifty?
I can’t do this all on my own
I’ll be back with my superman action
Swap jumpers and make another move
Those that claim they’re not showing off are drownin’ in denial
I’m rocking’ steady to the beat in my head

With every breath I wish your body will be broken again
It’s a lie, kiss with open eyes
What are you so afraid of?
I’m trying to find out if my words have any meaning
Case open case shut
I hate the ending myself, but it started with an alright scene

Reuxben

Herald_Depressed

This week's comic is about a personal philosophy: it doesn't matter how bad you've got it, you have no right to complain when there are people out there that are really, truly suffering.

My "bad days" mean nothing, especially here at Yale; I have it great, others do not. They have a right to complain. It would be selfish and insulting to try to whine about life's little annoyances when God's been so good to me.

Easter Eggs: Chittenden's "The Philosopher" and sewing machine, Motion City Soundtrack's Justin Pierre, Dee Dee from Commons, Harkness Tower hairstyle, sleeptalking like Ramos, Wal-Mart's smile, Betty from "The Future Freaks Me Out," and shackle-like uniform trim.

Fun facts: First time including females in a "Lighter Light" comic plus seated poses from a pose sheet by Mel Milton.

Thanks for visiting,

Reuxben

Fun_ChittyBirthday

This is for my "boss" (the helpful one), who is celebrating a birthday tomorrow.

So, happy birthday.

Easter eggs: inside jokes here and there (composition's like a spooky picture of him, art style mimics his, coloring relfects his love of color, text contains a name he often uses in his comics as well as his own nickname).

Fun fact: I actually have a list of names of people that I want surprise with art due to birthdays or other events. So I'll get to them all eventually. I hope.

Also, I'll likely happily draw $omething for someone I don't know I guess; I'm very lonely so I don't have much reason not to.

Reuxben

Herald_MCRMCS

It's Herald: Week III. I haven't yet seen the printed Herald this week, but I have a strong hunch the printing is going to be terrible (UPDATE: it is). I'm hoping for the best (UPDATE: don't be stupid).

Well, I wanted to do a non fanatical comic about My Chemical Romance, but after getting transfixed on Motion City Soundtrack thanks to an old Northern California chum's enthusiasm, plus an actual conversation involving panel 3, I went with this idea.

Easter eggs: Conan O'Brien's hair, Arctic Monkeys' old logo's M, MCS's "The Future Freaks Me Out," and MCR's "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)."

"Fun" Facts: Some expressions from Johanne "Rufftoon" Matte's "Sokka Sheet." I watched/listened to "Zaboomafoo," "Wishbone," and "The Simpsons" while inking this in the Swing Space TV room. This is our first color comic and although I don't like coloring, it was actually pretty fun, so thanks to Loide's markers.

UPDATE: Here's the printed version of the comic--it's not as easy to see here, but trust me, the thing is blurry as heck and pixelated.

Note the Herald Editor-in-Chief told me, "Yeah, it'll probably be just fine, ok *dashes off*," after I showed her a noticeably pixelated proof in the office.

Being Comics Editor isn't as pleasant as I thought it would be.

"If this is the coronation, I ain't feelin' the love." --Gerard Way

Reuxben

Herald_Genie

This is my very second Herald piece of the year. I tried coloring it with photoshop (since we're being pressured into moving into color now), but my ineptitude combined with my hatred of Macs ended disasterously.

A couple of things on this comic: I think I might have been influenced to do this because in my Lit class (Intro to Narrative), we were reading the Arabian Nights. I found it really interesting, and I wish I could try drawing out some of the stories some day. It really gets the imagination going.

Easter eggs: the Genie's flashy pose was inspired by a Hulk picture I saw at Cheeks'. Also, the genie's surprised expression was inspired by an expression sheet Rufftoon (Johane Matte) made of Sokka from Avatar, my current desktop wallpaper. A final fun fact: I wanted to try something different with frames, so that's why it's so weird. I hope it was readable.

As usual, I really wish I had more time on this because I feel it looks pretty empty--I would have given the genie some black hair with matching facial fuzz. And as usual, I would have given the hero some form of black hair, too.

I think this'll be the last of the 2011/freshman-oriented comics for a while. I still have a desire to do my freshman-centric comic strip series, but ever since I got the boot from my old suite, I really have hit a motivational impasse. Morale's everything, and I haven't got it right now.

Well, thanks for visiting,

Reuxben

Herald_Warfare

And thus begins my Yale publication year! As would be expected, first up is a Herald piece. This comic is meant to kind of explore a prefrosh's mindset before coming to Yale: what seems to be the consensus is that many of us think we're pretty good, that we'll put up a good fight once we get here, but once you land on Old Campus and realize just how big the world is and just how insanely brilliant everyone around you is, you start to feel just a bit scared and insignificant.

As usual, we have an easter egg. First is "ODA 1" on the guy's shirt, referencing Eiichiro Oda, creator of One (1) Piece. I wanted to homage him with his playful use of sound effects in backgrounds, so I have DA---DA DOOM! wrapping our hero posing like a tough guy (I always think of the main character as the "Hero" in my mind).

The last panel (well, all the panels) would have been more complex, with a background of Old Campus and a more elaborate banner, had I had enough time, but apparently everyone was scrambling to finish this week's issue on time--the big cheeses were up till 7am!

The second, not-so-covert easter egg is actually a dedication to my old physics teacher who passed away this past summer. She was a great, kind person, and I wanted to at least have her name out there for people to read. I'm taking physics this semester to honor her memory.

Reuxben

Fun_GEARUPshotgun

EDIT: I'm still trying to figure out how to get these pictures to show up correctly, so hopefully this time it works! Keep in mind I'm not very good with computers.

This is my first time posting from a Yale cluster--so hopefully I don't have to be in my room to post anymore, if I can get this all to work. So what I've got for today is a bunch of drawings I did while on the job this past summer at WMS's GEAR UP program. Up first is a sketch (from memory!) based on my second favorite cartoon currently on air, Ben10. I drew it during a training session for GEAR UP tutors (it was all common sense stuff anyway). When I checked for an actual image of Ben later, I realized I was pretty off with the hair and Omnitrix, but I'm still happy with the sketch.

Here's something I drew during one of my 30 minute breaks. I was working on an elaborate door decoration for my boss at the time, which made me want to just draw random stuff, so I thought I would try to capture an emotion. I was going for cocky, play-by-my-own-rules. I hope that came across. Lame(r) stuff trimmed for your convenience.

And oddly enough--I got a taste of being a pro artist while at GEAR UP because my other boss asked me to design our super hero mascot. Since I just drew all day and collected pay, I was in-effect drawing for money, which is what pro artists do! Anyway, after I churned out a pin-up, I asked if I could give him some context, and roughed out a short, substance-less comic to feature him.

So after the rough outline is the finished first page. I thought it would be cool if you could read into it a little--he's literally getting his gear on, but he's talking about his "super [academic] powers." Also, I wanted to homage Ben10, which I love, so the glove panel's background is the bubbly background we always see after Ben poses post-morph. There's also a minigame to guess what super-hero origins he's referencing.

And right beneath the second GEAR UP Man entry is our exciting conclusion page. I actually drew the hero first, got the design approved, drew the first page, then gave the figure a background. The cheesy dialogs and (everything else) was all me. It was all just a ploy to get him to say "GEAR UP!" I thought the drawings would just be an office decoration, but they were thinking about printing up some copies to post around campus. They didn't print anything out before I left because the printer was broken, so who knows what'll happen.


As a bonus for today's post, here's a scan of the previous post's Danny Phantom picture. Just so you know, there was some gunk on the scanner, which is where the weird, black smudges come from.

Ok! What a post. Look forward to nothing but scans from now on! And the first Record meeting is tomorrow night, with Herald in tow, so be prepared for actual Yale art soon!

Reuxben

Fun_MidwayMath

Summer school at Washington ended, but I was eager to find more work, so I signed on to tutor/mentor during the school's Midway Mathematics Academy, which was where we try to trick kids into thinking math applies to the real world, and end in a field trip to the USS Midway in San Diego.

So here's a picture I drew for a kid who likes Danny Phantom, although I think he was afraid to admit it in front of me. I don't know why, I mean, they all know I'm into Pokemon...In any case, a google search got me interested in the character, so I kind of drew it for myself, too.

Up next is a picture of everyone's favorite (really--every kid I've met is a fan), Spider-Man. I wanted to try something interesting with the web, so I tried to mimic Humberto Ramos's web design. Pun intended, naturally.

Sadly, I wasn't able to give away any of the art due to a perfect storm of circumstances, but I wanted to post something this month, because I hate it when the artblogs I visit take forever to update.

Also, I'm back at Yale, so I'll be able to post scans from now on, and even update more than monthly. I'm excited about the previous sentence in its entirety. Also, I'm going to take advantage of Camp Yale's lack of classes to do a batch of scans, including my non-Yale comic'ing debut.

Reuxben

Fun_WMSdrawings

I compiled some drawings to give away to the kids I tutored during summer school, as an incentive for them to give the teacher some much needed peace on the last day of class, so here are some break sketches plus some of the pictures that were up for grabs--better behaved children pick first.

This is my envisioning what tutoring summer school might be like, followed by the day's lesson. Thankfully they placed me into an action-packed math class.

Next, there's some pose practice. I also wanted to try Ben10-styled hands.

I practiced this hairstyle I really like but I can never get it as I see it. The mouth was Ben10-styled.

We've also got dreadlock practice, inspired by Psyche's Gus.

There's a screaming guy with spittle spewing.

This robot was inspired by my fond memories of the Iron Giant. One of the students also loves that movie, I found out while wandering the class in tutor-mode.

I compiled about five sheets of artwork for the kids to choose from, with early picks for the best behaved. So top pick went to a kid who liked the Spider-Man I drew during my last break. The robot went second and the kid even caught the Iron Giant allusion!
Continuing my efforts to predict what middle schoolers would really dig, I went with a Teen Titans Robin sketch. Robin's pretty cool (minus Scott Menville).

Now we get to the fun one.

I met a kid who was really into Pokemon, and just like me, a big Team Rocket fan.

So I stayed up into the wee hours the last morning of summer school and drew him Team Rocket.

I wanted to give him a special drawing because he was such a character, really smart but easily bored and distracted, and because he told me that his brother and dad are off at war.

He seems really positive about it, always talking about his Master Sergent dad, but I thought he deserved some special treatment anyway.

So believe it or not, this is actually my first time drawing the Rocketto Dan.

It was tricky making them both somewhat feminine, without going too far for either.

I think it turned out pretty ok. But in any case, I made sure to use the kid's favorite Rocket catchphrase, "In your face!" in the note.

He loved it and cheered the words as soon as he saw them. I wanted to tell him that his brother and dad were amazing people, but I thought it might get him thinking about their situation too much.

...well, Chimeco says "Bye!"

Reuxben

Herald_Guitar

This was my first real attempt to draw a comic for the Herald after a rushed salute to Room Draw '07. The sagely Dan offered me advice on how to come up with material for the Herald and suggested utilizing wordplay. So coupled with my love of puns, I went with this "premiere" for the Herald.

I regret that there were a couple of minor oversights.

Easter Eggs: "Yale" is etched into the sidewalk cracks of the bottom panel.

I had a lot of fun taking advantage of the spacious single panel format the Herald boasts, and I can't wait to get back. In fact, I feel torn about either doing a regular strip, like I've always wanted, or taking advantage of all this space as a single panel. I'd really like to do both, but I'm not sure that would work out. Maybe the strip in the YDN, and the panel in the Herald next year. But we'll see.

In the end, I feel like I owe my loyalties to the Herald though because I love underdogs.

Reuxben