And So, The Real Story I Actually Wanted To Tell (Finally) Begins

Stuff is finally happening! Everybody knows there's no such thing as mysterious, but there might be something at least "enigmatic" going on over here!

Zelda (Party) Time

I got to draw a whopping two Zelda characters today, and was naturally overjoyed. This is the first time my "client" has ever requested that I draw Ganondorf. I certainly hope it is not the last, because that man is the most fun to draw.

On FIRE

I really loved how this pose turned out AND I'm super-proud of the fire-balls there. They weren't complicated to do, but they ended up looking really nice and readable. I think I was inspired by the Pikachu lightning bolts I did earlier in the day. Still surprised at how well it translated.

Also,

this was yesterday's! Whoops!

Blizzard Man has to be the most adorable robot master ever.

Obscure Reference Day

A not-very-accurate Soldier StoneKong in the not-very-accurate Mojo Mansion.

But it's a cool picture.

Artifice

A mysterious man has appeared. Also, this is a weird thing she can do with her eyes when she looks left. (And possibly when she looks right, but that isn't canon yet.)

New Page

Flying Around

Contrary to popular belief, I actually am still working.

Not Again

There's a new page!
Go see it!

nyam nyam

hom nom nom

newm pagem

Process

So, since I've missed a couple of days and I've been doing an extra hour for my employer the past couple, I figured I should do a deluxe sort of post. So, here's something interesting that occurred today.

While I was drawing today, I did something interesting. One of my employers' favorite subjects is these guys:

The Quack Pack! Everybody's favorite Huey, Dewey, and Louie as punk 90s teenagers with attitude and bad hair!
Unfortunately this presents a problem. Unlike Ali and Ali's sister, there's not just two of them. There's three of them. This makes a request for "Quack Pack" kind of difficult to draw in an expedited manner.
Often, I end up covering parts of them or putting them in similar poses with slight differences, like so (from today):

However, with the three hours wearing on, my client starts to get a little antsy, so I decided (almost right after the above drawing) to try something a little different to draw them all faster. The request was "Quack Pack, Dry Mouth Gulch." That means cowboy costumes ahoy!

So, throwing off all my instincts to try and add personality, I created this little doo-hickey:

Fig. 1: a doo-hickey

This was my template.
Then I copied it three times and worked on one at a time, adding colors, expressions and hats. First was Huey, who I tried to make...red. And smarmy. Because that's how he rolls. Also, I colored him first because he's the leader, and gave him the best hat, because that's what he do.

Fig. 2: smarm

Then I drew Dewey, who needed some thinking. Styles. I decided to make him have a ten-gallon hat because it looks so silly that no Western hero would wear it, and every sidekick ought to wear one.

Fig. 3: thinky-boy

Also, he's a thinkin' type and more calm than the other two (at least in my head), so I gave him a casual...erm...if you just change the eyelids does it count as an "expression?"
At any rate, I did that.
Finally, it was time for Louie. The hat was again the starting point. Because when nothing else changes, what does change really defines the character. I chose a badguy hat for some reason. I guess the other roles were taken. Or something.
I thought for a second about making him an accountant/desk-jockey with a green visor and those sleeve-band...things...because that would have fit the "green" thing. However, since he's the muscle I didn't end up doing that because the muscle is never a desk-jockey! Those dang pencil-pushers!

Fig. 4: so villainous

So there you have it.
Or rather, here you have it:

Fig. 5: Final Product!

All together at last!

An Awkward Question

...Not what it sounds like.

New Page

Dun dun DUUUUUUN

Oh my goodness what will happen next!?
Tune in tomorrow and you can miss today's installment of Precious Metal!

Bad Habit

Two again: a "good" one and a "fun" one.

(Near-)Daily Double

For Saturday, awards go to:

Colonel 1-up for Best Drawing

AND

Salesman Lefty Sonic the Hedgehog for Best Gag.

HEY, KIDS! You can enter your own funny caption for the Best Gag winner if you just duct tape your dog to a post-it note and send it in blank to

PO Box 5555
Beverly Schmeverly
Somewhere Apartments Or Maybe A Bank Or I Guess A Post Office Since This Is A PO Box, Number 12
Wiseguy, USA

Getting Through

Another new page! I'm going like lightning here!

Surprisingly Painful

I drew this and then I could hardly look at it. It really does look like he has a broken leg to me, so every time I saw it I'd squirm and my leg would tense up sympathetically. Made me stop and wonder: what kind of power am I handling here anyway!?

Different Kind of Double

My drawing of the day was on paper again--for some reason the lappy and my tablet weren't connecting the way they usually do. (I think I'm sensing a lot of negative energy here...) Thus, you can enjoy a terrible-quality photo from my cell phone instead of the usual picture.

The other half of this post is actually the half that matters more to me:

New Page! Hopefully I will continue to speed through these next few pages. They aren't too heavy-duty in terms of detail or color, so cross your fingers. Gotta get 'em done!

And the Winner Is...

...Apparently not Master Hand.

Here was the runner up:

Toofer - Tribute and Homeless Romantic

Yet another day when I can't decide. However, in my defense, this is compensation for yesterday's lack of update.

Currently, Megaman is holding a special place that is even nearer and dearer to my heart than he normally is. I just realized he was probably my first "real" videogame character this week, and so have been catching up on his games. Through Youtube.

Look Up, Master

New Page!

Sorry, guys, no Drawing of the Day today. I forgot my tablet pen at home, so all my work today was on paper, and I didn't have my cell phone to take a picture. See you tomorrow, though!

I'm A Machine

..You're a machine; everybody thatcha know ya know they are machines. That's how I can MAKE SO MANY COMICS.

New Page!

The Violence Inherent in the System

This may seem over-the-top, but first of all he's NegaDuck (he's supposed to be eeeevil) and secondly he's in Super Smash Brothers. If there is any violence that ISN'T inherent in that system...

Novelty Value

Sure, I did "better" drawings than this yesterday, but this one was my favorite because it's something that I don't often get to draw. Link is a special treat for me. His design is so fun, and surprisingly flexible. Plus, I just like Link himself. So here you go.

(Also, sorry, it's a day late.) 

New Custom: New Page

Hey, all! It's that time again!

There's a new page!

Just so you know, I'll do this every time I put a new page on the website. If you don't like shameless plugs, well... what are you doing here anyway?

Double Prizes!

Sometimes I can't just pick one. On this occasion, I'm going to cop out by saying that the top one was my best Pose/Gesture and the bottom one was the Best Storytelling Drawing.

I like how I'm doing categories now.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick just one tomorrow and be happy with it. Wish me luck!

A Toss-up

I find that I nearly always work better without music on, or at least I do it faster. It's just a simple fact that on the days I listen to music at work, I probably only get done... maybe eight drawings, maximum. On days I don't have music playing, I nearly always have to resize my picture so I can draw more. Just counting today, I had fourteen finished drawings. That's almost twice as many drawings as a nonmusic day.

Only problem is, I like working to music. At any rate, it's a habit.

Weird, huh?

Golden Thread

If any of you remember Inception, you remember that that girl's name was "Ariadne." Because how could you not? It's a really weird name, right?

Well, there's actually a story behind that.

In Greek mythology, the hero Theseus has to find his way through the Labyrinth of Crete so he can face the Minotaur. However, the labyrinth is so brilliant and so complicated that nobody has ever been able to make it all the way through. How will Theseus confront this task?

Well, being mythology, he doesn't just put his hand on the left wall and start walking. Instead, he gets a magical gift--a golden ball or spool of thread that will show him the way through the maze. All he has to do is follow it, continually winding it up, and he will find his way through.

Guess who gives it to him?

Ariadne, the daughter of the king of Crete, determined to get Theseus through the maze. Thus, that name is really fitting to the maze-builder in Inception: the Architect, as they call her.

Well, an interesting tidbit, no doubt, and maybe I've "enriched your viewing experience" for the next time you watch Inception, but did that have a point?

Yes. Yes, it did.

My point was this:

That's how story is for me.

I'm in this labyrinth, and it's dark, and I look around, and I suddenly catch a glimmer of that golden thread. It's showing me the best, most complete, most wonderful way through the maze of passageways. I move toward it in the dark, and it's lost to my view, but I head in that direction and do my best to find it and catch hold of it. Sometimes I don't get hold of the thread right away. Sometimes even after I get hold of it, inching my way through the dark, I suddenly lose the thin fiber--it slips from between my fingers and I have to stumble around for a moment. But if I just keep trying to find that golden thread, the maze of possibilities of what a story can be suddenly transforms into one path of what the story should be.

And for everybody, that thread is probably different--or at least, it leads them on a slightly different path. If not, where would the joy be in telling and retelling stories? But wherever that thread leads is where you have to go, otherwise you waste your time. Ironing out a story is about paring down from the infinite possibilities into one path--hopefully the best path, the one that will impact the audience member the most (for good). That golden thread is hard to find, but it's worth searching for, because it will make your life easier and your story better. It takes time and patience and a lot of listening and thinking and trying things that don't work, but it gets you there, and it's the best route.

That's how it is for me, anyway.

Donkey Kong? No, Wait

This was "Sonic the Hedgehog Gorilla Gangster." I kind of love when I get to just design something on the spot, which happens relatively frequently at my job. Sometimes it doesn't quite work out, but I think this ended up looking nice.