Artsy Experiments: Usagi Tsukino AKA Serena AKA Sailor Moon

So...you might've noticed things are a little quiet around here.

I've been pretty busy not only with conventions, going on vacation to DIDNEYLAAAN but also experimenting with my art and playing around with different styles and trying to meld it with my own.

My guinea pig in this case is the one named SAILOR MOON!

Gotta say, I love the idea of a cute pudgy Usagi. I'm surprised more people don't draw her that way.

Incoming Art Dump! Yet Another Teenage Witch on the Internet and Animu Abomination

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Anyways, the drawing above you is a self portrait...in the style of all the anime cliches I utterly despise. XD

Torpedo tits? Check. Robot baby face? Check. Cat ears, tail and wings for no real discernible reason? Check. Vacant soulless eyes? Check. Gratuitous panty shot? Check. Impossibly long legs? Check. Body type rarely seen outside of a horny teenage boy's sketch book? Check. 

Weep and tremble upon this totally kawaii abomination that crept from the bowels of Weeaboo Hell! :')

With that monstrosity out of the way, here's my take on one of my favourite comics growing up. Anyways, I totally see a modern day Sabrina Spellman being one of those nu-goth types that have a massive following on Tumblr and Instagram. Oh? And that magic floating stuff in the background? Totally #nofilter!

Oh god, was that an unironic use of the hashtag? gasp emoticon

The Madoka Magica Madness Concludes!

And with the addition of Sayaka Miki, my series of "Madoka Magica" sketch cards is complete! I had such a fun time drawing them all and I can't wait to take on the magical girls again. ;-)

Yup, More Madoka Magica

Yup. I'm still workin' away at my "Madoka Magica" sketch cards and I bring to you Mami Tomoe! Fun Fact: this sketch card sent me out on a wild goose chase for all sorts of different yellow shaded markers. For that matter, I think I might've worked through some of my issues with the colour yellow through this card.

What? I just don't think I look good in yellow. :-P

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Sketch Card Obsession Begins

Well now...it's been a while since I last uploaded any artsy things around here. I guess you can attribute a lot of that to major life changes like, oh, let's say moving out. Trust me, the logistics pretty much dominate your life for a good while.

With that out of the way, as you can tell from the title, I've fallen pretty hard for the anime series "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"...or just simply "Madoka Magica" if you don't want your tongue to get all tied up. :-P

It's funny, I've kinda avoided this series because I absolutely DESPISE "moe" style anime art (their eyes always just looked so dead, vacant and soulless to me). Then I started hearing really good things about it in that it's "not what it seems". It finally took me watching JesuOtaku's review on the series at That Guy With the Glasses to really get into it. To make a long story short, I've already watched this series twice and I'm planning for a third viewing.

Yup. It's that damn good. 

So damn good that I just had to draw all the girls (with my own personal stamp of course! No moeblobs permitted here!) complete with the excellent soundtrack to push me through...

First up, we (naturally) have our heroine Madoka Kaname. So much hope and pink sparkliness.

Next up we have Homura Akemi. One of the things I really wanted to get across was the personality of the characters. I hope I managed to get her stoic nature with a hint of fighting back despair.

And now I have Kyoko Sakura. Along with individual personalities, I also wanted to give the girls unique facial features and body types (something that was pretty absent in the show's character designs. Can you tell I'm not a fan of "moe" style?). God I love how her hair turned out here. ;-D

Of course, I have Mami and Sayaka on deck. I just have to finish inking and colouring them and then they'll be posted...along with a collage of all five sketch cards put together because I'm a completionist like that. :-P

Is completionist even a word?

Does This Look Alternative?

"Ugh...stretch pants. Everywhere, stretch pants."
"Hey, these are stretch pants! I'M WEARING STRETCH PANTS!!"
*hyperventilating*
"They're LEGGINGS! It's alright..."

Hey, remember when I used to draw copious amounts of "Daria" fan art? Well, a major "Daria" bender led me to drawing this. It took me a stupidly long time to complete this but god how I love it.

Royalty of Oooo

Incoming belated art dump!

Hey look! It's old fan art that's been sitting at my desk since this past summer begging to be uploaded!

Man, the "Adventure Time" ladies sure were fun to translate into my own style but I still wanted to stay true to their original designs by keeping it relatively simple and flatly colored.

My Little Alternaponies: Bonus Pinkamena

DISCLAIMER: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and its characters belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. This deranged reinterpretation is my brainchild.

I told you I had one more drawing planned in this mini-series of sorts planned out, didn't I? 

It's been too damn long since I've last drawn anything cyber (be it goth or punk) related and it just meshes so well with Pinkamena aka when Pinkie Pie takes a break from happy hardcore centric raves and gets her stompy industrial dancing boots on.

Not gonna lie, I am pretty tempted to turn this into a cosplay reality. 

My Little Alternaponies: Subcultures Are Magic

DISCLAIMER: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and its characters belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I'm just having fun and twisting them to my very whim.

And here we are at my most recent works! I was feeling an overwhelming urge to draw the Mane Six not only as humans but as if they were all heavily involved in some alternative subculture. In my mind, this is what they would totally be...

Pinkie Pie is a candy raver all the way! As you can see, she obviously put on a few pounds since the last time I drew her. Turns out I like the idea of a chunkier Pinkie Pie and drawing more than just one body type. Variety's a fun, fun thing. :-D

For Fluttershy, I imagine she'd be a bohemian hipster of sorts swearing by all things organic, free-range, fair-trade, environmentally friendly and vegan. In this instance, she's finally worked up the bravery to go to Coachella. She's just holding that joint for the guy in the beer garden, honest!

Rarity would so be a lolita. Class, beauty, elegance and extravagance for life! Oh, and those shoes totally are the Jeffery Campbell unicorn heels.

First, I imagined Twilight Sparkle having a bend towards the gothic side of things (hey, that interest in magic and spells had to manifest itself in some way. ). Once I started work on her, I had to figure out what sort of goth she'd be. Too low maintenance and practical to be a cyber goth or Victorian goth but not quite glamour-obsessed to be a Romantic goth or Medieval goth. Then Wednesday Addams' iconic black dress and the geekier side of goth culture came to mind and I knew where I had to go from there. Friendship is Witchcraft, indeed!

How I could I resist giving Rainbow Dash a maginificent, bad-ass mohawk? Clearly, I had Wendy O. Williams on the brain as I was drawing her. Other than raver!Pinkie Pie, punk-as-fuck!Rainbow Dash probably took the longest to color. (So. Much. Plaid. And rainbows!)

At first glance, rockabilly might seem like an odd choice for Applejack because we've been so acclimatized to the sexy, glamorous pin-up girls that dominate the public conscience of the subculture. However, once you realize that rockabilly stems from "hillbilly rock", then it's not so weird to see Applejack in the high waisted shorts and bandana. Personally, I think she ended up looking a lot like Lurleen Lumpkin from "The Simpsons". :-P

This was such a ridiculously fun series to draw. So much fun that I already pencilled and inked one more addition to this series...and I'm plotting maybe at least two more. We'll see. 

Which pony do you wanna see make it into this bizarre mini-series of sorts? Where would you sort them? I'm all ears. 

This Pie Clearly Needs More Pinkie

OMIGAWD, I'm still alive?!

Yup! Now that my life has finally returned to something resembling normalcy, I'm getting back into my regular drawing groove...and what better way to do so than to draw excessive amounts of human!Pinkie Pie.

Not only did I want to draw something fun and colorful to get my hand moving again, I also wanted to try some new things like different facial expressions (albeit ones that are exaggerated to the max) and more dynamic poses.

Please let me know if there's any aspect that could use some improvement.

Now, for some random little tidbits!

-Saloon!Pinkie Pie's shoes are modelled after a pair of boots I'm currently lusting after. (Aww, yeah.)

-Good god, do I love how Pinkamena's face turned out. I should really draw insane, psychotic faces more often.

-Yeah, I still envision Pinkie Pie as some sort of sweet lolita fanatic. If not, then she would make for one crazy candy raver. Hmm...I think I may have my next drawing idea...

The Burlesque Critic: Oh dear...

Oh deary me, it looks like I got into that keg of rancid crack again.

If anything must be blamed for this fusion, it's that fan-freaking-tastic musical review of "Moulin Rouge" the Nostalgia Critic did last week. MaroBot's title card wasn't helping matters either.

There's a demented part of me that wants to make this costume a reality...but I'm not quite sure if I'm willing to go pantsless in public. I also have one more idea for a TGWTG-based burlesque costume that's been rough drafted in my sketch book. Here's hoping I'm...insane enough to go through with it.

PS: that garter belt also doubles as a gun holster.

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 24: I Totally Can't Remember...

Day 24 of Sketchavember had me turn to one of my tried-and-true methods for battling a mini-art block: when in doubt, draw something "Sailor Moon" related. (Or bunnies.)

Once again, I took inspiration from the always goofy and outrageous "Sailor Moon: The Abridged Series" (why haven't you checked it out yet?!). Hence why Mina here looks...skankier.

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 21: Red Blooded Kappa

Oh Day 21 (of Sketchavember), why so stormy tonight?

Heh, I guess you could say that's largely the reason why I took the minimalist approach to this drawing. The lights already flickered out once tonight and damned if it's gonna happen again!

Anyways, you have no idea how long I've been wanting to draw dear ol' Sha Gojyo here. I've always flipped flopped between Gojyo and Hakkai as my favorite one of the Sanzo ikkou but after rereading the first manga series and completing tonight's drawing, I think it's been determined which one is my favorite after all. ;-)

Still love Hakkai though.

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 20: Somebody Sure Digs Reptiles

Yee-HAW! With Day 20, I've reached the home stretch of Sketchavember!

This is another one of those times where everything just came together beautifully. The inspiration for this one comes from the deliciously 90's track (must be the repetitive use of the word "jump". XD ) "Reptile Theme" by Skrillex.

What can I say? I was a total "Mortal Kombat" kid back in the day (even against my mom's best intentions ;-P ).

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 15: There's a Pinkie in My Pie

WHEE! Day 15! I'm halfway through Sketchavember!

You guys have NO IDEA how long I've been suppressing the urge to draw this.

Well okay, it all happened when I was coloring that human!Rainbow Dash (#4567 on the Internet) and suddenly I was stricken with the intense urge to draw human!Pinkie Pie as an uber-accessorized, pastel and pastry print drenched, over-the-top Sweet Lolita.

"Noooo," I protested to myself. "The Internet's already clogged with fan art of humanized ponies." Well, sometimes you just gotta go with what's good ol' fashioned fun and get that goofy imagery out of your brain and onto paper.

I'll admit, this really was crazy fun to draw and color...even if one of my primary pink markers was about to dry up at any given moment.

From now on, I better not get any more urges to draw human!ponies!

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 5: I Wrote a Letter to Daddy

So yeah, I bet you can guess what movie I saw tonight. ;-)

In all seriousness, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" an absolutely excellent, riveting movie. If you can find it, I highly strongly recommend it. I love it so much that Baby Jane Hudson herself had to become my subject for Day 5 of Sketchavember.

Hope I did Bette Davis justice here! Let's face it, she totally owns that movie.

SKETCHAVEMBER 2011 Day 2: Dash, Rainbow Dash!

DISCLAIMER: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and its characters belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.

Day 2 of Sketchavember rolls on with what the Internet is in dire need of: more "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" fan art! Now, I'm fully aware that humanized!pony fan art has been done to death a bajillion times over...but consarnit, I just had to jump on board the fluffy, sparkly winged bandwagon.

The reason is largely because I felt my good friend Joe could use some cheering up after the crappy month he's had. And what better person-err, pony to draw than Rainbow Dash!

Hope this brings a smile to your face, Joe! :-)

Art Trade: The Nurse Will Take You...

Okay. I promise this will be the last thing bloody and nurse related I'll post for a good while. Really! :-P

Anyways, this is my embarrassingly late half of the art trade I have going on with CureMyBlackendHeart (on DeviantART) who wanted me to draw a nurse from the "Silent Hill" games.

I will admit, my only real knowledge of the "Silent Hill" games comes from watching my older brother play the first game when I was a young 'un and the copious amounts of fan art and cosplays of characters like Pyramid Head and, of course, these fabulously creepy nurses.

After completing this drawing, I'm really starting to wish I played the games before. ;-)

When looking for reference pictures, I didn't realize there was more than one character model/design for the nurses so I tried combining a bit of the Bobblehead Nurse with the classic designs. For any big "Silent Hill" fan (and CureMyBlackendHeart), I apologize for any inaccuracies in the detailing.

On a technical note, I'm so happy with the skin (especially the veins if you squint hard enough).

Hope she likes it!

Rorschach's True Identity

Okay, you're all probably wondering HOW THE BLOODY HELL this idea came to me. A few days ago I came across an all-too funny image done by banshuwa of DeviantART which made me look at ol' Rorschach in a whole new horrifically hilarious light (see for yourself here).

There was no other choice than to render America's favorite teenager into America's favorite vigilante.

On a more technical note, I was trying to go for the flat colors you would see in an issue of "Archie" or "Watchmen". Hope I succeeded at this!

Good luck trying to unsee the resemblance. RRAAAAAARRLL!!

Look at These Hipster Disney Princesses

Well, here are Ariel, Belle and Auror--er, Briar Rose together in all their indie-than-thou glory. Why yes, I did draw all of them on the same sheet of paper.

I may or may not have a couple more ideas for hipsterfied Disney princesses. We'll just see how snarky I'm feeling.

Until then, if you want a closer look at them all, from left to right...

-Ariel (the one that started it all...and loathes everyone else for it)
-Belle (who soon followed, will likely collaborate with Ariel's crab BFF)
-Auro--BRIAR ROSE (still denying her lineage)