Autumn Sketch Page (Introducing Ali!)

Hey! Ya, you!

Lately I've been pretty occupied with a ton of stuff such as work, working on a comic (proper announcement on that later), and learning Blender. Especially with work; I am completely fed up with these silly minimum wage type of jobs at this point in my life, but I digress.

In the little pockets of free time in between at that, I've been filling up a whole page of sketches of Autumn and, for the first time, her feline companion Ali.

The idea for Ali the cat being Autumn's companion has existed right from the very start of the story's conception but I never really got around to drawing or designing them (unless you count this animation that was posted awhile ago, then sure, that was Ali's first appearance; the cat wasn't even named Ali at that time.)

I don't have much confidence with drawing animals at all, which is why I've been pushing off fleshing out Ali's design. Better late than never, right? Ali's design is currently a work in progress.

Oh, and that's right! Bottom left corner. First time we're seeing Autumn's witchy mother!

Once I finalize the design for Autumn, her mother, and Ali, I'll be sure to get started on a character line up for them. I feel like a character line-up page for the "Witched Away"  and "Mr. Ridiculous" story projects are kind of overdue, but I think it feels like that because I've been doing a lot of sketches for those characters behind the scenes and their designs seem to have stuck.

And as I mentioned earlier, surprise! I'm working on a comic! A proper announcement will be made later on (probably way later.)

See you guys in probably a month!

Congrats Grads of 2422

With so many 2022 graduation cards on store shelves this year, I couldn't help but claim one for the graduating class of 2422.

January Animation Practice - Tennis Ball Storm

Whoa! Another late arrival! We finally have 2021's first animation practice starting with January, even though it's currently March. What can I say? It arrived late with style!

Lately I've been pretty bogged down with life-related nonsense, so I haven't been doing a good job at keeping up with the animation stuff lately. Because of that, I had to cut off a ton of what I wanted to animate in this one in order to get this done and posted. Included with the animation, I wanted to throw in some character design sketches and its original storyboard!

As mentioned before, I wanted to try and be more experiential with the monthly animations this year, which means I'll set out to animate different cartoon styles, use different animation techniques or processes, use different animation programs, and other such things. I'm aware that I stayed in a sort of comfort zone during 2020, and I want to try and change that.

Initially for this animation, not only did I wanted it to be longer than what the finished result ended up being, but I also wanted to experiment with using Google's Song Maker to do some sound effect work for this animation.

I also wasn't intending to bring this animation to a finished look as well; since I intended this year to try different things, I wanted to not aim for making a polished-looking product, leaving animations looking rough instead for this year.

I only brought this to a finished look because I didn't want to deliver an unfinished-looking animation after a two month tardy for January's animation.

All in all, this was fun. I liked the character design and style in this one. I'll be sure to start on February's animation asap so I don't fall too behind.

More Autumn the Witch Sketches

How can I not post more sketches of Autumn the Witch during the autumn season?

I'm really digging this new character if that's not apparent by now. It's nice to go back to drawing in a cartoon style that resembles my very early art. I definitely want to continue exploring (or re-exploring) that very simple toon style.

In other thoughts, I should really give more attention to the Mr. Ridiculous and Fasty's characters though; it's time I finalize their character designs and give them a proper line up.

New Character/Style Sketches - Autumn the Witch

For the longest time, I've wanted to expand the kinds of styles I draw in. Some of those experimentation in style have been kind of apparent in some one-off drawings I've posted before, like some of the birthday drawings I've posted for the last few years.

Keep in mind that the way I draw my characters for "Propinquity" and "Class of 2422" is the way that I have always been drawing my cartoons for many, many years; it also doesn't help that I've only been drawing those specific set of characters for the longest time as well.

Of course, I do have some characters outside of those sets that I've created that are visually different, like with the "Mr. Ridiculous" story project, but I'm still hungry to expand my horizon in my personal projects when it comes to character design, visual style, or storytelling.

It might be too early to reveal this one, but I wanted to share what I've been working on lately since this character is featured in July's animation practice (which will be posted tomorrow.)

Meet Autumn the witch!

Here's some progress sketches I've done of the character. Initially I explored different styles that I like from different artists until I reverted to a simpler style that has more of a resemblance to how I used to draw when I was younger; this style is almost like a throwback.

Of course, since this is pretty early in this new story project's development, some things might change or evolve the more I work on this, but I really enjoy the direction this is going in so far.

A Look Back in the Decade

With the start of a new decade being a few days away, I put together some images that shows the evolution of my cartoon style. I went back through some old sketchbooks I had hidden away and gathered some images for this interesting look-back.

For this throwback, I focused on my character Dakota since he's been around with me for a very very long time. It's a nice mix of style evolution and my art progression, which includes my start in the animation world with Flipnote Studio, to my start with creating art digitally.

Of course, I think I've gotten better with art outside of my cartoon stuff in general, but this way is an easier way of seeing the change over this decade. I would have gone back further, but I don't know where that stuff is at currently; I know I still have it somewhere.

Let's see where the 2020s and beyond takes us!

Robert Sketches and Doodles

Here's a couple of digital sketch pages I did of Robert!

For Robert and Marilyn, there isn't a lot of exploration since I already figured out these two characters already. Robert was pretty straight forward in this case.

Marilyn might take a bit more time because she has more outfits for her, and also she's my favorite one to draw. She's the last one I need to do before fully completing the task of updating the Class of 2422 line-up.

Going back on a point, I think that's probably why the reason it's taking more time than usual to revise this line-up: everyone here has more than one outfit. Unlike Propinquity where everyone has one outfit and one pose each, the Class of 2422 characters all have at least two outfits each, and I wanted to draw a different pose with each different look.

Of course, I could just draw one pose for each and just swap out their outfit instead, but where's the fun in that?

Ted Sketches and Exploration

Hey! Sorry about that absence!

While I was gone from the blog, I finished up the redesigning process for Nevadri and started up the reworking process for Ted AND finished that too. Right now I started exploring with Robert's character.

For Ted's character, I made him wheelchair-bound during the exploration process and that made his character and arc way more interesting than how it was before. Because of that, that shifted his personality/world-view of things towards somewhere more interesting, I think.

Below are some sketch pages I've done of Ted during the process:

You'll notice that not only I put him in a wheelchair, but I also added colorblindness to the mix. Initially, Ted was a character that explored the idea of Transhumanism, or the idea of using technology to better the human body and surpass what natural evolution can bring to better the human condition. Ted never really had a real reason to undergo a transform other than "it's the future! We have the technology to do so!"

Somewhere in there, I knew it was a bland and boring motivation to put a character through such a transformation with a basic motivation. It wasn't until I gave him disabilities that made the motive (and his personality) to change for the better.

It's nice to see where Ted ended up as a character these past several years. He went through major changes and revisions over the years, but I think I finally him in a spot where he's interesting as a character.

Nevadri Redesigning Process - Part 2

Here's more exploration pages for Nevadri!

Around this point is where I found a shape/design I was really enjoying. I liked the body shape that was resembling more of a bowling pin, or a penguin; it gives the character more of a friendly vibe in my opinion. After all, he comes in peace!

Even though the design is set at this point, I'm still trying to figure out his personality, end goals, and arc that he will contribute in the overall story in the series. I'm satisfied with the end result with Ned's design overall.

Time to move on to Ted!

Hello 2019!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

I was working on a piece for this day, but I ran out of 2018 to finish it so here it is in its rough, incompleted state:

I'll get back and finish this...some time this year.
I hope to actually get things done this year. Really gotta kick myself in high gear to do stuff.

Nevadri Redesigning Process - Part 1

Before I started the fall 2018 semester, I was working on redrawing the updating the "Class of 2422" character line-up. With school and dumb work getting in the way, that process slowed down incredibly.

The one character I was working on at the time school/work started was the alien character named Nevadri. He was in a limbo state because of everything goin' on.
Once I started to pick him up and experiment with his character, personality, and design, I found that I couldn't stop drawing this E.T.! He ended up being a ton of fun to draw/explore!

Here's some pages of doodles and exploration!

I wanted to create a more appealing, easy-to-draw design than its current state, so here you can see the different design paths I was playing with.

I was really digging the design where he had two antennas in his head, but I figured that might have resembled Plankton's character from the show Spongebob.

Kate-T3 Doodles

Here's some selected sketches and doodles of Kate-T3 that I drew a couple weeks ago

This was back when I was refining her design and furthering her character.

I found there's like a million different paths I can go down when it comes to working on her personality and interactions with other characters. It all stems from the fact that she's a walking talking self-capable android robot.
It was a lot of fun exploring all the possible ways I can push her character through, but I think that the path I decided on would make her really interesting.

I realized early on that Kate really didn't have a personality that made her interesting as a whole, which was frustrating to figure out initially. Hopefully these sketches gives an interesting small peek at the kind of character she will be in the series.

Stupid City Folks

I'm here to post another thing to break the radio silence! I hate to keep this blog quiet for more than a week.

Here's a small doodle of Nelly expressing her hate of people who live in the city, which she got from her pa.

I'm currently giving her the attention to develop her character/design further!

I also just finished editing the Propinquity pilot episode script into its fifth draft! It came out pretty well this time around!

Character Dev Pages - Fish Hooks

Heyo! Apologizes for the quiet atmosphere lately.
I've been hit with the sick, and have been feeling a bit unmotivated and lazy lately with my stuff, but I'm trying to kick myself into high gear, so bear with me!

Lately I've been putting in some time with the Mr. Ridiculous idea and was investing time into developing one of his literal partners in crime, Fish Hooks.

Below are some sketches:

I've been working on her character design and her back story since this character seems really mysterious to me. Who is she? What's her real identity? Why is she doing what she's doing?

A lot of questions I already the answer to (for the most part)
I really enjoy her character and hope to share more of her soon!

A Ridiculous Expression Page

Here's a ridiculous page of ridiculous expressions of Mr. Ridiculous.

Lately, I've been really hooked with developing the Mr. Ridiculous idea/characters. Some really cool progress has been made behind the scenes! Hopefully I'll be ready to show 'em off soon! I've got to start a character line-up page for these characters!

A Rockin' Marilyn Sketch

Hey! I just wanted to share this little sketch I did of Marilyn!

I really love how this one came out! Maybe I'll create a more finished illustration out of it.

This came from a Photoshop file I have that's dedicated to sketches and various doodles of Marilyn. I have several different sketch files for each character I've ever created; I've always thought about posting pages from those files one day.

Oh well, guess we'll have to wait for that day to come ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Character Doodles for "Mr. Ridiculous"

Remember awhile ago I made this post talking about a new series idea I had? The idea about a ridiculous villain? Well today, I wanted to show a page from my sketchbook with some doodles of the three main characters.

Of course, I've done a ton of drawings exploring the design of these characters, but I wanted to show where I'm at right now. The design are not finalized yet, but I like the direction where I'm going with.
At the bottom is the main character, Mr. Ridiculous. In the middle of the page is Fish Hooks, and on the upper page is Jumbo. I've been drawing these characters like this for awhile now; I'll be sure to post for drawings/design progress from now on. I'll get into the personalities of each character later.

Looking forward to how this idea will turn out with further development!

Old Sketchbook Pages 19

Happy December everyone! We'll be starting off this month with the last set of old drawings and pages from an old sketchbook of mine.

First page is probably the only sketch I did to show off the futuristic setting for 2422; enjoy it while it lasts. With that page features another drawing of that rejected character I brought up the last time. Second page is a redesigning process of Mandy's dress, and the third page is another first sketch of the futuristic setting for 2422; enjoy it while it lasts.

And with that concludes this peak into one of my old sketchbooks! Of course, not every single page was shown off, and these pages aren't exactly the actual final pages in this book, but I think I've provided a pretty good idea of what's inside this sketchbook.

Hopefully soon I'll start posting pages of my last recently completed sketchbook!

Old Sketchbook Page 18

We're nearing the end of this sketchbook!

Here's some full pages of doodles of the alien character Nevadri back when I was figuring him out. The last image is a character I created to fill in the gap of the small cast of male characters for the Propinquity character line-up.
Sadly, he was never implemented into the cast. I try not to force characters into anything unless they feel like they naturally fit well with others and contribute to the overall story.
This character was neither of these things.

Old Sketchbook Pages 17

Back again with more old drawings! For the 17th time!

Before you go on, I wanted to let you know that I'll be stopping with posting pages from my old sketchbook for now! Once I'm less busy, I'll continue with posting more pages since we're about half way through with this sketchbook!

I have an old doodle for a vehicle, the Japanese title/logo I came up for my "Propinquity" series, a full page of doodles which include Nevadri, a hoverboard, and Marilyn.

Regarding the Japanese logo, it reads "Tada Nakama," which means "Just Friends" or "Simply Friends." Normally, the word "friend" in Japanese is "tomodachi," but in this context it's a term that means friends, comrades, allies, etc., but with a stronger connection(s) towards one another. With this context, it can pretty much (in my opinion) be along the same lines with propinquity's definition. The logo is not the final design, but it definitely won't be that intense-looking; it'll most likely look like its English counterpart.