Connivin' about Ivan and other short stories.

Yeesh. Somebody stop me before I make another post with another horrible title.

Anyway, I've been trying to flesh out my freak characters this week, just so I have a more 3-dimensional. I think a lot about my characters. I try to form them as close to real people as I can. What's the point of having an entirely 2-D cartoon, yanno?
This week I was thinking about Ivan. You know, the bug guy no-one knows about. One of the main aspects of his character is that he's the biggest bastard ever. He cannot speak a sentence without using an expletive. But that's part of his character, it's as much a protection from the big world that never gave him a chance as his disguise is. He's probably a very scared individual, for how much of a jackass he is. Here's some sketches.


I need to practice him, really, my drawing skills of him are HORRIBLE. It's sort of a shame I have to hide his cool design all the time. Especially his wings. i was drawing this, and I was imagining all the things I could do with his cool wings. I'll probably save it for a fight scene or some jazz.

I also doodled this Vinnie. Face it. if any of you were faced with your choice of mate from the freaks, you'd all choose this black Adonis. I fucking would. The tattoo's possibly from prison. I'll work on developing Vinnie this week, and then I'll post my findings. I want to do out a proper version of this doodle, I'll totally look up some anatomy for it though. Eugh, my drawings suck. And yes, Paco is totally gay. I'll explain that when I get around to him too.

In other news, I had my first paid art job today. My parents laughably called it a commission. I was doing face-painting at this promotion at a butcher's. But it was fine, if tiring. 4 HOURS OF SITTING IN A CHAIR PAINTING KIDS JUST DRAAAAAAAAGS BY. I got 50 euro for my troubles though, so I guess it's okay. Some kid wanted, like, the Aresenal crest though It was a real "YOU STUPID KID" moment. I did anyway though. It was horrible.

Aaaaaand my head hurts, so good night.

Edit: Ooooooooh shit. I'm listening to "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, and it's totally reminding me of Vinnie. Here's an example of the lyrics I wanna to fuck you like an animal/I want to feel you from the inside/I wanna fuck you like an animal/mywhole existance is flawed/you bring me CLOSER TO GOD It's actualy a pretty fucking sexy song, but....JEEZ. It's amusing though. I'm getting a picture out of this.

Sketches, schmetches.

Ignore that title. I've ben sketching a little bit in the last few days. Nothing relevant to anything, actually, but I dunno. Maybe you'd wanna see 'em.


First up, just a doodle of a rudeboy. Funnily enough, my Specials buzz of the last few days has started to wear down. I've been listening to some trance instead, which is a horrific crime and a sin against my nature and blah blah blah. I was going to draw another rudy next to this fella, one a little more 2nd wave (t-shirt and tie combo, yo) but never got around to it. WEEP.






I've been looking up the Aztecs a lot recently, this coloured sketch should let you know who influenced me into doing so (AND GEE I WONDER HOW). So yeah. Coloured doodle of Xilxa. She's actually a very pretty character to draw, too bad I did her no justice.



And thus, while reasearching Aztecs I came across their ever so wonderful mythology and religion. I was then spurred to draw Coaltlicue, the cuddliest one of them all. This sketch isn't any good though. I'll be trying again from scratch, maybe in a little bit of more of a "me" style. I JUST WANT TO MAKE YOU MEXICANS HAPPY.

AND THEN, I started looking up the Celts too, and now when I'm done that, I wish to work on Cernunnos, the Lord of the Stags. He had antlers, you expect me to not draw him?

After all that claptrap, I'm thinking I want to enter the Schizophrenia contest on dA too. This'd be a grand opportunity for me to expand with the concepts of Rowan's schizophrenia I've been toying with lately. The auditory hallucination aspect of the disorder fits in more with how he's "communicating" with the dead, as opposed to say, a personality disorder, like DID (which schizophrenia is often mistaken for, which has nothnig to do with multiple personailities). It'd also give me a chance to explore his disorder in a negative way, make it an actual blight on his life. I know it's site-wide, and I don't have much of a chance to win or anything, but I still think it'd be interesting. I'll be messing with outlines on PS, so if they get donw, I can post them.
I'll be finishing up Erica's contest entry this week. too. YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE OF A SAINT. I'M SO SORRY.

On a final note, I had a dream about Flanders having sex last night. It was as horrible as it sounds.

Feeling Poetic.

Which is weird, because normally I find poetry pretentious or over-rated. I normally prefer prose, at any rate. But my interest in writing was peaked this week with a lot of emotion, so let's see if I'm any good at this.
Note, I AM embarrassed to be posting poetry, for several reasons, so give me an opinion, but don't be too harsh, yes? That's a good dear.

"Take heart, you youth"
We who have been entwined by the veins,
Or who take life by the hand and
Lead it down the path
Which less chose.
"Why I think we're the first to be here"
Should be what we say, underneath
Boughs of sweeping gold.

For I have grown sore of the Emerald,
Dim and dull in the light.
And the Saints and Scholars could never
Catch my soul in their hands,
So grey and unlike His.

The will sits with me but the way is yet
Far, far removed,
Probably on the plane we never got,
The Earth as a mile would be all we had,
And for all the grief,
I'd want you to think;
A minor knows,
The smallest gem is worth the means.

Sweet Maloney, I feel foolish. It's either going to be too ambiguous to enjoy or be far more transparent then what I wanted.
Oh well.

-EDEET- Forgot to mention, I've been concerned with my comics lately, most specifically Corpus. Hopefully with all my thinking and conceptualising I'll get good art done, pages too. Who knew thinking could be so beneficial?

Faeries and Fays and Phookas, oh my.

I don't have a fondness for living in Ireland, not much of one anyway. However, I can appreciate the benefits of being Irish. Most of all the tripped out mythology we get.
I liked all manner of fairy tales when i was a kid, but the Irish ones interested me the most. And out of all those ones, I liked the ones about the wee folk and faeries most of all. As I child I had an unshakable belief the faeries exist (and while it's waned, I'm certainly not saying they don't), and I'd go exploring to see if I could find any, in locations typically listed in the many books I had, although in a pinch, I'd check peculiar trees in the park too. I even got letters from faeries, which would be left under my pillow as I slept. Obviously, it was my parents, and while I was crushed, I still wrote those letters, imploring the faeries to show themselves, and confirm my faith was anything but misguided.
And so, I went and designed my own little faerie. I never believed in the butterfly-winged, dainty dress wearing faerie, even as a kid (blame Brian Froud), so my little chick is a bit less imaginary, probably closer to what evolution would dictate....maaaaaybe. She has no need for any legs, really, just one long appendage with a joint in the middle, seeing as she'd merely fly everywhere, or hover or something. I also like the thought of faeries being primitive little things, more sad, slow little remnants of the ancient race of mythical beings which existed on Earth before the humans (according to the Celts. I would like to think of them as placid though, more like a deer or a squirrel in personality, probably scared of humans, but offer them something nice, and their instincts might be clouded out of curiosity. I guess I'm thinking of them in more terms of animals then little people.
I'd like to use this design someday, in a movie or something, if I ever got that opportunity.
The sketch at the side is one coming out of an egg, rather like a reptile, for as you can see, my little faerie has no crotch. Poor love.

Now I'm off to paint.

Brain Spittle.

Exactly. Stuff churning around my brain, being spat out onto unfortunate pages. This first fella is what I call "Contemporary Death". Please, I beg of you, full view the damn thing. I don't like archetypes of characters in design, so I took my own spin on the ever feared physical manifestation of death. Why people would create such a thing to purely frighten themselves, is beyond me, but how and ever.
Walking through the design, he has the stereotypical skull head. He lacks a mouth however, because obviously, death cannot talk, and will not negotiate or reply to anything you have to say. Also, beyond the base of his neck is skin, but that of a dead person, as indicated by his pathologists tattoo (I believe that's the right term), the scar from what would have been his autopsy. And the suit has no significance, I just really think suits are the shit. His hourglass would be replaced by a digital readout too, only I haven't drawn it here. Maybe it could be sitting in the skin at his stomach, or something. At any rate, I'll need to paint him. he might even manifest in Corpus if I can make it happen. He's Rowan's employer, after all.




The second piece is just me messing with a logo. A lot of young artists I know have optimistically decided to jump the gun and assume they'll all have their own studios someday. Not that I genuinely believe I'll have a publishing firm/animation studio/awesome factory, but it's still nice to imagine. Versa? Maybe not. The title was obviously originally "Vice Versa" but I think this has a better chance of not being done before. Maybe. I dunno.

That was way too long. Back to your stations, men.

Important Corpus planning information, y'all.

I've been planning out Corpus issues and came to the deciding of who's cameo stories get told in which order. I went by the fairest method I could, and chose the names randomly out of a bag.
The list in order of release is;

1- Justin, Decay.
2- Julian, Death.
3- Circe, Insanity.
4- Erica & Kevin, Love.
5- Lars, Life.
6- Anna, Fear.

Everyone has been given a theme central to their story, which reflects the message they are trying to portray to Rowan, and it also has some bearing on the actual person in some way, in something I noticed in some aspect of their personalities or attitudes. I may need to talk to people to pin down their stories better (I have nothing against writing being collaborative), and if anyone has objections or queries, ya know where to contact me.
Some people who wanted cameos aren't included in this list because I need help settling things and getting information. So comply plz.

Sorta exciting, innit?

SERGE

A watercolour present for my boyfriend's birthday. I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT.