The Official Ryusei Works Art Blog

My 50th Post!

2012-02-02T04:11:00.000-08:00

This is my 50th post on this blog!

To kick off February for this occasion, I did a new doodle on tablet in Photoshop during the night! Just completed is a scene of Rekira being surrounded by a horde of Omicron Robot Spies, and ready to fight them.

As an added bonus, some more Rekira stuff I had yet to post from last year. All were also done on tablet in Photoshop.

Here is a test comic art I did of Tatsuo, on utilizing a technique similar to the col-erase procedure I've done with many of my recent doodles. This was done on December 10 of last year.

An illustration I did on November 5th last year of Mysti-Girl from the Dynamic Heralds!

And another test of Rekira himself done on November 15 of last year.

And a couple of FX tests done with the above. The first is an NG "half-tone" test, the other is a red neon test.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

2012-01-27T03:09:00.000-08:00

Just finished tonight (on tablet in Photoshop), a little birthday card for podcaster/friend Mike Dent (R5 Central and Otaku USA's Friday Ace)!

Hope you have a great day!

The New DC and Marvel Logos!

2012-01-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, folks, I'm just as riled up about the unveiling of the new DC Comics logo.

The above image is from a related article on the new logo by the Bleeding Cool news blog.

The clever part of the logo is that it looks like a turning page of a comic. That description was much better than DC Comics' own description, and it is honestly pretentious.

The article quotes Amit Desai, Senior Vice President of Franchise Management at DC, who we also revealed was behind the presentation to DC Comics internally, as saying “We didn’t want a static logo, but a living identity that could capture the power of our characters and storytelling. What is special about DC content is the notion of a dual identity. When you think about our DC Comics superheroes, there’s a secret identity. When you think about Vertigo, it’s this notion of good vs. evil in many of the stories. And so, in addition to flexibility, the new logo communicates this idea of dual identity: there’s more than meets the eye. You have to take a closer look to understand the richness of our characters and stories.”

So that's all it is. A "dual identity." It's gone far beyond its original description. Even its original "bullet" logo (used from the late 70s to the early 2000s) is a lot more generic and universal, as it opens themselves up to other genres! Kiddie comics, comedies, romance, etc. Yeah, remember those?

So, I decided to offer myself a challenge. Could I do any better? I decided to take up the challenge.

I present to you my own version of the DC Comics logo, a mix of the "bullet" logo and my own unique touch! This was done in less than an hour in Flash (and this presentation was assembled in Photoshop). Since DC stands for "Detective Comics," I decided to use a magnifying glass for a bullet, much like what detectives use.

But, of course, you don't necessarily need a magnifying glass or the brain of Sherlock Holmes to enjoy the adventures of Superman, Batman (himself a detective!), Green Lantern, Sugar & Spike, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, etc.!

So I did you all one better; I did a new Marvel logo, too!

Have you ever noticed that Marvel doesn't have a unique logo of their own, in comparison to DC Comics? That bothered me. Even though I always loved that classic "Marvel Comics Group" banner, and the use of different Marvel characters over the logo in the 80s was a nice touch! But they never went as far as to make their own unique logo.

How do you define "marvel?" A "marvel" is something that evokes astonishment and wonder! When looking at the current Marvel logo, it looks too cold. Too plain. Just a blocky font that looks like the text for a hard-edged action movie. Too much grim, gritty macho stuff. That's not how I'd define a "marvel."

So, I decided to do a logo that defines Marvel! Something marvelous and flashy. An M-shaped flash! This was done in Flash (no pun intended!) in less than half an hour, with this presentation assembled in Photoshop (right after doing the DC logo). The "With Detail" one could've been colored/arranged better, but it gives you the idea. :)

Realistically, neither company would accept these logos, even if they liked them. But you have to agree, they're quite unique! They not only define the names, but capture the excitement of what comics are supposed to be. Just like any entertainment company logo (20th Century Fox, Warner, Paramount, Universal, etc.)!

As for current reading content, that's a subject for another day.

With Rekira and Dengeking, PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!

2012-01-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

Did this for fun yesterday (January 6th). Yes, you'll be seeing something like this in Rekira at some point!

Drawn on tablet in Photoshop. Can you guess the reference? :)

Introducing Dengeking!

2012-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

Let's kick off the new year with yet another new character from Rekira! Here is my own direct answer to the Ultra-Heroes and Henshin Heroes, the Japanese superhero Dengeking the Super-Man (Chouriki Senshi Dengekingu)!

Conceived over a decade ago for the story, this is an updated design. Done on tablet in Photoshop.

First Art of 2012!

2012-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

I have returned yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon from my vacation in North Carolina! Here's the first drawing I've done to ring in the New Year:

Done tonight (January 5th) on tablet in Photoshop. Here is Rekira, welcoming the Year of the Dragon. (Yes, he's part-dragon!)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! - 2012

2011-12-31T19:55:00.000-08:00

Currently on vacation in North Carolina with my family. Here's a drawing I based upon a hand-drawn pencil sketch, took a picture, uploaded it, and did the usual tablet on Photoshop thing, tracing and coloring it. This is the last drawing for the end of the year.

Hope you all have a great one!

Merry Christmas from Ryusei Works - 2011

2011-12-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

Today, for Christmas, I offer you readers my Christmas card (done quickly late last night, because I was afraid I wasn't going to get this done; plus I go on vacation later tonight), featuring Lily Merriweather riding on Rekira, done on tablet in Photoshop!

This may or may not be my last tablet drawing for 2011; whether or not I take my tablet with me (since I have a laptop), or I do the usual hand drawn stuff while I'm there, or both. Either way, I hope you like this, anyway. I'll let this card do the talking. See you all next time, if not the New Year!

A new Lily piece, and RIP Ricky Garduno

2011-12-09T17:03:00.001-08:00

Here's yet another Lily test, done this morning on tablet in Photoshop, complete with blue draft lines! Some people (artists included) like the new hairdo I did for Lily, so I just might use it after all. :)

And something sad happened this past week; animator/cartoonist Ricky Garduno died at the young age of 35. Some say it was suicide, which makes his passing more tragic. (He was very depressed, I hear.) Although I never met Ricky in person, he became a friend on Facebook a while back, and he enjoyed my art and a lot of other cool stuff I shared there, even commenting a little here and there. That made things more poignant, so I had to acknowledge that. Below, here's something I just finished tonight, on tablet in Photoshop, featuring Lily with Kimbo from Garduno's 1930 Nightmare Theater, featured on Dumm Comics (one of my favorite comic strip sites).

Rest in Peace, Ricky.

Charlie Brown Vs. the World!

2011-12-04T13:31:00.001-08:00

Here's another piece I just finished today! Mom thought this was funny. :)

I'm a big fan of the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (Universal; 2010), based upon Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O'Malley's acclaimed graphic novel series! The movie was not afraid of its comic-book roots, and is the closest we'll ever get to 60s Batman-style campiness today! Colorful, action-packed, funny, exciting, even poignant.

Scott Pilgrim is basically the Canadian slacker version of Charlie Brown, and the rest of the characters in Scott's world draw parallels to Peanuts' characters, too, when you get right down to it. And it was that which inspired me to do this parody poster, with Charlie in Scott's place! Drawn on tablet in Photoshop.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

2011-12-03T23:08:00.001-08:00

Today, Austin-based artist/fellow tokusatsu fan Matt Frank turns 26 today! I met him in person at this past Dragon*Con, along with several other friends I'd have only spoken to on the Internet, and it was a great time to be had.

And for his birthday today, I whipped up a new Rekira drawing for him! Done on tablet in Photoshop.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Hope you have a great one!

Megaro-Goji portrait and two Lily tests

2011-11-29T00:54:00.001-08:00

Had a busy but great Thanksgiving!

Below is a quickie I just finished for fun:

A portrait of my personal favorite Godzilla design (the "Megaro-Goji" from Godzilla Vs. Megalon)! Drawn on tablet in Photoshop.

And here are two Lily pieces I did before Thanksgiving (also done on tablet in Photoshop), with two alternate designs/hairstyles:

Shorthaired variant. Drawn on the 18th. Logo is close to the final version (already completed)!

I like this one better! This is more like the final design I'd settle on, although the hairstyle might go back to the original (which this one is a variant on). Drawn on the 23rd.

REKIRA Comic Test 01

2011-11-14T17:08:00.001-08:00

Here, for my 40th post on Blogspot, I present some more new Rekira pieces I did last night. A couple of test pieces for the comic project. Both are done on tablet in Photoshop.

Here's an illustrated color test, for a 50s-style cartoon-like design:

Here's a somewhat rough take of what a typical page would look like, with shading:

And here's the same one as above, tinted in blue. I thought this looked beautiful.

Bessie Kills Giants

2011-11-13T17:32:00.001-08:00

I recently read a really charming and poignant graphic novel story, called I Kill Giants, which was written by Joe Kelly (of Man of Action Studios) and drawn by J.M. Ken Niimura, and published by Image Comics. The comic is about a young girl named Barbara Thorson, who's a troubled outsider (getting into trouble at school, bullies, etc.), and imagines herself as a slayer of monsters in a fantasy world, being a D&D freak and all. (Somewhat similar to Pan's Labyrinth.)

I sort of thought or Barbara as a more badass version of The Mighty B!'s Bessie Higgenbottom, in that, despite their differences, they're both "nerdy" bespectacled characters! And then, it finally dawned on me; "I should do a drawing of Bessie as Barbara!" And here it is, drawn tonight on tablet in Photoshop.

I think my Bessie drawing skills are getting better! :)

Pippi at the Picnic

2011-11-11T18:19:00.001-08:00

I present two new Pippi Longstocking works!

The one below I completed tonight on Veteran's Day, in Photoshop on tablet. Here is Pippi, Tommy, and Annika enjoying a stroll in the countryside.

And here's something I completed on August 5th, a scene from the first Pippi Longstocking book, where Pippi wrestles an irate bull to save Tommy from its fury, and actually broke its horns off! (Yes, like I said, the books are that cool.) This is one of my favorite scenes. This one was done in Flash on tablet.

I may do some more drawings of this scene, only better! (And probably in Photoshop.)

Happy Birthday, Kali!

2011-11-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to the very lovely, funny, and talented animator/singer, Kali Fontecchio!

I thought that with my drawing spirit recently restored (and fighting my cold, which is wearing down), I'd actually do a birthday card for her, as I enjoyed her work so much! I'd been kept so busy for the rest of the day, so I rushed to do it at the last minute. I hope she likes it, and the rest of you out there like it as well. :)

Finished about 15 minutes ago, on tablet in Photoshop. Here's Kali's character, Maude Macher, doing a birthday greeting with Lily Merriweather and Rekira!

The Dynamic Heralds - Introduction

2011-11-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

Introducing the other heroes of Rekira...

SUPERHUMAN TASK FORCE: DYNAMIC HERALDS! (Choujin Sentai Dainamikku Heraruzu)

The above picture was drawn on my tablet in Photoshop early this morning, and the logo was done very painstakingly in Flash, pasted into the file.

As you can tell, the Dynamic Heralds are my own answer to not only American comic-book superheroes (like the Fantastic Four or the Teen Titans), but also Toei's Super Sentai Series. (My personal favorites are 1975's Secret Task Force Goranger, created by Shoutarou Ishinomori, and 1983's Science Task Force Dynaman, the first Super Sentai to be seen in the US mainstream... sort of.)

Back in 1997, I started work on my own attempt at emulating the Super Sentai Series, and the project was called Five-Element Task Force Dynamic V (Gogyou Sentai Dainamikku Faibu), which would've been a sort of brother series to what became Rekira (called Tatsu-Man at the time). It would've been more marginally realistic than Toei's fare (ie. Ishinomori's 1977 series Swift Hero Zubat and the 1997 anime series Virus Buster Serge, which had one of the best "realistic" attempts at a Super Sentai-like team ever!). Later, I decided to combine the Dynamic V project into Rekira, and the working names for the team included the last one I used, Superhuman Task Force Hyper Heros (sic; 5-letter words), before I had worked and worked on the concept into what it is now, with the name being a reference to Dynamic V (paired with another 7-letter word). I'll share the concepts with you readers another time.

Below is the basic Dynamic Heralds Rollcall! Done in Photoshop (with a tablet) tonight.

Yep, the very same five youngsters I reviewed in my last post! Each member was genetically modified, or "die-cast," in a digital molecular machine called HERA (Hyper-Electric Re-Atomizer), and also given special mutant powers, depending on their talents. The basic features of each member is near-invulnerability, regeneration, and enhanced agility. And they also can't age because of that. (Maybe that could explain why 70+ year-old comic-book superheroes stay so young!) Their costumes, made of DynamiChrome, are synthetic suits, generated onto the wearer's body via digital watches called DynamiCores. The suits can also regenerate if damaged.

The Heralds are assembled by Verena's father, renowned scientist Dr. Victor Freston (alias "Prometheus") and his assistant, Raymond Wertz, who acts as the team's leader. This portrait of Dr. Freston was drawn on tablet in Photoshop on November 4th.

A somewhat more detailed description of the team:

Herald 1: Captain Vertex (Raymond Wertz - Red) - The leader and gadgeteer. Has no super-powers, aside from his own basic "die-cast" features, thus relying on his DynamiChrome suit, which has the ability to move for 30 seconds in just 3 seconds (which would've killed the average human being)!

Herald 2: Mysti-Girl (Verena Freston - Blue) - The ESPer of the team. Can telepathically move objects by first shooting them with a ray from her fingertip. Also has Enviro-Vision, in which she can see beyond her own surroundings like a map (as though she were seeing herself inside a labyrinth from above).

Herald 3: Steel Hammer (Isaiah Vanterpool - Silver) - The strongman of the team. His hands can change into hitting weapons, like a hammer and a wrecking ball. He can also discharge electricity, as well as generate magnetism to catch a metal object.

Herald 4: Therma-Gal (Theresa Lin - Pink) - The team's energy shooter. Shoots rainbow-colored Rain-Bolt beams from her hands, as well as shoot a very powerful Ion-Prisma Beam, which can burn her opponents to a crisp, or at best, temporarily blind them just from looking directly at it.

Herald 5: Aquati-Kid (Brian Copcutt - Yellow) - The submersible of the team. He can breathe underwater, and, when in contact with water, control it as a weapon. He can also talk to undersea lifeforms.

But the question remains... how will the Dynamic Heralds face the mighty Rekira!?!

Stay tuned for more Rekira stuff!

More characters from REKIRA (and a brief character review)!

2011-11-07T01:43:00.000-08:00

So, I introduced you to Tatsuo Kongoji last time:

Now, here are more characters from Rekira:

Below is a gifted group of young friends, led by computer programmer Raymond Wertz:

With Verena Freston (whom I also introduced to you in a previous post):

Athlete and gamer Isaiah Vanterpool:

Verena's cheerful friend Theresa Lin, an artist:

And surfer/skateboarder/slacker Brian Copcutt:

What do these five dynamic youngsters have in common? The answer will be revealed soon!

New REKIRA character preview - Captain Vertex!

2011-11-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

For the first time in this blog, I unveil a new character for Rekira:

Herald 1 - Captain Vertex!

Drawn tonight on tablet in Photoshop.

Who is Captain Vertex? And why does he have the title of "Herald 1?" You'll find out in one of the next posts! (During the weekend, or next week the latest.)

New Sketches for November!

2011-11-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

At the moment, I am recovering from a cold I've got after my trip to Pennsylvania two weekends ago (most probably the after-effects of same). Shortly before Halloween, I managed to pass the time to do three sketches:

Of course, I intend for Rekira to have human characters as well! And for the first time on this blog, I give you a first look! (If you've seen these characters elsewhere on my other art pages, there have been some changes since then.) Drawn on October 29th on my tablet in Photoshop, here is Tatsuo Kongoji, the hero of Rekira:

Also drawn on the same night, here is Verena Freston, the series' heroine. She is part of another set of characters, which I will reveal on this blog in due time.

At this point I was feeling really sick (constantly coughing, really cold, almost shivering, and somewhat weak), and to try to struggle with my cold, I did this "get well soon" card for myself. Here is a visibly injured and fatigued Rekira, surrounded by his various monster foes. I pre-traced everything very well, but by the time I got to the monsters in the background, I almost lost it, due to my condition, and I must admit, I held together very bravely at the last moment. Drawn on October 30th.

More to come!

The monster formerly known as Chelios!

2011-10-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here's another one I just completed tonight (Oct. 28)!

Drawn completely in Photoshop with my tablet.

Remember this monster? This is the monster you saw in my Rekira video! Though some people were perplexed by the monster's name; Chelios (which I didn't know could be a man's name, the name of at least two famous people)! Chelios is also supposed to be Greek for "eel," so in response to that, I figured I'd add a "saurus" to give it a kaijuu image! Thus, the monster's name is:

Electric Eel Monster CHELIOSAURUS (Denki-Unagi Kaijuu KERIOZAURUSU)!

I'm much more satisfied with this design than the more complicated design I've used before. Especially with the more simplified stripes on his body, much like the kind you find on a fish or some amphibians.

I'll add more monster designs as soon as I can.

The Omicrons - the evil henchmen of REKIRA!

2011-10-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a first look at some of Rekira's more basic foes:

Drawn with my tablet in Photoshop tonight, these are the Omicrons, my own answer to the henchmen usually fought by Japanese superheroes (Masked Riders fighting Shocker Soldiers, etc.). In a way, they're also like the Daleks, especially the ones from the two Doctor Who movies from the 60s (Dr. Who and the Daleks, and Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.), in which the Daleks, compared to their TV counterparts, have colors to designate their rank. (The recent Paradigm Daleks from the new TV series has attempted this, too!) Masked Rider V3 (Toei; 1973) also has Destron Soldiers in two different styles; the basic black & white ones, and the white and red ones for scientists.

The Omicrons are robot spies mass-built and governed by the mysterious super-computer, Telikos. The red Field Commander leads a team of green Soldiers, all wearing a disguise like the one pictured, and keep a low profile to monitor all outside activity. The blue Laboratory Workers are in Telikos' secret base building and monitoring all equipment. Their skeleton-like appearance is very frightening and menacing to their human targets.

Below is the original concept pencil sketch for the Omicrons, finished on September 19th:

More Rekira art to come!

New Rekira Design Sketch for October 2011

2011-10-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

Just finished a new Rekira design sketch this morning, as a round-up for the project! Done in Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun tablet.

This one's called "Type A," for this is the "Dragon Talon" version. (Later, I'll post the "Type B" "Webbed Paw" version.)

More Rekira character designs to follow!

Pippi Longstocking Character Lineup 01

2011-10-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I finally finished the first set of characters from the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren, drawn in my style! Drawn over a pencil sketch with my Bamboo Fun tablet in Flash (on October 12).

Here it is in Swedish:

And English:

More on the way! (Yes, I intend to include Mr. Nilsson and Pippi's Horse!)

RIP Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

2011-10-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

This past week, Steve Jobs, co-founder of the electronics company Apple, Inc., died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. His legendary status is well deserved, and it's sad to see him go so soon. He was a pioneer, an innovator, a billionaire, and a great inspiration to us all. And despite his health problem in the last several years, he pressed on bravely. I could go as far as to call him the real-life Tony Stark/Iron Man!

And thus, he deserves a tribute. Finished just now on Flash is a tablet drawing I did of Lily Merriweather paying tribute to Jobs.

Thank you for years of quality computers and groundbreaking gadgets, Steve. We'll miss you.

Some new stuff for October 2011 - Part 1

2011-10-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff I did more recently! Aside form sketches and such (which still need to be scanned and posted), these are either experimental stuff, or from in-progress projects.

Below is a tablet doodle I did of Lily in Photoshop (to test my color/line skills)! Drawn tonight in over an hour. Note a somewhat different hairstyle for Lily! (I may still use the one I've been using before.) Just thought I'd give her a wild look!

And below is a sneak-peek at a new Rekira CG model I'm working on! This is how it looks, as of late, upon molding it in ZBrush, from a rough model I did in 3DSMax. This is the same technique I used on the previous model, only it's much more refined and detailed. I like how it came out!

I will later add the mapping and additions, such as the horns, claws, and the star-like diamond in his forehead.

Here Comes Pippi Longstocking!

2011-07-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything new, as I've been busy moving to another part of Richmond. Progress is going well, and to get me back into drawing, I just did this movie-style teaser poster of one of my favorite characters, Pippi Longstocking!

In both Swedish:

...and English:

This was done entirely in Flash. I drew Pippi in my own Mighty B!-esque cartoony style (similar to what I'm doing for Lily Merriweather) with my Bamboo Fun tablet, and I had painstakingly designed the logos in both Swedish and English. In fact, I did one for each of the three book titles (Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas); I added "The Strongest in the World" for the first, as I thought it was cool to have a subtitle. Plus, that's what everyone calls Pippi!

I do admit that the 1988 film, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, was my first exposure to the character, and I found her to be quite appealing. I saw the film on cable in 2004 or so, and really enjoyed it! (I was already aware of the 1969 Swedish TV series between then; as my older sister remembered them upon looking at VHS covers for them at Suncoast, and I was intrigued.) I saw it again on Netflix in early Spring of last year, and my interest in the character was rekindled, so much that I bought all three of the original books by Astrid Lindgren. I have to say personally that the original books are the best versions of the story, hands down. They're just as compelling as any comic-book, and possibly the most extreme version of the character. (If it were up to me, I'd do a movie trilogy!) But as far as adaptations go, the aforementioned 1969 Swedish TV series with Inger Nilsson in the title role is the best adaptation (because of Astrid Lindgren's actual involvement)! Despite the major changes, it was very well thought out and conceived. Other adaptations I enjoy are the 1961 episode adaptation in The Shirley Temple Show (with Mousketeer Gina Gillespie as Pippi) and the aforementioned 1988 movie (with Tami Erin as Pippi). I'll present reviews of these adaptations later.

But whereas Ultra Seven, Underdog and others are among my favorite superheroes, my most favorite superheroine is Pippi Longstocking.

So why do I love Pippi so much? In a way, I saw Pippi as an inspiration for Bessie Higgenbottom from The Mighty B!; just as wacky and silly, but very lovable. Pippi is also super-strong, like Superman! (And possibly invulnerable! She can jump from tremendous heights, and land on the ground with not even so much as a scratch!) Some adaptations give Pippi magic powers, though, but in the books, she's really just super-strong, and super-imaginative, always telling tall tales. And another great thing is that she lives all by herself at her father's cottage Villa Villekulla (with her pet monkey Mr. Nilsson, and her nameless pet horse, who had several names in adaptations, the most popular being "Lilla Gubben," the Swedish word for "Little Old Man," a name given to the horse in the 1969 series), has an obscene supply of gold coins (with which she buys things), and does whatever she wants! (Who wouldn't want to do that?) But most of all, she loves her best friends, Tommy and his little sister Annika, and she looks after them as they all go out doing fun things, going on adventures and such. She's nice to well-meaning adults, but reserves her worst behavior for bad adults (bullies, crooks, pirates, etc.). And for a children's character, Pippi is also pretty brutal; she wrestles a bull (which almost tried to kill Tommy), but while she doesn't kill it (she already knows the value of life, as a hero should), she breaks its horns off, and basically wrestles the animal down to complete exhaustion! Mas Oyama would be proud of her. Unlike most adaptations, the books truly show Pippi's emotional side, my favorite of those moments being in Pippi in the South Seas, where, on Kurrekurredutt Island (where her father ruled as the natives' king), she saved Tommy from almost being eaten by a shark, and when realizing that he had a bloody scratch on his leg (from the nick of the shark's tooth), Pippi hugged him dearly (almost squeezing him), and she wept, as she thought she was going to lose him. It was a very touching moment.

I may discuss Pippi more in future posts, and you'll be seeing more fanart from me as well!

Happy 20th Anniversary, Rekira!

2011-04-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

The moment has arrived!

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the creation of my own original giant monster, Rekira!

Who, or what, is "Rekira?" Refer to this introduction link for more info! In it, I explain how I conceived this awesome monster.

Below, I made my 20th Anniversary artwork for Rekira. Based on a pencil sketch I did yesterday while at Caffespresso, I traced it over tonight in Flash. Here is the black & red version:

Black:

Red:

Source Sketch:

That's a different-looking logo, isn't it? :)

I also used two lightning bolts on each side, as opposed to one in the final version.

And something that's been ridiculously long overdue, my support tribute to my friends in Japan!

The little girl riding astride Rekira, in case you didn't know, is my other character, Lily Merriweather.

On March 11, when a series of disasters began to hit Japan, I was absolutely distraught. I was so sad for everyone there that I couldn't draw for weeks. But I knew I could not give up. I can't. So I wanted to do something to acknowledge my friends over there. Rekira may be a monster like Godzilla, but he's also a hero. And Japan needs heroes, now more than ever (even the American Lily).

I began drawing this weeks after the disasters, and finished inking it (with Micron pens) on April 8, 2011. After some personal delays up to this point, I scanned and colored it last night in Photoshop. I'm really proud of how it came out.

This 20th Anniversary for Rekira is a day to be remembered.

Sock it to Me!

2011-03-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

At last, something I've been working on for months! Or, practically, a year!

The following is a portrait of one of my favorite actresses, the pretty, wild, and funny Goldie Hawn, as she famously appeared in the TV comedy series, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (NBC; 1968)! I'm extremely proud of this one.

This was first drawn with a blue sketching pencil on 11" x 14" Bristol paper, and then inked with Micron pens (a brush pen, a .05, and a .005). It was started in Spring of 2010, and was finally inked on late Friday night/Saturday Morning, September 3rd, 2010, while I was at Dragon*Con! I showed it to artists like Ted Naifeh, Josh "Shag" Agle, and Derek Yaniger while I was there, and I got praise for it. Now, I finally scanned it in Photoshop, and colored it using my Bamboo Fun tablet this morning on March 23rd, 2011.

COLOR TYPE A:

COLOR TYPE B:

The "Sock it to Me!" text was added in the Photoshop coloring process (first crudely drawn in black, then traced over in white).

Happy Valentine's Day! (2011)

2011-02-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

Lily Merriweather (pictured above) wishes you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

Drawn last night with Micron Brush Pen & .05 Pen (over a blue draft pen), scanned in Photoshop, and colored in Flash.

REKIRA Issue #1's Title Unveiled!

2011-02-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

Finally, the title for the first issue of Rekira is unveiled!

Issue #1 will be titled, "The Beast with Two Faces!"
(In Japanese: 二面を具えた野獣 - "Ni-Men wo Sanaeta Yajuu")

This title was completely done in Flash.

REKIRA - Promotional Work

2011-01-31T23:09:00.000-08:00

I proudly present, the newly updated design for Rekira, to be used in my comic!

This pencil sketch was drawn on the morning of December 28 (the 2nd Anniversary of my grandmother's passing), while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks. It's the same design I had last time, but this time, I simplified the arms and legs, removing their yellow markings. I also reintroduced the padding into the talons (along with the already-added paws and webs).

As I learned especially from superhero designs, simpler designs have more appeal. Look at the original costumes of Spider-Man, Green Lantern, and Captain America, for example, from the classic comics, and compare them to their upcoming movie counterparts! Yes, they look very cool and detailed, although they're waaaaay too busy! Can you picture a little kid trying to copy these designs? Even an adult artist will need reference material at all times! So it's a good idea to start Rekira off with a fairly simplified design.

And let's face it, even Godzilla's design is so basic that it's both appealing and iconic! Thus, the designs of Godzilla's many adversaries are a metaphorical challenge to his own appeal and set a sort of contrast, as a basic-looking monster fights other monsters of contrasting designs that range from equally simple (Angilas, Rodan, Mothra - monsters he was often sided with), to borderline complex (King Ghidorah, Gigan) to complex (Mechagodzilla, Destroyah). So imagine how Rekira's own foes would look in contrast to him!

On January 30 (2 nights ago!), I did an inking/coloring test on Flash, using my Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, and it turned out just as I expected!

I am very happy with the test, and you will certainly see Rekira looking like this in the comics, which I am currently storyboarding! I hope to maintain this level of simplicity to keep a consistent deadline.

I also played with doing a B&W version:

I really like how it came out! I can imagine how I'd have to do the comic in B&W.

Here are three promo images (all finished just last night), using the new design:

English:

Japanese - Type A (Horizontal Lettering):

Japanese - Type B (Vertical Right-to-Left Lettering):

More updates as the project develops!

Happy New Year - 2011!

2011-01-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

To ring in 2011, here's the traditional last drawing I did of 2010, while on vacation in the Outer Banks, on New Year's Eve (about an hour before the new year):

Displayed in this pencil sketch are Rekira and Lily Merriweather, waving goodbye for the end of 2010.

And below is the first sketch I did on the evening of New Year's Day (another tradition). It was started on at about 11:30 PM (Mom and I had gotten back home from the Outer Banks during the day), and I was very busy for much of the day, so it was a half-hour sketch!

April 23rd of this year will be the 20th Anniversary of the creation of Rekira (as I discussed in a past post), and I am, at this moment, preparing the first issue for this year, in commemoration!

The bottom half of this pencil sketch has little headshots of characters who have anniversaries this year! In case you don't know, there's (top row, left to right) Ultraman, Kanegon (from Ultra Q), Masked Rider, Spectreman, and Silver Mask. Between first and second row is Ambassador Magma (Goldar). Second row is Mothra, Astro-Boy, Hedorah, and Mirrorman. And in the third row are Batman and Mr. Spock. I could've sketched more, but I was running out of time!

Merry Christmas 2010!

2010-12-24T01:56:00.000-08:00

Here, it is Christmas Eve, and I did the following drawing as an early Christmas present to all my readers, family, and friends.

Thinking of the traditional Christmas song "We Three Kings," I decided to draw the three greatest archetype figures of Japanese fantasy, especially in the tokusatsu (Japanese special effects) art form! Depicted are Godzilla (center), Ultraman (left), and Kamen (Masked) Rider, gathered together to bring peace and goodwill to everyone.

Drawn this past afternoon, I colored it this morning on Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun Tablet.

Merry Christmas from Ryusei Works!

Retro Cats & Dogs

2010-11-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed doing this one. Done on February 2, 2009, this collection of retro-style cartoon cats & dogs was inspired by Dakin's Dream Pets toy collection from 1957 to 1972. (Dream Pets were originally from Japan. They were these colorful velveteen stuffed animal figures. Dakin ordered a train set from Japan, and the Japanese company secured them with velveteen dolls, which ended up getting more attention than the train sets! There have been 2,000 Dream Pets made from 1957 to 1972. 24 of them were reissued in 2004.)

This was done while on vacation in the Outer Banks (needless to say, just days after my Grandma's passing). I did a pencil sketch first on New Year's Day, and then traced it over with Crayola colored pencils. I was really pleased with how it came out! I'd love to do more like this.

Below is my life drawing of Dream Pet Lucy Lamb, which I did a day later. I originally featured it in my older Fan Art on Parade post.

The Mighty Bee and... the Mighty Pee!?!

2010-11-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

Two fanarts of The Mighty B! I did for fun last year!
The above, finished on September 17, 2009 (and colored in Photoshop just tonight), is a drawing of Bessie Higgenbottom's imaginary alter-ego, the Mighty Bee. According to Honeybee Girl Scouts legend, whoever earns all 5,000 Honeybee badges will become a superhero called the Mighty Bee!

Below, two days later, I had fun creating an original character... sort of.

Yeah, the above image is kinda' dark, isn't it? :)

This is an original concept drawing for the Mighty Bee's arch-enemy, the Mighty Pee, drawn on September 19, 2009, and colored two nights ago. Yes, I indeed said the Mighty Pee! Here's my own concept for the character:

Portia Gibbons, as she appears in Nickelodeon's The Mighty B!

Imagine Bessie getting all 5,000 badges to become the Mighty Bee. Bessie's fellow scout/frenemy Portia Gibbons steals all of her badges somehow, and while she absorbs powers from them, the result is horribly wrong; It turns out that perhaps Bessie was destined all along to be the Mighty Bee, one reason being that Bessie's name begins with the letter "B", as in "bee." But Portia abused the power of the badges, and because her name begins with "P," she becomes whatever begins with "P" that rhymes with "bee!" So, Portia undergoes a horrible transformation (much like An American Werewolf in London), as she melts into a smelly puddle of pee (leaving her clothes in a wet pile), and the puddle congeals into a solid mass, in the form of a muscular, translucent-yellow creature known as the Mighty Pee! Besides the "drippy" theme of parts of her body (the hair, earlobes, six-pack, fingers, foot tip, etc.), she has swirls in her eyes which suggest a maniacal violent streak (not to mention a toilet flush)! As the Mighty Pee, power-crazed Portia wreaks havoc in San Francisco, until Bessie has to find all of her badges again to become the Mighty Bee, and then stop the Mighty Pee once and for all (but without harming Portia)! But there's only one problem... they're both of equal strength!

If the above scenario were done as an actual episode (which would obviously be titled "The Mighty P!"), it would be a great series finale, considering the badge angle, but as just a special episode, perhaps it would all be a dream sequence! I'd be fine with whatever works. :)

THE MIGHTY B! - A year ago next Wednesday...

2010-11-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

Last year, early in the Christmas season, I was still downright despondent over the cancellation of Nickelodeon's The Mighty B! on November 24 that time. (Needless to say, at this writing, Nicktoons is finally starting to give the rest of Season 2!!!) On Nicktoons, I watched the Christmas episode of Ren & Stimpy ("A Scooter for Yaksmas," which was the original series' final episode), and thought it was hilarious, especially the over-the-top, earth-shattering drama from Stimpy (which, as the series does, parodies classic Hollywood drama)! I thought it'd be funny to draw Bessie Higgenbottom, The Mighty B!'s heroine, reenacting the moment where Stimpy made a spectacle of himself over not getting the scooter he wanted for Yaksmas (R&S' version of Christmas)! But along the way of drawing this, I was still depressed over B!'s cancellation, so I decided to make a subtle reference to that in the punchline of this pencil drawing, finished on December 18, 2009. I could one day make a better version of this drawing, fully colored, but I like this anyway. :)

More Mighty B! fanart to come!

Rekira Halloween poster 2007

2010-10-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Despite being a day or two early, I present this Halloween drawing, which I did on October 31, 2007. Here, my monster Rekira pays tribute to Snoopy's famed WWI Flying Ace character, as he battles the Red Baron! This can also be seen on my deviantART site. Done in less than 90 minutes, with Crayola colored pencils and slight penciling. Note that I went for the look of a retro-Japanese movie poster of the 70s!

Happy 60th Anniversary, Snoopy!

2010-10-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

Just 2 days ago, it was already the 60th Anniversary of the late, great Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip (October 2, 1950). Today is the 60th Anniversary of the very first appearance of that famous beagle Snoopy, in the third Peanuts strip published (October 4, 1950).

Snoopy is my favorite character of all time next to Godzilla.

The following drawing is something I quickly did to celebrate this occasion. I used Photoshop and my Bamboo Fun tablet to do this.

Happy 60th Anniversary, Snoopy!

In Development: MERRY WEATHER!

2010-08-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a first look at my second comic project under development, Merry Weather!

This is my own attempt at one of my favorite genres, funny cartoon girls' adventures, mixed with the wild and wacky style of Famous Studios (one of my favorite animation studios) and Spümco. Although I had started on the project in early February, I had first drawn the main character as early as July of last year, however, when I was trying my hand at drawing retro-style cartoon kids.

Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking (one of my favorite characters) and the Nickelodeon series The Mighty B! (one of my favorite cartoons) are major influences behind this project. (The cancellation of the latter was what really drove me to basically do my own version.) I'm working on this series as I get Rekira ready.

Here is Lily Merriweather, the heroine of the story. (The title, Merry Weather, is a play on her last name.) Drawn in pencil on July 21, and colored in Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet.
Likewise with this drawing of Lily's home, the Shoreflower, done on June 22. Even as a concept sketch, I was very proud of how this came out. This was partly inspired by the houses by our beachside timeshare in the Outer Banks.

Here is the very first color drawing I did of Lily, done completely in Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun tablet, on July 22, 2009. Based on a sketch I did on a very small piece of scrap paper in early July that year (which I'll post some other time).

I'll be posting more stuff as the project develops!

REKIRA - Production Art 01

2010-08-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

To start with, here are some of the kaijuu appearing in the upcoming comic project, Rekira the Super-Monster!

All of these basic designs were done with my Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet. Dates included.

Starfish Monster ASTERIAS (Hitode Kaijuu ASUTERIASU):
Steam Monster ATMOS (Suijouki Kaijuu ATOMOSU):
Rock Monster BRACHOS (Ganseki Kaijuu BURAKOSU):
Electric Eel Monster CHELIOS (Den-Unagi Kaijuu KERIOSU):
Ghost Monster FANTOMOS (Yuurei Kaijuu FANTOMOSU):
Volcano Monster FLOGOS (Kazan Kaijuu FUROGOSU):
Cockroach Monster KATSARIDAS (Gokiburi Kaijuu KATOSARIDASU):
Jellyfish Monster MEDUSA (Kurage Kaijuu MEDOUSA):
Gorilla Monster PITHIKOS (Gorira Kaijuu PISHIKOSU):
And of course, the Big Guy himself...
Super-Monster REKIRA (Chouriki Kaijuu REKIRA):

More designs on the way! Stay tuned!

REKIRA, The Super-Monster - Introduction

2010-04-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the 19th Anniversary of the creation of my own original Godzilla-inspired kaijuu (the Japanese term for "monster"), Rekira! He is the star of several projects, chiefly a webcomic project I'm working on. I had also done a Capstone student video short with the character at ITT Technical Institute as my "graduation" piece. (Above is the watercolor illustration used in the closing credits of the video.) In this post, I'll elaborate on the creation of this one character.

Some of the art here can be seen on my deviantART site, while some of the exclusive new art featured here will be crossposted to DA).

Rekira's origins went back to April 23, 1991, when he started life as a Godzilla fanfic, The Godzilla-Man. The work, inspired by both Ultraman and Gou Nagai's Devilman, resulted in a graphic novel, the first book finished on March 5, 1992 (a total of 10 1/2 to 11 months). Immediately after that, I worked on a second, shorter graphic novel, with a third unfinished. (The move from New York to Virginia may have affected this.)

After my move to Virginia, I did a complete reboot of The Godzilla-Man from June to November of 1994. Originally intended to be pitched to tokusatsu-specialized magazines featuring comic stories (including G-Fan and the short-lived Sentai), it was never picked up (but it did get praise, especially from JD Lees and Ben Dunn). A second issue was never completed, as I was looking for a new direction for the story.

Then, in 1997, my friend Marc Miyake convinced me to convert Godzilla-Man into a similar but original creation, not only because he thought I could have more creative-control, but I could own it personally. For a while, I was pretty devastated, and I thought, "He's right!" He put it to me without being as condescending as those who simply said, "Come on, man, do something original!" and expected me to do something more along the lines of the "dark, brooding" superhero of the day (ie. Batman, Wolverine, Spawn, etc.). Dammit, I'm trying to do a Japanese monster/superhero here! Think Godzilla, Ultraman, and Masked Rider rolled up into one! So, before Marc made his suggestion, I had considered a backup plan, and finally decided to get some mileage out of it; Godzilla-Man then became Tatsu-Man (inspired by the P-Production pilots Jaguarman and Hyouman). I spent a lot of time developing the idea, which I further played around with in about 2000, when he became The Draconian, and then Dracoman in 2001 or so. (I'm writing this from memory offhand.) In those versions, Rekira was called "Dracos." The design was the same as the following...

(ADDED: May 20, 2010)
On March 26, 2002, I wanted a fancy Godzilla-type name for my monster, so I renamed the character Dogira. (A name that was supposed to be a mix between Godzilla's Japanese name, "Gojira," and "dog.") I figured on the name while on my ride home from Lunacon that year. It was here that Rekira began to finally take his almost-fully dog-like appearance (although still strongly resembling an Eastern Dragon at its core, much like Falkor from The Neverending Story, a major inspiration for the character).

From August 31, 2002. This is the point where Rekira was truly inspired by an Eastern Dragon. I finally added fur to the torso, with added plates down the body. This was inspired by a dragon design by Leonardo DaVinci (which you can search for on the Internet).

Pencil sketch from February 5, 2003, basis for below design:

Drawn April 25, 2003. Colored in Flash.
Drawn June 28, 2003, colored in Flash.

While somewhat slimming down the physique, and shortening the neck and body, I kept the design and gave it a dazzling color scheme in this crude color outline I did in Flash on April 17, 2004.

All things considered, I thought that most kaijuu, especially Godzilla-inspired monsters, looked too much like Godzilla. In fact, I'd say that they were Godzilla in all but name. So I wanted to create a Godzilla-type monster that truly stood out. I also figured that since I love dogs, and always thought that Godzilla looked rather like a dog, I figured, why not create a dog monster? And best of all, give it superhero colors! The colors in the above design were inspired especially by the multicolored Godzilla toys, especially the ones by Marusan, Bullmark, and Marmit, that were colored red/blue, and even red/gold.

From February to New Year's Eve of 2004, I worked on the "Pilot" of Rekira, entitled Dogira. Of the actual completed comic projects I've ever completed, this is the one I am most proud of. In this project, I had the story in my head, but pretty much wrote it as I went along (even left in whatever ridiculous ideas I had.), and I can decide on what works and what doesn't work when I get to doing an actual comic. I may share the pilot comic with you on this blog sometime.

And it was on October 26, 2005, when the monster took his final name... Rekira!

As you can see below, Rekira went through many design changes, subtle and major.

Drawn December 23, 2005, with a mechanical pencil and a Staedtler Mars 780 drafting pencil. As I love doing pencil drawings, this is one of my most detailed Rekira drawings ever. Retained from the first drawing are the plated forelimbs (much like an eagle's or Red King's). (Note the slight error in the furigana; "tai" instead of "dai.")

Done on December 29, 2005, while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks. After being inspired by seeing river otters (which I basically thought were aquatic dogs) at the Outer Banks Aquarium, I gave Rekira an otter-like physique, while still maintaining the previous design. (EDIT: Note the alternate "Reki" kanji, which Marc told me is actually preferable over the one I've been using.)

Drawn January 19, 2006, this was the finalized version of the "Otter Rekira." Colored with Tombow brush markers (given to me by my friend Robert Wertz weeks before). The actual drawing, with crude text and all, can be seen on my deviantART site. Some of you may remember seeing this exclusive edition on the "Kaiju A Go-Go" Art Gallery on the US DVD release of the excellent short film, Negadon: The Monster from Mars!

From March 12, 2007. I drew this while sitting in a cafe at Barnes & Noble's. The body plates are gone, and here, I finally use a long body-stripe. Thus, the "tadpole formation" colors (all around the vertical center of Rekira) are born. Here, the stripe also converges into the stripes on his arms & legs (much like Ultraman). The plated forelimbs were somewhat simplified, and had yellow lightning stripes. And finally, this drawing was the genesis for the lightning-shaped horns (as opppsed to the moon-shaped Ghidorah-style horns I used previously) that Rekira would sport to this day.

Drawn on Easter Day (March 20) 2007, this is the final color rendering of the 2007 design. In this design, there were additional rib stripes emanating from the center stripe.

This redesign from January 11, 2008, is, admittedly, my favorite redesign. I was inspired by both Varan (Toho's movie monster) and Shoutarou Ishinomori's concept designs for Masked Rider Amazon, so I played around with a somewhat more humanoid version of Rekira. This really accentuated the "hero" image somewhat, and I love the dynamic poses.

The finalized color version, from February 15, 2008, scanned and colored in Photoshop. This is the design used for the video short the same year.

I played around with the 2008 design on New Year's Eve (December 31) 2008, while on vacation in the Outer Banks. Here, the design is the same, but I changed the blue forelimbs into furry paws, this time with blue webs (between the fingers/toes) and blue pawprints.

On June 17, 2009, I used my Bamboo Fun tablet to trace over the "Furry-Paw" Rekira. This time, the limb stripes are detached from the body stripe, and thus, the arms and legs have stripes of their own.

And finally, the latest Rekira drawing!

Here is the 2010 Rekira design. It's an amalgam of the 2008 and 2009 designs. Note I brought back the blue forelimbs (now simplified), as I actually liked those, and gave him a distinguished look. (I did, however, keep the webs and paw tips.) This was drawn completely in Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun tablet on April 22. (I was able to do construction in Photoshop before I began drawing proper.) This and the previous design have the same bilingual vector logo (done in Flash). This is my best Rekira tablet drawing yet!

In future posts, I'll get more into story details as I prepare my webcomic. You'll also see other drawings, character designs, and more!

THE MIGHTY B! Fanart 1

2010-04-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here are two fan arts I've done, so far, of one of my biggest favorite cartoon shows, The Mighty B! (Original promo pic from series pictured above.) Created for Nickelodeon by Cynthia True, Erik Wiese, and star Amy Poehler, I always thought of this series as the girl scouts version of The Ren & Stimpy Show (one of my favorite cartoons, and the series I believe to be the King of all Nicktoons), and it comes the closest to capturing the spirit of that show.

The series' heroine Bessie Higgenbottom (voiced by Poehler, based partly upon her character Cassie McMadison from her series Upright Citizens Brigade) has become one of my favorite female cartoon characters. Wacky, wild, goofy, unhinged, charming, really makes me laugh!

As seen below, I have so far published two fanarts, which you'll also find on my deviantART page.

Above, drawn June 25, 2009, is the very first drawing I've done of Bessie. For reference, I used model sheets from Jerry Beck's excellent 2007 book, Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons!, which had a "sneak-peek" section for The Mighty B! (back when it was still being produced) at the very end of the book (it was the final chapter, fittingly), and did this drawing as a warm-up.

On deviantART, this is currently my most popular Mighty B! piece, drawn July 31, 2009! Considering the above Ren & Stimpy reference, I could not resist drawing Bessie and her frenemy Portia Gibbons (voiced by Grey Delisle) dancing to "Happy Happy Joy Joy," with Portia wearing the Happy-Helmet (which Stimpy used to make the irritable Ren happy in the episode, "Stimpy's Invention," arguably considered the quintessential R&S episode)! Done over a pencil drawing in Photoshop with my Bamboo Fun tablet. Below is the original pencil draft:

No doubt, you'll be seeing more Mighty B! stuff from me in the future (I've got plenty of stuff yet to be scanned)!

Fan Art on Parade!

2010-03-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, again!

In today's post, I'm going to showcase some of the fan arts I've done over the years. All of these you can find on my deviantART page.

Above is my very first drawing of Craig McCracken's popular characters, the Powerpuff Girls! I drew this on August 4, 2000. Colored in Photoshop.

This is an illustration of Ultraman, the famous Japanese superhero, that I did in Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash. Intended to be pop-art type. Dated November 17, 2005.

This is my interpretation of the characters from my friend Mike Dent's awesome podcast, R5 Central. Done at Mike's encouragement, I did this as an experimental Stephen Silver-style piece. Mike Dent himself is on the right, with android girls Ai (blue, middle) and Ami (red, right). Colored with Photoshop, and dated January 27, 2007.

Here is one of two illustrations I've done for my favorite superhero, Ultra Seven, for his 40th Anniversary. This one was inked chiefly with ink & brush, and colored with gouache and colored pencils. Dated April 17, 2007.

Ultra Seven, produced by Tsuburaya Productions, premiered on Tokyo Broadcast System in Japan on October 1, 1967, and ended on September 8, 1968, with a total of 49 episode (only 48 are available, as Episode 12, "From Another Planet with Love," was banned since 1970). Actually created as an alternate version of Ultraman (Tsuburaya; 1966), both shows were officially linked when the respective characters appeared in Return of Ultraman (Tsuburaya; 1971), and was also supposed to be the final Ultra Series (but was the last produced by creator Eiji Tsuburaya). Seven has perhaps the best design of any of the Ultra-beings, IMHO, and has even more personality than his predecessor in many respects. Some may remember the character and his series from its 1975 English-dubbed broadcast in Hawaii (the first series to be dubbed there), and others from a second version dubbed in Canada in 1985 by Cinar; this would be broadcast in early February of 1994 on Turner Network Television (TNT), until around 1999.

The second illustration can be seen after a few others here...

Above is Fanny Robinson from Disney's Meet the Robinsons (Disney; 2007), which I haven't seen fully, but I am extremely impressed with the character designs! I used a Meet the Robinsons storybook for reference while I drew this at Borders, dated May 18, 2007. Colored in Photoshop.
Above is Tack the Cobbler, one of the two titular protagonists from Richard Williams' ill-fated masterpiece, The Thief and the Cobbler. Using Williams' model sheets for reference, I drew with Micron pens, and colored it in Photoshop. This was dated June 4, 2007.

Since the mid 60s, Williams spent 26 years working on this film, which was threatened by the impending release of Aladdin (Disney; 1992), which was closely inspired by this film. The resulting films, The Princess and the Cobbler, was somewhat closer to the Richard Williams cut, despite the devastatingly awful songs and mostly bad new animation added, while Miramax's Arabian Knight (known as The Thief and the Cobbler in its video release) is absolutely unwatchable. Understandably, Williams apparently disowns the film after its debacle. Regardless, I recommend watching either the original Williams workprint, or Garret Gilchrist's excellent fan-made "Recobbled Cut" DVD.

Tack was completely silent (he and the titular Thief were essentially silent movie characters in a movie full of sound), until the very end (when he says the film's final line), where he would've been voiced by Sean Connery!

Below is the "suntanned" variation of Tack, from later in the film (after traveling in the desert).

Here is the adorable Abby Archer, the heroine from the Canadian cartoon series, Grossology (Nelvana; 2006), loosely based on Sylvia Branzei's children's books of the same name. This series was done by the same animation/design team as Nelvana's earlier hit, 6teen, and done with the same animation software (ToonBoom Harmony/Digital Pro). Not surprisingly, this piece is currently also my most popular work on deviantART, probably because I used reference material (wallpapers) to remain as faithful to the show's look as possible. Painstakingly illustrated in Flash, and dated July 23, 2007.

My second Abby piece, a portrait drawn with colored pencils (traced over a pencil drawing), done on August 11, 2007.
This is the aforementioned second drawing of Ultra Seven, which was done in time for his 40th Anniversary on October 1, 2007. Done with colored pencils over a pencil drawing. Impressive, if a little uneven (the chest is flat, for example). I had used my old Bandai figure of Ultra Seven as a reference for this illustration.

This is my fan art of Jill Thompson's acclaimed character, Scary Godmother. Created in 1997 as a children's storybook/comic hybrid, she and her companions have had several storybook sequels, a comic-book series, and two awesome TV specials (animated in Canada by Mainframe, now Rainmaker). Thompson has said she wants to do more stories soon, and I look forward to it! I did this with colored pencils over a pencil sketch on Halloween of 2007.

This is a fanart I did of Grover from Sesame Street while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina, dated January 4, 2008. I'm a huge fan of classic Sesame Street, as you can already tell. I attempted to draw in the same style as Michael Smollin's illustrations for the excellent 1971 Sesame Street storybook, The Monster at the End of This Book.

This is an illustration I did of Lucy Lamb, from the Dream Pets collection, dated January 3, 2009, while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks. Having picked up this first Dream Pet for my collection the previous day, I did this life drawing first in a pencil sketch, and then tracing over it with colored pencils. This was a very beautiful result. I had become a big fan of Dakin's Dream Pets (which originated in Japan in the late 50s!) the previous year, for their appealing vintage designs, and would love to do more fan art of them.

This is my illustration of the titular heroine of Coraline (Focus/Laika; 2009), based upon Neil Gaiman's acclaimed book. This was conveniently finished on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2009, about a week after I saw the film in theaters. I had first done a pencil sketch of Coraline and the Cat (done the previous night), which I later traced over in Photoshop... with a mouse! I had wanted a painterly look for this drawing (experimenting with some of Photoshop's paint features), and it was only a few months before I got my current tablet, so you can tell this drawing took quite a bit of effort to do with a mouse, especially the background. Coraline's house, the Pink Palace Apartments, took several hours to draw, upon using a photo for reference (making this one of the more complex illustrations done with a mouse)!

Here is my first-ever fan art of another top favorite superhero of mine, Underdog! Yes, I've been an Underdog fan my whole life, and I had not drawn him until this try, dated November 19, 2009, drawn with a Micron brush pen (using a video cover for reference). This was done in celebration of Underdog's 45th Anniversary. (The Underdog Show premiered on October 3, 1964.) As some have noted, it looks a little bit off (Underdog looks slightly taller than he should), but I'm proud to have finally done an Underdog drawing, and would love to try doing more in the future! Colored in Photoshop.

Lastly, one of my latest published pieces, a fan art of Vanya Hargreeves, AKA: The White Violin, the tragic villainess/antiheroine of Gerard Way's comic-book, The Umbrella Academy (published by Dark Horse). She is my favorite character from the comic by far, especially for her simple yet beautiful design, and her heartbreaking backstory. The box/figurine set for the first volume, The Apocalypse Suite (which I eventually got) was exactly what got me interested in the series. I eagerly anticipate to see how Vanya develops in future volumes! This was inked with with Micron pens (brush, .05, and .005), and colored in Photoshop.

In my next post, the first in a series of fan arts from one of my biggest favorite cartoon shows, The Mighty B!

Godzilla Fanart - Old and New

2010-03-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

Godzilla is my all-time favorite character ever (along with Snoopy), and one of my greatest inspirations. More than the avatar of atomic destruction he started as, children became connected to the monster for his iconic, dinosaurian likeness, great strength, and towering size. Some adults even liked him for his personality. So Godzilla eventually became a Bettelheimian (even Nietzschean) antihero throughout the 60s, and an anthropomorphic superhero in the 70s. This was the Godzilla I grew up with; the Godzilla that evolved into a hero, and was more developed than even the memorable human characters he shared the spotlight with.

An yet ironically, until now, I had a very difficult time drawing him the way I wanted!

You'll have seen some of my Godzilla fanart early in this blog, whereas you also saw them on my deviantART site. Nevertheless, I'll share them on this blog.

Some of these date back as far as 10 years ago.

This undated piece from 2000 was my earliest attempt at drawing the Mire-Goji (the incarnation from Godzilla 2000: Millennium), which I got the Bandai figure for (along with Orga) on Christmas Day of 1999. I drew this using the Godzilla figure as a model.

This one was, I believe, my first drawing of 2002, while at the Outer Banks. I like this one a little better.

Drawn May 8th, 2002, I had heard of a new Mechagodzilla film in the works! That film, ultimately, was Godzilla X Mechagodzilla. Before any of us saw any pictures, I did my own concept art of the monster, called Mechagodzilla Omega. This would be a more "organic" version of Mechagodzilla (and would be a HAL-9000-like AI computer that would rebuild itself until it became more "real" and very much like Godzilla himself, as seen above). I showed this drawing to some friends at Asian Fantasy Film Expo 2002 (my personal favorite convention ever), and they were impressed.

This pic, drawn on January 3rd, 2003 (again, while in the Outer Banks), was my own variation of the Red Ronin, the Super Robot-style giant robot seen in Marvel's Godzilla comics, as a substitute for the Shogun Warriors, like Great Mazinger (Mazinga), Getter Robo G (Dragun), and Raideen (Raydeen). This version combines the look of Mazinger Z and ComBattler V (called Combattra in Shogun Warriors), with any giant robot from older Super Sentai shows, like Battle Fever Robo from Battle Fever J. I'd like to do this design again, in a more refined way!

Looking back at this drawing, it looks really strange. But I had to include it. Know why? I drew this while at Borders on November 3rd, 2004 (Godzilla's 50th Anniversary)! This drawing looked rather rushed, compared to the others above. I emulated the "50th Anniversary" emblem, made for Godzilla Final Wars (the 50th Anniversary film).

I did another Godzilla drawing, which I'll share for another post (because it involves something I want to share later). Right now, I want to share my most recent one...

I drew the following on New Year's Eve of last year (not the last drawing of 2009, though)...
Although what few Godzilla art I did had improved up to this point, this drawing is where I really schooled myself. The above drawing is a personalized basic study of the head of the Shodai-Goji (from the original 1954 Godzilla). This is the first case where I did a how-to-draw lesson on someone else's character! I'll get to doing the rest of the body at some point. Otherwise, I'm much more satisfied with the way I drew Godzilla's head/face in this study!

More fanart of other characters in the next post.

Re-Introduction!

2010-02-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome back, readers, to the new Ryusei Works art blog!

The image above, which I'm kicking off this blog's return with, is the new official Ryusei Productions emblem in the updated "RyuseiScope" logo, to be used in video projects. Still TohoScope/ShawScope/Famous Studios-inspired, but much, much better-looking, IMHO! (I love the rotating "ring" in the new logo with the bi-lingual "Ryusei Productions" engraved on both sides.)

Now, let me introduce myself...

I'm John Paul Cassidy. I'm originally from Bronx, NY, now residing Richmond, VA. I'm a lifelong fan of Godzilla and other Japanese monsters, Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, and Jim Henson's Muppets. These works, among other productions on the big and small screen, as well as comic-books and childrens' storybooks, greatly inspired me to become an artist. I drew a lot as a kid, drawing my favorite characters, and I even aspired to be a filmmaker, mostly in the special effects department.

Over the years, I've watched tokusatsu (Japanese special effects), anime (Japanese animation), cartoon shows, movies (both animated and live-action), and I've even collected toys, DVDs, CDs, books, and all other things that not only do I love, but they inspire me as an artist.

I would love to continue to experiment with my animation and filmmaking techniques, but I also love cartooning and sequential art. In my opinion, unlike filmmaking and animation, comics can be the most personal form of storytelling, in both words and pictures. Also important is design (characters, settings, logos), which is a talent I enjoy as well. Especially when I tell a story with sequential art, it helps to know what the characters look like.

Aside from drawing my favorite characters, I became inspired to make my own, as well as my own stories. In the coming posts, I'll talk about my most personal creation, Rekira, as well as show some pictures of the related project I'm currently working on.

In the next posts, I will start off with a parade of fanart of my favorite characters over the years!

Renewal!

2010-02-26T00:50:00.000-08:00

At last, this updated Blogspot of mine lives again!

I'll continue to use deviantART as a secondary art blog site.

Either later today or Saturday, I'll start off by posting some old stuff before posting anything new.

Of course, I've been hard at work on Rekira, and will soon post some new design art and more!

Snoopy Godzilla

2006-03-31T00:21:00.000-08:00

Drawn on November 24, 2005 (Thanksgiving Night)!

That night, The X's premiered on Nickelodeon (and I enjoyed it!), though I drew this later on while watching my tape of Godzilla Vs. Megalon! My brother and his roommate were staying over for the weekend.

You know I'm a big Godzilla fan, but I'm also a huge Snoopy fan! So I was just itching to do this experimental drawing. Godzilla has always had that Snoopy-like appeal in the 70s movies, and I always thought the Megaro-Goji (the suit first used in aforementioned Godzilla film) looks like a charcoal-grey Snoopy! Some of the Peanuts specials movies have some stuff in common with the Godzilla movies of the same period, but you should really watch both genres. I do. :)

The premise of this drawing is: What if Godzilla and Snoopy switched places? I make Snoopy Godzilla-like (in the mold of the Megaro-Goji) and I make Godzilla Snoopy-like, with Charles M Schulz's trademark style. I really loved the result, imagining a tokusatsu-style Snoopy. And, by the same token, imagining what Godzilla would be like if done by Schulz!

Drawn with a Micron .005 and colored in Adobe Photoshop. Also posted on deviantART.

Godzilla fanart, old and new

2006-03-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Here's my first post using pictures, and what better way to try it out with old fanart pencil drawings of my idol, Godzilla!This above image is from 1/28/1998. I drew this under my old pseudonym "Daijirou Ryuusei." This was from the craze surrounding the 1998 Godzilla film (which we fans have since referred to as GINO, Godzilla In Name Only), the titular monster of which was kept secret until the film's release date. This is what I had imagined Godzilla to look like.

Remember, I was still somewhat of a learner when I did this. I later became aware that the drawing was pretty stiff, and the neck too long (I was still improving my own skills). But I was very proud of the detail. I drew this with Rapidograph pens (0.25) over pencil lines.

This one was drawn on 9/3/2000. I drew this (while sitting down in the cafe at Sam's) while Godzilla 2000 was still in theaters (and a couple of guys were impressed enough to stop by and admire the drawing)! This was one of my early attempts at drawing the Mire-Goji design (the Toho staff's name for the suit used in the film), which has become one of my favorite Godzilla designs ever (especially since it was a fresh new look for him).

On 1/3/2003, I did this drawing of the Mire-Goji while I was on vacation in North Carolina. This was one of my first drawings of 2003, and one of my more dynamic Godzilla sketches ever! I was amazed with this one, maybe because I actually did this at a more comfortable, relaxed state.

Testing . . .

2006-02-25T01:55:00.000-08:00

Testing . . . 1. 2. 3. 4.

Well, I've finally done it . . . I now officially have a third blog! But this is it for blogs, as I promised myself that three is the minimum. So I decided to give Blogspot a chance and see how it works . . .

I've been a bit nervous about Blogspot myself, but most of the people I know have a nice time using it, and so far, it looks pretty good!

Anyway, for those of you unfamiliar with me (or haven't seen my other two blogs, which I have yet to link here), I'm John Paul Cassidy, aspiring cartoonist and fan of all things cool!

I'll post more later. I'm tired. :)