Lily Merriweather Design/Wardrobe - 2013

I've done more experimenting with Lily Merriweather in the last few weeks, and came up with this "CalArts-style" version (a style chiefly used by Disney and Pixar-trained students), which I have played with on occasion.

And yes, I plan to have Lily in both wardrobes depicted, depending on the weather.  I kept the striped dress I had her in last time, but decided to put her in something more stylish for Fall/Winter wear, so I went with a sort-of 1980s look!  I added glasses to one of the Lilys as a test, to see how she would look with glasses on (something else I played with from time to time).  I did the figure on tablet in Photoshop.  I simply had two sets of clothes/accessories that I could easily toggle, and pasted two types of figures onto this comparison picture.

 

This is very close to what I want for the final design.  As a matter of fact, my earliest drawings of Lily used a style very similar to this!  :)

Mysti-Girl's Valentine!

Yes, you can tell I've been reading the Escher Girls art blog!  I swore I would never have my female characters drawn in such poses... unless it was done as a joke!  So doing it in that manner has crossed my mind.  :)

And I thought that Valentine's Day would be a good choice on which to present this drawing, featuring Verena/Mysti-Girl from Rekira, which I did this morning (February 14 - Valentine's Day) on tablet in Photoshop!

Have a good one!

Ryusei Works Logo - 2013!

At last, here's a still from the updated Ryusei Works "RyuseiScope" logo for 2013!  Animated in Flash, and completed on the 6th.  The background is from a picture I took while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks on New Year's Day of 2012.  It was a sunset, but I so wanted a beautiful picture of a sunrise or sunset for the "sunrise" in my logo.  Expect to see this logo in future videos!

Pen Ward-style Dynamic Heralds - Last Part!

Just made these tonight (January 19th) in a few hours!  The last three of the Pendleton Ward-style Dynamic Heralds, all done on tablet in Flash.  First up:

Isaiah Vanterpool (Herald 3: Steel Hammer)

Theresa Lin (Herald 4: Therma-Gal)

Brian Copcutt (Herald 5: Aquati-Kid)

I enjoyed doing these, and may do more someday!  :)

More Pen Ward-style Dynamic Heralds!

I finished two new Pen Ward-style Dynamic Heralds!  Here's Heralds 1 and 2 (Captain Vertex and Mysti-Girl, respectively).

 

Done tonight on tablet in Flash.  More to follow!

Dynamic Heralds - Pen Ward Style!

I've been very amused and impressed by the cartoon series Adventure Time (Frederator/Cartoon Network; 2010) and the new Bravest Warriors (Cartoon Hangover; 2012), both created by the very talented Pendleton "Pen" Ward, who conceived both as pilots years before!  The shows have such a cute and funny style to them.  So I was eventually inspired to do my own Super Sentai-style superhero team, the Dynamic Heralds (from Rekira) in the same style as that of Ward's, as a kind of "thank you" to him.  :)

I have plans of doing more drawings of the Heralds in this style soon.

This was done on tablet in Flash.

Happy New Year! 2013 (and Anniversary Announcement)

Yep, it all started this coming Christmas 25 years ago, with a Fisher-Price PXL-2000 Camcorder, and a lifelong dream.  :)

So I'm sure to work on some exciting stuff this year, in celebration of this event.  I hope you all have a wonderful year as well!

Just finished a quick art piece for New Year's Eve!  On tablet in Photoshop.  The pic will say the rest.  :)

The Great Conjunction Date!

Just a little something I quickly whipped up on Flash tonight for fun.  I did this in celebration of tomorrow's date!  I was compelled to, as stuff like this has fascinated me for the longest time.  :)

Honeybee Taffy & Candy Canes

I went to see Wreck-It Ralph (Disney; 2012) on November 23, and needless to say, I loved it!  (Ditto the animated short, Paperman, which preceded it.)  It was a 10:25 PM private 3D showing for me, my big brother Peter, Tony, Stephen, and my nephews Angel and Gabriel!  (When we left the theater, it was dim and creepy, as the theater was about to close, and everyone was leaving, but it was a pretty cool contrast to the movie we came out of.)  All four of the main characters (Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope Von Schweetz, Fix-It Felix, and Sergeant Calhoun) are great, and they all manage to steal their own show (rather than let some marketable character steal the show from the main character).

I thought Vanellope (voiced by comedienne Sarah Silverman) was adorable!  At some point, I strongly contemplated doing a fan art of her meeting The Mighty B!'s Bessie Higgenbottom (voiced by fellow comedienne Amy Poelher).  I could've done this in the style of that Vanity Fair 2008 photoshoot which featured both Silverman and Poehler (with Tina Fey), but featuring them both in Vanellope's Sugar Rush video game was more interesting.  :)

This was done tonight in nearly 4 hours on tablet in Photoshop.  I might do more Wreck-It Ralph fan art at some point!

Japan's Avengers - English Version

Using the same resources as last time, I have just assembled (pun intended) an English-language version of my very popular Japan's Avengers poster (originally in Japanese)!  Done in the style of international posters.  I had to do a lot of last-minute changes to make sure there weren't any typos or such!  I hope you will enjoy this one, too (though the Japanese poster is my favorite).  :)

Happy Thanksgiving! - 2012

Done tonight (November 22, Thanksgiving morning) on tablet in Photoshop.  :)

Honey Halfwitch for the Halloween Season!

To get myself into the Halloween season (after a very busy and very strenuous two months), I did this fanart of one of my favorite characters, Honey Halfwitch!  This very obscure little witch girl was the star of 13 theatrical cartoons produced from 1965 to 1967 by Paramount's Famous Studios.  The first of the cartoons was a Modern Madcap cartoon entitled Poor Little Witch Girl (released in April of 1965), in which the character was known simply as "Halfwitch."  The late Shari Lewis (best known for creating the puppet character Lamb Chop) provided the voice for the character in the first 9 cartoons, which was created by veteran cartoonist/animator Howie Post.  For some reason, the last four episodes saw a very radical (yet short-lived) change in the look of the series to a more minimalist style, and Honey was interestingly voiced by an actual little girl (much like a Peanuts cartoon).  These last few episodes were cute and entertaining enough, but I missed the sweet Howie Post version.  (I always thought it would be funny to imagine what Honey would sound like if voiced by Mae Questel, but I'm glad Shari Lewis did the character, as that scratchy little voice she created really fit the character superbly.)  Honey Halfwitch should have had a comic-book series (much like many of the Harvey characters before her)!  Having been created by Post, she was definitely worthy of one.

Finished tonight in around an hour on tablet in Photoshop.  I drew it while looking at the series' title card for reference.

Here's the lyrics to the theme song, written by Howie Post and composed (and sung!) by Winston Sharples:

Oh, Honey Halfwitch, she's a funny

Kid witch, what a honey

When she flies up on her broom

She zips around with a zoom-zoom-zoom

She's magical and mystical and smart

Oh, Honey Halfwitch, bright and sunny

She's as cute as a bunny

She's half-wizard and half-girl

She waves her wand and you're in a whirl

She's full of tricks and sweet as an apple tart

A half-pint pixie sure to win your heart!

Happy Birthday, Sandra!

Done tonight on tablet in Photoshop, here is a birthday present I made for very talented young cartoonist/animator/friend Sandra D. Rivas, who turns 22 today!  Here, she (in my own rendition of her cartoon self-portrait) rides on Rekira's back with Lily Merriweather in front of her!

Have a great one!

Happy 45th Anniversary, Ultra Seven!

Done tonight on tablet in Photoshop, this is the first new tablet art I've done in a month, after moving to a new Richmond neighborhood!  And it couldn't have been a better occasion, as tonight is the 45th Anniversary of one of my top favorite superheroes, Ultra Seven!  Japan's answer to Superman.  The TV series, Ultra Seven (Tsuburaya; 1967), created by Eiji Tsuburaya (as an unofficial follow-up to his previous hit, Ultraman), premiered on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) on this day in 1967!  And for this occasion, Rekira (giving a piggyback ride to Lily Merriweather) shakes the hand of one of his inspirations.  (Another character I made, Dengeking, is influenced by Seven as well!)

Have a great one!

RIP Jerry Nelson and Neil Armstrong

I was sad to hear that veteran Muppet performer Jerry Nelson (78) and pioneer astronaut Neil Armstrong (82) have died Thursday and today (Saturday), respectively, so I whipped up this bit of art featuring Rekira and Lily Merriweather flying into outer space.  Done on tablet in Photoshop.

Thanks for the great memories, Jerry and Neil.  We'll miss you.

Japan's Avengers - Assemble!

I saw The Avengers in theaters twice in May, and it has become one of my favorite superhero movies ever!  So I was imagining my own version of the film, where Japan's famous superheroes are assembled the same way Nick Fury assembled Marvel Superheroes!  After pondering and pondering over it for about a month or two, I finally decided to realize it!  Using various pics from the Internet (mostly toy pics from the manufacturers' websites, or from online stores like Hobby Search), I put them together into this fake poster.

In Japan's Avengers (Nippon no Abenjaazu), Godzilla, Ultraman, Masked Rider, Mazinger Z, Ultraman Zero, and Sailor Moon (and Tuxedo Mask, though he's off-poster) are assembled to fight legions of monsters and aliens led by Ultraman Belial!  And yes, that is Times Square in the background.  :)

The tagline is: "Earth's Mightiest Heroes Unite!  Defeat Ultraman Belial!"

The "Japan's Avengers" logo is completely original, done in Flash in about an hour.  The source poster was assembled from various photos in Photoshop, and titles were added in Flash.

Imaginary cast/crew credits on the poster are as follows:

CAST:

Susumu Kurobe (Shin Hayata/Ultraman)
Hiroshi Fujioka (Takeshi Hongou/Masked Rider)
Hiroshi Abe (Jirou Gou, Godzilla's human form/disguise)
GACKT (Kouji Kabuto, pilot of Mazinger Z)
Mamoru Miyano (Human form/voice of Ultraman Zero)
Miyuu Sawai (Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon)
Jouji Shibue (Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask)
Sonny Chiba (the Nick Fury character)
Hiroyuki Watanabe (the Agent Coulson character)
Yumiko Shaku (the Maria Hill character)
Shirou Sano (the Dr. Selvig character)
Hiroyuki Miyasako (Voice of Ultraman Belial)

STAFF

Director: Takeshi Yagi
Special Effects Director: Shinji Higuchi
Screenplay: JP Cassidy (obviously), Kei'ichi Hasegawa
(Based upon the Avengers screenplay by Joss Whedon and Zak Penn)
Executive Producers: Shougo Tomiyama (Toho), Tsugumi Kitaura (Tsuburaya), Hideaki Tsukada & Kazuhiro Takahashi (Toei), Dynamic Planning
Based on characters created by Toho Company, Ltd., Tsuburaya Productions, Shoutarou Ishinomori, Gou Nagai, and Naoko Takeuchi
Music by Alan Silvestri
Produced by the Avenger Production Committee
-Toho Eiga
-Tsuburaya Productions
-Toei
-Dynamic Planning
Jointly Distributed by Toho, Shouchiku, and Toei

I know that a movie like this will never be made, but the imagination is up to fans like myself.  :)

ADDENDUM: To justify my position on the two Ultramen (three if you count Belial!), I had both of them in mind.  (I thought of Ultra Seven, but I wanted to give his son Zero a chance to shine!)  Zero's inclusion aside, I wanted to pick out the characters most iconic and recognizable to the Japanese public, rather than just the fans.  Also, Zero plays an important part in Ultraman's surviving for more than three minutes in Earth's atmosphere.  :)

I also wanted Zero, because he parallels to Thor, as Belial does Loki.  As far as other Avengers parallels, Ultraman and Masked Rider share Captain America's role (although Ultraman is the team leader of the above depicted characters), as they're the pioneer archetype heroes of Japan.  Sailor Moon is sort of like Black Widow, Tuxedo Mask is like Hawkeye, Mazinger Z/Kouji is Iron Man, and you can guess Godzilla's role...  :)

I even got comments about not including Super Sentai!  LOL  Actually, I'd love to include them, but they're already a team!  The fun of this team is that they're a team of individual heroes, the kind you wanted to see together.

Happy (Belated) Independence Day! - 2012

I had wanted to do this yesterday, but the schedule was hectic, and a lot has been going on during the week.  (My big sister is going in for a bone marrow surgery tomorrow, so I wish her best of luck.)  But I did a 4th of July artwork anyway.  Here's Lily Merriweather garnished in American colors/symbolism, done tonight on tablet in Flash!

Hope you had a great one!

Neighborhood Trees 01

At least once a day, I love to take a walk outside around my neighborhood, and look around at the beautiful surroundings.  A whole panorama of trees surrounds my neighborhood (at the center of which is the office, a swimming pool, and an empty court where I like to hang around and look at the trees, especially in the mid-to-late afternoon, against a blue sky.

Here's my first attempt to capture that scenery, done tonight on tablet in Photoshop.  I admit it's a bit loose, but I'm glad I did this, and I would love to do more of these things.

Who's the true "God of Anime?"

I posted the below article on Tumblr, and it has become the most popular thing I've ever posted!  At 120 notes at this writing, I am both flattered and thankful.

To put things in perspective, this article was never meant to be an attack on Osamu Tezuka.  (Remember, I'm a Tezuka fan!)  I'm simply trying to dispel a long-standing American misconception; while he indeed revolutionized the modern manga industry (thus, he has earned the title, "God of Manga" in Japan), he did not create anime.  Yes, he did revolutionize it on television (the same way Jay Ward or Hanna-Barbera revolutionized animation on TV)!  But I would think that the proper credit for "God of Anime" goes to Yasuji Mori.  Of course, there were animators before Mori, going as far back as the 1910s (they included Noburou Oofuji and Mori's friend/senior Taiji Yabushita, among others)!  But many true anime historians have noted that Mori, who worked on animation as far back as 1948, shaped the modern anime industry in 1957, when he became the first animation director at Toei Animation Studios (which Toei set up in aspirations of being the Walt Disney Studios of Japan)!  Without him, we wouldn't have Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and others, and Tezuka may not have gotten into animation, if it weren't for Toei's adaptation of Alakazam the Great (which Mori worked on as animation director, although credited only as an animator)!  Mori was a true master, and helped make Tezuka himself a master of both worlds, comics and animation.

So for the longest time, I found it really upsetting and saddening that many people still refer to Tezuka as the one who started anime, and the beautiful, colorful works of Yasuji Mori are forgotten.  And so, because no one else ever stepped up to do something like this, I was eventually inspired to make this article (on May 31 in Flash) to help people understand things better.

And when you're surfing Google or YouTube, look up not only Yasuji Mori, but his works including the short film (and Toei's first animation ever) Koneko no Rakugaki/Kitty's Graffiti (Toei; 1957), Panda and the Magic Serpent (Toei; 1958), Magic Boy (Toei; 1959), The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (Toei; 1969), and my personal favorite ever (and the first where he finally got onscreen credit as "Animation Director"), The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (Toei; 1963).

To paraphrase Walt Disney, "I only hope we never lose sight of one thing - that at Toei in 1957, it was all started by a cat."  ;)