Last CG work of 2023!

 I'll be taking a break from CG work for the rest of the year, so it's fitting that I would post this superb CG recreation of my "Final Art of 2022" drawing! Once it was finished, I got a bit emotional seeing the result (and the original drawing was emotional enough as it was). A Christmas present for all. Done on Blender on the 15th, and assembled in FireAlpaca today.

And here's the original:

The Dynamic Heralds in CGI!

 At last, after two years, I finally got all of the Dynamic Heralds translated into 3DCG!

The Dynamic Heralds is the superhero team featured in my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster; they are the (super)human protagonists of the story, investigating the strange phenomenon of giant monsters suddenly appearing in New York. Transformed into "die-cast" superhumans by the super-computer HERA (Hydro-Electric Re-Atomizer), The Dynamic Heralds are secretly based/reside in Olympus Tower on the small artificial island Olympus Island, located in the Hudson River in New York. As the Olympus Elite Staff, our heroes are excellent technological engineers for the privately-run Olympus Industries, Ltd. As the Dynamic Heralds, a mysterious team of vigilante superheroes, they fight crime and corruption, and keep peace in the New York area.

One to two years in the making, after several tries, all were modeled in Blender, with the textures in FireAlpaca. The bases for the Dynamic Heralds designs are based on these designs from 2021. There have been little changes in translation of design! The Olympus Elite Staff suits are based on these designs from 2022.

Helmet Type:

Mask Type:

Unmasked:

Civvies:

Olympus Elite Staff:

Raitaro & Verena - Olympus Elite Staff Members

 From my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster, here are the two main human characters, Raitaro Hayama and Verena Freston, in their Olympus Elite Staff uniforms!

Figures done in Blender, collage assembled in FireAlpaca.

 ADDED BONUS (9/16/2022): Here's three versions of the central pic; black & white, faded "retro" color, and normal color versions.

And a pic not seen in this collage; one in black and white, and in normal color.

Remodeled Mysti-Girl and Dengekid!

 I have finished remodeling the Blender CG figures of Mysti-Girl and Dengekid, the superhero forms of Verena Freston and Raitaro Hayama, respectively! They look much better!

The helmets/goggles/masks/accessories are unchanged, but the bodysuits were completely redone, and look much smoother and more to my liking.

Remodeled Raitaro & Verena!

 I just recently finished remodeling my Blender figures of Raitaro Hayama and Verena Freston (two main characters from my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster), and are both much improved!

Raitaro's entire mouth was remodeled, and the facial expressions are much better, not to mention I redid his entire body from scratch, and it looks much better proportioned.

Verena, on the surface level, doesn't look too dissimilar from her previous model; the head/expressions are the same, but the body was entirely redone from scratch, and is far more refined. You wouldn't know that from the clothes she's wearing (which were slightly tweaked to accommodate the new body)! ;)

Mysti-Girl and Dengekid in CGI!

 Two more characters from Rekira the Super-Monster have been completed! Made with Blender, these character profiles were assmbled on FireAlpaca (the logos were done in Flash).

 Last time, you've seen Raitaro Hayama and Verena Freston. Now, here are their Dynamic Heralds superhero forms!

Here's Verena as Herald 3/Mysti-Girl:

 And Raitaro as Herald 6/Dengekid:

The 3 Main Characters of REKIRA THE SUPER-MONSTER, in full CGI!

 Here are the finished CG figures of the three main characters in my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster! I'm very excited to share them. Character portraits assembled in FireAlpaca.

You know, the more I think about it, with the "cartoon" look I was going for, these characters look like Rankin-Bass Animagic-style characters (which were crafted/animated in Japan)! Except that the subject matter is a bit more serious (although there will be, er... humor). ;)

The enigmatic Tatsuo Kongoji:

Raitaro Hayama (AKA: Herald 6/Dengekid):

Verena Freston (AKA: Herald 3/Mysti-Girl)

More characters to come as production progresses!

REKIRA Character Portraits: Verena and Raitaro

While I'm working on the characters of Rekira the Super-Monster on Blender, I did these character portraits for fun. Done on tablet in FireAlpaca, here's Verena Freston (AKA: Herald 3/Mysti-Girl) and Raitaro Hayama (Herald 6/Dengekid) of the Dynamic Heralds team. Dated December 2nd and 13th, respectively.

Raitaro 2021

Drawing of Raitaro Hayama, one of the main characters of Rekira the Super-Monster! Drawn while at DragonCon 2021, on tablet in FireAlpaca.

Red Sketch 01

Fire Alpaca is still a lot of fun.  Really enjoying the pencil mode!

Here is a Shane Glines-esque sketch done in red, featuring characters from my project, Rekira.  Done tonight (March 8) on tablet in Fire Alpaca.

Next-to-last doodles of 2013!

Didn't I promise you more artwork by year's end?  (After these, I'll have one last doodle for tonight, per tradition; last one for the year, first one of the new year.)  All of these were done on tablet in FireAlpaca.

 First up, a Lily Merriweather drawing for the 5th Anniversary of my Grandma's passing (December 28):

Next, a cute illustration of Dipper and Wendy from Gravity Falls (started on the night of the 29th, finished just on the late-night hours of the 30th), just because.  (And this could make a great early Valentine!)

And for all you comic-book superhero fans, these two (both finished tonight) will interest you: First up is my own interpretation of what a Japanese Superman would look like!  I used Ultra Seven as a model (feeling that Seven is the Japanese Superman, as I related many times before).

And, of course, my own interpretation of what a Japanese Batman would look like!  For Batman, I used the character I always thought was the Japanese Batman, Moonlight Mask (Gekko Kamen), which Latinos out there may remember as Capitan Centella!

Next one to come before midnight...  :)

The Dynamic Heralds - Introduction

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)!

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!