Happy Valentine's Day! (2011)

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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!?!

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...

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!