Author: J.Ho

Here Comes An Old Challenger!!!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

I am not a winner.

No, seriously, I entered the Masters of the Universe Classics Create-A-Character Contest, and I didn’t win. But now have some art to post for my blog, sucka! WHO’S THE WINNER NOW??? (Hint: still not me.)

Ahem. My design was actually just an update of a fan character that I created a few years ago. You can see the original version here. And now, the fairly new (from December 2011) updated version:

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Maybe I would have more to say, but let’s face it, Comic-Con just ended, so I’m just grateful to not be peeing in a bottle or trying to use silverware as a straw.

(This counts as post #1 for this week, so I’m keeping steady at a deficit of 4 missed posts. Perhaps I’ll be able to catch up before August… )

Mummy Knows Best

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments

Here’s yet another ~10 year old piece, brought to life with new colors:

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Man, there is… a lot going on with this drawing (good, bad, and ugly). I don’t know if I can talk about this coherently, so let’s just take an inventory of some of the weirdness here:

  • Cartoony proportions on the heroine are executed poorly, making her look like a big boobed dwarf. Maybe that’s not so bad? I’m undecided.
  • Blunderbuss with skull-and-crossbones relief sculpted on the stock. The execution isn’t great, but come on, that’s a decent idea, right?
  • Crop-cricle-esque patterns on the mummy’s sarcophagus, implying an extra-terrestial aspect to the mummy. Just a little bit of extra intrigue thrown in at no extra cost.
  • The mummy’s bandages are way too skinny. What the heck!

At the time that I drew this, I was pretty much maxing out my skills, so even though I can draw much better now, I’m glad I that I could bring some competent colors to the piece. The me of 10 years ago would be pleased, I think. I learned a lot while coloring this, and I’m in one of those creative phases where I feel like I might actually possibly know what I’m doing. Don’t worry folks–such phases are short-lived for any self-respecting artist.

(This counts as post #2 for this week, so I’m keeping steady at a deficit of 4 missed posts. I’m posting early because Comic-Con is later this week, but I’ll be on-track to continue catching up on my missed posts when I get back. I know no one cares about this except for me, but what can I say–if I don’t keep me honest and working, who will? See you on the other side, folks! *dives head first into Comic-Con*)

Test Patterns of Terror

~ J.Ho

Today I’ve got another ~10 year old piece, freshened up with new colors:

 
It feels good to color these old pieces. It’s great coloring practice, plus I’m taking care of unfinished business with more proficiency than I ever could have when I actually drew these pieces.

(This counts as post #1 for this week, so I’m keeping steady at a deficit of 4 missed posts.)

I Know What You Did CAST Summer

~ J.Ho

(Maybe the worst pun-title on this blog ever, and that’s saying something.)

Last summer I drew an Autobot symbol on my co-worker’s son’s cast. You can see that HERE.

Well, as it happened, he had to have his cast re-done before his arm completely healed, so I ended up doing a second cast-drawing for him. However, I was in the midst of the commission-frenzy last summer and had no time to post a photo of it. And then I just plain forgot about it. Well, here it is (and don’t worry, the kid’s arm is totally okay now!):

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Art by me. Child courtesy of Blabidibla, photos by Ruth666.

This cast was a different material, and the deep blue color made drawing on it difficult, so I put down a layer of white paint first. After that dried, I sketched out my drawing, and filled it out in marker. The first cast-sketch was definitely better executed, but this one has a better concept (AUTOBOT GAUNTLET OF POWERRR).

This was a lot of fun. BUT THAT DON’T MEAN I WANT YOU KIDS BREAKIN YER BONES! BE CAREFUL FER CRYIN OUT LOUD!

(After this one, 4 missed posts to make up!)

Multiple Incarnations

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

If you do something like give me a pair of cool-looking goggles from Restoration Hardware because I couldn’t find them myself, chances are I will write you a thank you note with a drawing on the envelope. And if the first syllable of your named rhymes with hell, that drawing will probably depict you as Hellboy (Hellvin), and me as Abe Sapien (Jabe Sapien?):

 
This is from several years ago, which you might have guessed from the date in the signature, and from the fact that I’m depicted without my passé-but-still-present mohawk. The background you see is actual envelope (with minor touch-ups), which I left in for flava. The computer colors are new, and were laid in just this past weekend.

A few years ago that same friend was coming up on a noteworthy birthday, and his wife (also a dear friend) asked me to design a mini-statue of him to commemorate the occasion. I whipped up a quick turnaround for her sculptor:

 
And here’s what the mini-statue looks like:

 
It’s a lot of fun to see your work translated into the 3rd dimension! My apologies, I don’t remember the sculptor’s name/URL–that info will be added here if I can find it.

(This post contains two pieces of artwork by me, so that brings the total count of missed posts down to 5!)

A neon gorilla…

~ J.Ho

Look at me, posting multiple times in one day, as if I were a productive person with any kind of creative output at all! See, told you there’d be more art coming!

 
This is a very old drawing, from just under 10 years ago. I don’t ink this way anymore, but I still like the drawing (maybe just because I still think gorillas are awesome), so I decided to use it for a coloring exercise.

It’s interesting and a bit strange to be coloring myself from 10 years ago, because it feels like I’m coloring another person. A person I know very well, but another person nonetheless. I’m very aware that this art came from a place that still exists somewhere inside my head, but ten years of separation creates a very real level of detachment.

I have some more of these older pieces that I’ll be coloring. It’s a nice change of pace for me, and a good way to get out of my head and focus a bit more on the colors specifically.

(After this one, 7 missed posts to make up.)

In space, no one can hear you ARRR…

~ J.Ho

Asteroid-alloy sword, check
Laser-flintlock, check.
Space treasure chest full of cosmic coinage, check.
Robot skull-and-crossbones, check.
Leggy space pirate, check and CHECK.

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Avast, you scurvy space dogs, we be boarding Friday with our daggers in our teeth and our cutlasses at our side, and we’ll be raiding the weekend for all it’s worth! FORWARD, LADS! THE SOLAR WINDS BE AT OUR BACKS! ARRRRRRR….

(Yes, I have lost my damn mind yet again.)

(I almost forgot–still treading water at 8 missed posts to make up. More art coming soon, promise!)

“I gather darkness to please me…”

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

Hey, looks like I can reveal one of the things I was working on:

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This is a cover that I drew for an exclusive edition of Marceline and the Scream Queens #1 (an Adventure Time spin-off), published by BOOM! Studios. This exclusive is debuting at the Southern Maryland Comic-Con (this Saturday, July 7th!), and will be available at the other cons run by Awesome Conventions.

A gold star to whoever can name the album cover that this is an homage to!

(Information for those who follow this blog regularly: still treading water with 8 posts missed, but I have things lined up. Stay tuned for more stuff… )

T & A stands for toons and art… right?

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments

Hey, look at me, posting sketches on my sketch blog! Whaddaya know!

Many moons ago, I posted a sketch of Jessica Rabbit. In a very delayed fashion, I am now following that up with a series of drawings featuring other cartoon bombshells. Here’s the original vintage cartoon pin-up girl, Betty Boop:

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Betty Boop is usually depicted in a red dress, but I decided to give her a black dress and pale skin that would be reminiscent of her original black and white appearances. The colors on this piece are not as strong as the other pieces in this series, but I’m happy with how the drawing turned out. I think I did a decent job of translating Betty Boop’s features and proportions into my style.

Next up is Jessica Rabbit’s cinematic contemporary, Holli Would (from the movie Cool World):

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I’m pretty happy with this one. The pose has some energy, and the colors worked out.

I’ve got a few more characters in mind for this series, but if I’m gonna be totally honest here, I don’t know when I’ll get around to them. I guess you’ll just have to stick around and keep reading this blo–no wait, don’t go…

Man. :(

(Let’s consider these pieces my two updates for this week. I’ll be posting more art this week, and those will go towards making up my missed posts. Keeping pace and treading water at 8 missed posts… )

The art of updating without updating…

~ J.Ho

(8 posts behind as of this writing)

I literally spent all my free time this week drawing/coloring pieces I’m really proud of… that I can’t show yet. However, that said, I spent my weekend watching movies and listening to podcasts whilst drawing/coloring stuff for blog posts. My goal is to completely catch up by Comic-Con (July 11), at which point I’m sure I will promptly fall behind again.

I could post a blog sketch now, but it has a companion piece, and I want to see if I can wrap up that one as well and post them together. Art soon, I promise!

Nothing to see here…

~ J.Ho

It’s frustrating when I’m actually working on stuff for stuff, but I can’t quite share it yet.

It’s also frustrating that earlier in the week I spent a night working on something for this blog, stepped back, realized it was utter garbage, and ended up scrapping it. (And trust me folks, I’m not a perfectionist, this was genuinely poop)

At some point in the near future, this blog will once again be updated regularly.

(6 posts missed, and counting)

Pillow Fortitude

~ J.Ho ~ 4 Comments

This basically really happened. It has been one of those weeks.

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By the way, those throw pillows are based on the actual ones on my couch. YEAH, I’M A DUDE WHO KNOWS HOW TO ACCENT HIS LIVING ROOM, SO WHAT?

This should have gone up on Tuesday. For those keeping track, I have missed a total of 4 posts (that includes Tuesday as well as my previous illness-induced delinquency). Don’t worry about me forgetting to make those posts up, the number is etched in my brain, lit up with the red hot fires of shame.

Algebraic!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

Hey, today I get to show one of the mysterious things that I said I was working on! I did a variant cover for an upcoming issue of the Adventure Time comic (published by the lovely folks at BOOM! Studios), and here it is:

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It’s no secret that I love Adventure Time, so this was a pretty big thrill for me. This cover is for issue 07, and will be in stores sometime in August. But don’t wait until then to check out the Adventure Time comic–the art is gorgeous and the writing is so charming and true to the show. Check it out for yourself. DO EET NAOW!

True Tales of Bronchitis #1

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

First, I am acknowledging that this post is late.

Second, when I say I’m hacking up Lovecraftian horrors, I really mean it:

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I pencilled this while I was actually sick, and finally got around to inking and coloring it. The lettering, you can see… is a bit jury rigged. I drew the sound effects by hand, and did sloppy lettering in Photoshop. I’m capable of doing a rudimentary version of professional lettering in Illustrator, but I confess, I was just too lazy. In retrospect, I should have simply hand-lettered the dialogue to match the hand-lettered sound effects.

For some time I have been meaning to shift the focus of my blog to begin including sequential art. So, I guess this is the start of that. I honestly can’t claim that I have any idea how this will go, but let’s just see what happens…

Wild Thing

~ J.Ho

By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard that Maurice Sendak passed away a few weeks ago. Here’s a little something in honor of him, and his best known work, Where The Wild Things Are:

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As a kid, I was (and I still am) very picky about kid’s books. I thought most of them were “dumb” and “boring” and I wasn’t easily impressed by the illustrations. However, Where The Wild Things Are, was an easy sell.

I should take this opportunity to mention some of my other favorite works from Sendak… He designed the sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker, which I became familiar with as Nutcracker: The Motion Picture. Watching this on TV every year on channel 13 (KCOP) became a Christmas tradition when I was a kid, and I didn’t even know until a few years ago that Sendak was responsible for the production’s look! The movie is available for digital purchase on Amazon or iTunes. The production also spawned a gorgeous edition of The Nutcracker book, with illustrations by Sendak. The book is apparently out of print, but it looks like used copies are readily available on Amazon.

If you haven’t already done so since his passing, go draw some monsters and wild things in honor of Maurice Sendak! Have a great weekend, folks!

Horrible Post Title #974368: Stop badgering me for a post!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

Okay, no one has been badgering me for a post, even though I have been neglecting this blog due to being sick as a dog. I haven’t been too sick to post this whole time, but once I was back on my feet I had a lot of catching up to do at work and so on. So I do apologize to you, my hypothetical (and possibly imaginary) dear reader. I missed three posts, which I’ll be making up over the next few weeks, while resuming regular posting.

For now, here’s a drawing of a badger that I did a few years back (the colors however, are brand new). It was a study for this post.

 
Incidentally, if this cranky badger had a lingering cough, it would be a pitch perfect depiction of how I’m feeling at this very moment. Just saying.

It’s a blast…

~ J.Ho

If you’ve never heard of Glyos by Onell Design, I’ll tell you everything you need to know: it’s a line of bad-ass designer toys with interchangeable parts, and you can build anything that your parts library and imagination can cook up, and you should go buy a bunch. I’ve been meaning to draw one of the characters from this franchise for a while, so at last, here’s a little something–Scar Pheyden of the Glyos System:

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I colored this piece a bit differently than I usually do. Rather than taking a lot of time to make super-clean selections with a lot of meticulously separated layers, I did this quick and dirty, and just cleaned things up as I went. I think it saved me a bit of time, but I’m not sure how much.

Also: I talk a lot about trying to drawing more dynamic pieces, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep producing pieces like this, which are more reminiscent of random comic book panels rather than super-static character stances.