What the what?

~ J.Ho

Question 1: Is this the dumbest thing I’ve ever posted? Probably.

Question 2: Is this the nerdiest thing I’ve ever posted? Almost certainly, but I have every intention of trying to continually out-nerd myself.

Question 3: In spite of being both dumb and uber-nerdy, is this also the most awesome thing I’ve ever posted? I think so, yes.

For reasons unfathomable even to myself, here is Darth Vader, if he were an Alpha Lantern of the Sinestro Corps:

click above for larger view

If you’re still reading, you’re probably still asking yourself, why? Well, I’ve been enjoying Green Lantern since the Sinestro Corps War, and I really like the idea of the Sinestro Corps having high-profile members like Superboy Prime, Mongul II, and Hank Henshaw. So my naturally nerdy brain was scanning its archives for other characters capable of instilling great fear, and since I had already crossed over Star Wars with the Green Lantern mythos, once or twice–I came up with Darth Vader.

Before you protest–yes, I’m aware that this concept wouldn’t really work in the continuity of either Star Wars or the DC Universe due to the fact that Darth Vader died a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… long before the Sinestro Corps had ever been formed. If I had to come up with an explanation, I would say that the ghost of Anakin Skywalker was psychically controlled/driven insane by Parallax, and had regressed into the psyche of Vader once more. With his spirit trapped in the hollow shell of his suit of armor, and powered by a yellow power battery, Darth Vader is now forced to serve the Sinestro Corps as perhaps their most powerful enforcer.

It had occurred to me that Vader could have made a good Red or Black Lantern. However, I’m not so into the Red Lanterns, and I’m not entirely sure how the mechanics of the Black Lanterns work. Overall, I find the fear-based Sinestro Corps to be more compelling.

The really scary thing is that these hyper-nerdy thought-processes basically all occur without conscious effort. I’m just walking around doing normal things, like drinking Vitamin Water and playing with Legos. Meanwhile my brain is running these dorky match-ups between continuities in the background, and I’m only aware of them in a vague semi-conscious manner. BAM, next thing I know, I’m drawing Darth Vader with a yellow lantern embedded in his chest. It’s a blessing and a curse, people. A blessing and a curse.

Say it with me…

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

IT’S CLOBBERIN TIME!!! Here’s the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, the Fantastic Four‘s cantankerous, yet endearing tank:

My year has so far been filled with plenty of travel (not bad) and illness (not good)–I’m feeling fine now (with no further travel on the horizon), but I’m still playing catch-up. So, tonight’s post is a quick exercise in the rare (for me) traditional media. I sketched it in red and brown color pencil, colored it in marker, then went over the lines again with color pencil, and finally added some highlights with a white color pencil. Scanned it, managed to adjust it to match the original pretty closely, and here we are.

Any real understanding I have of color theory has been picked up while working in Photoshop, so it’s a refreshing change of pace to apply what I know to traditional media. I think this piece needed more contrast to bring out the larger forms of the Thing’s features, like his brow, nose, and cheek bones (cheek rocks?). Recently, I feel like I’ve been struggling with contrast… having trouble getting it right the first time, and making a lot of adjustments. My sense of color is a bit off too, again, something that I’ve been getting wrong on early tries and making many adjustments to.

My artistic senses might be dulled as a result of doing a lot of cheap blogs that don’t require artistic brainpower, and also banking a lot of blogs ahead of time rather than working continuously. When it comes to drawing, taking moderate breaks can actually help me out–when I come back to it, I feel energized. I suspect coloring is something that I’m still drilling into my brain, and I need constant exposure to the act of coloring, or I start to regress.

Just thinking aloud here, carry on…

Actual Size (Okay, not really)

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

My ally today has been Mucinex.

This is not an endorsement. Consult your physician and clergyman before using drugs, didgeridoo, or mustelids of any kind. Side effects may include blogs of poor quality, typing in small italic print, and writing satirical side effect warnings. Other side effects may include technically inaccurate use of the word satirical (but you get the point), and excessive rambling on. Do not operate heavy machinery while under the effects, including, but not limited to, Zambonis, Mazinger Z, or your mom.

This is a pretty poor representation of a Mucinex pill actually. Other than the fact that the real pills do not advertise my blog, i also got the shape pretty wrong. And the face of the tablet should be noticeably convex. However, it was a decent painting exercise, just for larfs and practice.

Star Wars Lite (5 of 6): If you buy a translator be sure that it speaks Bocce…

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

I was just reading over the past few posts and realizing how monotonous I have become with saying how I had nothing to say. And yet, I have nothing to say! Here’s C3-PO:

See you on Friday for the conclusion of this series. I’m not sure what will follow immediately, but I have a bunch of Street Fighter pieces in the works, a neverending supply of He-Man stuff (naturally), and a smattering of other random nerdy sketches. And as always, thanks for looking in!

Star Wars Lite (1 of 6): That little droid and I have been through a lot together

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

Plug first, sketch second–you all know my crony/chum Hammers, right? He’s better known to the world as Nathan Hamill, and he’s been interviewed on StarWars.com regarding his participation in the most recent series of Star Wars Galaxies trading cards. Click HERE to read it.


Notably, the article mentions a non-Star Wars item–Nathan’s upcoming foray into designer toys, with a bad-ass vinyl racoon. You read correctly, a bad-ass vinyl racoon.

And as an unintentional coincidence, I’ve prepared a series of Star Wars sketches for the next few weeks. Here’s R2-D2:

You can imagine what might be coming up in the ensuing weeks. And if Star Wars isn’t your cup of tea, you philistine, stay tuned for more Street Fighter and He-Man after I wrap these up.

Brought to you by the letter Q…

~ J.Ho

My love of obscure characters is no secret. In fact, I hardly ever shut up about it. From Street Fighter III, here’s the mysterious Q:

click above for larger view

Q doesn’t exactly fit in with the assorted commandoes, kickboxers, and karatekas of the Street Fighter universe. Judging by his name and face mask, he appears to be based on Shotaro Ishinomori‘s character Robot Detective K. However, he also bears a strong resemblence to Mitsuteru Yokoyama‘s character Iron Mask (from Babel II), and Osamu Tezuka‘s character Pero (from Astroboy and Metropolis).

Incidentally, all three of the mangaka that I just mentioned were contemporaries. Ishinomori was Tezuka’s assistant at one point (this is well documented), and I’ve read the same thing about Yokoyama (but I couldn’t find a reliable source on that). If you’re a fan of manga, anime, tokusatsu, or even Japanese-made video games, I highly recommend that you check out the works (and derivations there of) of Tezuka, Ishinomori, and Yokoyama. Their influence on is tremendous, and continues to this day.

Think of him as "Malibu Ryu"

~ J.Ho

The Street Fighter fan art deluge continues–in sharp contrast to the subdued Ryu, here’s Ken:

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This turned out better than Ryu did, but the forced perspective was still unconsciously blunted by my inner desire for boredom.

Red Hot

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

If my sketch of Ryu represents the Street Fighter franchise in general, today’s sketch represents the most recent installment. Fresh from her debut in Street Fighter IV, here’s Crimson Viper:

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When I first saw the screenshots of this character, I wasn’t that impressed. Her braid seemed a bit too reminiscent of Cammy, while her outfit seemed more appropriate to Street Fighter’s rivals over at the King of Fighters series (not that I have anything against King of Fighters, it just felt like an odd fit). Well, a few rounds of unleahing her bad-ass flaming split-kick (quarter circle back + kick, executable in mid-air) changed all that. Now I’m totally won over by her extravagant pompadour, her Morpheus-esque nose-pinching sunglasses, and yes, her exquisite wardrobe.

You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance

~ J.Ho

A few weekends ago, I had a chance to play Street Fighter IV at a friend’s house. Had I been wearing socks while playing, those socks would in fact have been knocked off.

I’m a big fan of Capcom in general, and of their fighting games specifically–however, playing Street Fighter IV really pushed those characters and that franchise to the forefront of my thoughts. I find myself humming the music constantly. My mind has been desperately trying to create scenarios where I can justify buying the game itself, a console, a new television, and two tournament quality arcade sticks. Of course this is all going on while I draw fan art until the sun rises. Here’s Ryu, perhaps the single best-known of the Street Fighter cast:

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I’m going to be honest with you… this one didn’t turn out terribly well. The perspective was supposed to be much more forced and dramatic, but I have this problem where apparently my brain strives desperately for mediocrity, and while drawing, I unconsciously make things moderate and boring instead of extreme and dynamic. Regardless, it’s nice to draw a character like Ryu every now and then–he’s very recognizable in spite of being so visually plain. Those factors make me feel comfortable drawing him from a rare rear view, because I don’t feel like we’re missing any interesting costume details from this angle, and I’m also confident that he’ll still be indentifiable. I thought that showing Ryu’s back turned helped emphasize his aloof demeanor. Likewise, I tried creating poses-reflecting-disposition in the other Street Fighter pieces I drew… which will be flooding this blog shortly. Stay tuned!

What’s a Skull Man?

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

Back in the 80’s, the action figure aisles were ruled by four archetypes–robots, commandoes, ninjas, and barbarians. Of the barbarians, Masters of the Universe was the most prominent line. A few other action figure brands wisely chose to mimic the proportions of Masters of the Universe figures, and marketed their lesser known figures as being compatible with all popular 5.5″ figure lines. Perhaps the best known manufacturer of such figures was Remco–they produced figures based on DC Comics’ Warlord, and the companion line to Warlord was The Warrior Beasts–which brings me to today’s post.

The Warrior Beasts consisted of a group of beastly humanoids and a few monstrous mounts who could all act as antagonists for your Warlord figures (or other 5.5″ action figures). But strangely, in the midst of this group of beasts and beast-headed humanoids, there was a skull-headed Skeletor-esque figure appropriately named Skull Man (not to be confused with a hero of the same name). Here’s my interpretation of the character, drawn to fit in with my various Masters of the Universe drawings:

click above for larger view

But how would he fit into the world of Masters of the Universe, you ask? Well, here’s some nerdy background info I concocted for Skull Man:

* * *

PROFILE: Cold and efficient, SKULL MAN is not only a mercenary, but an expert tracker and sleuth, armed with a cunning intellect. His hand-to-hand combat abilities hint at extensive training in martial arts from across the galaxy–this expertise allows his him to match up against opponents who would otherwise outmatch him in brute strength. Skull Man’s favored weapons are the bow and dagger.

HISTORY: The enigmatic mercenary SKULL MAN operates under his own rules, sometimes working for the forces of good, and sometimes working for the forces of evil. He has his own motivations, but those motivations are as unknown as his true identity. He has been known to operate in Skartaris, but most recently has been sighted on Eternia, allied with the Raqquill Rqazz’s personal army, the Warrior Beasts of Berserker Island.

* * *

Also posted on the He-Man.org fan-art forums. The thread is here and my post is here.

Think of the Children!

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments

Drawn for the charming young offspring of an old friend:

A rare foray into traditional media–loosely sketched with a blue pencil, inked with a brush pen, and colored with a random assortment of color pencils.

Super-Obscure (Part 2 of 2)

~ J.Ho

In the late 80’s, Taito produced a Superman arcade game. Last Friday’s post depicted a female character who appeared in some unused sprites from said game–people speculate that she was intended to be a Player 2 sprite. The actual Player 2 sprite in the game was a red and grey palette swap of Superman.

Check out the original sprites in question here, and below is my own interpretation of Player 2:

This piece and the previous one were both drawn rather small, probably because they were done somewhat spontaneously. I interpreted the Player 2 Superman’s grey and yellow colors as silver and gold–in my opinion this clashed a little less. I was somewhat at a loss when it came to rendering the hairstyle of the unused Wonder Woman-esque character, but I finally settled on a somewhat anachronistic feathered Farrah Fawcett-esque style.

Who are these characters? Do they hail from an alternate reality known as Earth-Taito? Or perhaps they’re modified clones created from the DNA of Superman and Wonder Woman? Maybe they’re descendents of the heroes we know so well?

I’ve mentioned it on this blog before, but it bears repeating–I really love obscure characters. Obscure + mysterious is a bonus. I also have a fascination for bootleg toys (hence the blog URL), and these two characters have such a charming bootleggy/knock-offish quality about them, I can just imagine discovering cheap action figures of them in Chinatown.