Monsters of Breakfast (4 of 5): Keep ‘Em In Stitches

~ J.Ho ~ 4 Comments
The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom‘s fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

Now we’re finally getting to the heavy hitters–I present to you, Franken Berry! He’s alive… HE’S ALIVE!

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Rather than ramble on about whatever, I’ll let you all go about your business–you probably need to finish the last minute touches on your Halloween costumes. I’m dressing as a weirdo cartoonist who barricades himself in his apartment drawing obscure nerdy characters while watching cartoons and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. I guess it’s not so much a costume as much as on-going performance art. On-going for the past 31 years.

Monsters of Breakfast (3 of 5): Ghost of a Chance

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom‘s fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

In terms of recognizability, today’s subject probably falls on the median–surely many of you must be accquainted with Boo Berry. In terms of back-story, I imagine Boo Berry was a jazz singer (something of a dandy) from New Orleans, who got involved with some criminals and was killed. His ghost can be seen haunting the New Orleans night, singing mournful jazz ballads, and battling supernatural creatures with his powerful super moves and combos. I’m not sure where the blueberries enter into the equation.

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I’m unsatisfied with how Boo Berry’s ghostly aura turned out… it doesn’t really read.

Is anyone sick of my punny non-sequitur titles? I know I am, but I’ve set a precedent, so my hands are tied.

Monsters of Breakfast (2 of 5): Fur Real

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom‘s fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

Today, I present the most obscure of the General Mills monster pantheon, Fruit Brute.

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I basically drew Fruit Brute as a palette swap of Jon Talbain wearing overalls. Horrible, multi-colored overalls, as per the source material. So, yeah… werewolves are cool.

._.

Monsters of Breakfast (1 of 5): All Wrapped Up

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom‘s fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

The Reason: I love Capcom’s character design style. Capcom’s art direction is amongst the most influential in video games in general, and particularly with 2-D fighting games. I often find myself looking at a random character and wondering what it would look like as a character in a Capcom fighting game. So, fusing that mode of thinking with breakfast cereal and the Halloween season, here we are.

First up, Yummy Mummy:

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I kept Yummy Mummy’s basic colors, but rather than giving him multi-colored bandages, I redistributed those colors to parts of his re-designed costume. The added accoutrements are based loosely on those of Anakaris (the mummy character from Darkstalkers). The ceremonial thingy (i think that’s the technical term) draped over his shoulders looks awkward–I was trying to emulate the geometric, almost blocky quality of Anakaris’s design, but it didn’t quite work out.

Something for the Season…

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
I’m very excited–Dear Dracula, a 48-page hardcover children’s book, published by Image Comics, and created by my dear friends, Josh and Vinny, will be available for purchase this Wednesday (October 15, 2008)! If you can’t find it at your local comic book shop or book store, you might try Amazon.com.

The book tells the story of a funny kid named Sam, who’s obsessed with Dracula, and decides to write him a letter–honestly folks, a fantastic all-ages book, especially for the Halloween season.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I was inspired to cook up a little Dear Dracula fan art:

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I promised something more substantial today, and I delivered, right? I mean, come on, background, multiple characters, what more could you ask for? A better composition you say? Yeah, okay, this composition is a little weird. Bah, forget my fan art, just go buy the real thing. Seriously.

Laugh it up, Fuzzball…

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
I was playing with a sepia colored brush pen, and this is what happened:

That’s the not the actual piece of paper that I drew the wookie on, I just complusively felt the need to dress up this otherwise simple sketch. I confess, this is a somewhat lazy post. Let’s see if I can cook up something substantial for my next post.

Going Green (Part 4 of 4)

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
When I was kicking around this impossible-in-reality idea for the Green Lantern Corps, the idea of using alien species from non-DC Universe franchises, was really just for flavor–I had some actual plot ideas as well. The biggest plot point was that Sinestro would be reinstated into the Green Lantern Corps (as he had been during the events of Emerald Twilight). The key to this idea was that it wasn’t a short term turn of events to be quickly undone, rather it would be the new status quo–whatever his intentions, Sinestro would have been working with the good guys for an extended period of time:

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Believe it or not, I drew this sketch some time ago, long before the Rebirth storyline–so the resemblance to Sinestro’s current uniform is actually just a coincidence. Of course, as a result of the aforementioned Rebirth storyline, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to write a credible story rehabilitating Sinestro in any way, shape, or form. I’m okay with that, because not only do I dig Sinestro’s current uniform (I even drew it once… sort of), I think the storyline of the Green Lantern(s) has been hitting all the right notes in recent years. But if Geoff Johns ever gets sick of his job, I’ll be glad to take over.

Going Green (Part 3 of 4)

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
Today’s post is probably my favorite of the set (I know, I always seem to shoot myself in the foot by posting my favorite sketch in a set second-to-last, but there’s a good reason the next post is the last in the set). Anyways, here’s a rookie Rodian Green Lantern:

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For my first take on this guy (left), I gave him the traditional Green Lantern insignia, but on the second take (right), I gave him Kyle Rayner‘s insignia, to emphasize his rookie persona. The next post is NOT a Green Lantern whose species originates from outside the DC Universe.

Going Green (Part 1 of 4)

~ J.Ho
Let’s dial up the nerdiness here… a while back, I had an idea for the Green Lantern Corps which could never ever be officially made–the gist of it was to populate the Corps with aliens from various science fiction franchises. And even though it could never be officially produced, I still drew up a bunch of character designs. Yes folks, this is how I choose to spend my free time.

These sketches were done quite some time ago–for the first installment, a Skrull and a Wookie:

As you might notice, these are blue pencil sketches, hastily inked and colored with marker. I basically just wanted to get these down on paper, rather than stress out over them. I’m not trying to make excuses though–that Skrull’s foot is terribly contorted and way too big. The next installment will be better, promise.

Cue Jazzy Theme Music, Appendix (2 of 2): Solid as a Rock

~ J.Ho
Concluding a brief series that I started last time. I’ll dispense with the small talk–today’s post features a character who debuted in The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Hardrock:

Hardrock was a living statue who joined up with Jonny Quest and friends. I honestly don’t know how to expand upon that. Oh well, here’s a clip:

In case you missed my take on the Jonny Quest cast a few months ago, here they are:

Cue Jazzy Theme Music, Appendix (1 of 2): Seeing Red

~ J.Ho
I posted my interpretations of the main cast from Jonny Quest a little while ago, and while I was working on those sketches, I waffled back and forth on including Jessie, a character who was introduced during The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, and later became a core member of the Quest team in The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. She was originally depicted as a friend of the family, and was later retconned into being Race Bannon’s daughter. At any rate, here she is:

I honestly wasn’t trying to make her color scheme particularly “girly”–things just naturally went in that direction as I attempted to keep the colors consistent with her hair. Next time, I’ll treat you to the most obscure member of team Quest, hands down!

In case you missed my take on the Jonny Quest cast a few months ago, here they are:

The Man Himself

~ J.Ho
I’m showing my age again… here’s the Batman–not Bruce Timm and Paul Dini‘s, not Cliff Chiang‘s, not Christian Bale‘s, or Michael Keaton‘s. Not Bill Finger‘s, or Jim Lee‘s, or Alex Ross‘s, or Dustin Nguyen‘s, or Jeff Matsuda‘s, or Jeph Loeb‘s or Grant Morrison‘s, or Brian Bolland‘s. Not Bob Kane‘s, not Frank Miller‘s, and not even Darwyn Cooke‘s or Kevin Conroy‘s.

I love all those versions of Batman–but to me, this is the guy. The Batman of Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams:

He’s lean, he’s mean, he’s blue and grey, and he’s got the yellow oval (though I drew it a tad too big). And I’m waffling… he might sound like Kevin Conroy.

The Commish

~ J.Ho
I never followed up after mentioning that I was heading out to watch The Dark Knight. No surprise–I really liked it. What might surprise you, is that my favorite element in both movies is Gary Oldman‘s performance as Lieutenant Jim Gordon, later promoted to his trademark rank of Commissioner.

I drew this right after seeing the movie, but it’s only loosely based on Gary Oldman, drawn without looking at reference. More Bat-stuff next time. Perhaps even the Man himself?

TMNT Tuesdays (Part 4 of 4): Ravishing Reporter

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
When I titled last Tuesday’s Krang sketch, Brains Before Beauty, I meant it. Here’s the Turtle Boys’ resourceful (and foxxy) gal pal, April O’Neil:

Like the aforementioned Krang sketch, as well as Splinter, and Shredder, April is modelled after the 90’s cartoon version, and the title for this post is a tagline from one of April’s 90’s action figure incarnations. For those of you who are too young to remember this, reporters in the 1990’s were all extremely attractive women who wore brightly colored jumpsuits, usually made out of vinyl.

._.

This series illustrating TMNT supporting cast members follows a series from last year depicting the Turtles themselves:

(indecipherable snarling)

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment
I had no luck finding it on Youtube, but back in the day, Cartoon Network used to run a hilarious commercial featuring Thundarr the Barbarian and Ookla the Mok. To the best of my recollection, it went a little somthing like this:

Cheesy sax music plays in BG.

OOKLA: (indecipherable snarling)
THUNDARR: Ookla, I think you’re very handsome.
OOKLA: (indecipherable snarling)
THUNDARR: No, really.

That will probably be a lot funnier to you if you are familiar with the characters. Here’s Ookla:

Ookla the Mok, for those who don’t know, was actually designed by the late great Alex Toth. Toth is best known for designing Space Ghost, and while he is very much regarded as an artist’s artist in comic book and animation circles, really he was a master of drawing, period. Be sure to check out the image gallery at the official Toth website.

TMNT Tuesdays (Part 3 of 4): Brains Before Beauty

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments
My drawing of Splinter may have sent some mixed signals, and you might not have noticed the pertinent details in my depiction of Shredder–but today it should be perfectly clear that I’m drawing upon the 90’s cartoon version of the Ninja Turtles. Here’s Krang (with the Technodrome silhouetted in the background):

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This is my favorite of the current batch, which may be an unwise thing to say before I post the final one, but I’m satisfied with the others as well. There’s just something about the way the colors turned out on this particular one that makes me think I’m starting to get it. I’m also pretty happy with the irate parallel motion of Krang and his dopey android body.

This series illustrating TMNT supporting cast members follows a series from last year depicting the Turtles themselves:

Ridiculous.

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
Excitement and intrigue follow you closely wherever you go!
Lucky numbers 12, 14, 17, 27, 30, 45

Really, fortune cookie? Really??

Just a little painting practice in Photoshop, with a random subject. I looked at a fortune cookie for reference, but this isn’t a depiction of that exact cookie. If that makes any sense. I mean, it makes sense to me, but it might not make sense to you.

TMNT Tuesdays (Part 2 of 4): Sensei

~ J.Ho ~ 2 Comments
Following from last Tuesday’s post, here’s Shredder’s long-time nemesis, and the Turtles’ mentor and adopted father–Splinter:

The aim here was to make Splinter appear as serene as possible, reflecting his wise, zen-like approach to life. The tree in the background is supposed to be bonsai-like. Or maybe it is a bonsai tree, grown huge as a result of exposure to radioactive mutagen?

This series illustrating TMNT supporting cast members follows a series from last year depicting the Turtles themselves:

Bonus Post: Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals for awesome commercials…

~ J.Ho

After seeing a few cool CGI commercials and drawing some mascots, basically I immediately forgot all about the Olympics. But before it officially ends, here’s one more Olympic commercial from Stadium Astro (a Malaysian sports channel, I think?), featuring robots… transforming ones!

Of course watching one video on Youtube, always leads to another… here’s a soccer-themed transformer ad from Stadium Astro, promoting the Euro 2008 tournament:

And another transformer ad from Stadium Astro (apparently someone working there likes Transformers as much as I do?):

In summary, sports would actually be cool if there were more (or any) transforming robots involved.

Post Script: Decepticons as tweenage girls? Oh Japan, you so crazy (and that’s why I love ya… from TFormers.com)

Post Post Script: I actually found so many Transformer-related videos that I had to cut half of them out of this post. Expect another video post soon!