Mandalorian

I've had Mandalorians on the mind recently.

This dude is the love-child of Boba Fett, biker scout armor, and the derelicte fashion sense of Jabba's denizens...three of my favorite design schemes of the Star Wars universe.

He would totally eff your Jedi sh*t up.

30 days...

Supe du Jour X: Superman's Back

0 days...UP, UP, AND AWAY!

Supe du Jour V: Red Son Day

5 days...

Supe du Jour IV: Ceyeborg Superman

Has anyone seen the design of the new Cyborg Superman? Personally, I don't think they went far enough. Here's my take on The Man of Mostly Steel:

 
6 days...

Supe du Jour III: It's a Bird, On a Plane!

 
To Superman, everything has a thin candy shell.

7 days...

Supe du Jour I: Three Point Stance

With just over a week before Man of Steel comes out, I think it's time to do a Superman sketch-a-day countdown, or "Supe du Jour."

A lot of people give superheroes grief for constantly landing in a three-point stance. To them, I say you try plummeting from the sky at supersonic speeds and landing on two feet!

9 days...

Formal Robes

Robe fashion is a very subtle thing.

13 days...

The Death of Superman

Remember when Superman died and came back to life? I always thought that was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce him as Superlich.

He could have a glowing green Kryptonian skull. It would be rad!

If not reanimate him as the flying dead, at least rebuild him as a cool cycloptic man-machine. I mean, death's gotta come at a price, right? You can't just come back with longer hair.

In case you're wondering: yes, there are many more Superman sketches to come! And no, they're not all as ridiculous as these.

30 days...

Man of Steel meets Man of Iron

 

If I was Iron Man, I'd consider installing a rocketpack just to cut back on the RSI.

31 days...

Smiles, Scales, Webs, and Claws.

Dinosaurs are usually my default doodle, but since I draw them all day on The Good Dinosaur, you're going to see a lot of my second favorite subject: superheroes.

Little-known fact: Joker only has the second largest smile of any Batman villain. First place goes to Killer Croc.

Super or no, even Peter Parker has to do his oblique workouts.

Has anyone done the triple slashes for the Wolverine logo? Seems kinda obvious.

This concludes today's installment of super sketches. Any requests for supers I should sketch?

36 days...

Warm-Up Sketches of Steel

Getting in the mood for Man of Steel. Just over a month up, up, and away!

Above is a rather Reeve-y version of Supes. Below is my take on Zod, Bizarro, and Bruce Wayne. Bruce is the one bottom-center, of course.

Bruce really has it easy, as far as rogues go. There's a reason Penguin doesn't go sailing his umbrella into Metropolis.

Though I would like to see Supes take on some better villains. Maybe Middle-Earth would offer a greater challenge to the Man of Tomorrow!

Especially is Smaug has a Kryptonite-breathing cousin.

38 days...

Fryd-Day 4: Plane Crazy

Part 4 in a weekly series exploring the adaptation of a childhood creation into a new comic for TR!CKSTER's 2013 volume, Childhood Heroes.

One of the challenges in adapting my childhood comic is that I haven't improved much in my ability to draw planes since I was thirteen years old. 

Originally, Fryd's plane ("The Dipper") was a bit of a rip-off of the Rocketeer's plane, the Gee Bee, which is more of a racing plane than a crop-duster.

Since Fryd is supposed to be a mild-mannered crop-dusting pilot by day, I decided to take a look at crop-dusting planes, and found this beaut: the Grumman Ag-Cat!

There was so much clunky character in this rickety dust bird, and I knew I had cast my noble steed at last. All that was left to do was caricature the plane, and push the proportions a little.

 

Suddenly, I could picture the Dipper chasing down getaway vans...

...trading blows with ne'er-do-well bank robbers...

...and destroying public and private property in the process!

I'm still not very good at drawing planes, but at least I have a feeling for the character of THIS plane.

42 days...

Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson!

76 years young and still smiling! Here's my tribute to the greatest of Jack's performances:

"I always smoke after."

"You mean to tell me you've never even TRIED it? Oh c'mon, Bats, one eensy-weensy pull of the trigger!"

"If you gotta go, go with a smile."

 A criminal profile.

45 days...

heh

I don't think the Joker cackles maniacally at everything. Sometimes, the occasion calls for a tasteful chuckle.

57 days...

Dinuh-sahrs

 Dinosaur sketches. 'Nuff said.

I should note: these are not related to the Pixar dino film. It'd be sweet if they were, though!

4 days...

SXSW

Heather and I went to SXSW this weekend and quickly learned the value of having a badge.

Still, we had fun bar-hopping around my namesake city, catching bands and tagging vans.

Just doin' my part to keep Austin weird.

12 days...

Abaddon

Genetic physicist and neurology expert Dr. Casimir Charon worked with LifeCorps Industries, pushing science and technology to their limit in an effort to cure mankind's greatest disease: Death.

After a disastrous failed experiment with his latest invention, the Intrinsic Field Reanimator, Charon gained absolutely no special powers. Still, he thought this was a great excuse to don an outfit and become the supervillain, ABADDON.

5 days...

Mean Caricature Night

 

Last night, a group of artists from work convened at Cato's in Piedmont for a "Mean Caricatures Night." The portraits started off innocent enough...

The first drawings were simple, literal...

 ...some were even elegant.

As we kept drinking, we began to come out of our shells a little, pushing proportions.

But each picture intensified with each pitcher imbibed.

Soon, the portraits were progressing from human...

...to subhuman...

...to inhuman altogether.

Every time we thought we'd pushed a likeness as far as it could go...

...someone would up the ante!

...and then remove the portrait from the kingdom mammalia entirely.

 Teeth quickly became an area of interest. Some exaggerations were subtle...

 ...others, not so subtle.

Noses soon followed.

One can never make the nose too droopy or drippy, I say.

And where there are teeth and noses, you also get jowls...

Necks...

Wrinkles...

 Hair...

Even posture!

The trick, we found, was to place one page on top of another...

 

...pushing and pulling the expressions to new, excellently horrific levels.

Sometimes it's not enough to have a face on just one part of your body. No one was safe.

No, not even I was safe.

My favorite of the night (and a new Facebook profile picture, I think), is this beauty from Louise Smythe that I like to call, "Malice in Wonderland."

It was a wonderful evening of inspiration, perspiration, and depravation. It's amazing how much creativity one can gain from a few beers and some second-hand sharpie fumes.

5 days...