Happy Birthday, You Old Relic

For my buddy Eric, on his 29th birthday. This is a guy who played the Indiana Jones theme at his wedding. 29 years old...he belongs in a museum!

4 days...

Nerd of the Rings

Pixar's improv team, The Improvibles, is delving into the land of trolls, hobbits, and level eight gelatinous cubes tonight with our first Dungeons & Dragons show (the first of many, this bard hopes). What makes this show particularly special is our guest star, Brave director Mark Andrews!

One show to rule them all!

7 days...

Yo.

Every now and then, working at Pixar gets a little surreal. Standing in front of a giant lamp and fictional vehicle, with a mini stone henge looming in the distance is one of those moments.

We also have the Brave wrap party coming up, so naturally everyone's getting fitted for kilts, provided by St Kilda USA.

As always, accessories make the man. And no kilt is complete without a quality sporran. The selection on the left is dire wolf fur, I believe.

And, finally, the formal jacket. Brah brecht, moonlit necht tonecht!!

8 days...

Flashkick

More X-Men sketches. This is my buddy Tim's character, Flashkick, who has the ability to open rifts in space time through which she can teleport, or just reach out and slap someone from across the room. (Sketch by Everett Downing)

The original concept was a bit too Jubilee-ish. So we traded in the 90's jacket for the traditional unitard. (Sketch by Ev)

She's an ESL student from Korea. Her lack of communication skills have made it difficult to correct the constant mangling of her callsign. (Sketch by Emma Coats)

9 days...

Meatbag

Last week, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG. Rather than play classic characters, we decided to create our own team! This is Meatbag, who's mutation is prehensile flesh. Yeah, gross. (Sketch by Ev Downing)

The character went through several interpretations including the gumdrop-like ginger above. We figured if Meatbag could control his skin, he would have whatever body type he wanted. (Sketch by me)

So, while he may usually look like Russell from Up, he might be able to shift into Brandon Lee mode should any ladies appear. (Sketch by Mach Kobayashi)

10 days...

The Not-So-Dark Knight

Experimenting with every-color pencils. I was aaaalmost able to control which color was coming out.

11 days...

Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers

Now this is the Avengers movie I want to see. Diana Rigg as Black Widow and a Hulked-out Patrick MacNee--now that would be a jolly good show!

If you have any Avengers concepts of your own, let me know and I'll post them below. Otherwise, join in May 4th for...

Chades Challenge LXXII: Star Wars Cantina Patrons

15 days...

Impulse

Paul's character in this week's X-Men RPG was the excitable youth, Impulse. Impulse is a big fan of the X-Men and can't wait to be part of the team. There's one Canadian hero he looks up to in particular.

Impulse's mutation is lighting-fast reflexes, bordering on precognition. This skill is particularly handy in the Danger Room, where there's a surprise around every corner.

Like assassin drones...

Sync gets a little irritated by Impulse's fanboy behavior sometimes, but ultimately recognizes his value as part of the team.

Tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from the X-Men sketches and switching to another part of the Marvel Universe for Chades Challenge LXXI: The Avengers!

16 days...

Sync

As I was saying yesterday, my friends and I played an X-Men RPG this week, and came out of it with a bushel of sketches. Today's art is by Emma Coats. The subject is her character Sync, the upperclassman and self-appointed team leader.

The first few sketches of a character are always exploratory, but once you find that defining trait (like a douchey, emo haircut) the character really starts to emerge.

Sync's mutation is to imitate the powers of the supers around him. The one super he can't seem to stop imitating is his hero, Cyclops.

17 days...

X-Games

Last night, Ev ran an X-Men RPG for us. Rather than using classic characters, we decided to create a bunch of teenage C-stringers who are enrolled in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (sketch by Emma Coats)

Here's our roster (from left):

Meatbag (played by Mach)- has super stretch ability, and prehensile flesh (shudder)

Puff (played by me)- "the magic dragon" whose powers include flight and fire-breath

Flashkick (played by Tim)- a teleporter

Sync (played by Emma)- has the ability to mimic other supers' powers

Impulse (played by Paul)- lighting fast reflexes bordering on precognition

I'll share more sketches from our session (we drew quite a bit) over the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

18 days...