Inktober 2018

I finally did Inktober! The month-long daily drawing challenge started by Jake Parker. I've joined in for two or three days before, but this time I did the whole damn thing.

Poisonous

Tranquil

Roasted

Spell

Chicken

Drooling

Exhausted

Spell

Precious

Flowing

Cruel

Whale

Guarded

Clock

Weak

Angular

Swollen

Bottle

Scorched

Breakable

Chop

Prickly

Stretch

Thunder

Gift

Double

Jolt

Slice

Smash Bros Used Surf

Here are the Smash Bros, but not all of of them, so we could call this 'Some Bros', which is less exciting, so let's not.


I didn't draw this 'cos I like Smash, I drew this 'cos I like Lapras, but I also like Smash, so I drew some bros surfing on her back. I think Lapras could work as a battleground in the new game, or at least as an element of a battleground, so Nintendo, if you're reading this, I give you permission to use your own characters to do that.

I haven't posted since April but in my defence I was evicted from my home, so I've been moving between hospitals, mini hotels, the homes of friends and strangers. I became friends with the most recent stranger, who helped me retrieve my computer equipment from my previous landlord so that I could draw this. Writing that last sentence has reminded me how astoundingly lucky I am, which is good, as it helps me me forget how unlucky the first one was.

Now that I'm relatively safe I bought Pokémon, Donky Kong, Animal Crossing, Mario, all with discount I received from my new job at gaming store... I've thrown myself into it pretty hard. I guess I need the comfort. Now I'm trying to put myself back into 'making things', not only with this illustration but with new episodes of my show.

It's a gaming show, obviously.

The Trash Tapes

These adorable boys would like to welcome you into their happy world. Admittedly Their world is blood and horror. Still, how can you say no to those faces? 'The Trash Tapes' is a new podcast from my friends Johann Chipol and Edward Harvey, discussing movies that have managed to achieve cult status! You know, the shit ones.

This is the header for their website, and the first project I've worked on since my breakup. Well that's not quite true, 'crying forever' was my first project. And then I kept myself occupied by drawing The Infamous Five for a while. But this thing involved new stuff I would then have to colour.

When Johann asked me to provide artwork for his podcast, all I really wanted to do was say no and crawl back to bed. Although, if I'm honest, I was already in bed when he sent the messaget. The point is he's a friend, I was flattered to be involved, and quite frankly I needed the money. Now here we are. I'm very proud I powered through with it 'cos it came out better than I expected.

Usually when I colour a thing, I just go with whatever colour that thing is most likely to be. This time I tried to stick to a theme. The logo is purple and green, so they had to be purple and green. I gave the VHS tapes a green tint rather than have them be standard black and white, so they'd fit the theme too but still look natural. The only other colour is red is for the labels, purposefully standing out, as there'll be mostly horror movies. Oh, and Harvey's hair stands out too 'cos he likes to look pretty.

Johann has informed me he wishes he actually owned that shirt.

The Infamous Five Squared

Before I got fired from my job - oh, did I tell you guys I got fired? I got fired. Before that, I was standing around drawing. This was not the reason I got fired. It was an art shop. We could, occasionally, get away with drawing. Occasionally. We just had to remember it was a shop sometimes.

We would demonstrate products to customers using a small pad of A6 paper. I'd often nab one of these pads to doodle in during quiet moments, and during one of these quiet moments I doodled one of The Infamous Five. Then I doodled another one. Eventually, I decided it would be a good idea to draw each member of the five, five times.

I stopped thinking this was a good idea by the tenth drawing, but I'd already started so now I had to finish. And here they are.



The goal was that each pose represents who they are entirely as a character, their personality communicated purely by what you're looking at. So that right away you would know the type of character they are. You wouldn't need to read a bio and could tell each character is vastly different to the other.

I didn't want to use too many props, to just work with body expressions. Complete improv using only their nature. Although at one point I got bored and went all in with the props. Ha. Each row has a theme.

1. Infamously Casual - How they mostly behave.
2. Infamous Hand Jobs - The hand gestures they use.
3. Infamous Stand Jobs - Even standing is unique.
4. Infamous Props - The shit they use.
5. Infamously Sexy - I kinda messed this one up...

...with the exception of Ant, the middle guy, who I imagine really would think rubbing his nipples is sexy to others, I just drew the rest in feminim poses. 'cos it amused me.

God Damn Horses

Horses are famously hard to draw. So when I was asked not only to draw horses but to give them charateristics, I was like "SHIT." Not in my correspondance, of course. Officially I replied "Of course. No problem. Sure thing."

Despite my panic, I've learned to loosen up in recent years. Just get that pencil on paper. Use reference photos, look at how other artists work. Stop focusing on making it 'look good' and enjoy making the lines. Basically, what you did as a kid. Enjoy making a god damn picture.

I'm way less upset these days about things 'not looking the way are in my head'. Now I'm just happy they're out. After all, these no reason I can't keep drawing horses. I mean I'm not gonna, but there's no reason I can't.

A Couple of Commissions from a Couple of Couples

I recently received a couple of commissions from a couple of couples. I'm sorry that sentence was the same as the title but I liked it so much, I had to use it a couple of times.

An old friend from college is getting married and asked me to draw her man and herself for the wedding invitations, which is such an honour! I've told them I won't draw the honeymoon though.

Last Christmas, another friend asked me to illustrate a sweet photo he'd taken with his man. I got the work to him in March. Not only do I take commissions, I take my time.

Sex and Violence

Have I talked about sex and violence on this blog before? At most I think there's been innuendo and fisticuffs. I hope you understand that 'fisticuffs' represents the violence aspect of this discussion, not sex. I've got 2 things to talk about today and whilst I wasn't deliberately trying to be 18+ about it, that's what happened. So, don't expect the usual bloodless battles. Don't expect any innuendo. There's a hole lot to get through, so let's thrust a head.

I love movie trailers. Sometimes, they're better than the movie. I'll watch movies trailers to films I've already seen, films that came out years ago, just 'cos they get me so pumped. This month I wanted to get more views for 'Who Wants to Play', the show I make with my buddy Matt. So I made a trailer for our next series. I started on a whim, but I got really into it. I worked 7 hours straight, up until 3am. The time flew by. I can't remember the last time I'd been so excited, so motivated working on a project. I'm super proud of how it came out.

Now the question is, did it work? Well, kinda. We got more views! But only for the trailer. Views for the episodes themselves stayed about the same. Getting a following is hard, guys.

Speaking of hard guys, the second thing is something I've wanted to do for a while but have been pretty hesitant about. Straight. Up. Porn. Well, not so straight.

I used to draw that stuff years ago, when I was being hesitant about real sex. Or maybe I just couldn't get any, I can't remember. A few of the artists I follow on Twitter, some of them quite big names, have been openly sharing their own naughty cartoons. So I'm feeling braver about sharing my own. Also I'm poor and I hear there's money in it.

I know not everyone's comfortable with this kind of work and I respect that, so I won't share it here. But if you're interested and over 18, you can check it out on Twitter @GnarleeXXX

Flights of Thunder - Breakout Heroes

Last month, I shared the last pages of a sketchbook I’d had for the last 3 stages of my life. I shared the fact I don't know what the next stage is. This month, the only thing I know is that started a new sketchbook. Here are 3 more Breakout Heroes.

Introspective and Breakout Heroes

I've finished my 2nd sketchbook! It feels weird. This book has a long history. Most of that history involves not drawing in it. But the book itself has been with me through the last 3 stages of my life. Now it's finished, and it's hit me that I don't know what the next stage is.

I'll be honest, this is gonna get pretty introspective. You can just skip to the drawings if you want, I won't be offended, the last guy has a machine gun for a head. If you give any kind of shit though:

1. I bought the sketchbook around mid-2015, whilst still working at a student shop. I'd only just finished my first sketchbook but I was determined to keep going. Determined. Then my contract ended so I didn't get past the second page... I was invited to return to that job after the summer but I decided I wanted to return as a student. In the time I had worked there, I had built up enough confidence in myself and my artwork to repeat the final year of my degree that I had failed earlier in my life. So I did keep going - just not in that book. However, I took it with me when I moved to campus.

2. I attended lectures. I drew. I animated. I made friends, spoke in class, goofed around with housemates and oh god I was finally enjoying university for the first time in my life and when I finally felt like I was making progress and hitting my stride... univeristy ended. Ha. If only I could've gone back for 2 years. It's okay. This time, I felt like I had actually FINISHED. I left that course and campus satisfied. This time, I would not be looking back. Except for this paragraph, of course.

Around the same time, my parents sold the family home (of 25 years!) and moved to the countryside. I went with them, safely far away from an old neighbourhood where I could have easily sank back into old habits. There wasn't much to do in that empty little countryside town though, so I started filling up that sketchbook's empty little pages. You've seen quite a few of those already. I called them the Super 13.

3. Now it's 2017. I'm living with a mate in London and working a new, albeit depressingly similar, job. It's retail again, selling art supplies. Although maybe it's not similar enough. The hours are longer. The pay is less. The customers are more demanding. I've found it harder to keep drawing. The last page in particular book remained unfinished for weeks. Maybe I was scared to ruin it after coming so far. Then, one night, I just bloody did it.

When it was done, I sat with the sketchbook closed beside me and feeling a weird mix of emotions. Accomplishment for having finished it. Guilt over the fact it took so long. Wistfulness over the places I've been and people I met. And a general sense of pride for the last 3 years. After originally failing university and spending a couple of years unemployed, those 3 stages of activities and efforts are really important to me.

I just need to figure out where the hell I go next.

Anyway, here are those last pages. Along with Super 13, these characters share the same story as the ones from the posts 'Superheroes' and 'Seven Ways to Win'. Y'know, I think it's time I quit it with these confusing different titles and commit to one simple name.

These are the Breakout Heroes.

 

Who Wants to Play?

It's 2017! But it's also the 31st of January, so the fact it's a new year stopped being exciting 3 weeks ago. Unless of course you consider fascism exciting. Still, this is the first post of the new year and I've got something to be excited about...

I have a show! It's a gaming show I host with my friend Matt. See, we watched Let's Play videos on YouTube and decided 'you know what this bloated genre needs? MORE.'

Our show is called 'Who Wants to Play?' and we started work on it 3 months ago, hence why it's been quiet here for the 3 months. I've been working on all the editing and graphics, including drawing our handsome faces.

We only need one each per episode, but sometimes we make a mistake or play a scary game so I feelanother expression is necessary. Nervous, confused, laughing hysterically and terrified is what I have so far, and pretty much sums up what it's like making a show.

Click HERE to visit our channel and see every episode!

Or to save on clicks, you can watch the latest episode right here! This is actually the first game we ever recorded, something we originally scrapped but which I manage to save with fancy editing:

Inktober 2016 and FIRST Videos!

I decided it was time to finally get involved with Inktober. Unfortunately, I also started a new job this month. Well, not that unfortunate. Now I can afford food and rent. The point is, I squeezed in as much drawing as I can. After rewatching the Game Grumps play Mario Maker and Mario Galaxy, I was inspired to draw the red plumber's enemies in new combinations.

Rocky Wrench and Mini-Airship

Bullet Bill and Lakitu

Hammer Bro and Reznor

I got really into this. I mean, designers working on endless sequels strive for new ideas all the time. But you can also develop old ideas, combine them. 20 years after these enemies first showed up and they're still capable of challenging the player in fun new ways!

I wanted to draw some real stuff too, so I found a few reference poses on deviantart and quickly sketched 'em:

This is a sketchbook I bought to keep me company while I'm working at this new place. Last time I got a job I disappeared for a few months and I don't want that to happen again. In fact, I'm so determined to stay in contact with the world I've dared to start video blog posts.

Do YOU dare to look at my face?