She Approaches COLOURED!

As the title says, I COLOURED! the drawing I posted here 5 days ago - 'She Approaches'.

And as I said back then, this was an idea I had to tell a mini story and I'm proud of myself for getting it down on paper - and pixels - soon after having the idea, instead of keeping it in my head forever. That's a habit I should get into more.

I quite like the guy I made up for this, maybe I'll use him again in something.

She Approaches

I had to tell myself I was going to have fun and draw today. I had to tell myself this, because it's been a week since Britain - my country - held a vote on whether we should stay part of the EU or whether we should punch ourselves repeatedly in the face until we fall down a cliff onto used hospital needles. We chose the needles.

I'm mentally and physically exhausted from the fallout, the world is laughing at us, so today I had fun. I drew something completely unrelated.

I had the idea for this image a few days ago. It's unusual for me to have an idea then draw it so soon. There's usually a mandatory procrastination period of two hundred thousand years, but here it is.

A medieval-esque traveller is resting by a rock when he hears footsteps, so he silently grabs the hilt of his sword. The audience sees the one approaching is a beautiful woman, a mysterious ethereal figure, and that the sword's hilt is placed rather suggestively. I don't often draw scenes, but this is a scene. And an attempt to tell a story, to ask questions. Are these characters gonna rumble, or romance? I was gonna say 'fight or fuck' but thought that was too crude. I mean obviously I've said it now, but only to tell you I won't.

Animation!

I decided to have a crack at animating!

I chose the word 'crack' because it deliberately downplays how hard I'm trying. Because if this doesn't work out, then it was just a crack! It wasn't a huge investment of my time, energy and emotions. Like the crack of an egg, or crusty bread, or biscuit, or - I think about food when I'm emotional.

It was a huge investment though. Ironically, it's been quiet around this art blog because I've been busy doing art. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see I occasionally gathered up enough energy to blurt out some pixels about what I'm doing. But it's time I spoke about it properly.

I'm working on a 3 minute short film, about a wizard gathering ingredients for a spell. It's a comedy, and the story will be presented entirely visually - no dialogue! I don't want to go into any more detail than that because... well, like I said, there's no dialogue. If my story-telling skills are any good you should be able to see what's going on when you watch it, right?

I'm proud to present moving image on this website for the first time, a sneaky peak at the animation!

I was able to present the work-in-progress film at an exhibit at UEL Docklands, along with my comic The Infamous Five! I was promised a bigger screen at the time, but that little thing is what I ended up with. If you've ever used a dating app, you'll understand my disappointed there.

And finally, I got some business cards made! I asked my Twitter followers - as a joke - if I should include 'love machine' on there. I should've known they'd say yes. By that time I felt not doing it would have been an insult to the handful of people who pay attention to me. Also, to be honest, it's true. I am a love machine.

Unfortunately, I got these made after the exhibition, when people interested in my could have taken them. Hey, I said I'd gotten busier. I never said I'd gotten smartier.

Doctor Strange

Pimpin'

Today started wonderfully because my long lost brother called Edit: Marvel released the first trailer for Doctor Strange!

And with that one sentence, I've already dated this blog. Tomorrow, that sentence doesn't work. Next year the whole thrill of a Doctor Strange movie will be over, even if we liked it. In 10 years time, after sequels and crossovers, the entire superhero franchise may have been supplanted by a new genre of movies. Vegetables, maybe. "There are too many films about vegetables." We'll be saying. "Captain Asparagas, Iron Mango, The Mighty Thaw." That last one is about vegetables defrosting, obviously. D'you like the way I led into that whole vegetable thing with 'supplanted'?

But for now, it's exciting. Hell, I've been anticipating this since before the news was announced, re-designing a Doctor Strange for my own amusement. I ditched his costume as I imagined him less exuberant than superheroes. Instead of robes, he'd be dressed like a detective or gangster, quietly coming and going within the hidden areas of the Marvel universe's magical community. Admittedly, what I actually came out with looks more like a pimp... But his entire motivation will be about learning and keeping peace, discovering long lost arcane secrets and having battles that S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers never find out about. Of course, part of Marvel's success is their willingess to depict their characters in their full, brightly coloured original costumes, something early superhero films like X-Men were wary about doing. Hidden worlds is still depicted in this movie though, and people seem really excited that Doctor Strange will offer them something different.

As a kid, I thought his origin was the most intriguing. An arrogant surgeon, who lost the ability of his hands in a car accident, finds a new sense of purpose through personal growth and study in the mystic arts. I found it a fascinating blend of real life and fantasy. He wasn't born with powers, he didn't gain them accidentally. He worked for them. And it wasn't about being powerful or destroying evil or being a 'chosen one', it was about him filling a void in his life.

Benedict Cumberbatch in the Marvel universe. We really are spoiled, y'know.

Fantasy Week, Part 5

Wanted to end this fantasy week with something different, so here's some really weird creatures: humans.

There are many different types of magic, and many different levels. These people are considered the lowest level of the most basic type. Once mockingly referred to as 'Flakes', these people have since proudly adopted the term as their own.


Whereas magic is used by most serious people as way to understand the world, explore the world, save it or conquer it, these people employ their magic as a way to avoid work. They know basic spells but to truly survive they substitute their lack of power with tricks, fast talk or running away. Wizards and dark lords, despite being locked in an eternal battle of good vs evil, generally find each other less annoying than a Flake. We shall discuss 3 of them.

Gallius Freeborne is a slut. He has some skill with light and levitation, enough to impress certain ladies out of their pants. If he's really desperate, it can impress a few men too. He moves quickly on from each person he takes advantage of, learning early on in his "career" that his deficiences as a person become obvious after a couple of weeks. There are rumours that he's seduced royalty a few times, and that the man may be privately frustrated at his ability to consistantly rise so high only to fall again so quickly.

Shereni's magic forces her to move on quickly from one band of treasure hunters to the other. She provides protection to the band from wild threats: floating up with her red hair brimming like fire, she is able to scare off animals and thieves alike - but that's all she does. There is no destructive magic that follows this powerful display. Over time, she developed a second trick. If another magic person threatens her or her band, she is able to make that person believe they are even more powerful than they are. So powerful in fact, that Shernei and her band suddenly seem irrelevant. This allows them to sneak away whilst their attacker is distracted by the power to remake the universe in their image. By the time that person realises they've been fooled and they are actually just playing in mud, Shereni and her band are long gone. Those who have worked with Shereni claim her ability to appear as both powerful and irrelevant make it difficult for the girl to judge her own worth.

Brunfor just wants to be left alone, until he runs out of food of course, at which point he'll turn up at your house or business havening performed a chore in an unhelpful manner. "I killed all the rats in your basement" he once told a barman in front of all his customers, who had been hoping to keep the rats a secret. "I washed your guard dogs." he told the governor, having somehow used so much soap and water the dogs shrunk to half their size. "I cleaned your garden." He told an old lady, who found all the flowers picked out and her bird house in the bin. Brunfor is rewarded with food and lots of it, to delay his return for as long as possible. It's easier than trying to fight him. Spaces are always set for him at large birthdays or weddings, not because he's invited, but because he'll show up anyway. To his credit he tries to bring gifts, such as two snakes tied together to make a heart. Or he'll just bring a really, really big rock. Brunfor himself believes in minimalism. The only things he owns are his magic wand and a pair of tough boots. After some persuasion, he eventually wore pants.

This was fun, haven't written creatively in a while. Maybe I'll get more into it. Thanks for looking and if you read anything, thanks for that too. See you again soon!

Fantasy Week, Part 4

• The Mallex Tribe tribe have survived so many attacks that modern civilisation no longer tries. Over the centuries people have tried shooting them, only for the bullets to embed themselves harmlessly in Mallex skin. Tribe members would show off bullets to each other like jewellery. Then people tried poisoning their food, only for the tribe to eat more of it. Finally they tried bribing them shiney gems, which the tribe crushed in their hands. Since then, civilisation has kept its distance.

• A resident of the jungle, Mistacube isn't known to many people. Those that do know him suspect he's an alien probe, as he spends most of his time cataloguing information about the planet. They also believe he crashed here rather than landed, as most of the information is wrong. For example, he believes apes evolved from humans rather than the other way around and keeps offering people bananas in order to speed the process along. Whilst Mistacube is friendly and always willing to help, he is a burden to others lost in the jungle. One such person built shelter to keep warm at night, to which Mistacube reasoned he would be more warm if he lit the shelter on fire. The light did attract a search party at least, who were able to take the man's smokey corpse home.

• A Spinner feeds on whatever happens to be above it. A blast of fire shoots out of the hole on its head, into birds, hanging fruit, bee hives... and then the cooked food drops into it. Spinners digest the food by spinning wildly through the jungle, the spikes on its side cutting through whatever is in its way. Sometimes Spinners crash into each other, which is a wonderful sight - if you're standing somewhere safe.

• Moss Heads are a popular 'living stone' creature due to the many styles of moss that grow on their heads, from mohicans to mutton chops. The hole in their chest appears to be a sign of maturity, whilst their wooden legs make a musical clip clop sound as they walk.

• Hexflame Scamps are, like most Scamps, a nuiscance. They twirl into existence and run around your house giggling, leaving scorching footprints everywhere. They like to ruin books and documents too, picking them up and pretending to read them by speaking out loud in their nonsense high-pitched language as the paper turns to cinders in their hands. They can be calmed if you read to them however.

Fantasy Week, Part 3

• The pleasing smell of a Sad Face is always ruined by its sad face. Some botanists say we shouldn't assume plants have human charateristics, a mistake made before with the aggressivley poisonous 'Happy Face', whilst others say it's sad because it's a fragrant plant with no nose. One botanist succesfuly grew a Sad Face that had a nose, but it was allergic to itself, earning itself the name 'Sadder Face'.

• The Venus Fly Track was a popular house pet for a brief period due to its enthusiasm for chasing down and eating flies or spiders, until people soon realised it caused far more damage than the bugs did. Venus Fly Tracks will try to attract a mate by picking their own petals and making beds out of them.

• Dragon Flowers are a rare sighting. Usually a botanist would follow the fragrance of a Dragon Flower to find one, though the Dragon Flower may have become aware of this tactic as most fragrance trails now lead over cliffs.

• Face Plants are incredibly friendly, but incredibly stupid creatures that continuously collide into things with their heads. Their fierce loyalty is met with apathy amongst the rest of the plant kingdom. Whilst such behaviour may be reminiscent of dogs, you must never forget that they're plants. If you throw a stick, it will attack you for desecration of trees.

• Rustle, which may be one of a kind, has adapted to camouflage far better than other big cats by becoming foliage rather than resembling it. Rangers suggest being wary of any bush with a nose.

• This final creature has come to be known as Soulbark. Made of unidentified wood and leaves, it drifts through the forest with small glowing lights orbiting the empty space where a head would be. Facial expressions have been seen within the lights, some smiling, some crying, all talking to themselves in a gentle chime of unquiet that is sometimes heard long before the Soulbark is seen. Most believe it captures the souls of those that died in the forest, which is why travellers consider the sight of it an omen and immediately return home. Although in that sense it may be trying to help people, sending them home before they get hurt, acting as caretaker for those that didn't heed its warning.

More tomorrow, see you then!