Moss Piglet (April 2024): Green

Moss Piglet (April 2024):
Green

OK, this is probably the dumbest submission I made to "Moss Piglet" (and that's saying something), a small art magazine out of Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past couple years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication.  This time it was "Green" and I figured the result would work just fine for my Nerdy/Geeky Blog.

The first thought for "Green" was Kermit the Frog, which was the obvious answer.  Next I thought about Godzilla... Then, hey, why not both?  So Kermit-Zilla as a giant Kaiju destroying Japan it is.  Of course, I realized just as I submitted it that I had used almost the same setup for almost the same joke involving the Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles in Japan:

Ah, well.  It's a joke good enough to be told twice!  (That's the lie I'm gonna keep tellin' 'til people believe me!)

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done as 1650px ×  2550px @ 300dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  Finally, here are the colors, done on a Multiply Layer.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html

Oh, hey, now that I think of it, I did the Cover and Back-Cover for the March 2024 (Self-Portrait), which is fitting for an egomaniac such as myself.  

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #9

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's my last submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog for 2024.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

This time, it's an obvious parody of the classic "Garbage Pail Kids", which I used to collect when I was a kid in the 80's.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 7.

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STEP TWO:  And here's the final digital painting, done on a bunch of different Layers.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #8

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

This time around, it's M.O.D.O.K. hanging out with the helium-filled balloons, Mindblastin' whomever is in his way... and perhaps blowing the door off random Boeing 737 Max's.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.  The balloons were done as grayscale with the airbrush tool and opacity dropped to 85% to mimic the slight translucence of blown up balloons.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.  Each balloon was on its own Layer; Clip Studio Paint allow you to change the color of each layer, which I did for each balloon, as well as the inking for M.O.D.O.K., which is a dark brown rather than the typical black ink.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #7

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

This is another one which was just a sketched doodle that turned into an actual submission to March M.O.D.O.K. Madness.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #6

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

This time it's just a doodle of M.O.D.O.K. which I did in Procreate.  I'm hoping to get at least a few more done before the end of the month, so we shall see!

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STEP ONE:  In Procreate, I just doodled this with a large brush.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  Originally, I was gonna give M.O.D.O.K. a bald head, but thought I had just done a previous one that was bald and figured I'd mix it up a bit and give him thin, wispy, sickly-looking hair.  

Of course, after I was done with the painting, I realized that I had done several M.O.D.O.K. drawings of him with hair, so why not do a couple-a-few in a row with bald-headed M.O.D.O.K.?  It probably would have been marginally better that way, hewing closer to the original doodle which I kinda liked.  Ah, well, learning a little too late is nothing new to me.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.

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Done digitally in Procreate.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #5

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

My previous March M.O.D.O.K. parody of Robert Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" inspired another Robert Crumb parody, the cover to "Zap Comix #0", which I also did last year for a monthly art magazine I contribute to, "Moss Piglet" for the the Bob Dylan issue.  While I trace my previous drawing for the background, I would have been smarter to just duplicate that part of the drawing.  But, that would have been smart and efficient--and I've never been accused of such a thing!

Anyhoo, I'm hoping to get at least several more March M.O.D.O.K. Madness submissions in this year, so time to get on with the next one...

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STEP ONE:  Here are digital inks.  In all the back-and-forth and juggling of which program was doing what, I managed to delete the pencil layers somewhere.  I would say "Live and learn", but I'm sure we all know that ain't gonna happen...

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STEP TWO:  I exported the digital pen-and-ink layer as a .png with a transparent background, and then imported that into Rebelle to color it.  I was able to reuse some of the background color from the previous "Zap Comix #0" parody I did, and then colored the rest on a new layer.  I also put a newsprint texture over top.  It changed the colors a little bit, I prefer the look of it seeming more like a aged comic book cover/page.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #4

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

Just in time for Pi Day/Pie Day, here's a parody of those classic Hostess Ads those of us of a certain age will no doubt recall, in which the day is saved by the hero tossing out several dessert cakes and pies!  Except, in this case, the "hero" in question is M.O.D.O.K...

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STEP ONE:  I did the digital lettering first in this case, and then quickly scribbled digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #3

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

In my previous e-mail submission to the long-suffering Brendan and Pedro, I signed off with "Keep on Mindblastin'" and knew immediately what I had to do for my next March M.O.D.O.K. Madness submission: A parody of Robert Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'...", which was ubiquitous when I was a wee lad in the 1970's.  It also spawned another idea that I will also be submitting (hopefully) later in the month.

Once again, I managed not to do one of the many M.O.D.O.K. drawings I thought I had planned out, and instead went off in a different direction, which is leading to other directions beyond that (a couple of them rather unexpected).  I suppose it is to be expected but, oh, how my Train of Thought often jumps the tracks...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the very quickly scribbled digital pencils done on a 3,000px x 2,000px canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #2

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

This one just started as a little doodle in Clip Studio Paint and sort of built up from there.  The mildly amusing thing is that I do have a few M.O.D.O.K.'s planned out, and this one sort of came out from nowhere, and actually sent me down a path for a couple more ideas.  Alas, I'm sure I have too many to even get to before the end of the month, but we'll see what gets done this time.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the very quickly scribbled digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas with a really chonky brush.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.  If I were smart--and I've never been accused of such a thing--I would have used the Symmetry Tool or something for the inks.  I did Copy-and-Paste a few items (such as the lights and the fins sticking out on M.O.D.O.K.'s chair).  It would have saved me a lot of time.  But, then again, some of the non-symmetrical parts give it is less "mechanical" look, I guess.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors, done on a layer below the digital inks.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024 #1

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2024
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Hey, it's time again for everyone's favorite March-based bit of Madness featuring that wacky, hyper-cephalic Jack Kirby creation:
MARCH M.O.D.O.K. MADNESS!

This is the first of what I hope will be many submissions to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

In my little sketches trying to figure out what to do for for the first submission, I kept having M.O.D.O.K. leaning out from the panel and yelling that it was time to get started for "March M.O.D.O.K. Madness", but then I jotted down "Here's M.O.D.O.K.!" ala Jack Torrance from "The Shining" (make the "The Shinning" for "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror" episode).  And here we are...

All work and no play make M.O.D.O.K....something something...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the very quickly scribbled digital pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the added colors.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Unwanted Valentines: Dune (1984)

Unwanted Valentines:
Dune (1984)

Hey, hey, time for one more "Unwanted Valentine", a Valentine so nerdy and built upon jokes so corny it will surely result in many a break-up and divorce if you were to give it to a loved one.  This time, it's based on David Lynch's "Dune" from 1984.  I was tempted to go for the slightly obvious, more ribald reference to "You can ride my Worm anytime", but decided to reference "The Spice must flow", instead.

Even though Lynch disliked the end result, I always thought his adaptation was fun and visually brilliant (the monstrous-looking Spacer Guild is amazingly grotesque and my canon view of the Spacers).  The latest "Dune" by Denis Villeneuve is also visually brilliant, but is something more clinical and missing some of the true grotesquery of Lynch (well, so far.  We'll see what Part 2 brings).  The first novel, "Dune", is among of my Sci-Fi favorites, and the ideas of the follow-up Frank Herbert series have a lot of great ideas.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital blue pencils, done on a 2,000px x 2,800 @ 300dpi canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks, done mostly with an 8pt and a 12pt brush.

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STEP THREE:  The colors were done on the layer below.

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Done digitally with Clip Studio Paint

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Unwanted Valentines: Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

 Unwanted Valentines:
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

It's time again for an Unwanted Valentine--Valentines so nerdy and built upon puns so terrible that no one would be pleased to receive them... especially a loved one!  This time it's Freddy Krueger from "Nightmare on Elms Street" (1984) saying the classic 80's catch phase for safe sex.  That may also tie in with my typical shortening of "Valentine's Day" to the initials "V.D.", which I do as a mildly amusing joke.  Emphasis on "mildly".

So, HAPPY V.D., Everyone!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital blue pencils, done on a 2,000px x 2,800 @ 300dpi canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks, done mostly with an 8pt and a 12pt brush.

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STEP THREE:  The colors were done on the layer below.

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Done digitally with Clip Studio Paint

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Batman-uary 2024 - Interplanetary Batman

BATMAN-UARY 2024:
Interplanetary Batman

Just in time for the end of the month, it's another Batman-uary post!  This time it's Batman's costume from "Detective Comics" #165, featuring Interplanetary Batman.  Next year I think I'll do up the rest of 'em from the cover.  Although, I thought it would be mildly amusing to do Batman's Camouflage Costume of the North Pole just an outline of his white eyes on a blank piece of paper--that'd be a great bit of camouflage, one step up from a drawing of a polar bear in a snowstorm!

And it was done as a parody/homage to Steranko's cover to "Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." #6.

NOTE: Because I'm a numbskull, I just realized that I had a copy/paste error the first post for "Batman-uary 2023" as the Title for most of January 2024.  I just got around to fixing that just in time.  I'd hate to look quite the fool!  Sigh...

We'll do more Batman-uary next year: Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!

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Done digitally in Rebelle.

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