Portal 2-Go Team

Go Team: With Chell's tenacity and knack for thinking and Wheatley's knowledge of the Aperture Enrichment Center, these two together are unstoppable!

Inspiration:  As I've said before, I love the Portal series made by Valve. And if there was such a thing as a "One True Friendship" (or OTF, as I'll dub it), these two would be my OTF. Chell is one of the strongest female protagonists I know of and admire, and Wheatley is one of the most hilarious and charming characters ever. He's even my favorite robot character in all of science fiction (Sorry, C-3PO and R2-D2. You can't beat Aperture for its range of dastardly to amusing robot technology!).

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #3

On today's Wildcard Wednesday, we can expect: Chell and Wheatley try to forgive each other with an angel and a devil on their shoulders, all the while Miss Thigh Highs deals with a doctor and Uncle Jack's saccharine happiness.

Between God and the Devil #1: During my Creative Writing class a couple years ago, I had to write a short play. It was centered around an angel (Angelica) and a a demon (Valentyne) who seek to rid the Cathedral of Blasphemous Behemoth of a trouble-making imp (Bucksnip). It's not anything that good, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable. So much so that I'm exploring the concept to see if I can make anything of it, even something as simple as a little comic strip series. Click on the picture to look at my brainstorming notes!

Why Can't We Be Friends?*: A little doodle I did (with my human version of Wheatley) around a small bit from Lego Dimensions: Portal mission. As a Legofication of Portal 2, it's not too bad, and sometimes the dialogue is spot on. I do hope that if there is a third Portal game made that Chell and Wheatley reunite and reconcile. They're so cool when they work together!

Syringe Wars WIP*: The closer we get to the release of We Happy Few, the more I want to learn about the story and the characters. Miss Thigh Highs is the biggest question mark of the three Downers. I keep getting the feeling that she might be a spy, but whoever she is, she clearly has some mysterious, secret quality about her.

So Happy Teaser*: As can be seen in my posts, I've always got We Happy Few on my mind. And I've come to realize that working at my job is a little similar to being a Downer pretending to be on Joy, only not nearly as awful or psychotic. And it seems to be a general consensus and my own gatherings of her character that Miss Thigh Highs probably finds acting so darn happy all the time annoying. I mean, if you were in her thigh high shoes, wouldn't you get sick of it? 

Update #2

Hi, M³ here! I'm going to have to keep this quick since I have to leave for work soon!
Okay, so until my normal schedule at work settles in, I'm in the middle of a nine day week. I know, I hate it a lot. I have been squeezing in drawing into my lunch breaks though! But I'm afraid I'm going to have to change the Friday postings to Saturday for now. It just works better for the schedule I have. Maybe when the summer's over I'll bring the finished art pieces back on Fridays. We'll see.
And I've got enough art for today's Wildcard Wednesday, but please bear with me. It's going to come somewhere in the evening hour, and by the time I get back home, my feet hurt and I am brain dead. There will be art, but even for a Wildcard Wednesday, it might come just a little bit later than usual.
Thank you for bearing with me! I've got a fun, Portal-themed piece to upload this weekend and I can't wait to show it to you all!

A Fishy Complaint to Gotham

Hi, M³ here! I assembled a brief animatic last night! Gotham is one day away from the season finale, and unfortunately, they decided to bring back one of the most beloved characters and yet the lowest point of the show by far-Fish Mooney. Good God do I hate her.

Hope you enjoyed it! Also, I've got a little update detailing a change in art scheduling coming up this week, so keep your eyes open!

Left 4 Dead-The Witch

The Witch: The zombie apocalypse is upon us-and unfortunately, it hasn't brought just one kind of zombie. It's brought a crap ton, including the most fatal variety, the Witch.

Inspiration: Left 4 Dead is the only zombie-related thing I like at all. All the survivors are enjoyable, and the different types of zombies are pretty cool too, my favorite being the Witch.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, and Pentalic watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #2

On today's Wildcard Wednesday, we can expect: Chell and Wheatley escaping warehouse hell miraculously. (New feature: sketches with a * will most likely be finished for Friday postings in the near future)

Project Pineapple #1: My sister is going to Doane College in the fall to pursue a future in acting. But to do this, she's taken a summer job to help pay for the gap in scholarship funds. It's been brutal for her. It's a warehouse job where for the first couple of weeks her feet her from all the walking around, she's solitary in her duties, and the job has been sucking away at her soul. So as part of a thing my family's been doing to help her feel better (called Project Pineapple, because Psych!), I'm making a comic that's based around her journey but set in an exaggerated, more fantasized setting with a character that can (hopefully) help her learn to stay strong through it all.

Miraculous Ladybug Sketch #2*: Oh, these two. Their love square sends me to bed in anguish every night like you wouldn't believe. Also, I found out that apparently they're going to release Miraculous comics July 21st, coinciding with San Diego Comic Con. And not only that, but they're also going to be extensions of the previously established Miraculous universe, so we'll be getting new stories! It's the perfect antidote for the season two wait.

Portal Sketch #1*: One of my biggest loves is Portal. I love the characters. I love the humor. I love the technology. I love the music. I love everything about these games! You can be sure to see more of these two plus GLaDOS in the near future.

Brief Update

Hi, M³ here! Just wanted to give a small update!
Last week I started my job. And as I've been making my way through training, I'm also waiting for a consistent work schedule to come. For this week, I'm gone for pretty much three days, including Friday, so I just want all to know that this Friday's finished art will not be coming at noon but instead later in the evening. I have Wednesday completely off, so I'm going to get in as much sketches and other such stuff for that day. Wednesday will be spent pushing finished art to completion for Friday.
Depending on how my schedule turns out, I may have to shift Friday's publishing time from noon to the evening. Or it might go back and forth. We'll just have to see. But no matter what, there will be finished art ready by then. I might even be able to get two pieces of finished art done by the end of this week!
Looking forward to giving you more stuff on Wednesday! And because I'm completely head over heels with it this week, there should be plenty of We Happy Few sketches and doodles coming up!

We Happy Few-The Bouquet

The Bouquet: Normally one gives bouquets to nosy old ladies or wastrels from the Garden District. But fellow Downers could always use a little cheering up themselves-and not from Joy.

Inspiration:  Up until yesterday, I'd never seen a bouquet interaction in all the gameplays and live streams I'd seen of We Happy Few. I finally amended that after watching LuCiGEN's live stream last night.

Also, we know little about Arthur, even less about Mad Scotsman, and absolutely nothing on Miss Thigh Highs. I'm dying to know how these three Downers' stories interweave with each other and to learn more about who each of them is.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #1

On today's Wildcard Wednesday, we can expect: Miraculous Erlking playing chess while offering a bouquet in Wellington Wells.

Erlking Sketch #1: This is another original concept I'm working on inspired by one of the most surreal dreams I've ever had. The basic plot is that Mallory Kean (left, the grumpy one) discovers that her sister Belle (middle) has been kidnapped by the Erlking (right) to become his bride. Mallory makes a deal to switch places with Belle so her sister can go back to the mortal realm. But how will Mallory escape? (Characters are still in early development)

Erlking Sketch #2: A less than pleasant interaction between Mallory and the Erlking.

Chess Sketch #1: This is another original concept I came up with. A few years ago, I was thinking about the fashion in the movie My Fair Lady and chess. So I came up with a bunch of original designs for human personifications of the chess pieces. And slowly but surely I've been working on a story for these characters. More will be revealed in further Chess sketches. From left to right are Lorenzo (black bishop), Emily (black pawn), and Arthur (black knight), comrades who often do intelligence work for the Black King, Ernest.

Miraculous Ladybug Sketch #1: I absolutely love Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir! (French dub, to be specific) And the only way to survive waiting for season two is to draw fan art. There'll be plenty of these going around, along with some finished pieces.

We Happy Few WIP #1: While waiting for the game We Happy Few, I've been drawing and revisiting a lot of gameplays and live streams. But I've never been able to see what happens when you offer a Wellie a bouquet. And the developers have said absolutely nothing about Miss Thigh High's character. With those two thoughts in mind, I'm making my way through a bouquet interaction between Arthur Hastings and Miss Thigh Highs.

Tommelise

Tommelise: This tiny little girl was once the naïve, adventuresome Thumbelina. But after all she's been through, her heart has been darkened, and she's out for revenge on all the animals and bugs that tried to control her life. You thought her marriage to the flower prince was the end? It's only the beginning…

Inspiration:  Last summer I watched a lot of YouTuber critics' reviews for Don Bluth's Thumbelina (which I've never seen before). Frustrated by how Thumbelina never seemed to help herself and just glided from one creepy bug/animal to another, I started coming up with an idea for a story in which she finally stands up for herself and gets some much needed revenge (Fun note: "Tommelise" is actually the Danish translation of her name). You'll see bits and pieces of the story and cast unfold in the Friday posts and Wildcard Wednesdays. I'm still unsure whether I want to develop this into a comic book series or an animated series.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Sharpie and Prismacolor illustrator pens and markers, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and markers.

Introducing Wildcard Wednesdays!

Hi, M³ here! Here's a little artist update I wanted to run by everyone!

Like I said in my first ever post, I will be posting at least one finished piece of art (original or fan-based) every Friday. But of course there are always lots of sketches and freebies done before then. Even as I am entering the new realm that is called the workforce, I will always be finding time to get art done, whether it be finished or unfinished.

So I've decided that I'm going to make Wednesdays "Wildcard Wednesdays". Basically, a Wildcard Wednesday will be full of unpolished character design sheets, thumbnails, rough sketches, doodles, WIP, and other such things. Some of them will be for fun, some of them may even be previews for what's to come on Friday. Either way, you'll get a more behind-the-scenes look at my art.

Because I'm going to be working soon, I can't say  how often I'll have Wildcard Wednesdays or what time of the day. For now, I can confidently say that there'll be at least one Wildcard Wednesday a month, but expect more than that. And while they might come at any time of the day, expect them to come usually in the late afternoon/evening.

So starting next week, keep your eyes out for Wildcard Wednesdays while waiting for Friday!