Long time no see, guess I've been a tad busy...First Post of 2016

So, what have I been up to all this time? Mostly just riding a wave of incoming work much like opening up a wardrobe full of ping pong balls, an analogy I've probably used before as an excuse but honestly since I haven't updated this blog since September 2015 I can't account for it... While it'd be awesome to have it something like this...

It's more like this

 So it's an election year, the worlds most powerful country is picking it's leader and it's every but as crazy as it's ever been, so what better than to begin this year's posting cycle with a digital caricature, as drawn lovingly on my new(ish) iPad pro (will be doing a video about it soon)  But the main comparison I drew was Donald J. Trump and Dragon Ball Z, both are:

• Hilarious and exciting to watch and have been around way longer than most people realise/would care to admit.
• Just when you think the bad guy has won the "David vs Goliath protocol" switch is thrown and the story ends with an insane fireworks display.
• Both seem to have massive fan bases despite an overall lack of substance.
•  It's all about machismo, yelling and psychotic hair.

  

The Commish: Majin Vegeta verses Goku fan art collage montage piece

Youtube was a fantastic resource for inspiration with this one, it was also a nice trip down memory lane.

I get some awesome commission requests. This is a work in progress I got asked to do from a fellow DBZ fan with some awesome classic anime taste.
I figured it was high time I showcased some of my side projects and that it's not all about the caricatures, though the caricatures are fun I love to branch out a bit. 
The piece is comprised of several separate smaller stand alone cartoons drawn in slightly differing styles.

Dragon Ball Zee Piccolo

One of my favourite characters in the animated series, and by that I mean the edited, English dubbed version that appeared on Cartoon Network during the 90's and early 2000's. (Apologies to the anime purists out there who prefer reading subtitles, but I find that annoying and distracting).
Piccolo the Namek was a bad guy turned good guy and quickly relegated to support cast cameo who'd stand around as one of the main character's would power up and say with a shocked expression "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!"Both building suspense and padding out a 22 minute episode nicely. Piccolo was kind of like a brooding green combination of Martian Manhunter and Batman to Goku's "Superman" 

Dragon Ball Z in 5 seconds

A brief disclaimer to manga fans and anime purists: I am not a hardcore fan in any respect with regards to this genre. I understand a lot is lost in translation from Japanese to English and much is left out during the editing process. I am comfortable not delving into the source material any further than it has been consumed in its current form. I do not read manga as the reading format makes me sea sick. Thank you. ^_^

ON THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE OF DRAGON BALL ZEEE!!!

I got into Dragon Ball Z when it appeared on Cartoon Network sometime in the late 90's mid 2000's and I was hooked pretty quick the stories were fun albeit predictable the homage to western pop culture references abounded and the simple three act of a hero being beat down, finding new power and beating the bad guy was fun to watch, insofar as some of the simplest tasks in the show took up to 5 episodes to complete.  

The story centres around Goku a Saiyan, an orphan refugee from the planet Vegeta, which suffered a similar fate to the planet Krypton where he crashes to earth in a pod subsequently found by a farmer who raises him as his son- cut a long story short theres an Earth that's in a near constant state of threat of annihilation and Goku is the only saviour.

Would transform into a giant baboon by the light of the moon...

Ya know what I'm Saiyan?

The episodes began getting repetitive when this guy came along. Cell, at this point my interest in the show was beginning wane as mundane plot threads kept cropping up and the needless cliffhanging made the pace of the show tedious and a chore at times to watch and at a total of 458 episodes for all series concerned that is not so much a dedication but an obsessive compulsive disorder. 

Complete with goofy hat and painted nails, like the Pope if he was an emo at the Mardi Gras dressed like a giant
beetle.

And after watching about as many "next exciting episodes" which ironically would begin like a serial with a recap of the previous episode and intercut with this:

EEEEAAAARRRGGGHHHH NEED... MORE... FIBRE... IN... MY... DIET!!!

were scenes of support cast members, and other minor characters making cameos standing around exclaiming "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

Pika Low

Wonder when my subscription will arrive?

Don't mind me, just Krillin Time

This show still holds a special place in my heart as an awesome example Japanese animated fun and of pure marketing prowess behind the mantra " Find out what people like, give them a lot of it! ". It's the one reason you can never "Catch'em all" in Pokemon, sure you may accept the challenge but it's not as though the reward is worth it if you do :P

Do you really need this many characters and episodes to tell such a simple story??

AHEM... >_O

...Maybe it's Maybelline 

Maybe he's born with it

Also the show had kind of a weird subliminal undertone...

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it...