Timelapse Toons

Seems fitting to really start making more short films based off my drawings, this is how a digital caricature commission takes shape, the music is the classic "Tarantella" song which has, for better or worse become the stereotype soundtrack of Naples Italy.

Subliminally yours: The COVID "Cute" Factor

"Friends aren't food"

-Bruce the Great White Shark, Finding Nemo.

Venom and Gwen, Dumb and Dumber: A Winter Tribute Fanart

Dumb and Dumber was, and is (despite the heartbreaking midlife crisis Jim Carrey happens to be currently going through) my favourite 90's era road trip movie. If you haven't seen it, think 'Of Mice and Men' if both protagonists are Lenny, and one of the films that cemented star, James Eugene Carrey in the hearts and minds of the movie going public as the funniest man alive. 

(Spoiler Alert: This miracle run of awesome luck wouldn't last long)

  

Of Ayn Rand and Audio Books

 

Been reading more during the lockdown since COVID 19 hit, and by "reading" I mean audio books because I still gotta work and, let's face it, I'm still working every day and just as easily distracted by everyday life to sit down and enjoy quietly reading a novel... 1st world problems, are still problems. 

August catch up...

Well it has been a while since I posted anything here, this year has for the most part been busy and it's been job after job. I guess busy is as busy does:
So as a personal challenge and a studio job had popped up I decided to do an exercise in drawing something other than caricatures and give digital painting

Vicki Curlz the Hipster Girl

The Lighning Wyrm, a concept piece I came up with based loosely on a pet axolotl I have.

Aladdin fan art... R.I.P Robin Williams 

Stylised realistic tiger, I ran out of time so I threw the "cut out" filter over the top and called it a day. 

Pokemon-th - A fan art retrospective by Ed Dyer -

Like many who grew up in the 80's and 90's we had pretty much an open buffet of pop culture to enjoy, for us it was a time when the internet was only just becoming available as the first dial up modems we're making their way into our homes, mobile phones (if any of us had them) could at best, play a grainy Gameboy display version of "snake".

 So television was king, not just for TV shows (which I'll get to down the track) but video games. In particular Pokemon burst onto the scene into the cultural zeitgeist and has been with us ever since.

So without further ado here's Pokemon-th counting backwards from #151 from the first version of Pokemon I played as a kid here's Mew and Mewtwo!

#151

Wearing pink is so 2005...

My brother was more into the game than I was, but I do remember Mew. Mysterious, bizarre and, like the majority of the smaller characters, pushing on the kawaii scale (a word I learnt when I attended the 2013 ISCA convention) 

Mew seemed to get top billing as the ultimate, but I still think Mewtwo is cooler.

#150

Mewtwo to me at least, felt like a cross between Frieza from DBZ and...

Hippety Hop from Looney Tunes.

Well that's it for today's Pokemon-th, tune in tomorrow for #149 and beyond...   

Void Berg

I got to playing Hearthstone late last year, and it's a fun little game which combines the competitive card game dynamics of 'Magic the Gathering' with the inevitable grind and frustration of the multiplayer losing streak. All without having to go out to the store and getting the physical cards.

When I first heard the Voidwalker's voice I was instantly reminded of Dr. Zoidberg from the show Futurama, which not only lives on in the form of internet memes, but strangely keeps getting better with age. 

Why? We may never know...

The Anime Director, a character design.

Stylistically I've always found anime fascinating so I thought it fitting to create a character based on the kind of artistic decisions that go into producing the weird and wonderful artform. 

Fright Instructor

I loves me a fun project and this one was no exception. Not only was it a great chance to draw something with a car but also an unusually specific list of specifications.

Little Grooty

I can't be the only one to notice the similarities, surely!

And this is the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

I remember I always wanted one of these as a kid, they used to be everywhere then they vanished... Until now.

Still haven't had a chance to see GOTG yet, this week has been super busy, I did my first gig teaching a Masterclass in Caricature at JMC academy among other preparations I've been doing for upcoming conventions. 

Sinestro a mashup style tribute piece

This piece was inspired by the game Infinite Crisis and the nickelodeon animated series Danny Phantom.

There's something about Sinestro, he's a good guy gone bad, he uses the power of fear which means he's "yellow" and he has this amazing "I know someone who looks a bit like him" character design. The last couple of weeks have been highly productive and hectic with new projects and gigs looming (I'm booked pretty much the entire of the month) it's rare to take the time and create something kind of fun for the sake of it. 

The 5th Wall

I released this one on my birthday, well technically the following day in Australia, smack bang between the Ides of March and St Patricks Day.

Zee Brush

I began teaching myself how to use Zbrush after seeing some amazing work done online using the program. I've always been an avid sculptor since my days studying fine art and clay, is my medium (with sculpty a close second) so when I discovered software like Maya and 3Ds Max used digital clay I was to say the least intrigued, then along came Zbrush and I knew I found it. :)

This is the first completed painted head sculpt I've made so far, it's a fan art piece of Batman villain Killer Croc. 

The character has a great unusual face to create as he has been reimagined as everything from an MMA fighter with a bad skin condition, to a talking dinosaur so though there's a few parameters the characterisation is a free for all .   I've done other pieces which I'll be posting soon to show my progress. 

The Fifth Wall.

Like being talking bears wasn't mind blowing enough.

I dug up some of my old single panel gag cartoons from years ago, I did a series of fairytale themed way back in the late 90's that needed a rework. So to kick off further 5th Wall additions here's my take on the old Brother's Grimm weird home invasion story we grew up with. 

The Great Giant Mango Heist

This is the first thing I thought of when I heard the news that the Big Mango was stolen earlier this week from it's tourist attraction spot in Bowen. 

It really seemed like the behaviour of a deranged super villain than a bored crane driver and a fast food franchise but yeah, ever since the giant fibreglass and steel monuments have been on lockdown ever since.

There's a whole bunch of "Big" things scattered across the country here's a few examples.

Admittedly, yes they are random but it's a special kind of random.


http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/crane-driver-fesses-up-to-role-in-big-mangos-disappearance-20140225-33dym.html

Voldemore or Less like him...

I honestly liked the first movie version better.

I never found the final version of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter movies all that intimidating, actor Ralph Finnes did a great job bringing the character to life but honestly I felt the makeup held back a lot when it came to making the main villain of the story more badass. He just didn't seem nearly as scary or snakelike enough. Though I never quite joined the Harry Potter band wagon my favourite character was Voldemort, but like with a lot of pop culture movie adaptations the live action films quite often fall short of their animated counterparts and honestly I felt the central antagonist of the movies could've been more cgi than simply just his nose.

These movies will be remade someday no doubt.

How does he smell? Awful?

One of the best parts of being a caricaturist and/or police sketch artist.

This is one of the weird quirks and anxieties of being a caricaturist, the old "it looks nothing like me" which happens every now and then (especially when someone's watching you behind your back) because honestly you never know how someone's going to react to a photo of themselves, much less a purposefully  exaggerated portrait, drawn by a stranger. When someone laughs out loud at my work I usually know instantly that the drawing was a hit, because that's what we do as caricaturists essentially we're telling a joke at someone else's expense like a roast, and if they get it, all the better. It's when you're met with a stunned silence or worse, blank indifference that's when it kind of hurts a bit. When all your practice, dedication and hard work is greeted with a "meh" reaction. Ah well that's the process.

Valentines Day with your "X" a fan art piece.

Gambit and Rogue from the 90's X Men animated series, one of the best and most complex relationships in comics.

Happy Valentines Day, ah who am I kidding... SUPER HAPPY FUN VALENTINES DAY ^____^
Though technically it was yesterday in Australia, I figured I may as well publish this one when the other side of the world celebrates. I picked Gambit and Rogue in their 90's costumes as they appeared in the animated series and X-men vs Street Fighter (one of the greatest fighting games of that era)  because for me, it made them far more iconic and memorable. Rogue is an awesome character because of her power absorbing power and Gambit is awesome because he speaks in a Cajun accent and carries a big stick, he can also throw playing cards charged with kinetic energy like shurikens. 

The Fifth Wall

I came up with the idea for the comic a few years ago but never really did anything with it so I figured why not give it another go. So expect more on the way.

Cheers

Ed  :)

The Desolation of Scrooge

I always thought 'Smaug' rhymed with 'Cyborg' as a kid.

I'm back to doing fan art pieces now that the holidays have wrapped up for another year and I can focus on creating some stuff for my own amusement really but I always gotta share my newest work.
Despite what reviewers, source material purists, and those folks who always feel the need to chime in with their "the book was better" speech might say; I thoroughly enjoy the mightily padded, 3 part Hobbit epic movie extravaganza. The encounter with Smaug, (which is pronounced differently to how I remember it as a kid) reminded me of the massive money vault of Scrooge McDuck from Duck Tales.  

Low key

I regret nothing!! XD