Morrigan Bewitched a fan art

Every minute of every day inspiration can and often simply lunges from out of nowhere; usually in the form of a day dream or even as I'm trying to drift off to sleep (which is even worse).

So up until the time I had a phone on which I could keep and record notes this quite often resulted in some kind of panicked search for a pen and a scrap of paper.

I'm a big fan of fighting games, I'm not terribly good at playing them though the "Angry Button Mash Combo" and the "Rage Quit" are some of my specialities. If you've ever played one of these games you know exactly what I mean, one minute you're using muscle memory and reflexes to play then all of a sudden BOOM! Calculous Pop Quiz!     

Darkstalkers is one of those fighting games that is pretty close to having it all, take some awesome anime re-imaginings of classic monsters and have them duke it out Street Fighter style. Like the accidentally discovered recipe for chocolate chip cookies, there's a justified sublime genius to it. 

The Xavier Institute Fightin' Wolverines

I based the design for this fan art piece on the Notre Dame Fightin' Irish mascot.

Like many of my drawings these ideas begin life as sketches on paper.

I've always been fascinated by the design that goes into the mascot characters of sports teams, for the most part as a kid with only a mild interest in sport it was the only thing I found that appealed to me.

The logo is not only a sweet cartoon of a stocky, quick-tempered leprechaun stereotype it's also one of the most geometrically balanced caricatures I've ever seen. So naturally when I saw it I thought Wolverine.

Ed Dyer's Amazing Live Caricatures: Some pics from the Booth 2014

As I haven't really gotten around to putting up my work that I produce at the park I figured it was high time that I did. So basically playing catch up to an entire back log of caricatures I've drawn for "The Place with the Face". In the last couple of months the booth has gone through a couple of aesthetic upgrades mainly as I'm attempting to get the digital caricatures up and running as a feature and updating the look and layout of my display I've been kind of swamped, also in February I found a new program that I've gradually been teaching myself how to use so yeah, been a bit busy.

You know who's viewtiful? You're Viewtiful!

Viewtiful Joe is one of those characters that tends to jump out at you, I stumbled upon his original game back in '03 and later in Marvel vs Capcom 3, which in terms of the fighting game genre, is like peanut butter and chocolate i.e. Some things just belong together! :D 

The game pits the established classic line up of well known and assorted obscure characters of the Marvel universe against the mixed bag of awesome that is the Capcom universe, which is a series of arcade tag team fighters that followed the Xmen vs Street Fighter game I remember playing when I was 12. 

It was a big deal conquering it for the fist time with Gambit and Dhalsim (up until that point I had been quickly annihilated in the single player tournaments, never being able to make it to the boss) I found the combination of the tag-team and easy to execute super moves not only made the game playable for the casual rookie, but truly awesome to watch. 

A perfect, subtle blend of pure nostalgia and adrenaline.

As he already has a big head and a little body caricaturing him is somewhat redundant, but is still a lot of fun to draw and as a spare piece of card the size of a largish coaster was around I had to make a piece for the helmet and pink chiffon scarf wearing superhero.

Happy New Year 2014!

That being said as the title, yes I'm aware that the shelf life of saying "Happy New Year" to strangers and loved ones expires faster than fries after going cold and being temporally resuscitated in the microwave. I felt I needed to write more this year too, and keep my resolutions modest achievable and above all not some bucket of approval chum for my compliment fishing trip. So I decided to kick off the new year with an idea I hit upon in 2012 called the Pin Up Pop Culture Princesses (Pop Culture Pin Up Princesses as they were originally billed) I figured it's high time I brought back an old favourite.

I'm training myself to draw more dynamic poses, animate more and sign "2014" as the year, baby steps. 

Cammy, is a gorgeous and thoughtfully designed fighter from the Street Fighter franchise (a game I've loved watching my arse get kicked at, by far better players since I was a kid). The deal with Cammy is multi layered, she's got camouflage gear and paint on (get it? Cammy-flauge lol) she also brings a little bit of balance to an otherwise totally male dominated game series; with this pose I was going for kind of a dynamic version compared to some of my other pin ups which seem a tad static, sedentary she's more like a dancer and I'll be posting a finished coloured version at some later date. 

  

Commish

Avenger Time, heroes: Wasp

Didn't think I'd forget the girls did ya? The initial sketch I drew for Wasp accompanied the original sketch I did for the Hulk, as a size comparison she worked but honestly I felt needed to be a stand alone piece so I redrew and coloured her costume different.

Avenger Time, heroes: Hulk

It's been a full year since I made anything with an Avengers theme as a fan art project so I thought I'd draw them all in a more dynamic pose. And yes I did start with my favourite. Hulk is a big green fighting machine and he's heaps of fun to draw. 

V for Vanessa fan art

V for Vanessa

From the sketch book sessions, I had the concept floating around for a while but basically a series of female versions of classic superheroes. So I began here.

The Cobb Book some early influences

The copy was a bit beat up but still an awesome book.

For both a wonderful cutting sense of political humour and cynicism coupled with a strong drawing technique Ron Cobb was an early influence on a lot of my concept art. The book, myself and my brother inherited from our dad was a little bit worn but still readable. It contained a lot of the political cartoons (which were produced mostly during the 1970's) were somewhat dated, many, viewer discretion would be advised; we'd never seen such amazingly detailed cartoon work as kids.

Caricature of late entertainer Tiny Tim.

When I discovered this guy not only worked on the original Star Wars as a concept artist but came up the look for the Ithorian. He was also honoured by having one named after him.

Roron Corobb

A good Hart

I discovered Jessica Hart wondering through the shopping centre (she's model on the portmans store) and I was captivated by her for... Well, you get the idea. :) 

Batsy,

Made me think...

I saw the movie Hotel Transylvania a few weeks back, probably my favourite Halloween theme inspired animated movie since Nightmare Before Christmas and my favourite Adam Sandler movie since Happy Gilmore. This little character just kind of popped into my head as this refreshing blast of traditional vampire aesthetic came through like an uninterrupted parade of awesomeness via my TV. 

Supanova Sydney 2013

One thing I love about this kind of work is the anticipation and the big reveal at the end- it's one of the many perks of the job. I would like to thank my assistant extraordinaire Jasmin for not only these great process shots but these reaction shots to my work. :)

I prefer to draw an under sketch for each of my drawings, helps with composition and minimises a lot of potential mistakes. 

I love the reaction I get from showing my work. 

My caricatures have become simpler and more cartoony over the years and reflect my animation background more. I approach caricatures more like a character designer.

 Professional tip for the aspiring caricaturist: Unless otherwise specified, always draw women beautiful and awesome :).