i-freakin' spy

I'll say it: this topic sucked with a capital UCKED. I mean it, I almost blew it off I was so miffed, but Sweet Enemy and Andre Zero talked me into doing it. Because of the existence of the game, an illustration could be about literally anything. I suppose it's a gimme to those who just drag out any old work they've got lying around; now they won't have to work so hard to retro-fit the work into the title. So, I figured I'd do just that. Doodling at work again, I came up with this unicycle robot and decided to just throw him at the topic. Luckily, he also has a single giant eye, and could also be a spy-bot. So, there you go.



I also did another just for this. I think in the future, if another cheesy, vague topic like this rears its ugly head, I think I'll be forced to use an equally cheesy weapon: soft-core pornography. I spy with my little eye something that begins with 'B':



This could be She-Hulk, but if Marvel Comics calls, it's a Martian.

Ok. To show I'm not completely angry, here's a funny story. In the early eighties, my mom and her friend were hanging out in a diner with her friend's seven-year-old son. The kid, who was pretty damn funny little kid, started playing "I Spy" and the adults played along. Because it was a seven-year-old, it was pretty easy to stump him. It was, until he announced that he spied with his little eye "something that begins with 'V'!". They looked around. They could see nothing in the diner that started with 'V'. Finally, they gave in. The little guy beamed triumphantly as he raised his Fisher-Price action figures in the air and exclaimed: " 'Venture People!"You'd only get that if you're over 35 or so.

jonesing

Oh my god! It's 1450hrs EST and there's no new IF topic! ARRRGHH! I need my fix!

What a selfish bastard I am, yes? I hope nothing's happened to Penny.

If nothing happens, I'll just have to use one of the topics I've submitted that haven't been used. Or, maybe I'll use something from my List for a title.

Total

I so wasn't in the mood for a super-vague topic this week. I had a comic to get finished for a contest. More accurately: I had a comic to stress about. I don't think I have a snowball's chance, but I had to try. I ended up creating what is, up to now, my best sequential work. We'll see if it will be up to the task.

I was also having a stressful time at work. Made even more stressful by the fact that I could find no actual reason for being stressed! I got a raise last week, my boss gave me 'exceeds expectations' on all but one of my performance review sections (the other was 'meets expectations'), and people seem to think my designs are great. And yet, I was stressed out.

That makes me an idiot.

Anyhoo. This week's post is actually titled: "Total Loss". I had no ideas for this topic at all. Then, in a stress-free moment today at work, I sketched this out. Then, It was an hour and a half from sitting down with the blue pencil to saving the JPEG. Now, that's a quickie.



And yes, that is a drawing of my actual desk.

non-IF

So, I was suddenly inspired to create a small sequential work. It is based off of the old Pirate vs Ninja meme from way back when. I think it would be neat if we could get a sort of a comic meme based off of this. I'd like to see some ideas.

Here's a link rather than the image because it is a long JPEG. GO!

Comments?

Wired

Well, I'm a day past my personal deadline. I was and am still caught up working on a piece for a sequential art contest. It is taking lots of time, effort and the very last dregs of my skills to complete.

This week. I started with a left-field idea for 'wired' and did a sketch. Then, I decided to turn it into a comic. This comic then grew to about 15 panels. I could not work on that and this contest entry. However, I had to do SOMETHING. So, here is a second-stage sketch of the heavily edited version of the comic that was inspired by a small sketch.

So, there.

Hide

Ooo! Ooo! Do I get some sort of No-Prize for having two (maybe three) references to the topic in a single illustration?

No?

Crap. I never win nothin'

So, I decided to stick with flat colors because shading it, even cel-style would have muddied it. The background is a cheat, but it needed... something. Whenever I use any kind of gradient/airbrush when shading in photoshop, I feel like I'm cheating. I'm not sure why, but it does.

I was originally planning on having this character surrounded by wolves. Maybe at a wolf cocktail party. But Sweet Enemy pointed out the Far Side-ness of that and a stuck with portrait. There is certainly nothing wrong with The Far Side, but it wouldn't have been a good enough joke for an homage.



I also want to share that I got a new toy. I've gone backwards in time and bought a Twin-Lens Reflex camera. Does anyone else use one of the marvelous things? Oh, feel the mechanical goodness!