I am really slow with this series (but I do want to finish it), because I still think they have a lot in common. Especially these two. Because you can totally see Tala and Chirrut egging each other, and of course, helping their friends in their own way.
One of my goals for 2018 is to make more art. Not just for Writer’s Block (that you can read at tapas.io/series/Writersblock) or Dream Keeper Robin (every monday, tapas.io/series/Dreamkeeperrobin) but also just because. So I started doing some cute half naked guys and decided to share the first one with you.
Copic markers with Aquarelle pencils and a little bit of gel white pen.
Back when I was doing fanzines in 1996, I wanted to do EVERYTHING. Like, I couldn’t choose one genre and stick to it. So, when Lyonesse (That it’s in the Old Projects tab if you’re curious) was going to end, I cranked designs for about 5 different stories, draw two pages of it, and put it up to vote among the 300/400 readers that the Anime fanzine I edited with Gabriela Maya had. (Maybe there were more readers, I’ve got to admit that I never knew exactly how many people read us. I just knew they bought the fanzine at comic book stores, and that we had subscribers from all over the country).
R.E.D. -Professional Thieves, Anonymous Society- was not one of the most popular of those ideas, but I had a soft spot for them. I’ve always loved heist stories, so… I just wanted to do one. I just never developed them further after they lost (Out of the five, they were second to last in the voting process, although it was maybe due to the fact that it was the last preview we ran), even if I loved heists, mostly due to the fact that I finally debuted professionally around then and I started doing a lot more shojo stories. (They appeared in a Conque Convention special magazine, kidnapping the organizer, and in another one for the same convention stealing everything from the booths. I wish I still had those pages to show you guys)
(Of course, while the watercolor I did was directly based in their original looks, except for Diamond whom I decided looked a lot better with darker skin, If I do go back to a heist-based idea, it would not be women in brightly colored jumpsuits. THAT particular trend should’ve stayed in the 80’s)
When I drew this 9 images, I was still on top of my inktober deadline. And that was even stopping to read some of the books that I hadn’t read in a long time.
Some of these are my favorites, like Carrie and Margaret White, and of course, Annie Wilkes. Again, what I love about Stephen King is that his women are full characters, not just cardboard tropes.
This was the first year I could complete Inktober (Ok, so I was a bit late due to my trip to Orlando and Spooky Empire, but I did finish). Most of the reasons why, I think, was because I choose a subject I was passionate about, and that I hadn’t had the chance to draw much: Stephen King’s amazing female characters.
So here it’s the first part of the Inktober set, now scanned and cleaner than when I took photos for Instagram. I hope you like them as much as I did.
Anthropomorphization is really fun. I get why people draw animals, emotions, objects, and even subway lines as people. Me? Well, everyone knows I love Stephen King´s books so I decided to go ahead and turn some of his most famous haunted houses into people.
This original set is only four houses, but I might do others later on. I kind of have my heart set on making Room 1408, the Marsten House, the Pet Semetary and Al´s dinner.
29 Neibolt Street used to be very unknown to the non-King reading public because her one appearance had been cut from the 1990 It´s adaptation, but she was rescued from oblivion by the 2017 adaptation. Neibolt is a very old house, that even in the 50’s was completely abandoned. But just like Pennywise’s disguise, her depilated appearance was a magnet for adventurous kids. Of course, this makes her even more dangerous, as most adults didn’t even consider warning their kids away from her. After all, going into an empty house was kind of a fun dare back in the day, wasn’t it?
The Overlook, on the other hand, is probably the most infamous of Stephen King’s Haunted Buildings. And for very good reasons. Even when “dormant”, this hotel has had his share of victims over the years, and while some say that it’s “mostly” safe, it seems that no one leaves untouched one way or another (For that, read Misery. Or Dr. Sleep. Or the actual chapter in the book where the story of the hotel is explored in depth). Like Hotel California, for some people, once you check in, you can never check out.
Rose Red is also not very well known, because she’s not exactly from a book. She’s from the TV miniseries of the same name written and produced by King, and heavily based on the Winchester’s House. I love her because she’s a bit of a brat, demanding attention in some deadly ways, and throwing tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants. She was also the house that inspired me to make this series, because although we see a ton of ghosts inside her, the series makes it clear that she’s a different entity, and a very malicious one at that.
Finally, for this series, we have Dark Tower. Now, she’s not technically a haunted house, but she is a King building, so… she’s here. Also, she’s the center of everything, so she stays.
She also is not evil, depending on when you reach her. Or where you reach her, so I had to show that too. As you can see, I had a lot of fun with her and her hair.
The horsemen of the Apocalypse, Hunger, Famine, Pestilence and War.
They were supposed to be supporting characters in Writer´s Block, but they’re so fun to draw (And, I guess given Mandi’s scripts, to write) that they started to appear more and more so now they’re sometimes shown more often than the actual main characters.
These were some of the very first color illustrations I made of them. They were made individually, for last year’s Day of the Death. It started with Thanatos, because, of course Thanatos would look amazing as a Catrin, then Carmen (who had been already established as LOVING Mexico and Mexican food), then Mahlon who was still finding his personality, and finally Janna whose white hair sometimes is a challenge to draw.
These images can be bought as bookmarks in our site, and pretty soon we will also have the print for sale too.
This started as a joke.
I went to watch Moana and fell in love with the movie. But in particular, I fell in love with Hei Hei because he reminded me so much of my cat, Dakota (Seriously, Dakota will lick the floor next to her full food plate. And get lost in a straight line with a perfect view of my apartment door). Next week, I went to watch Rogue One and cried my eyes out. My favorite character there was K2SO because I love surly androids.
Then I was made aware that both are voiced by Alan Tudyk. Of COURSE I had to draw them together. And as I was doing the design, I got the idea to make it like an old time tattoo. And while I was looking for a phrase to give them, I decided that both were quite heroic in their series (although I admit, my first sketch had K2 asking Hei Hei how it was that HE survived and K2 didn’t), and thus the True Heroes was born.
But THEN I choose to do it in colored pencils, which takes a while. And while I was coloring it… I realized that Moana and Rogue One had a LOT in common besides the greatest voice actor ever. So this became a series. Next post, you’ll see what I mean with that.
And here we finish the Wonder Princess saga (For now) with my favorite. Mulan.
I mean, don’t get me wrong: Moana is amazing and currently my #2. Rapunzel is really cool. Merida is great. But the very first princess that said “EFF this” to the whole “Damisel in distress/finding true love” was Mulan, and omg, I loved her from the very first second.
And well, she gets my favorite suit for Diana ever. The gorgeous Diana Trevor armor that Diana wears during the trial of the Gods arc, designed by George Perez. An arc that finally explains why Diana’s suit is based around the stars and bars.
And well, with this one being the last, I’ve got to ask: Would you like to see them ALL together in just one image?
Another honesty moment: I don’t like Pocahontas. It’s my third least liked Disney Movie, one that I haven’t been able to watch complete (I have to stop around Colors of the Wind. Beautiful song… the context makes me ugh). Mostly because it’s based on a real story of a real girl who definitively didn’t go the way Disney says, and then because it’s kinda… whitewashing all the horrors that native americans went through.
That said: Her character design is GORGEOUS. Sure, the clothes need a bit of work to avoid the sexy savage trope, but her face, her hair, her movement… everything looks so beautiful. If she was in a completely different story, I would love her to pieces.
Of course, I couldn’t put her in the american flag colors. Call me old fashioned but… I feel that’s kind of disrespectful to what Native Americans go through even to this day. So thinking about how to include her in the Wonder Princess line up without putting her in red, white and blue, I remembered Maria Mendoza.
Created by Stan Lee for the Just Imagine Stan Lee creating the DC Universe, Maria Mendoza is a different Wonder Woman from Diana. She’s a native from Peru, she’s an activist against the people who want to destroy her Incan roots, and with the help of the staff of Manco Capac, she gets the powers of the Incan Sun God. Tell me that’s not really cool?
And of course, as her suit doesn’t involve the american flag… She was perfect for Pocahontas.
