The Alphabet Challenge | K

K is for Knuckles the Echidna

With the intentions of drawing a character from Sonic the Hedgehog, I has a space available in K so it was granted to Knuckles. Now I actually can mimic the sonic the hedgehog style quite alright, you may have seen a sketchy example before but I had different intentions with this one which didn't pay.

It's not so much the posture I'm against but the fact that I deviated from the traditional Sonic the Hedgehog style just for the sake of making Knuckles look a bit more buff (of course not to the extent that Sonic Boom has shown us).

I know lately my methods have not been very diverse but that is because at the moment most of my supplies are all over the place due to a much needed clearing out. Intend to break from pen ink and watercolour pencil for the next one and maybe do something more original in the next peice. For those of you who have stuck with me throughout this period, I appreciate it very much and hope to bring you more interesting content soon.

Have you seen the letter J? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for L coming soon!

Mermageddon

A work in progress of a rather humorous piece, although to be honest I can't guarantee finishing it!

It was a random thought process, I must have seen a picture of a mermaid to think this up, I know I was watching a sketchbook video and my brain just linked it to Armageddon. It could become a fairly good concept but in the meantime it remains here as a silly drawing that I did one morning. I promise you I have some more interesting content coming up soon, it's just a difficult period for making the time to create anything at the moment.

On the bright side, this would make a pretty good 'draw this again' some time.

Character Designs - New Fiction Idea

Nothing special today. It's just three character designs that were created for an idea I had on the day. None but the man are named yet, so meet Felix Fisher. This character plays the role of next door neighbour in the idea concocted.

As for the other two, they'll live in the house of focous. I am not yet ready to give an explanation for this idea as it is taking it's baby steps but after some development it should grow into a stronger concept. These are most probably not the final designs and you'll get to see their designs develop in future.

Style Swap | Codename: Kids Next Door vs Sonic The Hedgehog

Yes, this is actually a thing now. I promise to provide an explanation.

Having seen both of these art styles, I noticed some minor similarities and thus was tempted to draw characters from their franchises in the other's style, like the style swap I did some time ago. Here sees Nigel Uno and Sonic The Hedgehog swapping placed. For the most part Nigel comes out perfectly,  looking like a decent design for the Sonic universe. As for Sonic, while his design may not be as appealing to look at, it at least looks like it would belong in the world of KND.

Who do you think wore which style better? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Miraculous Ladybug Redesign?

By now, I'm sure quite a few people are aware of the 'Miraculous Ladybug', a recent cartoon that has gained a lot of approval. I myself have watched a number of episodes having heard about the series and would consider myself a fan. A few days back I had it in my mind to create my own design for the costume because as much as I like the official design, I wouldn't mind seeing a design that doesn't belong in the silver age.

So just about nothing is changed about the headpiece, with the exception of giving Marinette red lipstick to allow the use of fewer colours in her design. And there wasn't much changed in her spandex onesie, I kept the spots on her limbs but added a section of black spandex in the middle of her torso with a ladybird logo on that chest. I was thinking of giving her a utility belt which the yo-yo would sit on but at the time of drawing this I had no way of collecting any references so that was made impossible.

Admittedly this design is not as original as I'd like it to be. While I didn't have any references present, there was a redesign I had seen in the past that influenced a lot of what was done here. I did want to give Marinette some ladybug like wings on her back but it spoiled her silhouette. Perhaps until I come up with my own and a better bronze age design I'll stick to her trademark spandex polka dot onesie.

The Alphabet Challenge | J

J is for Jelly and Jackson

I was tempted to do The Joker, but I suppose many people have done that already. So instead I went back into the past and found this legendary duo, one of the BBC'S greatest children's creations in it's latter days. The Story Makers sparked the beginning of the dynamic puppet duo of Jelly and Jackson, who went on to appear as special guests and co-presenters in other productions such as the Spring and Autumn watch documentaries produced exclusively for Cbeebies.

I don't hear of these two getting much attention anymore and so I thought it'd treat them to this entry in the Alphabet Challenge. This piece was made differently from the rest as I actually marked my lines last. I decided to actually apply the colours prior to inking and it mostly worked out well.

There's not much else I can say about this, it didn't take me long to make because I wanted to get this out in time. But I got to experiment and that's really what matters with this piece.

Have you seen the letter I? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for K coming soon!

Expect Some Turbulance

Hello all, Droey here!

I'm just making this post to inform you that I'm going to be very busy for a few weeks and  this means that if I get time to draw at all it will be very little. As a result I probably won't be able to post regularly, but I promise that I will be making a comeback. This is only a temporary absence that is of high priority. Enjoy yourselves in the mean time and I shall return again soon!

Style Swap #1 | Can you guess whose it is?

Over the last month I came up with this brilliant concept and it may be one I return to. I watch a number of artists on YouTube and know a number of artistic styles in cartoons and more that I would like to try. Then the idea came to me, what if I were to draw myself in their style and the style's creator/mascot in my own? Well the result would come out like this.

Just so people know, unfortunately this is not a collaboration with the artist who created the other style. I did both of these drawings. The swap is a concept, not a literal swap.

I'm not going to say whose style I have attempted here, I'm going to let you people guess it. And if the unmentioned creator of the style sees this, then I hope I have done your art style justice. My only nitpick would be that I didn't get to do their style digitally, which is how it is usually presented. 

As for the left drawing, had I waited a few weeks longer I'd be able to give her a full costume that wasn't a mashup of a couple of drawings. I may have to draw her again just for that reason, but I reckon she still looks great like this and I hope she would agree.

Would you like to see more of this? Which styles would you like me to attempt? Be sure to let me know and maybe I'll get around to trying them out.

Character Design | A cybernetic forest demon?

Over a year ago, for an idea separate to anything yet seen on this blog, I was inspired by the YouTube artist 'Draw With Jazza' to make the antagonist cybernetic demon. The only element of my design that actually matches Jazza's is the use of magnetic orbs.

At that time I went around and took a similar process, looking up demons and cybernetic features, trying to make a design I was satisfied with and at the time I was. But looking back on it now I knew it needed to be redesigned if ever to be brought up again. So I've taken a slightly different route than was intended with the original design and create this A4 sheet of sketches towards the final character design, one I might share when he is complete.

I shan't reveal his name or anything else about him for now because I'm not sure where I sit with his project at the moment. This redesigning work is an attempt to get myself hyped for it again and see if I can make it work. I just felt proud of this particular character design so I had to share it with you all.

Be sure to let me know what you think of this design, there's probably more to come from this guy!

Leonardo

Before this year began I had drawn this piece with all four turtles but it was until last month that it was actually worked on any further, my reason being was that I had been awaiting the arrival of some new fine liners which I received recently. And with that I did one thing I had particularly wanted to so, isolate this part of the drawing.

I like to think that I favour each of the turtles equally, but when it comes to drawing them Leonardo is a clear favourite. I scanned the drawing of him and used some tips I had learnt from DrawingWiffWaffles about using gradients and cell shading. The colour scheme is primarily based on the 80's TV cartoon incarnation, but his skin and blue come from the Nickeloden 2012 Leonardo.

I can't find the original pose that I drew inspiration from to create this, but I can tell you it was of the Mirage Leonardo in a black and white piece. You may notice a lack of fingers on his hand and this is because the style I was drawing in was more simplistic, but the feet are identical in style to the Drawson style I use today.

I'm sorry to say that I will not be doing this for all four of the turtles and that this is only for Leonardo. But when I finish the full piece I might put it up on the blog for you to see.

Cartoon Conspiracy | Inspector Gadget : Dr. Claw's Identity? [It's Not Gaget!]

Hello everyone. Don't worry, it's not that I'm slacking but I felt it might be worth sharing this theory with you. It's one I have recently came up with, and I might not even be the first to have this theory but the only way to be sure is to share it. Please let me know what you think of this and if you'd like to see topical posts like this in the future. Without further ado, onto the main topic.

Who is Dr. Claw?

The commonly believed theory is that Dr. Claw is no other than the Inspector Gadget himself, or more accurately the pre-gadget incarnation of said character. This theory itself makes sense and is a strong concept but I think it's time for a new theory to dawn, one that might just make more sense! Dr. Claw is not Inspector Gadget, but is instead his evil brother! Now hang in there, please hear me out.

I know that this sounds like, the classic evil brother trope, how does this make sense? There are a few elements I can use in my favour for this theory. I will not be including the live action films, as these are only related to the cartoon as a brand, not a continuity. But any merchandise including the face of the original cartoon's Inspector Gadget will be included as these may at the least be intended to align in continuity with the original show.

Talon

With the exception of the original cartoon, all continuities attempt to establish a family for Dr. Claw. Examples include Dr. Thaw the brother, Talon the nephew. However I haven't found anywhere in the original for Dr. Claw to be confirmed as an only child, as Talon doesn't make any contradictions. For Talon to exist, Claw needs a brother [I'm not saying that Gadget is his dad, that's highly unlikely]. For my theory to be correct there would need to be three brothers. I'm sure fans of the Gadgetinis will try to fill this spot with Dr. Thaw, but I'm not including that series in this theory.

Penny

Penny is the most crucial point to this theory, the reason it spawned in the first place. Everybody knows that Penny is Inspector Gadget's niece, which means Gadget is not an only child either. Yet there is never any mention or sighting of her parents. This stems the question of 'where or who' about Penny's parents. And that's when it dawned upon me.

As is routine in the show, Dr. Claw's minions kidnap Penny yet no harm is ever done to her, even if Dr. Claw knows about her kidnapping. And then once Penny has foiled his plans and Gadget has taken the credit, Dr. Claw will always blame Gadget for his failures. My point is Dr. Claw never expresses any hatred towards Penny. Now either he has a soft spot for the youthful like Jason Todd and refuses to mess with kiddies or there is a closer connection to Penny then the show tells us. This is where people assume Dr. Claw is Gadget, but this is where I'm going to assume Dr. Claw is Penny's biological father and therefore Gadget's brother.

Face Reveal

Now this is where some of you will probably shake your head, but I'm going to discuss Dr. Claw's face reveal. That's right, we know what his face looks like and it has been used in three separate pieces of Inspector Gadget merchandise. When looking at his face, you will see a resemblance but not an exact likeness to Gadget. The hairstyles are similar, the head shape is similar. All is similar enough to be interpreted as a brother to Inspector Gadget.

How Does This Add Up?

Okay, so I have some puzzle pieces and now it's time to fill in the holes. This is how I believe this works.

We start with three brothers. One is Dr. Claw, another is Gadget and the third remains anonymous. I'm going to get the third brother out of the way quickly. Let's say that in the 2015 cartoon, Dr. Claw has successfully eliminated the third brother and taken custody of his nephew Talon, to fill the gap of not having a child.

And now for the bit you've been waiting for. As the better guardian for Penny, Gadget was granted custody of her so Dr. Claw has devoted his life to getting his revenge on Inspector Gadget and retrieving his daughter by any means necesarry. Dr. Claw successfully eliminates him but Gadget is then resurrected as a RoboCop style experiment and so his every action haunts Dr. Claw to the point of using MAD solely to destroy this robotic replica.

As for Talon? Well if we really do include him in this theory, perhaps his enrollment in MAD was simply to act as a lure for Penny to join MAD and be ultimately reunited with her father, assuring the demise of Inspector Gadget once and for all... okay let's be honest that point probably sounds better than the whole theory!

So What Do You Think?

Does this all add up and make sense? Is there anything I'm missing or do not know? Be sure to let me know your opinions and theories in the comments. And if you would like me to do another one of these, what topics would have in mind? Bear in mind please it's best I keep it relevant to art or the world of fiction.

Has Penny gone MAD?

Had you thinking there was no art today didn't I? Well truth be told there wasn't going to be but I couldn't resist making a piece to go with this theory. Thank you if you've made it this far!

The Alphabet Challenge | I

I is for Inspector Gadget

I haven't known this character for that long really and I certainly had no memory of watching the show or even knowing about it in my youngest years. But nevertheless it grew on me and I respect both the original and current incarnations of this cartoon. This is actually the first time I've drawn this character or any Inspector Gadget paraphernalia so I'm pretty happy with the results!

This was a fun entry to compose for multiple reasons. Firstly, because of Inspector Gadget's limitless gadgets, I could have drawn this character doing just about anything which gave me a wide list of options for which gadgets I should get him to use. I settled on the classical detective's magnifying glass and police badge and then because temptation told me to, I had to add one of his skis!

The other reason this was such a fun piece to create is that it was made up of materials all brand new. As some of you may know I recently got hold of some Micron liners, but what nobody yet knows is that I also got myself a set of 36 watercolour pencils so that I didn't have to rely on the few old crayola ones I found lying around. It's probably obvious that I'm still learning but watercolour pencils are becoming a quick favourite. I think there are only two places where the colours bleed beyond the outline, but if I ever get hold of some thinner paint brushes that might put an end to the problem.

Have you seen the letter H? If not you can check it out via my page for the 'Alphabet Challenge' as well as previous entries. Look out for J coming soon!