Dat's My Boy!

I decided to go back and do some more of the Hanna-Barbera characters in the same style. Here we have Augie Doggie and his Doggie Daddy.

Doggie Daddy & Augie Doggie

One of the great things about most of the Hanna-Barbera characters is how their voice actors (Daws Butler in particular) are just doing very thinly veiled impressions of random famous people from the time. Yogi Bear is Art Carney, Snagglepuss is Burt Lahr, and Doggie Daddy is the great Jimmy Durante. Yet despite the strong resemblance in the sound of their voices, the characters still manage to be completely original as well as timeless. If someone asks you to do a Yogi Bear impression, it doesn't cross your mind for a second that Yogi Bear is sort of doing an impression himself. You just go, "Heeeyy Boo-Boo!" and then wonder who that weirdo was asking you to talk like a cartoon bear.

Peeyoosa!

The Star Wars films are filled with several moments that could be described as "iconic."
For example, when Luke watches the twin suns set, or when Leia tells Han she loves him as he's lowered into carbonite, and he responds, "I know."

These are subtle little moments that give us a lot of information about who the characters are and what's going on with them.

And then, good ol' Jar Jar Binks strolls along and steps in a piece of animal crap. Also iconic, though probably not EQUALLY iconic. It does, however, give us some information about the character: He's an idiot. You know... in case anyone was still wondering.

And just as that annoying piece of poo clung to the gungan's giant feet, so does Jar Jar himself stick to one of the most beloved franchises in movie history, forever associated with those iconic moments. 

All of that said, ...he is a lot of fun to draw! Here's to you, Mr. Binks!

Meet Gertrude

Back in October, I made a poster for a friend, featuring a bunch of adorable little Halloween characters that I came up with. Here's a closer look at one of those characters. The Little Specter with a lot of Spunk! - Gertrude!!

Yeah. The Specter with Spunk thing is kinda cheesy. How about... the Poltergeist with Pizazz?

The Ghost with the Goods?

Ooh! I know! The Apparition with Appeal! ...with Allure? ...Alignment?

The VAPOR WITH VIGOR!!!
All right. I'll stop.

Pete and Penny Penguin

I've always been a fan of theme park characters. I don't know why exactly. There's just something... I dunno, "magical" about standing next to some stranger with a big foam head. When I was a kid, I actually got butterflies in my stomach while walking up to meet one at whatever theme park I was at. What am I saying? I STILL get the butterflies! It's weird.

I don't know if they're still around or not, but SeaWorld used to have "Shamu and Crew" which were their Meet-and-Greet characters based on the beloved Orca and several other sea animals. My favorites were Pete and Penny Penguin. There's no real reason why they're my favorites, I guess, other than the fact that I like penguins and they're penguins.

Dolly the Dolphin would probably be my second favorite, simply because
of her incredibly creative name.

And so, as is the case with many little pieces of yesteryear floating around in my head, I decided to draw Pete and Penny. I wanted to give them a new look, so I slightly morphed my Penguin Suits design. Who knows? I might try my luck at doing more Penguin Suits someday with THIS type of look. It's like Superman's dad said, "The son becomes the father, and then the father..."

Meh. Whatever. Now I'm just rambling.

Here! Penguins!

Labeling Mr. Potter - PART TWO

As promised, here are my set of disc labels for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

I first read the Harry Potter books back in 2007. I had seen all of the films up to that point, and thought I'd give the books a shot since there was such so much hubbub being made. However, instead of sitting and looking at actual pages like some medieval neanderthal, I joined the digital age and listened to the audio books.

While I loved the story and the superb way it was read by the great Jim Dale, I thought the labels for each of the discs were a little... lackluster. But since I'm a nerd, Problem SOLVED! And thus I was inspired to create my own disc labels with J.K. Rowling's wonderful characters!

I figure this will be a sort of on-again off-again project for me, so who knows when I'll get around to the Prisoner of Azkaban. I will eventually, I'm sure.

Chamber of Secrets - Albus Dumbledore

Here's the last in my Chamber of Secrets lineup, (finally, right?) Albus Percival Wulfric Bryan Dumbledore.

Now, to tear myself down a little. I tried to make Dumbledore resemble Merlin from Disney's "Sword in the Stone" because I always kind of pictured Dumbledore as Merlin-esque. Although, after the fact, I think I made him look too much like Disney's Merlin. Dumbledore has a much sweeter demeanor than Merlin, and I don't really feel like that is conveyed well here. In fact, you could replace Fawkes with Archimedes the Owl, and this wouldn't look like a Harry Potter pic at all.

Ah well. This sort of self-criticism is one of the reasons I'm drawing these guys in the first place. Hopefully, my Dumbledore will improve when I revisit him some time down the line.

And now to give myself a little pat on the back... I think Fawkes looks awesome!

Chamber of Secrets - The Basilisk

So apparently, a long time ago in the world of Harry Potter, some guy decided to make a frog sit on a chicken egg until it hatched, and the result was this snarly horrific beast that can kill anything just by looking at it. Sure, why not? I guess that makes sense.

In the Harry Potter books, the Basilisk is pretty much just a giant snake, but in some versions of folklore  and mythology, it's a weird hybrid of a snake and a rooster. I wanted to work in a small amount of rooster in my basilisk, which is why it has the beak and the red plume sort-of-thing.

This was my favorite from these Chamber of Secrets characters to draw so far. Most of my drawings tend to be your typical person of some sort with a pair of arms and legs. It was nice breaking away from that, even if it was for this hideous thing.

Chamber of Secrets - Moaning Myrtle

I really don't have much to say about Moaning Myrtle. She's always in the restroom. Is she stuck there? That would be a terrible resting place for your eternal spirit. And from the opposite point-of-view, can you imagine trying to use the restroom while some ghost floats around?

I don't think I could "go."

Chamber of Secrets - Gilderoy Lockhart

Well, I'm here with my first post of 2013! And it's back to the 'Chamber of Secrets' gang with Professor Fancy Pants himself, Gilderoy Lockhart!

In a society where almost everyone wears long robes, it would be difficult to stand out as a "fancy pants," but that Gilderoy pulls it off easier than planting a mandrake during the winter solstice! Which I assume is easy. Since I'm not a wizard, I have no frame of reference.

Lockhart is known for his smile, and I tried to make that stand out here. I also tried to give him, (with clothing and such) a slightly heroic look, but with a twinge of phony oozing out.

This post is also a two-for-one special, because Gilderoy Lockhart without Cornish Pixies would be like the Hufflepuff basement without a Fat Friar!

...again, I have no frame of reference.