News Flash

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Hello to anyone who reads this blog. Whoever you are, stop being so darn quiet and comment on something so I know you're there. It's kind of creepy not knowing whether you're alone or not. Darn lurkers.

I like to know if my cartoons make you laugh, or if you think they are perfectly horrible. So, please, if you have something to say, say it. Thank you.
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The actual reason for this post is that I am setting up another blog. I plan to post all my cartoons and stuff at that one, keeping this blog for my usual rants and artwork. Here's the address: http://theinjoke.blogspot.com/

This is another futile effort to keep my life organized. After I started losing track of which comics I posted and if I posted them here or on DeviantART, I decided it was time for a little reorganization. So far I've created the new blog, but I haven't posted anything on it yet. I'd better sign off and go work on it.

DMV Blues

Second time's the charm. At least it is as far as my drive test goes. The second time I've taken it and the first time I've passed. Huzzah. The first time I took the test I was woefully lacking in practice and very uncomfortable operating a vehicle. I focused so much on not bumping the car as I exited the parking lot that I did not spot the pedestrian on the sidewalk and . . . so much blood . . .

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That is, I gave the pedestrian a scare, but came nowhere near actually hitting them. Of course, I mentioned this to my mom when we discussed why I had bombed the test. In her repetition of the story she exaggerated the details until she was saying that I had barely missed running down a little old lady with a walker. My vague memories of that tragic drive test seem to tell me that the person was young, upright, and probably Hispanic. Possibly female.

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Right now I have my temporary license and my nice shiny one is coming in the mail. But I have no car. Or anywhere to go. Which isn't much fun. I want to drive somewhere all by my lonesome at least once before I head back to college and carelessness. My dad might let me have the car Friday, when he isn't working. My mom won't let me anywhere near the driver's seat of her van. In fact, she wouldn't get in the car if I were driving. We seem to have some trust issues.

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I suppose while I'm here I might as well talk about my roommate issues. Actually, I just lost the will to type, so I'm going to go color on photoshop. Ah, but first I must add another picture to this post. I already put it up on DeviantART, but I forgot I don't have it up here. Meet Trevor.

This is the beginning of the story of Trevor, the needy robot. I didn't put too much effort into the art this time, but look for improvement as time goes on.

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This was inspired by a true story, told to me by my brother. Somewhere scientists created an actual hugging robot. A lone female scientist was working late one night and when she tried to leave, the robot stood in front of the door and every time she got near it, it would hug her.

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So, trapped inside the lab, the scientist had to call one of her co-workers to come and turn the robot off. The switch was on its back, out of her reach. The robot had never done this to anyone else, just her.

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She doesn't work in the lab alone anymore.

Green Lantern

Everybody who knows who Green Lantern is, raise your hands. Oh, wait, nobody reads this. Well, I'll just pretend people do.

Green Lantern is a DC comics character. A Green Lantern has a power ring that is charged regularly in a . . . green lantern, and the ring can do just about anything the wearer is capable of imagining, limited only by the user's willpower. A very powerful device. Of course, it needed its kryptonite, so the writers made it weak to the color yellow.

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Yes, the color yellow.

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Anything yellow could not be effected by the ring's constructs. Yes, the Green Lantern's weakness is Big Bird in a school bus. Or butter. Pineapple chunks. Buttercups. Corn. Lemon Gummi Bears. Also, in explanation of my picture, he was often hit over the head with yellow objects, such as the normally harmless household lamp.

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Thank goodness the writers eventually changed that. Though it is changed, I doubt any comic book reader has forgotten.

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The most well known Green Lantern is Hal Jordan, though there have been three or four others. Hall Jordan is the lantern chosen for the lead in the upcoming Green Lantern film. Right now it seems as if Ryan Reynolds has been cast in this part. My sister is not a fan of Reynolds and therefore much dismayed, as evidenced by the email she sent me, written entirely in caps. Why the outrage? Well, this goes back to the recent past. Also, to do with the fact that my sister is a huge fan of Deadpool and Hal Jordan.

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X-men Origins: Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds is cast as the "Merc with a Mouth", mercenary Deadpool. The only thing you need to know about Deadpool is that he never shuts up, is almost utterly insane, and is hilariously funny in a hyper way. Aside from the movie having Deadpool's mouth literally sewn shut, faithful Deadpool fans had their complaints. During the, oh, two minutes of Reynolds screen time with a mouth he was completely deadpan and calm. This caused many fans to cry, "This is not MY Deadpool!"

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Therefore the general trepidation about Reynolds in the Green Lantern role. I, for one, am keeping an open mind. This is a completely different role than that of Deadpool. Hal Jordan is a calm person, upright, and completely sane (except for that time he was possessed by Parallax, but never mind). Judging from how calm Reynolds was as Deadpool, he'll probably do well as Hal Jordan. Also, by taking this role he might possibly be unavailable to play Deadpool in the spinoff film. Win win!

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About the picture . . . I mainly did it to tease my sister. After finding a similar image in one of the Green Lantern comic books I decided to make this picture and its caption and send it to my sister. She says the colors are good, it looks like a centerfold, and she hates me.

On and on

Still working in photo shop. I'm trying to improve my coloring and shading, focusing on that and leaving fancy backgrounds aside for the moment. The coloring on this one shows marked improvement, I think, but not a lot of varied texture. I'll post a picture again when I can jazz up the textures a bit more. Maybe make the hair look different from the coat, you know?

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Right now I have two thick volumes of comics, Fantastic Four and The Green Lantern. They're older and these volumes were printed in black and white. However, they were originally in color. Black and white suits my purposes, though, as I'm copying poses from them for practice. Jay's pose here is thanks to Mr. Fantastic hanging onto a building for dear life. Mind you, I don't trace, I copy freehand. Also, I have to completely change the faces, outfits, and hair. Also, in this case, gender.

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Jay's design has been tweaked a little bit. There's a belt added, for more color, and the boots are higher, also for more color. Her imagine was getting a bit boring to color with only that orange triangle to contrast the blue. Have yet to get my sister's input on the changes. Hopefully she approve of what I've done with her character.

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Suppose I should mention, but Jay is falling not flying. Jay is impervious to most damage, strong, able to jump extraordinarily high, but she cannot fly. My sister and I have made a sort of rule about arbitrarily giving our heroes the gift of flight. Nearly every superhero out there has the ability to fly, one way or another and it gets a bit boring and whenever a character doesn't fly you feel as if they are at a huge disadvantage. So Jay doesn't get to fly.

Beware

Non-stop fun here, playing in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 point 0. Coloring in a ton of sketches, and even drawing a few new ones. I'm playing with backgrounds and after I put the brick pattern in this picture I just had to add the graffiti. Now it sort of looks as if Jay and Currer are painted on there as well.

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I really need to work on my texture, though. Anyone know of any good tutorials for that sort of thing? Really, everything is beginning to look a bit alike, the clothes having the same smoothness as the skin.