Awesome slacking

“How’s that next comic book page going?” you might ask.

“Um, fine…” I say, while failing to make eye-contact.

“Is the issue almost finished?”  you ask, tapping your foot impatiently.

“It’s getting there,” I evade, and then deflect with, “why are you in such a hurry?”  Then, suddenly on you like an old cat, “Good illustration takes time!  Just let me work!”

As you then wander away, confused by my irrational emotion, I got back to what I was actually drawing:

I call him “pillow pants.”  The other space-folk mock him…

 

Putting this suit on again.

Remember this suit?  Well, here it is again… in color!  I got some new Copic markers, and I felt compelled to use the new hues on some line work I had ready and begging for attention.  I don’t know what it is about Copics, but I have a very serious addiction to adding to my reasonable collection.  I don’t really need more, and I can undoubtedly produce these same colors digitally, but I get a real satisfaction in looking through the available variations or mass-produced, imported markers, emptying out my bank account, and them laying them out on paper and basking in the subtle differences.  Anyway, I got a bunch on new yellow-greens this week, so, here you go:

 

After looking at this, though, I realize I need more varieties of yellow-reds.  So, I either go by some or start loosing sleep…

Every ‘bot wants somethin’

This was just done for fun, while I should have been acting much more seriously.

 

What can I say, FR loves Skittles.

Unwanted “friends”

I choose to walk about two miles to work every day, and then repeat at the end of my long, sad day. On my way to and from, I pass a lot(!) of homeless folks on the streets on San Francisco.  I go far out of my to avoid the Tenderloin when possible, but these folks are pretty much everywhere here, and so rarely do I cross an entire city block with encountering one.  Most are focused on something else when I happen by, but sometimes I end up being the most-interesting thing in their field of vision, and so, against my will, I make new “friends”.  This usually just results in a lot of yelling, but occasionally they manage to get in close and I’m forced to wash some unidentifiable substance off my jacket or shirt.  I jokingly refer to these people as “hobos”, but that sounds a little too charming. Make no mistake, there’s nothing endearing about the individuals who assault me.

My point is, I see a lot of hobos.  And, while most are not actually wearing flour sacks like this guy, their features have become burned into my mental reference files.

I don’t know what to use this guy for yet.  Maybe another character in a comic?  Overbites are fun to draw…

Do the Father Robot

If FR was one of those fools that feels compelled to make a “V” hand gesture in every picture, I absolutely would refuse to draw him.  However, since he just likes “flexin'” with big guns when the camera’s pointed at him, I’m game to help him realize his 2D-life aspirations.

 

I colored this one with Photoshop and the simple, old-school mouse at my work computer.  Have you tried coloring with a mouse?!  It’s hell.

Can you help me?

Often, at work in my “cubicle”, I am asked to help people.  Sometimes these are genuine, everyday folks who are just trying to cut through some red tape, pay their bills, and have a few minutes in the day to enjoy doing  what they find themselves on the planet to do.  More often, though, I find myself confronted by the spoiled children of affluent monsters who, despite all they’ve been spoon-fed in their lives, just want me to make life easier on them for no reason except that they believe they are entitled to everything.  When these turds darken my doorstep, I ignore them and draw spacemen:

I intend to color this guy later, but I thought you all, who would never bother me with entitled-attitudes and bad breath, might enjoy a little peak at the line work.  I don’t know why drawing people in space suits scratches that proverbial itch, the one that opens my eyes at 3am and also compels me to also draw robots, but it does.

The man with no neck.

Zander is my favorite character from Father Robot to draw.  I never realized how a big fat head just floppin’ around on shoulders is not only easy but fun to illustrate.  This is especially important when you have to draw a character over and over again.

I did this little doodle while hiding from people at work…

Creepy space suit guy

I was just sketching during a lull at my fake job (I get paid but I’m in denial that this is all that I am) and thought I’d use the office scanner/copier to digitize the drawing.  Initially, I was disappointed at the low res/quality of the image, but now I think the grainy-ness adds to the creepy look of this mysterious space man.  This is one of those guys who works in space, probably fixing FTL drives or reprogramming killer robots, but really just wants to retire to some solitary asteroid and drink himself into oblivion.  He’s the kind of guy that’ll hit you over the head with a wrench while you’re bent over a star fighter, trying to get its communication array back online, just because he wants to frame you for stealing all the stellar plasma he’s smuggled out of the temporal hold….

I love taking a few minute to do these little illustrations, but in the back of my mind, I’m always thinking, “I should be working on comic book pages…”

Sometime I can’t tell if my life is exciting or pathetic.

I hate hobos

If you’v ever walked around the downtown area of San Francisco, you know we have a healthy and active homeless population.    They’re vocal, excited, and incredibly filthy.  Part of me knows that I should feel sorry for these folks and maybe even do a little something to support social programs to bring them out of their current state.  However, I’ve had shit (literally) wiped on me on three separate occasions and been attacked twice by these things, and this, coupled with their constant general behavior and attitude, have used up any pity or sympathy I once had.

On the upside, I’ve got plenty of reference and inspiration when I need to draw hobo-like characters for my comics.  Here’s one that’s going into Father Robot issue #2: