Inktober 2016: Little (#22 of 31)

For Inktober's Day22 the word was LITTLE.

Most of the other sketch submissions I have seen on the Internet had a small character next to a larger character. Instead, I wanted to make a cartoon in which the character's size was apparent and (hopefully) humorously ironic.

I always liked the idea that if there was life on another planet, the size proportions of that alien world would be totally different than ours. This also brought back memories of my childhood imagination that there were little creatures battling in my bowl of cereal. (Yeah, I was a weird kid.) 

Brush pen and marker sketch for Inktober day22: LITTLE
(Unfortunately, a marker ran out of ink and I had to fix the image's background digitally.)

Inktober 2016: Big (#21 of 31)

For Day21 of Inktober, the word is Big.

With "BIG", I wanted to do something more obscure than a typical popular giant. Having done a Keebler Elf cartoon recently, I recalled the Jolly Green Giant commercials of my youth. At first I thought of doing a cartoon of Santa suing the Jolly Green Giant for the phrase "Ho ho ho!" (actually part of the commercial jingle.)

Ink and Marker image for Inktober 2016's Day21 Big

But after looking up reference images for the giant, I noticed that his leaf tunic was extremely short -- shorter than most skirts you'd see on a fashion runway! This made me laugh at the idea of this towering figure standing over the town folk (and Little Sprout) -- what a disturbing view that must have been.

Original pencil sketch

Inktober 2016: Squeeze (#20 of 31)

This one's showing my age. Day20 for Inktober and the word is SQUEEZE.

My generation grew up on Looney Tunes cartoons, by far the funniest and best quality cartoons on television at that time. Today, I have no idea if children watch any of these classic cartoons anymore, especially when most of them have been edited, censored or banned.

Inktober Day20 "Squeeze", using a Tombow brush pen and Copic markers

"Squeeze" reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon characters as a kid, Hugo the Abominable Snowman. Hugo was only in a few cartoons, but he was such a great goofy character; (basically a tribute to the novel "Of Mice and Men.) Anyone who remembers Hugo, remembers his phrases . . . that's what inspired this cartoon.

Original pencil sketch of "Squeeze"

Inktober 2016: Flight (#19 of 31)

Ever notice how Hollywood usually portrays an angel as a neatly dressed, well-mannered, good looking and nearly perfect person with wings? Hollywood, cartoons and historical painters have really helped to distort what real angels are from the bible.

Angels in the bible are not good humans who get their wings when they arrive at heaven's gate. Angels are powerful spiritual beings who do the bidding of God. When angels show up, it's usually not a good time at all.

So I was thinking . . . for the people who believe they get wings when they go to heaven - what would they really look like? Basically, they would still look and be themselves, right? And if that said person loved smoking and drinking beer . . . well he/she would get to do that while in heaven too, right? (Otherwise, it just wouldn't be heaven.)

Realistic angel inked and shaded using a black brush pen and Copic gray markers

Inktober 2016: Escape (#18 of 31)

I decided to do a simple fan art image for today's Inktober Day18: Escape.

The word "Escape" makes me think of action scenes, like the TV Batman escaping a trap or Houdini freeing himself from a straight jacket. But I wanted to do something different. I thought of characters that others try to stay away from and LSP (aka Lumpy Space Princess) from Adventure Time seemed like the ideal choice.

Fan art image of one of my favorite cartoon shows, Adventure Time, for Inktober's word of the day, Escape.

Throw in a Sadie Hawkins Day and the cartoon is complete. For those not familiar with LSP or Sadie Hawkins Day . . . google it!

A scan of the original pencil sketch for this image

 (Does anyone even celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day anymore? Colleges maybe???)

Inktober 2016: Battle (#17 of 31)

For Day 17 of Inktober, the word was BATTLE. Immediately I thought of doing a Trump vs. Clinton cartoon, but decided against getting too political. I then thought of doing something either video game related or medieval. As I was sketching, I started drawing a running raptor. I gave him a helmet and started to gear him up for combat. Eventually, I drew laser tag equipment and thought of giving the raptor the best/worst day of his life kinda joke.

Rupert the raptor, kicking butt -- moments before his demise . . . 

Just the Inking with no shading/tone
NOTE: I gave the image a horizontal stretch to create more speed and action.

Original pencil sketch for Inktober Day 17's  BATTLE

Inktober 2016: Wet (#16 of 31)

For Inktober Day16. the word is Wet.

I thought about characters that hated water -- the Wicked Witch of the West!
I remember the first time I saw the witch melting, it was an unforgettable horrific image that haunted me as a child. Sure, It was cool and I was happy the witch was defeated . . . but what a way to go!

Inked and toned Wizard of Oz related cartoon for Inktober 2016 Day 16: "Wet"

It seemed that the Wicked Witch of the West already knew liquid was dangerous to her health. What tipped her off? How did she learn this information? That inspired this cartoon.

Positioning the puppy was a bit of a challenge. The dog had to be positioned and posed to look like it was going to the bathroom . . . but in a tasteful way (if that's possible.)

The original rough pencil sketches used to make this inked cartoon

I also liked the idea that there were MANY more witches in OZ all based on compass locations. Oz fans know Glinda is from the south, Locasta is of the north and of course, Dorothy's house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. But what if there were more witches, like from the NW, SE, and NNW? I decided to pick SSW since it was a nod to the popular music festival in Austin (aka SXSW.) 

Inktober 2016: Relax (#15 of 31)

For this Inktober image, the word "Relax" made me think of one of my favorite memes on the Internet. Just to note: I am not taking create for the original concept, I'm simply doing a sketch inspired by that image.

This image was rough sketch directly using a Kuretake black brush pen (no toning or pencil sketch this time.)

Here is the original meme image from the Internet that inspired the cartoon above:

Inktober 2016: Tree (#14 of 31)

 . . . catching up on posting for Inktober. This one's for the word TREE on Day 14.

Thinking of trees, I came with several jokes, but couldn't see a good way to execute a cartoon.
For example, I wanted to do a cartoon where a tree is falling in the woods, a setup for the saying, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" In the cartoon, the tree would be screaming for help while all other trees are pointing and laughing. Pretty hard to properly set that joke up . . . So instead . . .

Inktober image #14 for the word TREE

I thought of the old Keebler tree. Growing up there seem to be a new Keebler cartoon commercial every few weeks and the commercials were everywhere. As a child, I always thought the tree was way too small to actually house a factory of baking elves.

What better joke to make than a lame reason why did the elves picked that specific tree?
It was easy to think of a very low brow and immature answer.

Original pencil sketch of Inktober Day 14 TREE

Inktober 2016: Scared (#13 of 31)

This one is for the word Scared, Inktober Day 13 word of the day. I always enjoyed having large creatures get frightened by little innocent animals. (One example is here.)

Day 13's "Scared" Inktober image; penciled, inked and shaded using Copic markers

You might notice that the inked line is shakier. The lines also greatly fluctuant from thin to thick. This is because the brush pen I'm using is very soft and  it bristles bend at the slightest pressure. This creates a completely different look when compared to a using a stiffer brush pen.

Showing the inked line without shading

Inking is also much quicker for me when using a soft brush pen because there's less restriction. I'm not trying to make the lines perfect, especially for the rough texture of the alligator.

The original pencil sketch