Star Wars Challenge: Ova Skado

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Chew and Mr. Cheese challenged one another: If you could be anyone in the Star Wars Universe, who would you be? They showed their finished drawings to their friends, and all were amazed ... 


Ever since I saw the results of this challenge, I've wanted to throw my hat in to the ring and see what I could come up with. 


I fell in love with Jaxxon when I was a kid. The idea of a six-foot green bunny kicking ass in the Star Wars universe spoke to me (I want a maquette and I want him to appear in Clone Wars). Jaxxon is a Lepi (a species, which to my knowledge, were created during the original Marvel Comics series). So I drew Ova Skado, a Lepi on the run, stealing medical equipment from the Empire, to sell to Jabba the Hutt, so he can feed his youngins' and, if there's some credits left over, fix up his modified Speederbike and get a sweet paint job to impress all of the skanky strippers at the next unsanctioned Pod Race on Tatooine. I guess he's ...


... wait for it ...


Fast and Furry-ious


– Jeff Tuffentstuff

It's been a while, I know-know-know, but we're here, so let's go-go-go...

This is a well known saying coined by the famous Dwarvish therapist, Lord Hari Hullfire. Lord Hari was much in demand during the Hydrid War. The shock of seeing such hideous creatures threw many a warrior into instant gag reflexes.  Oh wait, we have'nt delved into that little bit of Bistran history yet, have we?

                     

---------------------------------------------------CHEW

Work Station One

Is'nt it great when the simplest things turn into some of the most difficult and time consuming?

Chew.....

Thirty Hours: The HeroesCon Report

I slept horribly last night. It seemed like every hour I would wake up and I'd start to hum "Lovin' Every Minute of It" by Loverboy. It was a big hit back in 1985. The 1980's sort of set the theme for our trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit HeroesCon.

Thursday morning of last was an especially hectic one for me at work. Lunch rolls around...and so did the road! Off we went, North/Northeast to those succulent 80's sounds. We talked a lot, which was good, because that trip was (THANKFULLY) uneventful. Not really much to see, aside from Atlanta and a couple of lakes.
We stayed at a skanky motel somewheres in the wild wastelands of southern Charlotte. If ever there was that movie hotel you did'nt want to stay in because of all the hijinks you knew were going to happen there, that was it. But nothing ever happened. Except for insomnia.
I swear, the ick in that room was palpable.
Then we went out to eat that night. Food, and hearty grog (at least for me), and hanging out and then the bottom of Jeff's water glass just comes right off. The whole bottom half of it. Water and ice all over everywhere!
The Con. Got there early. Coffee, bagel, long lines. Tickets. Waiting, waiting, waiting. We finally get in and it's a big room full of comics as well as the people who make them and the people who sell them. I gotta tellya, after having visited DragonCon frequently for the past dozen years, it was nice to finally see a con devoted to comics (nothing against DragonCon, really. It can be a lot of fun).
We saw Patrick Dean and the guys from Fluke and said hi. Then went over to see Chris Schweizer. He had a really great booth set up. They had lots of cool stuff to go through!
There were a lot of other other guys whose names were familiar-both big and small. Neal Adams, Becky Cloonan, and Farel Dalrymple  are a few examples. Then there were some people who were supposed to be there, but we either did'nt see them, or we temporarily hit a blind spot where that person's existence was just passed over. Like they had an unintentional cloaking device! Or maybe it was intentional.

Plus, they had actual cels from Akira! We could see those.

We tooled around. Went and had a pizza with a bunch of yuppie-types. Went back and sat in on a lecture given by Chris Schweizer. It was the comic book Composition class that we never had in school! It gave us some stuff to think about. Thanks, Chris!
Then....we hit the road.
To Charlotte and back, in thirty hours!


Chew

Flex Fantastic is back!

Not really. But he did get some new stuff though.

– Jeff Tuffenstuff

Dr. Mullet: Redneck M.D.

.....................................................chew

Fluke 2011 Report (Part 3)

There were several books I picked up or traded for at Fluke and wanted to share these with you (clockwise from the top):


Beard by Pranas T. Naujokaitis: I am so impressed with this book's cover design, it's ridiculous. It's a wrap-around cardboard, screenprinted beard that (when dislodged and pulled from the main character's face) opens to reveal 16 page B/W story that's about a man and his ... beard. A beard that can practically do anything. The ending was hilarious. 

The Beast Mother by Eleanor Davis: I've heard nothing but good things about this book. I finally purchased a copy and I have to say it lives up to it's reputation. The story is somber, well paced, thoughtful and a little icky (but in a good way). It's just well done. Oh and the cover ... screenprinted, die-cut goodness. Inspiring.

Chalk Talk by Lauren Sparks: I can only assume that this was a class project completed at SCAD based on the opening credits of the book. I really liked it. It's short and sweet, maybe a little too short but I found the story and art to be very engaging. I've seen really bad examples of inkwashes in a lot of self published comics. Washes can make the art look too dark or muddy. Lauren on the other hand, shows an amazing amount of control and her characters really pop from the background. This book was a good trade. Thanks, Lauren!

Eleanor Davis' Sketchbook Beouija: I've become a fan of her work. Check out her website.

The Fluke Anthology: A free give away at Fluke for all attendees. I've mentioned this one in my previous post, but if you're attending a mini-con and happen to see this book ... buy it. Besides featuring "Harold," a five page story drawn by Chew and myself (shameless plug) it features "Robot Love" by Joey Weiser and "Sasquatch" by Kevin Burkhalter and Falynn K which are my favorites in this anthology.

And ...

Rashy Rabbit by Josh Latta: I love Josh's character design. His characters are so well thought out and distilled, he can't mess them up. They gesture wildly, have great body language and display a wide array of emotions. Great inks too. Josh's work is very reminiscent of Spirou and a lot of the older french children/adventure comics (and that is meant as a compliment). It's good stuff.  I can't wait to pick up another book. Go and check it out.


So that's it for Fluke report. See you there next year!


– Jeff Tuffenstuff