Fanty and Mingo's - a touch of class

It's strange...

2011-08-21T01:09:00.000+08:00

Arsenal just lost at home to Liverpool for the first time in over a decade, my team is probably the most vulnerable it's been in 15 years. It's been a long, long week, and yet I feel pretty darn pleased with myself right now. G'night everyone :)

Light, Sweet Crude

2011-07-25T15:21:00.000+08:00

For about a year and a half now I've been working with Shof and a mutual friend named Chris Feliciano Arnold on a new comic adaptation, a political thriller called Light, Sweet Crude. Last week we were able to get the first 8 pages together and show the comic off at Comic Con (by we, I mean Shof and Chris, I stayed put in Manila).

If you'd like to have a closer look and flip through the first 8 pages, you can do so here. Chris wrote the story and script, adapted from a short story he wrote and got published in Playboy in 2009. Shof did all the art, and I'm doing consultation on the project.

I discovered today...

2011-06-12T23:23:00.001+08:00

... that you get to a certain age, and wearing a baseball cap backwards just looks wrong.

I do it anyway.

That time of year again...

2011-06-12T01:58:00.000+08:00

... now I get to start watching Star Trek: TNG over from season 1. It's been about a year since I've gone through the show in sequence and I'm so excited!

I wonder whether...

2011-06-06T19:22:00.000+08:00

I was looking around my apartment today at my action figures (Superman, The Thing, Asterix, Obelix, Conan), and I had to wonder whether a girl walking in and seeing them littered about experienced the female equivalent of what I do when I walk into a girls room and see Cabbage Patch Dolls and My Little Pony's adorning the landscape.

Still, they don't make My Little Pony's as awesome as this, do they!? Someone HOLD ME!

Journey is painfully pretty

2011-06-04T23:11:00.000+08:00

ThatGameCompany make special games, Journey looks to be their crowing achievement, it's just hauntingly beautiful. And that music!

Some screenshots:

I'm so happy I could cry

2011-06-03T22:50:00.000+08:00

There's a new Star Trek game in production,this news makes me so very happy. Now pleaaaaaaaaase be a good game. We deserve it.

How to build your own gaming PC, by Eurogamer

2011-06-03T21:13:00.000+08:00

For anyone who builds (or has ever tried) to build their own gaming PC, I present this amazing piece of work from Eurogamer on the subject.

Highlights:

Look, your consoles play games just fine. Some of them do other things as well, like streaming movies or facilitating identity theft. You don't need a gaming PC.

1. Should you do this?
Probably not. It's sort of complicated. Take this questionnaire.

Do you know how a computer works?
A. Yes. The hard drive is for long-term storage, RAM is for short-term data, and they both connect to a motherboard, which... [You continue to recite an accurate outline of a computer's workings even though I have obviously stopped listening.]
B. Yes. I type the thing into the Google, and my internet goes to the thing.
C. Yes. I push the lever down, and a few minutes later, my potato waffles are done.
For those who answered anything other than "A," put down the hammer and nails - you are not going to be building a PC today. The fact that you thought you'd be using a hammer and nails should have been a red flag.

Read the rest here, seriously, it'll put a smile on your face.

Much ablog about nothing.

2011-06-01T00:01:00.000+08:00

For the past few weeks I've been feeling increasingly frustrated. I want to blog, but I can't figure out what to blog about. Everything seems so downright trivial! Well, not to me, to me it's actually important, but if I were not me and I was reading about the things the real me isn't blogging about, I'm pretty sure they'd be trivial.

There's that, and there's the fact that I whenever I think about something truly blogworthy, I'd much rather be lying down.

Enough! Let's get to the good stuff. Some time back I promised that I'd write about the process of creating a web comic I've been working on, the page below has actually been done for a few months but I'm only now getting around to posting it. I've got a new computer set up here in the Philippines and will at last be getting back to the project. This is actually a page from a third of the way into the book - I decided to start on page 11 you see. There's no text yet (apart from a font style test in the first panel), I hope to post more over the coming weekend.

Ice Cream and Marshmallows

2011-04-25T19:07:00.000+08:00

You know those task lists you create in MS Word, or Zimbra, or Outlook that track what it is you're currently working on in the office? Well mine just blew right past comically long. I need to get a handle on things.

At present work is moving a mile a minute. Sure, I complain, but I'm not sure I'd have it any other way at the moment. Besides, I'm still trying to prove to myself I can actually do this, actually wrap my head around properly managing and organizing what needs to be er, managed and organized. It'll pay off personally and professionally. Maybe

I was thinking last week that I need to start writing a journal, mainly because I hardly ever blog about anything deeply personal here. And lets be honest, in a hundred years when I long gone people are gonna want, nay, need to know how I spent my valuable lying around time.

I discovered ice cream with marshmallows in it last week. I've had 3 and a half TUBS of the stuff this week. That can't be good.

I've also been meaning to start writing a series of posts about roMANce Movies for Guys (non-working title), but for one reason or another I haven't got around it to it. My list so far reads thus:

Karate Kid II (stop snickering in the back)
Solaris (the 2002 Soderbergh flick)
The Fountain
I'm tempted to ad Superman: The Movie.

Oh hey! I had a haircut this weekend (in hopeful anticipation of the resurrection of my estranged dating life). This news is in and of itself not really significant except that it was a "proper" haircut performed by a professional, and not one that was self inflicted. All told I think it went well... except that my barber, a friendly man by the name of Mr Ed (I kid you not!) took to cleaning up the fringes of my haircut with a straight edge, and my poor delicate skin just does not take kindly to the touch of the blade.

Finally, I recently started watching the TV show Frasier, frankly, it's brilliant. I'd caught an episode here and there in the past, but never really kept track of things.

The Tale of Tagaytay

2011-03-22T22:59:00.000+08:00

Come, gather 'round people wherever you, roam for a tale of Tagaytay I have to tell.

It's not often I'm caught entirely by surprise, as such it's a rare treat I tend to relish. So far it's happened twice already in 2011, once when my dear brother bestowed upon me the magic of PlayStation, and then again last weekend when a dear friend sprung heinous trap.

Saturday, March 19th. Mabie had talked me into coming with her to play the bongos this weekend (don't ask), it sounded like fun, so I agreed. First Mistake.

Second Mistake? Not bailing as soon as I sensed something was up. We met at a little coffee shop in the mall at around 3pm and were there till 5pm. A little late I thought, but maybe the bongo festivities start at night?

Third Mistake? Getting into the car with Will and Bryan, Mabie's co-conspirators. As soon as we hit the highway, Will said "so wants to break the news?" Cue ominous laughter. If you've ever seen the scene in The Lost Boys where Keifer Sutherland takes Jason Patric's character out for a night time ride on the train tracks, you probably have a good idea how I felt.

In the end? We made our way to the mountaintop town of Tagaytay, where one of Mabie's friends was having a birthday bash for friends and one gate crashing Nigerian. Fresh air, lots of food, lots of booze, and some good conversation capped off a truly fun night, as you can see from the pics below. Also, I got a bushel of fresh lettuce to take home :) Did I mention the party took place at a lettuce farm?

So.. thanks Mabie. Watch your back.

A major "life transition"

2011-03-02T15:29:00.000+08:00

Recently I've had to start coping with one of the most difficult "life transitions" I've ever known. It came unexpectedly and I wasn't at all prepared for it, but so far I'm coping fairly well. I am of course referring to the fact that the "confirm" command on my new Asian PlayStation 3 is mapped to the circle button instead of the Western standard "X", which in turn is mapped to cancel out... jarring stuff.

For some this means nothing, but to me it's been a major change, one that's difficult to adjust to after more than a decade and a half of doing things the other way round. Commands I once performed using muscle memory alone have become labored exercises forcing me to stop-think-execute. It would be great to be able to carry this philosophy into my day to day. As Obadiah Stane put it, "no more of this ready, fire, aim nonsense".

I'm stealing time out from my lunch hour to post, I must confess I really feel like firing up my PS3 (brand new, courtesy of the bro) to play some Mass Effect 2, but I think I'll settle for preparing a ham sandwich and some music.

PS. Is the background of my blog a tiled image of a frog for anyone else?

The Magic of Moonlighting

2010-11-24T02:11:00.000+08:00

Moonlighting is an amazing show. A fast talking, pre-Die Hard Bruce Willis, a gorgeous post-Last Picture Show Cybill Shepherd, both engaging in private eye hijinks backed by awesome 80's music and a fist full o' cheese.

I loved the show as a kid, but I haven't really been able to watch reruns since then as pretty much no one seems interested in syndicating it (surprising since Bruce Willis was the male lead and the show was a hit at the time).

Anyway, I recently managed to pick up all five seasons on Amazon for under $50, and am quickly making my way through seasons 1 and 2, loving every minute of it.

What I hadn't realised back then was just how tight the writing on the show was, sure the cases don't really matter, but they're always interesting, and are almost always great ways to put Maddie and David in unexpected situations.

Willis' comic timing in particular is excellent, and I truly wish more directors would cast him in comedic roles, the Fifth Element was a great showcase, but see the criminally forgotten and underrated Hudson Hawk if you don't believe the man has an eye for comedy.

Now, on to dinner.

Visions of the Gods.

2010-11-21T23:17:00.000+08:00

I'm not entirely sure when this became an "art only" blog, it was never intended as such, it's always been my intention to write about the things that interest me day in and day out, so I'm going back to that.

That said, this new post is in fact, art related.

A little while back I decided that if I wanted to finish a project I've been thinking about for the past 12 years, then I'd have to actually start working on it (shock, awe). As such I've recently started work again on a project that I've called, for a long time now, Visions of the Gods, a name which barely seems appropriate these days as the story and tone have changed quite a bit, but a name which I'll probably end up keeping just because I'm too lazy to think of anything else.

Visions of the Gods or "Visions" for short, started out as something of an African take on Lord of the Rings, of course, this was before I decided I wasn't smart enough to attempt that. Over the years Visions has changed multiple times as I tried to figure out what sort of representation African comics and Nigerian comics needed.

There was a lot of stopping and starting along the way, and I've finally come to the decision that instead of working on what I thought was needed, I should just work the way I wanted (what a novel idea!). The result is hopefully something that mixes pulp and whimsy in equal measure, my two favorite things you see, I'm also hoping to make it an ongoing web series, posting pages sporadically as I finish them.

I've got an old script from about 2 or 3 years ago that I'm using as a spine, but I'm kind of winging it, and I'm trying to enjoy the process and learn from it.

From this point on, I'm going to be posting as much as I can about the process of writing and drawing Visions, in an attempt to chronicle the difficulty of creating a comic for any other artists struggling with similar endeavours. I'll also be talking about the decisions I make with my art and writing, why I make them, and it'll hopefully also be a cool little visual log of how my art changes over the course of the project.

Here's a panel from the page I'm currently working on.

Today, Nigeria turns 50. Here's some Jupiter Jonah.

2010-10-01T07:36:00.000+08:00

So here's something Shof and I whipped up in time to post on Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence. As you can see, it features almost the entire main cast of Jupiter Jonah and the Eye of Oduduwa (lovingly rendered by my good brother). From left to right, there's the pirate trio of Denarii, Blass and Rashidi, and then the scourge of the seven systems, Captain Stein, Jonah himself, Prospero the gladiator, and Funlola, the renegade.

As a bonus, it's even tricked out in green, white and green! Be sure to check out Shof's blog, he's got another wallpaper he put together to commemorate today :)

A mural for Greensprings

2010-09-01T02:49:00.000+08:00

Greensprings, for those that don't know, is my old high school. I have fond memories of Greensprings, mostly involving games of frantic football in the classrooms... with Fashionable Fashionate's bunched up socks...

Anyway, a couple of weeks back, my dad was asked to do a mural for a brand new kids library in the schools currently-under-construction new wing, and I took a stab at designing it myself, here's what I came up with.

Section 1 -

Section 2 -

Section 3 -

The whole piece -

It was an interesting experience because I had to take into account things like windows, corners and furniture which will be present in the physical location. I'm not painting the mural on the wall myself, but I'll post pictures of the end product once everything's done.

The thing about blogs...

2010-08-19T08:47:00.000+08:00

is that the longer you leave them alone, the less likely you're ever to return to them. Shocking, I know.

What you see here are a pair of renders based on a design I worked on for my dad. We're building a children's library in a new school here in Lagos, and we thought it would be cool if the library had a really impressive Vernesque centerpiece that the kids could go up into and read for a bit. Hey! How about a bathysphere coming to rest in a docking station at some underwater city?

Construction is gearing up on the room, the bathysphere itself is going to be made out of fiberglass and wood, and the four walls and ceiling of the room are going to be fully painted so that the kids can "see outside" and have a great view of giant squid, schools of fish, a coral reef, and a massive city in the distance. At least that's the plan.

Jupiter Jonah Script 1 is done!

2010-04-28T16:22:00.000+08:00

Not that it needed an announcement or anything, and there have been false dawns before, but this time, for real, the script is finally done.

Now we wait for Shof to have the time to start on some layouts, (not rushing you Shof).

In other news I've been working with Yegwa Ukpo at Spaceboy Nigeria on some other comic related projects. I don't know how much I can talk about or show right now, so I'll just point you in this direction, and this one.

Lastly, I'm thinking of picking up an old project from a couple of years ago that I put aside based on the mythology of Nigerian Orishas. I had done some preliminary work on the project with a friend, Bolaji Alausa a few years back, but it didn't really come to anything. I think now might be the right time to pick it up again and finish the project myself.

I think the script might need a polish though...

Two more Jonah wallpapers

2010-03-06T05:24:00.000+08:00

I think these ones are nicer, I have my method down better and it shows (I hope). Once again, if you'd like to see some of 3D models I used in these, check out my brother's work on Jonah.

[Hi-Res Download Link]

Jonah-riffic Wallpaper!

2010-03-05T04:33:00.000+08:00

He's a myth, he's a legend, he's nothing but a man!

Shof created the 3D model for this a while back, and I worked on the graphics for the poster but wasn't satisfied, after some tweaking though I'm finally happy enough to put this up. I've made it in three different sizes:

1280x720: [Download Link]

1680x945: [Download Link]

19200x1080: [Download Link]

Well... that's pretty cool!

2010-03-02T04:46:00.000+08:00

Dad came home from work the other day and showed this to me. They are a pair of tile based mosaics put up by at a building on a jetty somewhere in Lagos. The mural on the right is based on a design he asked me to do last year.

There are (I think) two more murals to go up on the opposite side of the building. Obviously the building isn't quite done yet, but here are some better views of the murals:

The last of my embroidery

2010-01-26T08:18:00.000+08:00

Well I'm all done with this project, frankly, not a moment too soon as after 70 designs, I was starting to run out of ideas.

This latest post covers the last 30 or so of the designs I did for the mysterious client known only as... Embroidery99!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-15T11:44:00.000+08:00

Considering how long it's been, you'd be forgiven for expecting some sort of art dump, unfortunately you'll get no such satisfaction.

What I have here are is a failed page from Jupiter Jonah. After working on this on and off for a while I decided it just wasn't coming together. The process was far too involved and laborious, and I went from being excited about it to quickly realising it was a major pain. I started over using a more traditional pen and ink approach on paper, then scanning that in and coloring and I think that's what I'm going to stick with.

Below you'll find the initial sketch of the failed page, and failed page itself. Stupid failed page.

The news of the day is that Jonah isn't really my main focus at the moment, as I'm working on something with another Nigerian creator, hopefully, sooner rather than later I'll be able to share, but in the mean time;

Layout Page

Just not workin'.

EmbRoidery, apply directly to the roid...

2009-11-04T06:25:00.000+08:00

Some embroidery designs I did for a mysterious person on the interwebs. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to show soon.

Ms Crabnasty's Castle in the Sky.

2009-10-04T02:23:00.000+08:00

're looking for a programmer to help us out with Edward Usher (if you know someone talented in C++ do tell!) and in the mean time Richard and I decided to go ahead and start a much smaller, simpler game.

This is a bit of concept art for one of the levels in this other game, Ms Crabnasty and the Banished Ball, about a kid who loses her ball in her neighbours yard, her neighbour unfortunately, is Ms Crabnasty. Ol' Ms Crabnasty decides to punish the wee lass by, you guessed it, banishing her ball.

You take control of said ball and attempt to make your way across several story book themed worlds to get back to your little girl.

Portfolio submitted to MCA

2009-09-15T02:14:00.000+08:00

The stuff of nightmares.

2009-08-10T03:10:00.000+08:00

I'm plowing away at Jonah and I just got the layout for page 3 done . I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. You'll have to wait a few days for the finished version, but I've included a frame from the full page layout below. In it, our titular hero regards a rather large and seemingly bemused gastropod with a mixture of curiosity and just a tinge of terror.

The layout for page 3 took a lot longer than I expected as I'm quickly realising this book is probably going to have images that are a lot more detailed than I'd expected. There's also the fact that since I'm essentially starting the story about halfway through my original draft of the script, I'm having to do some narrative re-jigging (technical term) and I'm basically making up new scenes and dialogue on the fly to stitch things together. I hope this turns out okay.

Back to Jonah for a spell

2009-08-06T05:40:00.000+08:00

Page 1 was done and dusted in just over a day, but after struggling a tad trying to figure out how I was going to approach Page 2 of Jupiter Jonah vol.1 - wherein our heroes find themselves hurtling toward earth at an alarming rate - I finally decided to scrap my initial sketch layout and start over. You can see below how closely page 1 mirrors my initial idea, and how much page 2 totally does the exact opposite.

You'll notice that these images are pretty small, this is because I figured it might not be the best idea to upload hi-res images of Jonah to the web just yet. That said, I think it's safe to post a few images in "you-can-barely-see-em-o'-vision".

Page 1, as you can see closely resembles the original idea I had for the layout, I wanted something reminiscent of those great Kirby space-vistas,, where space is a hundred different subtle colors, and the title card and text pretty much jump off the page and scream at you. however...
... this original layout for page 2 just didn't work. I felt it was somewhat indulgent to have another large, almost full page panel so soon after the first page, which was also a large full page panel. It really didn't help get the story moving at all. In fact, the only reason I felt drawn to this (nyuk! nyuk!) was because I was eager to draw all kinds of 50's style dials, levers, knobs and whatch-ma-bobbits for the interior of the crashing space ship. I also didn't really like the panel break being diagonal, it's dynamic sure, but JJ isn't really meant to be a dynamic book in that sense.

So I went for this. It's pretty different. They layout is a lot simpler and this "four rectangles a page" layout is one I'm likely to stick to for most of the book with only the occasional deviation. The reason being that I'd like Jonah to be easily adaptable to portable media devices like the Kindle, iPod, Smartphones and PSP, which all have widescreen aspect ratios. I'm also targeting delivery via outlets like the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, so I try to make sure the comic looks good and is legible on an HD screen.

Here's a detail of my favorite panel from page 2.

Anyway, I'm off to start work on page 3, wish me luck!

Jonah is SO yesterday...

2009-08-03T08:49:00.000+08:00

Taking a break from Jonah to work on my videogame project. I got stuck on Page 2 you see and only just figured out what I want to do to make it work.

Still, Edward Usher (the working title of the videogame) is coming along quite well. As you can see in the video below we've managed to get the basics of the first level working. That is to say, you can run around, jump, and climb up conveniently placed nooses.

The little orange fella you see is just a stand in, we're still working on the animation frames for our titular character.

Jonah's a star!

2009-08-02T01:30:00.001+08:00

Just wanted to say thanks to Shof and Shane, who both went ahead and conjured up their very own interpretations of Jupiter Jonah. I must say I'm rather honored and quite chuffed, makes me excited about getting the comic proper done.

I would take this opportunity to post the unfinished first page of Jupiter Jonah vol. 1, but methinks I should actually start finishing work before posting it.

Another Jonah character!

2009-07-28T04:47:00.000+08:00

Here's what I just got done. It's the design for the character of Funlola in Jupiter Jonah and the Eye of Oduduwa. Jonah runs into Funlola while a captive on board Rex Stein's space-pirateship and the two form a grudging friendship.

I was going for something kind of Buck Rogers-like for her.

Heeeeer'es Jonah!

2009-07-25T05:51:00.000+08:00

Of course it isn't entirely finished, otherwise it wouldn't be an original "Shobo". His left hand is still missing since I have no idea how to draw it, but this was a lot of fun to finally put down on paper.

Hey!

2009-07-23T08:38:00.000+08:00

... can you guess what this is?

Surely you must know Shof!

And another piece...

2009-07-10T02:49:00.000+08:00

For my exhibition at the end of the year. There's still quite a bit of work to be done on this to make the details look nice, but the overall image is in place methinks.

I HATE US!

2009-07-01T06:00:00.001+08:00

Is almost an anagram for "HIATUS", which is what I've been on... blogging-wise anyway. All this time off has given me the opportunity to get some work done... on my videogame.

I've set up a website, we've recruited an animator and a programmer, and been busy little elves tackling the numerous problems associated with developing a videogame while coordinating things from halfway across the globe. If you get a chance please check the website out, I'm sorta proud of of the logo which I designed, there's not a lotta content up just yet, but it will be updated periodically as development progresses.

In other news, I just (like yesterday) started work on my exhibition (and MCA grad school portfolio) pieces. Here's the first WIP image. It's almost done but I'm putting it aside to work on a second piece, get some distance and then come back to.

Oh yeah, this piece is 30x36 or thereabouts. My original plan was to have the fellow on the wall speaking in a comic book style speech bubble, when I come back to it I'll see if I can make that work, I wasn't pleased with the initial results.

How games are made.

2009-04-24T02:20:00.000+08:00

Awright perhaps the title is a bit misleading. It should read "how this game is being made", since the actual process for developing a videogame these days is monumentally complex and not quite as straight to the point as the process I'm outlining below:

STEP 1: Planning.

The story and gameplay (how the game er... plays) are hashed out at this stage. Everyone gets a foot in and it's a fun time filled with boundless optimism and wacky outside the box ideas.

STEP 2: Design.

The game designer gets to work, plotting out the overall flow of the entire game into a signle all encompassing flow chart. I can't show it to you here since it'd pretty much show you what you need to do to beat the game. Suffice to say it's pretty complex.

STEP 3: Design Part Deux.

Here the game designer starts designing each individual level one at a time. They look a bit like very simple blueprints. I've included an image below that should give you an idea...

Once the game designer is done he sends this image over to me for me to make it pretty...

The game's art is produced with HD 1080p resolution in mind, so some of the maps are relatively high resolution, the one above for instance is actually over 4,000 pixels wide. It's a "hub map" which leads to other levels, levels that will eventually be between 10 and 20 times as large.

STEP 4: Well we haven't technically started step 4 just yet, but it involves music and animation. We're currently looking for an animator, but we've got some music (you can have a listen here).

STEP 5: Make lotsa munny. Well not really, but it'd be great no?

Level 2 Artwork

2009-04-10T05:04:00.000+08:00

Okay, so remember that Usher game I'm working on? Well here's an update. This is level 2, it follows the prologue level I linked to earlier and it's something of a "Hub" level rather than an actual gameplay level. It serves as a sort of landing point when you first start the game, and leads to a bunch of other levels. I'm still working on it, primarily detail work and some shadows left, but for the most part it's intact. I'm considering adding some hunting trophies :)

Yet more mural stuff

2009-04-03T04:20:00.000+08:00

The building is still being constructed, but each one of these four panels is meant to fit on one of the main walls of the building. Once again they'll be done using ceramic tiles.

More mural stuff

2009-03-29T02:55:00.000+08:00

This is another design for my dad to use. It's going to end up as a mosaic (ceramic tiles) on a wall in some sports facility.

STUFF!!

2009-03-25T05:54:00.000+08:00

Working on some sketches at the moment, I'd like to have an exhibition at the end of the year so I'd best get crackin'. It's early days yet and I'm just doing compositional studies, but I'm happy so far.

Noah's Ark

2009-03-17T07:11:00.001+08:00

Welp, here's one of the things I'm working on at the moment. It's a layout for a project my dad's got going, it'll going to end up being a mural on a wall in some school somewhere. It's been kinda fun, though the animals have been proving tedious and more time consuming than I imagined, in retrospect I also wish I'd been a bit more daring with the composition and subject matter. Will update with more stuff in a few days I hope.

Day 15 TGBE

2009-03-16T08:28:00.001+08:00

Day 15 of The Great Beard Experiment, in which I attempt to leave my beard to grow long and luxurious, unfettered and untouched by blade of flame. I'm curious to see how full it'll get, or if my regular "leave it for two weeks" length is the maximum achievable sproutage.

In other news, I'll post some art in a wee bit. Just working on a layout for me dad that's proving a little tough at the final stages. It's a Noah's ark "painting" which was fun until I started to draw the animals. TOO MANY OF THEM! Noah really should have just put them in U-Haul's instead.

Welp. It's done.

2009-01-31T08:50:00.000+08:00

Prologue level art is done!

2009-01-18T22:37:00.001+08:00

And that's a wrap for the prologue level! Gameplay-wise it's very simple, it's just an introductory level aimed at getting the player used to movement and jumping. Still, it was an absolute blast to work on, learned lots of stuff to apply to the next level, which takes place inside that half submerged house on the end.

Shof, I swear I tried some yellow in moon, but then the background got too bright, which made focusing on the main character hard. Actually the hardest part of this whole thing was making the background look interesting but ensuring it doesn't distract you while you play.

I've included a few detail images:

TTFN!

Hey Shobo, what you been up to?

2009-01-16T23:37:00.000+08:00

Apart from... work... stuff. This, which is about 60-70% done at the moment. It's the background/foreground for the prologue level in the videogame, you might remember the concept piece I did for it here. This piece was a lot more time consuming due to the resolution and scale it's shown here are 1/3rd actual res.

Oh yeah, ignore the guy dressed in Spider-Man underoos, he's just there for scale reference. I should warn before you click through it's a fairly large image, and even then I've had to compress it heavily to make it almost-web safe.

Detail:

EDIT: Here's the latest update. Fewer trees, closer to completion.

Happy New Year all!

2009-01-01T18:01:00.001+08:00

I almost didn't put a post, but figured I might as well mark the occasion. I'm sketching, watching Season 4 of Angel, and wondering what to have for dinner. Also contemplating the bottle of half empty merlot I started on last night.

Love you all!

Jonah Lives!... (again)

2009-01-01T01:06:00.000+08:00

I finished the script for Jupiter Jonah and the Treasure of Oduduwa almost a year ago but it's been languishing in production hell since then. I've taken the script out of mothballs, given it a dusting off and decided to plot the rough layout. Scenes have been shifted about and lines and dialogue have been altered, but I think it's all for the best.

I color more of Shof's stuff.

2008-12-30T00:11:00.000+08:00

Shof's pencils can be seen here.

Shof's pencils can be seen here.

Shof's pencils here.

They were each done in about 15 minutes but they were so much fun. I love working on Shof's pencils because the texture and detail just make you want to go nuts. He wants me to work with some more muted colors next time but I kinda just want to go on a vibrant technicolor jamboree that screams at you.

Edward 2.0

2008-12-29T20:02:00.000+08:00

After getting a lot of feedback from Shof, he decided to have a go at taking what I was working on and running with it, the result is what you see above (though I colored it). Frankly I loved it, so I've asked Shof to go ahead and design all the human characters in the game, including Edward, Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, Jeeves the butler, Wilhelm Usher, and The Creepy Old Man.

More Edward

2008-12-27T14:37:00.000+08:00

Still working on this, I think I'm getting closer to something I like and Shof's been providing valuable feedback. I still have some fine tuning to do but I like the last image on the right.

Finding Edward

2008-12-26T20:21:00.000+08:00

Working on the design of the main character in that game, Edward Usher. He's modeled on Egon Spengler, and his wardrobe is a not so subtle homage to what Vincent Price wore in the 1960 Roger Corman movie adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher. Still working on getting his hair right though, especially that... floof in the front.

A Christmas Story

2008-12-26T09:22:00.000+08:00

I was walking down the street yesterday when I noticed the guard across the way who minds my regularly frequented ATM. I greeted with a curt nod and he responded with a booming "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" To which I replied with an awkward "Er... Merry Christmas to you too!" also shouted across the street. A lady walking by heard us and without missing a beat blurted "And a Happy New Year!"

It was sweet, perhaps you just had to be there.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Been busy like a bee.

2008-12-21T17:26:00.000+08:00

New art style for the game. It's easier for me to get more backgrounds done faster. Also think the color work is much better. The actual characters and interactive objects will be considerably brighter and I think they'll look kinda like cut paper.

New stuff!

2008-12-16T07:19:00.000+08:00

Hello!

Posting this:

Because the color version Here:

Wasn't working out. I had experimented with colored lines but couldn't get it to work. In the end I stopped about half way through, I think I'm going to try a different approach to digital coloring and the game art in general. I need to be able to do two backgrounds a week at least in addition to work, and this won't let me move fast enough.

Excuse me, I arted.

2008-12-07T11:02:00.000+08:00

Here's something I drew for a project I'm working on at the moment. It's supposed to be a whimsical video game follow up to The Fall of the House of Usher. Hopefully there'll be lots more concept art for this posted in the coming months.

Thumbnail sketch.

Inks.

Flat colors.

Some shadows.

Highlights.

And the finished product. I think it turned out okay, though the colors aren't as punchy or vibrant as I'd have liked. I think it starts to happen in the tree on the left, but never really takes off. I like my clouds and grass though.

At the risk of being overcome with geek cool

2008-11-18T22:34:00.000+08:00

How awesome is this guy? So awesome.

2008-11-06T20:05:00.000+08:00

I also found out my 50th post came on Barrack Obama Day. I'm special somehow!

Wow

2008-11-05T13:04:00.001+08:00

Just, wow.

I had a flying dream!

2008-10-26T00:28:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure why I had it, but it's been years since my last one so it was very much welcome. I was coming home from school (!?) back home in Lagos, when a car full of kids pulled up in front of me, instead of going round the car I just sort of pushed off the ground into the air. It didn't last long, and my mum suddenly showed up and asked if I could do it again and I did. I suppose it was more of a floating dream than a flying dream.

That was breakfast yesterday. For the most part it was great except there was definitely something very wrong with the nectarine, which was a lot harder than I think it should have been and tasted like cardboard. I threw it out.

It begins... again.

2008-10-16T13:19:00.000+08:00

So the debate was fairly boring. After what seems like an eternity (3 or 4 years I think), some new Trek stuff! Weird cus Shof and I were just talking about this the other day.

Chekov, Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Sulu and Uhura from left to right. *squeals!*

The new bridge of the USS Enterprise.

That is not the Enterprise, it's the USS Kelvin being blasted to bits. No, I've never heard of the Kelvin either.

Nero, the movie's good guy.

Kirk. Again.

Spock, explaining to Kirk that he doesn't like being made fun of.

Yup, this is just what it's like...

2008-10-14T14:19:00.001+08:00

Slow going.

2008-10-13T11:26:00.000+08:00

Not that exciting to look at yet. Once I get done with the flats I'll add some texture then take it into Painter to add volume.

Breakfarst of Champeens

2008-10-12T12:31:00.000+08:00

Actually pre-breakfast, since I had some cereal afterward, yum!

From the desk of Andrew Ryan...

2008-10-07T10:13:00.000+08:00

How creepy is that? It's the first part of an extremely cool video game called Bioshock.

Sean, you'd like this game. Don't think it's on the Mac though.

I made this!

2008-10-07T02:15:00.000+08:00

Got into a very limited beta this weekend for an upcoming game called LittleBigPlanet, so when I should have been starting version 2.0 of Toba's village, I was busy designing this:

The game is a ridiculous amount of fun, kept me laughing all the time I was making the level, the cool thing is that once you've made the level you can upload it and other people who have the game can try out your level and leave some feedback, folks seem to be enjoying it quite a bit. Work on Toba's Village shall continue this weekend though!

Happy Independence Day!

2008-10-02T09:59:00.001+08:00

For those that don't know, and those that likely forgot (like my bro and sis), today, the 1st of October happens to be Nigerian Independence Day.

If I were at home I'd mandate a celebration with lots of suya and a little beer, possibly even illegal and dangerous fireworks. As it is I'll have to make do with some orange juice and a few salted almonds.

Here's to many more, and better times ahead.

How awesome am I? So awesome.

2008-10-01T08:19:00.000+08:00

'Kay, so I'm stopping work on this first painting of Toba's village, it's taking far too long, and frankly I've learned a couple of things working on this in the early stages that I want to implement on something else. There were going to be at least two more layers of work on it to finish it up, but... eh.

I'm moving on to this drawing, which I much prefer, once again the pencils were done by Shof and the inks by yours truly (another Collaborative Coker Creation!):

Maybe this time I'll actually have a color palette decided upon before I decide to go whole hog on it! As usual I'll be documenting my progress step by step.

Oh yeah, and why am I so awesome? Simple, because I'm now an uncle, that's right, after nine months of hard work, and six (?) years of prep work gettin' those two together, I finally did it, ME!

Can't believe there's three of you. Little Lucy, I like that.

Painted into a corner.. whut now?

2008-09-27T17:12:00.000+08:00

Okay, so I didn't exactly have a game plan when I started painting this, I've reached a point where I dunno where to go next. Obviously lots more woik to be done, guess I'll just keep paintin'!

I just want to get this one done so I can move onto painting something else, doesn't help that I don't think I like this drawing that much, the composition is a little boring and the inking ain't too hot either. I'll finish it this weekend.

Oh yeah, I was in a cab the other day when an all white kitty decided to try and cut us off, luckily the driver stopped in time and honked, the cat shot up about six feet in the air, stared at the cars "head" and hissed. I just thought it was funny that the cat looked where the cars head would be.

Here I am again!

By the way, if you happen to be a best friend of mine who happens to be pregnant at the moment and happened to miss the date I set down, it's okay, I'll let you off the hook this one time.

Virtual Wanderlust

2008-09-22T16:30:00.000+08:00

Ever sit in front of your PC and just think.. "Okay, what now?" I mean you've got this miracle of modern technology just staring you in the face, and you really ought to do something with it.

Well, every weekend for a couple of hours Scroggins and I meet up online to play some World of Warcraft, this weekend there was a "Brewfest" going on, Scroggins insisted we attend, so we did. It was pretty fun actually, which is weird because it's hard to imagine how a bunch of gamers getting together as elves and dwarves to down some digital beer could be entertaining in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately I was having such a good time I forgot to take any pictures, however I do have some images of Scroggins and I on the way over there.

Scroggins is the stout little dwarf leading the way. Incidentally his comic strip is picking up some steam, so check it out at Grumpy Grumpy).

I've also been exploring in Age of Conan, here's my avatar, Mostaffa:

He's a real hit with the ladies. Those who know me well know of my love for Conan, so it's great to be able to explore a digital interpretation of his world and see first hand all the places Howard described in the books. Here's Mostaffa fresh off the boat in Khemi:

Well, it's getting late here, I need to be at work in... four hours, and I still have to get a little sleep. First some dinner though. I caved and after being good for a little over a month, I'm having Mickey D deliver some fries, a burger and some ice cream. Don't judge me!

Update on Toba's village.

2008-09-22T15:01:00.000+08:00

Here's an update, since Shof wouldn't leave me alone about it. I actually sort of want to move on to another painting, there's a second piece of concept art we did of the same village that I think is a more interesting drawing. But I think I'll exercise some restraint.

And my current desktop:

And for breakfast I had two yucky oatmeal raisin cookies and some chocolate milk.

Can't think of a title.

2008-09-22T10:29:00.000+08:00

Shof sent me this the other day. It's a little piece of concept art we worked together about 3 or 4 years ago. Shof did the pencils and I inked it, was quite proud of it at the time, just the fact that we'd worked on something together was a good feeling. Anyway, Shof seems determined to get me to start drawing again, so I figgered I'd start painting this. It's slow going, but I'll be posting updates as I go.

Here's the black and white.

I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here, but I hope it turns out okay.

The handsome mug, cus it's been a while since I've posted it. Shobo gives you one thumb up!

FInally, what I had for dinner:

Thai chicken curry over rice and lettuce with carrots, and a few spring rolls. (a few meaning twelve)

Japanapples!

2008-09-21T18:48:00.000+08:00

Went shopping yesturday, got a decent assortment of stuff, though what I was most excited about were a pair of sealed (overpriced) apples labeled "Japanese Apples". Curious, I bought them, having had one for breakfast I feel I've been ripped off, for Japanapples taste no different than Americapples, or for that matter Nigeriapples.

Played an hour or two of Warcraft with Scroggins yesterday as well, all the while munching on those rather yucky Mrs. Fields oatmeal raisin cookies.

My current desktop, featuring Sackboy! Bless 'im. And of course a video of Arsenal crushing Blackburn last weekend.

Not Dead...

2008-07-18T17:38:00.000+08:00

Big colorful seashells, and the picture wall goes up.

2008-04-15T01:24:00.000+08:00

I got some shells this weekend, and no, I didn't go to the beach, that's still a ways off. They're beautiful though so I took some pictures to share.

I also went down to the book store and got some cork board and pushpins so I could start putting up my wall of pictures.

Aww, would you look at all those faces!

This is what the wall looks like from afar, there'll be loads more pictures up when I'm done though. Also notice my newly installed wind chimes on the door frame.

My next post will have some drawings, I promise.

Today, I went shopping...

2008-04-11T00:25:00.000+08:00

... again. I got some hand made mats and bowls and stuff for the apartment, and a pair of nice warm lamps that offset the sterile white of the fluorescent bulbs. I felt so good about the way things looked I took some piccies... and of course a video.

Happy Birthday daddy, Happy Birthday Shof! Miss you guys so much, can't wait till we're all together again on the beach, eating suya!

Love,

Shobo.

My Articulated Sculpted Miniatures

2008-04-03T21:11:00.001+08:00

And I've got plants now! Although I mostly just took pictures of my toys.

I suppose we should get this one out of the way first, it's not a toy, rather it's a life size replica I sculpted of myself from a local wax called mooshoo. It looks eerily lifelike in the right light.

'Kay so that's obviously me fibbing. What happened was I struck a pose, and the lady across the street opened her window and stared into my open window and saw me standing like that. Naturally I didn't want her to think I was an idiot so I figured the best thing to do was just not move for a while. I stood there for five minutes before she went back into her apartment, staring the whole time.

Look, I've got plants now! I can pretend my action figures are traipsing through a jungle! My favorite one is the big fellow by the window (Brock) there's a close up below.

That's not Brock, that's Tom and Jerry.

Thing Ring, DO YOUR THING!

That's Brock in the middle, and Dean and Hank above and below him respectively. It's nice to have living things in the space. I expect them to be withered and brown within a week.

That's Rusty, and the cheapest bottle of red wine I could find at the local super. It's almost empty now. I got some dried mango strips that go really well with the wine. I figure it's better than candy and soda... maybe.

Asterix and Obelix guard the Man of Steel.

Almost too much awesomeness to be contained in one image.

Crom demanded I leave the best for last.

I think the video says all that needs to be said.

2008-03-31T12:18:00.000+08:00

Really though, I hope to get the internet set up at my condo sometime soon to alleviate the intense boredom I currently suffer while at home.

I LIVE here now.

2008-03-29T01:47:00.000+08:00

Now that I'm not just in a hotel room it finally feels like I live here now. I figured I'd make a short video showing what the apartment looks like right now. Tomorrow I shall head to the mall and buy some stuff to fill it with. I hope I don't come back with tons of junk I don't need... who am I kidding!?

Found a place to live

2008-03-25T21:26:00.000+08:00

After much searching and walking around Makati with Cindy, the kind lady from HR, I think I've finally found a place to live. It's about a 15-20 minute walk to work, and is located near the Greenbelt malls and park, which is good. It's on the 16th floor of a building called Greenbelt Park Place and is a small, brand new, one bedroom unit. My only problem with the place is that it's got no balcony, and the view isn't as great as I'd have hoped. Oh yea, and there's construction going on next door, but then it seems there's construction going on everywhere in Makati.

The building is only 3 years old and there are lots of nice amenities, including a swimming pool, game room with a billiards table, two new saunas, a well equipped gym, some restaurants on the bottom floor of the building, and cable tv and telephone service. But enough talk, on to the pictures!

The front entrance, lobby and pool respectively. The pool also has three hokey looking dolphin sculptures on the other side.

Well that's that. The accounting department at QJ I believe is taking care of things so I should probably be moved in by tomorrow or the next day. I still have one more place to look at but I doubt my mind will be changed.

A trip to the mall!

2008-03-25T03:06:00.000+08:00

Sunday I decided to go out and walk around for a bit, so I took a cab to one of the nearest malls, Greenbelt. Some of the pictures are sorta blurry, I apologise.

This was at a Japanese restaurant called Haiku, I'd already had some sushi but forgot to take pictures of that. Needless to say the meal was pretty tasty. I'm no good with chopsticks but they're so much fun, I managed to finish the whole bowl of rice using them.

This was dessert, a traditional Filipino concoction known as halo halo. It's got layers of milk, sweet beans, toasted grains, shaved ice, ground sweet rice, fruit preserves, coconut and it's topped with a flavored ice cream called ube, made from a local yam. Actually I understand the recipe varies from place to place so that's exciting.

There's a small but beautiful koi pond near what was once a bird sanctuary in the mall. The bird sanctuary has since been moved, but the mall was built around it and the trees are still there.

See how pretty? It's even more beautiful at night time, unfortunately there's a lot of security all over the place that kinda ruins the mood. To balance out all the beauty, here's a minute of uglification and stoopendipity. I filmed this about 4 hours after arriving and hadn't even had a wink of sleep!

Image Burple: Before I left Lagos...

2008-03-20T04:05:00.000+08:00

We went to Eleko beach! It was the weekend before I left, took a while to get there, it was so far out I was sure no one else would be on the beach. I was sadly mistaken. Still, we had a good time and it was quite a bit of fun.

BIG SHOBO FACE!

When these guys showed up all hell broke loose. People started running and screaming all over the beach, shots rang out... not really. They dance in front of your hut in exchange for munny.

Bear with me, there's a payoff.

... and there it is, the source of my power and wizdumb, the shell-toe.

My dad took this picture and I quite like it. A fellow selling these came by our hut.

If it isn't already obvious, we're testing the structural integrity of the hut in this pic. I told dad I didn't think the support beam could carry a man's weight, he bet it could and we proceeded to test the theory. Thankfully he was right.

Awwwww! Isn't my momma cute!?

There are no restrooms at the beach.

Um..... I got nothing. However I like this picture so it goes up.

And that's about it. :)

Image Burple: Pics from the journey so far.

2008-03-20T03:13:00.000+08:00

After a marathon flight I'm finally in the PI, have been for almost a week now actually. It's taken me this time to get used to the time difference, shrug off jet lag and get myself somewhat situated. Still looking for a condo though. Here are some pictures I took during the course of the trip, starting of course with my departure from Lagos.

These were taken on the road to the airport.

That's Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

These next few were taken at the Dubai International Airport, I had an eight over layover... not pleasant.

I was soooooo glad to finally get to my hotel room in Makati. It was on the 22nd floor and I''ve got vertigo, but I still brave the balcony. I've got a two week reservation but expect to be out of here shortly... I hope.

Sleepy, tired and bleary eyed, and yet ever so lovable.

Filipino Monies, or as they're called here, Piso's.

This shot and the next few ones are of the view from the balcony.

That's the Makati Sports Center, where people play ping pong on very big tables on the ground with large paddles.

This isn't a view from the balcony, it's Salcedo Tower, the QJ offices are located within on the 8th floor.

The entrance to our current digs!

This is where the writers ply their trade. Just look at those woidsmith's go!

My office! Which is still barren.

Oh yeah! Possibly the best meal I've had so far. It was from a delivery place called Thai in a Box. This was the appetizer, chicken parts (thighs?) wrapped in some sort of leaf.

You don't eat the chicken with the leaf wrapped around it...

The main course, no idea what it was called, but it was so, so gooooooood!

Well, that's it for PI pics for now, will take some more and post 'em soon!

Beach pictures!

2008-03-03T19:55:00.000+08:00

Dad woke me up Sunday morning and said "come on, we're going to the beach!" So we did, and here are some pictures from the lovely day.

I took a picture of my mom and dad by the old Fleetwood in the backyard before we left.

We're arriving at Alpha Beach now.

That hut in the bottom picture is the one we chose to spend the day.

The barbecue in the last pic is called "suya" (pronounced soo-yah). It's very tasty :)

After the beach, we stopped by at Chocolat Royale and picked up some tasty goodies, I just got an oatmeal cookie, but what an oatmeal cookie!

Yum!

Pictures from the garden.

2008-02-29T22:50:00.000+08:00

I'm not entirely sure "garden" is the right word for it, but it's in the front yard and there are lots of plants there. It's a little overgrown and a little wild. I used to love playing there when I was a kid.

That's the rotunda, my grandad used to have parties in there in the 70's.

My old swing set from when I was a kid, doesn't get much playtime anymore :(

Hey look, it's my bedroom window!

A last look at the rotunda.

Super Blogrio Bros!

2008-02-29T19:28:00.000+08:00

That's right, my brothers blog, the bizarrely named, More Tea Please, is back with a vengeance. He's been artin' apparently and it's looking rather nice so check it out when you've got a moment. Now if only the rest of you'se lazy bums would update your blogs every once in a while I'd have something to read in the mornin'!

Poke, prod, scrape... do you feel any pain yet?

2008-02-28T21:26:00.000+08:00

Paid a visit to the dentist and the optician yesterday, had a little hole filled in a tooth and a new prescription for me glasses. Oh yeah, and about 12 hours of double vision! Still, it wasn't half as bad as I suppose it could have been really.

Also here are a few random pics of Lagos!

The road back home from Victoria Island. That's a Lagos State taxi closest to the camera, which is brand spankin' new by the by.

Still on the Island here, the fellow closest to us is hawking (squints)... I'm not sure what he's selling really.

We're on the mainland now, you can tell cus it's dirty(-er).

Lagos traffic, also known as "go-slow".

The motorcyclists are known as "Okada's", quick, cheap transportation, but they're the bane of Lagosian motorists.

More of 'em. Okada's I mean.

This is Oshodi Market, you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Unless you go to Tejuosho Market... or The Computer Village... or... never mind.

That white sign in the bottom left corner says

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32. Repent today pls.

So now you know.

Shoes. And lots of them.

And now for some HOME PICS! That's Shadow, one of our seven cats, we hand raised and fed her... she didn't quite turn out right. I keeed! She's just got a bizarre expression on her face in this picture.

This is Furbee, the laziest of our kitty cats, the following sequence of images is typical of his behaviour.

Arf!

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. My departure date for the PI has been pushed back by a week to give me time to get some stuff in order, so I'll be leaving on the 13th now instead of the 6th.

Baby Steps Closer...

2008-02-13T23:31:00.000+08:00

So the other day my dad and I went to the local police station to pick up a Police Character report as required by the Embassy of the Philippines for my visa. I have to say it was a thoroughly depressing place, though my dad assures me it's "much better now".

It didn't take long to get the character report thankfully, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to find that we didn't have to grease a few palms to get it. Still, my dad recommended we thank them for their effort, we ended up getting them a bottle of non-alcoholic wine and a tin of Danish cookies.

Everybody wins!

The NDLEA's Got It Out For Me!

2008-02-05T00:53:00.000+08:00

Not Really. The NDLEA is the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, I have to get a report from them, and the police department, and a doctors note to get a Filipino visa, just a lot of bother really. The Embassy of the Philippines is located in Abuja, so I'll have travel up there for a couple of days this month to pick the visa up. Hopefully I should have some lovely pics of the PI up on the blog in the next month or so.

In other news Orishas is officially on hold. My move to the PI will make it rather difficult to coordinate with Bolaji, as a result I'll probably end up doing the artwork on that myself. Jonah's still a go at the moment though, as I said in my last post I recently finished the script for Volume One, Jupiter Jonah and the Eye of Oduduwa. I've sent it over to Shane to have a look at and we should be starting art production on it sometime soon (pretty excited).

In other news, the fast food joint near where I live has started offering pizza, it's really, really fresh and pretty darn good.

The script for Jupiter Jonah is finished!

2008-01-28T22:55:00.000+08:00

A few days ahead of schedule no less! I'd set a deadline of February 2nd (my 26th birthday) to get it done, I never really thought I'd make it but it seems I did! Now I've just got a few loose ends to tie up and I'll be sending it over to my partner Shane Mcdermott to have a look at.

In other news it looks like I'll be moving to the Philippines at the end of February. Yup, it came as a surprise to me as well but the videogame website I work for, QJ.net wants me to head over there (where the main offices are located) and take charge of editorial, which is extremely exciting to say the least.

Two More Tests

2008-01-04T01:51:00.000+08:00

Just before Christmas BJ gave me a new pair of drawings to practice coloring with, I've been thinking about ditching the method I was using before, and this is the result. Personally I like it much better, I'm still struggling with making text bubble shapes look right, but it's getting better I think. I suppose I should add that the font used is just placeholder, and that the images aren't from our comic "Orishas" but rather from something BJ was working on a few years ago. Also I made up the script to match what goes on in the images... Stan Lee style! (I'm just kidding Mr. Lee)

Also, I've been working hard on Jupiter Jonah, the script's coming along wonderfully, it's been a while since I've had so much fun writing and I hope it shows in the final product. I know I promised I'd have a synopsis for Orisha's by now, but I promise it's comin' real soon.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year everyone!

Mince Pies Baby! MINCE PIES!

2007-12-25T03:21:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas Eve here and I'm chowing down on homemade mince pies and sipping on Amarula, hoping against hope I got a PlayStation 3 controller so I can nail some insurgent scumbags in Call of Duty 4. I'm also typing the script for Jupiter Jonah, somewhere around page 9 at the moment, it's going rather well.

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Love,

Shobo.

Oh My Grud!

2007-12-03T10:50:00.000+08:00

These are some ball point pen sketches BJ made of three of the major Orishas in the Yoruba pantheon, Olorun, the Sky God, Olokun, Goddess of the Seas and Marshes, and Esu, the Trickster. They were done a little while back, and their designs have changed a wee bit since then, but these will most likely be at the back of the book in "making of" section, plus I felt like sharing since it's been a while. I've included a short excerpt from the novel's bible, though that's unlikely to be seen by anyone but myself really. It just gives a little background on these characters.

"At the birth of the universe were the twin consciousnesses Olorun, and his sister Olokun. For an age Olorun and Olokun were a balance with each other, until the birth of Esu, a child-like trickster who introduced an unstable element to the cosmic equation. A rift soon grew between Olorun and Olokun, thanks in no small part to the machinations of their younger sibling. This rift grew in emotional intensity till it became manifest in physical form. Within a single day the ether became sky and space and sea. Olorun became the keeper of the sky, Olokun dwelled in the murky seas, and Esu floated in the space between and paid both frequent visits to torment his brother and sister."

Okay, so that's it for now, I may fool around a bit with trying to color these images since BJ's still slacking off on getting some drawings done and instead seems to be consumed by "real work", pah! Also, I figure next time I might as well drop a synopsis for the first book since the script's pretty much done.

This one's a little late...

2007-11-20T23:35:00.000+08:00

Should'a been out around Halloween, but working on the script for the graphic novel (which is now called Orisha's by the way) took precedence. Again this isn't anything from the actual graphic novel, it's just an image BJ sent over for me to practice coloring with.

The Slave and The Crown

2007-10-30T06:37:00.000+08:00

Three different posts, three different coloring styles. I think I'm gonna work on getting better at the first, I prefer the softer almost pastel look.

BJ gave me this piece to color, it's the cover from a book he's doing titled "The Slave and The Crown". I really want to know what's in the bag.

No Paint, No Gain.

2007-10-25T00:29:00.000+08:00

So yeah, Bolaji's slacking off on providing pencils for me to practice with so I had to find these pencils on the net. It's not really anywhere near the subject material we'll be dealing with, but I get to practice. Unfortunately the source file was pretty tiny at 72dpi. Does anyone know where to get good pencils to practice on? Anyway, I'm not entirely satisfied with the piece, still lacks those "lighter tones" Erica mentioned were missing in the last image, and the characters seem pasted in. Still workin'!

When Bad Bloggers Bite Back!

2007-10-22T06:35:00.000+08:00

I've been busy. Busy with work and busy workin' on my super top secret, super project... which some of you might already know about. It's a pretty big project with a roadmap that stretches over a year into the future, but it has the potential to make dreams come true... or make me very poor.

I almost don't want to talk about it because I don't want to jinx it, but mostly because if (when) it ends up failing spectacularly y'all are gonna know about it.

But what the heck, I'll tell. I'm going to start a mainstream comic book publishing outfit here in Nigeria! Yes, it'll cost a lot of money, but what most of you don't know is that I'm actually a prince, and heir to the Wakandan fortune. Yes, it's going to be hard work, but I'm not entirely naive to the challenges, and I'm eagerly doing as much research as I can. Bottom line is that I'm excited about it.

I'm going the "Image Comics" route of publishing creator owned comics, starting of course with one of mine (my creative partner on the book will be a fellow named Bolaji, he'll be doing pencils). I'll be handling colors, lettering, layout and design, editing and the story. The first book is called "Orishas" and it's a sweeping, epic, period piece set just a hundred years after the creation of the world.

The art below isn't from the book, BJ's still working on designs for that. I'm done with writing issue one and am currently getting used to using a tablet to paint, and learning (slowly the art of lettering... and it really is an art). We're going for something of a compromise between the digitally colored look of most comics and something hand painted. Dark Horse's "Conan" run has been very influential, as has Siku's work on Judge Dredd: Fetish.

Anyway, that's all for now, will post again soon, and more frequently even!

P.S. The publishing company will be called "Atomic Lore".

When Animals do Human-Like Things

2007-07-31T21:08:00.000+08:00

So yeah, I'm not quite dead yet, despite my absence from the blogging. Been busy with work for QJ, some boooooring website design work for a travel agency, and some design work for a company that's making a videogame. All in all, fairly boring stuff.

However, I figured that even if I can't put up new pages of the Robot's Story just yet, I can at least put up some pics of home.

Page the third...

2007-06-16T17:03:00.000+08:00

Inked mostly by candlelight and with the blood of a thousand soldier ants. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but now it's done I can move on to my FULL PAGE SPREAD! And yeah, I'm starting to get irritated drawing these on 8.5x11, I'll be doing Jonah on 11x17 for sure.

In other news, I'm about to head out on the town and pick up a tasty shawarma! We might be headed to go see Fantastic Four tomorrow, I have no expectations so... Still don't have my new laptop yet :(

Best Time Ever To Be a Conan Fan

2007-06-13T05:37:00.000+08:00

I can't claim to be a long time fan, but my dad collected the old Marvel issues that were drawn by John Buscema (he never got the ones by Barry Windsor-Smith) when I was a kid. I hated and the Ahnolt movies though (The Beastmaster's where it's at for 80's sword and sorcery flicks). More recently though, I've begun reading Howard's original Conan stories and find myself unable to stop.

It seems now more than ever great Conan related media is crawling out of the wood-work, awesome work by Cary Nord, Kurt Busiek, Mike Mignola etc on the ongoing Dark Horse regular run, and gorgeous looking mini-series' like The Jewels of Gwahlur adapted by P. Craig Russel (seriously, I'm in love with this page). Of course there's also a really awesome looking game in development called Age of Conan, set across Aquilonia, Stygia and Cimmeria. It's a massively multiplayer online game that looks to stay true to the Hyborean age.

However, the jury's still out on Conan: Red Nails, an animated movie featuring some A-list voice actors, but with a questionable look. I almost feel as though they ought to forgo inks and extensive clean-up animation for the production, leave the lines rough and alive. I have to admit though, I'm not so sure how I feel about Ron Perlman as both the voice of Hellboy and Conan.

Like I said, great time to be a Conan fan.

Oh yeah, and page three of Robot's Story ain't done yet.

Oh yeah! I deliver!

2007-06-11T07:11:00.000+08:00

Barely! I said I'd finish page two today (page 1 is right here) and despite having to attend a stuffy informal lunch (the kind with multiple knives and forks on the table) I managed to do just that. Don't hold your breath for page three though...

I'm not quite as pleased with this page, or maybe it just wasn't as much fun. The next page will be even worse because it comes before a page I really want to draw, so I'll have to take care not to rush through it. There are some things I like though, like the marks on the Robot's monitor (which weren't there in his previous incarnations).

I figure at some point I should decide where this story's going.