Category: Kawaii

Happy Thorsgiving

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Thursday is Thor’s day and it is about time I offered up a kawaii version of the god of thunder. I’m sure my wife will be sad to see this sketch owes more to the Norse traditions than to the Marvel Comics edition. (She has a crush on Chris Hemsworth.) I’ve also gone with the traditional short-handled hammer. Loki kept messing with the Dwarves when they were creating some magical items for him. While the other items came out fine, the Trickster managed to distract the Dwarf working the bellows so that Mjolnir came out with a shorter than normal handle.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it. Happy Thorsgiving to the rest of you.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Big Barda

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It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for some kawaii superhero art. I was thinking the other day that my doing this every week must be some sort of throwback to the old Saturday morning cartoons I watched as a kid. Yes, young ‘uns, we used to only be able to watch cartoons one day a week when I was little. Oh, the horror!

This week I have another super-heroine for you – Big Barda. She is part of Jack Kirby’s New Gods pantheon so we have a little mix of comics and mythology going on today, which is especially appropriate for this blog. He used a lot of strong female characters in his stories and Big Barda certainly ranks among the top tier of DC characters for power. On top of that, I love Kirby’s designs. He always included so much cool detail into the costumes. It’s really fun to work them up into the kawaii style.

If you want to see more Kirby-influenced art, head on over to to the Kirby-vision blog. Lots of neat work by different artists all offering up their own versions of characters created by the king.  See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

The Man Called Nova

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Alright this week we have another space-faring comic character – Marvel Comics’ Nova! Whenever I do one of these pictures I always cruise the web to see what kind of reference material I can find. It is a lot easier than digging through the hundreds of comics I own to find a particular issue. During that research I invariably end up spending way too much time reading web page accounts of the character. I know this character but I pretty much know the 1970s version of the character – that makes for a few decades of backstory to catch up on. I’m not just doing the old-school costume to be a hipster. I’m doing the costume that looks right to me because that’s the one I remember.

I’m not sure about his lower body in this pic. I’m still experimenting with the style for drawing these, trying to find my own balance of classic kawaii proportions.  See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

A Cold-Blooded Man

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I am a bat-fan. I’ve been one since I was a kid, following his adventures in the comics and watching reruns of the 60s TV show. But I think some of the best stories and visuals came out of Batman: The Animated Series. From the opening of the show and it’s objectivist art influences to the half-noir/half-deco city to the amazing, yet elegant,  character redesigns, this show hit so many homeruns.

One of my favorite redesigns is the one Mike Mignola did for Mr. Freeze. I have to admit I thought Bruce Timm did the design until I was doing research for this post. In retrospect it makes so much sense because I love this version of Freeze and I love Mignola’s work. (In a weird ,moment of synchronicity I had been toying with doing a kawaii Hellboy this week or possibly a character from Disney’s Atlantis – both of which have designs by Mignola.)

The classic B:TAS episode for Mr. Freeze is Heart of Ice. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini took a long-time villain and gave him a brand-new back story that was filled with gut-wrenching drama. The episode won an Emmy and all kinds of acclaim from fans and critics alike. It deserves every bit of it.

My version of Mr. Freeze is based on Mignola’s design with one small change. As much as I loved this work, I just never liked the purple gloves and boots. I suspect the color choice might have something to do with it being an animated character. Perhaps the color was needed to help the hands and feet read better visually. Whatever the reason that is the only small, small quibble I ever had with this great design.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Steamish Gnome

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This is an older picture I had hanging out on my computer. I was working on something brand new for today, but time just got away from me and I didn’t want to leave you all empty-handed. About two years ago I was playing around with the idea of writing an updated version of the Brothers Grimm story about the shoe peddler and the gnomes. While my mind was tossing around story ideas I also started doing some rough doodles of what I thought the creatures might look like. This picture is the result of those doodles. He has a bit of a steampunk flavor to him, I think.

Saturday I’ll be posting another character from the world of comics. Which one? I have no idea. That’s part of the fun for me.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

The All-Father Gets His Cute On

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This week’s kawaii art offering features Odin himself. I cheated a bit on this picture. Odin loved to disguise himself and wander the countryside to see what he could discover. One element that all of his disguises shared was they all only had one eye. Odin famously traded his eye away to Mimir so that he could take a drink from the Well of Knowledge. So while I have the clothes resembling one of his disguises I couldn’t resist adding Gungnir into the mix. I don’t think it would be much of a disguise if you’re also carrying around a magical spear that never misses its target. Oh well..

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Super Kawaii

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Here is a little bonus artwork for the week. I’ve been sticking with the Norse-themed stuff for the most part but this doodle really wanted to be made. From past experience I know that you just have to roll with the muse sometimes and get these things out of your head and out onto paper if you want to get anything else done. So here she is – Supergirl.

I have had a longtime love of comic books from back in the days when my mom would walk me down to the corner store so I could buy a comic with my allowance. I don’t read as much mainstream stuff these days, preferring different indies for the most part. But not too long ago I bought my son a copy of Art Baltazar’s Tiny Titans and loved it. I’ve also been enjoying the Super Best Friends Forever animated shorts done by Lauren Faust for Cartoon Network. If you would like to see more comic character artwork let me know.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

A Horse That is Norse

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Okay, we are back to kawaii-style  artwork this week with the fourth of Loki’s children – Sleipnir. He is different from Loki’s other kids in a number of ways. First, although he does have eight legs, he is not a monster. Sleipnir, whose name means “slippery,” is a friend and servant of the gods and serves as the mount of Odin himself. Second, while Loki’s other kids were born to the giantess Angrboda, Sleipnir’s mother is… Loki. Yeah, confusing, I know. Loki is a shape-shifter. One time he needed to lure away a male stallion so Loki changed himself into a female mare. The plan worked and some time later Loki showed up with an eight-legged, grey foal. The sagas tell us “This is the horse Sleipnir, which excels all horses ever possessed by gods or men.” His most famous journey was when the god Hermod rode him to Hel while trying to free Baldur from the clutches of death.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

More Kawaii Artwork

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This week’s kawaii offering features Jormungandr. He is the colossal sea serpent that encircles the globe in Norse mythology. That’s really big, but I figure the guy couldn’t have been born that large even if his mother was a giant and his father was Loki. So we have my version of him when he was a wee lad.

This is the third in my series on Loki’s kids. We’ve covered Hela and Fenrir already so the only one left is Sleipnir. He’ll be racing onto the scene next week.

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Hela Goes Squee

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Okay, the other week I mentioned thinking about the Norse goddess Hela lately. Then I shared some kawaii artwork which featured her brother Fenrir. I had a picture of Hela done, but I wasn’t happy with it. It was a more modern take, making her into something of a Goth girl. While I like the concept, the execution just wasn’t working. I started from scratch and so this week I have a picture of Hela to share with you all. What do you think?

She’s smiling but my concept for these is that the children of Loki are still young and haven’t yet arrived at the grim junctures of their fates. So we can have her a little bit happy for awhile.

Two of Loki’s li’l ones down, two to go. I’m thinking I’ll feature Jormungandr next, thinking of a way to chibi-fy an 8-legged horse is a tough one.

Posted by Mark Neumayer