Tag: comic characters

Acroyear, Warrior King of Spartak

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AcroyearKawaiiI’ve talked about drawing more characters with hair to push my skills but this is one character I couldn’t resist. There are a number of reasons why the character appeals to me. Part of it is nostalgia since I have fond memories of the first two years of the old Marvel Comics edition. Yeah, it was about a set of toys, but Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden created a really epic adventure from the thinnest of premises. I owned maybe two or three of the toys. They weren’t the main attraction for me. I just liked reading a nicely drawn epic adventure

I also dig the armor. Yes, it is kind of silly. Just think of the neck muscles you would need to hold that thing up all day long, not to mention how easy it would be for your opponents to grab it and pull you off balance. But I don’t care. I’m willing to suspend disbelief up to a certain point and Acroyear’s design edged up to that point without going over it for me.

That’s it for this Saturday. See you next time!

 

The backstory was pretty cool too. Basically, the prince of an entire, sentient world is betrayed by his own brother and cast into prison of a prince of an entire world of reading the old Micronauts comics from the very first issue up through the end of the  f to get my muse fired up. But the second reason why I figured it was time to draw her was the hair. I have tended to avoid drawing characters with hair but Delirium has hair that is wild enough and strange enough that I figured it was a good choice to ease myself in to the world of kawaii styling. See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Delirium of the Endless

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Delirium of the EndlessWe have already had an appearance from her sister Death, now it is time for Delirium of the Endless to take the stage. I picked her for a couple of reasons. First, I saw a couple of neat versions of the character on Comics Alliance’s Best Art Ever (This Week.). They usually have tons of stuff to get my muse fired up. But the second reason why I figured it was time to draw her was the hair. I have tended to avoid drawing characters with hair but Delirium has hair that is wild enough and strange enough that I figured it was a good choice to ease myself in to the world of kawaii styling. See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Look, Up in the Sky!

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"A Better World" SupermanHey, it’s Saturday and the first one of those where I haven’t had to work in a long time. So let’s get back to our regular Saturday morning cartoon inspired art. This week I am featuring Superman himself. But not just any version of the big S, I have him decked out in his Justice Lords costume from the excellent Justice League episode “A Better World.”

I’m not one for grim and gritty heroes, but I do love this costume design. The stark black and white with a punch of white for the emblem looks good and is evocative of Superman’s ordinary costume and has a kryptonian feel to it at the same time.

See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Death is Cute

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Fenrir pupAt least she is the way they depict her in Neil Gaman’s Sandman universe. Just a spunky Goth girl who seems like she’d be a lot of fun to hang out with – not that I’m anxious to meet her. I imagine she and Hela would have gotten along fine as kids. Maybe I should do a kawaii Hela and Death having a little tea party together.

Besides the issue of dealing with all that black clothing, I had another challenge with this sketch – the hair. You may have noticed that I cheat a little bit and choose a lot of subjects that don’t have much of their hair showing. There was bald Mr. Freeze; Galactus, Nova and Big Barda all wear helmets; even Hawkwoman has a mask that covers most of her head. But I decided I need to do more work at the areas where I am weak. So you’ll be seeing more characters with more hair. I’m not saying I’m ready to feature Medusa of the Inhumans just yet, but I want to push myself a bit.

Are there any characters that you all would like to see me kawaii-ify? I’d love to hear your suggestions. See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Hawkwoman

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Fenrir pupIt’s been a crazy week, folks. I wasn’t able to get my Norse artwork to a point where I was happy with it and things haven’t gotten any less busy for me. But I am happy to say that I was able to put together this kawaii version of Hawkwoman from the DC Comics universe. I don’t know that I can draw any deep revelations from the fact that I could finish this, but not the other one. The kawaii stuff just flows a lot easier for me.

My favorite Hawkwoman story is not from the comics but from the excellent Justice League story arc “Starcrossed” which features a Thanagarian invasion of the Earth and the exposure of Hawkwoman as an advance scout for their army. Great stuff- as most of the animated series was, to be frank.   See you next time!

Posted by Mark Neumayer

Ol’ Jade Jaws

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This week’s super Saturday kawaii artwork features ol’ jade-jaws himself – the Hulk. I have a soft spot for the original Stan Lee version – some of those classic fights between the Hulk and The Thing just got burned into my young mind (in a good way.) Having said that, I think Peter David has written some of the best stories for the character. David can get a little too meta at times for my tastes but he has written some great characterizations for the green goliath. Issue #368, where he fought Mr Hyde was simply phenomenal and one of my all-time favorites.  See you next time!

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