One Trick is Never Enough

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Let's face it, ever since 45 took office our political and social landscape has become more a shit show than we ever anticipated. We knew shit would get bad, but this is ridiculous now. I log in to facebook to check notifications and what not and I get inundated with video after video of "threatened" citizens stepping out of bounds and harassing other citizens, wrongfully calling the cops on them and what not. And I'm tired of this. I'm tired of feeling powerless, like there's nothing I can do other than joining out in the streets protesting hoping somebody gets the message. And then I realized (cuz I totally forgot) that I draw comic strips, and if there's anything I can do it's sharing ideas through cartoons. Okay, it sounds stupid when I say it like that, but in actuality it's quite brilliant. And historically speaking comic strips and cartoons have always been the one the best ways to spread ideas and rally people behind causes. So, yeah I just realized all of this. And now here is my first comic strip with all that said and in mind.
45's ramping up and expansion of ICE has my community in a panic. Not only are the undocumented extra cautious now but even naturalized citizens who have paid their dues and went through all the legal channels are on the radar. The splitting up of children from parents entering this country just to stay alive is shamefully and embarrassingly reprehensible. People on my side shout to "Abolish ICE" and "Shut down ICE" but what can be done to do so? Well, I just so have an idea of how to shut down ICE - cut the agents payroll. That's it. It's a simple, nonviolent way to stop ICE, even if it's temporary. Think about it, are these agents really that dedicated to their job that they'll carry out orders without pay? Would you do your job (competently) without pay? And keep in mind, besides what they do for a living these are working stiffs just like you and me; they have mortgages, car notes, debts, medical bills. They have to live too. Send a virus (don't just wipe it out, it can be replaced easily) to shake up the system, cut pay to field agents but let the higher ups keep their pay. That just may breed a shade of distrust between employees and supervisors. We got any hackers up this task? What about Anonymous? Where are they when you need them?
But then again what do I know? I'm just a cartoonist and what I wrote here is purely a hypothetical situation. These are just cartoons, not to be taken seriously. *wink wink

Side note: wouldn't this comic be great blown up and wheat-pasted on a wall somewhere? Holla.

Sugar Tits

I keep pumping out Star Boob concept art. I still have a lotta of visualizations and fleshing-out to do on the characters before I start this first issue. Good thing is I have a rough outline for the story, but even that needs polishing. So just chipping away at it.
Such a fun concept. I've never written a deep superhero story in my modern work, and with all the rage happening with superhero movies (as well as all their parodies and cliches) I was a tad bit reluctant to dive in. But, I'm loosening up in the idea department and creating a strange and colorful cast so it won't read like these same old stories we heard before. At least that's the idea. And there's this other side to creating superhero comics, it sort of taps into that feeling we felt as kids when we created our own characters and would try and mimic the poppy sequential art. How we would shape our characters similarly to the characters we would read about, posing them in identical poses whipping out the coolest art in class. Yeah, there's definitely some homages and other references taking place here as well, and they just pour outta me, so I'm going with it.

Throw Starboob from the Train. Starboob throws Trains.

Starboob vs. Epitomi O'Fine, arch-nemesis.

Starboob in Blue.

For this piece, I did some very sketchy pencil work with a very classic comic feel to it, something I don't do very often. I then tossed the piece to my boy KCool and he inked it and threw the blue wash on as well.

Starboob: Plane Dream sequential.

Been sitting on this penciled test page for months now. And when I say test page I do mean test page, I shoulda did it on some better paper. Maybe I will. The imagery is too gorgeous to not redo it and take a bit more time on it. 

That's Star Boob's development so far. This is gonna be a real cool story. I would tell you more but I don't wanna give it all away.

Token

Missed a month of September post so I'm tossing this in so I don't miss a month. Next month I'll have the Inktober Art blast but for this month I'm just throwing up a birthday photo (Virgos whats up?).

Also taking this post to plug the podcast my boy Lee Lawson has been doing month to month, check out the Shuffelapod, it's dope! He asked me to do the cover art for each episode and he just said do whatever I want, so the art truly is whatever I want and it works.

They're up for download and/or streaming on his site. Really good mix of music to work to or jam out doing whatever, spans all musical genres. If you're a music lover as I am you'll dig it. 

For episode 5 I literally used a pic from the remains of my birthday dinner. Lee said "fuck it, that's dope. The pope in a glass box, dope..." or something.

For the latest episode, 6, I give a shout to my late Grandfather who recently passed away. I like this old photo of him in the driveway with the family car in the 60s. 

Alfonso Perez Sr, circa age 17.

what a month.

The Metroid 2 remake AM2R is my shit. Been on that the last few months. Highly addictive. Highly recommended. But it's taken down, ya gotta scour the internet underbelly to find a copy. Snag 1.1 if you can.

Be sure to peep my upcoming events, details at the top right spot under "Where to Find Me"

I got a table at a sneaker summit last Saturday in October on the TSU Campus, 12pm to 4pm. I'll be next to Van G. Garrett.

and or course I'll be posting up at Zine Fest Houston 2016 with possibly a new zine. We'll see.

And lastly, my old curmudgeon of a coworker finally retired this month. This was his desk. I took this shot right before he took everything down. This is what we looked at everyday. He drew the stuff.

Okay, That covers the September post. Peace!

Raided

Here's a commish I've been slaving over all week. It's carefully inked and the color is very meticulous. And it's based on one my favorite characters, Indiana Jones! Favorite scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark to be exact.

 I wanted to shy away from the more obvious imagery from the movie, such as the melting faces. And that's it. Okay basically I wanted to not do the melting faces cuz that would be too easy. Or hard. Not sure, cuz it's such an iconic image. The impaled sidekick I made to look more like Alfred Molina cuz if you pause it it clearly doesn't look like him. Oh, and I love the scene where Indy is face to face with the swordsman. Here is a man who has honed his craft through the years, taking up a tradition that was passed down to him because his father was a swordsman, as his father before him. Well, he needed to feed his kids and some Nazi's tossed him a quick gig: Hack up this meddling American wearing this hat. Sounds easy enough right? I'm sure he taken up other sword-slashing gigs like that to pay the bills. What's one more? Except this guy with a hat has a gun, and he's got shit to do. BANG! Love that scene.
Anyway, I really enjoy how this piece turned out. The owner is gonna love it. He said he's gonna hang it next to a Jim Steranko piece, which is probably why I slaved over this piece like I did.

Here are some progress shots:

Just the inks, and some pencil.

One side of the colors complete.

 

...and then the other side.

And you  know how it ends, their faces melt.

 

American Tradition

So I'm four days late, but this is a time of year is when I say something very patriotic with a cartoon. And who none other to help me is DC's Wonder Woman? With her patriotic garb and all...

Oh, and she's engaging in that new American pastime Texting and Driving. Do you ever hit that steady speed on the highway and take a quick glance at the drivers next you? If you do, chances are they're right there texting away on their phone, eyes OFF the highway and glued to that little bright piece of shit. As if something is more important than controlling the glass-windowed cage you're steering at 60 mph. Or they might be going 45 slowing down the whole damn lane. Either way that's shits annoying. Some people may have the focus to do the two at the same time, but the ones who don't have the potential to fuck shit up royally. So why take the chance? Put your stupid phone down for 20 or so minutes and just drive.

On a lighter note, as for the piece above, well, I love Wonder Woman. I thought it would be funny to draw her texting and driving, pissing off other vehicles, mainly because I see a lot of it when I drive. Take a look next to ya and you'll see it too.

sketching daily

...or at least trying to. One cool way I found to keep the brain and pencil going is by following @sketch_dailies on Twitta. They hit you with a daily prompt, you draw it and tweet it. It's that simple. They retweet the best ones, and it's a great way to see what other artists are doing and how to link up with some of them. I've only posted 2 so far, these.

Be prepared to be saved by Ugly Link.

 Been a fan since middle school, but this is only the second time I've drawn Sailor Moon, believe it or not.

More to come as I keep on sketchin'!

Nude Year's Resolution (72 dpi)

Happy Nude Year, toonsters! I know I'm a lil' late on this post but whatever. I'm posting a few Christmas commissions I knocked out this season. Two to be exact. Check 'em!

Kid Heroes

a commish for my buddy Jerry. We work on flyers all the time and his son and nephews wonder when they'll get their own custom poster. Well, he surprised them with this. Can you tell who the popular characters are?

 

Bebop and Rocksteady

And if you don't know who these bumbling characters are then you're in the wrong place. The client I did these for wanted to see what I would come up with if I drew Bebop and Rocksteady in a more realistic sense in respect to the animals they mutated into. I also kept in mind that they're punks so the detail in clothing keeps that close by; patches, belt buckles, buttons, piercings.

I actually have one more commission to post but since I haven't sent it off yet I don't want to ruin the surprise for them if they happen to tune in to this site before they get it. Once I do send it, I'll post post post. 'Til then, keep thinking this year will be your year!