Ink Asylum

Monster Fight!

2011-08-29T00:25:11Z

It's done! I started this over a year ago as a sequel to my Pirates vs. Ninjas drawing, and I finally finished it! Getting my Cintiq certainly helped speed up the process, but I'm still hoping to streamline things for the next time I do one of these.

So here it is. A gripping last stand between as dozens of fictional monster hunters take on the a legion of supernatural and undead threats! There are plenty more characters I wanted to include, but many had to be left out because it would be difficult to recognize them. Choosing who to leave in and who to leave out is always tough. In the end, I leaned towards what would be fun to draw.

Below is the answer key:

1. The Headless Horseman
2. Ghost Rider
3. Blinky (Pac Man)
4. Godzilla
5. Nearly Headless Nick (Harry Potter)
6. Ghost Pirate LeChuck (Monkey Island)
7. Chernabog (Fantasia)
8. Oogie Boogie (Nightmare Before Christmas)
9. B.B. Hood (Darkstalkers)
10. Bayonetta
11. Nosferatu
12. Count Chocula
13. Dracula
14. Boo Berry
15. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Ghostbusters)
16. Inky (Pac Man)
17. Casper the Friendly Ghost
18. Sissel (Ghost Trick)
19. Clyde (Pac Man)
20. Hunter (Left 4 Dead)
21. Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)
22. Vivi (Brain Dead 13)
23. Insectasaurus (Monsters vs Aliens)
24. Morrigan (Darkstalkers)
25. David (The Lost Boys)
26. Cthulu
27. Tank (Left 4 Dead)
28. Teen Wolf
29. Jacob Marley (A Christmas Carol)
30. Pinky (Pac Man)
31. Frank West (Dead Rising)
32. Ray Stantz (Ghostbusters)
33. Winston Zeddemore (Ghostbusters)
34. Van Helsing (Dracula)
35. Luigi (Super Mario Bros.)
36. Ed (Shaun of the Dead)
37. Slimer (Ghostbusters)
38. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
39. Edward Cullen (Twilight)
40. Hsien-Ko (Darkstalkers)
41. Jefferson Twilight (The Venture Brothers)
42. Kain (Legacy of Kain)
43. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
44. Count Duckula
45. Hellboy
46. John Talbain (Darkstalkers)
47. Gremlin
48. B.O.B. (Monsters vs Aliens)
49. Liz Sherman (Hellboy)
50. Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files)
51. Dr. Orpheus (The Venture Brothers)
52. Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
53. Elsa Bloodstone (NextWave)
54. Lord Raptor (Darkstalkers)
55. Vampire Hunter D
56. Frankenstein's Monster
57. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
58. The Lich King (Warcraft)
59. Dante (Devil May Cry)
60. Smoker (Left 4 Dead)
61. Chris Redfield (Resident Evil)
62. King Boo (Super Mario Bros.)
63. Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters)
64. Boo (Super Mario Bros.)
65. Pea Shooter (Plants vs Zombies)
66. Velma (Scooby Doo)
67. Dana Scully (The X-Files)
68. Fred (Scooby Doo)
69. Beetlejuice
70. Daphne (Scooby Doo)
71. Francis (Left 4 Dead)
72. Claire Redfield (Resident Evil)
73. Witch (Left 4 Dead)
74. John Constantine (Hellblazer)
75. The Mummy
76. Abe Sapien (Hellboy)
77. Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th)
78. The Goon
79. Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
80. Tallahassee (Zombieland)
81. Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc)
82. Ash Williams (Evil Dead)
83. Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
84. Rick O'Connel (The Mummy)
85. Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)
86. Louis (Left 4 Dead)
87. Gizmo (Gremlins)
88. Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)
89. Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil)
90. Zoey (Left 4 Dead)
91. Bill (Left 4 Dead)
92. Blade
93. Shaun (Shaun of the Dead)
94. Raziel (Soul Reaver)
95. Pyramid Head (Silent Hill)
96. Scooby-Doo
97. Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)
98. Shaggy (Scooby-Doo)
99. Sulley (Monsters Inc)
100. Tyrant (Resident Evil)
101. Abomination (Warcraft)

Mass Effect Playing Card

2011-08-06T05:56:09Z

A piece of Mass Effect fanart I put together, representing the dual morality system we all know and love.

News!

2011-06-29T23:45:48Z

Some stuff has been happening!

For starters, the Cintiq fundraising succeeded better than I could have imagined!

I am now the proud of an amazing tablet that has made drawing digitally so much faster and more efficient. As a result I'm moving ahead with some projects that were much more intimidating before.

In other exciting news, my Batman vs Sherlock Holmes comic has ended up being much more popular than I imagined it would be, popping up all over the place! Although it's been a few weeks since I've done a crossover comic, I still plan to do more! I'm moving away from a weekly schedule for now so I can make:

More comics! The crossover page is now a generic comic page where I'll be posting all manner of works. Check back soon!

The Ink Asylum Cintiq Fund

2011-05-15T15:12:53Z

For the past two years I have desperately wanted a Cintiq tablet monitor. Just look at how pretty this baby is:

Unfortunately, at $1k it's sitting a bit beyond what I can comfortably spend at the moment. To that end, I'm opening myself up to commissions, both big and small.

I do a lot of character illustration, but I also do design work here and there. A variety of examples can be found on the portfolio page.

I don't have a straight price list, but whether you have $10 or $100 to spend I'm sure we can settle on a cheap price for some custom art. I've got some time these days and really want that tablet! Here are a few basic ideas:

Character Illustrations
Sketches
Forum/Twitter Avatars
Book Covers
Logos
Invitations
Business Cards
...and more!

If you're at all interested, contact me with what you have in mind and I'll give you a quote. Thank you!

e-mail: inkasylum.inc at gmail.com

HATS!

2011-05-02T04:23:49Z

When Portal 2 shipped with a Team Fortress 2-styled hat and accessories store, many people complained. Frankly, I don't mind Valve trying to make a few bucks off people who want their robots to be wearing berets, and I just might pick up one or two items. Still, I thought it was funny to imagine how Valve's biggest franchise might look with the hat store treatment, so I whipped up this comic.

MOCCA FEST 2011 ROUND-UP

2011-04-10T04:53:28Z

I attended MoCCA Fest again this year, easily one of my favorite conventions. Meeting new and local artists is always a delight. It's especially interesting to meet artists that I've been following for a while without ever really knowing what they looked like. Getting to interact with them for even just a few minutes makes their style all the more meaningful.

As before, some highlights:

Johnny Wander - My girlfriend and I fell in love with this adorable slice of life comic earlier in the year, so we were super excited to get to meet the creators. They were both as nice as could be and had plenty of merch for us to peruse and purchase.

Love Me Nice - Another comic that I discovered this year. I didn't know the artist would be at the convention, so it was a nice surprise to spot her work and chat with her about it for a little while. Love Me Nice is a charming webcomic about the stars of a cartoon show that exist alongside humans.

Katie Shanahan - Once again, I spotted a piece of art that I recognized but didn't know who the artist was. That changed as I talked with the charming and talented Katie and bought a couple prints.

Scott C - The ever talented Mr. Campbell was at the show again, fresh off a year of amazing showdowns. I bought a bunch as coasters!

Joy Ang - It can be hard sometimes to track down the artist of a piece you particularly like. Joy did the lovely character illustrations for the Mass Effect Galaxy iPhone game, but it took me a while to figure that out. Fortunately, I did so in time to recognize her at the convention and buy a lovely print.

Paigey! - My glamorous artist friend Paigey continues to put me to shame with her level of output and work ethic. Even with a full-time job she just keeps cranking out art and crafts to sell at cons.

Alisa Harris - I always look forward to catching up with Alisa at the local cons. She had another cute cat comic this year, and continues to organize the local sketch crawls, which I look forward to attending as the weather warms.

Design A Day Review

2011-02-13T05:29:20Z

Although I only made it through a third of the year, looking back on the designs I did for my daily project in 2010, I decided to pick out my favorites and post them here. This one ranks highest, and I might do something else with it sooner or later.

MoCCA Convention Round-Up

2010-04-13T01:44:45Z

Last weekend I went to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's yearly Art Fest convention. I had a great time, met some of my web comic artists, bumped into some friends, and chatted with some great local talent. I also came away with a whole stack of business cards, postcards, and sample art. I love collecting these and looking the artists up on the internet later, and some of them look great pinned to my inspiration board. Here are some in particular that I thought I should share: Dark Igloo - The highlight of the afternoon was stopping at their booth. They clearly love classic cartoons and were selling a clever booklet where they used paper cutouts and photography to recreate cartoon effects. They also had a pair of t-shirts, each with a face that combined ten or so heroes or villains into one. It took me a few minutes to identify all the parts, but the guys cheered me on as I did and when I named the last told me that I was the first one that weekend to do so, giving me a free shirt and saying I made their day. Thanks, fellas! It was a pleasure! Emilio Lopez - I met Emilio at a recent Drink & Draw event here in NYC, and his art left me incredibly impressed. It turns out he's drawn professionally for some of the new TMNT cartoons so he clearly knows his craft. We chatted for a bit and he did a quick Princess Daisy sketch for me. Emma Sancartier - She wasn't at her booth when I stopped by, but I liked her beautiful watercolor animal prints so much I picked up one of the postcards. Novasett Island - I only grabbed his card at the show but his site has some well-drawn adventure comics that I look forward to checking out. Cooking Up Comics - I met Alisa Harris at King Con last year and it was nice to catch up with her. She's starting a vegetarian comic soon centered around real recipes. It sounds different and interesting and I look forward to when it begins. scott c - A concept artist for such stylish video games as Psychonauts and Brutal Legend, it was great to meet him and chat for a while. His work has a distinct style, the colors are subtle, and the ideas are whimsical. It's great that he's a New Yorker now and I was thrilled to pick up one of his prints. Paigey! - As always, it was great to see my friend Paigey's setup. Her art is fun and sexy, she works really hard at it and manages to stay friendly and cheerful through two long convention days.

Scott Pilgrim vs. Visualized Design

2010-04-03T16:45:27Z

The trailer for Scott Pilgrim, an upcoming movie directed by Edgar Wright, generated a lot of excitement when it released last week. Based on a comic book filled with over-the-top action and video game elements, many wondered how the film could possibly stay true to the source material. Edgar Wright put those worries to rest by completely embracing the exaggerated fight scenes and imagery, working the trappings of comic books directly into the film. The result appears to be a comic book movie unlike nearly any other. Part of that novelty comes from Wright's decision not to tone down the fight scenes. In the trailer we see the titular character sent sprawling by brutal punches, flung hundreds of feet into a castle tower, and slammed into a roof by an uppercut. He also gives as good as he gets, blocking a flying punch with his wrist, stopping his opponent dead in the air in order to deliver a brutal haymaker. These fantastic scenes, increasingly common since The Matrix, are enhanced even further by the sound effects and action lines that are pulled straight from the comics. Huge, dramatic words appear as part of the environment, occasionally interacting directly with the actors, as when Scott's head shatters an on screen 'SMAK!' Visual sound effects and action lines are used in comics because of the medium's static and silent nature. They aren't needed in a film, but their presence in Scott Pilgrim manages to emphasize and enhance the fantastic elements without looking cheesy. It's an impressive feat, and one that is rare in film. While many modern films use similar effects to weave their credits into the on-screen action, once the last name fades the visual typography and design are never seen again. If it is, it's used as an overlay or a freeze frame, distinctly separate from the actors and sets. Very few films embrace visualized design as strongly as Scott Pilgrim. Fight Club, a movie that experimented in a number of ways, uses the effect well in one particular scene. As the narrator describes the emptiness of his modern life the camera pans through his apartment as it fills up with Ikea-esque furniture, complete with catalog descriptions hovering nearby that the narrator walks between. It's a quick and subtle use of the technique, but helps emphasize the materialistic life he is living. Perhaps the most pervasive and effective instances of visualized design occur in the Will Ferrell film Stranger Than Fiction. The movie follows Harold Crick, a man with an extraordinary talent for numbers whose life is being narrated, and perhaps controlled, by an author. Many scenes throughout the movie, particularly in the beginning, visualize Harold's mental processes as graphics and text that become part of his environment. Lines, numbers, charts and icons fill the air as he knots his tie, counts the steps to work, or estimates the remaining soap in a dispenser. The well-executed effects establish, perhaps better than the acting or narration, that Harold projects an infographic onto the world around him. As a graphic designer it's always exciting to see design and text incorporated so deeply into a film that it becomes a part of the environment. If Scott Pilgrim succeeds hopefully it will encourage other directors to use similar techniques. In the right film it can enhance a story or scene beyond the limits of reality. (Scott Pilgrim trailer, Edgar Wright's blog, Scott Pilgrim comics)

Resolutions Holiday Cards

2010-01-23T21:16:30Z

I really like these unique holiday cards sent out by Andy Babb as an alternative to traditional holiday cards. With a focus on the new year and vintage images pulled from public domain sources they really stand out and have a nice dose of humor. For Print Only runs through the process. Now I have another source to check when I want to find some vintage artwork, the Library of Congress online archives.