A Deadly Allergy

Maybe pediatrics was a misstep.

Fanart Friday: アキラ

Fanart Friday's topic this week was selected by my good friend, Jacob Wyatt.*

Having not seen Akira since probably 1996, I thought I'd give myself a little refresher. It was a heck of a lot more violent than I remember. The animation is as keen now as it was then--a true feat to behold--and stands the test of time. You'd be hard pressed today to find draftsmen who could accomplish the things they were pulling off 25 years ago. Those camera moves are astounding.

But somewhere between 1996 and now, I became a papa (twice over); and my tastes have changed...which is to be expected, I suppose. Which is to say, I lean unabashedly towards whimsy. Given these leanings, and especially considering that today I spent the greater portion of my day at the doctors office, rocking feverish children, wiping up puke, and chasing down prescriptions--got me thinking how Kaneda and the Capsules could have put their hobby to better use...you know, without the brandishing of so much blood-stained piping.

All joking aside though, I have to hand it to Otomo: he predicted 2019 fashion trends, like, 40 years in advance.


*His image is infinitely more faithful to the dystopian vibe of Otomo's masterwork.

No One of Consequence

I find that Thibault cancels out Capoferro, don't you?

Snorkel Cat

Yup.

Bring It On Home To Me

I've been a getting over a cold, so this is just a quickie. When I get sick, there are a few things that I hold close as comforts: hot soup, The Princess Bride, and Sam Cooke. That voice soothes the soul.

I'm feeling a little better, so there should be more comics to come soon(ish).

Fanart Friday: 天空の城ラピュタ

A little bird told me about a fan art movement...okay, it was a large-ish bird wearing a fedora and necktie.
At any rate, this is my first offering. I have this problem where I can never remember which Miyazaki film is my favorite, so I watch them all in rotation all the time.
Wednesday was Laputa day. If you've never seen "Castle in the Sky," avail yourself of the opportunity promptly.


...


technically posted a few minutes before it was actually Friday...I have patience issues.

Digital Snapshot

A little more of the same--only this time I took the picture with a digital camera.
I'm probably imagining there was something more sinister in the trunk than there really was.

More True Stories from the Holden Home

And I still don't know where he picked that word up.

Snapshot

I saw this scene out of the corner of my eye on my bike ride to work this morning; it was in my field of vision for approximately 3 or 4 seconds, which made for an interesting challenge.
Usually when I get the idea to do a memory sketch (when I see something cool and don't have a sketchbook handy), I take a moment to observe my subject intently for as long as I can, so as to try and pick up specific details that I'll be able to recall when I sit down to draw it. With this drawing, having 3 seconds of peripheral information means that probably a lot of what wound up on the page is stuff I made up. I mean, for all we know it could have been a lady drinking a latte shooing a squirrel that I saw. But that's the fun of doing this kind of drawing, I suppose.
Give it a shot sometime! Next time you find yourself thinking, 'that would be cool to draw,' stop looking and start making things up, just for a change.

Sketches

I know The Sartorialist is no secret but, man, is it a cool drawing tool. Sometimes to warm up at work, I search the archives and draw interesting people in their costumes. In other desktop sketching news, a friend tipped me off to this awesome gesture drawing site with all kinds of options.

Humpty Dumpty

The other night at the dinner table Sawyer was playing with his broccoli, teetering it on the edge of his plate while singing 'Humpty Dumpty' to himself. I know he's seen at least a dozen poorly animated flash versions of it on YouTube, and he's read different versions in a handful of Nursery Rhyme books we have. He knows Humpty is an egg--we all know that--so what made it okay in his mind that Humpty could be a piece of broccoli?

I scoured the text.
I couldn't find the word 'egg' anywhere.

So, cool. Humpty Dumpty is a sprig of broccoli in Sawyer's version. Yeah. Why not?
It was just a toddler having some fun at the dinner table, but it turned into a cool lesson in creative thought for me. By changing the central premise of Humpty Dumpty, a two year old effectively rewrote the nursery rhyme on a whim--and it became instantly more interesting to me. Now that he's a sprig of broccoli, Humpty's story can go in a million new directions--all different from the premise we're familiar with.

Anyway, it was a cue to me not to let ANYTHING get in the way of the creative process--all ideas are okay, just let them come and sort them later.

So, what are your thoughts on creative process? I wanna know.

Fighting in the Street 2: Pig in the City

Not being a wicked hard-core gamer, I have little reverence for the awesomeness of Street Fighter. Most of what I remember of the game was discreetly observed from behind the pages of the game manual (where all the character art was), while my brother and his friends would play the game. Hence, this goofiness.

Comics! (Click to enlarge.)

It's like some kind of illness--I don't know how much longer Street Fighter will plague me, but until it stops, you may or may not see more of this sort of thing.

(PS, thanks to Jed, for the M. Bison prompt!)

In Memoriam

Today, much to my dismay, our little group was broken up. Matt Braly and Javier Recio Gracia have been my office mates for the last three months, and today we were all moved to separate offices on campus. This comic is a memorial of a real life event that happened a few weeks ago...only replace "timebomb" with "recently laundered underwear."

True story.

Don't Fight in the Street, Children

It isn't good for your health.

Power Girl

She has powers.

Idle Sketching

Now and again I find myself with a little free time. I've recently discovered a drawing program called Colors on the Nintendo DS that's pretty handy. It's nice because its capabilities are limited and the screen is tiny--which prevents me from overdoing anything or trying to get too fancy. Plus it's got this neato playback function that tells you everything that's wrong with how you make drawings.
Here are a handful of my initial explorations.









A quick shout-out to the dudes that made Colors and the drawing playback possible.

Surprise!

Children are wonderful.
More and other work to come soon.

(click image to enlarge. please.)

Kickin' it

Most days I get home from work around 6:30. Near our house is a field--and around that time of day it's usually occupied by shouting middle aged Armenian men chasing a polka-dot ball into a net. Today there was a girl on the field, and she kicked the ball into a dude's face.
This seemed noteworthy to me, even though the ball did not leave a polka-dot pattern on the recipient's face, as it would have in a more ideal world.

After watching a few rounds of chase-a-ball, my son, Sawyer, and I like to have a little pick-up match in our yard before dinner. It helps us prime our appetites for pancakes.

The end.

Characters

It has been many moons since a real post--for this I apologize. Our family has been very busy fighting a life or death battle (more on this later).
In big news, we've made a major life change, moving from our home in Utah to California. I get to draw cartoons all day at work and we're a heck of a lot closer to the beach, so it's basically a win-win.
Below are some characters from recent sketch adventures. It's always fun to go to new places and see new faces. Hopefully we'll finish moving in soon, so I can get back to a regular posting schedule.

Dudes from church. Yes, that guy's name is seriously Ziff.
To me, nothing says "super powers" more than an onomatopoetic name.

My pal and coworker, one Matthew Braly.

Other partners in crime: John Sanford (our fearless leader)
and Javier Recio Gracia

A dude I spied at a recent Ray Harryhausen exhibit.
Just the sort of guy you might expect to find frequenting a
Ray Harryhausen exhibit.

Some dudette I saw cruising the hallways at work;
her origin remains largely a mystery.

Twice as Nice

I know posting this twice doesn't really count as a real post, but the quality on VIMEO is so much nicer. So, for your viewing pleasure...

BYU Center for Animation Presents Anthony Holden's Mashed from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.