Tragic Anniversary

Today was the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of Selena, the beautiful and talented singer from Mexico. I remember especially one summer at Sheridan - my third and final year - and I was doing an animated piece that had a Spanish flavor to it and I was listening to everything Latina to stay in the mood of the animation. We went into Toronto one weekend and I just bulked up on a bunch of Selena stuff - cds and the like. I listened to those, I think, non stop for the next couple of weeks. Below is a sketch I did of her this evening.

She was so amazing, so talented and had such a flair. There was no one like her and will never be again. I miss her as do many, many other adoring fans.

'Late at night when all the world is sleeping, I'll stay up and think of you.'

Aaron

Video Games

Okay, I've gotta admit, I'm a game fan. Not so much into RPG's (okay, I've hit them so now I stand here and they hit me. Okay, I've hit them again, now I'll stand here and ...you get the picture) but I do like the more real-time action games. The closest I ever got to RPG's was 'Parasite Eve' which was and is one of the coolest games ever made. The sequel was okay, but nothing beats that first title.

Either way, one of my favorite types is the fighting game. I am a huge, huge, huge fan of Street Fighter - all the way from its first incarnation all the way through it's latest versions. Even more to the point, I'm an even bigger fan of Capcom and their amazing art department. Those guys kick the biggest butt ever.

When fighting, I like to play as the quicker, smaller characters and that often means the female characters - which I have no problem with! :) My fave from Street Fighter is Sakura - the cute school-girl who follows after, idolizes and fights like Ryu. My second favorite is Ibuki - the ninja in training (from Street Fighter 3). I'll do a sketch of them soon.

A quick overview of other amazing games I'll replay over and over again (for those of you who care) are :
Street Fighter (mostly Alpha 2, Alpha 3 or the 3rd Generation title)
Tenchu (the original PS version)
R4 - Ridge Racer 4
Tomb Raider 1 & 2
Grand Theft Auto Vice City (I know, what a bum I am!)
Prince of Persia (another one of the coolest games ever)
Rebel Strike and Rebel Leader for the Gamecube (solely because I can fly the B-Wing!)

I often will pick up a game because of the characters. Even though I've never been a big fan of the series, I recently picked up Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance because of this one new character, a female disciple of Sub-Zero's named Frost. She's ultra-cool looking and I was inspired to do a few sketches of her. I like them and thought you guys might wanna' see them too! Enjoy!

Aaron

Autumn

Well, to the guys who faithfully read 'Fairview High', you'll probly notice that this is the longest story so far. I write this after just having finishing page 56 of 64.

Chris and I are often asked how we decide what to write in the pages of our comics. My process is simple, really. I choose the story I feel honestly most compelled to see and the story I feel people would most enjoy. With the curent storyline, 'Tough Love', I was really swept away by Autumn, who had this wonderful - and classic - dichotomy that creates an inner tension no outside force could possibly rival. On one hand, she's a vulnerable 'flower', capable of being crushed by the shameless cruelty of peers and at the same time, an restrained source of power - no matter the focus.

It's often joke about that I must hate my characters - I do seem to put them through a rigorous amount of tribulation. The truth, really, is that you shouldn't tell the reader about the character - you should show the reader and that's what I try to do. With Autumn, I hoped to show how split we can be in our approach to a situation. Ambivelance is an amazing emotion and a great concept to brainstorm.

As a writer, I wanted to have the reader 'yo-yo' between sympathy and contempt. In the end, I can say without hesitation that neither Autumn nor David (the boy who thwarts her advances) are the villain or the hero - the protagonist or antagonist. David, who has premeditated his every move, is guilty of his actions yet he hardly deserves the treatment he gets within the last pages. Autumn, although hurt by unreturned love as we all have been, has no justification for her tactics.

It was a fun story to work with and I hope everyone enjoys the rest!

Aaron

Enjoy this sketch of Autumn I did the other night while nodding off. I have a great sympathy for her. Even though her actions are wrong, we actually all kind of want to forgive her, don't we?

Jeanette!

Okay. Jeanette from "Alving and the Chipmunks" has to be one of the cutest cartoon-girls of all time. No one can argue with me there. Here's a few sketches I did of her. CUTE!!!