Some people, I tell ya'!

Recently, a most awesome young man created (with his own hands) the coolest 'Fairview High' game. I know he'd want me to stress that it's a work-in-progress (so it still may have a possible glitch here or there - read the legal text), but it's still one of the coolest things to have made of your work. I was, to say the least, absolutely flattered.

I immediately started in on a cover for it - well, I immediately started it, it took a while to finish it due to other demands, but finally I did, requested a name for it and sent Kitsune Kit all the final inked work as a 'thank you'. He got it today and I now can share the final with you all.

Hope you like!

Aaron

Jaguar - Soulstone Knight Number Two

Here's the jaguar.

As you can see with the jaguar and the bull, (and you will with the next three) they all have thrusters in places that they can best utilize them. With the bull, his largest thrusters are on his shoulders - giving him the ability to push backwards to compliment his charging forward. The jaguar, of course, makes the most of his front and back paw thrusters - just the thing a large cat statue needs to achieve maximum velocity.

As you can see in the shoulder areas (ghosted in lightly), the pads extend to act as dampeners - a kind of air brake. The jaguar is a little different in that the pilot of this one, Lydia, pilots inside the roof of its mouth. The reason is this one growls. And bites. Can't wait for that!

Enjoy!

Aaron

Toro - Soulstone Knight Number One

Here's a chance to give you guys a little more about 'Soulstone', my new epic series on Squirrelworks.com.

Firstly, this series is based somewhat on the Mayan culture of Central America. There were very real prophecies by the Mayan, predicting strange attacks by a strange foreign people, from where they originated and how they got there was a mystery. The catalyst for my creating 'Soulstone' was the concept that every civilization has a Judgement Day. This was my fictional explanation of the Mayan's last day and the story that would follow many centuries later.

I did a load of research before launching this series but I had already done a bunch of sketches that I really liked (prior to the research) - and was hoping some of those would work well with what I would later find in the books and historical works. Fortunately, there were many serendipidous findings - some things would fit perfectly. One example is that I had already pictured the crafts that the girls would eventually pilot as five very specific animals: a bull, a bear, a lizard, an eagle and a jaguar. Imagine my surprise when, as I continued to research, I found that the Mayan people had chosen two of those same animal types when they named their two main warrior groups: the eagle (who acted as scouts) and the jaguar (who were the warriors.) I was amazed. How perfect was that?

Also, I was looking for a good term for the crafts and found that the two of the aforementioned Mayan warrior types were called Knights, supposedly a phrase adopted from the Moors. So, that's how I came to call these crafts the 'Knights'. They are all, by the way, made completely out of stone with silver and gold trim.

Here's the first of the five, the bull. He was tough - I like drawing bulls, but getting the image in my head down on paper was a challenge. He'll be piloted by Maria, the girl on the teaser poster. His tail, along with the other knights who have tails, is a carved end held by beams of electricity.

Gennie

I really love banter. Two of my favorite shows growing up were 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' and 'MASH'. Why? That witty, quick back and forth of banter. I was so depressed when I realized that these were just lines performed by genius actors with perfect timing because I had hoped as a little kid that if I worked hard enough, I could be that quick with my commentaries as those t.v. idols of mine.

I get a lot of that out of my system with 'Fairview High' and most especially did with episode 5, 'Bottle Blonde'. My character Gennie, the genie (and subsequently the whole story line) would've never have existed had I not been listening to Christina Aguilera's song 'Genie in a Bottle'. It's a cool, cool song and I really thought she was pretty cute - when she was first out on her own and still had a tad bit of that wholesome, 'Mickey Mouse Club' air about her.
It was on the radio and I suddenly went to Google Images and started drawing her. From there, the story just blossomed. For fans of that episode, I wrote that whole story in one evening. It just kind of flowed from me - again, getting a chance to write some 'banter'. Also a note of trivia (and it may be obvious to some): the chant that Gennie does to grant his wish is that melody from Aguilera's song - you know "Oh Oh Oh Oh-oh".

As I was asked earlier (in the post below), I am also influenced by Al Hirschfeld, the famous caricaturist, and his work was a big help with Gennie. I had a lot of fun with those curls and wisps of hair and smoke.

Here's the first drawing of her that launched a character that is too fun to write and draw for. Hope you like!

Aaron

Autumn Studies

Here's another page highlighting this episodes troubled youth. This was done pretty early in the process and was to act as a sort of emotional guideline for me to work from.

The biggest trick to a simple design style, I have to come to find over the years, is that with less detail for our eye to be guided by, the more delicate the design has to be handled. If absolute strict accordance to the design isn't followed, it can quickly turn out looking similar but wrong. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator of the 'Genie' from Disney's 'Aladdin' made a comment along those lines. The 'Genie' was such an open design that the drawing process was a very careful one. Many extra structure lines were added even in his face to assure his 'look' was always its best.

Ellie and the rest of my characters are the same way. If an ear is too big or wide or eyes are too small or hands too big, for example, then it may rapidly change the look of the drawing. Whereas model sheets are unecessary (since I'm the only one who draws the characters), some pre-production study sheets are always helpful - especially when working on a new character, such as was the case with Autumn. Enjoy!

Aaron

May the Force be with You

Okay, okay, as much as I am hesitant to admit it, I am looking forward to seeing the new Star Wars film (Episode 3). Well, to be more specific, I'm anxious to see more of Aayla Secura, the blue Twi'lek jedi knight (seen briefly in Episode 2). They promised to make her a more prominent character - or so I heard, anyway. The Twi'leks are my absolute favorite alien types in the Star Wars universe - especially the girls - so cute!

A while ago, I had started putting together a story about a teen Twi'lek girl named Aloo. She's actually the little sister of Oola, the ill-fated singer who danced for Jabba in Return of the Jedi. The basic idea of the story is that she finds that she, too, has the Force deep within her but chooses to use that power to seek revenge for her sister - hey, she's a kid, I mean, c'mon. What I want to do is embed her within the events happening during Luke's appearance at Jabba's and his successful rescue of his friends. (In other words, doing a parallel storyline inspired by Shadows of the Empire - a novel that takes place between Episode 5 and 6.) I may start roughing out a page or two should I find the time to. Below is a sketch of Aloo and her Jedi mentor, yet to be named.

Aaron