Comics, Writing, & Art by Will Strode » Sketches

Character Art Dump

Will — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:46:44 +0000

As promised, I scanned some of the art I did as prep work for Vapor Trails.

I’m still trying to peg down a style for this comic, it’s definitely more cartoony than the work I’ve been doing lately. I’m trying to get back to my roots I guess, weird animals and people with simpler shapes.

I’m also working up a site redesign now, so expect some changes to the homestead soon enough.

100 Days – 1-3

Will — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:15:54 +0000

It’s been a madhouse few weeks, what with conventions and weddings and other little nuggets of life changing interruptions. I can’t say it’s been bad at all, but these things do tend to draw me away from my duties as a blogger.

With the fate of Zuda, and therefore 2 of my comics, up in the air, I’ve decided to focus on some new things and some side projects. I’ll talk more about that stuff later when it’s a little more sure. Until then I wanted to show off some sketches I was doing for a Mourning Electric side story. It follows the effects of ME’s events from the other side of the country. Maybe one day you’ll all actually get to know what that is!

So I’ve decided to launch into a project with Lindsey…100 Days of COMICS. Every day, for 100 days, I will be making comics in some capacity.

Here’s where we’re at!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 3
Free Comic Book Day! Reference books acquired
Goodbye Blue Monday #57 script – Complete
Pins N Needles Issue 01 Script first draft, 22 pages – Complete
Character Designs for Mourning Electric side story – Complete (below)

I’m working on the two main characters, really trying to capture the averageness of office workers. Wolverine popped in there too I guess, but he does not wear business casual…

The scummy side of the story, a trampy little girl and a cross between Jack Nicholson and Rip Torn

Up, up, and crap I forgot to watch

Will — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:44:17 +0000

My good buddy Henry and fellow comic-dude loaned me a dvd of the Richard Donner cut of Superman 2. I would love to regail you with my illustrious insights and my hard-edged critiques, but I totally forgot to look up when I watched it because I was busy drawing. So maybe I’ll do that when I watch it again later.

For now, mark your calendars, for this is one of the very few times you will see superheros on my website. Mainly because Lindsey berates me for hours when I draw them.

Kneel before Zod… Zod, kneel before him

I’m sure that scene is a male power fantasy but I still find it attractive

The Ghost of Adolf Hitler

Will — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:00:04 +0000

This blog is swiftly becoming a catalog of Things I Watched Last Night While I Was Drawing. I will look back in years to come and think “ohhhh right”.

Last night it was Ghost Hunters International’s big GHOST OF HITLER episode. Rob and the crew taunted, cajoled, and bragged to the nonexistent Ghost Hitler. Of course they didn’t find him because they are retarded and the show is really fake, but at least their nerd-courage in the face of absolutely nothing dangerous made me laugh a few times.

Lindsey and I have a game we play during any of the Ghost Hunting shows, I would recommend you do the same. Every time someone says “What the hell was that?” you try to say it in as many different inflections as possible. It’s a surprisingly long-running game.

So that’s the GHI crew down there, Rob on the left, Joe Chin and his epic fuzzy cockroach chin ornament, and Brandy the goblin. Oh and the ghost of Adolf Hitler

What the HELL was THAT?

I’m also sketching some stuff for a short I’d like to do as an anthology submission. If you know anybody that is looking for an anthology submission, this one is a doozy. Promise.

Hey look people! These guys will be doing some serious comic talkin.

Thanks Hulu

Will — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:28:14 +0000

Happy New Year in case you missed it. You know, the new year.

I’m hard at work on scripting out stuff for my In-Submission Zuda entry Operation Electric Eel Fighter. Wait now I wish that was really the title. Let’s all hope it gets in so I can finally stop teasing you about it.

I’m also at the drawing board trying to work through some materials for publisher submissions. This is a new process to me and looking through my existing stories has given me some clarity as to what I need to be working on in the moment. You see, most of my stories are long. I believe this is a good thing for when somebody is willing to give me a shot, because I have a large back catalog of compelling stuff to work from. However, as a newbie in this game, I’m pretty sure nobody’s going to hand me a deal for some 60 issue series.

So I work, and brainstorm. It’s my least favorite part of the process, but I stumbled onto some old piece of a short story and it looks like a decent foundation. Pillage your own memories for today’s victories.

In the meantime, I decided to amuse myself with some sketching and some Fist of the North Star on Hulu last night. This happened.

North Star Cross-Stepping Five Finger Smash, A Dining Room In Hell’s Servant Quarters Awaits You

Is it too early to reminisce?

Will — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:00:19 +0000

This time of year has recently become my absolute favorite period of yearliness. I guess it’s always been that way, but it’s really come to fruition in the past 5 or so. Part of that is the fact that I’ve been on my own so long that I’ve had to form new traditions to epic-fy my holiday meanderings.

One of those is the consumption of absolutely every single piece of Christmas media I can get my hands on for pretty much the entire month of December. This month hulu, my dear sweet hulu, has pretty much dumped a truckload of Christmas cheer into my heart crevasse. DVDs and my favorite website on the planet have made this tradition just right. Alf, Elf, Santa Claus with Muscles. All is well.

I <3 you Christmas. I <3 you so much. I'm already remembering how great you were this year. BECAUSE I EXIST IN THE FUTURE.

I would also throw rocks at the Polar Express except it’s too fake to even seem corporeal

Gambit

Will — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:31:38 +0000

Hey i drew a fanarts!

Last night marked the completion of the script for Goodbye Blue Monday’s first ever Christmas special. We’re hoping to have it up for free download on December 21st. So mark your calendars for extra spiritude.

My good friend Sierra requested a piece of fanart of the cagey cajun, Gambit. So I drew her one last night so she would shut her yap hole. Here it is!

Hey look it’s Gambit! How did he get in here?

Fanart Explosion

Will — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:59:18 +0000

I don’t usually get on with the fanart. It’s not that I don’t like drawing other people’s characters, most of my formative years were spent doing just that. But I’m not afforded nearly enough time for art in general, so drawing things that aren’t project-related are always at the bottom of the list.

But yesterday I decided I needed to do some work on perspective and foreshortening and like…badassness. So I got on with the fanart.

Sort of. The first drawing I did was of the world’s original barbarian king, Conan! Then I drew another that started out as Chun Li or something and turned into like…I don’t even know. Let’s call her a really manhandling version of Snow White from Fables. On a zip line because zip lines are made of metal and radical.

Conan and the Flashing Zip Liner – in glorious HellaColor – CLICK FOR BIG

Next up, I wanted to post the first picture of fan art I have ever received. An image that has warmed my hard heart in ways that only otter tummies should be able to.

The greatest piece of fanart a man could ever hope to have bestowed upon him. Thank you Nighthawk

Thanks for stopping by.

A Weekend of Sketchtitude

Will — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:59:07 +0000

This weekend was moderately productive in terms of both my artwork and my obsessive desire to play video games for long hours on end. I think moderate is actually being modest, it was exceedingly productive for at least one of those.

In case you don’t follow it, Goodbye Blue Monday’s new story arc is going to start today. We’ll discover some inner secrets about everybody’s favorite orange cat, and a big surprise is in the works for Itty. Go catch up if you haven’t already!

Doing some more sketches for the poorly-titled Electric. This time we’ve got our classroom hottie Stephanie coming to be that dangerously adorable girl next door. She’s the one with all the off-kilter facebook pics and the temper from some hormone-soaked level of hell. That stuff will still be around 30 years in the future right? Sure it will.

Have a looksee, and keep an eye out for the next post, where I drop some fanart style shit on your shitty asses.

Stephanie – hot, brainy, totally nail-driving crazy

Thanks for stopping by.

Chubby Asian Teenagers

Will — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:38:40 +0000

I’ve been doing some sketching for a comic idea over the last few days. It’s a teen angst sci-fi mystery. Because the more genres you’ve got, the better right? I was not drunk when I wrote the last two sentences.

Here’s a little amalgamation of my favorite bits and pieces that came out. I was afraid I’d lost my line a few weeks ago, but I think it’s coming back full force. Now it’s just a matter of knocking out a script I can be happy with (besides Battlerock or El Segundo) and getting down n dirty on some bristol board. It will happen sooner than we all think.

And before I go pass out, let me plug the Supertron livestream and the Azure livestream. Both absolutely full of pants-shittingly delightful people, and Peter Timony.

Good night you horrible monsters.

Cute chicks and goofy schoolboys