jasonderoga86

Hey, Dreamwidth Family!

As you all probably know, Matt Zimmer's birthday is today! I had planned far in advance to create a fan art piece for him as a present, given I had done a couple fanarts for other webcomic artists. I made one last year based on his comic, Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse, both as a birthday gift and as a new fan of the comic -- I drew (and inked) both Gilda and Bernadette in my own trademark style. Though it was a bit hasty as I had only just learned of Matt's b-day, it still came out remarkably well.

Now the day has arrived again, and I stated that this time I would attempt the first full-color attempt at fanart; after completing Sneakers' U-Force #12 -- arguably my finest coloring work to date -- I felt applying the same approach to a fanart piece would be a great challenge. I decided on a movie poster-like image for where I currently am in Matt's "Un-Iverse" series: the prequel arc to Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse, "The Pontue Legacy". Also if you recall, I just recently posted my feedback to Part 5 of the prequel saga; now only Part 6 - "The Promise" remains, and judging by the way Part 5 ended, let me just say my excitement levels have reached critical mass. Oh, yeah - it's on like Donkey Kong, yo.

I based this fanart loosely off of the teaser poster for the 2000 DC animated direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, both because it's one of my favorite DC animated films (I only have the original uncut version, though I had seen some parts of the abridged version prior on Toonami back in 9th grade) and also because of the menacing feel of the poster. In this piece, we have the heroes of the story, from left to right: Captain Henry, Winifred, King Krac, Princess Sarah, Zyle, and Pedro. In the background looms the ominous visage of Sorceress Augatha.

It was a LOT of fun putting this together from start to finish, and I want to thank Matt Zimmer for giving me the opportunity to take on this challenge, as well as for creating such an awesome comic. As I always say, Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse is a comic so unlike any that I have ever read.

Happy Birthday, Matt -- I love you so much.

Nana

-- "Jason Deroga"

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Paul Hardcastle, "Rainforest"

Okay! 😁

After visiting my friends (staff, management crew, and our clients) at my old job yesterday afternoon, and after catching up with a BIG comics/manga/film adaptation buddy of mine (he's also the tech whiz and a top instructor in many classes I assisted), I was energized to jump back into the aforementioned fan art I'm making for Matt Zimmer as his birthday's coming at the end of this month. If you all recall, the fan art in question is a cinematic poster based on my current place in his huge epic, Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse -- a webcomic truly so unlike any I have ever read. I recently finished (and reviewed) the latest of the "Pontue Legacy" arc, whose premise is summed up so succinctly, yet beautifully, on each cover: "The Key to Gilda and Meek's Future Lies in the Past."

Last time, I finished reading Part IV (Part 4 for those who aren't familiar with Roman numbering), titled "The Blessed Child". The title describes the character Zyle, who starts out as a seemingly bright and aspiring magician's apprentice, but by this point in the story is FAR more than he first came off to be. Soon, I'll be diving back in for "Part V - The Dragons and the Egg" -- and for what I'm showing below, looking at the cover gave me some much-needed references.

Those "references" I speak of are the color keys for the main cast and characters of the arc, because as I had hinted last time, this is the FIRST TIME in my history of fan art go-arounds that I'm attempting to fully color a piece. What I've posted below is the "flats" of the artwork: these are the base colors that I'll tailor the upcoming shading techniques on. It's how I shade (or "tone") all of my full-color works.

The shading will take some time, but at this point, it's looking like I should everything polished up and ready to go in time for Matt's B-Day. Like him, I need to do a better job on my friends' birthday's myself; of all the other things I remember like yesterday, one would think this'd be second nature by now. But I digress. We're not omniscient beings anyway, right? 🤣🤣🤣

Here's the work in progress as of now, before the upcoming shading/toning touch-ups:

The "flats" (base colors) for the "Pontue Legacy - 'Cinematic' Fan Art".

I'll keep you all in the loop of any further updates, and peace and love to you all!

Nana

--"Jason Deroga"

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Double, "The Captain of Her Heart"

So, seeing as I just did two different fan art pieces for two different Comic Fury webcomics I've been following for a long time (I'll get to that in a minute), I thought I'd post a DW journal entry detailing any future fan art I might be up to.

First, I had to inform the two previous recipients of how I've been meaning to try my hand at new fan artwork for them, but as we all know, sometimes Life doesn't go the way you want it to. Not out of guilt, though. Just a means of staying in touch. The two CF comics I'm speaking of are Erin Weinstock's Iron and Steel, and Shannon Lewis's Zack Dragonblade and the Excalites. For those who need to keep their distance from CF, Iron and Steel can be found on DeviantArt under Erin's "systemcat" username profile. Likewise, Shannon has Zack Dragonblade at DeviantArt as well, under the "ShannonthePanda" username profile. Both are great comics, and "Zack Dragonblade" in particular is very much like a blend of "'Final Fantasy' meets 'The Legend of Zelda' meets 'The Powerpuff Girls'" -- it's super cute, but NOT for the faint of heart; we're talking demons, curses, a scene of genocide by incineration, LOTS of blood in rare jump-scare moments, and even a cremation scene early into the story. 😮

The following are the two fan artworks I did for both Erin and Shannon, respectively.

"Terry" from Erin Weinstock's "Iron and Steel-verse"

Fan art for Shannon Lewis's "Zack Dragonblade" w/customized logo

Which leads me to my next point: Matt Zimmer's birthday arrives at the very end of next month (September 30th, I believe), and I promised him another birthday gift similar to the one I sorta hastily created last year. He gave me the go-ahead, so I decided I'd put up the "first draft sketch" of what I have in mind this time. Last year, I put together an inked sketch of both Gilda and Bernadette in my signature style for Matt's B-day as a token of friendship as well my excitement for what's in store for Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse, his webcomic. This year, I'm turning things up a notch and designing a sort of cinematic teaser poster based on where I currently am in the "Un-Iverse" -- it's a poster for "The Pontue Legacy", with the overall layout inspired by one of my personal favorite DC animated movie covers for the direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (comparison shown below). Below is a work-in-progress: both the sketch in question, and a customized logo I whipped together that'll be superimposed on the final piece (I'm shooting to ink this baby as I did with the first piece from year). And for the first time in my "fan art" career... I'm aiming to dress the final work in my new and improved coloring style, first developed during the creation of the recently-released (and extremely well-received) Sneakers' U-Force #12. Hopefully I can have this ready by 9/30, so wish me luck!

Below are the first sketch (and its comparison to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker's Fall 2000 teaser poster) along with my customized logo (also somewhat inspired by the admittedly vague-looking logo for the Batman Beyond film).