One of the ways I channel my characters (safely…)

Gallery

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Vas

This gallery contains 9 photos.

This is a true story.

I made a nude snow angel!

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Vas

You know what’s awesome. Running around naked in the snow, falling on it tits down and making a snow angel after a nice hot steam! I love winter.

Changing – Frustration – Experimentation

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Vas

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Today’s been full of small accomplishments:

Moved this blog out of tumblr. I love tumblr, but it’s far too buggy and far too full of outages. I still have a blog there, but self-hosting is more my thing.
I really like Manga Studio a lot after trying it out.
Going through four cover artists is hellish to say the least. Thankfully the fourth one is Mandarr. She’s reliable. I wish I could clone her. She’s a treasure.
I’ve been beta testing online comic related stuff. It’s fulfilling, even if the resulting frustration feels like a bullet in the head.
I’m ill, but I pressed on anyway.
Llamas on deviantART make me happy. Y!Gallery’s outage makes me ridiculously sad.
Dissident Priest is done until fall. I’m kind of sad that I won’t be dealing with that graphic novel for at least six months. It’s all in El Niño’s hands now, so I have to trust that he will do his best. I know that before it comes back as a webcomic, it will be ready in print and e-book form looking amazing. There’s something scary about putting a project that you enjoy and has a loyal viewership into hiatus for the purpose of completely transforming it. Will the core audience accept it? Will the new audience embrace it? Ultimately, I am doing this for myself yet the uncertainty frightens. But, if there’s no risk, excitement or exploration in creating art, what the hell is the point of even trying?

Nothing more to report.

Stylistic Mimickry

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Vas

Sketchbook 2/20/2012

When I hire artists, it is very important that I understand what I am doing, in the same way I understand what I am doing. If I can’t take the effort to study their character design and peculiarities to make my concepts and storytelling better, then why should I expect for them to dissect my writing for the purpose of getting the best drawing? Collaborative work is a risky symbiotic relationship, but when it works, it’s magic.

The sketches above are my attempts at trying to understand how Ram Lama approaches my Rasputin Catamite characters. This will better help me to communicate what new characters should look like and how old ones should evolve. Don’t worry. Nothing here is a spoiler.

How Pornography Can Be Less Offensive Than My Little Pony

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Vas

My problem with My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, beyond the awful character design, is the nostalgic artifice of the whole damn thing. Instead of Hasbro coming up with a new idea for a toy, they find it necessary to recycle an old idea for the sake of squeezing every last dollar out of it. Innocence, morality and wonder are hard to fake, and it’s even worse when these basic human emotions are just repackaged goods. As someone who often needs a break from dark comics, I live for art that exudes joyful kindness. Yet, I absolutely hate it when it’s forced cloying bullshit designed by formula for the express purpose of selling toys to kids by manipulating laws that were designed to protect them.

This is why I could never be a children’s book illustrator or make family-friendly comics. It just wouldn’t be a genuine reflection of my creativity or life experience. More importantly, I don’t think I could live with myself if I created art specifically to turn children’s imaginations, values and dreams into selling tools. I have no problem doing this to adults, but that’s only because grown-ups have enough life experience to make their own choices.

My work has often been criticized as amoral, offensive or gratuitously dark. Perhaps it is. But, I feel it is far less damaging to expose consenting adults to ugly images that reflect something real, than to turn little children into puppets that will grow up to be unquestioning in their brand loyalty with nothing more than a mirage. For example, it blows my mind that people actually think that My Little Pony’s adult fan base was just a happy accident based upon the awkward writing and boring art. Observers seem to ignore the obvious: these folks and their parents grew up on My Little Pony marketing too.

When I was growing up, I loved the Transformers and GI Joe shows that Marvel Comics/Sunbow produced. These shows influenced my art, my sense of humor and my very childhood. Now as an adult, I am unnerved by how influential this media was to me. I never really thought about it until I watched Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood. I suggest you watch it in its entirety for an eye-opening experience on the packaging of faux innocence entertainment.

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Posted on January 28, 2012 by Vas

I am feeling a bit insane right now, so I am digitally painting with three brushes. The mouse point

Image

I am feeling a bit insane right now, so I am digitally painting with three brushes. The mouse point

Soviet and Soviet-Themed Comics I Love and/or Lust After

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Vas

Crocodile Magazine

I am guessing that Crocodile Magazine was the Soviet answer to Punch, though I lack the historical documentation to confirm it. Its pages are full of propaganda and gracefully drawn comics. Some of the humor is confusing out of context, though some of the panels made me laugh aloud. It’s worth looking at for the artwork alone. There’s a fantastic online archive, if you want to check it out.

The Unknown Russian Comics

These are totally fake satires, but I really wish they were real. The art is just fantastic!

Octobriana (NSFW)

Although it is an extremely elaborate literary hoax created by a Czech art thief to cover up his misdeeds, it’s hard for me not to like the concept Octobriana. She was sold as the iconic and sexually-charged heroine of the Russian Underground. Because of the wide confusion about her exact provenance, and the futility of enforcing copyrights over a character that was released into public domain by her fraudulent creator, many comic artist have incorporated her in their own works. My first encounter with Octobriana was in Cherry Comics (NSFW).

Having a series of Soviet Russia-themed comics, I am actually surprised that I haven’t played around with Octobriana,yet. Maybe I should.

Vladrushka (REALLY NSFW – 18+)

John Linton Roberson’s Vladrushka comes across as unspeakably dirty, maddeningly offensive and yet, it’s surprisingly intelligent and scathing satire. The stylized artwork is unusual, elegantly gritty and surprisingly effective at conveying the decadent lifestyle of the protagonist and her equally insatiable co-stars.