MICHAEL MAYNE's Brain Stuff & Things

Sneak peek...

2011-03-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

Here's an early look at something I've cooked up for My Brother, My Brother and Me. Tune in for Monday's podcast and catch the full comic!

Sure-You-Can!!!

2011-02-15T18:35:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to give this blog a much needed redesign and new priority.
Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be back to updating with more consistency and keeping the images up-to-date with my other online exhibition venues.

To start things off, here's a piece of Street Fighter fanart I did for kicks. Had this idea for a while. The fact that it was not getting realized has been eating away at my productivity, so I figured I'd better jam it out to get it out of the way, ans whaddaya know it only took an hour.

Respeck Knuckles. Don't get hassled by clients like this...

2010-08-09T12:28:00.005-04:00

Hello to my Void of a Readership:

This guy's being a clown.
http://kaitol.com/how-to-hire-an-artist/

Don't work for this guy, or anybody who shares pretty much any of his views on the client-artist "relationship." Trust me, they're easier to spot in initial contacts that you'd think; just keep an eye out.

Gold Digger Swimsuit #19

2010-06-28T20:32:00.005-04:00

So two months later, I haven't drawn a whole lot that isn't either A) Bonnie Lass-related (and therefor available on one or more of the Bonnie Lass hubs I've got running online, if I decided to share it at all), or B) something I probably can't or shouldn't show off just yet for non-disclosure purposes.

So since most of what I've been drawing falls into those categories, I haven't had too much leisurely-creative time, and therefor, I've slumped on sharing the few www-ready works I have done recently.

Actually, I've apparently lied. Most of what I've taken the time to share online (that's not Bonnie-related) has been sketches not much more than polished sketches for the most part lately, but they're there. I'm too lazy to backtrack and put them all on here individually (at least right now) so for the time being you can just check 'em out on my deviantART gallery...

As for the title of the post, I apparently made it into the pages of Antarctic Press' Gold Digger Swimsuit #19! Only found out today when two copies of the book showed up in the mail. That's got to be the most official way to inform somebody they've been published. Just show 'em.

On a related note, I'm working on a project for Bluewater Productions right now. Just got character designs approved, so over the next couple of months I'll be doing my best to crank out 32 pages from pencil to digital colors! It's two of their existing properties, and that's all I'll say for now. Pretty cool that they're giving me as much freedom with them as they are, though! I'll see if I can post a preview sometime further along in the production...!

That's all for now!

Commissions are open.

2010-04-24T16:50:00.003-04:00

Hey, all!
Just refined my commission rubric!

Click here to read my commission information!

Commercial work takes priority over personal commissions. And commissions are dealt with on a first come, first served basis.

Just check out that page for the details on how to get lined up for a commission!

And I'm running a special on Pencil Sketches! $5 for a waist-up sketch, $10 for a full body sketch! That's half off! Only doing that for an undetermined, limited time, so get in a request now if you want one! (And while the deal is running, I'll happily oblige to $5 single orders; normally you'd have to commission $10 worth of work for an order.)

Please drop me a line! I'd love to work on something for you!

Legend of Zelda does Raiders of the Lost Ark, part 1

2010-04-06T23:14:00.004-04:00

So, Anime Punch wasn't quite as profitable as I'd hoped. Actually, wasn't profitable at all.

What did I learn? Despite how confident I may be in the quality of my artwork, the throngs of potential buyers prefer to spend money on characters that have been popular within the last five minutes. Yoko and Simon sold the most of the "recent" characters, with Vegeta tying with them as the contender for "nostalgic" character. And I think Vegeta only sold because of the 'under 9000' pun.

Which leads me to my second lesson... People like the funny. Or ironic. Which is where I'm going with this current work-in-progress Zelda picture.

Everybody likes a Zelda game. So I'm going with a LoZ themed piece, obviously. Also, for the funny/ironic/awesome, I'm basing the whole piece off of the poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark. The biggest compositional difference will be that Link's pose is flipped from Indy's original, since Link is traditionally left-handed.

When it's done, this'll be something I can sell larger prints of at later conventions. Being more ornate in nature and combining the Zelda motif with a silly homage to Indiana Jones, formulaicly it makes sense that this would sell pretty well. Now I just make it worthwhile by having fun with the whole thing. For the record, mimicing the style and composition is already a blast! Can't wait to start getting other elements in there!

(I'm also disappointed that my FMP? Fumoffu! piece didn't sell at all. Not because it didn't make money; merely because apparently there was no love for FMP... L 2 watch more than Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and Inuyasha, folks...)

Fumo!

2010-03-30T21:59:00.006-04:00

Got another piece ready for Anime Punch. This time it's Full Metal Panic fanart...! Kaname's shoes were the trickiest part of the whole thing. They were the last part of the foreground that I drew, just because I'm always leery of feet in general—and in this case they're not just standing firmly on the ground. But I think I handled it rather well!

May try and get one more full piece done to get printed, but I should probably go to Office Max tomorrow for sure and print off what I've got ready, in case I run out of time Thursday night...

Drawn on Chatroulette

2010-03-30T03:31:00.003-04:00

So I decided in order to do my part to make Chatroulette a little less creepy, I'd start asking people if they'd want me to draw them.

OK. So... that in and of itself still sounds creepy.

But it's not. Most people that stay connected with your cam long enough for you to run the idea by them say yes.

Well that was two nights ago. I started another blog, Drawn On Chatroulette, and I've been archiving the cartoons I draw of people. Like this one:
Then, earlier today, I just started having people prompt me on what to draw. One such result was this:
i.e. the world's best interpretation of Spongebob Squarepants ever. I find Spongebob annoying and thus boring. German girl wanted me to draw Spongebob. I obliged and made it more entertaining for myself by making him slightly mortifying. I want to clean it up and color it at some point.

So yeah, anyway. Got another blog running. Again, it's Drawn on Chatroulette. Be on the lookout for me if you venture on Chatroulette itself!

Moar Gurren-Lagann

2010-03-25T10:24:00.003-04:00

Now with more curves...!
More stuff for Anime Punch.

Spin on!

2010-03-18T12:20:00.002-04:00

Did some Gurren Lagann fanart last weekend. Just now getting around to posting them. More work for Anime Punch in a couple of weeks. Planning on doing pics of Yoko and Nia in the same vein.

His Power Level is was...

2010-03-14T15:46:00.003-04:00

More fanart to sell at Anime Punch.
Too bad I'm not a bandwagoner and thus have no interest in whatever series the otaku masses are eating up right now.
I'm just going to have to appeal to nostalgia, I guess.

Obey the Palmtop Tiger.

2010-03-12T15:29:00.003-05:00

Something else I worked up for Anime Punch. Haven't done a Toradora fanart before. Now I have. The sans lineart version came about by accident. The way I ended up coloring this one made for very defined shapes on the coloring layer. When I nonchalantly hid the lineart layer at one point, I saw how clear the colors stood on their own.

Yay for Taiga.

Megaman! Super fighting robot!

2010-03-11T20:35:00.003-05:00

Anime Punch is only a few weeks away. I need to work up some print-worthy art. Here's Megaman.Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ufVQIUEiYc

Boobs and Beer... It must be Bonnie!

2010-03-11T11:04:00.001-05:00

Just working on a St. Patty's Day pinup of Bonnie for an art jam over on deviantART. Between actual work on the comic and other stuff, ought to have this done by... St. Patty's Day, at the latest.

I draw'd Sailormoon.

2010-03-01T13:40:00.002-05:00

Did this as a last minute entry to an art jam over on deviantART: http://mashi.deviantart.com/journal/30074443/

Basically because I wanted to draw something other than Bonnie Lass.

I'll be selling prints of this at Anime Punch on April 2nd-4th in Columbus, OH.

I think that's it. Oh. I like how I drew her hands. Took a pointer from Rad Sechrist's blog. He has awesome tips on stuff all character artists should know but don't seem to employ. He's awesome.

What a load...

2009-12-01T00:38:00.003-05:00

Suffice to say, I think I'll stay far away from doing full-color, special effects-laden comic books after I get this Bonnie Lass arc done... Two chapters pretty much down, two to go...
The next self-motivated project I do will undoubtedly be done in spot blacks or, at the most, screen tones...

2009-11-18T17:11:00.003-05:00

Just a random character I drew up last night. Fell asleep before I could upload him.

Bonnie Lass page teaser

2009-11-15T19:18:00.002-05:00

Haven't updated with anything lately because most of what I've been working on is work-for-hire stuff that's not ready to be shown yet.

But I got into gear and started working in more time for Bonnie Lass, so here's a newly finished page from Chapter 2 (dialog removed since it would be irrelevant anyway, seeing as how Chapter 1 hasn't even seen the light of day)...

Stand Out

2009-11-04T23:56:00.000-05:00

Just did this to squeeze in a solid, freetime drawing in for the day. Powerline is awesome. I'm sure Tevin Campbell isn't quite so.

More Tom McShafty-ness

2009-11-03T16:02:00.001-05:00

Here are the rest of the sketches I did the other night. I think my favorite is The Daring Debonaire. I'll keep mum on what his whole deal is for now, but suffice to say he came out better than I imagined...

That's all for now. Who knows when I'll get around to more of these characters...

Tom McShafty's Heatin' Up...

2009-11-02T20:22:00.001-05:00

Sketched up ol' Tom McShafty last night. Wanted to give his design a little revamp. Nothing too drastic, and nothing you can really tell here, but it was all in an effort to make him quicker to draw.