Top Five Friday! Kick-off Edition!

Hey gang! I've had a lot of fun writing the weekly League of Extraordinary Bloggers assignments, and since last week's top 10 list, I started think about making something similar to add to my blog as a weekly feature. But coming up with a list of 10 things is hard, so I knocked it down to 5, and decided to call it Top Five Fridays. So every Friday, I'll come up with a list of 5 somethings. It may be my top 5 favorite somethings or top 5 least favorite somethings or whatever.

So here's the very first weekly list! I present to you...

My Top 5 Cartoon Character Childhood Crushes

When I was a wee lad, I developed crushes on girls quickly, and not even fictitious characters were safe from my amorous pinings, much less animated ladies. It really didn't matter to me that these lovely lasses were not much more than ink and paint on celluloid, all I knew was that they triggered something in me that made me want to send them a note at lunchtime and hope for a positive response by recess. Here's the list...

1. Ariel (Thundarr the Barbarian)

Pretty much the only female character in this cartoon about a devastated future Earth, Ariel spent a lot of her time getting into trouble and then needing rescue from Thundarr and Ookla. Not the most forward-thinking treatment of a female lead by the writing staff, but that didn't stop me from falling in love with her on the very first episode. Ethnically ambiguous, leotard-clad sorceresses are kind of my thing.

2. Daphne (Scooby Doo)

I know, I know... She never really did much for the Mystery Inc. gang, but she kicked off a long-lasting penchant for pink-tights-wearing redheads for me.

3. The Heavy Metal Chick

I have no idea what her name is, and we probably shouldn't have been watching this movie so much when I was a kid, but when I first saw this heroic female going toe-to-toe with a helmeted '80s-style baddie, I was smitten. There must have been something about that gray and white hair or that weird strappy bikini thing she had on that made me want to live in whatever twisted world she came from.

4. Wonder Woman (Superfriends)

This one is pretty much a given. Considering my very first crush ever on Lynda Carter, it was only natural that I gravitated towards Wonder Woman on the Superfriends as well. She was the kind of chick that could get things done all day long while wearing what amounts to a one piece strapless bathing suit.

5. Teegra (Fire & Ice)

Holy Toledo! What a woman! Animator Ralph Bakshi really knew how to make a zaftig heroine in distress step right out of a Frank Frazetta painting and come to life. She may have been a little whimpy (she was a pampered princess after all), but her lack of courage was easily ignored when faced with her non-stop jiggling in all the right places. Out of all of my animated crushes, this one borders on pure lust.

Honorable Mention: Diana (Dungeons & Dragons)

Diana didn't quite make the list, but she was super close. In fact, considering her fearless spirit and natural leadership abilities (she often called the shots to the rest of the gang), she probably should replace Teegra on the list, but, and I can't stress this enough, Teegra's jiggle is just too powerful. Sorry Diana.

A Cartoon Bats for Chunky B!

Some of you may have heard about the "Battle for the Cowl", a contest in which I was soundly beaten by my most worthy opponent, Chunky B of Eclectorama. Part of the deal was that the loser had to fork over a Batman figure and to draw the winner an original piece of Batman art, declaring the winner the king of all Batman figure collectors.

And since I lost, here's what I made for Chunky B...

This is a newer style for me. A mix of basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator and then refined a bit in Photoshop. I had so much fun with this piece that I may just have to put the whole CARZ! thing on hold for a bit and maybe do a series of character portraits in this style. We'll see.

Until then, I have an "assignment" to draw a pirate/ninja/zombie fight. Stay tuned!

Happy Little Batman!

Okay, my sad Batman from earlier was making me depressed, so I had to fix it. Here's happy Batman!

There. I feel better now. :)

Sad Little Batman :(

So while I was waiting for some files to download (our network here at my job is hella slow),  started doodling this little Batman guy. He was supposed to look all chubby and cute and badass, but he ended up looking sad. Not sure what he's so sad about. Maybe he threw his Batarang and it never came back.

Poor little Batman...

Drunk Punk!

I did this logo last Fall for a company in Amsterdam. Despite its apparent messiness, a ton of work went into it to get it to look just right. And if you're curious about what "Drunk Punk" is, it's a pill you take before you go out drinking so you won't be hungover the next day. I have no idea if it works, but I know that the logo looks mighty kick ass on a bottle. If I do say so myself.

BOOGORZ!

One day at work, we were trying to come up with some interesting ideas for plush toys for boys. We wanted something like Ugly Dolls, but not so cutie patootie. So I jumped on Illustrator and started making things with basic shapes and before I knew it, these snot-green monstrosities came out of my brain and the BOOGORZ were born!

Needless to say, they weren't used.

They look a lot like this cycloptic city-destroying monster I did back in school for the animated intro to The Super Danger Action Team, so I guess I wasn't done with making green nasties with staring orbs and chompy mouths. What can I say. I'm nothing if not devoted.

I named them Clampor, Tentaclon, Double Chomp, Huggor, Slugfang, Oculon and Sleech.

Aren't they the cutest?

Oh Snap! It's My Mutha Effin Art!

Hey people. It's me. Reis. The former High Priest of Geek and now just a lowly full time professional artist making his way in the world, not unlike David Banner, walking the roads of the world, helping those in need and turning green when he got mad. Except I don't help people in need. I just make art. But I do sometimes turn green when I get mad.

Anyhoodle, I decided to start up an art blog where I show off and talk about my art in a bald-faced, shameless display of narcissism and hubris.

So, here it is. I hope you all dig it.

Oh, and see those cute little monsters up there? Yeah. I drew those. Word.