Mouse Guard Pin Up

I did this Mouse Guard piece a while back and have been meaning to post it for ages. (ages = weeks) David is a good friend and I’d been meaning to do a piece for much longer than this one has been sitting on my desk un-posted. Consider one of the universe’s great wrong’s corrected.

Drawing in the Mouse Guard universe made me realize how different the process can be when the subject is more organic and less, you know, cities, machines, and robots. I do love me some perspective but every now and then it’s nice to break out of that and this was one of those opportunities.

Plus, I’ve had this idea (locust plague) for a while so I was pleased that no one snapped it up during the last round of Legends of the Guard. It’s hardly a fully developed concept but I like the idea of how devastating that could be and how the mice would have to deal with it. I think you can ward off locusts with smoke (maybe that’s bees?) but prairie fire is probably also pretty bad if you are small furry animal, so that’s a lose-lose I guess?

Gunnerkrigg Court Pinup

I recently did a Gunnerkrigg Court piece as a present for my sister on her birthday. We’re both big fans of the comic and seemed like it would be a fun universe to play around in. I was not mistaken.

Tom’s style and character designs seem simple but I’ve always admired how much expression he is able to accomplish with more abstract, expressive forms. The emphasis he places on shape captures motion in a graphic style that I find exciting and interesting to return to.

When I set out to draw the piece I thought I would make something with a heavy emphasis on robots (no surprises there) and a well placed Tic-Toc, but in the end Coyote stole the show and I think it’s because of the same elements that I mentioned above. He dominates because he’s just too much fun to draw.

It helps that he also always gets my favorite writing, but it’s really the fluid combination of shapes and forms that grabs me. I could draw this guy all day.