Monster Mold

Halloween is coming early this year. Like, half a year early. I decided it was time to do some concept designs, and what's more fun than doing monster designs? And we're going to take some classic Universal monsters and redesign them. That means you aren't going to submit Dracula in a black dress garb with the slicked-back hair or with the crazy Gary Oldman wig. I don't want to see normal werewolves with torn clothes or Boris Karloff mummies. No! That was then! This is now! What do you have to show!? These monsters can be cowboys, robots, stay-at-home moms, soldiers, etc! They can be scary, cool, or funny! I'm looking for at least one full-body color pose. Facial expressions can be included, and of course, anything in addition is welcomed and encouraged!

Here's what you can choose from:
- Vampires (not specifically Dracula. And I swear to God, if any one of you draws a glittering vampire I will beat you like a dead clown.)
- Werewolves (if you've seen it in a movie, don't draw it)
- Mummies
- Frankenstein (though honestly, it can be any reanimated corpse. Just as long as it looks original)
- Underwater creature (not necessarily from the Black Lagoon. What if it came from the Dead Sea? Or the Arctic Sea? Or a New Jersey sewage system?)
- Invisible man or woman (If you can make this interesting and not just floating clothes, I will bake you cookies)

Thoughts to get your brain wrinkles making that uncomfortable squishy noise:
Was there a lycanthropy outbreak during the fall of Troy?
What if vampires were cardiologists?
What if mummies were not corpses underneath those wrappings?
What kind of hilarious antics would ensue if your principal ATE SMALL CHILDREN!?

Sign-up for the game is here. Entries are due by Wednesday 12am PST (check out our nifty countdown on the top right). Send the entries to me, Sean CW . Let's see what you guys can do!

Inspiration While You Wait

Here are some inspirational blogs that I frequent that I believe people can find useful.

Elephant Art (great animal, especially elephant, illustrations and studies)
Art of Disney (It's in French, but you're there to check out the galleries anyway)
John Nevarez (He's a great blog seeker)
Animation backgrounds
Character Design (Favorite this asap)
Benjamin Zhang (a great Chinese artist I discovered 5 minutes ago)
Imaginism Studios ( a priority for al lwho look for inspiration. Video interviews with artists can be found here as well)
Nathan Fowkes
Illustration Art Blog (any of his entries are gems)
Drawn! (you probably know this one, but it needs to be bookmarked regardless)
John K Curriculum (want to learn the basics of dynamic animation from the guy who created Ren & Stimpy? Here it is.)
Sketchcrawl blog

I also feel that music videos have great art in them as well. Try these out and others!
25 Inspirational Music Videos

Let's get those sketchbooks filled!

Skip Week

yup, it's a skip week.

Please utilize this time to suggest your own game ideas to play, or to watch ghost busters, or get inspired by some awesome artist, or whatever.

We'll be back next week with some cool stuff!

Disclaimer Illustrations!

Here they are!


Sean CW's product is a blanket from Taiwan.
This disclaimer is "not to be used as protection from a tornado"


Teh Mutt's product is a Chainsaw.
The disclaimer is "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands."


Vee-Ka-Torz product is a Manual for a SGI computer.
The disclaimer is "Do not dangle the mouse by its cable or throw the mouse at co-workers."


Mike's product is a Korean kitchen knife.
The disclaimer is "Warning: keep out of children."


Katie's product is a Toner Cartridge for a laser printer.
The disclaimer is "Do not eat toner."

That concludes the disclaimer illustration game! The next week might be a skip week, while Sean and I get a few things together for you guys!

Stay tuned for the next game!

Featured Artists

For those of you who may have noticed, Sean has decided it would be a good idea to have a 'featured artists' section, and I completely agree with him. So, what we are going to do is put your user name up, and then link back to some sort of art-type portfolio/showcase/blog you may have on the internet! The only catch is, you have to completely participate in a game to have the fame. (So you can't just sign up and expect your name to go up without submitting a project at the end of the game.)

For those of you who have already participated in a game, just send me an email with your username and a link to your artwork blog-site-portfolio thing. Only send one link, and make sure it's your actual artwork.

Happy Drawing!

Sign up is Closed for the Disclaimer Illustration Game. For the participants, here's what's going on!

The rules are simple. You receive a product, and a warning/disclaimer label that exists on said product. Then it's your job to create an image that represents some aspect of how that label came to be on the product. It can be anything from the moron who sued the company for lack of warnings to the over-thinking executive that just thought the instructions needed to be clearer.

Your assignments were randomly generated from a list of 50 (YES FIFTY) ridiculous and actual warning labels that exist on products. (And believe me, there were many many more, I just cut it off at 50).

Katie's product is a Toner Cartridge for a laser printer.
The disclaimer is "Do not eat toner."

Kimashin's product is a Rowenta Iron (for ironing cloths).
The disclaimer is "Warning: Never iron cloths on the body."

Inkay's product is a Road Sign,
which states "Caution: Water on road during rain."
*ah duurrr

Kaffrin's product is a Frisbee.
The disclaimer is "Warning: May contain small parts."
*This one is just weird

Sean's product is a blanket from Taiwan.
This disclaimer is "not to be used as protection from a tornado"

Teh Mutt's product is a Chainsaw.
The disclaimer is "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands."

Mike's product is a Korean kitchen knife.
The disclaimer is "Warning: keep out of children."
*not people, just children..

Vee-Ka-Torz product is a Manual for a SGI computer.
The disclaimer is "Do not dangle the mouse by its cable or throw the mouse at co-workers."

There was also a bonus product for anyone feeling the need to make two:

The bonus product is a Japanese food processor.
The disclaimer is "Not to be used for the other use."

Finished illustrations must be sent in to Katie's email by Monday, March 22nd at 11:59 PM to be counted.

Thanks for your participation, and I look forward to seeing the results!

Coming this summer: A CONCLUSION

[insert A-Team music here]

AND THE ENTRIES ARE IN!



“He’s a cop. It’s a dirty job… but somebody’s got to take out the garbage.” by ChuD



"EX-COP. EX-CIA. EX-PLOSIVE",by Inkay



“When all else fails, they don’t.” by Katie


“Today the pond. Tomorrow the world.” by Robotron


“He was Dead… But he got Better”, by Sean CW


So that's it, that's the five of them. I'm not naming names or anything, but a certain 4 someones kinda slacked off on this one *coughpreviouspostcough*. You know who you are, and frankly if any viewer knows how to use a scroll bar, they do too.

Anywho, the next game has been up, sign up is to the right! Great job this week!

Coming this Summer Assignments

GREETINGS, and welcome to another round of "Here are your assignments!"

In today's episode we have;

Mike, playing the role of:
“Two amazing secret agents. One diabolical madman. Conditions are dark. The forecast is deadly. Tea, anyone?”

ChuD, playing the part of:
“He’s a cop. It’s a dirty job… but somebody’s got to take out the garbage.”

Hekateros, guest starring as:
“If you come in five minutes after this picture begins, you won’t know what it’s all about.”

Inkay, filling in for:
“EX-COP. EX-CIA. EX-PLOSIVE”

Robotron, as seen on:
“Today the pond. Tomorrow the world.”

Vee-Ka-Torz, supplying the slate as:
“The crazed love of a Prehistoric Giant for a ravishing Teenage girl.”

Kimashin, making an apperance as:
“Unwittingly, he trained a dolphin to kill the President of the United States.”

Sean CW, making a cameo as:
“He was Dead… But he got Better”

And, myself, Katie as:
“When all else fails, they don’t.”


In case I'm not being clear enough, the part in quotations under your user name is your assignment/tag-line. Remember, 4 panels. Send it to my email when you are finished. Also, finish it by Monday, the 15th, 11:59 PM, PST.

If you have any questions, let me know. I'll post and answer all questions in the 'comments' section of this post.

And be sure to tune in Tuesday, same bat-time, same bat-channel, for the results!

Disclaimer Illustrations

While "Coming this summer" is in progress, I've decided to go ahead and let you know that "Disclaimer Illustrations" will be the next game on the schedule. DI starts on Friday, March 19th, and you can sign up here or click the link to the right. Basically, how this one works, you will receive an actual warning/disclaimer label and then create an image (using any methods you choose) expressing how that particular label came about.

Plain and simple. The finished images will be due at midnight on Monday the 22nd of March. I look forward to your participation.

Next game: "Coming this Summer"

In a world... where game masters ruled over the content of artist's illustration, there was only ONE game that gave me an excuse to pretend I had that movie-guy's voice for a sentence. That game... is "Coming this Summer"!! Out in theaters Smash Bam Pow, THIS FRIDAY, actually.

Here's the catch. You sign up by Friday night with your name and email, the usual drill, and then you get a mysterious email with an actual movie tag-line in it. You then have until Monday night to create a (maximum of 4 panels) comic that tells the story of the movie... based on the tagline.

There are only two rules of movie-comic-club:

1.)The comic should not exceed 4 panels.

2.)Follow Rule Number One. The comic cannot involve the actual movie. It will help you to avoid researching your tag-line.

The goal is to be creative with this, so, if you get a tag-line from a movie you've seen, try extra hard to not include aspects of the movie. If you play only one game this month, you should sign up for this one! The SMASH-bam-pow hit of.... March..

80s & 90s Combo Fanart

Lara Croft. Part-time princess. Full-time boobies. By Sean CW

I liked Wolverine better when he just played the drums. By ChuD

Do I look like a cop? Good grief! By Mike


Let's get redonkulous. By Katie

Inspirado

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "MAN, this is one fantastic game going on this week!" You are also thinking "I have absolutely no idea what to do for my drawing, so I haven't signed up yet." So, here are a couple video links to the nostalgia cortex in your brain.

Retro Fanart Jam

We received some wonderful entries and I want to thank everyone who submitted! Thanks so much for keeping this blog going and keeping me laughing and awed with some of the work I've gotten back. But now it's time for this week's jam!

Katie and I were thinking that, well, perhaps it was time to jump on the fanart wagon. Yes, that's right. You're drawing fanart this week. BUT DON'T THINK WE LET YOU OFF THAT EASY!!

No, see . . . we still want to give you a bit of a challenge. So it's going to be crossover fanart. Your only real limitation is that the fanart must be of a character from the 80s and/or 90s. They can be from either a video game or cartoon (so obviously they're all animated in origin). Now with the crossover, this isn't just throwing Princess Peach into the world of Doom. No, we're doing a crossover merge, meaning we want to see a Hell Knight wearing a pink dress and carrying a parasol while ripping out Mario's guts. We want to see Liono, now fat and dumb, living next door to Ned Flanders. Etc. Etc.

The last day to turn this in will be March 7th. Send in the artwork to me, and I will post them Tuesday. We'll be posting inspirational links (which means lots and lots of nostalgia stuff) throughout the week to help you. I'm personally thinking about posting some art links as well, just to help stretch drawing techniques.

A sign-up sheet has been sent out. Fill it out and then send me (the ever-hip Sean) the artwork. Again, this is due next Monday night. Have fun and tell friends!

Victor Almeida's Assignment

Hekateros's One Freak

Teh Mutt's Freak Show!

Michael Black's HEEEEROOOOHHHH

Katie's Freak Show

Chud's Freak

Mike's Freak Show

Dominic Rivera's Gravity Blur

Assignments Are Out!

If you did not receive an assignment, please e-mail me immediately!

I also realize after sending out the randomized assignments, that some of you have gotten back the same descriptions you came up with. 'Twas the luck (or misfortune) of the random drawing process. Most of you should have gotten at least eight new descriptions. Some categories got a lot of the same answers for some reason (we had a lot of females, a lot of the number 9 and 8, and a few psychotics). As your e-mail says, send me the artwork before Sunday at midnight PST! I will then post them individually where we can make comments and guess what they were assigned. By the middle of next week, I'll let everyone know who got the descriptions spot on. (Eh, sorry. Right now we don't really have prizes yet)

The freaks are coming! Leave the children!

Alright kiddies, it's time for Freak Show - a method that Katie, my wife Nikki, and I have concocted in order to help everyone stretch their creativity a bit, as well as having some fun in the process.

In the previous post, Katie has left a link for the sign-up sheet for this week's challenge. As you have probably have guessed, this has to do with character design. The sign-up form is just the beginning! HURR HURR HURR!! (uhh, I guess that's my evil laugh . . . )

The sign-up is until Wednesday night at 12am (so you have until the 24th).

Now here's the kicker: the form you fill out is not actually for you. I'm going to cut all of these traits every one has sent me, scramble them up, and assign them to random people. Once you get your assignment, you must pick six of those nine descriptions (no more! no less!) and use them to create an original character. It must be obvious what attributes were assigned to you (so if you get the color "red," and draw your character with a little red dot somewhere on the back of his head, I will beat you with a crippled child) This exercise is meant to take us out of our comfort zones, and throw us into the creative oceans. You are given until Sunday at midnight (Feb. 28) to complete the challenge by emailing your art to me.

You may say, "Well, I have a lot going on in my life. I have two jobs, my uncle just married a housecat, and I'm pretty sure my left arm is missing." Nonsense, I say! This contest measures creativity, not art skill. So if you have only five minutes to draw, that is by all means FINE BY ME. But go into this thinking about what to do during your day, coming up with new ideas and scrapping those that don't work. At the end, I want to push everyone into being amazed by what they came up with. By the end, we'll have a lot of laughs and agree that I am frickin' awesome.

Comic Jam is Complete!

Gentlemen! Vegetables have threatened man for generations. I have obtained funds to solve this vegetable nightmare. Behold!

That's enough ATHF quotes for now. Comic-Jam just ended, and before I show you the results, I'd like to say a brief bit about the next game. It's called "The Freak Show", and I don't know about you, but I'm excited by the title alone! This one doesn't have the email circle in it, so you won't be relying on each other for game content, but I'll leave that up to Sean to explain. I excited. So if you'd like to go ahead and sign up now, click here. Otherwise, you can wait until more information is out and then sign up then!

Now, without further delay, here are the results!!

Comic Jam in Progress

GENTLEMEN... BEHOLD!!

It's comic jam time! Sign up is now closed! Those of you who have signed up, you have all been sent, or are being sent emails with further instructions to play, but here are a few notes you can always reference here. Those of you who didn't bother, wait until the NEXT game! Mwahahahahaha!

There are 6 participants. The mailing order is as follows:

Hekateros will send to Teh Mutt,
Teh Mutt will send to Katie,
Katie will send to KimaShin,
KimaShin will send to Sean,
Sean will send to Nikki,
Nikki will send to Hekateros.

Each comic will have 6 panels. The first panel should be the setting. When you get a comic with 2 or 3 panels, it will be around the climax. When you receive a comic with 5 panels, you will be in charge of drawing the final panel, a.k.a. the ending. After you draw the 6th panel of a comic, you need to send that comic to my email so I can post it on the blog for everyone to see.

Save only as a .jpg, and only save/send one file.

For everyone at home that's not playing along. Come back in a week, we'll have the results of the game posted!

edit: Questions will also be answered in the comments section if you'd rather ask there. I'll also post questions and answers as I get them in the comments section.

Comic Jam Sign-up

Up first is a Comic Jam! Here's how it works:

1.) Draw the first panel of your comic in the upper-left corner of your page.
You can do this by drawing on paper however you want, and then scanning it into the computer OR draw start to finish on the computer. Regardless of your methods, in the end you are going to need software that manipulates images. I recommend Photoshop or Gimp (which is free, and can be found here).

2.)Pass the comic on to the next person.
You will be provided with two e-mail addresses at the start of the game. One that you will pass to, and one that you will receive from. (Never confuse the e-mails, it messes up the game). As you pass to one person, another person is passing to you, so when you get the 'new' comic, you draw the second panel.

3.)Repeat passing and drawing panels until the comic you started is returned to you. When the game starts, you will be given instructions on identifying when you have a comic that should be ending.

By the end of the game, every participant should have one comic with the amount of panels equal to the number of players. Here is a video in case you didn't read any of that:

A short instructional video to the comic jam at SmashBamPow.blogspot.com

Rules

1) You have to add your panel to any comic within 24 hours of receiving it. You are welcome (and encouraged) to finish them sooner than 24 hours.

2) TRY to stay away from foul things. If it can't be helped, do it tastefully or cover it up, please.

3) All files MUST be saved as a JPEG (.jpg). Keep files at a reasonable size (if your panel is big enough to be a desktop background, it is too big. Resize accordingly.)

4) When you finish a panel, send the entire comic ONLY to the address you've been provided with. Honor system, everyone will have a chance to see it when the game is over.

5) Only draw one panel in each comic.

This round of the Comic Jam will start Thursday, February 11, at 12:00 P.M on the West coast, (03:00PM on the East coast).This is the time you will be receiving an e-mail with details on where to send your comic. (You are welcome to get started on the first frame early if you like. To sign up, please read below:

Enter to Play in Comic Jam!


By sending the following information, you agree to enter the game, and will follow the rules and regulations of Comic Jam, designated by it's game masters. Your email address will not be shared on Smash Bam Pow!!, however it will sent to all participants of this game. Your user-name, however, will be shared on Smash Bam Pow!!. Thank you for signing up, we look forward to your participation in Comic Jam.

We will have a form soon enough, but for now, please shoot me an e-mail to katie@kgreenonline.com with your name/username/how you would like to be referred, and the e-mail address you would like to use for the game inside. Please put "Comic Jam" in the subject line.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

GREETINGS

Welcome welcome! If you are here, you are here to draw! The first game on the agenda is a Comic Jam. To sign up for a mailing list, please e-mail katie@kgreenonline.com and ask to be updated when games are being planned. Check back later to find out more about individual games and when they will be played!