Well, I know this blog doesn't get a lot of hits, but for those few that do, well good for you, because I got some minor announcements.
The artwork of Sharkane that I was working on since last week has been scrapped simply because I could not get the pose to work under any circumstances. My current solution is to make a pose that's a bit less dramatic (at the cost of getting swarmed by people saying "generic standing poses are crap") if I do choose to try drawing Sharkane again, or move onto another character.
Currently, finishing the
Aozora's Adventure II cast is top priority, which is the group Sharkane is apart of. The group includes...
*Masayoshi (Done)
*Chinatsu (Done)
*Girou
*Saniko (Done)
*Fayato (Done)
*Kazuhikio (Done)
*Bachi
*Sharkane
*Grip
*Gnear
*Mignonette
I was also suggested by my good IRL friend Dominick to return to sketching concepts, which means a chance to finally give the
Gaiden,
Adventure III, and
Rock III characters a real concept, especially Rodrigo who I only bothered drawing the head of since I didn't have a design for his lower body. However from all the stress I got trying to do the Sharkane pic I mentioned, I think I'll rest out a few days before I dive back into art.
Anyways a few concepts. These characters would most be prevalent in the series' spinoffs (which would include a kart-racing game and a tournament fighter) and wouldn't have any major appearance in the main series.
♂*The first character is the oldest of the four designs (around roughly Aozora's age) and is a mashup of two Disney characters: Jake from
Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Francesco Bernoulli from
Cars 2, alongside El Chavo from
El Chavo del Ocho. He takes on the general template and color scheme of Jake, the personality of Francesco, and the nationality of El Chavo, making him a somewhat competitive Spanish pirate and easily the tamest of Aozora's main rivals (Masayoshi, Girou, Rodrigo, and him), since he is the only one not to be a full villain.
Thankfully, this character would not be what you'd call a racial stereotype. Despite originating from Mexico and having a Spanish accent, he's not portrayed in any form of negative light.
♂*The second design is based mostly on Takaharu Fukuroda from
Kill la Kill. In this case, we have a Japanese schoolboy in his freshman year that competes in his school's boxing club (He plays fair, though). He has almost super strength and in combat against opponents outside the ring, he brings in massive metallic gloves that he wears, which have thrusters on the back ends for faster blows and doubly serve as miniature cannons that fire glove-shaped beams of energy.
♂*The third design is one huge shout-out to Gaara from what else but
Naruto. He's a year older than design number 2 above (making him a high-school student in sophomore year) and resembles a somewhat young emo punk-rock Latin-American. Strapped to his back is a large, oversized plastic drinking bottle filled with sand and with many pieces of tape (of various kinds) and stickers on the surface (meant to mimic Gaara's own sand gourd, complete with a sticker that says "MUM", a parody of the "MWM" markings on the gourd). Using magic, this character can uncap the lid from his bottle (which is attached to the bottle of sand and freely manipulate it however he wants. Though he isn't able to control it to the extent of Gaara; for instance he cannot control chunks of sand larger than what his bottle can hold or else he tires out almost instantly. Personality-wise he's a bit of a grump and not exactly the social type.
♂*Design #4 is probably the most unique of the four characters. Here, we have a young, fearless and wild Russian boy with bright cyan hair, who pilots a mini-mecha with the main body resembling a blue colorization of Dark Man 1 from
Mega Man 5. with a pilot's seat in the body's "head" (which is fully exposed, therefore you can see the driver). Much like Design #1 above, he is not portrayed as a stereotype of his nationality. The only thing that would hint at him being Russian would be his ascent and the Russian text present on his mecha.
