What I Drew Sunday, June 27th - Top 3

During last Sunday’s “What Shall I Draw Today?” an eight-hour session reserved for drawing other folks’ suggestions, I managed to create 8 sketches.
Here are the top 3 liked pieces from Sunday:

#1 - “The Family Circus” newspaper strip with Wanda, Vision, Billy and Tommy: suggestion by @nikkistar5394

These character are naturally from the Marvel Studios Disney-Plus series “WandaVision.” 

The Family Circus is the long running newspaper comic created by Bil Keane.

As a general note, what I did not realize when I had embarked on the day’s theme of “comics” is that I would very likely have to emulate the comic tone, humor and style of other artists. It’s a challenge that I enjoy, and in fact, it is a challenge that I did more often as I learned about art and popular artistic media such as newspaper comic strips. The standard layout of The Family Circus daily comic is to have the art bound in a circular frame with caption. One of the basic sources of humor for the comic is the world view of the family’s four kids shaped by the misunderstanding resulting from lack of experience.
 

WandaVision used the conceit of Wanda using her magic to structure her life as a television, family situation-comedy. Since part of that features all of the people around Wanda being unaware of being on a T.V. show, then maybe Billy and Tommy’s comments would be speculative about living on a once-a-week T.V. show. Is that irony?

Drawing the quartet sitting down watching television had never been a consideration. I gravitated to an outdoor scene. Having the twins playing with Avengers action figures was intentionally an additional infusion of “Marvel” that any ironic commentary. Which isn’t to say that the dolls that they’re holding aren’t intentionally representative of other Marvel/Disney-Plus content: The Falcon (a.k.a. Captain America) and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and The Black Widow movie. I was only after placing the Iron Man doll on the ground to fill the space, that it dawned on me that effectively his story was complete and the comic’s subtext was was about New stories versus the old. You’d think that I had planned it that way.


#2 - Wednesday Addams: suggestion by @alltookayleigh

As the first sketch comic of the day, I chose to emulate Charles Addams comic, The Addams Family. I struggled with the imagery of Wednesday with a huge axe, only in so far as how I could make that funny.

Time being short, I looked up movie quotes from the 1991 live-action movie featuring a young Christina Ricci playing Wednesday Addams. Is it Wednesday’s best line in the movie? It is certainly up there. It does require some context. One at least has to have knowledge of “Girl Scout Cookies.”

I changed the scene setup from what is depicted in the movie. In the movie, Wednesday and brother Pugsley are running a old-time lemonade stand and are approach by the Girl Scout who has boxes of Girl Scout cookies in hand. I stripped out the lemonade and Pugsley to the basic elements.

Arguably, the better worded caption could be, “Are your cookies made from real girl scouts?”

The raven and spider were added because I thought it needed more macabre elements.


#3 - Donald Duck meeting Howard the Duck: suggestion by @akoymdf

The meeting of two ducks, one from family-friendly Disney and the other the subversive opposite of that. Early Donald was quite the rascally-child who took short cuts whenever possible if he couldn’t first not opt out of doing a task in the first place. I thought that even that version would contrast greatly against a world-weary duck from another world/universe (I don’t really know which).

I also opted to contain the scene onto a smaller collector card. This actually meant that I was unwilling to invest in drawing a lot of supporting props and/or backgrounds. The conflict ended up having Howard complaint about something about Donald or Donald’s world. Enter Disneyland and its iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle. It may well be that I can’t go a whole WSIDT day with out drawing something about a Disney Park.

2x hidden Mickeys. (One is teeny tiny)

Here are the rest of the 5 drawn on Sunday:

The Rocketeer!

suggestion by @evanblasor

Calvin as Loki the trickster who loves chaos

 suggestion by @oliviamn14

Jessica Jones and Batman in a bar (because they are both moody detectives who are orphans)

suggestion by @ani8tor57

Snoopy as Krypto the Wonder Dog

 suggestion by @jonmpeterson

Static Shock

 suggestion by Abigail R.



All of these and more original piece of art will be for sale at my next comic convention showing, which, I guess, will be in 2022.

The next WSIDT session is happening in July 25th.

Thank you to everyone who pitched their fun drawing suggestions. Thank you for following my blog and/or Instagram (@Monstergram7) and/or Monster Enterprises Facebook page. Thank you for liking.

 

All: Black ink and color pencil.

“WandaVision Family Circus”: on Bristol Board, 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.)
“Wednesday”: on watercolor paper, 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.)
“Donald and Howard”: on Bristol Board, 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm  (3.50 in. x 2.50 in.)

What I Drew Sunday, June 28th - Top 3

Sunday’s comic book themed edition of “What Shall I Draw Today?” fielded plenty of multiple character suggestions. The trade off, of course, is that the more complex the ideas are, the longer it takes for me to complete each one of them and thus the fewer that I am able to squeeze in an eight-hour session. I’ve long since abandoned any ambitions that my WSIDT output success should be measured by volume.

Here are the top 3 liked pieces from Sunday:

#1 - Usagi Yojimbo, Samurai Jack and Lone Wolf & Cub having a tea ceremony: suggestion by @rockamola

If I can make it work, I will design a WSIDT sketch layout taking priority cues from the literal suggestion. For example, the first named character is primary and can be the largest, or the focal point, or the first/left-most character or she/he gets the punchline. Being the left-most character is, of course, in-line with left-to-right written languages like English. Don’t give me too much credit then, that the character order is correct according to the Japanese right-to-left way of writing. The reversal of the order just seemed correct in my head.

As the first sketch of the day, I drew this the Saturday prior, so that I could post it at 12 noon EDT. It’s a cheat, but I think the experience is better than having my first post an hour or so after my stated start time. As with many WSIDT suggestions, this piece had me taking a crash course on some of the characters, namely the Lone Wolf and Cub series and the Usagi Yojimbo saga. Not to mention Japanese tea ceremonies. Thank you Internet. Thank you YouTube. Still, I don’t doubt that I’ve depicted a detail or two inaccurately.

To the far right, I’ve included one of Usagi Yojimbo’s comrades, Chizu. At least, I thought that’s who I was drawing. One commenter identified her to be Tomoe Ami. Her inclusion had everything to do with having only seen women host tea ceremonies in my brief amount of research.

Not that I can do much to correct this piece, but in the interest of my education, if you can point any out inaccuracies, please do so kindly in the comments.

#2 - Black Widow on The Dating Game: suggestion by Kinzey Freels

I can only guess that this assortment of characters is what the suggester had in mind; namely casting the three hidden bachelors as actual comic or movie characters that have had romantic connections to Natasha. Here I chose Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Daredevil (Matt Murdoch) and the Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes). American super-hero comics have long had an inequity of male to female characters. Natasha’s love life is mostly the result of being a young, single woman in Marvel Comics.

The camera angle is intentional to maximize Black Widow, and make the entire scene less wide compared with a straight on audience point of view.

I had thought to include a caricature of Jim Lange, original host of “The Dating Game” from the 1960s, but recasting Stan Lee as the game show host seemed a nice and possibly clever touch.

There’s a not-so-hidden Spidey head in the sketch.

#3 - White Violin: suggestion by @assortedvariety

The actual suggestion was “Anything from The Umbrella Academy!” In my ignorance of the Dark Horse published comic series, I chose the easy route of drawing just one “anything” landing on one with a distinctive design as judged by a quick internet image search.

In drawing White Violin, a.k.a. Number Seven, I instinctualy happened on stylistic result that is  in part Marc Davis’s Tinker Bell and in part something of the fairies from Walt Disney’s Fantasia. With a little better layout planning, I perhaps could have kept the entire violin within frame. The all white character necessitated a ground color. I chose brown, because of it being neutral.

As the piece is small and simply of single figure, it surprised me that the accrued the third highest number of like from the day’s work.

Here are the rest of the 6 drawn on Sunday:

“Snoopy as Captain America”

Suggestion by @benmcdermott93

“SHAZAM meeting He-Man”
Suggestion by @jazzatron5000

“Zatanna Meeting Scarlet Witch”
Suggestion by @jonmpeterson

All of these and more original piece of art will be for sale at my next comic convention showing, which, honestly, I don’t know will happen this year.

The next official WSIDT session is scheduled for Sunday, July, 26th. However, stay tuned for a special, experimental version in early July.

Thank you to everyone who pitched their fun drawing suggestions. Thank you for following my blog and/or Instagram (@Monstergram7) and/or Monster Enterprises Facebook page. Thank you for liking.

All: Black ink and color pencil.

“Tea Ceremony” on watercolor paper. 17.78cm  x 12.70cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in.)
“Dating Game” on Bristol Board. 17.78cm  x 12.70cm (7.00 in. x 5.00 in.)

“White Violin“  on Bristol Board. 6.35 cm x 8.89 cm  (2.50 in. x 3.50 in.)

What If... I Drew the First Idea I Had for the Cover of “Unstoppable Tuff-Girl” No. 1?

Here’s how I realize a 14 year old doodle into a comic book cover for the first issue of my self published comic book:

Compare this to the final cover in color.

As I write this in 2020, I am in the scripting stage of issue number 4 of my self-published comic book, “Unstoppable Tuff-Girl.” Thinking that it would be a good idea to speak more frequently on social media about my personal projects, if not a branding essential notion, I thought that it might be fun to consider issue number 1.

With a cover date of September 2010, UTG, volume 2, number 1 represents the anthology nature of the comic. The main image is the titular hero, Tuff-Girl, preparing for an attack from an airborne man-lizard aggressor to be revealed in the book as Rip Tyler. The left side panels allude to the other features “Wichita the Tuff Mutt” and “Little Tuffy and the Tuf Gurlz.”

On page 32, are depicted over 51 tiny thumbnail images each representing a concept sketch for the book’s cover with the first scribbled in 2006.

The multi-panel layout was a late consideration not only for the cover image development, but frankly also reflects the late inclusion of second and third story features.

The moment on the cover has a marked difference by placing Tuff-Girl in peril, rather than being portrayed as a confident actor.

The concept also features the lead story’s main antagonist, Eagle One along with obvious gambling elements of the coin-slot machines and roulette games of chance. This undermines whatever surprise the story may have as to the nature of Eagle One’s actions.

The redux cover was drawn and inked at actual print size, as opposed to the traditional process of creating art oversized for the benefit of tightening up the art when it is reduced.

What do you think. Did I make the right choice back in 2010?

What I Drew Saturday, August 17th – Top 3

I slated last Saturday’s What Shall I Draw Today? (a.k.a. WSIDT) as “DC Comics Day.” The suggestions did not disappoint.

Here are the top 3 liked piece of the day.

#1 - Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot:  suggestion by @mannysmyname

Since it was “DC Comics Day,” of course these two are depicted in their respective Wonder Woman costumes. The art is a bit caricatured, which is a safety net for if I fail to quite capture the likenesses in given the time pressure that I place on myself.

I chose the limited palette of black ink and red pencil, in part, because there was something I found interesting in the initial red pencil drawing. 

Placing the two woman at different levels, doesn’t play as compositionally interesting as I has hoped. Ms. Gadot, unfortunately, just appears short.

This was my first attempt to draw Ms. Carter. This may be the fourth attempt that I’ve tried to draw Ms. Gadot’s likeness, caricatured or not, and I’ll say that I’m getting better.

#2 - Jessica and Roger Rabbit: suggestion by @anthony.helmer

As the singular non-DC Comics piece of the day, this suggestion was a tribute response to the news of the death of animator and director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Richard Williams. The suggestion presented the option one of the other, but there is always more story opportunity when you have at least two characters to work with.

To my recollection and at least to recent memory, this is the first time that I’ve drawn the couple, rather than either alone. Regardless of the occasion, I think these are my best drawings of either Jessica and Roger to date. I think I’m more comfortable with their designs enough to stray away from literal copies of movies stills and infuse them with a bit more design refinement – things like balance, line of action and clarity of silhouettes.

Many of my tributes to the more behind-the-scenes talents, focus on the beloved characters and creations rather than portrait drawings or caricatures. It’s pretty much implying, “if you like these (characters), then you’ll care to remember the life and work of this person who helped create and bring them to you.’’

#3 - Supergirl and Harley Quinn: suggestion by @vidarapotor394

As an addendum to the suggestion was “Maybe they can have Starbucks or something?” Not wanting to put more brain power in to it than necessary, the two are at a coffee shop. The logo is, however, inspired by the Starbucks logo, featuring instead a stylized Mera.

Not being a coffee drinker myself, I took the opportunity to have one of them, Supergirl here, enjoy some doughnuts instead. It was a choice of either doughnuts or ice cream. 

Compositionally, once I decide to have Supergirl’s cape blow in the wind in a specific directions, then other things like hair need follow. It was fortunate, then that Harley’s pigtails didn’t have to be drawn across her face to the left. Her pose and position wasn’t planned to allow space for back-swept pigtails.

It’s interesting to try to track which ones receive the most likes. Early on, both “Tom and Jerry” and “Morpheus and Death” were in among the top 3.

Her are the remaining 6 of the 9 sketches:

Tom and Jerry as Batman and Robin

Robotman (Doom Patrol)

Morpheus and Death (take #1)

Morpheus and Death (take # 2) on a Beach (following to the suggestion)

Static (Static Shock)

Amethyst

All original pieces of art to be sold at my next tabled convention appearance - CTN Expo, Burbank in November.

The next WSIDT is scheduled for Sunday, September 29. It will be last WSIDT of the year.

More drawings posted on my Instagram feed, @monstergram7.

All  Black ink and color pencil:

“Wonder Women” on paper. 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.).

“Jessica and Roger” on Bristol Board. 6.35 cm x 8.89 cm (2.50 in. x 3.50 in.).

“Supergirl and Harley Quinn” on watercolor paper. 12.70 cm x 17.78 cm (5.00 in. x 7.00 in.).

Heroes Convention 2019

Heroes Convention

June 14-16, 2019

Charlotte Convention Center

501 S. College St

Charlotte, NC 28202

Monster Enterprises presents:

Bryan Mon (me!)

Artist Alley Table: AA-1422

Returning:

Unstoppable Tuff-Girl, comic

issues #1 - 3

Posters, Prints and 

Original Art for sale

On-site Art Commissions

$90 for a single character on 12-inch Bristol Board

inked with color pencils

NEW in 2019:

“Beaut Strength”

Convention exclusive print.

11in. x 17 in.

Tee-Shirts

newly enhanced with 

character art on the backs

with “Tuff-Girl” logos on the fronts.

Recent additions:

In response to many inquiries on Instagram

I will have for sale a limited number of Artist Proof prints

of the Disney Princess mashup scenes:

“Mightiest Princesses”

Mashup with Marvel Comics’s Avengers.

“Princess League”

Mashup with DC Comics’s Justice League.

As Artist Proofs, a limited number of each have been run of as a test of materials, sizes and effects as an exploration which may lead to a run of offset poster prints.

Each will be signed by the Bryan L. Mon (me!).

The Artist Proof series will not be numbered.

Prices TBD.

What Shall I Draw January 27th?

This coming Sunday, I will be asking “What Shall I Draw Today?” and I’ll draw stuff from the suggestions that come in from my social media touch points. Actually, I am asking that question right now through that Sunday.

What Shall I Draw Today?

Sunday, January, 27th, 2019

Eastern Standard Time:  12pm noon - 8 pm

Pacific Standard Time:  9am - 5pm

It’s been nearly four months since the last session. Am I rusty? Am I even ready? I guess we’ll discover the answers together.

Please post your suggestions at any of the following social media spots where you find the above prompting image:

Blog:  monotonae.blogspot.com (here in the comments)

Instagram:  @monstergram7

Facebook:  @Monstergram Enterprises

Click on the above WSIDT tab for FAQ’s.

“Barry and Iris” from The Flash
Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.
6.35 cm x 8.89 cm (2.50 in. x 3.50 in.).

What Shall I Draw May 27th?

The May edition of What Shall I Draw Today? is upon us already. No theme this time, just the norm of taking on your suggestions as varied as your imaginations.

What Shall I Draw Today?

Sunday, May 27th, 2018

Eastern Daylight Savings Time:  12pm noon - 8 pm

Pacific Daylight Savings Time:  9am - 5pm

Post your suggestions at any of the following places where you see the above prompting image:

Blog:  monotonae.blogspot.com (here in the comments)

Instagram:  @monstergram7

Facebook:  @I’m a Fan of Bryan Mon

Click the above WSIDT tab for answers to you frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Black Widow
Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.
6.35 cm x 8.89 cm (2.50 in. x 3.50 in.).

What Shall I Draw April 29th?

In the honor of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War movie, this month’s What Shall I Draw Today? will be Marvel themed! For all of that Sunday, I will be exclusively tackling suggestions for characters and things from Marvel comics and other media.

What Shall I Draw Today?

Sunday, April 29th, 2018

Eastern Daylight Savings Time:  12pm noon - 8 pm

Pacific Daylight Savings Time:  9am - 5pm

Post your suggestions at any of the following places where you see the above prompting image:

• Blog:  monotonae.blogspot.com  (here in the comments)

• Instagram: @monstergram7

• Facebook: @I'm a Fan of Bryan Mon

Any non-Marvel suggestions along with the things I won’t have time to squeeze in Sunday, will go in the hopper of ideas that I may yet draw before the May edition of WSIDT.

Got questions? Please check out the WSIDT tab above for some FAQs.

Black Panther
(inspired by the work of Jack Kirby)

Have a MARVELous day!

Quinney Con Harley

Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad (2016)) juggling a few lit bombs. She’s dangerous enough without the bombs.

Some times during a comic convention, especially on a Sunday, I don’t have much to do other than draw any thing I want. The caveat is that in the end I’ll have a drawing that I’ll hopefully want to sell.  Alternatively, it will be a drawing that I hope some will want to buy. So “any thing” ends up narrowed to a short list of things that I sold in the past. Harley Quinn, in all her costume iterations, has always been on the short list since I’ve been doing comic conventions.

The juggling comes in because, at the time, why not?

Black ink and color pencil on Bristol Board.
22.86 cm x 30.48 cm (9.00 in. x 12.00 in.)

Harley Quinn © and TM DC Comics.

UTG 3 - Update

Unstoppable Tuff-Girl, vol. 2, No. 3
Cover.

The third issue of Unstoppable Tuff-Girl is just a bit over 70% done. The independently created and independently to be published comic has been in production for over 15 months.

To all of our fans and followers who have been anxiously waiting for the follow up to the 2010 issue #2, we thank you for your extraordinary patience and support. Co-creator, Merrill Hagan and I especially thank you if we met you this year at WonderCon-Anaheim, Heroes Convention-Charlotte and/or Long Beach Comic Con where we had announced that issue number 3 was “almost done.” Don’t blame Merrill, however, the delay is all my responsibility.

A dummy layout from front cover (top, left) in order left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
Laid out to represent 2-page spreads unbroken.
Inked and lettered pages in red.
Pages to be completed in gray.

For graph-lovers, a progress bar of the 52 pages.

If you’ve been a recent follower of my Instagram feed, @monstergram7, then you may have noticed that since October, there has been an increased postings of art from issue 3 and you may have gleaned that there has been a renewed push in the production of the book. Will that be enough to complete the book in 2017? The math of 15 pages in 27 days around the holidays and measured against my highest production rate says “unlikely.” But I’m not giving up.

I’ve certainly learned a thing or two in the last year+.

#1 – 48 Pages Is a Lot More Work Than 36 Pages. The interior page count is 48 with 4 more added with the cover, equalling 52 actual pages to be laid out and completed. The 50% increase was wholly a decision to reward our eager fans for the six-year wait. It turned out that four months producing 36-page issue #1 didn’t extrapolate well to 6-months projected for 48-new pages.

#2 – Time Management Does Not Scale Up. As a self-initiated project produced entirely outside of a 40-hour-a-week full time job, what happens scheduling-wise is other things get pushed aside or delayed to make room for this project. Projects done over a few days can be completed in this way fairly easily. As more time is required, eventually the delayed things cannot be delayed any longer.

#3 – Things Postponed Eventually Need To Be Done. Bills need to be paid. Things need to be cleaned and repaired. Cons need to be planned and attended (if it’s part of your marketing). And don’t forget that sleep need to be gotten. As time goes on, I cannot rely on all-nighters. All-nighters are certainly not something you want to pack into your production schedule of, say, more than three-months. In my case, after four months and certainly by April, after WonderCon, I was pooped and No. 3 just was’t going to be willed to quick completion.

#4 – Expect the Unexpected. In the back of your mind you know anything could happen to upset your plans, but you mostly hope that they are tiny anythings. For me, I had to deal with installing new floors in my condo.

The hiccoughs: a) as described above, I had three comic conventions where we had a table to offer our product. In each case they’re demanding attention for 3-4 weeks, in total that’s 9-12 weeks not working on the book; b) at least four, non Tuff-Girl art projects, two of which for Disney (the day job); c) Instagram, which has been a great boost in my meager marketing plans, but at the same time much of those relatively quick sketches have not necessarily been “working on the book”; and d) the unavoidable birthdays and holidays and an unexpected wedding.


For those wondering, the cover story featuring Merrill’s One-Armed Bandit adventure, is one of the stories still in production. The Wichita two-part story is also in production and reads better as two-in-one-book rather than breaking it up across two books. They being cover stories, and for other reasons, I had decided to have No. 3 be the planned 48-pages, and not scale down to say 36 pages.

Thank you again for your interest and patience. I’ll post an update in January, when I hope to have a definite print date.

–Bryan.