Okay a little late for christmas but...

HERE YA GO!

MERIIIII KURISUMASUUUUUUU

Merry Christmas all. Seasons greetings to you and yours...

You know what. I think I can give the internets a gift. Don't get your hopes up but my next post may have something extra in there.

Goodnight and godspeed.

Manapul Art

A cover from his most recent run on The Flash: Secret Files

A page from his run on Adventure Comics

Renaissance

Artist Suggestions: Manapul

I decided instead of having nothing to present I could instead promote some artist's that I'm fond of on dA. Today's artist is Francis Manapul aka manapul on deviantART.

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, he is a comic artist currently working for DC. He does art for the most recent run of Action Comics, Superman/Batman, and most recently he is working on a new run in the Flash series called "The Flash: Secret Files".

He has a nicely polished style that involves using a fine-tipped brush for inking rather than a pen, with some spectacular results.

I'm not really a comic person, but this guys art - along with many others that I have discovered recently, really make me want to get back into it. If not for the stories at least for the good art. His run on the Superboy stories in Action Comics seem the most interesting to me.

I'm sorry I can't get anymore images, but I still can't figure out this image uploading thing. Maybe I can just leave the pics to another post.

manapul on deviantart

Go check him out!

Seriously though... why?

As in, now quite a bit of the time when I get a drawing craving it's digital these days, but no. I can't feed my craving.

You know with the hand problem, it wasn't actually constant. The hand would disappear and reappear whenever it wanted to, thus allowing me brief and few periods where Ps could be used. But no. That was too convenient. The computer has to completely shut down... Sigh.

At any rate. I can only do traditional sketches, at least until the comp is fixed. Which I suppose is not that bad since that's what i'm usually doing but... gaw! Even worse i think the only reason I want to draw digitally so much is because its not available to me. I only want what I suddenly and miraculously can't have.

RANTRANTRANTRAEGRAEGRAEG.

I uploaded two new vids on my youtube account jonoZOOM, making claims of putting effort into making videos. I don't believe it myself but you never know. I'm looking forward to my supposed epiphany.

If I can't even work for the things that I love then how can I work for the things that I don't love but I need. Sigh.

Emooooooooo.

Starstuff contemplating the stars

Okay everyone, it is official. The universe hates me.

Not only is my Ps continuing to cease to function, but on top of that, now my computer has stopped working... completely and utterly.

I don't know what you want from me oh great cosmos. Constantly spinning above us like some kind of infinitely complex Big Ben, only those like you can fathom your reasons. Unfortunately for my sake, I am not one of those.

I am currently typing this on my mother's laptop (I love you mawm!) and am thoroughly displeased at the current situation. GAW. SO ANGREH.

Articles of Association

Another aspect of the Big Ego mythos - My favorite and most developed - is the Articles. Around the fifth episode Chris is notified by Big Ego's on-board AI, Kel, that the Ardenne uniform based armor that BE wears is not permanently attached, and is instead can disengage and transform into a set of mecha known as the Articles.

The Articles are inspired off of the clothing in my closet. This means that not only does BE have a large collection of different armors he can choose from, but he also has a miniature army at his disposal.

In their robot forms, they are designed off of animals; existing, extinct or mythical. There are even a handful of humanoid articles as well. For example, one of the ones I am going to mention today.

BE initial armor is known as the Student Configuration. Chris can access many different armor configurations throughout the series. The Student Config is composed of 4 different articles; in descending order of awesomeness:

The Golden Scholar -

The first and most powerful humanoid article, it composes the bulk of the Student Config and is based off of a standard khaki uniform. In robot mode it is an extremely durable battle-ready robot, with golden blades that can retract into its wrists and concussion cannons that fold out of its shoulders. It has great speed, lacks flight capability but can make up for it with its powerful AI.

In Article mode he increases every aspect of BE, while disabling some of his design specifications. For example: outside of Student Config, BE has steam jets in his heels and his hands can form into guns. In the config, he can use neither but his speed and strength is heightened five-fold.

Come to think of it if I'm talking about the Articles, I should probably have talked about BE first... oh well! That's for another post.

Uh... right! Next is the Shining Navy Salamander.

It originally gave BE access to a laser array that folds out of its back, but I think I want to make it simpler. It represents the Ardenne tie, and its abilities in robot and article mode are pretty much the same.

It deals with light and flares and the like. Able to generate a beam of light so bright that, to quote Og of 'Mike, Lu and Og' fame "Point this baby at the dark side of the moon and there is no dark side!". It can also fire off flares to disrupt heat-seeking projectiles, call for help or disorient opponents during battle.

I think for a finisher, the tie can disengage and form a sword, that BE can use to slice his opponents into many pieces with the power of light. Where BE performs one slash the sword will produce 7 other equidistant slashes on the target.

Next is the Quick Brown Coyote , and it serves two purposes.

1) It represents a brown leather belt, and is the locking mechanism for keeping the now two halves of the Golden Scholar together while equipped to BE.

2) It gives BE access to two retractable rockets hidden in its thighs. These increase speed, jumping distance and can even induce temporary flight.

In robot mode it, like the others, can be used to attack with retractable claws and the like, but it is primarily used as a form of transportation for Chris. It has a third mode where it can transform into a hovercraft form just big enough for two, capable of reaching speeds of 200mph.

The last is the Rusty Rhino and it represents a pair of brown leather shoes.

Very durable in both modes, this article can topple the biggest adversaries using data supplied by an internal processor known as the MassCalc, on their size, weight, center of gravity and the force in moments required to turn them about their axis.

As shoes for BE it can produce braces from either side of each foot, that can lock into the ground ensuring stability when handling a weapon or grappling with an enemy. It is also equipped with a set of tractor treads, to give BE another manner in which to move about his terrain.

Next post I'm probably gonna talk about BE himself, but I don't want to give away too much on the web considering this information is only copyright protected through dA. I don't know how far that spreads.

Also to those who are thinking "Wow! It's a good thing you stopped yourself before 'giving away too much' and only stopped at the design specifications for the main robot.", I laugh at you. Why? Only because you may think this is a lot of info, but I'm just scratching the surface of how much I've put into this series. You haven't seen anything yet, and... your not gonna see much more. At least until I make this an actual series.

Also I need a scanner. I command the internets to buy me one immediately.

Reason for absense

Okay the problem now is that not only does my mind refuse to remember that I have to put something here at least twice a week (I mean at least), but also Photoshop is refusing to work.

I am currently faced with a problem where when I start Photoshop - I have probably complained about this before - no matter what tool I select, it always shows the hand icon for it. I've had this problem for a couple months, and I have been trying to find a remedy for the situation. Scouring many online forums I noticed that if this problem was mentioned at all, the overall consensus was that I should press Ctrl+Shift+Alt during Photoshop's startup sequence.Doing so would reset the user settings to default and hopefully solve the problem.

Say if I closed Ps with a specific colour or brush type applied. The user settings would be where this information is saved for when I come back to the program at a later date. With these deleted, even if there was some preference mistake that Photoshop generated or if this problem was a user error, going back to default should erase those changes.

After attempting this procedure the first time it seemed to have worked, so in a very unscientific manner I fell under the impression that it would work every time. It turns out that the hand literally goes away whenever it wants to, regardless of if I use Ctrl+Shift+Alt.

There will be times when I forget to do it when opening Ps but it works like a dream, and then there are other times when I pull it off perfectly and it tells me to talk to the hand. Piece of crap.

I need to reinstall it or something, like seriously. Unfortunately it was installed under most peculiar circumstances and I require assistance to do so. At any rate I am completely Ps-less indefinitely.

I do have other programs though. I mean, I have Corel DRAW which is handy but a little confusing. Also many moons ago I was introduced to an amazing program that resembles the love child between my two image-rendering-program-loves - Photoshop and MS Paint - known simply as Paint.NET. If you like the low-resolution of Paint or do a lot of Oekaki, but would love more flexibility in terms of layers and brushes and the like, then I would recommend Paint.NET.

Unfortunately I have not used Paint.NET in a while and have lost that spark. Alternatively Corel DRAW is so convoluted, whereas Ps is very pick-up-and-use. I can't go back to Paint either only because I'm too used to the freedom in brushes and layers that Ps provides. I used to be the Paint king though. I should show you some of my stuff sometime. But that's for another post.

In the mean time I may have to betray this blog's original purpose of being only for digital stuff, just so I have some content to submit. Well hey we all have to make sacrifices... some less sacrificial than others but still.

23?

Um i dunno how this happened but apparently i have 23 posts? and that cannot do. this si just to straighten them out.

i really... i have not been doing anything lately art-wise. i've been sketching as usual in my books, but digitally i have nothing new. I shud probably try colouring some of these sketches that i have here, and i have a couple.

Pocket full of Poses

I've been looking for some pose references on dA. currently have the same set of like eight poses i use over and over again, and that ain't too good for composition purposes.

meet laro-laro on dA, an awesome awesome artist, and who I am currently getting poses from.

Missed a day

I literally have nothing new to report.

Um new irl sketches? I'm trying to practice drawing bigger.

Double

I haven't been watching it lately no.

I'm about to do a ton-load of sketches. Subsequently, I'm trying to learn how to DRAW BIGGER. I DRAW TINY AS HELL. and i'm getting there, i'm getting there.

Self Portrait

I just finished a sketch for a self portrait due for school tomorrow. I notice I get a lot of sketch practice in... but only to a specific extent.

I mean I'm constantly doing character sketches. really freakin tiny character sketches, yet I very rarely do like still-life or anatomy sketches. I wonder how I expect to magically get better? I'm sure it'll be spectacularly far-fetched. I'm always preaching about the character designing process, yet I can just barely draw. You know what I do? Cartoons. And that's it.

Not saying cartooning is not significant. It's just I don't really branch out and that's where a lumberjack comes and cuts me down for paper. I can draw anime though. And I can kind of draw like Danny Antonucci. but I actually haven't tried to do it in a long time.

I need to remember to do more sketches of things & people. I need a better grasp of light.

I mean look at this...

This is some watercolour painting practice by a dude named NAN0jam on dA. This guy is one of those examples of people I want to draw like. He is incredible at inking, his stylization is exceptional, everything's sharp and clean, yet soft things still retain softness. AND HE CAN PAINT TOO...

sigh. day-by-day man.

School stuff

Just telling ya'll if I forget to update plz don't hunt me down. School is getting hectic so I have to prioritize.

Artistically Inactive at the moment

Um. I haven't really been working on the sketch page lately. I think I'll probably start back on the weekend.

Due to me actually doing work, it may be possible that I may only be able to do big pieces on the weekend. If so, it is my responsibility to you the reader that I produce enough content on the weekends to last through the following week.

Since I did a style revamp of one of my old OCs entitled "Ghost" which I'm considering renaming as "Paranormal" not sure... But yeah, since then I have been redesigning characters previously considered complete and perfect. The main drastic difference in design is the inclusion of mouths, creating a semi-complete face.

What had actually happened was that I reached a point in my art where I realized that I need to be able to convey the emotions of my characters better. In what they do and how they speak yes, but also how they look. They all originally had only eyes, and with only eyes and eyebrows it was difficult to display a character's emotions.

So for sake of expression, and to add to the versatility in designing characters, I gave them mouths. Now whereas with before where one could say that this person and that person look alike cuz they have the same eyes, now you have NO EXCUSE.

Woah I missed a day didn't I?

No excuse for that people I just forgot.

I probably missed more than one day though.

On saturday I and two fine honeys had to go to the National Gallery of Jamaica supposedly for some information on the Taino religious ceremony of Cohoba. Turns out the library at the gallery does not have that kind of info. The National Library and the Institute of Jamaica probably did, but those were both suspiciously closed.

Luckily the interbutts actually came through for me and the assignment is finished to be submitted.

And sunday I was just a lazy-ass so I didn't remember. I have been watching some Richard Feynman interviews. Ah sigh... Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Steven Hawking... I'm really getting into the physics again. Hopefully it'll help rekindle my interest in mathematics.

The sketch page is coming along nicely. It's going to be extremely memory-heavy once I am finished with it. I think it's because of all the groups and layers in groups and stuff like that. I'll have some more crap to put up in a while.

With enemies like these...MANDELA VERSION

Um, basically what happened here is that I saw a pic that themadcatter did on furaffinity where he anthropomorphized some enemies from the Super Mario Bros games. So I decided to do the same only with monsters from The Legend of Zelda, primarily the Minish Cap - my favourite to date. There are only five here of course but in my sketchbook i have at least thirty different sketches. Unfortunately for those tuning into this blog, if you want to see those sketches I won't be showing them here.

PF 5 is for digital art and digital sketches. More for a show of practice and progression, and talk of usage of various techniques in art and such.

JonoZOOM is for both digital and traditional art, but from now on I hope to put up mostly finished pieces on that site. Unless they're traditional sketches, because I have A LOT of those.

MandelaSix is for photos and graphics, although I haven't really updated that site in ages, I probably should.

Anywho, these are five monsters from Minish Cap in clockwise order:

Takuri

Octorok

Acrobat

Ball and Chain

Anti-fairy

These were just the four I decided to draw on the computer at random, and I decided to share the sketches.

Okay, now I officially have no more sketches to put up here. For the time being of course. I will hopefully prepare some during the week but if your watching this blog, please don't hold your breath. I can only provide content when schedule permits.

Take care.

Totem-pole

Uh yeah one a day. Today I actually need to prepare more sketches for the blog cuz i'm about to run out.

These are another set of transforming mecha I made up. They weren't originally in this style, but I recently switched to the animated style because:

A) It's easier to draw cool designs.

B) It is easier to draw transformers who's alternate-modes have the same basic shape, with different protoform molds for bodies. This adds to their individuality.

There would be a problem I noticed in say Generation 1 where transformers with the same mold like Bumblebee and Clffjumper would not only look exactly the same sans colour, but they barely had any differences in personality unless you read the comics.

Now with different body types its easier to differentiate between characters in the same team.

This was from a series that I actually made up from back in preparatory school entitled "Totem-pole Warriors". I may re-title this series as "The Zemi" but I'm not sure yet. Basically its kind of like Transformers Masterforce, where there are a set of ancient monuments spanning the globe, and each of them have a human being who is destined to be one with it or some nonsense. These relics are remnants of alien astronauts that aided in building many earthen civilizations back in society's infancy. The mecha would be divided into sets depending on their location on the earth i.e. Totem-pole of the Sky, Totem-pole of the Desert, Totem-pole of the Tundra etc. Each set of 3-4 mecha had a base form where they stacked on top of one-another in descending order of size that granted them the title of Totem-pole.

These four here are the Totem-pole or the Zemis of the Sea. They represent the power of the ocean, beasts of the sea and they're coexistence with humans.

In clockwise order:

Seagull

Blue Whale

Great White Shark

Orca

Remember that these are sketches so the look is not finalized.

[Edit] If you can't see crap that's cuz the original image was a really tiny sketch. I had to blow it up a little, and it didn't really come out the way I hoped. There may be a compression thing going on not sure.

Decal

Um I've been trying to incorporate the Transformers Animated and Teen Titans kind of art style, now known as the Animated style. I don't know who coined the phrase, the internet just tells me things.

So yeah here's a cute little transformer chick I decided to name Decal. She transforms from a generic car of no specific make or model. I like how she looks though. Her face reminds me of a panda.

New template.

I really wanted a way to change the background, but I don't have any pics for the background currently so it can stay.

I notice that there is kind of a stark contrast between the crisp clean lines of my shiny new blog, and those of my art. I hope it'll subliminally influence me to ink better. I am also currently looking for tutorials on dA, so hopefully that goes well.

I had found a colouring and design tutorial on the net. Namely this one:

I don't remember his name but here's his site: PSG 7...

Nikklas Jansen, that's it.

[EDIT] I don't know why the tutorial is staying that size, and doesn't have a link. And currently I can't fix it so...

Alternatively, if you lurk around on PSG 7 you may be able to find it yourself, so have at it.

This is a sketch for a comic book cover I hope to maybe kind of do one day ish. It stars the characters that I named this blog off of - The Phantom Force 5 - lead by the young and powerful Ghost Spectre. I won't give too much away, but it involves ones personal demons made physical. Epic battles are waged between you and your hateful self, until one day with the help of your friends, your demons become locked back inside. Supposedly gone forever.

The thing in the center is a building btw. A freakin spiral shaped machine/building.

Ghost and his aforementioned demons entitled Black Ghost, are the two in the fore-most-ground.

I'm really just testing out the format. There is a movie poster artist named Drew Struzan, and I'm trying to do something similar to his style.

Tell me how it looks plz.

Artemis the Hunter

Another flat-color piece I guess. This one of a character from a concept-in-development called "Ghost"... Come to think of it the name "Ghost" may be changed if possible.

I had to put this up before 12:00 otherwise my once-a-day claim would be moot, and I do not appreciate moot in any form whatsoever.

I also need to work on my signature. After a while I may just turn it into a brush or something. My main problem is that it is uncomfortable to write my sig, probably with the current brush settings but I digress. Something needs to change.

Artemis is a homunculus born from a fusion of genetic engineering, and the dark arts. Despite having one eye, she has perfect - to the point of telescopic - vision and is an experienced marksman. She bares superhuman strength and durability, and is a warrior and a hunter by nature.

First blog

I don't really know what my intentions are with owning my own blogspot. I suppose it's mostly so I can keep tabs on other blogs here, but there may be more to it you never know.

I'm on deviantArt at jonozoom.deviantart.com, MandelaSix.deviantart.com, and I also have a group that I'm pretending to run at OurTurfGroup.deviantart.com, so if you want to you can check out my stuff there. I'm going to try and put up more sketches here. Um. I have this huge page of sketches that I work on constantly in Photoshop, I could upload those one by one I guess.

I was actually going to try and put up a pic right now, but I'll leave that to the second post.