Trans-CARS-mers

The last video game I worked on (Cars 2) is out and doing rather well in the reviews. We just had a screening for Cars 2 I took the family to. Its a really fun spy, speed racer-y kinda movie. I liked it quite allot better than the first Cars film.

Last night I dreamed of Transformers... but they where Cars... and then this cartoon happened.

Unicorn City

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My pal, fellow Avalanche employee, super artist, story overlord and all around swell guy Bryan Lefler has made a fantastic independent film named UNICORN CITY!!! Aaand he was kind enough to ask me to do some promotional art for T-Shirts and Posters and stuff. Which I was only too happy to do. Bryan asked for the same layout as my Oz-some piece I posted a while back. It was a fun challenge.

My idea was to draw the characters as maybe they see them self's. Or maybe if there was a Saturday morning cartoon of Unicorn City it would look like this... I wish there was. (^_^)

You can find out more information and watch the wicked rad trailer over at the Unicorn City website.

Chrono Trigger

WELCOME TO THE ONE HUNDREDTH POST!!!

Chrono Trigger is one those games I just have to play every few years. This time it was on my trusty DSiXL. What can I say that hasn't already been said. Character designs by Akira "Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest" Toriyama. The best characters, music and story of the 16 bit era. Damn! I love this RPG.

Robo

Crono

Frog

Here is a 1280 x 1024 Desktop for my fellow Chrono Trigger aficionados.

I had so much fun drawing these guys. I'd love to draw the rest of the cast one of these days.

Magus: "If history is to change, let it change. If the world is to be destroyed, so be it. If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh."

Super Girl #3

"We don't do it for the glory. We don't do it for the recognition... We do it because it needs to be done. Because if we don't, no one else will. And we do it even if no one knows what we've done. Even if no one knows we exist. Even if no one remembers we ever existed."
— Kara, Supergirl


This one is my favorite of the 3. It just turned out so nice. Up, Up, and away! Thus concludes Supergirl weekend!!!

Super Girl #2

Supergirl: Saturn... Is, is that further away than Earth?

Zaltar: Silly question! Do they not teach you anything in School? Did you not study Sixth Dimensional Geometry?

Supergirl: Well of course they do. I, I know the equations... I... I... I just can't see them in my head.

Zaltar: Most great artist have that trouble Kara. Only use your imagination. Saturn and Earth are in OUTER space, but we, we are in INNER space.

Supergirl #1

Ethan: You just flew over my head, true or false?

Supergirl: True.

Ethan: Like Superman.

Supergirl: He's my cousin.

Ethan: What's with the Halloween costume?

Supergirl: This is not a costume. These are my clothes.

HAPPY THANKS GIVING ONE AND ALL!!!

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I woke up Monday and thought I want to do a nice Thanksgiving card... for Thanksgiving. This was what popped into mind. I made myself laugh... but I scared myself a little too.

I'm thankful for: #1 my soft cuddly baby boy with razor sharp teeth 2# my mega clever girl who can pass Ico all by herself #3 my lovely talented wife who's made me a better man.

Now if I can just catch a showing of Charley Brown Thanksgiving I'll be set.

Batman

Geek Commandment # 12

Thou shalt acknowledge that Batman beats everyone, ever, anywhere at fighting. That's right, he beats everybody. Even Optimus Prime. Even Darth Vader. Even Chuck Norris. He'd find a way. He's the frakking Batman.

~ Doctor Smashy

Miss Martian Manhunter

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"I don't want you hurting any more Earth people. That wouldn't be nice." ~ Miss Martian

Megan aka M'gann M'orzz is pretty cool character. I'm intrigued by the mystery surrounding her origin.  Ancient Mars history being of great interest to me whenever it shows up in stories.  

I didn't know about her till recently.  I was just thinking it might be cool if Martian Manhunter had a kid sister or something... a quick google search and BAM!  the DC geniuses already had one.  I've been reading some Teen Titan stories with where she shows up, she seems to be a minor guest star who definitely deserves more screen time.  

Just a reminder we are moving to: www.matthewart.com  if you get a sec please redirect your reader  :)   thank you.

Venture Brothers: Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

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“Yes, I belong in here, I just have a deep voice.” ~ Doctor Mrs. The Monarch

She started out with the birth name Sheila. But then learned the ways of evil and became Queen Ethera! Then she joined the Mighty Monarch and became the even eviler... Doctor Girlfriend!! She broke up with with the Monarch and became Doctor X-Girlfriend. But then, their union approved by the Guild of Calamitous Intent she became the even evilest... Doctor Mrs. The Monarch!!!

Venture Brothers: The Mighty Monarch

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"I love the Monarch because he has too much passion. The Monarch has as much hate inside him as all other villains combined. The Monarch can’t fake it. He’d rather risk his career in arching, then to not arch Dr. Venture. " ~ Dr. Mrs. the Monarch

Just a reminder... moving to matthew art soon: www.matthewart.com

Venture Brothers: Henchman 21 & 24

Venture Bros is the funniest, most well-writtenist show on TV. (writtenist is a word... now)
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"They both have that rare combination of expendable and invulnerable that makes for perfect henchmen." ~ the Mighty Monarch

Starting out as faceless throw-away background characters they've become two of the most interesting characters on the show.



Reminder: we are moving to www.matthewart.com soon :)

the Legend of Zelda: Link

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"its dangerous to go alone take this" with those words I started the greatest adventure of my life. One of them any way...

or

I firmly believe without a shadow of a doubt: the kitten is far and away the superior weapon. I mean... just look at that thing!!! yikes!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!! I've finally got my new and improved Matthew Art dot com site up and running... soon I'll have to just post over there as I am not organized enough to maintain two blogs... check it out!!! It has all kinds of Matthew Art goodies... I'm adding more and more and soon it will be a fully armed and operational battle station!!! erm... website.

www.matthewart.com

thats matthew art not mat the wart... but, whatever ^_^

Princess Leia and Lord Vader

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I thought about putting in a word balloon on this one... but I couldn't choose one...

"You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor, TAKE HER AWAY!!!"

"Darth Vader, only you could be so bold. The imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you attacked a councilors ship on a diplomatic mission..."
(nah, too many words won't fit in a word balloon.)

I'm writing these from memory, may be inaccurate... how bout:

"Your not going out like that young lady. You march right back up there and put a bra on!!! TAKE HER AWAY!!!"

Really truly though folks... Carrie Fisher said that George said there are no bras in space and she was just walking around tapped up the ENTIRE movie. Also there was digital nipple removal.

Do you think George Lucas knew that Vader was Leia's father when he filmed this? I don't.

Any body else have any funny captions???

I guess this was Star Wars week... :) If I knew that before I started posting these I would have announced it as such or something... ^_^

May the force be with you.

Aayla Secura

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Hurray for Aayla Secura!!! She combines beauty, brains, brawn and blue into one of the coolest Jedi to ever fight in the Clone Wars.

Am I the only one who wonders if she's really Smurfette?

I don't see her showing up in Star Wars continuity after Episode 3. The last time we see her she's being gunned down by like twenty Clone Troopers. But she's one character I wouldn't mind seeing resurrected. Certainly more deserving than some.

So, for now at least she's in Clone Wars rocking a french accent. Or at least a space french accent.

Princess "Slave" Leia

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When I was eight years old I saw Return of the Jedi in Billings Montana. It made a big impression on me. How could you not love Carrie Fisher in that outfit. Wow!

The metal bikini isn't exclusive to Jedi, not by a long shot. It's been a mainstay in sci-fi 4-EVAH, just check out any Frazzetta painting or Dejah Thoris the Princess of Mars or even old Flash Gordon comics. It's been around for a hundred years and here's hoping it will be around for a hundred more.

Nightmare Before Christmas' Sally

Happy Halloween
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I've had a crush on Sally ever since I first saw her on the silver screen back in '93. She hasn't aged a bit. Because she's some sort of undead Raggedy Anne reanimated construct with autumn leaves for blood. And those sorts of people don't age the way you and I do.


The PAINTING PROCESS of Sally




I started off with a sketchy pencil drawing that turned out pretty good. I thought it would make a nice watercolor illustration.



The only problem was the pencil drawing was in my sketch book. Not the best kind of paper for a watercolor illustration. Not to worry for we live in the 21st century!!! I scanned in the pencil sketch and printed it out on hot press watercolor paper using my old Epson 2200 printer.

In Photoshop I colorized the gray pencils into beautiful sepia tones. This will let allot of warm under tones pop threw the final painting. Also I think the archival inks of the printer blend with watercolor allot better than graphite. Depending on the effect your after.



And presto! The sketch is now ready to be painted. There was a time when I would have had to use transfer paper to trace the pencil sketch onto the watercolor paper. Let us be thankful those days are long gone.



Using my figma sakura brush pen, I lightly drew thin black lines onto Sally. This really solidifies the drawing and adds a little more dimension. Not sure how well that shows up in this photo. But believe you me, there is greater dimension... oh yes. ^_^



I started with her skin. It was the largest area of color. The rest of the colors would have to serve the blue skin. I tried a few different mixes of blue before I got it right. Cerulean and this light greenish stuff worked the best.



Having proper reference is a big help. Thank you Sally doll.
Now that the blue was in place... Alizarin Crimson for the hair. A little Cadmium Red on the top parts where the lighting would hit the strongest. Yellow Ochre mixed with this and that for the dress. And we are almost there.



Lastly I added some Cobalt Blues and even Ultra Marine blues for shadow and dark accents.

And I was done!!! Yay!!! Then I had to hall @$$ off to work so I wouldn't be late. Time just gets strange and flies all over the place when your painting. I got to work on time (more or less) and scanned in the final Sally Watercolor Illustration.

I just realized this is my first How To on this blog. Woot!!!

I was super happy to have done a watercolor with real watercolor! Now I just want to do another preeeety bad.

Until next time this has been Matthew Armstrong saying: "Happy painting and God bless."

Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari) by Pixel rules!!!

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It's Quote!!! The hero of Cave Story.

Cave Story has been around for a while now. But I just barely downloaded it on my Mac. I've been having a blast BLASTING threw it! Its like all my favorite old NES games: Metroid, Castlevania, Mario, and Blaster Master rolled into one. It has just as much great design, music and smooth gameplay as the classics ever had. But its not just a clone or throwback. Its filled to the brim with ingenuity, originality and charm. There is deep mystery, charming characters, and bit tune soundtrack that sticks to your heart. Maybe the most amazing thing about Cave Story is it was all lovingly crafted by one very gifted man, the legendary Pixel.

The game is FREE! you can download and try it for yourself on Mac or Pc HERE. There is also a Wii version. (can't wait to try that one)

One really cool thing is: My wife got me these super cool green headphones last Christmas. Green headphones just like Quotes!

check out the game trailer!

fluffy yellow chomper

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Samus and Baby Metroid (Other M)

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Her blood is red
Her suite is blue
I got Metroid Other M yesterday
and so should you