Final Fantasy has had a huge, if not the biggest, impact on my imagination growing up. I remember my life changing when I first played FFVII. Playing Rebirth was not only a truly incredible experience, it beautifully orchestrated and enhanced all the right emotions and wonderment I had as a kid. This game was made by people who loved the original and wanted to recapture its heart, and the magic that came with it. To say they achieved it is an understatement. It's experiences like this that make me wish I could make a game of my own. And it's imaginations like those of the developers and artists involved that make me want to tell stories. Thank you, Square Enix -- I look forward to the next installment!
Been working on this TMNT fan comic for what feels like wayyy too long, but very happy to finally share it! The concept that inspired this short story was the difference between the TMNT in the very first issue of the comics and the goofy teenage superheroes we know today. Anyway, I'll be posting the next pages soon - hope you enjoy!
The last of the Ganondorf designs for my Zelda comic.
OoT's Ganondorf was a good middle ground design for TWW and TP's as the amount of character detail was right between the two.
Unfortunately, the most iconic Ganondorf was barely featured in the comic (other than his hands lol), but translating the design was important in order to get all the versions of the character on the same page.
Some rough concepts of Ganondorf from my Zelda comic.
The goal was to try and make the various styles of the games believable existing within the same space. So, I started with the most detailed version (Twilight Princess) and the simplest (Wind Waker) to see if I could find a look that complimented and blended both.
I'll upload more designs soon!
Man it's been a while since my last post... I promise I haven't forgotten, life just got really busy out of nowhere! First summer vacation for my kid, plus lots of changes in employment (or I guess "unemployment" I should say).
Over the past months, I've been plugging away on a little passion project: a TMNT fan comic! I'm very excited about this wip as I've really been working hard to up my game in storytelling and visual technique. The Turtles are a huge, if not the largest, inspiration for me and have been a detrimental part of my life as an artist and creator.
The comic is still in the works, but I'll start posting pages on here soon! I'll also start posting some designs from other projects and misc artwork as well.
Thanks for your patience - talk soon!
Wanted to wish you all a HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
TLDR; Be whatever makes you feel the most yourself—I honestly don’t care.
For some of you, this is probably nothing new or all that shocking, but for those who have known me longer, a post like this may be a bit of a surprise.
Growing up in a fairly conservative family and community, I was more or less raised with the basic religious fundamentals you’d expect—including where to take a stance on gay marriage, cross-dressing, etc. And, for the most part, I tried to live firmly on those principles while still trying to maintain a peace with those around me.
But, as I’ve been doing some soul-searching, I’m starting to understand that those weren’t my standards or principles at all. I was told what mattered, and that certain ways were acceptable, while others weren’t. The truth is, if it were up to me, I don’t think I would care about someone’s identity or sexual preference. I don’t think I ever really did. And so, I won’t.
This is, of course, assuming no one is harmed in the process. A lot of my own personal convictions seem to be boiling down to that single caveat. The thing is, with the way things had been, I was the on the side hurting people—and, ironically enough, they were hurting me, too, by subjugating me under that mentality.
Spending several years discovering who I really am, I have no right to take that journey away from someone else, nor their conclusions. I’m sure I’ve said some pretty stupid and ignorant things through life, both on social media and in person. If I’ve said anything to hurt you, I want to apologize now (feel free to reach out to me about it), and I hope you can understand that I’m working on it. And I don’t really want to care, either. I just want to write bitchin’ stories and be friends.
I’ve felt this way for a while now, but saying it publicly is another thing entirely.
Anyway, with all of this, I hope the takeaway is that you should be allowed to live your life without having to fight to feel normal. As we’ve all been discovering over recent years, turns out it’s all more normal than we thought anyway.
For those who take offense to this post and want to give me flack, I don’t really care about that, either. You know where to find the unfollow button (although, demographics seem to indicate you might not).
Hope you and your loved ones have a good and safe Pride Month. 💟
Last Friday was the official end of my first contract working at Nintendo. It’s been a very exciting year to say the least, but there was also a pretty huge learning curve starting out as a game tester...
There were definitely times where I was ready to throw in the towel from frustration, often feeling lost or confused as everyone around me seemingly and intuitively had it all together. But I stuck to it for a few reasons:
It was just so cool anytime I’d step back and realize I was helping to contribute in providing the same experience that influenced me so much growing up. Nintendo molded a lot of my creativity and imagination!
Secondly, I needed a lesson in planting my feet down and pushing through without giving up on something. If this industry is something I want to be a part of, then I had to decide if it was worth the frustration, even starting over to learn things I’ve never done before.
All in all, it was still a very fun experience, and I am looking forward to any potential and future opportunities with the company!
Hope you all enjoyed the first seasons of Splatoon 3 (and some Fire Emblem: Engage too)!
Made another art submission for a showcase at work. This time celebrating the release of Tears of the Kingdom! Excited to play, though it'll probably be a little while before I get to it... Got a lot of backlog of games and work to finish. Who's playing it right away? Let me know what you think (no spoilers)!
I never do any abstract work, and I’m not a huge fan of the medium, but I had some strange dreams the other night that I really wanted to get down...
The swirl was what I saw every time I started to drift off. It was always yellow with thick, black scribbles in a circular motion. I thought maybe it was my eyelids, but it was dark and I never see yellow (usually pink or a dark purple). The image always came with thoughts of panic and sadness, reminding me of my car accident last year, our financial struggles, fear of not spending enough time with my son before he goes up, etc.
The second was even stranger. I only saw it once, for a second, like a quick shot from a montage. It was just a colorless pot with a large, chaotic black plant growing up and outward from it as the room grew into a similar yellow as the first image. It was almost as if the scribbles were the view of the plant from above, but I’m not sure.
Anyway, thought I’d share it just because. I have no idea what it means. I know it’s not the usual cartoony stuff I put up, but as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’m kind of on a creative journey of making whatever feels right. So, prepare yourselves from some more emo shit, lol.
The demon is just because I thought it was funny:
I love reading scripts. Was super excited when a work buddy offered me these! Thanks!
Some of the designs for the Mario comic I did last week.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled projects! (For now, lol.)
Took a small detour from my other projects to work on a little comic I made for work to celebrate Mario Day! I have no clue how they’ll explain Mario’s origins in the upcoming movie, but I thought it’d be fun to take a crack at a question I’ve had since I was a kid: How did Mario go from Donkey Kong to the Mario Bros. games?
This IP has always been special to me as Super Mario Bros. was one of the first games I remember owning--and now it's one of my kid's favorites! I'm personally stoked for the movie, and that my family will be able to share the moment together.
Hope you have a hoppy MAR10 DAY!
You can find the mobile version of the comic on my Instagram.