Advent Calendar 2010

December 1

Sweet Snow:

I chose Lolita from my series Neo Black 5 (which is part of the Neo Black 9 time line) for a nice simple start for the calendar. She last showed in 2008 with Attikas, looking very disdainfully at his snow job on his snow woman. This year I've upgraded and stanardized everyone's winter outfits, so if you're looking at the older entries in previous years, you'll see distinct differences.

Lolita and Neo Black 5 belong to me.

December 2

Dale North's Merry Little Christmas:

Unbeknownst to me, I ended up doing 2 NiGHTS: into dreams images on the same day, 2 years in a row, as you'll see in the gallery. Dunno how that worked out but there you go. This image was really delicate, and a little difficult due to rendering a glass globe in pencil, but I didn't turn out too bad. I have some practice to do on rendering metals, but overall, the concept came out.

My personal favorite NiGHTS image I did was on 2008's calendar on the 17th. The mood was just perfect. The name of the piece was inspired by Dale North's wonderful Dreams Dreams remix, which melds in Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with it. A perfect remix.

Elliot Edwards, Claris Sinclair, and NiGHTS belong to Sega.

December 3

Fill Up the Stockings:

Ami makes her calendar debut, as a new character in my series Boulevard of Distance + (she was a background character in the first series). I figured I should get a jump on the sexy for Christmas early this year. 8D

She's spoken for, guys, so unless you want to compete with a young man whom can transform himself into a beast at will, I'd suggest sticking to buying pin ups of Ami.

.....yes. I will be offering those at some point. 8D

Ami and Boulevard of Distance + belong to me.

December 4

We Wish You a Merry Christmas:

So I've been playing a lot of Pokemon.....ok, a LOT of Pokemon (my national dex is 382 8D), and of course, my current favorite is HG/SS. Why? Because I get to have my pokemon follow me around like puppies! ^^

I made up a nice holiday outfit for Lyra....which looks pretty cute if I can say so myself. I think Snorunt as a tree is cute.

Lyra, Snorunt, Delibird and Pokemon all belong too Nintendo.

December 5

When You Wish Upon a Star:

I went with a style experiment for this year, because I like torturing myself into being ambitious. Going back to simple, I chose Coleco from my series Electric Boogaloo for a good silhouette and relied on line work and blocks of black (with touches of ice blue). I like to think of it as a mash-up between the DS game Feel the Magic and the artist Alphonse Mucha, which is pretty damned awesome. I really love drawing curly cues.

Coleco and Electric Boogaloo belong to me.

December 6

Lucy in the Sky with Presents:

I don't have any holiday/Christmas/reindeer characters, so I made one. Lucy is a winterdeer girl, so if I had to put her in a series (as she's a "free agent" atm 8D), the easiest fit would be in Distance where I have Morphers like Jimmie and DJ (a bear/insect hybrid, and a sea/fish hybrid, respectively). I won't exactly add her canonically, but that universe seems to serve people-animal hybrids the easiest of all my series.

I just wanted to draw a character who i could hang stuff off her antlers. Its a fantasy of mine, like dressing up Lee Van Cleef in a cowboy outfit.

Lucy and Boulevard of Distance belong to me.

December 7

Winter Planet No. 1:

Brennon debuts in the 7th's pic, with a representation of his home series Ragnatropolis (usually Loki reps it in the calendar). I rather liked his winter attire, which is primarily in colors other than red and green (contrasting from a lot of the holiday outfits I made for everyone for the calendar). The brown still gives you a warm feeling. ^^ That and only Bren could rock skinny jeans, leg warmers and the bunny hat, like any good club DJ.

Brennon Phillips/Hermod and Ragnatropolis belong to me.

December 8

Silent Night:

Lunis always makes for nice quiet images. This one benefitted best from a blue background to contrast with the moon (which appears to be a prominent image this year). Also new is the integration of the date into the composition, which is fun to try to do.

Lunis and Dreaming, Dreaming, Dreaming belong to me.

December 9

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays:

Another new series I started this year was a fun future spin off of Creepy and Crawly, which takes place quite a few years after the mainline series. Mei, James and Henri have twin children (oh yes, fully possible 8D), and work in the supernatural bracket, trying to raise a family. Good times to be had by all, I assure you. XD

I liked the bubble background, it was fun to do. I wished I could fill the whole background with it.

Jessica, Toby and Creepy and Crawly: Next belong to me.

December 10

Christmas Canon (in D):

Another throwback to an older couple characters I've had since elementary school, Vicci Fox and Kymi Hummingbird make their second calendar appearance since 2007 (excluding an all-character finale every 24th). I went with blocks of color pencils, then further defined the forms with some outlines for clarity. This technique was the same as some of the Brutal Gods Project card set I did earlier this year, with the sketch done in reverse on the other side of the image, and traced in with color via light-table. Its a strenuous process, fortunately off-set this time by a simple, clean image.

Vicci Fox and Kymi Hummingbird belong to me.

December 11

Peppermint Stick:

This image is sort of a preview of a technique I was hoping to attempt soon (if I get over this blasted cold @_@). I cut out her head band, dress and shoes from a scrap of wrapping paper, and tackled her hair solely through silver Sharpie. It created a nice delicate effect I loved.

Gaia this year represents RL's other resident author's work, Brutal Gods Project, which combines robots and ethics of roboticized personalities and Greek mythology. Yes, you should be frickin' impressed.

Earlier this year, I also illustrated the first initial set of BGP's trading cards, which I was really proud of. The corresponding RM (and the second set of BGP's) is forthcoming. I promise. @_@

Gaia and Brutal Gods Project belongs to J-MACHine.

December 12

A Few of My Favorite Things:

Mother 1/Earthbound Zero needs more love, dammit. Its sad how the whole Mother series has, like many other games from the Land of the Rising Sun, been for the most part stranded in its home country. Why? Because Reggie is a dick. 8D And I can say that too because I don't have an industry job he can force me out of.

Bitterness aside, I threw some love to Ana and Ninten, because they're so cute. I want a giant Ninten doll hardcore. D: Or a Lucas one. I will accept either.

Ninten, Mr. Saturn, Ana, and Mother 1/Earthbound Zero belong to Nintendo.

December 13

Christmastime (Oh Yeah):

Ah, Neo Black 9. My first series, about 12 years old now, I periodically revamp the art and attempt work on it. By now I have it all plotted, if you can call a series w/ no plot a narrative with one.

Rya and the guys have always been a joy to draw, though every year, it seems Ryori's and Darek's hair changes. XD Oh well.

On this pic, I added sparkly sticker seals and they turned out neat. I frickin' love Daiso.

Ryori Shoujin, TenTen Two-Twenty, Darek, Who, Rya Li. St. John and Neo Black 9 belong to me.

December 14

Snowbound:

And in contrast, MapGunners is a newer series I created this year. It follows the travels out New (or West; I created a new world with new compass designations solely for this series), to be the first to reach the New World, the other side of the planet essentially, beyond a dangerous band of natural barriers like frozen wastelands, uninhabitable deserts, and dangerous oceans called the Jormagand Band.

Hawkins, a LeRoian explorer, and his companion Soi, a Midren bandit, cross the world, moving towards where the sun sets, aided by the jungle guide Calico, and a voodoo witch doctor named Doc. Their winter attire was difficult but fun to plan out. I went with pencils because this was the first series I have had with varied ethnic skin tones. It was a unique challenge that turned out really nice in the end. ^^

(Jules) Hawkins, Calico, Soi, Doc, and MapGunners belongs to me.

December 15

Jack Frost's Chime:

Recently I retooled the all pantheon series Sanctuary (which combined pretty much every ancient mythology in the world :3), and renamed it Pantheon Chronicles, which instead of following Lokii, Sun Wukong and their merry band of Trickster Gods, follows a young resurrected Arthur Pendragon and his merry band of Trickster handlers in the city Sanctuary, trying not to get killed. Or sued. Or....well, you get the idea.

Arthur sort of has a lot of hand-me-downs, from his sneakers from Hermes, to the red scarf from Sun, to even the rockin bear headphones from Lokii. I love the border, which took a bit but looks fab. ^^

Arthur Pendragon and Pantheon Chronicles belongs to me.

December 16

Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness):

This drawing nearly broke me, not unlike the MapGunners illustration. @_@ But while the colors were difficult, and the idea of cramming 9 characters in, in addition to designing at least 3 of them (Clio, Rube, and Oli) on the fly, it all turned out fantastic. I loved the rainbow look to the illustration because it makes a neat composition. Its one of my current favs (next to the MG's one). I do wish I colored the stripes on Clio's shirt red instead of blue.

Chester, Piq, Rose, Gypsy, Ran, Oli, Rube, Lazuli, Clio and AICA belong to me.

December 17

The Night Before Christmas:

Another illustration that nearly BROKE ME, but I wanted to really make something nice for the Misfit Demons gang, since they're a new series. The colors are actually pretty vibrant, all things considered. I love the outdoor Christmas scene. ^^

Buster the Werewolf, Rusty the Zombie, Skylar, Samhain "Sammy" the Pumpkin Demon, Mordecai the Demon, Akiva, Kotaro the Yokai, Agnes "Aggie" the Living Doll, Gretchen the Gorgon, and Misfit Demons belong to me.

December 18

Greensleeves:

A combo package of Creepy and Crawly and Heaven's Order and arranged all neat and tidy. ^^ Regina's sweater looks a lot more vibrant than the original, owing to the slight over saturation problem my new scanner usually has. In any case, it looks pretty cool. Gabe's two-tone suit was a great touch.

Yoko, Alestor Crawley, Henri Bitner, Mei Asakawa, Leo Griffin and Creepy and Crawly belong to me. Regina Johnson, Gabe Shooter, Hikaru and Tai Takara, James Marcus and Heaven's Order belongs to J-MACHine.

December 19

The Christmas Song:

Every year, my friend holds a grand christmas party, which is usually filled with fun, food, and antics. There are countless stories to cram into the image usually, so this year, I went a bit simpler (seeing as how many of the entries this year are so complicated @_@) and even got to add in a collage, with the sparkle seal stickers and scraps of wrapping paper.

Not shown is the TOTALLY EPIC photoshop photo my friends did for another friend's Secret Santa. Maybe soon I can link it. XD

The dress Dio's rocking this year was designed by myself but executed BEAUTIFULLY by a good friend of mine. Its really sweet looking. ^^

Dio belongs to me, as do the sweet chibi versions of my friends.

December 20

Wizards in Winter:

One year, JP's younger brother went out to meet a certain Call, the kind that brings snow and winter to the world. He never came home. For years, JP's blamed himself for his brother's death, but now, he has another chance to make things right with the Call that his brother gave his life to.

And he has a chance to revenge himself against the man who was responsible for not only his brother's death, but for the very end of winter as the world knows it. If he can survive the storm.

JP, Oak & Ash Winchester, Rhys Hunter, Jimmie Thede, Sakura Lockheart, WinterWing, and Boulevard of Distance belongs to me.

December 21

Happy 17th Birthday Kristen!:

Every year, I make my sister a birthday pic and this year, I wanted to try something different. The sister directly younger to me, second in line as I love to say XD, has this amazing talent to make wonderful cameo cut-outs of figures, and I wanted to try it myself. Its nowhere NEAR the level and sophistication that she handles her own pieces, but it sure is fun, if fiddly, to do.

In retrospect, the colors kind of compete, but in all honesty, the work came out really nicely.

December 22

No Place Like Home for the Holidays:

Another grand crossover of the divine, I combined j-MACHine's Brutal Gods Project and my own Ragnatropolis and mixed well, producing the holiday images here. Given the sheer numbers of characters in both series, I had to pick and choose some of my more favorites, and then design new outfits.... Yeah....that was fun.

I'm really pleased with Albin's section, as I am with everything else, but Albin and his DAMNED SAX turned out pretty sweet, considering I suck at rendering saxes. Note it does not say "Merry Christmas", mostly because...silly, fans, Ancient Greeks and Old Norse don't celebrate Christmas! They celebrate solstices and gods being stabbed through the chest! 8D

Albin Bridgers, Aina Hildreth, Loki, Pru Faulkner, Pomona Gardener and Ragnatropolis belong to me. Jackson Smith, Hades, Zeus, Phantasos, Morpheus, Demeter, Hercules, Hermes, and Brutal Gods Project belong to J-MACHine.

December 23

I'm on a Horse:

FRICKIN' Matt at X-Entertainment. EVERY YEAR, his Advent Calendar gets chockfull of the strangest concepts, from Wonder MAre powers combining into the dreaded DoubleMare, to Mista Snowman's antics, to a SURPRISE visit from Freddy and Jason, on down to JAMES LIPTON FOR THE WIN.

Yes, the caps are all justified. I got 2 words for you: GET OVER IT.

We here at Random Lunacy salute you, Matt. We love you. :3

Stare, Pear, DoubleMare, Jason Voorhees's puppy, Mista Snowman, Horsey, Waiterbot, Nightmare, Santa, Mare, and Kuse belong to Matt at X-Entertainment. Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees....do not.

December 24

Hold me Closer, Tiny VIllage:

The last image every year is meant to be an all-character comp, which collects all my series together by having at least one representative character each. This year, I topped out at about 25+, though recently most of the series are spin-offs of existing ones.

The all-character pics are the hardest because of the number of characters and the limited space. Still though, it turned out really nice.

All characters belong to me.