Stuff to see, including last month's Inktober challenge

As you can tell, I haven't been the best at keeping this blog current.  Every time I realize it, I feel guilty and promise to post regularly again, then I don't.  Guess we're back at the beginning of the cycle once again.

Anyway, I was very busy during October, somehow managing to stay on top of the whole Inktober challenge this year. I chose to use the posted prompts from Jake Parker, the creator of Inktober, which allowed me to dig deep into my mixed up bag of tricks to find something appropriate for each day's sketch.

Having gotten the prompts a week or so ahead of the start of the month, I had time to get at least a few ideas in my head, particularly Day 2's prompt: Divided.

My belief is that this country is more divided than it's been in my lifetime, and I lay the blame at our divider in chief, Donald J. Trump.  In this illustration, I may have exaggerated his over-sized tie just a bit.  Donald stands before a collage of angry faces, including Lebron James and former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  The silhouette of the continental United States is filled with angry emojis.  I drew the largest parts on paper with a pen, then used Adobe Illustrator for all the little circles of the emojis.  Photoshop brought it all together with the little faces and compositing the piece.

Rage

Stromboli, maniacal puppeteer from the story of Pinocchio.  The counterpoint to the fatherly Gepetto.
Cool gray Prismacolor markers

Vanity

One of the recurring themes of Disney Villainy is vanity.  It isn't exclusive to the female villains, either, as Gaston has proven.  In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney's first animated feature, Snow White's stepmother is obsessed with being the most beautiful in the land and becomes murderously jealous when Snow begins to mature into a woman lovelier than she.  Ironically, the Queen sacrifices the very beauty she cherished in an effort to poison her rival.  In this image, I present the cold, arrogant beauty of the Queen in contrast with her magical disguise.

Evil Queen/Hag copyright Disney

Disney Villains

The best stories have awesome villains. Yes, you can craft gripping tales of people overcoming personal challenges or setbacks, but when you can put a face to your opponent, there's a tangible presence against which to rally. Young adult novels may feature their characters struggling with internal issues about first loves and achieving goals, yet they don't ignore the real threats of bullies intent on causing physical harm. Harry had to deal with the abuse from Draco and his friends, didn't he? But what elevates JK Rowling's series from the average story is the greater threat on an existential level in the form of Lord Voldemort, an individual feared by the entire community at large, but one who has focused his hateful attention on our protagonist. Not many creators generate a villain on that kind of scale, but the animated films of the Disney Company provide more than a few. As I post the character illustrations in this series, I will make some comments about the film and the characters, but those opinions, like the art, are mine. Those characters are copyright Disney and/or Pixar, but I drew them.

Today, I shall start anew.

Things have changed in so many ways since I last shared art on this blog.  I tend to post my quick sketches on Instagram, but it is hard to really say much about each piece while trying to think of the right hashtags to generate more interest.  I started a Disney Villains series I'm going to share here.  I haven't been going chronologically, but by the end, I will have every primary bad guy or gal from every animated feature from Disney and Pixar. I may do a second run with villainous sidekicks later.

Today, I'll start with Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast. Self-assured and arrogant, he's the typical small town bully who can't wrap his little mind around the fact that not everyone believes he's as cool as he thinks he is.