Artists I Like: Shawn McManus

Shawn McManus is one of the many artists I discovered via Instagram. I know he has done work for Marvel and DC, I believe, but since I don't keep up with Marvel or DC I would have no idea about that. I just stumbled on his work on Insta and fell in love.

In fact, I went in on his Kickstarter for an Inktober book or two and they were incredible! Expressive, fun, cartoony... his art is inspiring and kind of what I strive for in my own, in many ways. It feels free and relaxed while also being precise and competent. No mean feat.

1970 Gremlin

I was born in 1970. And my first car was a Gremlin. I paid $100 or so and my mom pitched in $100 or so. None of the gauges on it worked. Gas, speed, temp, nothing. No stereo either. But it ran!

I put a little tape deck between the seats and that was my stereo. Loved it. And people kept trying to buy it from me.

I had it for maybe 6 months, then I traded it for a 1980 AMC Spirit and paid $400 difference. That was 1990. Drove that car for about 3 years when the front wheel fell off and I had to get another vehicle.

Ahh... cars. Honestly, they are SO MUCH BETTER today than ever before. In many ways. Tires, for example... night and day. If you didn't experience tires prior to the mid 1980s, consider yourself lucky. I had so many blow outs and leaks it was crazy. These days? Very rare.

Anyway, here's a drawing of a 1970 Gremlin. I'll tag it "hot rod" because that's just what I'm gonna use for all car art posts. Which will probably be rare, as you know.

10 Years

Oh yeah... this blog is over 10 years old. In fact, I missed that anniversary because it happened on April 20th, 2024. Here's my first Doomslakers post ever.

I started this blog purely as a vehicle for talking about RPGs, particularly D&D, Labyrinth Lord, DCC, etc. OSR type shit. But it's also a place for my art and comics and for basically any other thoughts I happen to want to share. Thanks for being here if you are a regular who checks in.

 

Hymla

I posted a bunch of Hymla art here in this Blood Red post.

Considering a Hymla art book. If anyone thinks this is a good idea, comment here or there if you can.

Obviously I love drawing this character and I'll keep doing it no matter if anyone likes it or not. But it would be nice to share the art in a meaningful way, such as in a book.

 

Raven's Dojo Fanart

Every once in a while I get in a mood and want to draw fanart of other peoples' characters. I did that recently with Raven's Dojo, one of the longest-running webcomics of all time. It is an adults-only comic, so beware of that.

Raven Perez is fantastic. 

Dornail the dragon

Rodney, little hero.

Sadie the Princess of Darkness, daughter of Satan.

Here's the bw original of Sadie.

Hot Rod Girl

I love hot rod art. Remember that magazine CarToons? Love that shit. But I suck at drawing cars. So I'm gonna try to draw more of them this year.

Here's one I did a couple weeks ago.

 

Artists I Like: Kaja Foglio

I don't know as much about Kaja Foglio as I would like to. Somehow I knew the name Phil, but Kaja slipped under my radar for the longest time. Which is a shame because she also strikes such a perfect note with me. Cartoon art that ascends to levels of bliss I only strive to achieve in my own work.

Kaja is an artist, writer, and publisher. Her writing includes a great deal of work on the Hugo Award winning Girl Genius comics. But I know her mainly from drawing some lovely Magic: the Gathering cards. I certainly used that Sorcerous Queen quite frequently when I was playing between 1994-1996.

Bodé's Sunpot Fanart

In 1977 Heavy Metal Magazine launched. It was the American version of the French Metal Hurlant. And it included a Vaughn Bodé comic called Sunpot, which was about a spaceship with pot leaves on it.

Here's a little fanart of the Sunpot, for fun.

Brush pens, Posca markers, alcohol markers. Some bits bled black into gray. I find that the tools I use don't bleed much but when they do they really do. Hard to predict it. The only way to fully avoid it is to let the shit sit and dry for hours. But I tend to go from inks to colors within a few minutes, which is why I prefer using ink that dries fast and is water resistant.

But alcohol markers are not water and they behave a little differently.

Here's the original page by Vaughn Bodé that inspired me to doodle this. BTW, even though Bodé has an accented "e", Mark Bodé (Vaughn's son) says it is pronounced "BOH-dee"... which is how I have always pronounced it anyway so that's cool.

 

Strange

Here's a drawing of Doctor Strange modelled after the Brunner style from issue one of that series. It's ok, I guess.

 

Snake Charmer?

I love drawing in these square sketchbooks. I bought a 5-pack and gave a few to my kids. Now I'm down to one empty and I can't find the 5-packs for sale anymore! Bulk is cheaper, dammit.

Anyway, here's a guy who started out as a Conan but just didn't hit the vibe. So he's just a random guy. I think he might be an incarnation of Snake Charmer, one of the deities of Yria.