Creating a Tribute: Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

George Washington, Greg Brady, and Abraham Lincoln Pay Tribute to America's Heroes

A few months ago, I posted this artwork I created in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  The original post is here.  Today being the actual anniversary, I thought I might post a few bits of artwork that went in to creating it.

Original sketch

This is the original sketch I made of my idea.  As you can see, I sketch pretty loosely.  I like to make up most of the details as I go, in the final drawing.

I follow that up buy searching out hundreds of images to use as references, to get the likenesses of the people correct, as well as for details of paramedic uniforms, the pre-9/11 New York City skyline, and things like that.

Then I create a file in Manga Studio, which is the software I use to do most of my drawing, that has all of my photo references in it on various layers, so I can look at them as I am drawing.

I draw all the different elements on separate layers.  So, for instance, I would have Greg Brady on one layer, the New York Skyline on another, the Vinnie Barbarinos on another still...   that way I can later move them around or resize them in Photoshop if I decide to make changes to it.

First version of drawing

This is the first version of the drawing.  You can see that it had Presidents Obama and Bush in it as well as Lincoln, Washington, and Greg Brady.  In fact, when I first had the idea for the drawing, it was only going to have Greg Brady and Barack Obama in it.  But then I decided to add George Bush to it, so that the drawing could better represent the entire ten year period from September 11th 2001 to September 11th 2011.  Also, I didn't want this drawing to appear partisan in any way, it's about bringing this country together, not taking it apart, so having a Republican and a Democrat on it seemed like a good idea.  From there I decided to add Lincoln and Washington as well, as they are our two most iconic presidents, and having them there (along with Greg Brady) seemed to make this all about America, and not any one political party or ideology.

Ultimately, though, I felt it was too crowded up there with so many heads, and ended up going with just the trio of Washington, Brady, and Lincoln.  Because I draw in layers, I didn't have to redraw anything, just click those two layers off.

Drawing with text

I had initially wanted to have some text in the drawing.  I wasn't sure if people would understand what they were looking at without some explanation.  I did leave some text on the T-Shirt version, but for my final artwork, I decided to let the images speak for themselves.

Final colored art

For the final colored version, I removed the text, then shifted the drawing up a little. this made more room on the bottom for the reflections in the water.  When I'm drawing something I plan on coloring, I will often leave areas unfinished so I can finish them in color instead of in black and white, such as the details on the buildings, and the ripples on the water.

Comic: Ding-Dong!

This is a true story, with all the dialogue 100% verbatim, from a convenience store I used to work graveyard shift at in Las Vegas about 10 years ago.  I have a few more stories about this store that I will publish eventually.   The place I'm working at now doesn't have a steady stream of insane customers, though, so I probably won't have any of these that are set in the present.

Freedom Force Stuff

I've recently dipped my toes back in to making skins for Freedom Force.  The old message board most of the Freedom Force community used to frequent, Freedom Reborn, has been down for a long time.  But there is a newer board called Trinity of Freedom where some people are posting now.  I have a thread there with some pictures of the skins I made, if anyone is interested in checking them out.

I also found that my OLD webpage that was on Geocities has been archived here.  It's out of date, but it's got pictures and descriptions of most of the skins I have made over the years.  Eventually, I'm going to transfer all that info to this blog, or another site, but at least it's still around in some form for anyone who wants to see it.

Finally, if you are interested in seeing all the skins I have made that are not on that archived page, or in my thread at Freedom Reborn. click on the Freedom Force tag at the bottom of this post, to see all the posts about Freedom Force I have mad in this blog.

Thanks,
"Atomic Robot"

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn: Glenn Beck's Favorite Records No.10

''There are a lot of universities that are as dangerous with the indoctrination of the children as terrorists are in Iran or North Korea. ... We have been setting up reeducation camps. We call them universities.''
—Glenn Beck, Glenn Beck show on FOX News Channel, Sept. 1, 2010

A-tom-ic Jones: Glenn Beck's Favorite Records No.9

''Barack Obama ... chose to use his name Barack for a reason -- to identify, not with America -- you don't take the name Barack to identify with America. You take the name Barack to identify with what? Your heritage? The heritage, maybe, of your father in Kenya, who is a radical?"
—Glenn Beck, ''The Glenn Beck Program,'' Feb. 4, 2010

The Miracle: Glenn Beck's Favorite Records No.8

''Fall to your knees and thank God for Fox News. Pray for Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. Pray for them. Pray for strength and spine, and pray that everybody involved has chicken salad for lunch so it doesn't clog anybody's arteries. Keep them going.''
—Glenn Beck, asking listeners to pray for Ailes and Murdoch because they protect Fox from ''the outside world,'' The Glenn Beck Program, May 27, 2010

Fat Boy and the Human Porcupine

Here's a couple of Jimmy Olsen Freedom Force skins I made last year (or maybe the year before?) but forgot to post about.  Jimmy Olsen as the Fat Boy of Metropolis, and Jimmy Olsen the Human Porcupine.  They are on custom meshes edited by Daglob and are available on his Yahoo Group Character Obscura V.