Freshman Muppets

A tribute to those wacky muppets.

I'm still working out the whole Forever Freshman concept and really starting to think about where I want to take it, and the best way to go about it. This is still very new and I'll be working out the kinks for a while. Now that we have a rough website I'm thinking about going the web comic route for now. We'll be improving the site and making it the command center. I've been listening to other artists and their ideas about marketing, so the wheels are turning. My goal is to build a following and find our audience. I want to start doing a consistent bi-weekly web comic. We're are still planning on doing a print comic, but it may take a little longer then expected. If you are following this it all begins here. Who knows where it will end up.

Thanks

-Neil

FOREVER FICTION

Did a sketch during lunch of Ray and I in a Pulp Fiction Posse. Thought I'd make a little poster out of it.

BAND GEEKS!

Awww band, so many memories. Let's get this party started!

Quick sketch of Ramone

Comic Strip #1

Block Printing

So I bought a block printing starter kit and spent the weekend carving and printing. It was pretty great! I haven't made a block print since high school, so it took a little time getting into the groove. I used a very soft material which was extremely easy to cut and made two prints of characters from my comic. Until now I have only had sketches and computer renderings so to have some tangible artwork feels good. My hope is to make a series of these prints to coincide with the comic. Since they are small and easy to reproduce I'm gonna try to sell them for relatively cheap, but for this first round I'll most likely give away for promotion. If you are interested in these let me know.

P.S. I have to give thanks to my wonderful wife who took pictures of the process for all to enjoy.

JUDO CHOP!!

Ray and I have had our share of mental and physical abuse from friends who happened to be girls. From Ray getting his glasses broken to me being judo chopped in the middle of my Junior english class. We have endured. I wish I could say these acts of violence were out of affection, but it was more that we were huge pussy's with kick me signs on our backs.

I sketched out this scene last night and just started messing with it in photoshop. While I was coloring I decided to shift the colors and make it look like an offset silkscreen. That's the wonderful thing about photoshop, you can mimic pretty much any style quickly and cheap. The artificial look is cool but it just makes me want to do the real thing. I guess the fine artist inside me still has trouble accepting digital art as "ART". So this is my sorta tribute to retro comics.

Taking it to the streets

Inspired by a recent documentary I saw i'm taking our characters to a new place, THE STREETS BIATCH! Actually its a very familiar place, and with street art going main stream it seems appropriate to jump on the band wagon. It may be kinda cool to do some guerilla advertising, but a hell of a lot of work and not to mention the legal consequences. Soon they will have designated places to put up your non threatening street art, which will save time, effort and sleep without sacrificing the cool and edgy factor. We'll at least to those who don't know any better.

So here we are in the experimental phase. Having fun with it and kinda procrastinating from the real work that has to be done. I do know at some point I'm gonna have to jump in head first. I gave myself till the end of this year to complete the first draft of the comic. I still have a ways to go.

Til next time

KEEPS IT REALS YA'LL!

A few of our favorite things

Slowly but surely I continue to work on this comic venture. I have been concentrating on the look of the two main characters. I feel I am happy with the way they are (for now), but I still want to draw them in different styles. This is a more commercial, cleaner look. I may try doing something more graphic or even an expressive drawing/painting, maybe even silkscreen? The problem is there are to many options. I want to explore a few more options before I commit. The story kinda jumps around in time, so I was thinking about changing the style depending on where the characters are, past, present or future. In any case it feels great to be doing something creative. So, I'll just keep exploring these characters and see where they take me.

Comic Character Sketches

Its a new year and time to get back on track. Here are some sketches for 2 comic characters I am developing. These characters have gone through many versions and I think I may finally have a clear idea of what I want. They still need some work. The biggest challenge for me is consistency in my drawings. I want to get a solid style guide done and start putting together some short comic strips before moving on to the full length comic.

The last few months have been pretty hectic with my new job and all. I had to put this comic on the back burner. I am determined to get the comic completed by the end of the year, then look into getting it published. For now look out for Forever Freshman comic strips coming to a blog near you.

Happy New year

-Neil