After The Holidays

During holidays it's hard to stick to your usual diet plan, so have you started this year with a couple of pounds more? What's your plan now?

Of course, it's not a problem for Captain Marvel's "cat" Goose, a member of the Flerken race who can store any kind or amount of objects in pocket dimensions inside their bodies and still look fit, but we don't have that kind of choice. 

This idea for an illustration of Goose overeating during the holidays has been on my mind for a couple of weeks and I'm happy I finished it on exactly this day! January 6 in my country marks the official end of Christmas holidays, when most families take their Christmas tree down and put all the decorations away, so, starting tomorrow, life basically goes back to its usual pace.

I hope you had great holidays! And good luck with getting back to your old habits and maybe some new goals! 😉

Odd One #38

Priorities 🕷🕸

Captain America (Endgame)

Finally, after so much time, here's my Endgame fan art! And knowing me and my obsession with Captain America, it's not hard to guess why I chose him! The reference for this drawing comes from Hot Toy stills I found on the Internet. I'm very happy with the final result, especially because I used some new features, such as rim light and thick outline.

This movie was everything I had hoped for, but it also left me a little bit worried. Although the superhero movies fatigue was "predicted" by some movie critics about 3 or even more years ago, new movies and TV shows and MCU "phases" keep popping up, but with the last Avengers it feels like one significant era has finished. I know there are too many stories from the comics to tell, but I'm sorry that some of them will never be told or they were slightly adapted in some of the previous movies. But it's OK, they're called adaptations for a reason and you can't expect to see all your favourite storylines from the source material. I'll live, somehow.

As for the next phase of the MCU, I'm looking forward to Black Widow, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch and Thor, as well as further sequels of Guardians Of The Galaxy, Captain Marvel and Black Panther, but I'm also interested in Eternals and would love to see The Fantastic 4 one day. And when it comes to "new" characters, among many interesting names, I really hope to see Nova (Richard Rider) and Namor.

DIY Marvel's Tesseract

DIY Marvel's Tesseract, the vessel for the first (at least in the MCU timeline) Infinity Stone - the Space Stone! After making a baseball cap inspired by Captain Marvel's helmet design, I came up with the idea to accompany it with that important glowing cube that keeps appearing through the Avenger's timeline, starting with Captain America and continuing with Captain Marvel. I believe it will be an interesting addition to both of my redesigned baseball caps you've seen in my IG gallery. The SFeraKon convention lasts three days (10-12 May), so there'll be plenty of time to show all these props off.

The YouTube tutorials I came across suggested I should buy some kind of baseball cube display case, but I don't think there's something like that in my country. 🤔 Instead of that, I browsed through some variety shops to find any cheap item (it didn't matter what it was) in a clear plastic cube package.

So, these were the materials I used:

* a clear plastic cube packaging container

* LED micro light string (3x)

* AA batteries (6x)

* white spray paint

* acrylic paint (several blue shades)

* paint brushes

* wax/parchment/baking paper

* Mod Podge or any decoupage glue

* strong glue

First I had to glue the edges of the plastic container, so it doesn't open (the upper part). Then I applied the coat of white spray paint and when it dried I painted it (dabbed, not smeared!) with blue acrylic paint. I finished it with decoupage glue (also dabbed with a paint brush) to seal it and protect it from scratches. I wrapped three LED micro light strings in parchment paper to defuse the light and closed the cube from below (that part won't be visible anyway and I need to open it somehow to turn lights on and off).

Well... It sounds easy, but it wasn't, because not everything went as I had planned and I had to improvise a little bit. The biggest mistake was the white coat, which turned out to be too thick, so the light seemed a bit yellowish. Logically, after I applied blue paint, the light turned out - greenish! So I tried to create some kind of illusion with different shades of blue - darker on the edges, lighter in the center - but if you look at the lit cube, it still seems to emit a little bit of green light.

But all in all, it's not so bad, it'll just have to do. I don't have time to make another, but if I wanted to try again, I know now what I'd change. Anyway, I believe I'm ready for this year's @SFeraKon and I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and maybe meeting new ones and bore them to death with my Marvel knowledge and theories! 😜

DIY Captain Marvel's cap

How to top last year's baseball cap inspired by Captain America's helmet? It's simple - make another cap inspired by Captain Marvel's helmet! 😁

Materials needed:

* a plain red baseball cap

* red and blue thick felt sheets

* knitting yarn (three shades of yellow)

* scissors

* a wire pin dog brush

* a comb

* a crochet needle

* strong glue (or fabric glue)

* a lot of patience!

Oh, boy, this surely took a lot of time! The hardest part was to brush and straighten about 900 yarn strings, but I'm completely satisfied with how it turned out. Captain Marvel's design is one of the most inspiring I've seen lately and I'm a sucker for mohawks, so it wasn't a brainer for me. The main idea was to find a narrow strip of yellow faux fur, but getting it turned out to be a bust, so I was more than happy when I came across YouTube DIY videos with the idea of making wigs using yarn strings. I just adapted it to make a mohawk and - the rest is history! 😜

In order to copy some of the helmet design, I used thick felt (red and blue), which was a very good decision, because the original idea to use foam rubber wouldn't work out this well. As for the center piece, instead of making and sewing or gluing a new logo, I used a badge I had made for the Captain Marvel movie premiere two months ago.

It's no secret that Marvel is my passion. I'm often inspired by their comics and movies and I like making things like props for movie premieres or - in this case - the local sci-fi convention @SFeraKon (May 10-12). If you see me there, don't hesitate to say hello, just beware - I can talk about Marvel endlessly! 

NO SPOILERS

I know many of you saw Endgame last weekend, but still... try not to spoil it just a little bit longer. 😉

WHAT THE FLERK?!

Captain Marvel

Here's my version of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. I used some elements from the MCU, some from the comics and also added some of my favourite features (it's mostly that wavy cloth thingy - I know, even in the comics it's not that long, but I find it very cool).

I must admit, last week was very stressful for me. I live for superhero stuff and never miss Marvel's and DC's movies, but the witch-hunt that preceded Captain Marvel's premiere was very brutal, depressing and uncomfortable and although I was hyped to see the movie, it shifted my attention to all that unnecessary negativity. I don't know why I constantly give in to reading comments and spoilers, I really have to find way to ignore them and stick to my own convictions.

As usual, all that stress was unnecessary in the end. It turned out to be pretty good and I had fun I usually have while watching similar superhero movies. I know it's mostly the same formula all over again, but it's exciting to see how this giant MCU story keeps developing even with such installments that weren't planned from the beginning. So, let's put torches, pitchforks and butthurt politics aside and watch this movie for what it's supposed to be - just another entertaining movie. 😉👍

DIY badge (Captain Marvel)

Here's my new DIY project, a badge I made for today's Captain Marvel premiere in my town.

The materials I used:

- a round wooden tag

- foam rubber (black and yellow)

- colour paper (red and blue)

- a black marker

- mod podge

- multi-purpose glue

- a pin

- a glue gun

As usual, it's a pretty simple project and I had a lot of fun making it. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to make more, so there'll be no giveaways like for Avengers and Star Wars this time.

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Happy International Women's Day! 🌹

Spider-Gwen

I've finally seen Into the Spider-Verse, which is a very good excuse for me to continue drawing Spider-Persons. 😀 This time it's Spider-Gwen, and although I've drawn her twice so far while I was testing watercolour pencils, this time I wanted to draw a complete digital illustration. Initially I had a more dynamic pose in mind, but then I used one of my poseable art figures.

Miles Morales

Believe it or not, I still haven't seen Into the Spider-verse! 😱 Yep, guilty as charged. 😔 To be honest, I don't even know if there was a subbed version in our cinemas, because in my country animated movies are mostly dubbed and I'd like to experience the original version. I believe there are still some early projections of dubbed versions for small children at 10 a.m. or something like that, but, as I said, meh. 🙄

Anyway, it didn't stop me from drawing Miles in one of his famous outfits. I wanted a dynamic illustration with a challenging perspective, so I used unusual references of some anime poses, as well as my own (don't ask 😁). The new thing that I hadn't used before is the thick outline around the character, which supposedly makes the whole illustration kind of pop up and I like how it turned out. Maybe I'll use it more often, we'll see.

Misty Knight

As you can see, I've been slowly (really, really slowly!) completing my drawing list. The idea was to draw something from popular movies and TV shows I watch, but I usually draw it waaay too late - believe it or not, this was my plan for the second season of Iron Fist! Meanwhile, Neflix has cancelled the show, along with Luke Cage, but it doesn't matter, somehow I'll finish what I started.

This is my version of Misty Knight, a New York detective who appears in Luke Cage, The Defenders and, finally, in Iron Fist. I hope that the cancellation doesn't necessarily mean the end for these characters and that she will appear in other Marvel shows again.

She is one of many Marvel characters who got bionic limbs due to some injuries (watch The Defenders) and my drawing is based on several comic versions of the character (she doesn't really look like this in TV show - except for the hair style).

This still doesn't mean I won't draw Danny or Luke some day, but I really liked her character and Simone Missick's performance, so for the time being enjoy this illustration. The pose is inspired by Pam Grier's characters from the 70s, such as Foxy Brown and Coffy.

Ghost (from Ant-Man & The Wasp)

Here's my drawing of Ghost from this year's Ant-Man and The Wasp. As it usually happens in movie adaptations, she looks different than the original from the comics, but I fell in love with this design and, of course, Hannah John-Kamen's performance.

Ghost's power is phasing through solid objects and she's also a skilled fighter and assassin (hence the dynamic pose). Here you'll find my usual four stages of creating digital artwork - a pencil sketch, lineart, colours and the final version:

This illustration may be long overdue, but I've known for months I'll finish it some day. I'm more than satisfied with how it turned out and I hope you like it too!

Stan Lee (1922-2018)

R.I.P. Stan Lee. 😢 I know social media is going to be overwhelmed by posts like this, so let's try something different - let me share a personal story that is in some ways connected to Stan the Man.

Growing up in Yugoslavia in the 80s I spent my childhood obsessively reading popular comics such as Zagor (my favourite! ❤), Il Grande Blek, Dylan Dog, Martin Mystère, Alan Ford (another favourite!) and other comics by Italian publishers, but we weren't familiar with Marvel and DC comics so much (at least I don't remember ever seeing their comics). The movies changed that, especially The Superman movies with Christopher Reeve which became inevitable around each New Year's Eve. And then Tim Burton's Batman came, so these two became the most popular superheroes of that decade.

But during that time I happened to come across a pack of some foreign chewing gum which came with little pictures of some unknown superheroes. I became obsessed with them and started drawing them and putting on my bedroom wall like posters. In short, they were Marvel's superheroes such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Cyclops and a dozen more. I didn't know anything about them (OK, except for Spider-Man, because somehow he was also gaining more and more popularity at that time), so I created my own stories about their origins or interactions etc.

Only a few years later (or even a whole decade!) did I find out about Stan Lee, his importance, as well as the importance of other illustrators and the whole history behind American comics. And although I like both Marvel and DC, my heart will always start beating a little bit faster when it comes to Marvel, because Superman and Batman were everyone's heroes on the 80's, but nobody knew about Professor X, Spider-Woman or Storm and during that period Marvel's heroes seemed to be only mine and drawing them made my childhood happier.

So, once again, thank you Stan Lee for some of the best childhood memories. Excelsior!

Venom

Since I'm not doing this year's Inktober challenge, this could be a good opportunity to combine it with my plan to draw fan art after watching popular movies and TV shows (but if you follow my account long enough, you already know I'm way behind fulfilling that plan). I don't think I need to point out that Venom was the easy choice for this kind of drawing, so here he is... well, at least his head.

As for the movie - no spoilers - IMHO it was pretty good. Of course, I have to admit it seemed kind of "little" and somewhat simplified, but that's the feeling we get after being bombarded by various movie universes and/or multiverses such as MCU and DCEU. I know they spoiled us, but movies and series like these just feel more interesting, intense and thrilling, especially when we see familiar characters from the same "universe". So, it's no secret that there's no Spider-Man in this movie, who should be very important for Venom's origin, but the movie is interesting and funny enough to function even without him. Forget most of the things you've known about the comics or similar movies so far and you'll enjoy a pretty good stand-alone old-school (anti)superhero movie.

Kittens of Asgard

About a week ago (or more?) I let you, my followers, decide what you'd like me to draw next, by using that question thingy in the IG stories. There were about 30 views, but surprisingly only one request: kittens! Following the steps of my mentor Jazza, I decided to add a little twist to that idea: I drew the kittens as members of the famous Asgardian family - Hela, claiming her throne and not letting anyone near it, Loki plotting how to overthrow her reign, and Thor doing some silly stuff and not caring about being the king.

As I said before, I keep using the graphic tablet so I can create fast and simple illustrations, but something about this drawing is still off - the style isn't cute enough, it doesn't look like it's drawn by someone who tends to call himself a skilled artist and it took me way too much time to finish it. Also, the lineart is too thick and some solutions could have turned out better. It seems I'll keep making some of these mistakes, at least until I eventually get a grip of it. So, let's be honest, I'm not really satisfied with the result, but I decided to post it anyway. Please be gentle.

Bye,

Grdi

Ant-Man and The Wasp

If you liked Ant-Man, I believe you'll like Ant-Man and The Wasp. It's fun, the tone is the same and there are more incredible scenes (both fights and, of course, CGI). It was great to see Evangeline Lilly and Michelle Pfeiffer in action - and a special shout-out to Hannah John-Kamen who was brilliant in the role of Ghost! If you're a fan of Killjoys like me you'll be thrilled to see her in another amazing role (including Black Mirror and Ready Player One). As for the drawing, I planned to draw them in my usual style, but eventually I chose chibi style instead. The Hello Kitty PEZ dispenser and the salt shaker weren't originally planned, but I added them to create some interesting (and funny) background related to the movie.

Cloak & Dagger

My drawing of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, the main characters from the '80s comic book of the same name, whose new version was released this month, along with a new Marvel TV show. For this drawing I chose the newest comic version of Tyrone (Cloak) and Tandy (Dagger) and I used ink and alcohol-based markers for the first time (and no, they're not Copic markers, I bought some cheaper knock-off brand Huhuhero). Of course it's not as clean as a digital illustration, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

I didn't follow usual YouTube tutorials about alcohol-based markers. I combined different techniques I've learned about inking and finished the drawing with just a touch of Fauxcopic markers, mostly the grey tones. So, it's not a typical alcohol-based drawing, but I believe it's a good start. 

Captain America's cap (redesign)

I decided to redesign my (baseball) cap inspired by Captain America's helmet, which I had made two years ago. I believe it served its purpose very well and it was time to improve it with some new materials and techniques. So I used the same cap, but removed the sewn letter A and wings and replaced them with foam rubber. If you compare both versions, you can see the result looks much more professional and fresh.

The original cap was made two years ago for Marsonikon, a sci-fi convention in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, and after that I also wore it at Sferakon and local Marvel's movie premieres.

You can also see the original here.

My own Infinity War challenge

Two weeks before the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War, I started my own little challenge, a kind of a test for me and my abilities. I called it "6 Pieces For 6 Gems" and I planned to create six pieces of artwork, any kind that I usually do - digital or traditional artwork, comic strips, DIY projects etc., but always a different technique - one piece for each Infinity Gem! They don't have to be connected to the colour or the meaning of the gems, there just need to be six finished drawings/projects by the end of the second week. Here are all six pieces of artwork.

 Here are some tools of my trade I included in this challenge:

And this is the list of all six projects:

* DIY pencil holder - inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet

* Traditional/watercolour - Thanos

* DIY badge - Avengers logo

* DIY polymer clay item - Infinity Gauntlet

* Comic strip @odd.one.comic

* Digital - Captain America/Nomad

#Piece1ForGem1

My first item for my own Infinity War challenge is an Infinity Gauntlet inspired pencil holder and I hoped it would be the easiest project, but nooo. 🤔 When you look at the final product, it might seem the lamest project ever, but please keep in mind that I spent one afternoon in thrift shops and dollar stores and an evening playing the hit and miss game. 🙄 If you think it's too simple or - I don't know - ugly, be glad you haven't seen the first, crappier version. 😁

In the end I made a version with gold foil, coloured paper, flat glass marbles and magnets. So, there it is - a golden can with six Infinity Stones (or Gems) you can arrange any way you like (I'm not sure which order they'll use in the MCU). Feel free to swipe left to see the whole progress. And another thing - if you think about it, it's actually a 2in1 project! The Gems can also be used as fridge magnets. Wooo! So, what do you think - did the first item blow your mind? 😉

#Piece2ForGem2

My second entry for this challenge is a watercolour pencil drawing of Thanos. Honestly, I didn't know how it would turn out, although I gave my all to follow and apply some advice from tutorials I found on YouTube.

So, it's not very good, but also not that bad... I hope. I'll definitely need some more practice. 🤔 As you can see, I filmed the whole process, so when it's up on my YouTube channel, you can check it out and maybe give me some advice about what I should or shouldn't have done.

#Piece3ForGem3

My next DIY project for this challenge are six badges with Avengers logo. The background colours represent six Infinity Stones, while the logo itself is white. I used wooden tokens, safety pins, a hot glue gun, decoupage glue, coloured paper and foam rubber.

I was particularly happy I got to finish these before the premiere, because I planned to wear them, share them with my friends and maybe even give them away at the local movie premiere, like I did with those Star Wars badges last year.

#Piece4ForGem4

My fourth project for my own Infinity War challenge is an episode of my Odd One comic, which I've been posting on my IG account @odd.one.comic. It was the last project before I went to the local premiere, so my last two items were finished after the movie.

#Piece5ForGem5

The fifth piece of artwork is a DIY project, a polymer clay item, and as promised, it's a 7cm miniature of the Infinity Gauntlet (or at least my version of it). I wasn't able to find the right colour of clay (I was looking for the gold one), so I mixed some colours that I had from my previous projects. I haven't sculpted anything new for a long time, so some pieces were very dry or hard and this was the perfect opportunity to test the Sculpey liquid knock-off I bought some time ago. It's supposed to soften the clay and it worked out perfectly. 👌

As usual in similar projects, the base of the Gauntlet was aluminium foil, a pretty useful technique if you don't want to waste too much polymer clay. When it was finished, I coated it with gloss varnish and used self-adhesive plastic decorative crystals for Infinity Stones to make the whole thing look more "realistic".

#Piece6ForGem6

The sixth piece of artwork is a digital drawing of Captain America in his new costume from Infinity War, and as usual, it was done in Inkscape. So, it took me more than two weeks after all, but I'm glad I got to finish the challenge and complete all planned projects. 👍

As for the film itself, you probably know by now that I saw it before finishing this challenge. I'm not going to spoil anything - unlike an unbelievably big number of various social network users 😡 - but if you're a fellow Marvelite, you shouldn't be disappointed at all. It was amazing, The Infinity War sent me on an emotional ride and I'll need a few days to wrap my head around everything I experienced. I also hope I'll see it again soon. ❤