Mermista (MerMay Challenge 2019)

So... as usual, due to some setbacks, here's my belated illustration for the MerMay challenge. I know the rule is to draw one mermaid for each day of May, but just like last year, I decided again to post only one drawing. This year it's Princess Mermista from the new version of She-Ra.

First, I have to admit: no matter how big fan of all the Masters of the Universe properties in the 80s I was, this reinvented version of the lost Eternian princess was quite a disappointment for me. I didn't like what they did to most of the beloved childhood characters and even the animation style wasn't very impressive. And then it hit me - it's not a series for me anymore, it's for some new generations and I believe some new kids will probably find their own meaning in it. As for me, the first season was enough. I'm not planning to watch the second or any other seasons.

Nevertheless, for this challenge I chose Mermista for one reason only - the voice actress! Vella Lovell was brilliant as Heather in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and she copied most of her personality to her character Mermista. The same speech style, the ughhhs and dissatisfied grunts that even became memes - these parts really made the She-Ra show better for me. ♥

And finally, although I didn't really like the show, I'm planning to draw two more iconic characters: Hordak and Shadow Weaver. I also didn't like their new style, but like in Mermista's case, I'll find way to change some things and at the same time still make their features recognizable to the audience.

If you're interested in four steps of my WIP (sketch, lineart, flat colours and again the final illustration with shadows and highlights), here they are:

Odd One #33

Shame! 🔔

Odd One #32

Respect! ✌

Odd One #31

Do you believe in life after a sci-fi convention? 🤔 

Just like last year, I spent my birthday at SFeraKon, a three-day sci-fi convention in Zagreb, Croatia. Lectures, forums, panels, cosplay competition, workshops, quizzes, games... anything your geek heart desires! I went there completely "marvelized" - from my Captain America and Avengers shirts, badges and keychains, to my Captain America and Captain Marvel baseball caps and my DIY Tesseract! It was also a good opportunity to see friends, acquaintances, cosplayers with amazing costumes and imaginative performances and other people whose work I follow on Instagram and Twitter. 

As usual, the time will have to stop for a day or two before I can get back on the track, which became a normal procedure for me every time after such an exciting event. I also have sooo many new ideas about what I'd like to create next, but we'll see... So, goodbye, SFeraKon and see you next year! And if any of my followers are curious about what everything looked like, who were guest lecturers and cosplay winners, feel free to visit @sferakon on Instagram or www.sferakon.org! 😉

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! 

Face Your Art CHALLENGE

I decided to join this new trend after all, the #faceyourart challenge. I didn't plan to participate at first because I'm still not satisfied with how I draw faces, but... I chose my latest works and some older that I didn't use in other challenges and although they're mostly my avatar designs and people with masks, I decided to post them anyway.