Category: Doodling

Ryan’s Webcomics For Funtimes

So this is… comic number one; I call it Polygamize Me. Thought it was fairly clever.

I don’t know for sure if I’m going to be doing more comics or what. It’s just that I’m on vacation this week and I’ve got a surplus of time to do fun things that I like. Drawing comics is on that list, it’s just not very high on the list, so it usually gets ignored for other things which I find to be more fun. If I do keep it up for whatever reason, there won’t be a regular schedule. They’ll just appear whenever my muse compels. It’s more exciting that way.

I’m filing the project under the name Ryan’s Webcomics For Funtimes (just like the post title), because the Coozy For Hire name died along with the website. I mean, the site is there and hijacked by penis ads (yes, still!), but none of the CFH content exists on that little slice of internet. RWFF is sill mostly the same thing as CFH in spirit, the only difference being that it’s a solo project. That isn’t a strict rule though; I’m just as open to collaboration as any hip-hop artist.

I don’t know what else to say about this yet. More on why this happened tomorrow.

Scouted

So one of our branches decided to start up a soccer league within the company. While I declined the opportunity to play, I was also selected to design and draw the “jerseys” for their team, The Ron Burgundys. This offer I was happy to accept.

This isn’t the whole thing, but it’s most of the logo. My rough drafts were a little more ambitious than the final product, but that’s mostly because t-shirts (and I assume all manners of clothing) are ridiculously hard to draw on. I’m pretty satisfied with the final results; hopefully the team likes my work as much as I do.

The thing I’m really digging is that I’m becoming something of a go-to guy for low-profile art projects at work. It’s not exactly the fame and fortune I once hoped my “skill” would bring me, but I certainly can’t complain. People are asking me do draw things for them because they enjoy my work. I like it. The really nice thing is that no matter how crappy I think my output is, everyone is really supportive and tells me it’s great. Maybe it doesn’t push me to improve like criticism sometimes does (usually it just makes me want to give up forever), but it sure makes me feel better about myself.

Drawing some things

You may have heard of the super-popular new iPhone game Draw Something. If not, I guess the best way to describe it would be like a casual edition of Pictionary. It’s a two-player game where you alternate drawing a thing and guesing the other person’s drawing of a thing. That’s really all there is to it, and it’s fantasticaly fun and addictive.

It’s also a very universal game. When I introducted it to her, the woman and I sat in bed playing together for roughly and hour and a half. And she still picks it up as often as I do.

In each round, you’re supplied with three random words to choose from and draw. There are no categories provided, but you’ll get a choice between an easy, medium, or hard word. Easy and normal words are usually stupid things like “worm,” “hockey” or “green.” The hard words can be downright challenging though, especially since they’re usually celebrity or character names.

The one to the right there particularly blew me away. I’ve had a few instances of “Mario” and “Koopa,” but never something as nichey as a relatively unpopular Final Fantasy hero. Oh, and Zidane is (debatably) the main character of Final Fantasy IX, just FYI.  I was really, really excited to try my hand at touch-drawing Zidane, but alas, the name showed up in a game I was playing against a girl who probably doesn’t even know what Final Fantasy is, nevermind the hero of one of the most underappreciated chapters. I could have drawn it, but I prefer to play the game so that people are able to guess what I’ve drawn. It’s more fun to keep up a long win streak.

Now imagine my disappointment when I Googled it and discovered that Zidane is also the name of an infamous soccer player. I suppose I’ll never get the opportunity to draw a chocobo now…

I am ego

Last week, there was a big celebration for work. Part of that was having a team of two from each branch compete in “Minute to Win it” challenges. Somehow I managed to convince everyone from my branch that naming our team “Team Ryan” was a good idea. It was that or “Team Jacob.”

“Creativity”

We have a whiteboard at work, which we use to promote stuff. It gets changed occasionally, and since I was complaining about not having an outlet for my creativity at work (that’s not really how it happened) I was put in charge of doodling something on it for this month. This is the result:

I wasn’t struggling so much to create something that would draw people’s attention, but rather, to create something that was legible. My handwriting is awful to begin with, and using whiteboard markers only amplifies the problem.

I also had to take some creative liberties with The Unfee. Mostly due to the whiteboard markers not being my weapon of choice, but also because I don’t really care for the canon design. If you haven’t seen the Unfee for yourself, here’s the image straight from our website:

I don’t think it’s a terrible design or anything, but if you’ve seen the commercial (which, admittedly, is visually atrocious), or any of our more recent Unfee ads, you’ll notice that his design doesn’t work too well with many poses besides that one there. I have a great deal of respect for Cambrian (and I’m not just saying that so I don’t get fired for picking on the marketing department’s baby), and I think it’s a great promotion for a great service, but he’s just too awkward, and not in a fun way that works. I’ve spent a lot of time doodling Unfee, and I can never create something that looks good without betraying the original design.

So yeah. I’m pretty pleased with my whiteboard, and so are my co-workers. Also, if you don’t bank at Cambrian, you should go open an account there. And tell them Ryan referred you. I really need some referrals.