Apparently the Marvel Masterpieces II cards are out… an artist that had contributed to the set mentioned how one of their cards was on ebay… and for fun I checked to see if any of mine were on there… and I found two! (I did 48 cards)

Doc Ock ends tomorrow (this was the second sketch card I had EVER done)

And Vision ends in a few days.

I’m going to be getting special Artist Proof sketch cards that I hope to take commissions on. If interested, email me. I’ll have only 10 of them… so they’re limited (a couple of them are already taken…)

In between projects this week I did this piece of Araknid Kid art.

Taking the list of folks that have signed up for the sculpture and newsletter, I randomly drew a name and this one goes to….. *drumroll*…. Darrell!

This’ll be dropped in the mail as soon as I get the address. If you want to be eligible for the AK sculpt, and potentially other Kid stuff (like a sketch). Sign-up today! (and tell your friends )

What inspired the flea-circus entertainer’s name?

Yeah…..

This first Araknid Kid story follows, what I see as, Saturday Morning Cartoon aesthetics. We begin by introducing the main villains in a “before-they-were” scene and try to convey as much background as I can. Here we see russian flea-circus entertainer Ritz Nabiscov finding a plot of land that he plans to claim as well as a glimpse at an incoming situation.

The characters Kracker and Flea were original adversaries of my costumed crusader “BugBoy” (a mild-mannered student who won a mysterious box containing an alien bug costume which gave powers to the wearer) and can be seen in this horribly animated cartoon “Bugboy 3: Kracker and Flea” (you can see my knack for creative titles goes back to my high school years… when this was created).

For the Araknid Kid story I’ve modified the origins and tried to do the whole “pixar” thing (the lizard scene in the first few moments of the cartoon… on the tree… is mimicked in that first panel of this story). Ritz Nabiscov has undergone a vast character design change, while who they become is closer to how they were depicted back then (a few additions to make them in the western setting).

This is great! Keep the art coming guys!

Today’s piece comes from good friend and fellow artist, Eric Merced!

Check out more of his work (including great tutorials and his character DOGSAINT) as his site here.

Meanwhile, another ranking happened today and Araknid Kid slipped into sixth! Bummer! Gotta get the votes coming in! Remember, wives, husbands, significant others, kids, neighbors… they can vote too !

Tune in tomorrow as I begin some of the “Director’s” Commentary on the new pages… beginning with…. page 1 (SURPRISE! )

Thanks!

This weekend brings another Araknid Kid fanart from the one and only Tyler “T-Bear” Cosley (as seen from the Fearnots!)

Thanks Tyler! You can see more of his work at his dad’s site! Jamie Cosley

One of the great parts of being in the Zuda competition is all the new people I get to meet and interact with. Including this guy. Jody Wilbur has been a great fan and supporter of the Araknid Kid since the debut in December’s competition. Giving encouragement and fun fanart, this time around’s no different. Jody put the pens to the paper to put together this fun pic of the characters based on Tim Truman’s Jonah Hex Two Gun Mojo cover. Thanks Jody! Check out more of his art here!

Dan Schoening has been one of my favorite artists ever since I first saw his work a few years ago. His cartoony style and unique way the characters are rendered has been a constant inspiration and art-spark for me… so you can imagine the feeling when I saw his recent journal post that included a kind plug and this:

For more Dapper Dan, check out his Deviant Art page. Right now he’s got a “Virtual” convention table setup with prints and sketchbooks for sale.

FIRST RANKING
The first ranking of the competition was yesterday, Araknid Kid is currently in FOURTH! So far that is my best ranking of any Zuda competition (and especially up against so many good ones)! Good place to launch to the top from too right?

Thank you guys for helping spread the word. I think in this Invitational the key is going to be reader support. Thanks!

If you wanted to check out the segment that aired last night on WABI NOW IS THE TIME TO DO IT.

GO HERE and click on the 6PM News cast to watch (it’s the last story there). You’ll need to do it before 6pm-ish today (July 10th) as I believe tonight’s newscast will replace it (haven’t noticed any archived) and I don’t have permission to post it here.

When you watch it, for some reason I tensed my forehead muscles during the interview… and my eyebrows make me look like a Vulcan (or maybe even a Romulan)…

Thanks again to Amy and the WABI team for talking with me!