Samurai Mushroom Comics Chapter 26

chapter 26 - Finally We're Getting Somewhere

I love my rock fists.

Samurai Mushroom Comics - Chapter 25

chapter 25 - Army of Stone

Ah the return of the stone guys.  You knew this was coming.  I only wish I'd have taken more time with the strip.  I look at this now and it just seems rushed and crappy.  I was also reading a lot of old Marvel monster comics at the time.  You know the ones by Jack Kirby. I was trying to emulate him here.  I don't think it worked all too well.

Samurai Mushroom Comics Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - The Hunted Hunters

One of my favorite large scenes up top.

Some random art, if you want to call it that.

Since I was in high school I use to buy cheap drawing pads to doodle on.  I also use to doodle on just about everything I could get my hands on, but I liked having a nice clean sheet of paper to mess up.  Some times these doodles led to bigger ideas, characters for comics, or nothing at all. When I didn't have any drawing paper sometimes I would take a peices of copy paper and fold them in half to make a little sketch book. 

This piece was inspired by coral.  I had been diving in Honduras recently when I drew this and was trying to capture the uniqueness of the coral, especially the brain coral down there.  I also like to do stuff like this to relax.  The exactness and definition need concentration and it helps me to focus and relax.  This was drawn on a piece of standard copy paper folded in half.  I'm sure this is third or fourth attempt after a bunch or doodles that helped me get the look right.  And led me to draw a bigger version.

Now this was actually drawn on the back of a piece of waterproof plasticized paper.  A while back the Alaska Fisheries Observer program would issue you these for working on longline vessels.  The front has a sample form printed on it but the back was left blank to do tally sampling and to make notes.  It holds a pencil line very well and is awesome to draw on.  And while digging through a pile of old doodle I found another piece of on waterproof paper

As I look at this now it's weird.  I was thinking about clocks for some reason and this design and doodle kept coming out.  This is a fleshed out doodle.  All three piece were done sometime in 2003.  I've decided this year that I'm going to start adding the month to my signature.  I was looking at some MC Escher drawings and I was impressed that he actually would put the day in his sig.  I don't know if I'd go that far but after thinking about it.  It's a great way to be able to track your art through time.

The Legion of Extraordinary Objects

  So I posted one of the original sketches I did of all the characters and here is the one strip I actually drew.  I was reading Tom Robbin's Skinny Legs and All and if you've read it you know that some of the main characters in the book are inanimate objects.  And of course this is a spoof of the both the Legion of Superheroes and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  And the roll call goes way back to the old Justice League of America comics were at the beginning of the story they would have a roll call of the characters in that story.

Samurai Mushroom Comcis - Chapter 23

chapter 23  -  Tolin's Secret

Another wordy panel.  But we are getting near the end of this story arc.  I had been doodling quite a bit and had big plans after this part of the story was done.  I had a new villain planned out and drawn and was humming right along.

Samurai Mushroom Comics Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - The Mighty Tolin

I'll admit the concept was very Star War's Yodaish.  Might in a small package.  And after the giant door on the gate and the keep it's kinda funny.  Plus I always played the Samurai as fairly small in their world so Tolin is tiny.  Warning another wordy page coming up.

Samurai Mushroom Comics - Chapter 21

Chapter 21 Tolin's Keep

Add caption

Keeping with the Tolin titles, don't worry there's more.  We have the approach to the keep.  I guess  I could have used a cave, but I already had lots of caves and dungeons in the earlier pages.  I was also watching the Lord of the Rings alot so I liked the idea of a keep.

Samurai Mushroom Comics - Chapter 20

Chapter 20  - Tolin's Gate

I get bigger if you click me, really big.

Wow 20 chapters, my goal was to try and fit the first major arc into 24 to 28 pages, or what would normally be in a comic book.  I'm almost there...

So here we have the start of the next mini arc, of the mini arc, of the main story.  I wish I could remember what gave me the idea of the giant door with multiple knockers but I can't remember.  As alluded to in the Dark Tower arc we have the Samurai seeking out Tolin, to help free the rock giants.  Enjoy.

Samurai Mushroom Comics - Chapter 19

Chapter 19  - Three Gypsies Inn

click to get all that spore ninja goodness!!

So after all that action of the last few pages I needed a little slow down and some wordyness to move the story along.  Plus this was to show a larger plot against the samurai and their shogun and it'll all come to play later on.  The one thing I missed was the spore ninja.  Now if you remember way back in Chapter 6 - Cowards Lament, Tushori lets the spore ninja leader go.   If I had been on the ball a little better I probably would have made the spore ninja here Toko, the fallen leader.  But as it reads he's not, and he isn't. 
I really like panel 4 with the Tushori and Keto peeking over the booth.  Also you'll not I drew the title here again.  I think I was getting a little bored with the cut and past titles and this one begged to be drawn.. I'm pretty sure this one was influenced by Dave Sim's Cerebus covers at the time, or at least one of them.

Samurai Mushroom Comics - Chapter 18

Chapter 18  -  The Deepest, Darkest, Dungeons

click me to see all my imperfections!!!

Alright I promise this is the last dungeon page, at least for now.  So after you draw dark towers, wizard shadows, lots of monsters and 3 pages of dungeons what's next?  Why a dragon of course.  Or in this case just the bones.  I had originally had the samurai pitted against a dragon but I really wanted to get the story moving and the last 3 pages were, while full of action, not very plot worthy, mainly just filler.  I probably could have just as easily written their escape but it's a comic for Pete's sake.  I had also thought I might use this as a plot device later down the road.  Who knows maybe I did.