evil rotten rasputin was the topic of today’s drawergeeks.

apparently, as legend has it, ol’ raspi was nearly impossible to kill. after several assassination attempts on the guy (including being stabbed and strangled) his body was eventually found frozen in an icy river. he was found poisoned, shot four times and severely beaten. after all of this, the autopsy report showed that his cause of death was hypothermia.

of course, that’s just legend. but it does sound like raspi wasn’t a very popular russian (i mean- he was evil). maybe he just died of a broken heart?

all this week, project rooftop is showcasing costume re-designs of bart allen (aka: impulse; aka: kid flash; aka: the flash) in honor of mike wieringo who co-created the character with mark waid back in the 90’s. the tribute is strangely appropriate since just this month, in the last issue of flash, bart allen died suddenly and far too early. i choose to take on a redesign of bart’s initial impulse identity, since that’s when mike first drew him (and when i was reading him).

impulse was actually my favorite DC title and character back when waid and ramos (wikipedia links aplenty this post!) were working on it. he was just a twelve year old kid who lived up to his name with impulsive decisions and cartooned scenarios pictured in thought bubbles. and I really didn’t see any way to improve on that first costume either. but I did like the idea of how he was having trouble containing the speed force (the force that gives him his super speed powers) in his far too brief flash stint. so I tried to combine some of those things and make his costume somewhat of a containment suit for the speed force when he’s using his powers- LEST THEY DESTROY HIM! even if in my drawing it doesn’t look like the suit is doing a very good job of that. ;)

drawergeeks topic this week was hotdog stand. i owe jen for helping me come up with this idea:

bands i’m really into right now: bloc party! i still remember has been my catchy fun song of the summer. i’m so late catching on to this band and i have no idea why. their music is highly addictive. as is wolf parade’s! i’ll believe in anything has been stuck in my head for over a week now!

and at work this morning, someone brought in cupcakes with cow sprinkles. i didn’t even know they made cow sprinkles! they taste just like regular sprinkles but better because they are shaped like cows.

hooray for fridays!

last week, a couple of my friends were drawing mermaids. not wanting to be left out, i drew one too, and just got around to coloring her this morning.

not quite as unique or cool as their mermaids, and a bit too ariel looking, but at least now i can add “have drawn mermaid” to my resumè.

and joel carroll pointed me to this really sad news this morning as well… :(

i only knew mike from online- from his blog and forum chatting and whatnot. but from what i gathered, he was an extremely nice guy and an insanely talented artist. you could tell his love of art, and especially the comics medium, in every post and comment he wrote. the news of his passing comes as a shock and is a great loss to both the comics and internet communities. his family will be in my prayers.

this was for today’s drawergeeks. i couldn’t figure out how to draw henchmen without their boss so unfortunately mine came out more like they are burgling rather than uh… henching.

i wasn’t planning on doing anything this week. i just have so many other things going on and i didn’t really have a good henchman idea in mind. but then i just started scribbling and this sorta came out. and then i decided i should add some shading to the doodle but i didn’t really have time so i experimented with just using the dodge and burn tools (with very faint splotches of color). then i added some noise to everything because, why not? the result came out sorta… messy. i don’t think i’ll ever try this technique again. but you never know.