Happy Halloween !

Celebrating Halloween in France is a bit like celebrating an ancient Maya ritual in USA... it never happens ! Oh well yes, there are a few slutty parties here and there where you can get drunk in totally inappropriate clothes "just because it's Halloween" but it's more of a carnival than a real celebration ; it's not about the trick or treating, not about the candies or the scary stuff. (Some kids do however go trick or treating and are often very disappointed so I let you guess how great that was for those two little girls I welcomed at my door once with my rat on my shoulder. They were frightened and so excited ! ^^) There's absolutely no "spirit of Halloween" in here. For a few years you could find Halloween stuff, decorations, make-up in several shops but now they don't even make advertisements for it. No more webs and paper pumpkin in the supermarkets... *sigh*

This is why, every year, the only ones that set me in the mood are my online friends from USA and Canada. It's so amazing when, in the beginning of September, all of the Frenchies are like "Blah, going back to school/work sucks !" and overseas you guys are all like "Halloween season just started, yay !". Among these friends, the two more enthusiastic I know are Dinosaur Prince and Patrick Fillion. Even if they like to draw big cocks, they remain little boys when it comes to Halloween. Here's a modest short comic as a gift to thank them for sharing their excitation with me.

Dino's more emblematic Halloween character is the dark and hot Belvadar but for once I decided to lay my hands on his brand new transparent stud, Jasper Edward Walldenbury. Naughty boy seems to enjoy going through walls and surprise people. Jacko the Halloweener, Patrick's super sexy pumpkin boy, was the poor victim this time. He shouldn't have been so cocky !

Happy Halloween to you all !

Will we save Willy ?

Working for furries is definitely not the same as more "traditional" commissioners but I have to say I like it ! ^^ I was proved it once again with this picture I did for the lovely Jyan.

Of course drawing anthros is way more challenging than drawing humans, especially when they're from species I don't draw much. Like killer whales for example... it's always hard to find the right balance between human and animal characteristics.

But it's something you just can't refuse, I love sea animals and we can't deny black and white whales are sexy ! I was more than happy to oblige.

And what I like the most about commissioners from the furry fandom is that they know exactly what they want ! I think I've never started a drawing for a furry without having many details on the position, the anatomy, the mix between the human and animal sides of the character. And it may sound normal but believe me, in conventions it literally changes my life to know what the dragon exactly looks like or what the elephant is supposed to do to the human ! ^^"

As you can see, mister orca had his appearance changed a few times but it was for the best.

Now he's a hot surfer killer whale waiting for a mate who should come soon. :)

Stretching on the beach

I'm very glad to show you this new commission I did for Odie, because as challenging as it sounded, everything came up perfectly very fast.

Stretch, one of his original characters, is a contortionist. When he told me that I immediately went back to my anatomy books, a little scared.

But I don't even have many sketches to show you because Odie was satisfied with the pose from the very first scribble ! I was nearly disappointed that it had been so easy. ;)

To add some "spice" to the cute beach I suggested a town and some buildings to make a simple yet alive background. Odie loved it so we kept the idea.

And the colored version... as you can guess, a tanned hot guy with blond goatee and dreadlocks, this was like candy for the illustrator I am ! :) Thanks a lot Odie for this opportunity.

This is Halloween, this is Halloween !

Dinosaur Prince's love for Halloween is always a great occasion to draw exciting, funny (and challenging !) commissions. ^^ He knows I love Halloween but the frenchies will know what I mean, here this holiday is kinda dead. :/ Nobody celebrates, that's really annoying. So Dino's commissions always help me getting in the mood !

Here is Dinosaur Prince's little story : "Late one night before Halloween, Belvadar snuck into the bed chambers of the Headless Horsemen. While said party was otherwise 'engaged', our hero replaced his flaming pumpkin top with one of plastic. Belvadar then jumped on Zalus back to make quick his escape. Unfortunately the two were found out. The specter gave chase, all the while wearing the wrong set of clothes! What was he doing in that room, that occupied him so? Only the shadows on the wall know, but I think these clothes are a good indication...
Zalus speed was no match for the horsemen. He quickly feel behind and gave up the chase. This year he would not terrorize innocents with fire and smoke. Maybe this year he will cool it a bit and enjoy some trick, or treating instead. After over 200 years, maybe it's time he had a little fun on Halloween. :)"

Tricky centaur ! I had a hard time but a lot of fun drawing him bucking.

I admit I couldn't help giving his tail some Art-Nouveau look.

The hardest part with night scenes is to find the light. Since I wanted the scene to be spooky but joyful and entertaining I had fun with the smoke coming out of the chimney. Who knows what's going on in this house ?

You can read Dinosaur Prince's impressions on his blog ! :)

Thaddeus Thunderbird Jones

Here are some steps of a pretty exciting commission I just did for Odie (IMHO a really great and pleasant commissioner to work with, I totally recommend him !). It is his bad ass original character Thaddeus "Thunderbird" Jones and since it seems known that I love drawing hot chocolate boys, Odie asked me to play with him.

As you can see, it's all about the 70's so it necessitated of course a huuuge... afro haircut !

Notice the white powder... it's sugar ! ^^ We both wanted him to be a naughty boy but not that much !

I tend to listen to the right music to get inspired when I draw so you can easily guess my playlist was a mix of Boney M and Jimi Hendrix. And what a nice "watchtower" do we have here, said the Joker to the Thief !

Flashy colors, hey, it's supposed to be disco ! First time I have the occasion to add a lava lamp on a drawing. And a pink fluffy carpet.