Good Riddance 2020, Ye Fucker - salvaging(?) a non-blogging year, Part 1

Yeah, it just wasn't happening blogging-wise during this wretched year. Not even because of Covid - in fact this blog has been dragging its feet for a couple of years now. Guess the reason for that is the lack of response, to be honest. The year's artistic output was decent though, so I'll put the finer ones up here anyway before midnight. Then we'll see what next year brings... Maybe it's time to move over to Instagram?

Something Corvin-related to kick it off. Palatine Gara,one of the lesser antagonists (at least for the time being), decidedly drawn in the style of José Luis-Munuera, the sole creator of the awesome Les Campbell comics series.

Since we're talking Corvin, let me firmly state that Book 3 is in the works. Being made in the usual not-so-superfast pace, but I think it will be fine. Especially if I can figure out the middle part I'm getting into right now. Here's a preview of the first couple of pages:

So, as the title character would say: "Onwards, till we finally meet those rascal Ottomans!"

Getting back to the year's illustration chronology, the next one was made for a sad occasion. Albert Uderzo, one of the greatest comic book artists passed away at the end of March. I drew this sad, drinking Asterix as a tribute to him.

Now for something lighter: the above mentioned Campbells all-ages pirate comic is really tons of fun, and inspired me to fanart its notorious troublemaker, Carapepino, among a few other characters.

One of spring's definite artistic community highlights was the Six Fanarts Challenge, that sprode through Facebook like a virus (sorry...) in April. I certainly did my own version based on friends' suggestions. The two characters next to the Witcher are from Bone, my all-time favourite comic book, which was very happy to see finally being translated to Hungarian this year (even though and alas it was not translated by me :D)

Next up,something kinda curious. It is not everyday that one draws Cupid dressed up as a nomadic Hungarian warrior shooting his arrow backwards, but when 5th graders are faced with such visual terror in their school textbook, then there is not much else left to do (click link at your own risk) https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10220236169392045&set=a.10203671740691680   

The last piece for this Part 1 is pretty intimate, and guess it's mildly mature content as well. Anyway, I had a long and a little unconventional relationship with a special lady, which ended suddenly and without warning last October. Perhaps naturally, it took me quite a while to process the ending. This thing below was part of that. Not sure if it's good at all, but it's puts the intimacy out there, which I thought was important at the time. Of course, a good and honest conversation works a lot better, and we finally succeeded in doing that not long ago. 
Anyway, the women in the background are hommages to my great illustrator friend Dou d'Ache, whose work my lady friend is also fond of.

Summery drawings and more

Trying to wrap up the year with some more posts before it is over, as usual...
Something I forgot to mention so far: in May Stan Sakai, one of the greatest comics authors had a Q&A session and signed books in Budapest at a small café of all places. I had a to get a signing of my drawing of his main character Usagi... 

and a photo with the great man :-)

Fanart from an Asterix story: the villain, Tullius Destructivus, who spreads disagreement everywhere. I dressed him in Caesar's robes, just for fun.

A portait of my Mum for her copy of my Corvin 2 book.

A little hommage of Napirajz by Dániel Merényi (probably the longest-running Hungarian strip series), based on a conversation I witnessed first hand in the pub we go after our weekly football match.

More fanarts: the former pirate Campbell from José-Luis Munuera's awesome comic book, The Campbells,

And Laureline taking care of business in Valerian and Laureline: Brooklyn Station, Terminus Cosmos. Birthday present for a dear friend of mine.

Post-summer drawings

Traditionally posted over the last days of the year ;-)

First of all I managed to complete nearly half an Inktober this year, so behold the better results:

Roasted - and it totally is, isn't it?

Drooling - a classic Hungarian cartoon character lost in the opium bars of Bangkok.

Now, some doubleheaders: cruel & whale - fanart from Craig Thompson's Space Dumplings.

Precious & star - a little LOTR foolin' around.

Expensive & weak (I think)

Last, but totally not least, my Season's greetings for this year. Another fanart of the lovely Laureline, original paperwork  a Christmas present for a very dear friend.

That's all for now, I hope to give you a long due Corvin update before the new year.

Summery drawings...

... right before September ends. First of all, a spontaneous one. You doodle a head, then end up with a rooster-headed Napoleonic soldier. It happens -nothing out of the ordinary.

And now, for the fanarts. Firstly, another Valerian - the male protagonists of the classic French sci-fi comics you have already seen here, along with his female counterpart, Laureline.

Let's move on to another one of my favourite graphic novels, DC: The New Frontier by the late Darwyn Cooke. A heroic supporting character Captain Nathaniel Adam from the U.S. Air Force.

And then, our very own Wonder Woman, living it up on Paradise Island. This was a bigger undertaking, as you can see from both the inked, and the final, coloured version:

And now, Inktober is about to commence again, so stay tuned!

2018 - It's alive...

Though it may not be exactly kicking, I have made a few drawings this year, and been working on my Corvin comic too. Pity I get to update this blog so rarely these days...

So, let's see the miscellany this time around.

At first, a little idle sketch, just for fun. Giacomo's (i.e. Casanova, the famous 18th century ladies' man's) jakuzzi. Why? Because the two words alliterate. B O O M.

Next up, another fun one, started completely spontaneously. These doodles can turn out rather well, though it is not easy to recreate and elaborate them in a more conscious manner. Anyway, here is Sulejman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, juxtaposed against my sketchbook, and a Will Eisner fanart made by the very talented Canadian artist, Scott Chantler.

Now, some more serious efforts. i.e. fanarts of one of my current favourite comics, the French sci-fi classic Valerian and Laureline. First, male protagonist Valerian walking in a door in the second book of the series, called The City of Shifting Waters.

Then, the biggest effort in this post, female protagonist Laureline trying to make sense of a certain situation in Book 7, On The False Earths.

Lastly, the most grim one topics-wise, a strip inspired by the outcome of Hungary's elections in April. I drew this right before going to a big protest in Budapest, attended by roughly 100,000 people who thought it was not right that the governing party seized a 2/3 parliamentary majority once again by getting only 48% of all votes. The last panel is quite wishful, I admit that.

Inktober 2017 aka belated Christmas post

I have to concede that 2017 was an all-time low for this blog in terms of output. I totally wanted to at least finish it creatively in the last days of the year, but my laptop thought differently and required some repairing. But hey, at least 2018 starts soon enough here too :)

Anyway, last year's Inktober (FYI http://inktober.com/) was a raging success as I managed to draw each daily topic (and rolled two into one only twice :) 

Let me show you the better ones:

   Swift -  the Roadrunner

Divided

Underwater - heavily influenced by a page from Darwyn Cooke's: DC - The New Frontier

Crooked - who else but Count Ulrik, Corvin's superbad villain

Screech - hopefully speaks for itself

Run - some Will Eisner influence here

Mysterious - indeed, isn't it?

Fat (birds don't fly :D)

Filthy - a real urban swine :))

Cloud - so much about reading comics in the garden...

Furious - drawn on the day when Liverpool FC suffered its last defeat to date (just for the record).

Trail - lagged behind the schedule with a couple of days at this point.

Juicy - bite me!

Blind - what ya were all waiting for, a Corvin-Morcheeba crossover!

Squeak - a nestful of squeakers

Climb - good-old Gandalf on the go, as usual

Fall - it (almost) always rains in Blade Runner

United - Corvin's protagonists, with influence owed to Valerian and Laureline

Mask - lat but not least, a Hungarian-style Guy Fawkes, saying roughly "That's All, Folks!"