Hey there!! I made some OK K.O. prints for AX this weekend! I also compiled all of the daily OK-a-Day-O warmups I’ve been doing into a little sketch zine!
I’ll be at artist alley table i54, if y’all wanted to pick one up!
Boris has redefined each possible concept of rock music in their whole career, giving to the noise itself an own shape. Even in an unlucky year like 2020, their music is still there for our enjoyment and in their 25th album, the band went back to their most hardcore roots, in a series of energetic and compelling tracks, intertwined into aggressity and unique depth. And according to the final track’s title, we should expect to hear a sequel of this album, hoping that is as powerful as this one.
If you’re into the Japanese metal scene, you have heard of the singer Fuki, whose name has accompained the audience in leading bands like Light Bringer,Doll$BoxxandDragon Guardian. Unlucky Morpheus is her latest act, started as a touhou band and became quickly popular thanks to their riveting original works. In the fifth album of the original series, the sound is energetic and virtuous, featuring powerful guitar notes, melodious themes and Fuki’s charismatic vocals. Unlucky Morpheus is an awesome mix of charisma and mystery, ready to be experienced.
Ryuichi Kawamura - Close to you (08.07.2020) [★★★★]
Ryuichi Kawamura, other than being the singer of the famous Japanese band Luna Sea, is also prominent with his solo project, which led him to release several albums and singles since 1997. On 2020 he released two distinct albums, whose first generates more interest thanks to the peculiar focus on ballads and romantic themes. Warm shades, various melodies and Ryuichi’s charismatic and passionate vocals make this album an enjoyable experience for who loves romantic music and not only.
TRACKLIST
Another Sky -Mou hitotsu no sora ni-
Kono kaze ni ho wo hirogete (Spread the sail in this wind)
Zygote is a Japanese metal band formed on 2013, which always stayed under the indie radar. Recently the band started coming out, releasing a short but compact EP, showing off their sound in the best way possible. Energetic riffs, lively vocals and psychedelic shades, worth of a 80′s thrash metal band, Zygote definitely deserves a chance, thanks to a style which can satisfy whoever loves some good metal.
Liphlich is one of the few visual bands to have reinvented themselves in each their work, delivering extravagant and fascinating themes. Another good feature of their sound is their unique touch in acoustic arrangements, as shown in their first acoustic compilation on 2015. Five years later the band releases the second volume, reprising older songs (plus featuring a brand-new track), where the dark and enigmatic aura of the original versions leaves the place to warmer and more sensual versions, empowered by Shingo’s compelling vocals and a refined instrumental work. Liphlich never stops surprising their own audience, even if they are bringing back old tunes.
The first mention for the month goes to the prominent pop singer Yuki Koyanagi, who released a brand-new album after thirteen years of absence. The album mixes up a series of genres, going from ballads to jazzy tunes, driven by Yuki’s clear and astonishing vocals, managing to entertain in each track. Yuki’s comeback will bring more energy within the Japanese pop scene.
Another comeback worth to be mentioned is Exist†Trace’s one, returned on the stage after four years with a new mini-album. The all-female metal band didn’t lose their own style, alternating from energetic tracks to more paced ones, showing the great skills from each member and providing a contained but various choice of tracks, fulfilled with charisma and a distinct technique.
The visual metal band Darrell was destined to become even stronger, thanks to a notable frontman like Ai and a good musical support. But with their latest work the band decided to balance themselves between past and future. The release features two discs, where in the first one there are two new songs, made by a compelling and obscure energy, and the second one is a sort of “self-cover album”, featuring several hits of Deathgaze, Ai’s former band, revisited in a darker and more adrenalinic style, showing the unique skills of each member.
It was really fun doing a reversal episode, where we’re seeing a “villains come and ambush the heroes” story from the villains’ perspective. As far as KO, Enid, and Rad were concerned, it was just like any other episode where they had to kick some bad guys off their turf!
Some cute selected storyboard drawings of Darrell and Shannon scenes, for Villains Night In! Credit as always to @killapedeand@maxcollins(under@jpolgar1‘s supervision) for their awesome revisions!
One of my favorite episodes (actually, several of my favorite episodes) of OK KO that I’ve worked on has come out! It was awesome to collaborate with my roommate/bff (and voice ofTattletail!) @ryannshannon to write and storyboard VILLAINS NIGHT IN! More posts incoming (both about VNI and other episodes I haven’t posted about yet).
I wanted to be sure to post the animatic for the “Follow Orders” sequence because it’s one of my favorites. This scene and the “playing house” sequence weren’t in the outline- Ryann and I just really wanted to make them! I think they’re really funny explorations of the character’s home lives.
We wanted to evoke the feeling of being stuck at weird friends/family’s homes and being horrified by them (as well as the horror of being subjected to that one wild kid who takes things too far). The Box-Bots are Evil, but they’re fundamentally Lawful (and have each other). They operate completely differently than Fink, and just don’t know handle the chaos inherent to a minion who is organic. It’s a funny (and very Real) contrast! I think it came together as a hilarious vector for how different each family’s brand of love and dysfunction can be, and how baffling kids’ lives can be to each other. We really followed our hearts on this one and got to bring a lot of realness to it. I’m very happy with it!
It would be much better if I could find the original designs for all these characters but they’re either buried deep in some folder or I dont even have access to them. I’ve never inquired but it seems very early in OK KO’s development a ton of background character concept art was produced. I was still freelancing for OK KO on this episode and was given the original concept art as well as the board artists redesigns.
You’ll have to take my word that each of these are a departure from their original concept design. My job was to blend a little of the old in with the new for the final design.
Purrcival has been revised, I’m not sure by who, but I had drawn him holding a book in his left hand. I dont mind that it needed to be taken out but I want to be clear that I did not draw that hand.
Behind the scenes info from Character Designer Ben Bates!
More from ‘Red Action to the Future’. I’m not sure how well the idea really communicates in the final episode (or what sense it makes, it actually really weirds me out since at her age she should have already reached her maximum height) but as Red Action ages she gets quite a bit bigger. I worked really hard making slight adjustments here and there to make her proportions continue to make sense and balance. (I did not draw the “normal” Red Action on the left but all the other stuff is me with colors by the Color Stylist).
Or whoops, no, I also didn’t draw the lines around the mouth or the muscles(?) in the arms on far right version of Red Action. I was unaware she was supposed to be that old when I was originally assigned the job.
Behind the scenes info and designs from Back In Red Action from Ben Bates!
Ok these are from ‘Red Action to the Future’ and this is the first time I’ve watched a finished episode with my work included! It turned out great and reinvigorated my sense of self-worth haha!
All the work for this episode was drawn while I still worked full-time at Marvel Animation as a storyboard artist on Avengers Assemble, I did this OK KO stuff as a freelancer on the side (and had a blast doing it). The first few images are my line art with our Color Stylist Kali tearing it up with the colors.
The third image is a screenshot from the finished episode. At first I thought the overseas animators were using my chip bag design as a texture, just pasting it in digitally, but careful examination reveals its hand drawn! Those Koreans are killing it, nearly perfectly replicating a fairly complicated design for animation.
Speaking of design, the next two images are straight from the storyboards. As you can see the design for the box and bag were already pretty well defined by the board artist. I simply fleshed out the concept. Now that I work full time at Cartoon Network on OK KO as a Character/Prop Designer thats mostly what my job is. The storyboard artists design everything and I draw a pretty version of it.
Its an interesting reversal from my previous experience at Marvel Animation. Avengers Assemble was a script driven show, which meant as a storyboard artist I was being dictated what to draw by the writers. And anytime a new character or prop appeared it didn’t matter what I drew in the boards, the Character/Prop designer was entitled to design as they saw fit. For example we didn’t have any design for Whitney Frost (aka Madame Masque) when she first appeared on Avengers Assemble. For my own amusement I tried to introduce body shape variation (because its fun to draw different types of people) and designed her in my boards to be a heavier, stocky woman. Naturally this was rejected.
OK KO is a board driven show, even though each episode still begins with a group of writers hashing out the plot, the storyboard artists are really the authority and creators of the episode and in a broader sense the show. Whatever is in the boards my job is to primarily execute their vision.
Perhaps both of these experiences describe the differences of most script driven shows and most board driven shows. I just find it interesting how I can go from one end to the other and stay in the same place on the totem pole.
Designs and behind the scenes info from Designer Ben Bates!!
GALTx eNews: GALT Welcomes A Special Hound To The Family!
On January 22nd, we welcomed a special boy to the GALT family, Darrell! Darrell is a one year old staghound from Oklahoma. He weighs about 83 pounds.
Darrell’s prior owner witnessed him in a head on-collision with another dog and took him to the vet for assessment. The vet determined Darrell is completely blind but found no retinal detachment. They tried some treatment which proved unsuccessful. Darrell’s owner asked the vet for assistance with placing Darrell in a new home because Darrell could not hunt as a blind dog. Word reached our Oklahoma connection and our volunteers were on the road to get him. Our vets took a look at Darrell’s eyes and didn’t find any damage explaining his blindness. His pupils are, however, fixed and dilated. He will soon visit an ophthalmologist to see if any treatment is available.
Darrell settled right into a foster home in the Dallas area with blind dog experience. Within three days, he learned to navigate around the house and backyard. Darrell found the doggie toy box on his own and loves to pick out different toys to chew on. Click here to watch him play with dog friends he met on his journey to GALT. He is trying to learn his best boy polite manners around the kitties (but it isn’t clear yet he should live with them long term), knows how to “leave it,” ignores the family’s small dog, and gets along with the family’s Greyhound. Darrell is definitely a fan of kisses and hugs and sticks to his people like velcro. He is content just to sleep at his foster mommy’s feet. He has not had a single accident in the house since his arrival and, for whatever reason, he likes to eat lying down!
Watch for Darrell to be available to our approved applicants after he is neutered and we get to know him a bit better. Blind dogs adapt well but adopters should be prepared not to rearrange their furniture often and to pick up obstacles regularly. He will likely prefer to live with another dog to play with and to help him find his way. Thanks to all who helped him reach us!
