The Lamppost Island Dispatch

Leonard Cohen's "Jazz Police" may seem a strange choice for Tixi, but there's more about it that fits her than just the first line or two of lyrics. Meanwhile, Turbo's crusing the lanes of the Desert Speedway to Mark Knopfler's "Coyote", about a similar solitary southwestern speedster.

Just thought I'd draw a character from my for-the-moment-back-burnered Delyria setting: Luen Mazarine (yes, that's how it's spelled now), the grouchy monster-tamer. He usually wields an oversized chalice, but I couldn't figure out how to make that work with this pose (I know, I know, should've planned better), but a meter-long staff carries about the same meaning - he's not out to kill things, he's out to make them work to his advantage.

Another pair annotated with song lyrics - REM's "Bad Day" and the Foo Fighters' "Breakout", to go along with Dopple and Blitz. I've been having fun with the typography on these; Gyre's yesterday was just sort of generic, but all the others should have something appropriate going on with the lettering. Incidentally, that's supposed to be the font as in the official Critters logo.

These are two appropriate songs for them, too - The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" and Röyksopp's "Remind Me". Probably the best version of Digit I've drawn yet, and Gyre's not half-bad, either. I'm starting to concentrate more on backgrounds, getting more of a feel for just what their territories look like. This is because it's getting to be time when I need to start drawing out the level graphics and actually building stages, and I need a good clear mental picture beforehand.

Here's Gimble, the mechanically-oriented Critter with the mentality of a pre-teen girl on a constant sugar high. Those markings around her eyes aren't eyelashes; they're just white squarish spots that resemble gear teeth. I've drawn her here before, but I liked this expression so much I just had to share this one - it's not often you see Gimble actually at work. She clearly enjoys it, too, spinning from one project to the next in a literal whirlwind of activity.

Not much to comment on here - just the main character of the Critters story, her partner, and a slightly redesigned logo for the series. The tilt works somehow, I think.

Just a bit of silliness here to break the journal back in - you might notice that the URL no longer has a ":3300" in it for the port number; my Internet connection is back and better than ever, and that includes port 80 finally working.

Incidentally, if LJ does go belly-up, all of my images are safe (since they're all on the lamppostisland.com server here), and I'll be backing the text up soonish, so nothing here should be lost.

Just a silly doodle for now - what if Patch had three heads (and four arms)? The fact is, she's not really proportioned for it; her head's too big anyway to fit three of them onto her body, and even then her ears stick out too far to the sides. So this doesn't really work. The arms might, but she doesn't really need them; they'd be a fun addition, but not really part of her essential Patchiness.

Er - yeah, sorry about that, you two. Onyx, of course, has four legs, and Pearl has four arms. There's no corresponding second winged Critter, though; Piper has wings but is basically bird-shaped, Gyre's propellor doesn't really count, and Jette's wings are rigid and also don't really count.

The character designs for the Critters include - as usual for me - a handful of multi-limbed characters. These are them; I've made attempts at other ones, like four-legged versions of Flicker and Auger, but they haven't stuck the same way these three have. Ruby, on the left, has four arms (and a sort of centauroid posture most of the time), Dopple has a big pair of batlike wings, and Frigid has four legs. They're all sort of oddly proportioned as well, even beyond the extra limbs, but there's not much a deep meaning there. They just are who they are.

Just for a bit of balance, here's Patch's would-be partner and, initially at least, evil counterpart: Glitch. The eventual fate of those two is something that remains to be seen, but it will be seen, at least. I'm going to be devoting more time and attention to this story - working on the game's engine, rebuilding the village (yet again) after the engine's been upgraded, and this time being sure to figure out how to make actual story events happen. I think I've figured out what my ideal medium is - I just need to do all the up-front work to make it happen.

( Four images under the cut )

I admit, I've been obsessing over Patch lately, but this is what it was leading up to - a bunch of facial expressions, mostly for the sake of practice but also because some of these are faces I'd never tried putting on Patch before. She's very rarely angry, for instance, and the "skeptical" face seems even more out of character. That is, unless you picture her saying "Waaaait a second! This isn't pie!" or something along those line.

Also, the "morose" expression really should have the ears down, but that's because it just started as a generic "facing backwards" shot, just to show off that the stripe behind her eyes actually goes all the way around her head.

Just a few random sketches of the maintenance-Critter, Patch. The one on the right was a challenge to draw the usually-cartoonish Patch as a realistic character; I felt the need to give her shorts and a pendant for some reason - maybe she's going surfing or something.

Just a quick experiment in drawing Fala as if she needed a badge for a convention. I might ink and color this one, just to have an updated badge for at least one of my characters (I don't have a single character who's really recognizably "me"; the best I could do is wear a dozen of them and hope someone recognizes one).

Ehr - roight then, Oi oughtta introduce meself. Name's Flicker, an' me specialty is buildin' little contraptions an' whatnot f'r all th' other Critters. Me territ'ry is named th' Crimson Canyon - er maybe Cavern, tho' it's sorta both - an' it's a hot place full o' magma an' molten metal an' whatnot. Ehr - roight, y' prob'ly knew oll that. But 't least Oi'm in me proper shape here, as y' can see - squarish, wi' big arms an' small legs. May not be in color loike that older one, but Oi look roight, an' tha's whot matters. Still jus' th' one usable arm, but that's nowt gonna slow me down one bit. Oi'm ready an' willin' t' make anythin' y' need. Ehr - roight after this nap. An' supper... an' me post-dinner nap...