HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 25

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 25

impulseSV x Samurai Jack

For Impulse I chose Samurai Jack!

Samurai Jack takes place in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future, so I thought this would suit Impulse well given his build theme and skin this season.

To learn more about Samurai Jack and see my style references, look below the cut!

@hermitadaymay

(Gamers outreach fundraiser)

Samurai Jack is a 90s cartoon created by Genndy Tartakovsky. The story follows a samurai prince from a fictional version of Japan who battles a shapeshifting entity of evil named Aku. Right as Aku is about to lose to the samurai, he tears a hole in time and throws the samurai into the future.

Once in the future, the samurai, given the nickname Jack by locals, must find a way to travel back to his own time to defeat the immortal Aku and prevent the future from being shaped under Aku's malicious control.

Samurai Jack is a fantastic, imaginative cartoon that deserves to be called art. Not only are the character designs fantastic, many of the episode concepts themselves are interesting and thought-provoking in a way not achieved by many other shows.

The show originally ran for four seasons and was not concluded. Twelve years later, an fifth season aired that completed the story. The first four seasons are suitable for all ages, but the fifth season is significantly more mature. I highly recommend watching the entire series, including the fifth season, which is a fantastic conclusion to the story.

Style references:

The samurai from Samurai Jack

Characters in Samurai Jack are colorful and have strong shape language

The Samurai Jack title design

For our mcc winner!!

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 29

Hypnotizd x Gargoyles

For Hypno I chose the fantastic cartoon Gargoyles!

Hypno gives me cool 90s guy vibes and Gargoyles was my absolute favourite non-anime cartoon as a kid, so I had to include it! And, honestly, I just thought it'd be fun to draw Hypno as a gargoyle. I love the way he turned out.

To learn more about Gargoyles, one of the best cartoons ever, please continue below the cut!

@hermitadaymayrmit

(Congratulations on raising over $1000 for Gamers Outreach - lets keep going!)

The story of Gargoyles follows a group of warrior creatures called gargoyles who lived alongside and defended humans over 1000 years go. Despite acting as protectors, they were feared by humans and slaughtered in their sleep. The survivors of the massacre, a group of 5 men and their pet, were frozen in stone for eternity by a curse and doomed to never awaken again.

However, 1000 years in the future, an eccentric billionaire named Xanatos found a way to break the curse and brought the gargoyles back to life in modern Manhattan.

The story primarily follows the displaced gargoyles as they struggle to adjust to the shock of waking up in an unfamiliar future as the last members of their species.

While the show has plenty of action, as the gargoyles secretly protect the humans who live alongside them, the show is rather deep, often tackling nuanced issues like prejudice, mourning, and finding your identity in a culture that is not your own. Gargoyles also references a ton of mythology and literature and is arguably, in addition to the main plot with the gargoyles, an adaptation of multiple Shakespeare plays.

If you've never watched Gargoyles, I highly recommend it! It's one of the best serialized cartoons out there and I say that having also seen Avatar: the Last Airbender so you know I mean it.

Style references:

This is Goliath, the leader of the gargoyles and the a dual protagonist alongside his human love interest, Elisa Maza (who is one of my favourite female leads in anything ever). I would also like to add that Elisa is mixed race (Nigerian on her mother's side and indigenous, mostly Hopi, on her father's side) which was really unusual for a TV protagonist in the 90s. I just think that's cool, good job Gargoyles.

Goliath and Elisa - I just wanted to show you how cute they are with each other. Love is real and you can find it with this detective lady and her 1000 year old Scottish bat creature friend.

The Gargoyles title design.

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 31

ReNDoG x Borderlands

For Rendog I chose the first-person looter shooter video game series Borderlands!

Ren's base this season reminds me a lot of Borderlands (at least so far). With its desolate landscape, eccentric naming conventions, and industrial buildings put in place by a morally questionable mega-conglomerate, it would fit right in as a setting in one of these games.

Borderlands is an incredibly fun (and funny) game series that I highly recommend playing if you've never picked it up before. However, the games have a lot of adult humor and are very violent, though the violence is played for laughs. If you're familiar with the character Deadpool, Borderlands has a very similar energy.

To learn more about Borderlands and see my style references, continue below the cut.

@hermitadaymay

(Congratulations on crushing the Gamers Outreach fundraiser goal!)

Borderlands is a series of first person looter shooter games set in an open world with a procedurally generated weapon system. The plot of the games follows a group of protagonists with various abilities who complete missions and explore the planet (usually a place called Pandora) in order to find and unlock a fabled treasure trove called a Vault. These Vault Hunters (shoutout Iskall) are not exactly heroes, but as the player you have the option to help people along the way.

There is a lot more to the Vault Hunters' adventures throughout the games that just looking for treasure. Each game has an engaging plot and memorable characters, but the the core gameplay for the entire series is this: shoot, kill, loot a badass new gun, rinse and repeat.

Borderlands is a blast to play and no two playthroughs are exactly the same. It's also great fun to play with your friends and has an excellent multiplayer mode. The series also has a unique aesthetic that makes it look like you're playing in a 3D comic book. The effect is really cool.

Style references:

The games take place mostly on Pandora, a desert planet which has a lot of abandoned industrial buildings and machinery from various intergalactic corporations. Most of what the companies left behind have since been looted and incorporated into ramshackle towns populated by the locals.

This is Handsome Jack, the primary antagonist from the second game. The games use hand-drawn textures for the characters, which create the comic book-like feel.

The Borderlands title design.

i love your hermitaday drawings! your art is so flexible, you capture such a range of styles really well

Aw thank you!! I'm glad youre enjoying my posts!

It's been a challenge so far to try and mimic so many different styles. Some are way easier to do than others within the time limit of the challenge, but I'm definitely learning a lot!

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 24

ZombieCleo x Junji Ito

For Cleo I chose the work of Junji Ito! Specifically I looked at references from Uzumaki, Ribs Woman, She is a Slow Walker, The Enigma of Amigara Fault, and Tomie.

Junji Ito is a master of horror illustration, specializing in body horror and surreal horror. As such his works are not appropriate for younger readers (it will give you nightmares).

In fact, I toned this Cleo quite a lot for the final draft, but I am still tagging this with a number of horror related tags in case people have those filtered out on their dash.

To learn more about Junji Ito's work and see my style references, go below the cut.

@hermitadaymay (but I understand if you choose not to reblog this one)

(Gamers outreach fundraiser)

Junji Ito is a Japanese manga artist who writes and illustrates uniquely disturbing horror stories. Most of his works are fairly short and are best enjoyed in one sitting for maximum suspense.

His most famous work however, Uzumaki, is a full-length, 19 chapter surreal/psychological horror about a town that is slowly consumed by a plague of spirals. It's really difficult to explain how disturbing the story is from such an odd concept but trust me, if you are a fan of scary stories and haven't read Uzumaki yet, you are missing out on some of the best horror out there.

My personal favourite Junji Ito story is The Enigma of Amigara Fault. This is a story about mysterious, human shaped holes that appear in the side of a mountain. When someone sees the hole that fits them they are driven by a strange compulsion to enter. That's it, that's the story. Please go read it - it's horrifying.

Im a big fan of horror and specifically of Junji Ito, so I couldnt pass up the opportunity to try out his style with the lovely ZombieCleo. My hand cramped up pretty badly towards the end, but I think I love how their face turned out - I think I nailed that part of the drawing for sure.

Style references

This is probably the most famous image from Uzumaki

I had to cut out a LOT of references that I literally cannot post here because of the intense body horror and gore involved.

Low res image of the Uzumaki title font I copied. There are a few different covers and I have to admit, I picked this one because it was easiest to do and my hand was cramping like wild at that point.