Luke Devlin's writing, design, etc.

A couple recent(-ish) album art pieces for Tim Halperin. Usually...

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:08:42 -0500

A couple recent(-ish) album art pieces for Tim Halperin. Usually I figure out a decent concept within two or three drafts. The Radioactive one took me ten.

Whale.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:21:34 -0500

Whale.

I subbed an art class a while back and spent the hours drawing....

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:10:08 -0500

I subbed an art class a while back and spent the hours drawing. As I’ve mentioned, I’m really no good at coloring. I tried my hand at colored pencils for the first time in forever, trying to combine colors. Not the best. I did like the way Finn has an Iceman look to him.

day ten: draw something you can’t live without.I was gonna...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:51:17 -0500

day ten: draw something you can’t live without.
I was gonna pick oxygen.

Until I was driving to the library today and saw this big dude walking (home, I assume) with a bag of toilet paper he just purchased. I was thinking about tough he looked and the small irony of him carrying said toiletries. Then, in the rear-view mirror, I saw him break into a clumsy sprint and leap straight into a puddle on the sidewalk.

I suppose if you aren’t living with surprises like that, you’re just not living.

Also, I need a colorist. I’m terrible at coloring. B&W forever.

Drawing challenge, day 9: draw your favorite cartoon...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:55:08 -0500

Drawing challenge, day 9: draw your favorite cartoon character.
Right, because I could totally pick a favorite.

I decided to pick one I haven’t drawn before: Bolin from Legend of Korra. He’s upset about something.

30-day drawing challenge, day 8: something with your favorite...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:46:04 -0500

30-day drawing challenge, day 8: something with your favorite color.

I don’t have much of a favorite color. I do have a palette that I use for a lot of stuff, like this website. I used the red for Blossom.

Powerpuff Girls has been on my mind ever since I learned that Cartoon Network was rebooting the series. One of my favorite parts of the animation was the way the trails behind the girls were these unbroken streaks of light, reminiscent of Tron’s light cycles. So I took my favorite part and changed it with the paint motion effects similar to Street Fighter IV.

I broke a lot of rules with this one. I don’t like using stock splatter effects and I don’t like putting work out there that I’m not satisfied with. But I gotta move forward on this drawing challenge because I said I would.

In the younger days of Songza, they asked me to draw a little...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:13:42 -0600

In the younger days of Songza, they asked me to draw a little picture for them. Now it’s in their HQ’s kitchen. Makes me happy.

Leave Some Things Sacred...Just Some

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 18:00:17 -0600

Quick thought…

I wonder if reading—particularly in “young adults”—would be encouraged by not adapting books into movies.

I recently caught The Perks of Being Wallflower: The Movie. It was about as straightforward of an adaptation of a book as I’ve ever seen. I enjoyed it and I have many peers that cherished the book in their teenhood (myself excluded) that also enjoyed it, so I guess Chbosky & Co. did their job well.
I’m glad they left out all the smoking.

I, among millions of others, enjoy the plethora of excellent young adult fiction and am pained to see the film adaptations fall so short time after time. Perks: The Movie, in my opinion, effectively captured the emotional weight of the book, particularly in the last act.
Harry Potter tries, at least.

Anyone who has experienced both the Potter books and films will quickly remind you that the magic (figurative) of the story is far more affecting in the novels. The films are wine coolers and the books are port.
I just want everyone to try the port.

Catcher in the Rye has never been filmed, per Salinger’s request and other reasons. It’s a book you still have to earn. You can’t get it in an hour and a half. Because of this, Catcher still maintains its luster, its magic, its importance.

A recent great YA novel, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, is one I would never wish to be a movie. I want kids to earn it. I’ve heard stories from English teachers that claim it as the new gateway drug of literacy in their high school students. A film adaptation wouldn’t completely wreck that, but it wouldn’t help much.

In summary: Please, Hollywood, keep making adaptations of the sub-par YA fiction like Twilight and the Hunger Games. Leave the good stuff alone. Kids still need motivation to be literate and cheapening the magic doesn’t help.

30-day drawing challenge.Day seven: draw your family. Who you...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:51:00 -0600

30-day drawing challenge.
Day seven: draw your family.

Who you gonna call? My bro, me, and my sis.

30-Day drawing challenge.Day 6: something you’ve never...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:21:21 -0600

30-Day drawing challenge.
Day 6: something you’ve never drawn before.

I couldn’t think of anything I hadn’t evereverever drawn before so I just made something up.

I had X-Men on the brain today so I riffed on them a bit in my...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:51:00 -0600

I had X-Men on the brain today so I riffed on them a bit in my doodle book.
The funny thing about X-Men (besides that the whole premise is a backwards understanding of evolution) is its ugly/pretty dynamic. In most cases of comics, the good guys are pretty and the bad guys are ugly, generally speaking. In X-Men, the allegiances jump around a lot, but the ugly/pretty spectrum isn’t as defined.

Still, all the mutants are supposed to be outcasts. But while they may be dangerous, most of the mutants are beautiful people. How cast out can they get unless they’re Beast or Toad or Blob? This is X-Men, not Twilight. Let’s see some ugly monsters as the good guys. And I know X-Men does this from time to time, but not often enough.

So, I just think it would be cool if the mutations were also deformities. Angel’s wings are sprouting from his arms. Cyclops has a huge, eyeball-eqsue crystal to contain his blasts instead of cool shades. Iceman freezes everything (like those pigeons) nearby. Professor X has a decapitated head.

30-day drawing challenge.Day 4: an animal you think is really...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:11:46 -0600

30-day drawing challenge.
Day 4: an animal you think is really cute.
Boom. Otter. Done.

30-day drawing challenge.Day 3: some or all of your friends.I...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:17:10 -0600

30-day drawing challenge.
Day 3: some or all of your friends.
I went with my good friends and former roommates.
We played a lot of SSM Brawl in our house, so I picked our most-used characters for each ‘mate and gave them a few twists for representation’s sake.

30-Day Drawing Challenge.Day 2: someone you like.I settled on...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:38:00 -0600

30-Day Drawing Challenge.
Day 2: someone you like.
I settled on Ray Bradbury.

I’m trying out a 30-day drawing challenge. I usually...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:17:41 -0600

I’m trying out a 30-day drawing challenge. I usually don’t do these kinds of things but it helps to have more than just a blank sheet of paper staring back at you. The list was put together by an incredible artist. I doubt I’ll be very regular but I promised myself I’d do them all and in order.

Day One: yourself or your persona.

Mini comic. Made it up as I went along. Sharpie pen in...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:43:42 -0600

Mini comic.
Made it up as I went along.
Sharpie pen in Moleskine.

Mash-up tribute to two of my heroes: Bryan Konietzko and Bill...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:30:22 -0600

Mash-up tribute to two of my heroes: Bryan Konietzko and Bill Watterson.

By chance, basically everything my brother got for Christmas...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:21:31 -0600

By chance, basically everything my brother got for Christmas this year was Zelda stuff.
Here is one of my contributions.

Asked my sister what AT character she wanted me to draw for...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:18:47 -0600

Asked my sister what AT character she wanted me to draw for her.
She requested Gunter.

Hollywood needs to save us the trouble and just get these things...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:12:00 -0500

Hollywood needs to save us the trouble and just get these things out in the open before we shell out cash to have our hearts broken.