The Jasmine Dragon

"The secret ingredient is love!"

I've been in a Avatar mood recently...So I did two (count 'em, two) more "Mega D" Iroh drawings for my sketchbook. They're also posted on my DeviantArt gallery. Also, check out some of my thoughts on the Christian themes in the show at Here I Stand.

As pictured here, Iroh is dressed in his tea-shop uniform from Book 2, when he opens the Jasmine Dragon.

Bad Monkies!

These drawings were commisioned by a friend of mine who uses the moniker "bad monkey" for his screen name. Check out his blogs: The Novel Coder, The Lesser Prince, and Deep in Clowns (last one may contain some mature content).

Draft for next comic

This is the preliminary drawing for my next comic. Just wait til you see!

Batman vs. Batman!

Yet another random sample from my sketchbook:

Two different versions of Batman square off (as in square chin). Why not? 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Just for Saint Patrick's day, here's a drawing of a four-leaf clover!

Ireland is a country in which the probable never happens and the impossible
always does.

— Sir John Pentland Mahaffy

Ireland is a small but insuppressible island half an hour nearer the sunset
than Great Britain.

— Thomas Kettle “On Crossing the Irish Sea”

Cast your mind on other days
That we in coming days may be
Still the indomitable Irishry.

— W.B. Yeats

A Short, Short Story

(Note: I wrote this story while on a high school field trip to Wesleyan Writer's Workshop. We were all asked to write a story based on someone we had met. Austen Getner and I were both black belts in the same ATA martial arts academy. He was very short for his age, but never let it bother him, and he had an infectious personality.)

It was the long-dreaded first day of school, which as far as a twelve-year-old is concerned is a euphemism for doomsday. A life sentence after a glorious summer of adventure. The students who were most unhappy with having to come back darted to the desks in the back of the room, as though willing themselves as far away as possible from the center of learning. Near the front were the outcasts: the loners, nerds, freaks, and a boy who was noticeably shorter than anyone else in the room, with short blond hair and bright eyes. He seemed less devastated to have to be back than some of the others and actually wore a slight smile, which vanished when he felt a stabbing pain in the back of his head. He turned around furiously and saw on the floor the sharp pen which had been used as the missile, and near the back of the room, the student who had thrown it. “Hey guys, why do you think little Austen Gimpner always sits at the front? Is it just so he can be as close to the teacher as possible, or is it that he can’t see over anyone’s head?”

“No one can see past your swelled head, Boris.” said Austen. This won a hearty laugh from the nerds. Last year, Austen had been the only one with the spunk to stand up to Boris and his cronies. They were glad to see that Austen hadn’t changed.

“All right, class, that’s enough,” said a gruff voice. Everyone stopped talking. The teacher had been in the room the whole time, hidden from view by his large swivel chair which he turned around to face the class. “I’m Mr. Atlas. Welcome to the fifth grade.” As Mr. Atlas dropped from his chair, there was an audible gasp. He was barely four feet tall. “Let’s not waste any time. Grab a science text book and turn to chapter one,” he said reaching as high as he could to write on the chalkboard. “Oh, Boris is it?” he asked. “Try to keep your comments on Austen’s height to yourself, can you?”

The Dragon of the West

Uncle Iroh is my favorite character on the Nickelodeon show Avatar. He is kind, wise, and possesses a wry wit. I've drawn him here in an anime style called "Mega D." I believe the Japanese call ridiculously small and cute characters "chibis." So this is "Chibi Iroh!"

The Bard

So I was thinking, why is it that the old artists never gave Shakepeare a smile? I'm sure the man who wrote As You Like It, A Midsimmer Night's Dream, and The Comedy of Errors didn't walk around looking glum all the time. . .

. . . So here is Shakespeare smiling! :)

The Keebler Elf, Heroic

I just beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the first time ever! Oh yeah!

Coach Rockjaw

This is the front for a t-shirt I designed for a Crhistian youth group. The back read "His Pain, Your Gain!"