Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Dain's Gallery of Legion fan art.

Cute,cute,and cute (and it's kind of funny how your LuLu Bouncing Boy looks pretty much like regular Bouncing Boy).

This is kewl! Funny how it works so well together!

Thanks, guys! Chuck does look like Tubby, doesn't he? I guess it's because a "human living ball" can't be depicted realistically. Only as an exaggerated cartoon.

I'm very fond of Little Lulu. Marge, John Stanley and Irving Tripp were geniouses in - mostly humorous - comic book storytelling.
Little Lulu was one of the first American Comics to be translated in Greek in 1951 or 1952. My mother read Little Lulu and she saved her copies.
Then she read them to me in the early 60s and Lulu was my first introduction to comics, *because* of my mother, a fact I kept reminding her, after I started collecting comics and she went "The entire house is full of comics! This is not a room, it's a pigsty. I slave all day...bla..bla..bla".

This is my latest "what if".
What if Dori Aandraison (Rainbow Girl) had applied for membership in the Legion 10-12 years later, during the 2970s and was drawn Cockum/Grell-style.



Dori may have been rejected by the Legion but it's quite possible she went on to become the most famous color/aura therapist of the 30th century. Well, I think she'd be happy with it!

Very nice and very Cockrum/Grell!

Thank you Sketchy! I seem to like skimpy costumes, but I don't see them as skimpy really. Just...futuristic, I guess. And colorful. That's how Grell and Cockrum's seemed to me. Sexy, to be sure, but not tastelessly sexy.

I think the anatomy is better in this one. Now if I could only learn how to draw hands without them looking gnarled, I'd be a happy man.

Fiddling around in Jasc Animation Shop. Something else else fast and whimsical.

I really like your costume designs as "my" legion was the Cockrum/Grell everybody wore as little as possible S/LSH legion. Not because that's when I'm from but because when I got into the legion they didn't really have a book and I bought close to a complete run of those issues for 25 to 33 cents each. Also, I am interested to know if you have heard of the Scott McCloud "Little LuLu Game?

Oh! Thank you so much for your feedback Yury Naal!!

Feedback is more than welcome always as I can't really judge my designs and "artwork" (except that they have pretty colors).

I haven't heard of the "Little Lulu Game". Could you tell me more, please? I love Little Lulu and Scott McCloud's books are among my favorites, especially Understanding Comics.

Here's a page from a project I'm working on currently for the Magic and Fantasy Gallery. It's an illustrated story combining the Legion and a Japanese fairytale/folklore story about the Yuki-Onna (Snow Woman).
I've had a lot of help with the Japanese phrases from some friends.
This page is just a "teaser" of sorts, the 3d page from a total of 11 or 12. I'm working on the 5th page now.
I'd really like some feedback as it's the most complex Legion fan work I've ever started and hope I'll finish it soon. It's great fun anyway.



The phrases in Japanese and the Japanese words in Latin letters mean:

Top left: Su-Pa Eiyuu Gundan = "Legion" of Super-Heroes

Top middle: Shiroi Majo = White Witch

Top right: Buroku to yuki onna no Misa-sama no monogatari = The Story of Buroku and Lady Mysa, the yuki-onna.

Mukashi-mukashi = Time past, time past = Once upon a time

Juraiju = Dryad (Japanese pronunciation)

Buroku = Blok (Japanese pronunciation)

Rejioneru = Legionnaire(s) (Japanese pronunciation)

Su-Pa Eiyuu Gundan = "Legion" of Super-Heroes.

This is good stuff, Dain. The Little Lulu parodies are hilarious. And the rest, including the above, are gorgeous.

I'm really grateful for your comment, He Who Wanders (I'm grateful for Yury Naal's comment, as well)! Thank you!

I was beginning to feel it was kind of pointless to post anything. It takes a lot of hard work for me to do complicated stuff like the Yuki-onna story. Whiny me, I guess...

I LOVELOVELOVE this!

Ooh, I love your White Witch. Great, great stuff Dain. You have some serious talent.

Thank you both, lil'rhino and Caliente.

Caliente, which White Witch are you referring too?

Oh, it's not talent. It's more like enthusiasm and love for the Legion and costume design. OK, and hard, but chaotic, work.

The most recent but I did like the redheaded original, too.

Heheheh, after making so many skimpy costumes I guess it was high time to make a Legionnaire dressed in a kimono!

Hmmm, I'm working on a page now that features "Yume no Onna" (Dream Girl/Woman) also dressed in a Chinese princess costume/Japanese kimono. Or will it be "undressed" in a kimono in Nura's case?

Wow, that Japanese White Witch is stunning, Dain. And I can't wait to see your Chinese Dream Girl. Great stuff.

Dain,
I'm on a break at work, and away from my own projects, so I found a moment to respond to your request for feedback.

First of all, I'm totally excited to see your complete project. It sounds really interesting.

That picture of Mysa, serving as the frame to your writing, is just beautiful. She looks mysterious and mystical. Great composition. The colors are cold and brisk, which I'm sure you intended. Then, you have her bright red features creating a spotlight. I think it's very successful, overall, and my following critiques are definitely minor finesse points...

The text seems to be getting dangerously close to the bottom of the page. I'd experiment with raising the entire body of copy a line or two, and see what fits best. Try creating margins that you never break, for the sake of consistency, of format.

Are you able to manipulate that Asian writing? It might look nice if it was less digital looking. Maybe blurred a tad? Also, could it be just a smidge larger?

As for Mysa, your style and proportions look great to me. Her expression is great. One thing that I notice is that it's a really sharp line, where her waist band begins. It almost looks like she's standing behind something. Maybe if that line was rounded or softened it would look less jarring.

The snow flakes look pretty digital. It'd be nice if they were softer, more natural looking.

I don't know how you generate your original linework, but my advice is to play with line-weights. For example, if the lines that create her nose had a more organic, softer look, that'd be nice. Her hair is lovely, but also looks like it is floating out from underneath a helmet. Could you even accent this with individual wisps of hair? There's almost a "tentacle" look now.

Actually, could you talk about your process a little bit? Is this 100% digital or do you scan in linework and manipulate it?

I hope you know my comments are only there to be helpful. I don't think I know everything there is to know about creating art. I have plenty to work on with my own art. I'm just glad you're posting this stuff. It's great fun!

Thank you both, guys.

Sketchy, I'm really happy that you took the time to respond. I know how busy you are and I'm grateful that you are always so supportive to what I do. I really appreciate it!!!

I'll keep in mind everything you suggested and will try to apply it. The line on her chest annoyed me too. It was a weird effect of many "layers" in the image.
I can change the English letters of course, and I can make the Japanese characters bigger and softer/more blurry but can't change the font. They are images, not letters.
My friends who speak Japanese wrote all that text for me and then I made screen caps and applied them in the main image. My Japanese is way too poor yet to even think of trying to sort through thousands of Kanji.

My cartoon sketches are all pencil and the color.
When I do more "realistic" work the process is:
I first make several little sketches trying to get a "mental image" of what the composition will be. I sometimes use reference photos (look and sketch, not trace).
Then I sketch the main image in pencil, without many details, scan it and go from there.
I can't ink for the life of me, so I use vectors and the Photoshop pen tool for lines on the scanned image.

That Japanese White Witch is wonderful! I hope you're doing a series with other legionnaires in that style.

And Little Lululu & Tubby is funny - I missed the three Lus the first time I read the title. Perfect!

Thank you, Fat Cramer.
Yes, Dream Girl, Saturn Girl (NOT in a kimono), Lightning Lad, Blok and Cosmic Boy will be shown in Japanese or Chinese-style costumes and characteristics.
I'm searching costuming web sites and books I have for the right styles. Even though there will be fantasy elements in all characters, I'll try to make their Japanese versions as "authentic"-looking as possible.

I especially liked the Nura-Atmos-Thom drawing on the first page. And the Lululu/Hubby one. Genius!

Glad you liked them, Invisible Brainiac. I'll make another "funny Legion" piece some time soon.

I like!

thanks for sharing!