[Tonus]

Yeah, but there will always be people who trash an opportunity for any old reason.  It's the ones who don't post a reply, but instead go ahead and audition, who get anywhere in the world.  Mimi's posts are attracting naysayers, but I bet that there are people who are grateful that she posted the notice and are acting on it (no pun intended!).

Some people are ambitious and recognize opportunities and accomplish things.  Other people hear opportunity knock at the door and complain that it's too much work to get up and answer it.  But as the saying goes, the world needs ditch diggers too. 🙂

[Tonus]

I assume that it'll be okay for me to keep dumping my work-safe drawings in here, to keep clutter to a minimum.

This was a mental image that came to me as I was at the drawing table, of a just-awakened amazon enjoying her first sip of coffee when something causes her to start.  I'm not sure what it is that caused the reaction, but I had to draw it.  Maybe the coffee was too hot?  Maybe she was listening to her voicemail and just found out that her mother is waiting for her at the airport… last night?  Maybe she just realized that the sugar that she'd poured into her coffee was ground jalapeno?  Your guess is as good as mine.

[Tonus]

Did you contribute to Radio Comixs? I remenber seeing that type of character in FURRLOUGH 🙂

I did the pencil artwork for a story that ran in issues 24 and 26 (back in 1993 or 1994).

They don't run superhero stories in FURRLOUGH, that is correct.  I would not be offering them a superhero story.  While the protagonist will be a tall and muscular character, she won't be wrecking buildings and juggling automobiles.  She'll be doing more straightforward adventure stuff, and hopefully looking downright fabulous the whole time!

In any event, it's a good thing FURRLOUGH isn't a color strip, I am just lost when it comes to coloring anything, as you'll see below.  First, the inked drawing (no shading, just linework) and then the color version…

More artwork to come soon (less fur, more human!), though I have a busy week and weekend ahead.

[Tonus]

Here is an earlier sketch.  The character looks very different, I changed the way she looks because this version looks a bit like a character that a friend of mine published many years ago (well, with about 175 fewer lbs of muscle) and I wanted to avoid any concern over copyrights.  This sketch was drawn in 2002.  Now, this isn't what I meant when I said I work slow! :-X

re: Stories… Due to some problems with my hands (RSI and arthritis, affecting the index/middle fingers on my right hand primarily) I am spending a lot less time on the computer (and the XBox) and that has provided me with lots of extra time to draw.  So I decided I would try to get published again, aiming for something like an anthology comic.  I was published in Radio Comix' FURRLOUGH many years ago, and it seems like a nice fit.  I won't be under a deadline if I provide completed stories, and since it's an anthology I am under no pressure to produce X number of pages on any sort of schedule but my own.

Of course, this assumes that they won't turn down a comic based around mild Lovecraftian horror themes with a muscular female protagonist!  But if that is the case, I will just post them on my website and no one comes out any poorer.

[Tonus]

"Why do you draw muscular females?"

I love drawing muscular human bodies.  I love the way the muscles of the body flow and intersect and work together, I've never grown tired of drawing muscular figures.  By the same token, I enjoy drawing the female form, for pretty much the same reasons.  The lines and shapes and general flow of the female physique are very attractive, and I never tire of trying to draw it.  Thus, drawing muscular females is… the Peanut Butter Cups of artwork for me, two things that I enjoy, combined into an even more enjoyable form.

And for me, drawing has almost always been strictly a hobby done for enjoyment.  Back in the early 90s I had strongly considered trying to make it in the comics business (and my skill at the time makes that a very unlikely possibility, even though I did get published two or three times), but an opportunity in IT opened up at my workplace and it was too good to pass up (computers being another of my great loves).  So these days I make a comfortable living while still being able to draw only what I want and only when I want it.  So even if no one else wanted to see my drawings of muscular females, I can draw them all day long without a care. 🙂

[Tonus]

Bear in mind that I've only followed the bodybuilding scene from the few magazines that I purchase for art reference…

I do not consider it a mental disorder, as much as I see it as the ambition to succeed that many people show in many different areas of life, but that we notice most clearly in sports.  For example, many baseball players will spend hours lifting weights, running sprints, fielding their position as a coach hits balls to them for hours, batting in a batting cage for hours (or throwing hundreds of pitches in simulated games), watching film of opposing players to discover weaknesses, and so on.  Anything that they can do to get even the slightest edge on an opponent, they will do it, to the point where it is obsessive.

Personally, I agree with those who prefer less sharply defined and striated muscles.  I find the shape and size of a person's musculature to be the most impressive sight, not the winding veins and striated lines that are usually accompanied by a drawn and tight look on the face.  In the case of seeing a female bodybuilder, I find a shapely leg or arm or torso to be very attractive when I can see the general shape and fullness of the muscles, even if there is not much definition and separation.

However, bodybuilding has developed (in my mind, at least) into a competition where you want to have the largest and fullest muscles along with the sharpest possible definition and separation.  Bulging veins are also considered a plus, it seems to me.  And when you combine that aesthetic with the desire to do whatever it takes to be better than the next person, people will go to unhealthy and dangerous lengths to reach that level.  I wish that bodybuilding contests were judged more on the general size and shape of muscles, so that someone who comes in cut to a razor sharp definition might actually be at a disadvantage over someone who dropped just enough fat to produce large and well rounded muscles without having to drain excessive water from their bodies.

[Author]

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