Its been a little over a year since @CynicalPink started the DCFAC so we wanted to put together a Then and Now post of the very first challenge. It gave some the opportunity to redo their first piece and see how far they have come in a year, for others it was their first time participating in the 1st challenge. Either way we wanted to show @CynicalPink how much you are appreciated and how wonderful you are for starting this club and running it through a pandemic, through life and work challenges and we all think YOU ARE AMAZING
When I was a kid I read comics, and spent numerous hours drawing and copying pictures from them. I generally did this on the floor of my bedroom on a moderately comfortable green carpet while listening to copious amounts for grunge music.
This was during the 90s when every character was dying and being replaced so I have a warm spot in my heart for all the extreme-makeover characters from that time period. I then stopped reading comics in high school in an attempt to ābe cool.ā
I was not cool.
Or was I?
I am mysterious. Or maybe Iām not.
Sometimes I go off on tangents.
Or maybe I donāt.
Anyway during what would be called my mid20s I stumbled back into comics and have been back since. I still like drawing the characters, but now instead of copying them I try making unique and funny situations for them. My favorite characters are some of the sillier, less serious, oddballs of the DC universe - Plastic Man, Heckler, Creeper, and Big Barda (sheās the best āstraight manā) are some of my faves.
I usually draw on an iPad, but keep a sketchbook in the bag I bring to work so that when technology collapses I can still doodle or make cutout snowflakes. I generally aim for a more cartoony-style over realistic.
When the club started I was not particularly active or confident enough to share with this community. But thats just silly as all of you are amazing and supportive! This last year has been particularly a struggle and it was great to have weekly and monthly challenges to help relieve stress and get outside my comfort zone. So thank you CP for starting this group and to all the amazing memebers for being part of it! Ok enough sap.
I used to draw all the time when I was a kid. I enjoyed watching cartoons and dreamed of one day becoming an animator at Disney in Florida. I loved my family trips there when I was a kid as you could look over the glass and see animators hard at work on the latest creations.
Well time passes, I find I cannot really do an art degree and an engineering degree at the same time, and I slow down drawing. Sure Iād draw on occasion to relax, but I have a lot of unfinished drawings to show for it.
Then along came the DCFAC. I figured Iād give it a try. I never expected an online community to be so supportive and encouraging. Suddenly I was filling up sketchbooks (reminds me I need to order more) and having fun with my newfound family. We have each otherās backs and I feel like I have a renewed interest in drawing. I cannot let my family down by missing a weekly or monthly assignment.
You have given me the confidence to share portraits with the Stargirl cast, enter drawings into the DC Fandome, and lastly submit my work to CBR to try to become a weekly Line It Is Drawn artist. Thanks to everyone and especially @CynicalPink for bringing me back.
Here is my original first entry a year ago for meet the artists:
Hi, Iām John. I wasnāt part of the group when it started, but joined late last year and have been participating all of 2021.
I started reading comics in the 80s and was mostly a Marvel guy. I started to buy DC Comics with Crisis on Infinite Earths and Alan Mooreās Swamp Thing. It was Frank Millerās Dark Knight Returns and John Byrneās Man of Steel that brought me all the way over and I started picking up more and more.
Iāve always had an interest in drawing and took a shot in the late 90s to be a penciller (several of my DC samples from the time Iāve posted here). My closest claim to fame was a fan art piece published in an issue of the 10th Muse from Image Comics. All during that time I had been working in Finance and when the 2000s hit I decided to focus on that career. I made a shift to more of a Finance/IT role over 20 years ago and things have worked out well.
I became interested in drawing again the last few years when I saw what was possible with digital. I started with a tablet, but wanted something a bit bigger. I bought a Huion Kamvas 20 inch drawing monitor and itās really been great. I love being able to erase as much as I want without destroying the paper. Iāve created everything Iāve done here using Krita and the Huion monitor.
Anyway, hereās a self portrait plus my face in a few DC masks. The Batman looks weird, but I think I make a good Flash.
1 year! So exciting! When I found this group it was after being totally inactive in the forums, I would just watch my DC shows and go about my day. I had no idea that there were clubs and such a thriving community filled with swell kind people. I also hadnāt realized that the DCFAC was new, I thought it had been going on for quite a while everything seemed so polished, fine tuned, and running flawlessly. Now I know thatās simply @CynicalPink being a flat out BOSS
Needless to say I never participated in the 1st Meet the Artist ( I was too excited to start participating in weeklys ) so Iām very glad for the opportunity to do so now thanks to @stefanie.m for organizing this, and of course @CynicalPink for continuing to be a marvelous leader
Okay so this may need a little backstoryā¦before I found the club, and in the early days of DCUniverse we has the glorious DC Daily. A show I made sure to watchā¦well, Daily! I loved it so much, it felt like a news/talk show directed right at me and actually gave me a lot of solid recommendations to find new DC content. The cast though was the key, they were hilarious and so fun. It was a joy to toon in and hang out with some comic buds for a bit and I miss it dearly . Anyway, during the Meta Madhouse event, the episodes shifted structure and weāre dedicated to debates on the daily challengers. Who would win and why. The discussions made me laugh so much, the cast members would come up with the silliest reasons why one character would win out over the other. And one of the cast members, my favorite, Whitney Moore, would have the best solution to any debate. One that was way too relatable to myself that I adopted it as my own solution to any character showdown. Instead of choosing option 1, or option 2ā¦Whitney would choose Secret Option 3ā¦THEY KISS! It was too funny and became a bit of a running gag. I think the sentiment describes my art pretty well and since itās a mentality I entered the DCFAC with {and one I still continue with of course } I wanted to make that the center of my Meet The Artist.
I join this club in September as the DC FanDome event reinvigorated my love for art. So I wanted to do more but didnāt have time during the day and couldnāt do it at night without waking anyone up so I found an app and started to draw using my phone. Was never a fan of digital but this has made me one. I still enjoy pencil and paper over it but I donāt hate using digital anymore. And as Iāve been drawing here my skill have improved and Iāve been amazed at a the great artists Iāve seen.
As for my comic genre fandom Iāve been one since I was a kid. My dad got me and my twin into it with movies like Batman & Robin and the classic Spideys or even the Hulk TV show. Grew up watching shows like Teen Titans or SuPer Hero Sqaud. Did get much in to the DCAU as they surf at weird times. (Did get into it with this service though) then the Fandom lead to game like LEGO Batman and Justice League Heroes. Game really push my fandom forward. Especially the Arkham games as those made Bats my #1 and move Martain Manhunter to 2. The one thing Marvel (which I like too) that usurps my DC fandom is Venom. Heās been my favorite since is was a kid.
When this service launched as DCUnivers is wasnāt really a comic reader. I got it for the shows. The I saw they community. Never down the online community thing so I wasnāt so chatter mostly just said Awesome which lead to the fun Awesomeā¢ joke . And DC Daily came didnāt think I was really going to watch it but gave it a shot when it first aired and it was amazing. The cast crew all so fun and expanding my world as DC fan. (I miss that show). But they did the Long Halloween read along and Iāve always heard of it being a good Bats story but didnāt really read and back when comcis were here for a limited time I wanted to read it with them and fast and since then I was hooked and read to this day.
The service became so much more than I thought it would even with the DCUI change. It still amazing and I met many awesomeā¢ people in this community and this club. Thanks for all being awesomeā¢.
As for some Fun Facts:
I am a twin
Tigers are my favorite animal
I have pets two dogs and guinea pig
Finishing my Junior year of college majoring in Wildlife Biology
Favorite DC characters
Batman
Martian Manhunter
Deathstroke
Atrocitus
Doomsday
Darksied
Dolphin
Orphan
Miss Martian
(And many moreā)
As for the art I did a gif of the Batman Arkham Games in a punching motion. Since DC games have been a big influence on my fandom.
@jdebottis.93473
That looks awesomeā¢
See thereās a reason why Bats like Grotesques.
@stefanie.m
These are awesomeā¢
Alway enjoy seeing pencil work.
@ImpulseMaxMercury
As I said in the last pm this is really awesomeā¢
Surprised they havenāt done a thing weāre time messed up and they became beebos.
Dude! Not what I was expecting! This is great!!! Was this super difficult to put together? Iām like the least computer savvy person The bat games are fantastic and though I havenāt played lego bman I am partial to the movie
I had a very long day work-wise, but now Iām grinning like an idiot and dabbing tissues at my eyes. I blame love all of you equally for this (though Iām giving an extra squint hug to stef). A largely absentee āleaderā like myself is hardly deserving of such amazing efforts, especially since itās the members who keep this group thriving. Iām gonna be back soon as I can to properly reply. In the meanwhile, sending lots of virtual hugs and fist bumps your way.
Thanks
Yeah iād say the most challenging part was getting the images to line up when drawing
The gif making ran smoothly since the site had step by step how to do it.
Side note: what Cici said the LEGO bats are definitely a fun game.
Iām not usually an active follower of any particular forum or group. That being said, I simply adore being a part of the DC Fan Art Club.
I am active sometimes, and there are times that work and life keeps me away, but I feel that I can always jump back into the fray.
Thanks to the challenges, I have reignited my love of drawing, and even expanded myself in ways that I have often contemplated but never realized until now.
Color?? No way, I couldnāt be any good at that.
Backgrounds?? Eew, I can barely finish the character!
Digital??? (ok, thatās my new frontier, still working on it)
I can honestly say that without this club and the motivation of not only the challenges, but also the other memberās very helpful input, I would still be doing b/w doodles on scrap paper on my breaksā¦
Thanks for a wonderful year, and hereās to many more!
CHEERS
My first weekly challenge: Super heroes when they were kids,
) so Iām very glad for the opportunity to do so now thanks to 
. Anyway, during the Meta Madhouse event, the episodes shifted structure and weāre dedicated to debates on the daily challengers. Who would win and why. The discussions made me laugh so much, the cast members would come up with the silliest reasons why one character would win out over the other. And one of the cast members, my favorite, Whitney Moore, would have the best solution to any debate. One that was way too relatable to myself that I adopted it as my own solution to any character showdown. Instead of choosing option 1, or option 2ā¦Whitney would choose Secret Option 3ā¦THEY KISS! 
It was too funny and became a bit of a running gag. I think the sentiment describes my art pretty well and since itās a mentality I entered the DCFAC with {and one I still continue with of course 
} I wanted to make that the center of my Meet The Artist. 
joke 
. Good ole secret option number 3.
The bat games are fantastic and though I havenāt played lego bman I am partial to the movie 
