Pretty Peppers

More Stephers...

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:42:24 GMT

It's a sketch I drew sometime ago (like before Robin ended and BftC started...) Anatomy is still a little whack...(but now I know better for when or if I color it!) I think this is the first time I actually drew out the Robin costume...lol.

This was actually the start of a fancomic where Steph follows Robin's orders and doesn't put on the Spoiler costume but throws on her old Robin costume to go help Batgirl and Robin who are in need of assistance. When the smoke clears, this is the sight that greets Batgirl and Robin's eyes...heh heh. XD

Bummer I have tons of work to do at home now that my mom's got a broken ankle...cuz I really wanted to finish this comic! Even Jason Todd shows up! Oh well, I may or may not post what I did get done on it...in the meantime, enjoy! ^^

Song of the Nightingale

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:33:59 GMT

So here I am, disatisfied with Steph's latest treatment in Robin comics, right ? I mean, cool for Fabian Nicieza and his explanation, but man does it still make Tim look like a dork. Love ya Tim, but zzzt! please don't turn into Batman. As for Jason, well, at least you tried. I think you stunned him silly with that escape plan. Oh, but it was all Batman's idea? *sighs* Here's hoping he doesn't kick your ass too hard in Battle for the Cowl. 9_9

lol, Anyways, I've been drawing Steph a lot as a result. Been in a Steph drawing mood. Her story does intrigue me. I see all these little story possibilities that may be taken up Gotham Gazette, but hrm...not holding my breath on that account.

I think it's time for Spoiler to grow up! Namely, she needs a new name, something that doesn't tie her with her father's name "cluemaster." She needs to grow beyond that. I recall reading a drabble a long time ago. It was beautiful and very inspiring. Story goes that Steph returns from Africa after learning from Dr. Leslie and ends up working like a nurse of sorts in Gotham City's poorest areas. She finds contentment there and fights some crime on the side, eventually picking up the name "Nightingale" in honor of Florence Nightingale and the bird that sings at night. Anyone know which one I'm talking about? Let me know, cuz I can't find it anymore. I thought it was fitting!

She was once Robin, and can't go back to that, so why not take up her own avian name? Furthermore, Florence Nightingale was known as the Lady with the Lamp who nursed and brought comfort to wounded soldiers. In this upcoming Battle for the Cowl, she could be the one beacon of light among the darkness left in the wake of Batman's disappearance since she has yet to become a dark depressed character herself.. Robin himself seems lost to the darkness, so why not let there be another beacon of light. A lady with the lamp. A bird whose known for singing beautifully at night. That would be fitting new name for Stephanie.

Hey, Dick Grayson's Robin came from Robin Hood and later from the bird Robin, so why not let Steph have two sources of inspiration, one of them from a real heroine and the other Avian?

That said, I was playing around on Open Canvas trying to come up with a costume that could be a mix between the Spoiler outfit and the Robin outfit but also find inspiration in nightingale, be it the nurse or the bird.
Don't forget to click on each pic!

Here's a simple lineart. I wanted to keep her hood cuz it's just too cool and it's so very her. I made the cape split in two to give it a wing-like appearance. But unlike Robin's scalloped cape, her's is smooth and almost dove-like. I semi-incorporated her girl Robin vest, making it almost like a skirt or just a long shirt but tried to not keep it busy since I took off two buckles and made the top one thinner. I debated on keeping her Pirate style knee high boots but decided she should look sleeker now. Her belt is a variation of current Robin's belt with utility pockets. I imagine Steph would have use of it anyways. Instead of her usual Spoiler mask, I gave her the Robin domino mask. Like Robin she has to present a friendlier face.

Tada! Coloring was widely inspired by Deane Tripp's Spoiler purple/lavender costume, at least from what my memory gathered. But being that this is Gotham, Steph can't go sneaking around dressed in white. So I started with her signature purple and kept the nightingale's white under the cape and mostly on her vest/shirt. Then I decided to go with black to make it even more like Robin's. Problem with this of course is that it reminds me a bit of Huntress's outfit. Not my intention. May have to work on that. Third version was me trying the look with black knee high boots and purple pants. Not sure which I like best.

Now, for fun I decided to add some RED.

First one was to look the most like a nightingale...white chest, red tipped wings and tail feathers. Kinda different, but hm...not sure. The middle one makes me think of Red Robin without the R and gold buckles. I also gave her a gold colored utility belt like Robin. The other one breaks up the red and is more Robin like. Though, now that I think about it, it kinda reminds me of Damian...lol. Not my intention either I assure you. lol, maybe Damian should pick up the name instead of Robin. XD;;

anyhow. Just a few ideas tossed out here. Who knows what Fabian Nicieza has in mind for Stephanie at the end of Gotham Gazette. Only time will tell. In the meantime I had fun with this. Yay for fanart and fanfics. :)

Tell me which one like you best? ^^ Any suggestions and ideas are welcome too. :)

P.S. all were drawn and colored on Open Canvas, so sorry for less than stellar coloring job. ^^; oh yeah and the funky anatomy. ^^;

EDIT: Omigod! I am totally remembering that story wrong! Funny how memory works that way...Anyhoo, the story that inspired this is Actions Which Bring Results. An AU by amarin_rose . I HIGHLY recommend it! Great story guys! :D

A little Ice to warm you up!

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:25:38 GMT

Miss Ice by ~jbramx2 on deviant ART

I figured it was time for some color and since winter is almost ending over here, I'd share Ice with you. Originally done as request, I ended up adding a background and editing it a lot more later. Eh, it was different from my usual. The anatomy still needs a lot of work, but I did end up fixing some of it. lol, oh well I learn as I go. :) I had fun coloring her outfit actually. Her hair gave me more trouble than usual, but it was good practice. There's just something fun about coloring white hair. That iceberg was a nightmare. Or at least the lower end was. ^^; I'm just glad I was able to finish a colored piece here. :)

Hope you enjoy! :)

'Got Bats in the Belfry!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:07:29 GMT

Just another one of my earlier sketches of the Bat family. I had originally intended to draw Bruce in there, but never got around to it. I like this better.

If you can't tell, Going clockwise, Jason Todd (Red Hood), Tim Drake (robin), Cassandra Cain (batgirl), and Dick Grayson (Nightwing).

Jason Todd, what can I say about him? I wanted him to appear to be right between the ages of Nightwing and Tim, since he is. For some reason he turned out looking a lot like Dick. I usually like him to look like a nice mix of boyish and rough-edged. Not pretty like Dick or polished like Tim. I think this is the prettiest I've drawn Jason and possibly youngest too. I gave him short but messy almost curly hair. When I think of coloring Jason, I think his eyes should be a very very pale icy-teal blue, framed by dark brows and lashes and of course shadows under his eyes for even more contrast. Kinda gives him a wild-eyed to icy-eyed look. While eyes like that can be pretty, I've always found them somewhat intimidating, especially when they're directed at you and that's what I picture for Jason. He should have scary eyes that even when he's not trying to, his eyes can still be unsettling.

In this picture I kinda failed at that. ^^; This is probably the friendliest unguarded Jason Todd I've ever drawn, but hey, least I kept his eyes pale.

Tim Drake came out quickly when I drew this one. I just wanted normal younger guy, possibly on the slim/scrawny side. So I gave him a narrow face with narrowish/pointy features. Artists can't seem to make up their mind about him, but for a long time he was always drawing with short hair to spiky short hair. It's not until 2008 (or Freddie Williams III) that he's been drawn with longer hair. *scratching head* Not sure I like it. Feels kinda...emo/feminine to me. XD lol. Dick Grayson with long hair is perfectly fine, he's got the romantic charming personality to carry it. Tim...yeah, dunno. XD;; He's always been nerdy, cynical, smartypants boy to me. He's always seem like a no fuss kinda guy, so short hair on him makes sense. Oh well, guess it's another way that Tim has changed in the past couple of years. X3

At any rate, this is my Tim from over a year ago or at least how I pictured he'd be had not all that angst hit him. He's young so I draw thinner eyebrows, smoother lines, rounder eyes, and longer lashes. I draw him pretty, but more because of his youth than his personality. I gave him thinner lips than the other guys and clear shiny eyes to note his attentiveness. In other pictures I'll give him droopy almost sleepy eyes, if also to give him a sorta bored/jaded look, which he sometimes is for his age. (the kid can be quite a cynic).

Cass Cain is fun to draw. She's half-white, half-asian. So I give her wider eyes than I normally would for an Asian character. In her comic, she sometimes came off looking more South-east Asian than she did Chinese (which I'm guessing is Shiva's background). So I give her dark thick eyebrows (like in her comic), with thick poofy dark hair and a small but full pout. Her nose is never pointy or arched up like caucasian characters. Her eyes are always dark. Though because DC declared her to have green eyes, I usually just shade them in as opposed to making them solid dark [black] color so you can still see her pupils. I still color them brown though (or light brown).
I like how she came out in this picture.

I believe I drew Dick Grayson first. This was obvioulsy drawn back when he had longish hair in just about every appearance. I noticed 2008 was the year that artists started drawing him with short hair. Be it TItans, Teen Titans, Outsiders, other bat books, hell, even in in his own Nightwing comic, his hair was slightly short. (It's like Tim and him switched hairstyles) I didn't think much of it until Tony Daniel draw him with longish hair for the summer Batman RIP event (ya know, right before he gets drugged and put into Arkham by the villains?). When I saw the first drawing of Nightwing in Tony's blog, I was momentarily stunned.

Wow! Had it been that long since Nightwing looked soo....PRETTY?

Yeah, guess so. Tony sure draws a pretty Nightwing...no offense to Rag Morales who also draws a handsome Nightwing, but Tony's is very pretty, almost Jim Lee pretty. XD;

ANYWAYS, wanted Nightwing to look oldest, but still somewhat rather beautiful (not easy). Can't help it, guy's a charmer and loved by all. My anime senses tell me he should be the cheerful but very bishi young man. That said, I like to draw him like a charmer, or at the least with warm eyes. So I tend to give him darker eyes with more depth to them. Longer hair on him makes it easy to make him seem pretty, since drawing older guy features on him aren't always "beautiful."

Eh, really gotta find the time to scan my other pictures. But here's this one I've had lying around in my computer for over a year. It's purple cuz it was drawn on Open Canvas. I thought to ink it, but I doubt I'll have the time. I'd rather just scan the other pictures first.

Anyhoo, sorry for long description! Hope ya enjoy! ^^

Damian Sketches Part 2

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:46:13 GMT

Original Size here...

These were drawn in the span of a year in MangaStudio. Hence why they're kinda pixely at parts. Wanted to draw a cute but sorta menacing boy in the first pic coupled with a sad profile. Then of course a grieved one followed a happy one wearing a domino mask. I didn't realize that domino masks were so hard to draw. O_o Took me a while to get it right.

To the right of it is a pretty Damian, looking upword. I was still working on my noses here. Still sorta anime, but hopefully not as much. ^^;

The ones below those were done in my attempts to make him look just slightly older. Took away a bit of his baby fat in some of them..

The last ones to be done were the bottom three, with the yelling one done this week actually. Overall, it's fun drawing Damian, definitely makes good practice drawing childish features on a not so pure character, keeps it interesting that's for sure.

Damian Wayne sketches part 1

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:05:04 GMT

So starts my collection of the Bat Family boys sketches.

My apologies for the wide image! Couldn't make it work the other way around for some reason...Anyhoo...

I started these sketches last year, starting from left-hand side to the right. Damian kept getting younger the more I drew him for some reason. I had fun with his cynical, aloof expressions since he's such a little brat. But at the same time, had to humanize him to keep him from getting on my nerves too much. Little stories will pop up in my head and I had to draw him to illustrate his reaction.

First one he's just being deadpan and making some "Well, clearly..." comment. My style was still very anime-ish here.

Second one was drawn on the same piece of paper too. A strange expression that was inspired by Hiro from Fruits Basket manga. (for those that don't know, Hiro is a super sarcastic cynical bratty kid that drives everyone up the wall with his painfully nitpicking logical comments). There's a scene when he's trying to be nice to the ditzy main character Tohru and he has to resist giving a mean retort to ditzy Tohru's comment about a beetle and ends up just looking to the side saying, "oh, that's...that's really nice. yes." Same idea, here Damian's just looking to the side and mumbling something underneath his breath, while trying but failing to give a smile.

Third one was drawn much much later. I was working again on realism and got pretty closer. His hair is a pain to draw. But I like drawing his eyes. I figure he's got very sharp looking eyes for a kid, courtesy of his mother (and father). So I kinda give them an Asian shape to denote his mother's asian ancestry. But gave him a serious alert sharp expression that in a crowd of kids, should tell you he's Batman's kid.

Bottom pics were drawn together on another piece of paper after the first two pics. I was still struggling to draw young kids, and he came out like a preteen-teen here. Very anime-ish. I know see where I could've made it less anime though. First bottom one, just practicing my sad profiles as seen from a little above the character. Tried to give him a strong profile for a preteen, since this kid will need a strong jaw in order to pass off as Batman when he grows up.
Not much to say about the next one, typical surprised look. Following that one is typical bored look. A little nicer than his deadpan look.

Last one was also drawn much much later than the other ones. Finally getting the hang of drawing young kids that look a bit more realistic. It's mostly his look of distrust but with a slight pout. Someone's giving him an excuse that's not satisfying him. Don't like his hair here though...That hairstyle is just imposible! ANd yet, I can see him sporting it for years to come.

Until he shaves it in time for Morrison's Batman #666 story...*shudders* ah man, I think I'll take Kingdom Come Ibn's long hair look any day please. Damian would probably agree.

Love Triangle fanart

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:10:48 GMT

Hm, knew it. Came out too dark.
Here's the actual picture.

If you can't tell, tis Selena Kyle, Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne. Was drawn on Oekaki board, inked on Manga Studio, and colored on photoshop.

Requested by michealdark. And no I can't do any more requests. ^^; Working on my other pictures and on collecting all my sketches. But anyhoo, will have more up later on. Enjoy!

Meant to Live, Part 3/4

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:06:26 GMT

Sorry sorry! It's been months since I last posted. I got distracted by fanarts... You probably forgot this one existed. I'm still not too happy with it. Wish I had a beta reader... Anyhoo, here's part one and part two. Again, please pardon my extremely novice writing. ^^; Fight scenes are impossible. (I'm much too influenced by anime...and it shows here.) Anyhoo, second to last bit. Almost done now. ^^

Title: Meant to Live (3/4)
Author:peppers_pray
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Damian Wayne, League of Assassins with mentions of Talia, Ras al Ghul, Nyssa, Batman, Cassandra Cain
Disclaimer: Not mine
Authors Notes: This was actually written before the Resurrection of Ras al Ghul crossover event started and before it was revealed that Cass would be working on the Outsiders with Batman, so of course, things happen differently here. :) Cass's previous situation in this story was actually inspired by greeneyelove's True Fate. Maybe someday I'll write the story of HOW Cass escaped her prison.
Summary: The League of Assassins is after Damian for his body.
Warning: A lot more violence, blood, child abuse? Yeah, just a lot more fighting and violence.

Dreaming about Providence

And whether mice or men have second tries

Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open

Maybe we're bent and broken, broken

Damian shook his stunned head and found himself behind a steel piece of broken wall. A squad of armed assassins lined up near the entrance of the room. He gasped as he looked above. Cass somersaulted through the air, clothes ripped around the edges, streams of blood flowing behind her like red silk ribbons.

Amazing...

"Yaaaaaargh!" Cass swept through the line of assassins like the blade in her hand, cutting guns and rifles in half as she simultaneously knocked them all to the ground. The last one only managed to choke a response of horror before Cass struck him in the throat with her palm. He too crumbled to the ground. Cass's breath was heavy as she stood for a moment. She finally turned around to face Damian.

"You okay?" her whispered voice came through. Damian looked at her in horror. She was riddled with blood, a gash in her throat as well, explaining her quiet voice. She smiled uneasily. "It's okay. The bullet...only grazed me here. I'm wearing some body armor."

Some body armor? Then why was she bleeding all over?! Damian suddenly realized she was trying to calm him down by lying.

So the rumors were true, she was a terrible liar.

If Damian wasn't so horrified with a lump stuck in his throat, he'd laugh at her. For now, he could only settle for choking sounds.

Cass smiled sheepishly at the frightened boy and begun walking towards him when she suddenly cried out in alarm. Damian gasped as she fell to the floor. Behind her, one of the fallen henchman raised a bloody dagger above Cass's legs.

"Traitorous bitch, you will regret letting us live." The large bulky man had been left immobile from the waist down but had managed to slice through Cass's heel when she walked past him.

"I'll kill you, In the name of Ra's al Ghul!" He bellowed as he plunged his dagger down upon Cass's fallen body.

He never saw Cass twist her body and knock his head back with her good leg.

"Shut up." Cass grounded out. She gasped and fell to her back. The large man groaned momentarily stunned as he began to raise himself upright again.

"No!" Damian scrambled out of his protective wall and ran towards her. "Leave her alone!" He swiped a knife off of another fallen assassin and ran to stab the large man.

From the ground, Cass threw her arm up and caught Damian's knife with her hand. Within the same beat, Cass flicked her impaled hand back and pulled Damian down with her. A large dagger sliced through the air inches above them before imbedding itself into the large man. Two groans of pain rang out as the large man finally fell.

Damian lifted his head up to discover a black garbed man leaning against a large piece of fallen concrete, Damian's knife pinning him down by the arm.

Cass coughed beneath Damian and he quickly scrambled to get off of her. Crimson blood stained his hands and once white clothing.

There was so much blood! She shouldn't have been moving after she was shot at!

But she did, and for what?

"Damian, run. Run now..." Cass whispered.

A chuckle rumbled from behind them.

Damian jump to his feet and found the once pinned black garbed man tossing Damian’s knife away. The boy suddenly recognized him as one of his former teachers, an exceedingly bloodthirsty one.

A sword. Damian desperately wanted a sword. It made things easier for his small stature. Without one, he’d have to rely on his agility to keep this man at bay. But first, he had to keep the man away from Cassandra.

It didn’t occur to him that the best solution for him and one he may have normally taken would have been to high-tail it out of there.

Cass’s body trembled as she reached for Damian, shaking her head.

”Damian, don’t. Don’t fight him. Run, now.” She pleaded and gripped onto the edge of his cloak.

Damian pulled his cloak and walked beyond her reach. A determined look crossed his face.

“The blood loss must have you confused, One who is All.” The black garbed assassin sneered the name as he sauntered towards them, “You can’t protect him. You simply shouldn’t. This boy is no regular boy. He is a soulless creature, grown in an artificial glass womb for the sole purpose of continuing Ras al Ghul’s legacy.” The man stopped. “I’m afraid you simply wasted time trying to separate him from his final destiny...”

"...to become Ras Al Ghul's Vessel!" The black-garbed assassin rushed forward to strike, but Damian flipped to the side away from Cass, hoping the man would follow him.

“Well, this soulless creature has only one thing to say to Ras al Ghul...ROT IN HELL!”

Damian snapped back as the man followed close behind him.

The young boy dropped to the ground and twisted his body to kick the assassin’s ankle, intending to swipe him off his feet, but the assassin simply skipped and kicked Damian in the jaw.

“Such disrespect! But it's to be expected. For you student...have not finished your training!” The assassin kicked a dazed Damian in the stomach sending him flying into a fallen piece of concrete wall. The boy grunted in pain upon impact and slid down the wall.

His trainer was suddenly chuckling above him. Damian gasped and scrambled away.

“Foolish little pawn.” The assassin cooed. Damian made to climb over another wall of concrete, when he was violently yanked from behind. He crashed down upon the rubble, sending dust clouds scattering.

The assassin shook his head above him. “I’m not above shedding some of your blood, little pawn.. The Lazarus pit will take care of any fatal wounds I inflict upon you. All we require is your body to serve as his lordship’s vessel.” The assassin sniffed. “Vacant of a mind or not, it matters not to us. His lordship’s soul will occupy it in the end.”

Damian failed to move fast enough as the assassin round kicked him in the stomach once more, sending him flying a few feet away again.

“I’m almost disappointed. I could have sworn I taught you better than this. Well, no matter...His lordship will no doubt do better with this body.”

The boy choked as bile and blood rushed up to his mouth. The assassin followed him as Damian mindlessly struggled to his feet. He had to move, he had to keep moving! He bumped into another wall of fallen concrete.

“He certainly had more discipline and intelligence than you. It’s no wonder your mother chose him over you. Children are a nuisance and for his lordship, entirely unnecessary.” The man’s heavy footsteps stopped next to him.

Damian closed his eyes tightly as he waited for the man’s final kick.

Unnecessary? Is that why no one could love me...?

Damian's body shuddered at a cold conclusion. The man was going to kill him and no one would care.

A cry of agony ripped through the room.

“Shut. Up.” Cass’s icy hiss was almost lost in the loud pained whimpering of the assassin.

Damian blinked wide eyes as he finally looked up. His vision swam but he could have sworn he had heard the breaking of bones.

Somehow, Cass had managed to come up behind the assassin and dig her fingers into his eye sockets and throat. The man’s body was leaning back on her, her leg having knocked his feet out from under him. His arms hung uselessly at his side at awkward angles.

The man began to gurgle some blood and with a grunt Cass tossed him to the side in disgust.

Her head hung as she gasped for air. Her bloody fingers trembled from the strain before her body finally collapsed near Damian.

Damian was completely stunned. A slight shiver ran up his spine as he took in her complete physical condition.

Where had she gotten the strength and speed to do all that damage to his assailant?

It was unnatural.

Cass’s breathing was strained as she lay on her stomach. She was in pain, Damian could figure as much. The wounds that were inflicted on her in the prison, the loss of blood, and the wounds she acquired in this battle were all finally taking its toll.

She was going to die. She had saved him and she was going to die.

To be continued...

Final Cass Cain/Batgirl sketches.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:26:58 GMT

Original Image here.

Yay! Finally the last batch of Cass pictures...at least for a while. (has a few more but they're pretty messy sketches). Finally got to draw her with more detailed batgirl suit.

These were some of the last ones I drew. Hm, what to say abou the top left-hand side one? I wanted a clean simple, more realistic image of her and this was it. I think she looks Asian. If I draw her with long hair, this is pretty much the way she'll look. I figure this is mature Cass Cain. Gave up on drawing her eyebrows thick. Eh, she's a big girl now, she's slightly more polished now.

The top right-hand side is my finalized version of her with short hair. She looks older than a teenager, right? Less Asian tho... This is her after she joins the Outsiders. Yes, I know I forgot the scars. 9_9 Don't know why Dixon bothered to bring the scars back, I figured lazarus pit would've gotten rid of them. O_o; Hey! it restored Black Canary's ability to have kids and her canary cry, didn't it? Gave Jason Todd back his memories/mind...so why not restore skin completely? Yeah I'm pulling at straws here. It just seemed wierd for her to suddenly get tons of line scars when near the end of her series she just had several bullet scars. Wait...come to think of it, 'kinda makes sense. Perhaps the lazarus pit did heal her of scars, but then, because she was under Slade's drugs, she was a very clutzy fighter. So if she had to fight her way to leadership in the League of Assassins, she probably gained a lot of battle scars on the way.

Okay mystery solved! Eh, still it's a hassle to draw scars. Later perhaps. :)

Bottom images are just unmasked Batgirl. Left-hand one was me still getting used to drawing short hair and doing some messy cross-hatching on her batsuit. I like her face though...Bottom right-hand one is from a strange angle. I'm not sure I like her face. Gave her longer hair, but less layered. Mostly wanted to draw her gloves and loose mask here. Her neck came out weird for some reason though...O.o

Oh well, hope you guys liked this roll of Cass Cain pictures. At this point, (10 months later...) I think I finally got the hang of drawing Cass, or at least a Cass that I'm comfortable with. XD;

Next up...the boys of Gotham.

And yet, some more Cass Cain sketches...

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:53:14 GMT

The original image is here.

These aren't my best, well most of these here aren't my best. These were drawn at different times in the past eight months while at work. Again, all drawn on white notepad paper with a black ball point pen. (work was slow...) I think the earliest was the bottom right-hand side. (please forgive the bad anatomy/pose!) I scanned this one back in December when my scanner was on the fritz, but I'm not sure if it scanned right. Just wanted to draw cute simple cass.

This collection was mostly the most expressive of my Cass Cain that I could get.

Top left-hand side doesn't really look like Cass. She doesn't even look Asian, but I assure you, it was meant to be her. Well an older post Drugged-up Cass. Her hair is short like it was in her second appearance in the Outsiders comic.

Top right-hand side was drawn when I thought her hair was going to remain long. Just a surprised Cass.

Center pics were just fun to draw. I can't remember if drew her with closed eyes cuz she's napping/leaning on something, or just looking smug. I don't know. I mostly wanted to practice drawing her with short hair. Again, sorry for the bad anatomy. She almost looks chibi-fied here.
The center right-hand pic was inspired by a fanfic I've yet to post here, featuring Jason Todd. Yes, she's giving him that look after he says something stupid. Again, practicing expressions on Cass. XD

My favorite is the bottom left-hand one though. It's inspired by my fanfic, "Meant to Live" which was written before Resurrection of Ras al Ghul crossover event was published. Considering that story would heavily involve the League of Assassins, I was disappointed to see the writers ignore Cass Cain, considering her previous involvement with the league. I had hoped she would pop up, possibly play the wild card in the storyline, since at the time, Cass had been absent from comics for several months and no one knew where her allegiance lay. NOPE, good grief, so much story potential wasted. Jason Todd didn't make an appearance cuz he was out world-hopping in Countdown. 9_9 Even he has ties to the league. Yeesh.

At any rate, this is Cass showing up like a ghost and revealing herself at the fight that disrupts the whole LoA resurrection ceremony. (I swear, I'll finish editing that last part of the fanfic...).

Anyhoo, coming soon at a monitor near you...the boys! XD

More Cass Cain sketches...

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:20:51 GMT

Original Image is right here.

This one is made up of later sketches than the first ones I posted. These were done when I thought Cass still had long hair. For those that don't know, in comics her hair was mostly short or shoulder length. When she got drugged/brainwashed she wore her hair long. So I figured that if she ever showed up again (after Teen Titans East) she'd keep her hair long. But she didn't. She got a short pixie cut in Outsiders. (Though her miniseries has her with longish hair again...ugh beechen.)

I believe the top left-hand side was done last, it's about as realistic as I got with her before I did the bottom left-hand side one of the last sketch collection. She looks a lot older than I had intended though. But I like her stern expression.

Second one, top right-hand side, features her looking very youthful and her hair is way too polished. Still I like the openess of her face. But her eyes are still too big.

Center pictures were done a lot earlier, so they look even more anime-ish. Left-hand one has her with clear eyes, which was me just experimenting. I know DC gave her green eyes at the end, but nope, not sure she looks asian enough here. She's a brown eyed-girl dangit! Right-hand one makes her look older for some reason, and I guess if I tilt my head a little she could look asian...but yeah, not really. I'm not sure if she looks Asian on any of these sketches, now that I think about it. ^_^;

Bottom pictures were done later. Left-hand side was her wearing her batgirl costume but I forgot to draw in the bat signia. Bummer. I like this one best though. This one feels like Cass to me. Right-hand side pic was just me doing expressions on her. Eyes are too big again and her eyebrows aren't thick enough, but i like her hair. I can see Cass wearing it like that.

Don't worry folks. I got a lot of sketches for the bat boys as well. Just wanted to get all the Cass ones out of the way first. :)

Cass Cain sketches

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:24:52 GMT

I did these at work a long time ago. They were done on small notepad with regular black ballpoint pen. I magically got my scanner to work and rescanned a few of them and cleaned them up on photoshop. Sorry if the image is too big, I'm still trying to get used to doing this...^^; The original is a lot bigger...

Behold the evolution of my drawings of Cassandra Cain, the third batgirl. AKA,

Cass Cain in my style. Cuz I fail at life and can't do her the right way!

Going from top left-hand side, This picture got too big for the sheet I was drawing on. Hence why she's sorta cut off. This was one of the first sketches I did last year. Now that I see it half a year later, she looks too polished, or too pretty to me. Cass can be a beauty, but I think I went overboard here. She's still rather manga-ish here too. Or you could say she doesn't look as asian as she's usually drawn.

With the exception of her last artists, most of the time she's drawn as completely Asian, which isn't completely accurate since her dad's David Cain, a white man, but it's generally accepted. Last I checked they changed her eye color to green. (Why green? David Cain's got green eyes? a few times in the series she had dark green eyes, which isn't a natural color, pretty but not realistic...eh. if pushed, I'll probably give her light brown eyes. But I'm mostly accostomed to her having dark brown eyes.

Next pic below is also rather manga-ish, but it looks more like her than the first one. Her eyebrows are very thick, which is faithful to her series. Cass is rough around the edges, despite her martial arts and discipline. She doesn't seem the type to ever worry about waxing her eyebrows or getting a neat haircut. Though in later issues, we find out she learned to wear makeup (to cover up the bruises from her battles as Batgirl), and her eyebrows looked a little less wild. But it could just be the artist...

Bottom left-hand is one I like a lot. Mostly because it's a lot more realistic looking than the others. She looks polished, but it still feels casual and simple. It was drawn a while ago, but probably much later than all the other pictures.

Next pic, bottom right-hand features an even more casual Cass, wearing comfortable clothes and her hair up in a messy ponytail. I wanted something more in line with her old hairstyle, which was a messy, spiky, but cute. Also wanted to give her a different expression.

Center right hand pic makes her look more ethnic I think. I don't normally draw her hair as poofy as this. But I like her mellow face.

And finally, top right-hand pic was done for fun. It's also one of my first ones, so it's even more manga-ish than the others. I know she's not polished AT ALL. But if she were ever to go undercover to some gala, she could look like this. No one would recognize her. (and the spiky hair in her bun would totally be reminiscent of her spiky ponytail, so she's not completely girly).

This was inspired by some really beautiful tall Asian girls I once saw going to a club in the casino I work at. They had their shiny black hair up in simple minimalistic hairstyles like this, with long dangling, modern looking type earrings, while wearing simple strapless black dresses. Their eye makeup was smoky with clean polished faces like Cass here. They looked flawless! So I had to draw Cass in the same manner. (sorry!)

My new goal is to scan and post here at least one sketch/drawing every week. (or submit a chapter of my fanfics...) Let's see how long I can do it...

Felt like drawing Spoiler

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:27:10 GMT

Wow, I haven't done an oekaki in years! And it would seem I haven't colored in months either.

Anyhoo, for those that don't know. Tis Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) and Stephanie Brown (Spoiler and once Robin). I wanted to work on profiles, and wanted to draw them differently. Not sure I succeeded. They look the same except for different coloring, hairstyles and expressions.

Also the second time I've drawn Cass with short hair. I"m used to drawing her with longer hair. I tried imitating the pixie haircut she's got in Batman and the Outsiders, but can't seem to pull it off on oekaki. weird. Hm, need to oekaki more....get back into the hang of coloring again.

Next up is Stephanie again. This one was inspired by the Robin/Spoiler special that came out right before her creator Dixon got let go. *shaking head* That was weird. At any rate, I was rather disheartened by the news and gave up on the drawing for a few weeks. But then I got inspired again, don't remember what did it. But yeah, wanted to finish it. Right now her shoulders are bugging me (I gave up on her legs). It's going to be part of a bigger image, but yeah, just wanted to get a second or third pair of eyes on it. HELP Please?

In other news, I'm so sad to see Chris Batista go. He drew a beautiful Tim Drake and Robin. Also drew a lovely teenage Spoiler. She actually has the body of a teenager and the costume looks great! *sighs* This Joe Bennett though...Well, I wonder how good he is at drawing teenagers...(get the feeling we'll be getting an older than they're supposed to be Robin and Spoiler this month). *sighs*

Well, at least writing-wise, it won't suck. Fabian's been known to be a good writer and his comments/answers to the Robin QnA have been very interesting and positive.

*sniffles* if only Batgirl had a writer just as good...*tries not to cry* Oh, Cass! What is DC ultimately going to do with you?

Oh well. In the meantime, I'll be comforting myself by working on this pic...

(P.S. I haven't abandoned my fic, just tweaking the next chapter...)

Sketch of Red X (Jason Todd version)

Mon, 26 May 2008 02:59:23 GMT

Red X Sketch by *jbramx2 on deviant ART

So in my fandom, Red X from the Teen Titans cartoon (Teen Titans Go comic) is Jason Todd. Click on the picture, my explantion's there.

But I also thought up a fanfic idea that finally gave Jason Todd his new identity in the DCU comics.

I thought, well shoot. They should just make Jason Todd the Red X of the DCU. He's been the Red Hood, and the Red Robin already. Maybe he should just finally become the Red X aka

The Red Unknown. (cuz he can't make up his mind. no no, I kid, I kid.)

Instead of him being returned from the dead cuz of Superboy Prime punching time walls, his return is actually a bit more on the scientific side, something sorta like what happened with Bucky, the Winter Soldier. Except instead of the soviet union getting a hold of Jason, it's some evil scientific organization (like the Black Glove?). They label him Red X, in order to take away his past and identity and use him as an expert thief/infiltrator/assassin. Maybe someone in the organization has a vendetta against Batman, and lends Red X to Talia who tosses him into the Lazarus pit in order to recover his memories as Jason Todd and well, to wreak havoc on Batman's world.

Red X does sound more science-y than fantasy or anything of the multiverse type, and it makes more sense for the Bat-verse.

I always thought Red X's x's were placed in interesting places. One across his skull, and the other across his heart. To me this symbolizes a broken mind and a broken heart...which kinda describes Jason Todd after returning to life. They could also be real in the sense that maybe he ultimately did die of a broken skull and a sunken chest from the beatings and the explosion and they are imitations of real scars that may have been healed by the Lazarus pit.

I also liked that Red X's cape looked like two torn wings. This could be a reference to him being the Broken Robin, or just being a Robin that fell from grace. Him being in black could be a homage to Batman, or be made to resemble a darker Batman/Robin which I'm sure is what the creators were going for.

The skull is kinda fitting, being that its the symbol of death or danger. Jason, having cheated death and bringing a lot of death in his wake, would be quite the Agent of Death. And well, danger IS Jason's middle name. The guy has always been a no-holds bar risk-taker. So in this respect, he fears neither death nor danger. (let's all ignore Countdown happened, ugh).

I mostly kept the outfit the same as in the cartoon, but obviously drew him as an adult rather than a teenager, and gave him two masks (Jason's worn two masks before anyways). I stylized his skull mask a bit more, lengthening the X lines over his eye and just distorted it a bit, (teeth, cheekbones and eye sockets).

Dunno, once the character lightens up a bit (I actually do hold hope that he may turn to the side of angels), he could just keep the Batman Beyond black face-mask look, forgo the skull mask (or keep it for kicks) and look like a dark scary bird man. XD

If Jason kept the skull mask after turning "good" well, he'd be like a Jolly Roger flag. XD What with the black get up, crosses and skull...I wouldn't be surprised if he kept a few thieving skills from his childhood...then there's his penchant for knives...yup. Jason's a pirate. If Cass is the ninja(-ish), then Jason's the pirate. All he needs now is an eyepatch. No wait, that's very Deathstroke. Forget it.

Not much to say about his face here. I like drawing the shadows on his face. I imagine him to be a bit ruddy-faced. Not pretty or pale like Dick or Tim. I still continue to draw him with that hairstyle too. It's the most difficult hair to draw...I wish to see an issue where he finally goes to a barber and gets it cut really short, so the curls aren't so obvious. I don't think it compliments his face shape. But alas, its what he's most known for...those two curls on his forehead.

I'm not sure I like his new emo style hairdo...it's...sorta hot. But at the same time makes me wonder if the artist purposely wanted him to look like an emo rocker kid. Kinda unfair, I mean, Dick's way more emo than Jason. Jason's too much of a smart ass to be emo. Oh well. At least he looked hot the last time we saw him. ^^;

ANYWAYS, I drew this a long time ago. I had planned to ink it and then post it, but I kinda liked the sketchiness of it. Also it needs work. I'm still new to drawing male anatomy or in this case, muscular male anatomy. I should've used a reference picture, but I mostly worked off of my memory and off of random pictures of superheroes across the internet over several months.

As always, I would appreciate any constructive criticism. I know it's highly exaggerated, but it still looks very much "off". Even the most highly exaggerated superhero has some anatomical sense, I'm just not sure where I went wrong here...I just know it's "wrong". .(arms? legs? torso? head?) Help me please!

Meant to Live, Part 2/?

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:21:23 GMT

I wonder if there's anything else I should note here...um, more action? Again, please pardon my novice writing. ^^; Here's Part One.

Title: Meant to Live (2/?)
Author: peppers_pray
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Damian Wayne, League of Assassins with mentions of Talia, Ras al Ghul, Nyssa, Batman, Cassandra Cain
Disclaimer: Not mine
Authors Notes: This was actually written before the Resurrection of Ras al Ghul crossover event started and before it was revealed that Cass would be working on the Outsiders with Batman, so of course, things happen differently here. :)
Summary: The League of Assassins is after Damian.

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

(Somewhere we live inside)

Damian exhaled as he found himself in one of the base’s large training rooms. Apparently it had received its share of destruction earlier when the explosions began before his escape. Pieces of metal ceiling with sparking wires littered the floor. Hopefully, the explosion wasn't enough to damage his secret exit route...

"Damian." a soft voice spoke behind him and sent an icy sensation down his spine.

Damian whirled around to face the voice and his heart stuck to his throat. It was the black-clothed figure of Cassandra Cain, former leader of a faction of the League of Assassins and former Batgirl. Yes, she had been pursuing him as well. He should have known that out of all the assassins in the League, she'd be the most successful in catching up to him. She had worked under his father after all.

When explosions set chaos to the resurrection ceremony, she had appeared. Cloaked in black rags like the proverbial figure of Death, she had come for him. Talia had shouted for the League to stop her, but as Cassandra brought down everyone that dared to stand in her path, Damian had escaped the room.

As far as he could tell, she wanted to him dead. It made sense in a way.

Rejection from the Bat clan hurt alright, as did abandonment, and to his knowledge, Cassandra had faced that and more. What better way to gain revenge against Batman, than to kill Batman's real son? (even if Batman didn’t truly love him, a voice had whispered in his head)

It probably didn't hurt that she wanted to ruin the plans of the League of Assassins, as well. They weren't exactly humane in their treatment of her after she was caught attempting to run away from her destiny. Damian briefly wondered how she had managed to escape her prison cell, especially in the condition that she had been in...Beaten, starved, and in chains.

Damian's eyes wildly scoured the room for a weapon and found a sword that had fallen out of a toppled sword case nearby. He instantly threw himself at it before the One Who is All stopped him. Surprisingly the young woman did not move from her position near the doorway. Damian noted this upon getting to his feet with the sword held out. Cassandra continued to observe him from beneath her black hood as he carefully put distance between them.

"Do you think you can fight me? With a sword?"

Damian glared at her. No, he knew he couldn't. The sword, being much heavier and longer than what someone of his stature required, hovered uneasily in the air, his small hands gripping the hilt till his fingers were white.

"I don't care. You're not taking me away. I will kill you before you do."

Without warning, Cassandra was in his face and a crack sounded near his ears. Her arm was extended to the side. Damian found himself tripping backwards with pieces of sword falling through the air about him.

She had broken the sword with her fist. HER FIST. He realized looking at the broken blade in his hands in complete shock.

It was shorter and lighter now. Damian instinctively rolled away and held the sword up to the side, ready to charge. Cass approached him again and Damian moved, faster than he ever had before.

He would escape this, he had to.

Cass sidestepped as Damian sliced past her and continued doing so as he kept charging.

"Damian."

"Leave me alone!" Damian swiped his sword as Cass jumped back.

"I can't. I have to save you."

Damian nearly loosened his grip in surprise, but he caught himself in time to stab at her again. She move aside and quickly struck his hand with hers. Damian cried as his fingers lost their grip and Cass caught his sword in her hand.

"Liar! Stop stalling me!" Damian ran from her and picked up a wooden staff as he made his way across the room.

"No! Damian! stop!"

Damian's foot stepped into a puddle of water and the boy silently cried out as an electrical current caught a hold of him. A live wire hung from the ceiling at the edge of the puddle.

In the same instant, Cassandra was by his side, grabbing onto the staff clenched in his hand, and yanked him back.

The boy should have been knocked unconscious, but Damian had suffered worse in his "training" and he only fell to the ground whimpering as he gathered his senses together.

"Damian..." Cass tried reaching out to check on him.

"Don’t touch me!" Damian screamed swiping Cass' hand aside. He crawled away from her. "Don't you dare touch me! J-just leave me alone!" Damian clenched his teeth as he grabbed a hold of the staff once more and picked himself up. Visibly shaken, he could only walk back, holding the staff out, like a sword.

"I won't hurt you, Damian. I'm here to help you get out. Come with me. We don't have much time left." Cass extended her empty hands to him. "Please believe me, Damian. I want to save you." She pleaded with him.

What an odd sight to see her face like that. He was used to dealing with straight-faced or twisted scary killers. But seeing one of the best assassins looking at him like that--an almost gentle look--was disturbing to him. It was a look that crossed his mother’s face ever so often, and only when others weren’t looking. To see it on anyone else's face frightened him.

It didn’t make sense. Cassandra Cain was a killer, the best in the whole league. Why would she bother saving a kid like him? She wouldn't. There was no reason too. She no longer worked for Batman. She was no longer a hero. She was...

Damian's back finally hit the wall. He was cornered. He stubbornly held the broken staff out. It was a pathetic attempt to hold the powerful young woman off, but if he was to die tonight, he would go out fighting.

"Why should I believe you?" he hissed bitterly. "How do I know you're not going to use me too? You-You’re just like everyone else! You’re all liars! Mother...even my mother betrayed me, why wouldn't you?" Damian swallowed his grief at the thought. His mother was sick, that's all. She was mentally sick.

"Because..."

Cass stopped a few steps ahead of him and her hood fall back, revealing haunted dark eyes in a rather young face. "...Because I know what it's like to be cheated out of your childhood."

Damian stared at her in disbelief.

Cassandra continued on, her gaze solemn, "My father…raised me to be the perfect assassin since birth...in complete isolation. When I asked for love...affection, all I got was the back of his hand." Cass shook her head. "There was nothing else for me. I never got a chance..to decide...I didn't...ask...to be who I am. It..it hasn't made me happy."

Damian was stunned. No one in the League talked about their past, unless it was a past full of training and glorious trials. His mother had explained Cass's past and purpose to him once in passing, but he never realized that Cass may not have wanted that life.

"But...Damian, you still have a chance. You’re young. Don't give up. Don’t get...used...like me."

"But why...?" Damian interrupted her. "Why are you worried about me? You ran away from us.... Why are you here now? You could have escaped, instead of come after me. You'd be safer if you stayed away."

A sad expression crossed her face. "I don't want anyone to suffer like me." Cass looked up at him again, "I don't want anyone to be used like I was. When I heard what they were doing to you...I couldn't let that happen."

Cass approached him and entranced, Damian allowed her to push the staff away.

"You're a person Damian. Not a weapon, not a tool, and not a vessel." Cass then smiled. "You are Damian, a young boy who likes...planes...and rockets, right?" Cass asked almost shyly.

Damian's eyes widened as he heard her words. How did she...? No one knew about his interests. Or at least no one cared enough to find out. It was not essential to his training and development. He couldn't remember the last time someone acknowledged what he liked, never mind looked at him.

HIM, not Batman's son, not Talia's son. Not the heir to the Demon Head, not Ra's al Ghul's vessel. But HIM, simply Damian.

Before he could ask her how she knew, he was violently thrown to the side as shots rang out from the doorway. They had been discovered.

To Be continued...

Meant to Live, Part 1/?

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:08:01 GMT

I figured I should post this sometime before they kill off this character or ruin Cass Cain. (because I really get the feeling DC's going to do that) I decided to post it today mostly because I was motivated by the news about the Batgirl miniseries. (Beechen is the writer, what?!?) I am rather dismayed, So I shall write my ideas about Cass in retaliation.

I really don't mind the character Damian Wayne. I know most hate him, I kinda do sometimes, but I see potential there. Maybe its my anime/manga background. Or my love for crack-fanfics. But I do have a fondness for certain crazy/bad characters. Well, this bit's not really crack-ish. It is an idea I had brewing in my head for many months. It shall involve the misfits of the Batclan. Please pardon my novice poor quality writing and all its typos. It's been over a year since I've written anything. ^^; I really wish I had a beta for my Batverse fanfics...

TItle: Meant to Live (1/?)
Author: Peppers_pray
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Damian Wayne, League of Assassins with mentions of Talia, Ras al Ghul, Nyssa, Batman
Disclaimer: Not mine
Authors Notes: This was actually written before the Resurrection of Ras al Ghul crossover event started and before it was revealed that Cass would be working on the Outsiders with Batman, so of course, things happen differently here. :)
Summary: The League of Assassins is after Damian.

"Fumbling his confidence

And wondering why the world has passed him by

Hoping that he's bid for more than arguments

And failed attempts to fly, fly"

Lungs burning, legs cramping, and mouth dry, Damian continued to run through the maze of dark tunnels and cliffs. Death was chasing him.

He just had to make it to the outside. Outside where the air was below zero and the snow-covered ground was going to be hard to run through, but he set those thoughts aside, because he had to keep running. He just needed to get out of this hellhole of a mountain secret base. He'd worry about what came afterwards later. He just had to escape. NOW.

No, there was no point in thinking about whether he should give up and return to his mother. He couldn't change his mind. It'd be worse for him if he returned now. No, he had to run.

Talia was out of her mind at the moment. Something had triggered her psychosis, making her forget her love for him and betray him. Nyssa’s torture and brainwashing had not been completely erased from his mother’s psyche it seemed. How the current League of Assassins ever figured this out, he'll have to investigate later. For now, his mother was sick again. That’s all he knew. If he survived this, he'd make those responsible for it pay with their lives.

No, no...

No ifs, he is going to survive...and he will make them pay for turning his mother against him.

Damian's boot suddenly caught on a rock sending his small body careening off the ledges. Biting a curse, he tumbled and skidded past a few stalagmites on his way down. His body finally came to land in a ditch. The wind effectively knocked out of him, Damian took a few coughing breaths and slowly sat up. Ego and body bruised, Damian tried focusing his scrambled vision. It was dark, but he could see light above from the cliff he fell from.

Shit!

He hadn't meant to end up here. No, he wasn't lost. He knew where he was. For once his paranoia of getting lost in a cavern helped. He had memorized every single passageway and cavity within the mountain before coming here. His mother had been quite impressed.

Damnit.

He was now too far away from his original escape route. There was no guarantee he'd be able to climb up the hill in time to escape. The league couldn't be too far behind. If he stayed down here, the league would find him. He was trapped. No, wait. There was a way to get out of here, but it was risky, even if he should manage to make his way through the dark narrow crevices to his right. But if he managed to get through without alerting anyone, he would end up near the base's training halls where a secret exit awaited him.

Echos of running feet from above moved him into action. As silent as possible he snuck his way into the dark small crevice to his right and crawled his way through the stalagmites.

Finally, reaching the opening, he found himself right under a cliff, the light from a torch above marking an entrance.

Everything was silent. Damian let out a breath of relief. His throat was parched and his body ached. His head had also begun to hurt.

Damian contemplated sitting down and just letting fate take a hold of him.

What was he doing? When had his life begun to spiral out of control? It was supposed to be simple. He was the son of Batman, and the grandson and heir of the Demon Head. He was meant to bring his family together so they could rule and protect the world as its leaders. He had been training for as long as he could remember to be worthy of being his father's son.

And yet...his father rejected him. His father loved his adopted sons more than him. His mother was crazy, treating him like an object that could be operated on and improved upon just to her liking. His grandfather's men wanted to use his body as a vessel for his grandfather...and what’s worse, his mother had been subdued and fooled into allowing it.

Damian held his head, grief threatening to overwhelm him. No, no! He was not going to cry! He was going to get out of this and he was going to fix things. Maybe not tonight, or tomorrow, but someday…Someday, he'd be back and he'd save his mother and destroy his grandfather's legacy.

It was all a stupid idea anyways. His grandfather was insane. Kill most of the humans to save the earth? Where's the sense in that? If not his father, than his mother should have killed his grandfather when she had the chance. Then maybe Damian's life wouldn't be as crazy as it was.

But then...maybe Damian wouldn't exist either.

Damian let out a bitter chuckle.

What's the point? I don't exist anyways.

I'm not a real person. I'm just a tool for everyone. Everyone wants to shape me into their image of a perfect heir. Father wants to change me. Mother was always testing me, "improving" me. Aunt Nyssa hated me and would've killed me, had mother not sent me away. And the League? They just want my grandfather back.

I don't matter. What I want doesn't matter.

Damian smiled bitterly as he made his way up and over the cliff.

Heh, I don't even know what I want anymore.

I wanted to save people, protect the innocent, punish the evil ones who hurt people. Be a hero. Make my mother and father proud.

And I completely failed at all of that.

(Was that really what I wanted?)

Who is punishing those who have hurt me? Who is going to save me?

Nobody. Maybe there are no heroes.

I just have to save myself.

To be continued...

No Pepper Pics this week...

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:51:43 GMT

...School and work are eating my soul.

But I found some fun fanart instead!

My 3 Robins by ~heck13r on deviant ART

I can't believe this only has 7 comments!?! Good grief, some day I will color like this. PLEASE let me color like this someday, Lord? Please? Anyhoo, its nice to see fanarts that remember Jason as well. Though I still don't like Red Robin's costume. Good grief, if Jason does become Red Robin can someone please update this costume? That belt...*wince* Anyhoo, cute style Mr. Heck. 'hope to see more Robin fanart in the future.

The other piece is actually in the artist Musechan's scrapbook. BLASPHEMY!
Cuz it's really cute...and cool-looking.
Danny Phantom with Super-powered Sam and Tucker

Tucker...looks sexy. Well as sexy as a cartoon can look. I wish Tucker were this cool looking in the series. I wish the series were this cool looking. Maybe someday someone in Japan will be gracious enough to anime-fy Danny Phantom the way they anime-fied Power Puff Girls. Come on...Danny Phantom would make an awesome white-haired bishonen. Okay I better stop now before I get started.... But yes! Please God, after I get Mad Coloring Skills, can someone anime-fy Danny Phantom? PLEASE?

*sighs* gosh I love fanart. The dreams it weaves...

Finally some fanart...Smile guys!

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:32:59 GMT

So I owed Vespertila a pic from a while ago of the Three Robins, but midterns and work kept me too busy to finish it. But finally, here they are! The three guys who wore the Robin mantle under Batman. For those that don't know, from left to right: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake. Sorry it took me a while.

Anatomy still hates me. And so does men's clothing. Or just all clothing in general. Anyhoo, this was done on Manga Studio with a few last minute edits on Photoshop. It's messy because I didn't make an inked layer of the sketch. I'm sorry! I liked how the hair turned out and I didn't want it to change when I tried inking it. ^^; I have to say...Tim's arms irk me. ^^; I just couldn't get them right for some reason, so he looks the weirdest of them all. O_o; In case you can't tell, he's being yanked back to stand next to Jason.
It's also pretty weird how his hands came out. Usually, I'm good with hands, but this time around I really struggled with them. *sighs* I need to draw more now...practice makes perfect! (eh, if I decide to color this, I'll fix Timmy's body first) XD;

Dick's face gave me the hardest time out of all of them. I'm not sure if it's because it's full on center, or because he just wouldn't look the right age. His hair wasn't too hard. But his eyes, his nose and his mouth just wouldn't add up or look nice. I wanted him to be smiling, either peacefully or in amusement. But I just couldn't get his expression right. In the end, I gave him a slightly quirked mouth. Can you tell he's trying to keep a straight face?

I did change Jason's face several times, it was actually more comical looking before. He was originally half-scowling, half-baring his teeth and looking away from the others in total irritation. XD;; but I wanted to draw him pretty too, so I had to tone down his irritation. (sorry?) I'm not sure what he looks like now. Oh well. His hair as usual gave me trouble. Go figure...

Tim's head was the easiest, surprisingly. His head just popped up quickly. He's staring up at Dick, wondering, "Are you serious?"
Hm, I also tried to make each one distinguishable from eachother. not sure if I succeeded. Dick looks very different from the younger two. Hm....

I guess the upside to this is that my style's getting more realistic now. It still has manga influence, but I think I'm getting closer to the American comic book style. *shrugs* Oh well, we'll see.

*bows* hope you enjoy!

A new chapter begins...

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:20:12 GMT

This journal shall mostly be my writing/drawing journal. I don't plan to share my personal life here as I do on my other one. I just need a place in which to post my little pieces of writing and pictures without killing my friend's f-list. Random stuff mostly.

I will also use this place to do some manga/comics reviews when I feel the need to. I will more than likely post pictures with those reviews.

Most recently I have a few American comics fanfics and fanarts, but I also love manga/anime fanart so I will post accordingly. Enjoy. :)