THE JACKPOT.

    As the summertime train steams toward August and that beaked rascal Ra continues to mercilessly beat down on Southern California, morale around Jacob's Characterz! Inc. remains surprisingly high. Why? Spider-Man Homecoming was good. And with that, a fair share of weight has been lifted from my scrawny adolescent shoulders. So, in honor of the webslinger's slow-but-steady march back to cinematic glory, here's an apropos piece of fanart I did depicting my stab at the classic MJ--Romita dimples and all. Enjoy! (Credit to my accomplice/bloodline bunkmate Abby "the Sis" Elise, Brook from Be More Chill, and my somewhat-girlfriend [redacted]  for inspiring the modernized wardrobe.)

NANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANA

     While I feverishly edit my next character/eat some dindin, here's a piece of decently snazzy Batman fan art I did a while back. I may have already posted it fully-Photoshopped, but I think the unedited edtion looks best. Also, just ignore that oddly fetus-like scribble in the corner.

AS PROMISED feat. the Dark stinkin' Knight

     In the immortal words of a clown incredibly relevant to this post, I am a man of my word. So, ladies and gents, I give you the full-on 100% cinematic edition of my Batman fan-poster! Odds are I probably put way too much thought and energy into this puppy, but hey, I take my craft seriously. And in this particular case, that craft is producing realistic production jargon. PS, just for the record, the cast of my alternate Batfilm is as follows:

Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, X-Men, Prometheus) as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) as Carrie Kelley/Robin
Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Sherlock Holmes) as Dr. Hugo Strange
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) as James Gordon
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) as Alfred Pennyworth
Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) as Barbara Gordon/Oracle
Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as the Mutant Leader
Monica Raymund (The Good Wife, Chicago Fire) as Renee Montoya

SOME UPDATES (Feat. The Hero Gotham Deserves)

     Look alive, folks. One, I am working on something rather massive for All Hallows' Eve right now. Trust me, the wait will be worth it. Probably. Hopefully. Two, my view counter is going completely kerflooey right now, so please just turn the other cheek until we re-combobulate it. And three, Batman fan-poster:

("Full-on movie poster" variant coming soon once I'm done with that rather massive something.)

I HATH RETURNED

     The sound of a loud defining click reverberates through the blog's post archives. A strong aroma of cheeto dust and aspiration permeates the homepage, and everybody realizes. Jacob is back. Whether that is a good or bad thing is up to interpretation. Take it as you will, folks. But in all seriousness, yes, I am back from my aformentioned EpiC FAmiLy-VEnTUres, which I can now safely reveal were a big long triparoony to Diamond Lake, Oregon! (The Parental Units didn't want me disclosing that we were going out of state for so long due to security concerns and such.) Going up there is a big family tradition for my mom and grandparents, and the last time they went I came along as a toddler and my sis was still being grown in the lab. So, now that Abby and I are both hardy teens ready-ish for the world, Mom decided it was time to finally go back, grandparents and all, to let us fully experience it for the first time. It was very, very worth it. I'm sure you don't want me to spend a whole post's worth recounting it, so I'll give you a few quick bullet points on what went down:

• There were a lot of trees.
• Over the course of 3 trips out onto the lake, I caught a quartet of fish and deemed them the Big Four: Tyrone B. "Fishy" Nelson, Joey "The Glub" Jones II, Tonto, and "Wiley Gills" Bill McCoy.
• I was inspired by my majestic tree-y surroundings and cranked out the first 8 pages of a book that takes place in Oregon. I don't want to spill the deets on what exactly that book is about, but still, I'm overall proud of it thus far.
•  My mom waged war on the relentless mosquitos of Diamond Lake, and (mostly) prevailed.
• We made a ton of rad s'mores.
• We laughed our butts off over this picture of my Nana:
  
    

     And now I'm back home. Sorry I didn't post anything over the past two days or so of having returned. I was taking some time to catch up on all the lazy Youtube vedging I missed with barely any Wi to the Fi. But I'm back to work, folks, and it's crunch time. The 104 days of summer vacation are winding down fast, with only about 3 weeks left before school comes along just to end it. So, I'm gonna try my best to whip up as much peculiar content for all you loyal websters as I can over those 3-ish weeks left of freedom--hopefully including some more animation. This summer shant be wasted. And to start the not wasting it off with, here's another DC cinematic photoshop of mine, this time featuring Green Lantern. (Just in case some of you don't notice, that's Jake Gyllenhaal. He was one of the first Hal Jordan fancast candidates that popped up upon Googling, and after losing out on Spidey and Batman, I reckoned the guy needed a win.) Enjoy. JACOB AWAYYYYYYYYYY *melodramatic smoke bomb exit*

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FANART-TERMISSION! FT. BATSY AND SUPES

     Okay. Rest assured, I have a proper new character prepared. But I have to focus on my Toon Booming and such, so I probably can't afford to spend the next couple hours writing said character a proper post. However, I'll feel like a chintzy noob of an individual if I leave you all empty handed. So, without further blabbing, some Batman/Superman fanart I've been working on. Enjoy.

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JACOB'S CHARACTERZ! FAN ART REDESIGN: ANT-MAN (HANK PYM)

     Look alive, summer-y chums. A new character is definitely on the way and will likely be published tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, here's a dandy piece of Marvel fanart I made a while ago and never got around to posting. The traditional Hank Pym Ant-Man happens to be included in my imaginary Fantastic Four Movie Universe as a side character and sorta colleague of Reed, so I figured I should give him a good sketching as well. I think I got a tad carried away, but I'm still proud of it. PS, there's no way of telling for you folks, but just so you know, underneath that mask is most definitely Alan Tudyk as Pym. Of this I am sure.

(Quick coloring job via my pal Photoshop.)

JACOB'S CHARACTERZ! FAN ART REDESIGN: SUPERMAN

     Helping those in need is a great way to take part in society, friends. And as far as I'm concerned, after what ol' Zacky Snydz has done to him over the past few years, Superman is someone in need. So, I've decided to do my civil duty and contribute a decent, more traditional redesign of his Kryptonian garb. Here's hoping that we can all do our parts and work together towards a better cimematic tomorrow for our buddy Supes. Completely Irrelevant Guy approves this message:

Dang, this man is irrelevant. Look at how irrelevant he is!

JACOB'S CHARACTERZ! FAN ART REDISIGN: MISTER FANTASTIC

     Hola, ladies and gents. Instead of posting another new character on this fine day of Thurs, I've decided to do something a bit different. Ladies and gents, my own version of Mister Fantastic, AKA Reed Richards! I've mentioned my elaborate Fantastic Four movie franchise idea before, but to spare you all some valuable time that you could otherwise use to make a difference in the world or watch a video of a cat and a monkey being best friends, I decided not to explain it to you. But having caught the superhero costume bug that's been going 'round following the Spidey reveal, I decided to whip up the design for ol' Mister Fantastic that my FF version entails. (Note: I had to touch up some of the drawing due to the poor quality of the scan, but what the heck. Details, details, diddly-doo.)

• The Costume: You may note that this costume is basically the same as the one from the original comics. That's because it's supposed to be. Classic is almost always a go-to route for a good superhero suit, and after the bona fide unrecognizable iterations from last year's film *shivers*, I felt I should stay as faithful as I could with mine. I added some traditional MCU-esque detailing, such as laces on the boots and gloves, to the black sections of the costume, which I imagine being a gleamy, rubberish material. The material for the blue is hard to describe, but I think the closest I can compare it to is Cap's costume in the first Avengers movie.
• That spiffy 4: One of the most important aspects of the FF's costume is the 4 logo. It's basically the thing that tells you at first glance which Marvel team they are, if a big rocky orange guy and a young lad on fire isn't enough of a helpful hint. One of my main gripes with the 2005 films' suits are the placing of these logos, so with my version, I needed to make sure they are front-and-center where they belong. I took some inspiration from Iron Man's arc reactor in the MCU when it came to the specifics, like the less polished outer rim of metal. Speaking of that outer rim, the only noticeable change I think I made here with this team logo was changing the color of it to bronze. My FF movies take place in the '60s (which is a completely separate post in itself), so I thought the bronze color would assist the patina look a bit.
• The guy wearing it all: And last but not least, the grey-templed guy behind the greatness, Mister Fantastic himself, Reed Richards. I could go on a whole rant about my version of his actual character (also a completely separate post in itself), but I'll keep it simple for now and just address how I drew him. Well, my primary casting choice for my Reed Richards is definitely David Tennant - Michael Fassbender is just behind, though - so some of the facial features I based on him a bit. This goes especially for the nose and the grin. I added some stray beard hairs growing in to give him a more realistic vibe (the guy spends most of his time cooped up in his lab, do you really think he has time to spiffy himself up too much?) and the battle scar to show that he isn't just the brains behind the bunch. That and I thought it looked cool. I tried to make the fade into grey around the temples less blatantly obvious, once again contributing to the more realistic feel.

     Alrighty guys, I think that's all the deets on that for now. TTFN, in the words of the mighty Tigger. PS, next post or the post after is going to be my heavily-postponed "Farewell Gravity Falls" post. I'm telling you this so you guys can hold me up to it and make sure I don't procrastinate any further. If I do, make sure to give me flack.

EGAD, MAN! THE FAN ART STRIKES AGAIN!

     February is here, and with it comes Deadpool and Valentine's Day - AKA two things I, as a 14-year-old bound by the rules of his maternal unit, cannot actually participate in. Duped again by the cruel mistress called age. But never fear, for with February also comes more awesome additions to this here blog! Unfortunately, I don't have an official character for you guys just yet, although that will be coming some time later this week. So, in the meantime, enjoy this swanky Star Wars fan art I made of the first Jedi. Note: this guy was long before the days of magnetic containment fields, so his lightsaber needs a central metal rod to conduct the usual energy. Just wanted to explain that little tidbit. Enjoy!

SOME FAIRLY FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FOUR FAN ART.

     Now that this here blog is back in business, I thought I'd post some pretty snazzy fan art of Johnny Storm I drew between laziness sessions during Winter Break. This just so happens to be the specific version that I imagine for my own Fantastic Four movie franchise idea. I'll just leave it at that on account of the all-too-true fact that if I started blabbing about my version, I'd be here 'til I run out of space on this post. And even if you can't run out of space on Blogger, I'd still somehow find a way.

SPIDER-MAN MCU FAN ART BECAUSE I'M OBSESSED.

     I've come to the realization that their isn't enough good MCU Spider-Man fan art out there on the world-wide web (cheesy pun not intended). So, considering I already draw MCU Spidey costumes in my spare time, because I'm too obsessed for my own good, I've decided to post my own official version. Hopefully this will help quench the Civil War thirst. That is, until we all rush madly to the theaters to see it in May.

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