Makaroonatiks and Jelly Juggernauts

i'm totally a week behind on the latest issue of MC... that's upsetting.
but it's for a good reason.

i'll talk about that in later post, because it's for something both related and unrelated to MC.

in the mean time... I'm going to post AAAAALL the character designs for the team members that will be playing against team Munch Chunky in the grand gourmet.

i'll definitely post all of those up to the next issue as well as showing the designs i created for all the teams different ships.

a couple members of Team Makaroonatiks

 Name: Precilla Pistachinos
 Team: Makaroonatiks 
 Position: Striker
 Rank: Cinnamon 
 Region: Hard

 Name: Larry Borshtenstien
 Team: Makaroonatiks
 Position: Chef
 Rank: Cinnamon 
 Region: Hard

 two members of Team Jelly Juggernauts

 

 Name: Greggori Javander
 Team: Jelly Juggernauts 
 Position: Mugger
 Rank: Cinnamon 
 Region: Gumi

 Name: Oliver Clovercrest
 Team: Jelly Juggernauts 
 Position: Striker
 Rank: Cinnamon 
 Region: Gumi

  by next week i'll have all the turnaround sheets for every member finished, coloured, and posted to the site and my dA account. and then i will start adding them to the MC databook and fill out more of their personal info. but not too much or it would be a major spoiler.
more characters on the morrow

Munch Chunky Issue 3b

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I think this is the first time I have put out an issue of this comic on time.

like it was 100% finished before the clock hit 12.

I think it has to do with this new schedule. 

suddenly my stress is low, and I'm blasting through pages and having a ball while doing it.

I'm thrilled about how the colours in these last few issues have been coming out.

there's very little to no fighting for attention in any one frame.

i think now that I'm coming up on four issues, and I have introduced a ton of characters I should begin a Munch Chunky Databook. I figure if i start now, I'll be able to update it as the issues come out.

yeah?

we'll see.

haha.

also... new song this week for the Munch Chunky OST

Ixia beat.

it's named after the big blue creature they meet in the forest

an Ixia beast. 

it's fuzzy, and twilight foresty, and fun.

the song, not the beast.

Munch Chunky Issue 3a

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WOO HOO!

the first issue of Munch Chunky on my new weekly wednesday schedule.

this one was a cool down from the momentum of the last few issues.

a lot of running in those other ones.

of course the next issue just starts the running all over again

hahaha!

but I can tell I'm getting more comfortable with MC and really starting to have fun with the colour pallet.

that's good, because i was really worried that things would look really bland. it's a slightly simpler looking book than Goblyn, and the colours have fewer passes and gradients as well.

i wanted to play with symbology and symbolism in this series a lot. both in shapes and in colours.

Munch Chunky Issue 2a

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------All the stars are lining up and Munch Chunky is really taking shape.

I had quite a bit of fun working on this issue.

I even streamed me making this issue.

even tho I  was using photoshop 6, which is so totally nerfed in comparison to CS3 

(which I normally use to make comics)

it wasn't bad. MC isn't very heavy on the dynamic layers and such.

it's just straight forward drawings, with colour, and a good solid story about friends and adventure.

what more could you ask for?

oh, the link to the livestream videos?

done and done.

--> http://www.livestream.com/smars <--

here's a little embed action for you too.

smars on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Munch Chunky Issue 1b

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so, introductions to all the major protagonists of the series have been made.

rivalries have been set in stone.

now that, that's out of the way... 

we can really get this avalanche of adventure 

rolling over people and causing all sorts of chaos fun.

this issue definitely went over my 50 to 55 page rule.

but I really had to get the rest of this part of the story out.

so... justifiable self rule breaking?

idk...

the set up for the entire series is always the tallest hill to get over.

everything else from that point is just letting the story flow through you.

time to flow.

live, love, & eat fruit.

Munch Chunky Issue 1a

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So I’m finally going to tell this story. 

Not in the way I had wanted to a few months back 

(which was animated) 

but the way I had originally conceived the project in 2001, as a comic book.

I learned a lot about storytelling and pacing when I decided to make Munch Chunky into an animated series. 

I could get away with things that would fall apart in a comic book scenario. 

Because of that, I had to change the beginning of the story 

and the way it plays out for the comic.

Another of my problems was my limitations in animating. 

I only know how to animate so many things, and I often hit walls 

I couldn't get around. 

In comic book form I hit a lot less walls with the images being fixed. 

It’s hard to explain, but what it came down to in the end wasn’t the expense of animation, 

but the time. 

I’m able to commit the same amount of time to the comic form as the animated form, 

but i yield more story from it, 

for my effort.

and ultimately I just really want to tell my stories, 

and I can’t let the process of building the body of that work be 

the part that breaks down the ability for the story to be told 

consistently and fluidly.

Trongo Bongo

Trongo Bots.

I've been drawing these goofy looking mech suits for so many years.

I'm a big mech, super giant robot enthusiast. seriously.

I spent a huuuuuge chunk of my childhood reading watching stuff like Voltron, Tranzor Z
(or Mazinger Z if you want to be a purist about it) and yes... of course, Gundam.

 but of all the mechs and robots out there i say that i was most influenced by Shirow Masamune's Appleseed manga series when i was a kid, which was filled with all these wonderful personal sized mechs he called landmates.

Shirow would used these really great organic shapes that often reminded me of insects, and that just pulled me in further into his magic. seeing smaller, one man, personal mechs was a revolution to my mind, and I immediately was drawing personal mechs in everything I created.

with Munch Chunky i wanted to continue with that tradition, but since MC is a lighter more fun story i didn't want the designs of the mechs to be too overwhelming.
Since the series is about things like food and adventure, i wanted them to be very organic and bouncy in shape.

for me, they had to have a look of functionality without being to visually complex. I wanted them to look like they could run around, while still looking funny, but not absolutely cumbersome.
Silly, but still kind of cool. like the G generation SD Gundam model series.
C:

they're also made this way so that i can customize each one for a new rival team at the drop of a dime and without the design really slowing me down.

they all have the same basic shape underneath, and then i start slappin' on all the extra bits that make them fun and flashy, as I go.

i did decide a while back that some teams would customise their mechs to the extent that they would have very specific advanced functions only used by that team.
it's all regulation of course.
ha ha

live love & eat fruit.

cute animals...BIG, BAD, ROBOTS

just sharing a couple of designs for some of the secondary background charas in issue 1b of Munch Chunky.

(they're fairly loose sketches, but still comprehensible i think)

the tryout sequence is full of lots of random animals driving around in big hulking robot suits.

i did think for a while to have everyone's suits reeeeeally customized and unique, but it quickly became a headache. 

i still slip into fantasies about how much fun it would be to have a bunch of cool designs and weird shapes for all the different suit. but then i snap out of it with the reality of how frustrating it would be to keep up with all those varying shapes. so i standardized the base shape of the Trong Bot suits. 

and from there, they can be customized by the individual as they see fit. 

So i still get a good bit of variation, while still being able to not lose myself in the details.

i'll show some of those different yet similar Trong bot designs next post.

till then.

live love & eat fruit.

Trongo ball

the global, seasonal, sport played using large mech suits, with support from air ships.

OVERVIEW:
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Trongo ball is a sport played seasonally all across the planet of Eratone as part of the Pax Trata to maintain peace between the regions. It's a game played as the symbolic gesture of war in the art of the recreation of historical events and periods of discovery on Eratone. These periods and events include, the discovery of Trong, the great ancient archeology movement, the great period of air travel and the creation of Riot Cuisine. The game incorporates, scavenger hunting aspects, puzzle solving skills, survival tactics and strategies, as well as creative and physical challenges. The teams represent ancient armies of the different regions during the warring period where food was the weapon of choice.

The game is played on a magically constructed field known as a Garden, by at least one qualifying team of Cuisinauts representing each of the six regions (the number of Cuisinaut teams is not exclusive to one but usually does not exceed three) The goal of the teams is to use clues, knowledge and skill to navigate the obstacles, puzzles, and traps placed all over the Garden landscapes and obtain as many of the hidden and protected "artifacts" as they can. Obtaining artifacts grants a team points and clues to the position of other artifacts eventually allowing them access to the next successive region while eliminating their opponents along the way. When all but one team has been eliminated, disabled, or disqualified or the maximum amount of artifacts in all successive regions have been found, the game has ended. At the end of the year, the scores from all three leauges are tallied and PT ranks (1-7) are assigned to each region determining how much influence that region will have in the global trade of goods.
Their are only 9 artifacts hidden in a Garden, located on a region.  The artifacts aren't real ancient objects but Go balls that are worth a ranged scale of points determined by the represented artifact's inherent Trong value. Each artifacts exact point value is unknown to a player until it is returned to the team's ship and placed in a treasure chest. The difficulty to obtain an artifact doesn't always inform its worth, as occasionally a low point artifact will be found in a very difficult or challenging section of a Garden.
Gardens are constructed by the Meister Guild members, working together using Trong forces to manipulate the physical landscapes of designated areas to create an elaborate series of  puzzles, mazes, and obsticles that the teams have to navigate to find the hidden artifacts.

Trongoball is very popular and is watched by nearly everyone in the world. The game is monitored and recorded by a series of guild members who are cloaked with invisibility enchantments so that they do not disturb or accidentally inform or influence the progress of the players.
The three different leagues play during separate seasons to avoid crossover of matches by players.
Sugar leauge in the Spring/Summer Salt league in the Summer/Fall, and Pepper in the Fall/Winter season.
Trongo ball games are ongoing events meaning that players eat, sleep, and battle in the active Garden until the match has ended. Broadcasting of the events run 24 hours a day and brief viewings and frequent updates are incorporated into peoples daily routines.

Most teams who play Trongo ball are sponsored, either by an entire town (called a pitch in) or by private companies or public personas (such as merchants). Some teams play as independents, but it is very difficult to compete with the costs of materials for Trong bots, air ships, and even ingredients for Riot Cuisine recipes. Because of the costs, sponsorship has become the most popular option as many potential teams or individual players, go to public tryouts held globally 2 months before a new season begins.




TYPES:
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There are four over all types of Trongo ball played on Eratone.

•  Amateur level, where people, especially children play for fun or in an amateur league for ages too young to play in the Sugar league.

• PT CIRCUIT

The PT circuit is divided into three leagues of players Sugar, Salt, Pepper. Within each league teams are subdivided by skill level based on their understanding and ability to competently use Trong: Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Carob and Mint. Their skill level informs their understanding of the Inherent Value System of Trong, and their ability to use it.

• Sugar league, introductory/basic level of difficulty tactics circuit.
• IVS 1-50

• Salt league, intermediate level of difficulty tactics circuit.
• IVS 50+

•  Pepper league, advanced level of difficulty tactics circuit.
• IVS 100

MORE DATABOOK:
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LEAGUES, RANKS, SPONSORSHIP

Riot Cuisine

food based weapons used during a Trongo ball match.


OVERVIEW:
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Riot Cuisine, are special culinary dishes which infuse ingredients with high inherent Trong values, like rare fruit and vegetables, hybridized fruit/vegetables as well as spices which often contain great quantities of Trong. A Cuisinaut such as a Chef can create these dishes to be used as weapons during a Trongo ball match.

Riot cuisine come in two types of recipes Offensive and Defensive. Offensive recipes create Riot Cuisine than can give special attributes such as granting temporary magical and elemental properties to the Chef's other teammates on the ground. They can also inflict specific negative attributes such as poisoning or paralysis. They are generally non lethal, but can injure a player for a long period of time or permanently for a season if proper precautions are not taken when defending ones self against an attack. Defensive recipes can grant temporary magical and elemental attributions such as health boosts for more energy or quick shields to protect yourself from an attack.

Most riot cuisine have specific origins in certain regions, and are only learned and prepared by teams from those regions. Team Chefs usually register with a regional guild and use the official cook book composed by them. (the exception being Turtle, who is not with a guild and found a regionless Elder Book). this limits the amount of recipes a single team can use during a match, which also allows no one team to gain the advantage over any other making them rely on actual skill

TYPES: A list of Riot Cuisines
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•  name: power attribute - rank attribute - level of difficulty on a scale 0-10 

• Fury Flan: a custard type fire elemental dish - Mint, lvl 4 (Ofs.) 
•  

MORE DATABOOK:
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GUILD, RECIPES, ELDER BOOK,

Trongo ball Positions

The active playing positions of members of a Trongo ball team

OVERVIEW:
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 In the game of Trongo ball, there are three major positions playable to a teammate, they are Striker, Mugger, and Chef. each of these is an important part of the whole team both functionally and historically.
The two ground positions are played by team mates in Trongbots, while the third, the Chef, is mostly (but not exclusively) played from the team's ship. The teammates on the Garden floor actively playing the game are only allowed a specific number of spells they can carry at any given time received from riot cuisines (RCS) either deployed to them via a Chef, stolen from another active player, or found as a rare drop item on the Garden floor.

Striker, The lead playing position of a Trongo ball team and is usually a position played by the fastest member of a team of three. The Striker position is a reconosance position that relies heavily on a Cuisinauts abilities to survey and assess their surroundings and make quick movements to retrieve any point based items obtainable by the players. The Striker has the ability to carry a maximum of 3 offensive RCS on them and 1 defensive RCS during a game. Strikers are the most active of all the players on a team, they protect the teammate in the Mugger position from any danger as they retrieve artifacts and bring them back to their ship. A Striker must be alert at all times and be willing to "sacrifice" themselves to allow the Mugger to make it back safely to the ship with the artifacts.

Mugger, The secondary playing position of a Trongo ball team, and is played generally by the slower member of a team of three. Their Trong bot is usually (but not always) a larger model, for defensive purposes which makes it physically slower during a game. The Mugger is the counterpart of the Striker, they are the teammate who physically carries any and all artifacts found or stolen during the active game. The Mugger's Trong bot is granted a bonus item by the Meister Guild members who oversee all active matches called a "Gimme' Bag."  The Gimme Bag is an item that can only be used on the active Garden field which allows the user to hold numerous items in it at any time without feeling the effects of its  size or weight. The Gimme' Bag is where a Mugger keeps the teams artifacts while teammates are active on the Garden floor and until they can be transported to a Chest where the points are counted and collected. As the Mugger is the one teammate who carries the most intricate portion of  the game, they are also the most targeted members and in turn the most heavily protected with the ability to carry a max of 2 offensive  RCS and 4 defensive RCS. Muggers are generally the more cunning, strategic and stealthy teammates often guiding the activities of a Striker from a position within guarded range of the teams Chef.

Chef, The third playing position of a Trongo ball team, played by the only member who does not use a Trong bot. Chef is the linchpin of the team, the most powerful player with both unlimited numbers of offensive RCS and defensive RCS at their disposal so long as they actively have or are able to collect the resources. The Chef assists their teammates on the active Garden floor during a game, from the teams ship and in rare occasions on the ground, by deploying riot cuisine to them via Odee cannon. The Chef has the greatest wealth of knowledge of Trong and its inherent values and uses this to help their teammates gather as many artifacts as possible to win the game ultimately for their region.
The position of Chef is usually backed up by a line crew or pit crew. Line cooks are usually not mentioned or considered as part of the team, as they are more often than not Koba. The most notable exception being team Munch Chunky who fully recognize the Mints as fully registered members of the team.


MORE DATABOOK:
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links to similar topics

Lobber

A basic Lobber

The primary tool used by a Cuisinaut in Trongo ball.









OVERVIEW:
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 The Lobber is a magical tool used by a Cuisinaut, during a Trongo ball game. They are specially made tools that can channel any and all Trong force ingested by a Cuisinaut during a game through riot cuisine. Lobbers are the primary and most often used tool of a Cuisinaut. Lobbers allow users to project Trong force as a weaponized point of energy. Lobbers can be transformed, while taking on the properties of Trong morphing them physically allowing them to take many shapes and have many functions.

Not all riot cuisine need the use of a lobber to be used, such as offensive/power ups, but many if not most offensive/attacks and many defensive/attacks rely on the Cuisinaut using the lobber to project the force.
The Lobber is considered an extension of the Cuisinaut and is a very important tool in the game of Trongo ball.

Lobbers are constructed of Trong inherent minerals from all the regions of Eratone. These minerals are chosen because of their conductive, reflective and amplifying properties. There are many famous Lobber makers in the world of Ephon all existing as part of the Lobber guilds. The Lobber guild oversee, regulate and approve all Lobbers constructed and used by Cuisinauts in Trongo ball games.  

APPEARANCE:
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A basic Lobber is a simple palmable short staff with an transformable ring connected to one end. The staff portion often has the ability to retract and extend. Lobbers much like Trong bots are fully customizable and are more often than not custom made for each player.

Many Cuisinauts use Lobbers to "pillow" which is to transform the Lobber so that it has a padded drum base on the reverse side of the morphing ring. This is a technique commonly used in PVP melee attacks versus "shuffling" which is to use a ranged attack where a Cuisinaut will sling a magical discharge from the ring of the Lobber.

A. morphing ring   B. conduit coils C. extendable staff

KNOWN CUSTOM LOBBERS:
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MORE DATABOOK:
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TRONGO BALL, TRONG, CUISINAUT,