Alright. Vinyl LPs are pretty cool, but let’s get to something I’ve been wanting to post since I created this blog: Tributes, Or “My Inspirations” (according to the category it’s listed in). Basically fanart that I’ve drawn to honor someone that has greatly inspired me in my artistic endeavors.
Let’s start this off with one of my all-time favorites: Twokinds by Tom Fischabach.
Twokinds is a webcomic largely following Trace, a blue-haired dude with amnesia, and Flora, a tiger keidran gal. The setting is a fantasy universe with high racial tensions between the humans and keidran. Trace and Flora develop a strong friendship and find themselves right between all of this conflict. While my poor description may play this up as another Romeo & Juliet clone, there is much more to it including Trace’s troubled past and an ever expanding cast that provides multiple viewpoints and side plots that at times become the focus. Trace and Flora provide an excellent central focus and plot, but I’m a huge sucker for side characters, and Twokinds delivers plenty in this category ^^
As time passes, I find more and more webcomics that really grab my attention, but Twokinds will always have that special nostalgia that can only be attained from being my first webcomic experience. With an astounding amount of 13 years on the internet, Twokinds has seen a lot of change. Sure, I didn’t get on the bandwagon till roughly the middle of Chapter 13, around 2010 (I think), but even since then a lot has changed.
I was still in high school at the time and I wasn’t much of a comic nut at the time, believe it or not. I would occasionally sketch some and daydream about some random action stories that never made it to paper. When I eventually stumbled upon Twokinds, it not only introduced me to webcomics, but also a proper introduction into the furry community (for better or for worse xD). It definitely ignited my initial passion for comics in general, which would lead me later to manga and graphic novels. It inspired me to sketch more often, eventually leaving me convinced to pursue (and recently complete!) an art degree at college over a tech degree. But most of all, it encouraged me (along with the help of Slightly Damned, but that’s a story for another fanart) to begin Mutt in the Middle.
When I began sketching more often after I began reading Twokinds, I wasn’t exactly super confident in my skills (heck, I’m still working on that problem…). But as I looked at Twokinds‘ humble beginnings (I mean that in the nicest way possible Tom!) and where it had gone, it gave me just enough confidence to put the pencil to the paper. If Tom had started in high school and had gone that far, maybe I could too! Of course I knew I was being a little optimistic, but I was willing to look like a fool trying rather than looking back at my life wondering if I could have done it.
Oh! I guess I should at least say a word or two about the actual fanart itself…
I haven’t been posting them here on this blog, but I’ve been designing several posters from different graphic design eras. I kinda wanted to give Art Nouveau another shot, and the concept of building a composition around Trace and Flora hugging came pretty easy to me. That said, I would normally fill the background elements with some complex designs (probably something nature-themed, leaves, flowers, etc.), but I was curious how it would look just left simple and clean like this. Also the hair, specifically Floras, not sure if I like how it came out. On my last Art Nouveau poster I did the hair long and stringy, more according to the style of that era, but I kinda wanted to keep Tom’s style and eventually it ended up somewhere awkwardly between the two…
Well, I’ve certainly been talking the night away and I better stop there before I unleash more boring “growing up” stories onto the depths of the internet. If you’ve never read it or never gave it much of a chance, please go take a look at: Twokinds Homepage. And if Tom Fischabach ever skims though this, HOLY CRAP!!! Er…I mean…thanks for everything! You’ve certainly made an impact on this random artist’s life ^^;