Pleading Brilliance

Waffles Studies Volume One

2012-01-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

Waffles! She's a cat!

Yum!Jinka: An Art Book

2012-01-02T19:09:00.001-08:00

Poiizu is trying to get to Japan, and we have an opportunity to help her get there, and be part of an awesome art book! Wanna learn more? Click Here!

This is a part of my work-in-progress submission. Maybe you'll be able to see the finished product in print!

The Beloved Deposed

2011-12-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

Totalitarianism

2011-12-20T19:56:00.001-08:00

Thou Art a Villain. (Also, Boxnates.)

The Iron Curtain

2011-12-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hatoful Prom

2011-12-12T19:34:00.001-08:00

Seriously. This pigeon dating game is completely ridiculous. I don't even. I will never even again.

Cotton Candy

2011-12-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

Farewell to a Friend

2011-12-04T20:23:00.001-08:00

By-Tor left for greener pastures on Friday. She is survived by her sister, Cygnus. Safe passage. Me and Cyg will miss you and your gentle demeanor.

My Little Waffles

2011-12-01T20:23:00.001-08:00

DerpCat

2011-11-29T20:38:00.001-08:00

First I Herped, Then I Derped.

2011-11-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

I repainted a mini pony figure into Derpy Hooves. Wanna buy it?

Skyward Arch

2011-11-22T20:16:00.001-08:00

So far in my sketchbook, I've become a dragon-training viking, a pony, and a firebender among other things. A Skyloft Knight from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the logical progression, I think.

Occupy Canterlot

2011-10-29T21:34:00.001-07:00

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the only ponies in all of Equestria to have both a horn and wings. They really gotta pony up and redistribute that wealth. Some ponies have neither of these.

Geez.

My Little Pony © Hasbro

----------
Supplemental Tags for All the Google Love:

My Little Pony, Equestria, Occupy Canterlot, Princess Celestia, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth Pony, Friendship is Magic, Entitlement, Protest, Holy Crap Snow Already

Welcome, baby Hayden!

2011-10-16T18:52:00.001-07:00

My landlords just had a baby last week, so I doodled them a little card to congratulate them. :)

Put your hooves up!

2011-10-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Every Brony and Pegasista will come to ask this question at some point:

"What would I look like as a Pony?"

Points to anybody who can tell me what the butt-symbol is.

In this piece, I've done my best to emulate the Generation 4 style of My Little Pony. It's not a perfect rendition, but that's what gives it life. I tend to shun "photocopier" work that emulates the source material when making fan works. There are, however, some cases in which it makes sense-- such as introducing a non-canon character into a world.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is proof that quality transcends all demographics. What Lauren Faust and her fellow creative minds have done for the franchise is something truly ~~fantastic~~ magical. Just about anybody can enjoy it if they put their reservations aside and allow themselves to.

Crafty Devil

2011-09-25T20:06:00.001-07:00

Don't let those cute, bright little eyes fool you. Waffles May Hammond Clarkson has grown into one crafty little devil. She hides our socks and important post-it notes under our bed, and figures out how to be wherever she's not supposed to be.

HTTYD:FIM

2011-09-22T20:29:00.001-07:00

How To Train Your Dragon is really about the Magic of Friendship, right?

Right.

Guys.

2011-09-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Guys. I drew some sheep for you.

Best Seat in the House

2011-08-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Another Viking Girl

2011-07-12T18:26:00.001-07:00

I was watching Toddlers and Tiaras, and wondering how awesome it would be to be a Viking in Cressida Cowell's world. Next think I knew, I'd drawn this.

PortConMaine 2011 Art Contest

2011-06-29T18:03:00.001-07:00

This is what the first place plaque for the PortConMaine Artists' Alley looked like.

PortCon Dragons

2011-06-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Doodles of the PortConMaine dragon character for Artists' Alley 2011 materials.

Waffles, Lounging

2011-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

She's growing so fast...

... And she still doesn't sit still for long enough for me to take a good picture of her.

Awww!

Dog. Boy. Skateboard.

2011-05-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

She's Got Wings on Her Feets

2011-05-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Joe Strummer

2011-05-30T19:03:00.002-07:00

And I'll keep on listening to the great Joe Strummer, because through music, we can live forever. (Rancid - Indestructible)

Puppy

2011-05-30T19:03:00.001-07:00

Peep!

2011-05-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

This is what our new kitten looks like.

She has hilarious round pupils and is adorable.

Stapler Hats

2011-05-26T17:16:00.001-07:00

It's been more than a decade since my friends and I took on names from the Pokémon franchise. Kristie and I used to get into fun little spats about who got to go by the name "Ash." We attempted to settle this by purchasing our own exclusive Pokémon League hats from the local Spencer's. Whoever got theirs first would win.

We totally bought them at the same time. I ended up with the totally sweet nickname, though.

In hindsight, Kristie... You won. Seriously, Brock was the cooler character. I mean, he ended up with a Mudkip later in the show. A Mudkip!

IDK-my-BFF-Jenn was always "Misty." We tomboys didn't fight her for that one.

The Fifth Horseman

2011-05-23T18:50:00.001-07:00

... Is Derp.

If you make enough mistakes when trying to make your first custom My Little Pony doll, you end up with this little number.

This dolphin's splashin'

2011-05-09T18:52:00.001-07:00

This ain't Seaworld. This is as real as it gets!

Golly Gee Whiz

2011-04-28T16:45:00.001-07:00

Five Minutes in the Life of a Cat

2011-04-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

Deer in the Headlights

2011-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Instead of holding my ground, I'll trip myself. It's the path of least resistance, but unfortunately, it lets people walk all over me. Doing everything in my power to be benevolent leaves me with no power at all.

I could go for that backbone, but I don't think I would like the jerk I'd become.

Let's stay me.

You Can See His Stripes

2011-03-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

This little guy is from a fun project I'm working on.

Year of the Tiger. Represent.

Letters to Japan

2011-03-27T10:21:00.001-07:00

Click here to check out 3000 Letters for Japan. This wonderful project was coordinated by a JET teacher, and is a great way to bring a smile to a young Japanese student's face in this time of uncertainty.

I made a few of these little watercolor images with different pictures and messages, and sent them along for the project. Write a letter or two and join in!

Our Hearts Are With Japan

2011-03-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

I made this image a couple of weeks ago in reaction to the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. The image has been made available on a T-Shirt as part of Zazzle's Japan Relief project. All of my commission from every shirt sold goes to relief efforts.

Click here to check it out!

Grats, Mel!

2011-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

Mel got into the art school of her dreams. She's gonna kick butt there. And I think that's awesome.

The Marvelous Mae West

2011-02-27T15:30:00.001-08:00

You can't help but love Mae West. She was a woman's woman.

West Sea Represent

2011-02-25T18:36:00.001-08:00

Gastrodon West Sea is the greatest Pokémon ever. This is beyond argument.

That's why it deserves its own logo thing.

Gastrodon © Nintendo / Gamefreak

Elton John's Evil Bro Twin

2011-02-25T18:35:00.001-08:00

If Elton John had an evil twin who was also a Bro, he would probably look like this.

Fullmetal Fanart

2011-02-17T20:05:00.001-08:00

For the longest time, my husband and I refused to watch "Fullmetal Alchemist." We would go to our conventions and observe its squealing fans, and then say to each other, "No. This can't be a good show."

We recently found the series on Netflix, and it was far from terrible.

What.

Going for a Walk

2011-02-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

More musings about this Muse thing. I think I'm liking the "genericness" of this girl character.

Eroding the Human Soul

2011-02-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

You've got to hand it to Penny Arcade.

I don't know what you're handing to them, but you've got to do it.

Fanart of Tycho Brahe.

Viking Girl

2011-02-10T18:53:00.001-08:00

"How to Train Your Dragon" made me want to be a viking when I grow up.

Muse

2011-02-08T17:22:00.001-08:00

I'm going to try to tell you all the story of these "cat bat" dragon things. Here's a concept for an upcoming project.

Pleading Brilliance Dot Com

2011-01-31T19:36:00.001-08:00

Pleadingbrilliance.com is new.
Pleadingbrilliance.com is improved.
Pleadingbrilliance.com is new & improved.

An Axolotl?

2011-01-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

It's a dragon! It's a newt! It's an... axolotl? Existing somewhere between the realms of adorable and creepy, this creature gazes into your soul. Know that the important thing is that it loves you.

Like totally BFF

2011-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

So. I draw these cat-bat things.

Go Go Archxilla!

2011-01-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

Whoa-oa-oa-oah

This is an idea for a custom center square for my weekend DDR dance pad project.

Panda Time

2011-01-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

You know you want to wish somebody special a Happy Valentine's Day with an adorable Panda.

Chro and his Astromech

2010-12-15T18:14:00.001-08:00

Chro and his wise-cracking Astromech Droid, "Jimmy."

Arch and her Gonk Droid

2010-12-14T19:18:00.000-08:00

My character's name for the Mandalorian Mercs is Arch. It's not that I'm terribly unimaginative; it's just that... the Mercs is an actual organization, with events that Ian and I attend. I didn't want to learn to respond to a new nickname.

Gonk. Gonk.

More Gastrodons

2010-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

I FREAKIN' LOVE GASTRODON.

Sea Slug Adventures!

2010-11-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ian and I riding Gastrodons. (Work in Progress!)

Arch, Mandalorian Mercenary

2010-11-07T16:25:00.001-08:00

On Friday, Ian (Chro) and I (Arch) became official members for the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club. We are honored to be able to help represent the Wampa Squad! Here's my kit:

This Year's Pumpkin

2010-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's no Midna Pumpkin, but it's a pumpkin all the same.

re: Mel

2010-09-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

SOINIC BOOM!

BONUS SKETCH!

Ian wants to be a Street Fighter character, too. He just doesn't know it yet. But he'll know soon.

Cammy Lawlz

2010-09-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

I started this blog with the unsaid goal of posting something every day.

I'm not very good at this.

Here's today's something.

Gonna Burn Some Muscle!

2010-09-07T19:11:00.001-07:00

A while back, I was a Firebender. Now, I wanna be a Street Fighter when I grow up!

MEME TIME! Draw yourself as a Street Fighter character! I'll probably re-visit this one, because it's only vaguely Street Fighter-ey. I want to see what you come up with-- Post your responses here! We'll make a party of it! We can draw EPIC BATTLE SCENES! WHAT!

That 70s Band

2010-08-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

Pleading Brilliance! You know, that nonexistent band I made up, for which my website is named? Yeah! I remember it well! Barrington Stevenson on guitar, Lars Plauen on drums, Vince... Morganorsomething on other guitar and vocals, and that guy who played bass!

Rush, Rushing.

2010-08-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Tutorial Time: Mac OSX 10.6.x Won't Install Fonts

2010-08-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Working in the graphic design field, you learn a lot of handy little tricks for making artistic life behind a computer a little easier. I'd like to share these with you.

This particular problem was a real pain in the neck, and after searching things like "OSX Won't Install Fonts" and "OSX Cache Out Fonts" on Google, I couldn't find anybody who had the same problem.

Apparently, Mac OSX Snow Leopard hates it when you mess with its font cache. After using the cache-cleaning software "Cache Out" as per a suggestion from somebody at work, I found that I couldn't install new fonts on my work computer. After reinstalling OSX at work, I found that I had an identical problem on my home Mac. Here are the programs involved in both cases:

Home:
Cache Out
OSX 10.6.2
Using Font Book
Adobe CS4 Suite

Work:
Cache Out
OSX 10.6.2
Using Font Explorer X
Adobe CS4 Suite

I had been convinced that this was a Font Explorer issue or a corrupted font until I found out that my home machine was misbehaving as well.

Symptoms:
At work, Font Explorer X showed all non-system, non-Adobe fonts as "Unavailable." None of my Adobe software could find anything, save for Adobe's fonts and the System fonts.

At home, Font Book showed all of my 300 some-odd fonts as being installed, but none of the applications on my computer (CS4 software, OpenOffice, etc) could find the fonts.

The Fix:
Make a new User Account on your Mac. If everything's hunky dory there and you can install fonts, you can be pretty sure that your preference files are borked.

Condensed Tutorial: Make a new user account to allow OSX to write you some clean preferences, copy and paste these new preferences over your old preferences.

Step One: Back up your preference file, found at Users > (Your User Account) > Library > Preferences. Copy and paste all of these files to somewhere safe, like your desktop or a thumb drive.

Step Two: Get a thumb drive, external drive, or some other kind of media ready. Make a new user account. Go to your System Preferences, click Accounts, and if necessary, click the little padlock in the lower left of this window to make changes. Click the plus-sign below the listing on the left ("My Account," "Other Accounts,"...) and go through the steps to make a new account.

Step Three: Log into your new account. Go to Users > (New Account User) > Library > Preferences, and copy these files to your external media.

Step Four: Log out of your new account. Log into your regular account, and copy all of your new preference files from your external media. Paste them into your Users > (Your User Account) > Library > Preferences folder.

Step Five: Bask in the glory of your fonts working again.

Note: Keep all of your old preferences handy, in case there was something in there that you needed.

I'm Carbon

2010-08-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

Our friends Aaron and Yoi have this cat. He is ~20 pounds of AWESOME MUSH, and despite all rationality, I constantly feel the need to have this cat in my highly allergic face.

My Name is Brodie

2010-08-03T20:09:00.001-07:00

I learned two things while drawing this:

1) Tom Selleck is awesome.
2) I am scared to death of Jason Lee.

Lars Revisited Again

2010-07-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Lars is an original character I made back in high school. Every few years, it's fun to do a revisit of things I used to draw and see how much my style has changed.

Link fights an invisible enemy

2010-07-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Quick! Z-Target! Parry! Slash! Slice! Lens of Truth! Hey! Listen!

Part IV of "Fear"

2010-07-13T19:19:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I freeze

Some Chick

2010-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ian: "... Who's that?"
Me: "Some chick.

Maybe Someday...

2010-07-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Teifling Rogue Doodle

2010-07-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

Thena was probably the trashiest lockpick ever.

Bropunk

2010-07-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

Our Captain, DJ Kipz, has invented many things in his day. Bropunk is not least of which.

More Angry Beavers

2010-07-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I do not believe what I am hearing with my ears which look like fins on my back.

Love Letter to Imp Midna Part Two

2010-06-28T19:27:00.001-07:00

PortConMaine was awesome this year. Each year I figure things out a little more, and enjoy myself a little more. The Artists' Alley went quite smoothly this year, I think!

But I still HATE drawing Midna's helm. I stuck this doodle to the door of Artists' Alley so that everybody would know.

Art staff was at at all-out DOODLE WAR with InfoDesk this year. I think that this middle-school-esque note-passing was indeed a highlight of my weekend. Now I have a staff binder full of FANTASTIC Mel arts. :D

Big thanks to everybody who came by to support the AWESOMENESS that was the PortConMaine 2010 Artists' Alley! :D

I FREAKIN' LOVE GOLF!

By-Tor and Cygnus

2010-06-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

My two adorable gerbils from Lee are about eleven months old now. By-Tor is a little bigger than Cygnus, and she's more shy. Cyg is the smaller and more outgoing one, and she likes to push By-Tor around from time to time. It's amazing to have seen their personalities develop! Time flies when you've got cute widdul baybiez omuhgud who's a cute wil' gerbily-werbly-doo? Omnomnomnomnom! Oogabooga! Pssh blub blub blub!

Les Bevoirs Angreez

2010-06-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

So I got to thinking: What if Ian and I were beavers?
And then I got to more thinking: What if Ian and I were Angry Beavers?

Ian's a firebender, too.

2010-05-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'd be lying if I said that the appearance of this on my doodling page didn't have anything to do with Mel's awesome waterbender picture. It's some kinda reciprocity or something. ;) I wanna draw all of my friends as elemental benders now-- That'd be a wicked fun project!

I really want to start a tabletop RPG based around Avatar: The Last Airbender as well. Like whoa.

Girl With Pigtails

2010-05-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

She's got pigtails! And boots.

OMG DRAGON THING

2010-05-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yaaayy!

Ian and the Sun: WHAT

2010-05-05T20:08:00.001-07:00

I don't know what's going on, either.

Arch of the Fire Nation

2010-04-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an amazing series. It took me way too long to realize this and check it out.

Needle-felted Pokemon

2010-04-25T18:04:00.001-07:00

Umbreon and Espeon!

Needle felting is a pain. No, really, it is. As the name indicates, the use of a very sharp needle is integral to the process of creating needle-felted figurines. My poor fingertips.

Protip:

2010-04-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

Gastrodon West Sea is a pretty rad Pokémon.

Shadow

2010-03-14T17:14:00.001-07:00

I decided to try my hand at needle felting. It's a lot of fun! This is a small piece, to remind my of the cat I had when I was growing up.

All Good People

2010-02-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

Don't Surround Yourself With Yourself

So I do this thing where I draw portraits of my favorite musicians in this really unrefined high-saturation style.

Jon Anderson has one of my favorite voices in music.

SHARP DISTANCE

2010-02-23T19:28:00.001-08:00

WIP: Jon Anderson (of progressive rock band Yes fame).

On a happier note

2010-02-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

I've got to think of the things that make me happy instead.

One of those days

2010-02-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Midna Munny

2010-01-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

The awesome Mel got me a Munny doll for Christmas.

I knew exactly what to do with it.

I'll try to get better pictures sometime. I spend all of the good daylight hours at work, and natural light is the best light source I have for these things.

Thanks, Mel! :D

Five Years

2010-01-04T17:00:00.001-08:00

Fox Kit

2009-12-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

I saw "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" last week, and I think that it was because of this that I doodled a fox kit in Illustrator. D'awr!

You can buy stuff with this fox on it at my Zazzle Shop if you are so inclined!

Shrimp Cot?

2009-11-18T16:05:00.001-08:00

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson contemplate the finer points of life in my sketchbook.

I'm trying to refine my style so that I can create actual likenesses of people... In a caricature sense, of course.

More Midna!

2009-11-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

... I can't help it.

Me and Ian

2009-10-25T16:49:00.001-07:00

Twilight Pumpkin Take II

2009-10-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, I finally made that Midna pumpkin. Unfortunately, I didn't get any half-decent photos of it until this evening. The pumpkin has had time to shrivel a bit, and her poor little foot has almost shriveled up! Depressing! I am impressed at how okay-looking the pumpkin came out, however. It has been years since I've tackled one of these.

Ian made himself a Mandalorian Helmet pumpkin because he is a dork.

Twilight Pumpkin

2009-10-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

Are you making a Midna Halloween pumpkin this year?

Because I Totally Am!

Cat Christmas Card

2009-10-15T15:54:00.001-07:00

Blank greeting cards with this picture should be available in my Etsy shop soon (sans Picasa compression, of course!)

Christmas Card WIP

2009-10-08T13:33:00.001-07:00

I'm working on a series of Christmas cards this year. Here's a work-in-progress of one of the designs. Hooray digital linework!

Bringing the Body Back

2009-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, here's the deal. Photoshop Disasters posted a Ralph Lauren ad, Blogger received a Take-Down Notice, and Boing Boing went to town. Then, the Huffington Post picked the image up, and I decided to add 30 pounds to the model. I would like to thank the Clone Stamp tool, and would like to note that the model is still too damn skinny. The original image can be found in the above links.

10/15/09: This model was fired recently. She's reportedly a size 8, and she was fired for being "too fat." Really, Ralph Lauren? Really?

#104 -- Pawn Shop

2009-09-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Saco's Angels has updated again! Wow!