Topic: The Gonzo has art.

[Dr. Wily II]

I guess she wins all the staring contests.

[The Great Gonzo]

And then some.

Poor Megaman must work some VERY long hours...

The 'bot next to him is a new guy of mine, Sleepman. He has absolutely no on-board weapons (or even any real armour) and seems to be a side-project of Wily's; Sleepman is very passive and friendly, and is in charge of making energy capsules and tanks. He's usually seen carrying a pillow with him everywhere, since his energy system isn't the best.

What inspired this? Peacekeeper inspired this.

I've talked about them before, but for those unaware of them, Peacekeeper was a site for Megaman fanfics. A good deal of said fics are yaoi/boys' love, which would be fine by me if it weren't fairly cliche at best (and suffering from Everybody Has Lots of Sex Syndrome). There seems to be a rudimentary attempt at a shared universe (in the Classic section, at least; I didn't read all the fics. ~Dracozombie described it as one author introducing a new element in their stories that the other authors would quickly integrate into their own fics, IIRC), and quite a bit of gratuitous Japanese to go around.

The point of this image is not to criticize Peacekeeper, though (that's been done already). I got the idea to draw some of the now-uncommon RM pairings they thought up, along with any fanon physical traits the author(s) might've given them.

First up is Shadow/Crystal, from Luna Tiger's story, "Crystal Reader". The fic itself was fairly uneventful (which, combined with its near-adult rating, should say a lot), though I think it might've been part of a series that wasn't posted on the site.

* Crystalman is consistently referred to as a Gypsy/Roma, hence the darker skin. He also has gray eyes (though they turn their normal red while he's fortune-telling).

* Shadowman's eyes are violet; other than that, I don't recall any changes made to his design.

* Crystal and Shadow's civilian names are "Suishou" and "Kage", respectively; Shadow's also referred to as a "kagemusha" ("shadow warrior"; Protoman's given that title in another fic by Steph). Told you there was gratuitous Japanese.

* This pic isn't very pairing-y because this isn't one of my OTPs.


The pic itself was coloured in Photoshop 3.4, with some adjustments in Elements 7 (mostly to the background, because it came out too dark. I wanted to soft-shade this one (and the others in the series), and I think it turned out well enough. Not sure if the perspective on Shadowman is any good, though.

Quick/Ring was discussed at the end of "Crystal Reader" (which was predominantly Shadow/Crystal), though it was strongly implied that Quick would get with just about anyone.

Now that I've drawn them in the same pic, they look vaguely similar to me...mostly colour scheme-wise, though.

For this pic (no modifications made in Elements 7), I remembered how to make speedline backgrounds.

Perhaps the joke would've worked better if they were completely in frame.

A pairing from a different Peacekeeper fic; this one was unusual to me not because of Rock/Centaur, but because Centaur can apparently walk around without his back legs (I'm assuming he switched out his normal horse body for human legs).

* Centaur's outfit is based on his own colour scheme and some men's winter wear found via Google (I think the exact site was an online store?); Rock's, on the one Roll was wearing on the cover of Capcom Girls 2011.

* Aside from his bangs covering one eye, not much description was made of Centaur's appearance. I borrowed the ponytail off of some older Centaur pics of ~MSipher's (maybe it was just that one mugshot).

Coloured in Photoshop 3.4, with adjustments made in Elements 7.

Obviously not related to Peacekeeper; it was going to be soft-shaded, but I was getting ready for a break and wanted to finish this quickly, so cel-shading it was.

Proto has many grievances with his creator, and I'm guessing Quakewoman will be at least a little bitter over what Dr. Lalinde did to her. I don't know how long this pairing would last, but I'm sure one of them would at least want to talk to the other.

[Dr. Wily II]

Sleep Man...
Sounds like a more productive Eddie.

[The Great Gonzo]

Yep.

"Hey, Kalinka--you've been friends with Megaman for a while now, right? Did he ever tell you how he can continue fighting without wanting to put that Buster to his head?"

"It's not that he doesn't suffer..."


Saw 14-year-old Kalinka's design in Xover (yes, Capcom finally remembered her...albeit they stuck her in a terrible-looking social RPG) and wanted to draw it real quick; Luka (who doesn't seem to be sitting on that table properly) was a bonus, kinda.

Were you hoping to use your knowledge of Rock and Proto's relationship to blackmail them?

Sorry, but Rock stone-cold does not give a [tornado fang].


...methinks going through the Peacekeeper archives via Wayback Machine subconsciously inspired this. Or maybe I just want to draw some slash/dom!Rock. (Can I still not draw people kissing or is it just me?)

Photoshop 3.4; no adjustments in Elements 7 necessary.

More Peacekeeper-related guff (hence Elecman's yellow eyes).

You know what I find really odd about this pairing (which I believe was not limited to one author on Peacekeeper)? Almost no one else ships it. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I only saw, like, ONE Elec/Metal pic on dA, and their appearances didn't match the in-fic ones I saw.

Maybe it's not that popular because it'd be too obvious, what with metal conducting electricity and all (that, and maybe Peacekeeper spoiled it).

Despite what Elecman's expression might leave you to believe, PK!Elec/Metal was very consensual. It's just that I can't see this pairing going any other way than "I enjoy watching you fry".


* I'd thought that Metal's eye colour had been derived from his NES mugshot, but no, it was apparently just his CW art that gave him green eyes.

I stupidly forgot to add the text until the last second. (Added in Elements 7, because I'm not going to turn my downstairs XP back on just to wrestle with PS 3.4's crappy text system)

I asked ~Lilac-DownDeep for some other Peacekeeper pairings, and this was the first one to catch my eye among the various authors/fics I was linked to. "History of Us" by Lady Virgo (I'm kinda afraid to list her other name in case someone gets the bright idea to yell at her) is incredibly long, and so far I'm only up to the first chapter of "Thunder Child" (pre/during MM1), so I didn't really read the story containing Pharaoh/Magnet and just quickly skimmed through it for eye colours.

Now, to be honest...I'm not sure if this pairing was actually consensual. PK!Pharaohman is one of their designated bastards (to put it non-triggery) and "pairings" involving him and other designated bastards rarely end well.

Uh...maybe I can get away with them not fighting each other in this pic 'cuz they're not facing each other?


* It was here that I noticed something odd about (canon/game) Pharaohman's gauntlets: he's been portrayed with both "white buster and tan gauntlet" and "two white gauntlets" (RS-Pharaoh's were the latter).

I really hope my "(C) RADIX" writing is legible against those clouds.

Kinda changed things up a bit with this Peacekeeper stuff and drew the group from Lady Virgo's fic "Mrs. LaLaurie's Ghost" (which, while not being predominantly slash, still had quite a bit of it. That tends to be a thing with Peacekeeper fics) It may just be False Memory Syndrome at work, but I can't remember anyone but Proto's clothes being described, and Slashman might've only worn that jacket at the end of the fic. So the designs seen here are a combination of my own and whatever physical traits they were given in-fic (that I remembered).

* It's hard to tell, but Shadowman's eyes are violet. Since the fic (and History of Us by the same author) seems to have the Ariga designs in mind, whoever first game Shad violet eyes was probably going off that pixel-art of Shadowman, which doesn't really show that his eyes are red.

* Quickman had brown hair. RADIX!Quickman having brown hair looks...weird. (It was his idea to go to an abandoned, highly-probably-haunted mansion, BTW)

* Shadowman and Quickman are an item in that fic (IIRC it's most evident at the end). I don't know if History of Us included SAR (or if "Mrs. LaLaurie's Ghost" follows that fanon), and I dunno if SAR's existence was known of back in the early '00s.

* Speaking of items, Bass and Proto were also together; the former is incredibly protective of the latter, demonstrated when he notices the gigantic ghost-inflicted gashes on Proto's back.

* IIRC, both Shadowman and Proto are referred to as "kagemusha" at some point(s), and Zero was given the title of "the Hunter" (or maybe it was Slashman who was the Hunter? Man I'm tired).

* Maybe it was just me, but some of Proto's behavior reminded me of RS-Proto.

* Bass has gold eyes, which seems to be another common Peacekeeper thing. I have no idea where they might've derived that from.

* Slashman is prone to panic attacks. Virgo's robots seem to be a direct emulation of humans (as in, brain chemicals and all that), so I guess that helps explain why a robot would need injections for that.

* I wish I could remember what Zero was doing there, aside from "getting dragged along and spotting a psychotic ghost in a window".


Photoshop 3.4; no adjustments made in Elements 7.

[Dr. Wily II]

Mega... Forcing on Proto...

I THOUGHT IT'S THE OTHER WAY ROUND D:

[The Great Gonzo]

Being a sub all the time would get boring, I'd think.

More dream-based stuff (though IIRC Rock had been wearing gloves...d'oh), this time of a brief "shot" of Rock and Ranay (at least, I'm assuming it was Ranay) wearing what they are up there.

Ranay's clothes actually fit, though Rock's don't quite look like they once belonged to Dr. Light.

[Joseph Collins]

A bit late on this, but I just want to say, Kalinka makes me happy. 

[Dr. Wily II]

>once belonged to Dr. Light
>

[The Great Gonzo]

A bit late on this, but I just want to say, Kalinka makes me happy. 

>once belonged to Dr. Light
>

;

Up to #43 now. Not that many pages left.


* My helmetless Timeman actually has mostly-light-brown hair. D'oh. Also, it took me a while to realize that Archie-Proto wore proper clothes for one panel of #17.

* Coldman doesn't appear on these pages often because he's a pain in the ass to draw on-model.

* I may have given Classic Aika one of her Navi self's outfits. Whoops.

* Really not sure about that Classic Dizzy design...

* Cardwoman didn't have any actual art (none that I saw, anyway), and so I improvised on pretty much her entire design.

* These three oddball RMs (designed by the Gpara staff) were the only ones that weren't parodies of something (and Diceman was just a bunch of floating dice). Princess Blossom's colour scheme was non-existent, so I made my own.

* That semi-MM8 outfit Roll's wearing is based on what my Koto-Roll looks like at the moment.

* Battle Beast was a mid-90s PC game that I didn't have much luck playing as a kid (think I only ever had the demo).

* Emeraldman was the only (fan-made) character in "Taco: The Comic" who wasn't re-deco'd by the premature end of it.

* I wonder what male!Farfalla's name'd be...

* More-or-less how I imagine Archie-Oilman looks under that scarf.

* Sleepman originally had proper armour, but swiftly lost it. Sleeping in armour can't be that comfortable.

* If RS-MM had continued and ever had Rock temporarily join Wily (fat chance, but it'd be the total opposite of all those "Proto turns good and is arbitrarily no longer a [Bumpity-Boom!] Blood Knight" fan-stories), I guess they'd utilize Quint's armour?

* Only Roll's winter wear was designed by someone other than me. Might digitize this later, or draw everyone standing next to their significant others.

* Out of all the Operators in the greater MM series (at least the ones that got used), I don't remember seeing any art for the ZX ones yet. There doesn't seem to be any official art of them, so I had to go off the sprites; dunno if they appear in the manga. (Tulip got left out due to space reasons)

* This is the only version of Elecman I've seen with bright red hair.

* "Poison of Love" (the rewritten version) was the only Peacekeeper fic that didn't seem to really fit into whatever rudimentary shared universe it had (and to be honest, Wily's inexplicable misogyny turned me off to the fic, even though we're not meant to agree with him. I know that actual female RMs wouldn't come along until much later, but come on). It took me a bit to find existing designs for Rhythm and Rose, and even then Rhythm's might be off.

* Something I didn't notice until they were drawn side-by-side: 14-year-old Kalinka and my casual Luka have similar colour schemes. They've even got white fluff/fur on their collars.

* I find these units from Rockman Strategy (and the more powerful versions/fusions...bizarrely, the most powerful flight unit is not a bird like the other flight units, but a dragon) a bit confusing--are they "redeemed" versions of the more-evil looking 'bots, or just hired help? Apparently all of these units, evil-looking or not, have their pseudo-sprites labelled as "enemy", even though the brighter versions' battle "sprites" face the left (in Strategy, the good guys ONLY face the left in battle). No one's translated Strategy yet, AFAIK, so I guess I'll have to ask someone that played it.

Also, that bird appears to be the only unit that starts off looking more like a helper.

* I read that "Indigo Invader" was the other nickname for Megaman Nintendo Power used in the same issue they introduced "Blue Bomber". Blue isn't really indigo...but then, the Captain N version of him ended up green, so maybe 80s TVs were just that crappy.

* Finally we have a comparison of three Needlewomen. Mine was stuck in the wash with something red.

[Joseph Collins]

*sees Coldman and Skull...woman? drinking green apple martinis and has to giggle-snort*

Heh, sorry.  I was just think about Daniels and Kazarian on TNA iMPACT Wrestling.  And their green apple martinis.

[The Great Gonzo]

Never saw iMPACT, myself. (And Skullman's still SkullMAN.)

Now that the contest's over, I guess it's OK to post this. (Relevant journal: http://fav.me/d5i0o6f ) Front and back covers are separate there (as they may be on Pixiv if I can figure out how the "multiple pics in one submission" thing works).

This took me a long time to finish, but I'm happy with how both sides turned out. 

Classic Megaman, X, Volnutt, and Hub got to be on the cover, whereas for the back I tried to include every canon Megaman that was in the games or TV shows. (Possible loophole abuse in effect for my version of BBAMM) Also tried to have some interaction going on between them, rather than have everyone just stand there.

Admittedly, I'm not that familiar with Mega-music titles outside Classic, so much of the track list was compiled by going through YouTube vids. I tried to pick some songs that haven't gotten many/any official remixes; to be honest, I think some of the songs would require remix styles that stretch the definition of "techno".

(Now that I'm looking at that back cover again, on a normal sleep schedule, I'm seeing all sorts of mistakes. D'oh)


I'd suggest checking out the other entries as well; I think everyone did a good job with the album covers/backs.

[Joseph Collins]

... I want this album.  This specific album.

[The Great Gonzo]

If only Capcom put as much effort into the cover art as we did...


Sketches of Splashy with legs.

Suddenly all that "Proto = kagemusha" stuff makes more sense.

I'm currently reading "History of Us"; in it, Shadowman is (presumably) not a displaced alien, but a copy of Protoman. Not quite an exact one, I think, but enough to give Shadow some existential issues. Probably not helped by HoU!Proto being kind of a twat (why hello there, RS-MM influence).

Being a copy of Proto, Shadowman also gets to experience the joys of the Surge (essentially "the boss turns red"), which is an effect of the Gel that he and Proto have instead of blood. IIRC, Proto modified the Gel's formula so that other robots wouldn't be plagued by the Surge. This act pushes Alfred Wily further towards the edge...whoops.


Experimented a bit with colour here; primarily Photoshop 3.4, with some adjustments in Elements 7 (mostly because some colours came out too dark).


* Proto had a katana that he passed down to Shadow, a big indicator that HoU has the Ariga designs in mind (maybe. How well-known was Ariga's stuff in '02, when the sub-stories "All Honesty Aside" and "Into the Night" was written?

* Unsurprisingly, Shadow and Proto have a brief (non-romantic) affair; this at a time when Shadow's still struggling with his feelings for Quickman.

* Proto's red eyes are another side-effect(?) of the Gel.

* No, I did not mistakenly type "Alfred" instead of "Albert".

[Title: Nasty surprise] TO SAY THE LEAST.

As mentioned previously, I'm currently reading Lady Virgo's "History of Us". It's not too bad so far, though it's not without...problems.

I was on the sub-story "All Honesty Aside", which has a lot of setup for Quick/Shadow (mostly Foe Yay at that point), and was reading along and enjoying the bits of character interaction (mostly between Quickman and Metalman) and OH GODDAMMIT MAGNETMAN'S A DESIGNATED BASTARD.

Specifically, he's part of the Enforcers (along with Flashman, and later Pharaoh and Skull). In theory, their job is to keep the more "troublesome" RMs in line, and out of what little hair Wily has left. In practice...

I'm gonna be blunt. Their name might as well be "the Violators", 'cuz that's what they do to their victims, whether specifically told to dole out punishment or not. Magnet (and Flash?) starts off his career by assaulting Iceman, Heatman, and Crashman (who, for bonus "cold shower" points, are on the younger end of the AI spectrum), and it just gets worse from there.

Wily allows them to do this, and isn't much better himself. If you know what I oh God stop.

So...yeah. That came right out of the middle of Nowhere County, and is going to make "The One Who Had Fallen" (which focuses on Magnet and Pharaoh) really hard to finish.

It all prompted this pic (coloured in Photoshop 3.4, with my sig. moved down in Elements 7 due to visibility issues). My version of Magnet was taken off-guard by this turn of events, as well. Unfortunately he's sitting next to Iceman, who's already got the stink-eye on him for flirting with Roll.


* Don't ask me what kind of face Ice is making.

"I can't make any promises."

More Quake/Proto guff. I started out trying to emulate :devmattherms:'s style of colouring, but ended up just doing my own thing (which seems to happen often).

Poor kids.


(Contemplating sending this to Archie, but I'm afraid that doing so would prevent them from trying something like this in the comic proper, what with legal issues surrounding using fan ideas and all)

[Dr. Wily II]

So E-Tank juice is green...

[Sakura Leic]

So E-Tank juice is green...

Makes sense, it was green in the Ruby Spears cartoon though it was also glowing.

[Dr. Wily II]

So E-Tank juice is nuclear waste...

[Sakura Leic]

Essentially it was and Eddie was carrying it, and now I want a picture of Eddie being a shady dealer for such things for some odd reason.

[The Great Gonzo]

Nuclear waste, huh?

Something compelled me to draw some RS-verse progeny.

At one point in my unwritten story, Wily retires (probably just to train Yuri for serious world-domination antics), thus Rock is able to raise his kids in peace (sorta).

* Trill is mostly unchanged; Van and Lee received some minor tweaks as not to be recolours of their dad and uncle, respectively. Lee also wound up with his dad's E-tank hoodie (which, in hindsight, should be WAY bigger on him...).

* Rhythm's hair should probably be darker. :/ By the time she's built, Ran has picked up a lot of Proto's characteristics, and so despite not knowing her "father" for a long time, Rhythm seems to take after him quite a bit.

* Ark is new, as is Gina. (He's named after a character of ~KaitlinEXE's, though that may be subject to change) He's very worried about his Dad's health (Elecman's powers flaws can't be fixed) and even though he's urged not to worry about it, he's very stressed-out.

* Gina has some reservations about the fact that her dad is Gutsman, and is always trying to prove that she's not like him--mostly through protecting the Light kids.


* Obviously, all of these guys were built, not "born".

* Somehow, Ran swiped Proto's blueprints (or a copy of them) and lived.

* Kaitlin & Elecman and Gutsman & Farfalla were probably only able to get together because of Wily's "retirement"/hiatus.


Adult/armours forthcoming?

[Dr. Wily II]

Rock raises kids. D:

Also makes you think who is the real evil, Rock drinking all that nuclear waste.

[The Great Gonzo]

I wonder if Rock even knows what it really is? ;

Borrowing a copy of Kirby: Mass Attack probably led to this.

Wanted to draw something cute in MS Paint; this was the result. Rock and Kirby would become good friends if they ever met officially, I'd hope.

(Colours pulled from the Kirby Super Star Ultra palette.)

[Gaia]

How'd you get ahold of the Super Star Ultra pallete? I was hunting that down myself, since I can't find the Mega Man palletes beyond the 8-bit saga. 

[The Great Gonzo]

The Spriter's Resource has rips. I guess what I should've said was "I ganked the colours from some Kirby sprites".


Also, out of curiousity: does anyone wanna collab with me on a pic or something? (I should be working on Blackburn, but it's going slow...hrm.)

[Dr. Wily II]

They either become friends, or Rock mistakes Kirby for a Petit Devil.

[The Great Gonzo]

Heh.

Oh, and speaking of Blackburn...

I think depressing/annoying MM news does bad things to my motivation. :/ (The condescending and/or abusive comments inevitably left on certain topics don't help, either)

So yeah, the fighter just got its [parasitic bomb] wrecked (before anyone accuses Megaman or Protoman of giving Sir F-fuzzy Logik an idea, the knight was going to shoot the fighter anyway).

Posted on: October 24, 2012, 01:15:08 AM

Took me roughly two days to complete; 'twas at least partially brought on by the upcoming "When Worlds Collide" (I say "partially" because there won't be any Archie-exclusive Sonic characters present).

The Sonic characters I chose (with the lower number of Classic-MM ladies, it ended up being mostly Sonic) were more prominent back when I was reading the comic ('02 to '06-ish, with back issues from the mid-to-late 90s), so I guess this doubles as a nostalgia piece for me? (I haven't read the book in forever, so they're probably still prominent, excluding Hershey).

This was also a test of some thicker paper Dad gave to me whilst we were going through his stuff in the garage; verdict is that it's very good, but the ink from my Microns takes some time to dry.

Hershey and Lumina were added after I'd already scanned the original pic; there was too much room left over beside Lupe and Mina, and I'd already fixed the bottom row of girls to fit the first ring I made. So I busted out the tracing paper and drew the last two; I think the difference in paper shows. :/ (And what exactly are you resting that hand on, Hershey?)

Overall, I'm happy with how this turned out, even if it ended up eating most of my day. Some of these characters (Lupe, Hope, Saffron, etc.) I haven't drawn in ages, and it's nice to see how much my renditions of them have improved (I think Saffron was in an old Chaotic group shot 'o mine... I'll have to dig that up some day).

Apparently one can take their artwork to my local comic shop and have it put on the walls...been thinking of printing a copy of this out and trying that.

[Joseph Collins]

Okay, that's it.  The crossover image did it.  I can't hold back anymore.

Are you on an art site somewhere?  Because this demands to be favorited.