Saturday, December 06, 2008

Astro Boy!

This is my first time drawing Astro Boy, though I've been a fan of his since I was a kid. I used to carefully watch each weeks episode so that when Astro reported his adventure at the end I'd be able to catch his one inaccuracy. Was it right for Astro to teach kids that it's all right to lie if you're just kidding around?
I had one small problem with the above image...I wasn't sure of the short form for "Kilograms". I wasn't even sure if that was a whole lot of weight! Did I drop high school math and science too early? Perhaps. But I obviously wasn't paying enough attention anyway. I know that One Million of anything is an awful lot. So one million kg's of electo-gravitic weight ought to be impressive.
I confess that I am embarassed by my ignorance.

Here's Astro Boy being caught by surprise. Perhaps he just learned that I had to look up Metric weights on Wikipedia in order to complete the above drawing. I still use the old British system of weighing by Stone. I weigh exactly the same as one Chris Stone.
My good buddy Mike Cho pointed out that Astro looks a little like he's giving the finger. It's the way I simplified the fist with the first finger sticking out slightly. Mike's right, though. It does look a bit "bird-ish".

best,
j.bone
p.s. I have since educated myself further in matters of Metric. I am now better informed.

10 comments:

Paul Conrad said...

Dang J!,
That first image is hot. I'd love to buy a Astroboy children's book illustrated by you. Great linework and color. Wowza.

chrishaley said...

Yes!
These are fantastic!
Would you allow me to dream that you were inspired to draw these because of this?

j. said...

Paul - Thanks. An Astro Boy kid's book would be fun! Hopefully there'll be all kinds of Astro Boy merchandise when that CG movie comes out.

Chris Haley - Dream away, dream weaver :) I shall dash not thy hopes and dreams.

best,
j.

Will Sliney said...

Best way to remember it is that 1 kg = a box of cornflakes, thats what helped me pass maths anyways!!

Andrew Murray said...

I remember this version of the show when I was a kid where at the end credits there was like a flipbook version of Astro doing a 3/4 run cycle. weird how I remember that and only that.

great job!

Dominic Bugatto said...

These are great.

j. said...

Will - You'd think I had a better education. Thanks for the tip. I may have to let go of a useless bit of comic book trivia to retain that information but I will try!

Andrew - I remember that ending as well. But only with your suggestion. Didn't Astro speed up and eventually fly off the page in full color? Or am I making that part up.

Dominic - Thanks, man. Happy Holidays.

best,
j.

MC said...

That is some amazing work.

Dj said...

Astro Boy great superhero I really like him

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