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Hi, everyone! Now that the first piece of art for the contest has been posted, we thought we would start this thread so that people can post links and information about the comic or manga on which their entry is based. We realize that not everyone will have read the same things, so it may help people appreciate various entries better if they can go see what the comic/manga is about or find out why the artist felt that this RTH character works as that comic/manga character.

Feel free to post links here (to online versions, art galleries, or just pages that explain what the comic/manga is), or samples of art, or just what your thinking process was for your entry.

yay! Me first!

So .. My first entry (Because I'm still working on the TT one) was Honey as Temari! I'm likely going to do a couple of Naruto ones (sorry guys .. *not so closet Narutard* if you stopped watching in the first season *pokes Mel* you really should pick up Shippuden! well worth it! I hated it after the first season because it's a lot of filler but when they grow up it's very good and is what got me watching! But I would also seriously suggest watching it in Japanese with the subtitles because it is much better and then Kakashi doesn't sound like a pedophile haha! But I digress!)

SO! Honey as Temari!

Here is a little information on Temari from the Nartuopedia - http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Temari

I think that this is a good description of Temari's attitude "Temari is generally overbearing, if not blunt, toward those around her, rarely afraid to speak her mind. Temari does have a caring side, however, and is not above showing concern for others." and I think that Honey fits right in with that!

I had played with the idea of putting Thornbow in the Kankuro or Gaara (Temari's brother's) place .. but he wasn't emo enough haha!

Anyways! That .. and Temari was blond with green eyes! It was perfect *cough*

So .. there ya go!

My turn!

The piece I just turned in is based on a webcomic called "Gunnerkrigg Court". Unfortunately, the website itself doesn't have a good background/summary page, but the Wikipedia page is helpful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnerkrigg_Court

It's hard to explain, but... it's kind of about a school for British kids (similar to Harry Potter/Hogwarts, in the sense that both Hogwarts and Gunnerkrigg are based on the same concept of the British school system) with a scientific focus, that exists in sort of opposition to a world of myth and magic. It has a lot of archives, but IMO it's a fast read. It's also a webcomic that updates regularly and faithfully, on MWF.

The main character is Antimony Carver (that's who Copper is playing) -- she's a very sober, serious young girl with bright reddish hair, who exhibits unusual talent as a "medium" (someone who communicates with the spirit-world). In the comic, she has a stuffed wolf toy that is possessed by the spirit of Reynard the Fox (so that's who Bearkiller is playing ).

Her best friend is Kat Donlan, who is as talented in all pursuits of science as Antimony is in spiritual matters. If I wasn't trying to stick to kids, I might have used Beetle in that role, but Kat is black-haired, and I decided that amongst the elves, "scientist" could sort of be equated to "crafter". In the comic, Kat and Annie are the same age, but I decided to keep the girls' relative ages apparent here.

I based the background on a panel from the comic. It shows the brightly-lit bridge over a deep chasm that separates the city/school of Gunnerkrigg Court from the Gillitie Wood, where all the magical beings dwell (seen in the far background). While this is a simple background reminiscent of the series and its themes, it's actually also a bit inaccurate. Students aren't really allowed to be on the bridge except in special circumstances.

Honey as Emma Frost

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Frost

In my opinion there are a lot of commonalities between Honey and Emma Frost, both in appearance and attitude. My submission shows Honey as Emma Frost in her diamond form, a secondary mutant ability that turns her nearly invulnerable. It was actually one of Frost's furred bikini/cape costumes that first reminded me of Honey since it even resembled Honey's outfit, but I chose something that showed just a little more skin because I was going for the diamond form.

I had a small window of opportunity to draw, hoping to make more submissions if I can... *eyeballs Moss for a super hero makeover*

Okay, so about my entry :

Actually, to be honest I had the idea and started on this picture even before the contest was announced . The inspiration for it was the line in Lyn's story "Not Chosen": "I choose you, Wasp!" Reading it made me laugh and imagine Blacksnake as a Pokémon trainer, so I decided to draw him as Ash .

Though, I think he fits well for Ash apart from that . For one thing, Ash was Blacksnake's cub name! Also, while he isn't that exuberant as Ash is, they sure share their ambition and will to work hard for their goals.

I was thinking about which comic would be nice to put Pathmark in, and around the same time I was thinking about reading Sarah & Robin again. I realised there might be some nice similarities if I'd put Fadestar in the mix as the blackhaired Sarah, while Pathmark would take on Robin's role. Eventually I drew him as Mouse, because it fits the story better.

Okay, the comic is about this girl, Sarah, who finds a boy in the woods. The boy, Robin, is very surprised she can see him, because actually he's invisible and doesn't exist. He was made up by a boy to play with him, because the kid didn't have any friends, and the two of them would go on all kinds of adventures. It turns out Robin had been waiting for that boy to return to play with him for 60 years! That's why his clothing looks so outdated compared to Sarah's. After grandpa starts talking to the boy "but he's invisible!", they find out that it was actually Sarah's grandpa who made up Robin. He used to tell Sarah bedtime stories about himself and Robin and Sarah always believed Robin to be a real kid, that's why she could see him. The comics are full of child logic like that, I love it.

The connection I see with Fadestar and Pathmark, is the fact that Robin waited so many years in that tree for his playmate to return. Pathmark waited all this time for Fadestar to be unwrapped, and I can imagine she might've had dreams during her long sleep in which she'd play with Mouse and she'd be fit and strong like all the other elves. It's why I decided to go for the child version of Pathmark.

I tried to ink and color a bit like it was done in the comic itself, like the way I drew the treebark and colored Fadestar's hair. I can't do leaves like that artist though, I failed to do nice leaves. :o

Creator's site (another Flemish one): http://www.stevendupre.be
There's some pictures there ( http://www.stevendupre.be/xstrips.php?cat=4 ) too, under Albums, Ex-libris and Varia. There's not much else online, 'cause there's only 5 albums and they're from the '90s. I emailed Dupré last year, but he said he's busy with other comics and there'll be no new Sarah & Robin.

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I found out that this site http://lambiek.net (where I found the Biebel picture) with information about hundreds comicbook creators, including all those europeans, is mostly in english. They're alphabetized by last name.

I wanted to do a "Suske en Wiske" picture, because they're part of comic history in Belgium and very well known in the Netherlands as well. I decided to pick some of the younger kids for this, and Cinder and Glow are perfect for it. They might not look the part, but their personalities are alike to those of the original cartoon heroes. I think I accidenatlly drew them a little bit too old, but I hope that's okay.

Here's a link to some information about the comic and it's characters originally created by Vandersteen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_and_Suzy
The official site: http://www.suskeenwiske.be/ (titles and covers under strips » albumoverzicht)
And a picture I used for reference: http://www.terpentijn.com/picts/22276.jpg

On my picture:

Dream and Death are comic character of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" series, which is about the Endless who are the seven personifications of human notions: From oldest to youngest they're Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium. The series mostly revolves around Dream, who, at the beginning of the comic, is captured for 70 years and after that, starts to rebuild his kingdom: The realm of Dreams. It's a hellish job, and the melancholic Dream, who's very much an einzelganger, is mostly a tragic hero character. Though at the start he seems merciless, he more and more tries to set things right and is very concerned with fulfilling his responsibilities.

Death, Dream's older sister, is his best friend and often keeps him from wallowing in his dark thoughts. She's often portrayed as a happy goth, but she's the most level-headed of the bunch. She chooses to wear simple, casual clothes.

Example picture of Death and Dream: http://decapitados.org/wp-content/uploads/sandman.jpg
Picture of all the Endless: http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq60 ... aper01.jpg Clockwise from above, it's Dream, Destruction, Desire, Delirium, Despair, Death, and Destiny.

Mel, you commented that it is such an unusual pose for Fadestar, but we've all just seen the side in which she starts to deal with the Now instead of living in the present. Apart from the goth-part, Fadestar should be a perfect Death (in means of character) in the future ;) I chose a younger Farscout for Dream, since even though he keeps his responsibility, he has been a very melancholic elf, and has travelled lots to be on his own -- of course, that's changed now ;)

Oh wow -- that pic from the first link -- I had that t-shirt! (I probably still have it packed away somewhere.) Memories!

This is definitely making me want to get the Sandman volumes out of the library and reread the series. I really only read most of it once, when it was coming out. Dear lord, it ENDED almost 15 years ago!

I hear you - a friend of mine had the complete set, and I borrowed it twice. After drawing this and looking up so much references, I ordered the series for myself. They should get here somewhere next week

My entry is Quick Fang as San from Princess Mononoke, a film by Studio Ghibli. San is a young girl who lives with the wolves and helps Moro, the wolf god, maintain balance in the forest. San is very feral and wolf-like, and I figured Quick Fang would make a perfect San!

When I drew Growler I deliberately tried to follow the movie's style for the wolves, which makes them look more like German Shepherds (Alsatians) than wolves. I also understand now why the wolves in the movie were pure white; I spent a lot of time on Growler!