Madballs, Weird Balls, Super Bouncing Weird Balls, Monster Balls, Blurp Balls, Krazy Balls, Freakballs, Squirt Devils and other nameless imitations.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Geekery Gone Out Of Control


As an illustrator, one of the often overlooked things I love about Madballs, are the little drawings that adorn the packages and various merchandising offshoots. James Groman and the others that worked on the line really had a great way of making two dimensional circles look gnarly but at the same time fill them with personality.

When the relaunch of the line happened in 2007, I really loved seeing the art for the revamps of old characters and the handful of new ones that got made, like Blech Beard. He wound up being one of my favorites overall and got me thinking of how I'd like to see Madball versions of EVERYTHING. Now that the line is cancelled (or in limbo, who knows), I'm taking it upon myself to add new dudes to the pantheon! I will raise that banner! ALL HAIL ORB!
Ok guys. We've been foolin around here for about two months. It's time for the real deal. The nitty gritty if you will. Or the Gritty Kitty. We're entering new dimensions of Madballology, out of the realm of pure research and headlong into development. I give you Er-ick the Retch-ed. My very own fantasy Madball. If there can be a pirate, why not a viking?! (And before you say it, Allen, I KNOW they didn't actually wear horns on their helmets but a wing wouldn't have been able to poke him in the eye like that). I'd like to think of an entire world where there are Madball versions of EVERYTHING. Not just cool things like pirates and vikings, but office workers, CEOs, painters, teachers, etc. How much cooler would your coworkers be if the constantly made barfing noises and were covered in drool and stitches?! Ok maybe that's not that appealing. Whatever, I still like to day dream about it.

Ok, so I have a few more of these that I'm working on in between actual commissions that you can expect soon. I'm also working on getting some guest artists to draw their own fantasy Madballs, and I'll be taking submissions as well! Send them!

5 comments:

  1. haha I didn't notice up until now that his helmet nose piece was stabbing through his nose bone. hahahaha

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  2. the attention to detail here is amazing. like, you didn't cut any gross corners or leave out any gross element.

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  3. Haha I'm glad you guys like the grossness! The nosebone thing was actually the first part I drew!

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  4. YES!!! As another Eric the Red, I APPORVE!!! AND I'm super happy that you pre-called out Allen's call-out on the horned helmet. BRILLIANT!!!

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  5. Eric, maybe ill make one specifically for you too. BUT there's already been a soccer, scuse me FOOTBALL based Madball.

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