Maron's Cluster of Comics & Cartoons

[MasterKingJC]

Why didn't I notice this sooner?!
Maron, your comics are cool, man! :D Keep it up.

[Maron]

Why didn't I notice this sooner?!
Maron, your comics are cool, man! :D Keep it up.

Thanks for reading MasterKing! Appreciate it man, these are a ton of fun to make so it's great to know if it gave you a laugh or two.

New (actually old, from Summer 2011) comic



Facebook Description

Another comic focusing on Monica. Viewing these older comic strips gives off the impression that she was meant to be the main character. This is untrue, I think she just has a lot of prominence in these since I made the character right before I got to work on that first TOONATICS comic. Trying to develop that character lead to her taking the main role in the majority of stories.

I was still trying to find what tool to use for inking. Here it was done by a Sakura Pigma Micron Pen. In the next comic I try a sable brush & ink for the first time.

[Hiroy]

Man. These comics are so cute X) I especially like that black and white one. The brush approach really does work better than the more thin lined ones. There isn't much else to say but it's really fun loving. This one too.

MOAR.

[Mokenda_mint]

Loving these! The style's awesome!
Keep it up :D

[Maron]

Thanks for keeping up with my comics, guys! Here's another old Toonatics one, from August 2011.

So here's week 4! Drawn in August 2011, this was my first time using brush & ink on a comic strip...Which ended up being a LOT harder to use than I was expecting. My control with it was so bad I didn't even bother using it for Milo and Monica's faces. Milo's final line here was meant to be a bit of a nod to Bill Watterson. As a kid I always found his stance on licensing very interesting and the boxer short line he would give always made me laugh.

I wrote tons of stuff continuing where this strip leaves off, but I had the "To be Continued! (Maybe)" line there since I knew I more than likely wasn't going to do it and was gonna try something else. Next week's the fifth & final Toonatics comic!!!!!

[Kitsune Inferno]

Duuuuuuuuuude, oh my gosh, I don't know where to begin with this. I love LOVE LOVE how expressive your characters are.

[ChesCa]

God DAMN son !

[Maron]

Hey, thanks for reading, guys! ^^ I know I owe these new views to Hiroy's awesome crossover piece. I have a Syn picture I inked yesterday waiting to be scanned...!

[Maron]

Little B&W pic of Syn I did the other day. I'm assuming everyone here has seen Hiroy's work so you know how good he is, but if you haven't you NEED to check out his stuff!! It's really funny, cool, cute, & well-drawn! ^^ The guy inspired me to actually start putting things up on here so I'll always be grateful for that. You can read Synful Syn (comic starring the eponymous Syn pictured above) here.

[Silence]

AWE.

SUM. .o

[Hiroy]

Aww wow! It's really cool seeing Syn drawn in the media I'm going to switch to. Not only that, it fully keeps all of her tomboyish charms in a simple expression and pose. I love it! Thanks dude. Now I'm really looking forward to a crossover.

[Maron]

Aww wow! It's really cool seeing Syn drawn in the media I'm going to switch to. Not only that, it fully keeps all of her tomboyish charms in a simple expression and pose. I love it! Thanks dude. Now I'm really looking forward to a crossover.

Glad you like it! And the crossover's always been an awesome idea, right when I was doing this I knew it wouldn't be my last time drawing any of the SS characters. Showing them interact with mine would be tons of fun.

[Kitsune Inferno]

I don't think I can handle all the inevitable awesome that's about to excrete from this thread.

[Maron]

WEEK FIVE!! Final TOONATICS comic ever made, ever. Done August 5, 2011. I guess this is the 'official' first appearance of Allison (who's referred to as 'Allie' by Tyler here) although I first drew her almost a year ahead of time. This was based on a real conversation.

I used this thing called the Kuretake Brush Pen to ink this, and it used cartridges for the ink. I remember it being a real pain in the ass to put them in right. The inking's not too bad, although you'll notice here I used a pen for the facial features because I was still scared of fucking up. Doing something as simple as drawing an oval for an eye can cause you a TON of heartache if you don't know how to control a brush right.

But yeah, this was my last time using the TOONATICS name in association with this cast of characters. I seriously doubt this'll be the last time I do anything with them, but I can guarantee that TOONATICS itself (and the original concept behind it, which wasn't utilized in these strips I posted here) is no more. I still draw these characters all the time (and many more that never made it into any of these strips) and I'll be posting something recent I did next Friday*.

Thanks for reading & we'll see you next week!

*By that I meant I'll be posting on FB the black and white singing comic strip that went up here a couple of weeks ago. ^^

[tigerlilly]

I approve of everything and everyone in this thread!
can't believe it took me so long to stumble around here.
my fav comic strip must be the one where the two girls are rockign out with the "mics" ahaha
You got a good feeling for these sweet little interactions hope to see more! :)

[Maron]

Thank you very much ^^

Here's another "classic", from November 2010. I remember 17-year-old me working hard on this.



Notice how light Tyler's hair is, even though it's supposed to just be black. I sorta had trouble dealing with that in illustrations because his eyebrows tend to overlap his hair almost all the time. I didn't want them to get lost in the black of his hair, but at the same time I don't like making it look this light either. Nowadays I just always just make it black with ink. If there's ever a time where he doesn't have his hat on I'll just use white ink or whatever. So yeah, nothing that's an issue now but something I got kinda annoyed with in the past.

I also see how OOC Milo looks here, reason for that is since this was done in 2010 and he still had the original characterization I gave him in grade school. With this drawing only being a few months before the first Toonatics strip I guess this was starting to be the transitionary period for his character. Or at least I wanna think that. I really can't remember.

And there's a third kid here. His name's Jason, he wasn't created that long after Milo so I'd consider him one of the originals. Unlike Tyler, who steals the spotlight after only having been made 4 years ago. For whatever reason, he never made it into any of the TOONATICS comic strips. As Tyler and Milo's personalities changed for the comics, I never really took time to figure out how his would change in order for him to stand out or work in relation to the others. Poor Jason. Maybe we'll see him again someday.

[Hiroy]

This is real cool. Admiring you style from 2 years ago is definitely a great thing.
What can you do now I wonder.

[Maron]

This is real cool. Admiring you style from 2 years ago is definitely a great thing.
What can you do now I wonder.

Definitely something much better!! I used to do standalone pictures like these every now and then. But now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever done a single colorspread type of thing like this since I started doing comics last year. Huh. I really need to get on that, especially since I'd have a lot more fun with it now than I would've back then in regards to the inking.

[Maron]

Little picture with (L to R) Tyler, Milo, and Nia.

[Hiroy]

It's almost as if the bag has become Milo's face. Or maybe it's not really a bag.
Tylor and Nia look real swag tho. I love their designs. Simple but iconic.