TROPICA

[STM]

Lurve it as alweez

[Dipstikk]

Whatever happened to that one thunderstorm guy I helped you design?

I think he's on my external HD, which is on the fritz.

Yeah, Sekto helped me design the "end boss" guy of the series, which I'm probably going to use as inspiration if I ever do designs of my own, but I won't venture far from it.

It's that good.

[Sekto Springs]

It's that good.

Flattery will get you LAID.

[Dipstikk]

Flattery will get you LAID.

YOU'D FUCKING BETTER.

[ziggy]

I like this one a lot; their poses are very interesting here. Kei is a really voluptuous and pretty character. wow! I love it when artists make unique and specific character designs, rather than the standard cartoon/comic crap that's been done over and over. The tattoos are cool, but I can see why you would want to scrap them. It's probably fucking time consuming.
Wanted to say I'm sorry I haven't noticed your stuff before, or commented. I would like to see some more stuff too, and more colored images and fleshed out scenes. I'll probably read the general backstory you provided when I stop being tired (for like this whole past week) and a douche. So I know like what's going on.

[Squ_ish]

i love your'e way of drawing it's effective and unique

[Dipstikk]

Kei reaches for her shield to try and ward off the shambling half-elemental, Overgrowth, though it seems he has the upper root.

I've got a few new things on the way.

3-D things.

[STM]

Lordeh Lordeh this is some very fine art!

[enchilado]

Awesome.

[Dipstikk]

I know I said, "expect 3-D things," but I AIN'T WANNA SHOW YOU THEM, I GONNA SHOW YOU DIS.

SO DEAL WIFF DAT.

sucka



Pre-written description ripped from my DeviantART page:

King Kalaniana of the Ku'ono tribe. He took rulership of his people over from his corrupt family and reformed much of their people's culture, ending ritual sacrifices, beginning to introduce gender equality and starting trade with other tribes. Over the years, Kalaniana proved himself to be a brave, kind and just Moaiian chief, becoming more familiar with his tribesmen than he ever was allowed as a child.

Then, the Ko tribe began taking over, their influence sweeping the island like a flood, demanding that other tribes pay them royalties for "protection" against a race of creatures known as the Miako. There was no protection, and instead, the Ko would capture people (men, women, mostly children) and claim that Miako had killed them, and scare the tribes into paying them more.

For a while, it worked, until Kei (story revamping # 300-something), then only 12 years old, was taken prisoner. Rescue attempts were unsuccessful. It took her two years to make it back, partly on her own efforts. She told her people of her time in captivity as the slave to a high ranking Ko official, about the abuses and violations she suffered. For Kalaniana, that tore it.

The king held a meeting with two other tribes in secret (those closest to him) and founded of the Pact of Three. His attempts to maintain this alliance, in direct defiance of the Ko tribe, has been difficult, and many young men and women gave their lives in honor of their union just to keep the Ko out of their affairs.

When Kei discovers the extent of her power, and makes an alliance of her own between the budding pyrokenetic, Mahi, and the powerful sorceror, Kumu, they become the protectors of the Pact of Three, with Kalaniana giving them all royal status. Their goal is to protect all Moaiians from the Ko's tyranny, and perhaps even expand the Pact of Three to incorporate more tribes.

---

Kei was originally designed on the basis of, "You don't see too many positive overweight role models in fiction," and I used the same idea for King Kalaniana. His weight doesn't prevent him from being a good person. It's not shorthand for things like greed or gluttony, as weight tends to be used for in fiction.

I took that idea a step further: Kalaniana is also gay. After doing a bit of research on the subject, it turns out that homosexuality was never really a big deal to ancient Hawaiian cultures. They called same-sex partners "aikane." You see this a lot in many ancient cultures that had been colonized by the West, where they find out that homosexuality wasn't really a big fricking deal to their ancestors; a fact that tends to get buried with a lot of other aspects of the old culture once the foreign culture takes over.

It's funny, because if you switch the H and the A in the word "haole" (Hawaiian for "foreigner," usu. caucasian), it becomes "ahole."

Bleh.

TL;DR: FAT GAY MAN IS PRESIDENT OF TROPICA-LAND.

[STM]

Awesome picture but I wanna se tee 3dees stuff naow as welL babes!

[MeechMunchie]

Woo for Hawaii, whoop for gays.

At first I thought the guy was the lady, and was somewhat surprised at the presence of nipples.

EDIT: Also, could you link to your DA page? Or put it in the Homepage slot of your OWF profile, if you're not using it for anything.

[Dipstikk]

Wow, this looks terrible.

[MeechMunchie]

Second.

[STM]

Ouch, I thought it looked ok personally.

[Dipstikk]

It's the tattoos, they're too distracting. Gave him some lines.

[MeechMunchie]

Much better. Is there going to be anything in his mouth? He looks like he forgot to put his dentures in.

[scrabface]

I thought the tattoos were a good idea...

[Dipstikk]

Took me all afternoon, and this is just the flat colors.

I'm not really going for realism in any of these, which is good because my brushstrokes are shit.

[Dipstikk]

[STM]

Very amazing, love the second picture, she's really got herself into a royal pickle!
also...squishy boobs and legs =)

[Dipstikk]

"What's Dips been up to," you didn't ask? Well this should have been completed by Mother's Day, but I've been kind of sidetracked with moving to Tampa, so it's been slow goings. Plus, I never really have a strong urge to draw, and when I do, it's not for very long. It's like I have some sort of weird drawing libido. It's not that I have artist's block. Drawing just isn't fun to me... I dunno.

But I'm working on a comic for my mom. She's got this terrible, 2 page comic that I did in 2006 hung up on her wall, and I wanted to do something new and replace that ugly thing, so I'm working on what may end up being a ten page comic centered around Tropica. It's short, scribbly, crammed with exposition and bad dialogue, and hopefully ends up being better to her than it looks to me.

I've got the sketches and layout mostly done, but I need to ink the son of a bitch and get it colored. Maybe I could just half-ass a bunch of the backgrounds and cut down on drawing time...?

I dunno. Here's page 1. Not finished, obviously.

[STM]

It looks really good! The only thing I can say bad is that until I saw her tits, I thought that character was a bloke, I think because the mouth tat looks like a beard.

[Dipstikk]

Women in ancient Hawaiian culture had small tattoos, primarily around their lips and chin. Kei's got the same kind of tattooing.

It's a bit of a challenge to get them to not look like mustaches.

[STM]

Ok fair enough.

[Dipstikk]

[STM]

Shit hit the fan. Also,

tittaes.

[Dipstikk]

After the amount of crap this comic has given me, I've half a mind to make an "alternate ending" a la Fargo out of spite, but the smart half is telling me to knock that shit off and just finish inking.

AND YEAH, KEI'S MOM IS A MILF

[STM]

I do like your style of art Dipstikk, it suits the story.

[Dipstikk]

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