Ariel, Schmariel...

... For my money, the Chicken of the Sea mermaid was always much cooler than the Little Mermaid!

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Just FYI, my drawing is based on the classic Chicken of the Sea mascot, not the current one, which is pretty generic. That's all I've got. I think I'm gonna go make myself a sandwich.

Like Two Peas in a Pod

Memorandum to the Powers That Be:

Please hire me to write and draw a comic that features the Jolly Green Giant and his little pal Sprout, as they fight evil and malnutrition with the power of fiber, vitamin D, and overwhelming physical size and strength. As per all of my hypothetical projects, a 2-D fighting game by Capcom will be the perfect tie-in. We will make lots of money, and consumption of vegetables will skyrocket. Also, I will be your best friend.

Sincerely,
J.Ho

My last name is Ho, which means that growing up I heard every possible Thundercats, Santa Claus, and Jolly Green Giant joke that you can possibly think of. I think it's a testament to my character that my enjoyment of cartoons, Christmas, and canned/frozen vegetables was never diminished in the least, no matter what kind of jokes were flung in my general direction.

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Part elf, part super-hero, part Green Man, and part kaiju... the Jolly Green Giant is kind of awesome for a vegetable mascot. But don't forget his pal Sprout:

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And lastly, just because I like seeing things to scale:

I'll be back on Friday with another food mascot--you'll have to tune in to see which one!

Monsters of Breakfast (5 of 5): The Bite Stuff... PLUS WALLPAPER!

The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom's fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

It's Halloween, and here's the dude everyone has been waiting for--Count Chocula! Okay, maybe not everyone has been waiting for him, but the handful of people interested in this series of sketches have been waiting. Probably.

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Naturally, my interpretation of Count Chocula is based on his vampiric Darkstalkers counterpart, Demitri. This one was a lot of fun for me. I couldn't tell you why exactly... it's possible that I just enjoyed it more because it came together pretty easily. In particular, I'm happy with how the purply-brown color scheme and billowing cape turned out.

The pieces in this series were designed with a group composition in mind, so I've whipped up some wallpapers. For your convienience, both fullscreen and widescreen versions are available below. Happy Halloween!

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click above for 1920 x 1200 (Widescreen)

Monsters of Breakfast (4 of 5): Keep 'Em In Stitches

The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom's fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

Now we're finally getting to the heavy hitters--I present to you, Franken Berry! He's alive... HE'S ALIVE!

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Rather than ramble on about whatever, I'll let you all go about your business--you probably need to finish the last minute touches on your Halloween costumes. I'm dressing as a weirdo cartoonist who barricades himself in his apartment drawing obscure nerdy characters while watching cartoons and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. I guess it's not so much a costume as much as on-going performance art. On-going for the past 31 years.

Monsters of Breakfast (3 of 5): Ghost of a Chance

The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom's fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

In terms of recognizability, today's subject probably falls on the median--surely many of you must be accquainted with Boo Berry. In terms of back-story, I imagine Boo Berry was a jazz singer (something of a dandy) from New Orleans, who got involved with some criminals and was killed. His ghost can be seen haunting the New Orleans night, singing mournful jazz ballads, and battling supernatural creatures with his powerful super moves and combos. I'm not sure where the blueberries enter into the equation.

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I'm unsatisfied with how Boo Berry's ghostly aura turned out... it doesn't really read.

Is anyone sick of my punny non-sequitur titles? I know I am, but I've set a precedent, so my hands are tied.

Monsters of Breakfast (2 of 5): Fur Real

The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom's fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

Today, I present the most obscure of the General Mills monster pantheon, Fruit Brute.

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I basically drew Fruit Brute as a palette swap of Jon Talbain wearing overalls. Horrible, multi-colored overalls, as per the source material. So, yeah... werewolves are cool.

._.

Monsters of Breakfast (1 of 5): All Wrapped Up

The Subject: General Mills cereal monsters.

The Twist: Drawing them in the style of Capcom's fighting game franchise, Darkstalkers.

The Reason: I love Capcom's character design style. Capcom's art direction is amongst the most influential in video games in general, and particularly with 2-D fighting games. I often find myself looking at a random character and wondering what it would look like as a character in a Capcom fighting game. So, fusing that mode of thinking with breakfast cereal and the Halloween season, here we are.

First up, Yummy Mummy:

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I kept Yummy Mummy's basic colors, but rather than giving him multi-colored bandages, I redistributed those colors to parts of his re-designed costume. The added accoutrements are based loosely on those of Anakaris (the mummy character from Darkstalkers). The ceremonial thingy (i think that's the technical term) draped over his shoulders looks awkward--I was trying to emulate the geometric, almost blocky quality of Anakaris's design, but it didn't quite work out.