~ Stories Behind The Art ~
Welcome back for another installment of Inktober and Nostalgia. Last time, we had inked Garfield which you can read about and see here. As there will be in this post, i shared a bunch of links to the cartoons and holiday specials as well as deeper dive source information if you are interested in checking those out.
Watch All The Original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Episodes HERE
If you click the link above you will be taken to that awesome cartoon website where you can see all the seasons and episodes of the Ninja Turtles if you like.
Last time, i had mentioned that i would be using Red ink and that i knew what i was going to do. Well, i did it... or i'm doing in the process of doing it!
I went back to one of my most iconic and memorable attachments as a child to something fictional. I absolutely loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it probably helped that i just so happened to be taking Taekwondo at the time that they came out.
The opening sequence of introduction music mixed with some pretty intense action was awesome the first time i saw it. I was too young to have experienced much in the realm of anime or comic books yet but i would later come to see the influences within the art. See for yourself!
I remember one evening a cartoon coming on which was rare. Cartoons usually came on Saturday mornings, and before and after school. Back then not many cartoons aired in the evenings unless it was a special.
The main thing i recall is that it was all just so different. Some turtles and a rat in the sewer get mutagenic ooze on them and genetically mutate into our heroes that are part human and whatever animal they were already.
The rat ends up training the young teenage turtles in the ways of the Ninja and they all learn how to adapt to their new situation. Meanwhile, an evil rises in the city that can only be handled by our Ninja Turtles! That intro explains it much better than i do.
They talked cool, had different weapons, knew martial arts, and loved pizza! What's not to love about them when you are in first grade?! hahaha I couldn't wait until the actual series would begin once i saw that pilot.
That special pilot episode went on to lead the Ninja Turtles into the Legendary franchise it has become today. From comics, to cartoons, with merchandise and movies galore... the TMNT have been one of the biggest pop-culture phenomenons in my lifetime. I can't see Ninja Turtles without associating them with so many awesome memories and experiences.
So, for my Nostalgia project that i alluded to in my last art post, i thought after rendering Garfield i should shoot for drawing the Turtles. I actually had this in mind before starting Garfield... but it took a while to decide which direction i wanted to take it. In the end, i love having selected to draw this in Red Ink with my Blue Pumpkin!
This design is much more complex than Garfield's, yet a bit more loose so it had it's challenges for sure! I had to summon all the Turtle Power that i could muster!
~ Origins: Eastman & Laird ~
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle characters, made popular by the cartoon i mentioned already, actually had their start on the pages of an independant comic book. Well, really, in a few rough sketches even before that. You can see the first sketch of all four turtles in the next image.
The characters were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, two young artists in 1984. They created the concept for the characters just joking around one night and late decided to actually make a comic with the turtles. So, they punned and spoofed other popular comics at that time and created one of their own.
After self publishing the first edition and it's unexpected success, the two created an independant comic publishing company to keep up with the supply and demand.
'Ninja Turtles Once Caused a Massive Bubble in Comics:
The Black-and-White Boom (and Bust)'
At first, in order to save money, Eastman and Laird published the comics in the much more cost effective format of black and white as opposed to color printing. The original comic took off and many other independant comics started to save money by printing in black and white as well.
First print CGC 8.0(vf) graded copies were going for more than $16,000 in 2020
The colored version of the turtles didn't hit the press until much later and it's also interesting to note that after the black and white era, the first color that the Ninja turtles had for their costumes was red. Most people know the turtles by their particular colors. But, back then they all had red masks. You could only really distinguish them from one another by their weapons or dialogue in the text.
~ The Hunt For Red Inktober ~
One of the cool things about the early comic books was that they were much more gritty and adult oriented. There was much more violence and other non-child friendly content in there but we have to consider... TMNT wasn't created to be the kid friendly cash cow of a franchise that it ended up becoming. It was originally just an independant comic made by adults for adults as a joke. I thought it was cool that they all wore red masks and costumes because it seemed more natural and unifying in design as a team. Speaking of red masks....
Raphael
I started out my drawing with Raphael. For one, he happened to be in the front of the design and he was also my favorite one of the characters growing up. You don't mess with Raph!
After getting familiar with the comics once i got older... i think Raphael resembles the closest representation of the original character concepts from their inception in the cartoons.
Raphael just seemed tougher than the others. He did have an attitude problem as well as some anger management issues but i found him to be a more realistic character.
Getting this artwork started and generating some momentum was tough. If you saw all the pages that i started you would understand. I am the type that will start over if a make a mistake. That's not a great approach when you are working with ink... hahaha.
To honor the original comics and the cartoon that i loved so much... i tried to subltly merge the cartoony imagery with the looser and more gritty original illustrative style.
Drawing Raphael's crouching position took a few runs before i was somewhat happy with the contours before i was willing to start the next character. In the end, i settled with this rendition.
I also didn't notice until after doing the art that most of my photos are not great at all. Unfortunately, they will have to suffice for now until i get out my scanner and fire that bad boy up!
I ended up having a much more difficult time with this design than i anticipated. I can tell i'm rusty but i haven't drawn Ninja Turtles since i was in school long, long ago!
I'm not completely disappointed with my work... but, i am also not fully pleased either. I know i can do better... but since it's Inktober, i already decided to be more prolific rather than perfectionist.
Leonardo
Leonardo was most people's favorite if not Michelangelo. I think everyone liked him because he had swords ( or Katanas). He was known for wearing blue and being the leader of the group. Growing up, i could see a bit of myself in each of the turtles so i had a difficult time truly selecting a most favorite.
Leonardo was cool but i didn't like the fact he never really cut anyone with his weapons. Now, i know why you can't show that kind of violence in cartoons but as a youngster it just felt off. The most powerful weapon was kind of neutered and that affected my view on Leonardo even though i now know it wasn't his fault.
Getting the lines straight for the edges of the blades was incredibly difficult. This could have been better but i didn't want to start over once i got to this point. Leonardo, in his wisdom as a leader, would have advised me to not give up... so, i didn't.
~ TurtleMania ~
Once the cartoon premiered there was absolutely no looking back. It was such a popular success from the onset. The cartoon was edgy and had a whole lot of potential. They definitely began tapping into that potential extremely early on.
Merchandising was one of the accelrants to the wildfire of interest that was growing. Once the toyline was released i think there truly was no going back at that point. You can watch a cool Netflix documentary on the story behind the toys here at this link: The Toys That Made Us: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles S3 Ep1 I highly recommend checking that episode out if you havn't seen it already.
I remember being home sick from school with Chicken-Pox when i was a kid. I had a pretty hardcore case and was laid out for a week or two over it. One of my fondest memories ever was during that time of misery and suffering.
My dad came home from work one day and came in to check on me. He told me he had gotten me something to make me feel better. I always loved it when my dad got me things. He always got the coolest stuff and it was always such a surprise. Well, this was the surprise to end all future surprises.... He had brought me home all 4 of the Ninja Turtles' action figures.
My dad always paid attention to my interests and he knew how excited and interested in the Ninja Turtles that i was. I would have been happy just to have gotten one turtle. They weren't cheap toys but they weren't expensive either. We had a big family and for my dad to splurge and get me all four at once was something that i never forgot. Of course, it did set off a sibling rivalry or two... but this was well worth it!
I don't remember being sick with Chicken-Pox... i remember the time my dad got me all the Ninja Turtles. I still have them in a box somewhere tucked away!
It was truly official... TurtleMania was in full effect! This was a term that i think they punned from Beatlemania which was the impact the Beatles had on their fanbase. My dad probably enjoyed that since the Beatles was his favorite band.
The success of the toys and cartoon led to a live action movie. I really loved that movie. I remember the hype leading up to the premiere. I bought the comic adaptation of the movie and remember loving to rewatch the movie in my comic until we could get it on VHS. They also came out with a part 2 not too long after.
They also just rebooted the movie franchise a few years ago. I wasn't thrilled or impressed... but tbh, it could have been MUCH MUCH WORSE. Either way, if you click the link in the image above you can see a list of all the movies and cartoons in the order they were released.
It's pretty amazing how far this has all come since those early days. I remember i had saved all my money from birthday cards, Christmas cards, and chores for a long time. We were at the toystore one day with all my money in hand and i had about 30 dollars to buy something. Back then that was a lot more purchasing power than it is today. I couldn't imagine having 30 dollars to buy whatever i want and here we were.
I had it narrowed down to two options when i was being pressed that it was time to go. It was either going to be this sweet Ninja Turtle Blimp that inflates and was one of, if not, THE COOLEST vehicles the turtles had..... or a giant evil villian named Metlar from a cartoon called Inhumanoids.
I chose Metlar because it was such a large toy. I thought it would be cool to have a giant bad guy for all my action figures to fight. I always regretted not getting the Turtle Blimp. That thing is worth a whole lot of money now. I did have one friend that had it and it was awesome!
In the cartoon, when the turtles use a disguise, oftentimes they have a hat and trenchcoat on. They ended up making an action figure of that as an alternate option. They started getting creative with the toys. More toys equals more profit so they definitely started expanding the toyline.
If you look at the action figure above... i had that one. It was one of my least favorites. Apparently, now it's worth a ton of money. That figures... 'literaly'... pun fully intended.
TurtleMania was a crazy time to be alive. They even had a concert tour! I had a couple of friends named Jeff and John. They were twin brothers that were in Boyscouts with me. We had an art contest in scouts one time and we all drew a picture of Ninja Turtles. Not to brag... but i won! hahhaa
Anyways, we were all crazy about TMNT and John and Jeff's mom bought us all tickets to go see the concert tour. It was at a mall in downtown Dallas. Only two of the four turtles were there... and we could tell they weren't the real thing... but we didn't care!
My favorite part of the TurtleMania craze were these Ninja Turtle Pies. They were fried pies coated in a green outer layer with vanilla pudding inside. They were really good. I remember having a few fieldtrips in school where you bring your own sack lunch. My mom would put one in there and it was the highlight of my fieldtrip lunches!
Ninja Turtle Pies. Fresh From The Sewers... To You!
~ Inspired ~
I can remember listening to the radio and laying on my top bunk that was decked out with Ninja Turtle sheets... i probably had on Ninja Turtle underwear, and drawing epic Ninja Turtle battle scenes. I had my comics next to me for references. It was an awesome journey making art back then.
I rememeber how much inspiration i got from the creativity of the characters and stories from the TMNT franchise. Sometimes, now, when i'm not feeling inspired i try to take myself back to this exact memory and remind myself where i came from as an artist.
Michelangelo
Now, i have to say that Michelangelo was probably most people's favorite. He was easy going, funny, and definitely never serious. Plus he wore orange and that loud color matched his loud personality. But i liked him most because he had the Nunchaku weapons like Bruce Lee!
I always thought it was interesting that they chose the names of the turtles after the classic Renaissance masters. I probably wouldn't have known who they were if it weren't for the turtles.
When editing the photos... tried to crisp things up a little since the photography quality was so poor. It helped a little but i think the last touch of black will make things pop more!
Donatello
Last but not least, Donatello, the brains of this outfit. He was known for making their tech and being smart... just not street smart.
It was at this point in the art i finally learned how to properly dip my pen. Well, i don't know if it's proper or not... but it sure worked much better for me. If you look at that image above you can see the red ink filling that void in my Blue Pumpkin tip.
The ink lasted so much longer and was much more consistent once i began loading the pen like that. It figures i wouldn't discover that until close to the very end of the process. Better late than never is what i always say!
So, now with Donatello in the mix the group has been assembled. As i said, i don't think i did it justice... but it's a nice warm up for when i actually plan out a piece.
I decided to go ahead and finish it off with a layer of black. Hopefully, i don't mess things up here at the very end. I haven't actually done the black yet. I have made it this far into the post without a finish.
I did try and edit one version without the red. I know this is the point of no return. The black ink is much older and less user friendly. Now that i actually know how to load my pen i might have to splurge on some new inks.
~ The Finish ~
Well, i managed to finish without destroying the artwork completely. In fact, i think it added a little extra something. I consider using the green ink i have but figured i would save that for my next Ninja Turtle project.
This is the final image. I thought it would be cool to show the colorless edit first to compare to the other black and white edit above. There is a subtle difference in the details and shading.
I could definitely tell the difference between the old black ink clotting up compared to the newer smooth and viscuous red ink. I did my best but i think i could have still done much better in my opinion.
Overall, i was happy to relive some old great memories while creating this piece. It's been fun to reminisce a little and share with you all some of my experiences. I loved the Ninja Turtles and i still do! I look forward to working on some more TMNT inspired art! More on that later. For now....
Below is the front and back cover art that inspired my desire to make this work. I really wanted to have a pose with all four that would fit on this smaller paper. I saw one image that was from the cartoon and then i saw this from the comic. Obviously, i went with the comic art!
If you've never checked out the comics i would suggest getting the trade paperbacks of the originals and starting at the beginning, if you are into comic books. There's also a website that has most comics archived online in pdfs on display but i don't remember what it is. When i find it again i will share!
I want to thank you all once again for taking the time to check out my art and read a little. I am looking forward to reading your comments. I would be curious to know who you think will be next for Inktober or if you have any suggestions. I got an awesome suggest in the last post i fully intend on doing ;)
Until next time, y'all take care... and it wouldn't be a true Ninja Turtle post if i didn't say...
