So, why this?

Why OpvsOp?

Well, let’s use spy vs spy as a base to start off,

spy vs spy was an allegory for the futility of the coldwar. And well it’s a reflection of it’s time.

Explore the future with a few familiar but fresh faces?

However, since we are still in the last days of the decade 2010s, there is the cash in and influence of nostalgia, so having familiar faces or characters to well, give insights into our times is key.

Like, with the countless reboots and remaster of various series and franchisees there is a trend of old faces appearing.

But, unlike what we remember them as, they are a bit of a fresh or far-cry take on what we used to remember them for.

It’s simple.

People want familiar grounds to go back into since we live in an age where almost any information is possible. and we are talking in the fact we can listen to old music from Mozart’s time to even listen to the soviet anthem, the variety and the culture and era that drove it’s creation is seemingly endless!

So, this leads to another thing.

Why I choose the Op vs Op series is this.

I grew up with things like Starcraft, CnC, HALO, and Gears. Not to mention that I grew up in the Bush-Era, so pro-war tendencies is a thing for the culture of the time. Especially post 9/11.

A thing for well. Military hardware and the romanticization for commandos and commanders was a deep rooted thing for me. Since I tend to take those roles in games or see their exploits in Films and Shows.

So, in a time of where almost everything is abundant(and I mean too abundant), I just wanted to hearken back into a place and time in my life where I felt nostalgic basically.

Basically I grew up playing army man or war games.

Parody or Pastiche?

Op vs Op is like spy vs spy. But it’s about the times of today and what might in store for the future. The Future Marches forward.

As for the concept of war?

War, War never changes….. only thing that changes is the gadgets and the attitude towards it shifts.

It’s been like, 4 years-Time sure flies.
The Most notable and most well received series thus far. This is what my peak series are in many ways. Shaped the way I have approached my subjects and how ink became my go-to to do some serious work.
Like DarkSouls, Bloodborne also entered the wave of ‘Souls style game but the catch is, this was considered a one-off like the pioneer like Demon Souls. It was also during this time, that I was honing my inking skills despite being an early stage.
But, lets turn back the times to when project beast was just starting and people simply. Speculated. Oh boy, the hindsight. People going crazy over the bits of footage and all that…

Due to my attempts at the series during the mid summer of 2017 for most of the season have I started to get some serious traction on the social media pages…and oh boy, the reactions. can become testimonials easily. Perhaps due to creating an economy around it in one go have I started to see how one can make money off fan-art and all that (separate article will cover that).

Frankly, this is a rather rare instance where, despite my lack of direct knowledge of the games from playing it but always, VaatiVidya giving me a tour of everything that was during that time. Culturally, it was also a breath of fresh air for the ‘Souls community at that time. A theme change and how things will be done. The Game was so successful that it has become it’s own community at this point. Well thriving and doing it’s own inner circle activities.
Reading upon the lore to get a rundown of what to expect and how to capture the essence of the subject is what became the focus of my take on the characters and concepts. But as always, I do try to use references to make sure there is a level of accuracy within my depictions…
Like, during the initial run of showing my take on the IPs during the summer of 2017, it was all good. In fact, selling the said fan-art was the most lucrative thing I have ever done. But, this was more or less a mere Beginner’s Luck.

Turn the page into next year during 2018. Things went for the worse in some ways. Not only did I put in more effort to be more prolific, but actually had like 3 waves during 2018. All spanning from Spring, until the early fall. That is like, half a year of just dedicating about 80% of my time, effort, resources into art and fan-art alone.
By the time this article is read, the 2017-2018 must still be around, in both prints and original forms. But in the end, was it worth it?

Etsy Links to

Originals

• 2017
• 2018

Prints

• 2017
• 2018
• Ink and WaterColor

It was the Late 2012. Recalled seeing the media covering games like DarkSouls and stuff. Was living in Japan for doing some work during that time. It wasn’t as mainstream given the demographics and the themes that game is notorious for.
But, this set a seed of ideas and recurring things that will eventually sprout into a fully fledged saga of Fan-arts that have seemed to make it’s mark during that time.
It wasn’t fully explored the series. I may have had my ass kicked attempting to play Demon Souls back in my former friend’s house. Yes. The PS3. Remembered when PS4 was just getting deployed. And Titan Fall was the thing too.
A year later, got to play bits of the first few minutes or hour of Dark Souls. again. More Death and Agony.

It was only until the year 2016. about half a decade of trying to find my ways. Have the thing started.
During that time. I was working with the medium known as gouache(more on this in separate article) And the results of working on several pieces dedicated to the Soulsborne franchise was well….Luke Warm. Perhaps it wasn’t time for me. Maybe the art-style was not in vogue. It was not until a couple contacts from the Social Media pages, have I start to get some notice. They wanted me to do a few Ink drawings. Commissioned Work.
After Doing the work, and putting the finished pieces on social media, the user have found them to be rather appealing, a far-cry from the Gouache Series I have tried to work on. This was a hint to what direction my work can go in.

It was during these times of the year, that I have discovered YouTubers like VaatiVidya, who was a fast and uprising personality, speaking for the ‘Souls community. Given how he explained the world building behind the ‘Souls universe. It’s apparent that his narrative will shape my understanding the characters and props that surround the subjects in a more intimate manner.
His videos are good. and of quality production, go check.
Either way, that series of works gave me the experience to get a thing going and preparing for things yet to happen.
2017.
A New year and new lifestyle actually. Started during the spring, and well. It was a slow thing. But, due to the rising popularity and cultural effect of the DarkSouls series on the North American demographic, things got more interactive with my works. I have decided to put about half or 3/4 of the year to creating the most notable series of my Dark Souls series up to date.

The Series that started to grant me a Brand Name of sort. People on Social Media was cheering me on, and other where noticing my migration from one series to another.It was quite a trip. and it was…a fun one. From the respective Trilogy of the games. I had to say, they were all fun to do.

Taking Weeks to Months. Essentially my Summer was dedicated to making the series. By the time winter started to roll in as the autumn leaves settles to it’s bare branches. Life got darker.Sales have drought, and the former fans and onlookers must have left, the action was over. Guess it was time for me to go…
Starts off small, like a spark. Eventually add kindling, and it becomes a blazing inferno. After it’s time.
It will settle and what is left?

Links to the Originals and Prints 1, 2, 3,

Well, it has been well over a year or two working in brush pen, coupled with markers ,watercolor, or colored inks to add to the depth of it. What does this mean? well, I do plan to do the usual brush pen works in Straight Ink, on the standard Cardstock papers to keep practiced and well, to pump out content really. But, does this mean my rate of making the pieces will be as crazy back in 2017-2018? Well, not really.

True enough, I have been focused on more entrepreneurial efforts such as trying to study SEO and Copywriting to make my works more marketable on platforms like Etsy. It’s just, the problem with my pieces is that they may be prolific, but are kind of at the end of the current creativity well-in other words, I’m going to hit a drought in art perhaps.

But, in return maybe my works will be more of a higher quality or different take given that I won’t be pumping out like, 200-300 pieces like back in 2018. The Current Direction I was thinking of should I be not as prolific and that social media, at least the most distracting ones anyways, is that I make newer types of works such as the attempted one-page comics. That Thing about these is that it pushes me to have more context in a handful of panels and convey a narrative, as small, or a mere moment into it one can see it as.

Back in the 2015-2016, I did have a little try at the concept of artist graphic tees. And well, given it’s handmade nature, I think. I may have a comeback should I find a solid business model and create an isolated branch focused on selling graphic tees featuring my style of works, all original and focused on how to make the design be good on Tees.

Been listing out the first few several pieces of the originals on Etsy lately. At prices of $100-$120 it should be considered a good entry level series to what having my works are like. For example, compared to my BB and DS originals that goes for about $300-$500 range. I say it’s a good start off.

So, some of you guys might be wondering, what happened to me and meetups. Well, it a simple answer really. I can’t provide me with a value nor ROI that is helpful to my personal endeavors. It just the problem is this. Commuting via 3-4 different vehicles all across town, just to get to the cafe and draw, but the catch is, the cafe is too loud, I can’t concentrate, I find the expenses of trying to ink there is too much, it’s too detrimental. Long story short waste of everything. Time, Energy, Money, etc.

In the End. Too much time is spent not getting results, and adding more unsold or unsorted stuff in my boxes and folders. Like, I’m here asking myself, what is the point of it all? Frankly, this brush-pen thing may well be an ongoing thing for the rest of the year, or until I’m at my last breath.