Cap'n Caveman by Rob

I hate Captain Caveman. He always freaked me out. Partially because as a man, he was clearly nude, even though he was cognizant enough to wear a cape; also because he was entirely covered in hair, which, as a nearly hairless person myself, makes me intensely uncomfortable and a little jealous. Still, when Mel Caylo says draw Captain Caveman, you do it or you get the shit hugged out of you.

I knew I wanted to bring out Captain Caveman's innate creepiness with a reasonably realistic face, and when I thought of beings who were mostly eyes and noses, I immediately turned to Ringo Starr. So I tried to model the face off of his photos on the cover of With the Beatles and A Hard Day's Night. The cigarette seemed somehow necessary after I finished the eyes and nose. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out in that it's really, really creepy.

Centurion Batman by Rob

I picked this week's subject matter, exactly so I could draw Batman in a bat-themed Roman centurion outfit. My inspiration was of course DC's recently revealed Return of Bruce Wayne comic covers, my stupid-enormous passion for ancient Rome, and the fact that I'm pretty sure my fellow LAWyers would have hated me if I'd asked them to draw Dr. Druid (next time, though).

I took the pose from a Jim Lee Hush pic, and then kind of immediately fucked it up. Between the nightmare happening with Batman's right foot and the fact that I'm not nearly competent enough to draw all those straps around Batman's groin and shoulders, I decided to leave it in pencil to keep it from looking too atrocious. I feel it was a good move.

Orko by Rob

I'm willing to bet I'm the biggest He-Man/Masters of the Universe fan here at The LAW, and even I hate Orko. I always wanted MotU to be more serious swords and sorcery, and Orko was clearly kiddie crap (oh, how I loathed the fact they brought him back for the 2002 MotU cartoon, exactly as goofy as his '80s counterpart). That said, I'm also likely the biggest Final Fantasy fan here, and obviously the similarities between Orko and the Black Mage have certainly not been lost on me over the years.

So I decided to make a Orko version of the 8-bit, Final Fantasy I Black Mage sprite. Or rather, I assumed someone already had, looked around the internet, and couldn't find one. I cannot believe I'm the first person to do this, but at any rate, here it is now. Other than the "O," the position of the Black Mage's left arm and the ear (and the colors, of course), it's 100% accurate Final Fantasy I Black Mage. I was going to draw it on graph paper, and then I realized I could draw it in Photoshop far easier, and color it, too. If this is truly the first time this has been done, then I have performed a very nerdy service for the world indeed.

Destructor by Rob Bricken

I ponied up for a sketch pad last weekend, and a new set of problems have arisen. Why is it scanning in a variety of beiges and whites? Why aren't my pencil marks erasing that well? Why am I so terrible at perspective? Questions for the ages. Still, drawing STC's Destructor was hella fun, not just because it's a great comic, but because Destructor is a fabulous design. Still, I think I might prefer an anarchy logo on his stomach instead of the star, but that's probably just me.

Geist by Rob Bricken

Hey, folks. I'm Rob, editor of Topless Robot, and as the rest of the LAWyers will tell you, the least informed on American comics in the group. That said, I'd been wanting to get back into sketching for a little while now — just for kicks, since I'm kind of terrible at it — and I don't think I'd be any more terrible at drawing American comics characters than I would anything else. Plus, my buddy Justin Aclin's Hero House is awesome. So there.

I apologize for the smudges; I was drawing on printer paper since I don't have a sketch pad yet. Also, I can't draw hands; I don't know what I'll do when the character isn't a ghost. Also, I would totally wear an ACLIN shirt were one made.