I’m still here, plugging away at some album art commissions, and gearing up for Fanexpo again. I’d apologize for the absence, but you didn’t want to read about anything that’s happened to me in the last year anyway.

Speaking of Fanexpo, I figured this year I’d redesign the cast of Futurama, knowing full well prints and such of which would be a convention cash cow delight convention-goers both hither and yon. Besides that, though, it was also a fun exercise in character design, learning to distill an existing character down to its necessary elements. It’s something I don’t pay attention to enough.

So here’s the main cast, in the order I drew them. And here’s a wallpaper of all seven, if that’s all you came for. I know it is. And that’s okay.

JOHN ZOIDBERG

At this point, I was just drawing Zoidberg for shits (hence the lack of secondary references to the series, as in the rest of them). I always disliked how he’s never been explicitly defined to be more like a lobster or cuttlefish, and so this design was based entirely on that executive decision. Luckily for me, stuffing any red sea creature into a doctor’s coat reads as Zoidberg, so long as his hands are claws.

HUBERT FARNSWORTH

After Zoidberg was done, I decided I should give all the ugly ones some credit, so Farnsworth was the next logical choice. I like drawing severely old characters, and Farnsworth is especially easy. Draw a wrinkled mess, add glasses and slippers, celebrate your success.

HERMES CONRAD

Personally, I don’t really care for Hermes that much, but his shapes are too much fun – I couldn’t not give him a go, and certainly not without his brain slug. Originally I was going to make most of his head a tentacled, brain-slugged mess. For the sake of clarity, I’m glad I didn’t.

BENDER RODRIGUEZ

I knew I wasn’t going to give Bender a face from the get-go; why would a robot require a face? The shutter shades on his forehead are simply there to draw attention to this fact. Part of me thinks I should have added more of the ‘real’ Bender’s redneck hard-drinkin’ vibe, but his attire here is more or less a tribute to the profound impact that the phrase ‘shut up baby, I know it‘ has had on my life.

TURANGA LEELA

Leela’s look is too ambiguous in the show. She’s supposed to be a girl trapped in a bitch’s body, and I’ve always found her look too plain to truly communicate it properly. Tattoos, a gun, and an emphasis on her man-boots (complete with crazy green stripe!) help harden her up, for the sake of softening her up. It’s hardly noticable in the final, but the sleeve tattoo on her left (our right) arm was originally of Yivo. I had to alter the colour scheme – it was getting to be a really loud arm.

Also, I hate Nibbler. I fucking hate Nibbler. So now he’s a chubby eyeless sloth creature. That’s more my speed.

AMY WONG

I’ve always wanted to like Amy, but the show has never really made her a memorable character. I had nothing for this one, no way to make sense of the Amy that currently exists, so I decided to redesign her to better fit her actual function within the show’s universe: as Farnsworth’s grad student, finishing her PhD. As such, I opted for a more racist stereotypical grad student look, with thick-rimmed glasses, straight cut bangs, and a lab coat. Honestly, I think I failed with this one, as alone, you’d never know it was her, but whatever. Still an improvement over the Amy we watch exist for no reason every week.

PHILLIP FRY

Fry just isn’t dirty enough. For a bum who never showers and lives and works in a pizza place, one would think he’d look a hell of a lot more dishevelled than he appears on the show. The sideburns pretty much took care of that on their own. Who knew. At first I didn’t want to add the hair flip, but let’s be honest – that’d have been stupid.

This is going to be at FanExpo. This is going to be in exceptionally limited quantity. This will also have a special variant, which you’ll have to come to the con to see. Seriously, guys, come to FanExpo. My high five quota for August is gonna be tough to reach without you!

UPDATE: I’ve been receiving an awful lot of requests for prints of Luigi. Due to demand, you can now have one for your very own! Shoot me an email and let’s make your wall pretty as hell.

Behold: a new special edition original print that’ll be available at FanExpo 2011! There will only be so many of these, and goodness knows skulls with vaginas in them are the hottest thing on the block right now, so make sure you visit my table early!

In other news, I’ve been absolutely loving Google+ so far – if you’ve received an invite, look me up, and let’s HANG OUT™.

Chances are, anyone worth a shit has already moonwalked to the Steam Whistle Brewery to check out Smiling Antimatter, so at this point I feel pretty alright showing you what I’ve got up there. Each piece is grander than the last, and they’re all for sale! Feel free to contact me if you’d like to have some awesome art installed in your living room / bathroom / laundry room / bondage dungeon.

I still highly suggest you head down to the gallery to take a peek at the rest of the pieces, and have a beer – besides, these photos pale in comparison to the real thing. You’ve got until July 1st! Hurry!