In 2024, I found myself taking on a number of interesting art projects outside of the usual web comics. I’ve decided to post all of this year’s big pieces in a single post.
This past year, I’ve deleted/abandoned a number of my old social media platforms, mostly due to issues with changing terms of service, so it’s important that anyone who is still interested in revisiting these pieces has at least one more place to find them. (I’m currently most active on Bluesky, if you’re wondering.)
So, here’s the 2024 art roundup, arranged in a (mostly) chronological order.
April – Lepus Rabbit Parade
I’ve made a few Lepus Rabbits in 2024 (and I hope to make even more in 2025), but this one is a little special, as it is the first time I ever made a batch of rabbits that work as a set. I posted one rabbit a day, then shared the whole parade on Easter Sunday.
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April – Nabbit/Super Mario Comic
For some reason, I decided to do another Easter project as well. I got the strange idea to make a comic about Nabbit the rabbit thief from the Super Mario series. Why did this have to be an Easter project? Because I based the lyrics on a song from an old Rankin/Bass Easter special from the 70’s (makes perfect sense, right?)
As silly as this was, it might be one of the best looking comics I’ve ever made and it’s definitely my best fan comic.
Unlike the main Mario cast, Nabbit is not a character that was introduced during my childhood. However, my niece and nephews found him charming. The more they talked about him, the more he resonated with me and now I’ve adopted Nabbit as one of my current favorites. Expect more Nabbit art from me in the future.
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September – Super Mario Sprite Redraw
September 3rd marked the 39th anniversary of the original Super Mario Brother (NES/Famicon). There was a neat little online community project where people would try to redraw the original Princess Peach sprite in their own style. While Peach was the star of this event, many artists naturally branched out to try redraws of the whole cast. I ended up making a set of the main characters, challenging myself to use only the colors and dimensions that the original sprites used.
Today’s artists definitely had it easier than the original pixel artists from the 80s, as a lot of the characters’ designs had not yet reached their final forms back then. In my set, I think Toad had the biggest glow-up.
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October 1st – November 1st – Over The Garden Wall Paintings
This fall, one of my favorite cartoons, Over the Garden Wall, turned ten years old. I wanted to do something special to celebrate, so I decided to post one character a day for the entire month of October (with one extra appearing on November 1st.)
This project was an experiment in combining digital lines and hand-painted watercolors so I could get the best of both digital and traditional media (shout out to my Graphic Illustration professor from college – I based this method on one of his methods for coloring comics.) I think it was a big success and I would like to do more work in this style in the future.
Each character is an individual image, but the images can also link together to make a finished scene.
The complete set is currently available as a print in my shop for a few more months.
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October 3rd – Lunar Calendar
For the fourth year in a row, I completed a poster calendar to chart all the moons in 2025. Not only does this calendar feature a moon for every day, all the phases are labeled and the moon names from five different cultures are listed.
The poster is also available in my shop.
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October 5th – 24-Hour Comic Day
2024 was my second year of taking on 24 Hour Comic Day. Like last year, I decided to do a retelling of a classic story. This year’s comic is based on stories of Chanticleer from medieval folk tales told in Enladn and France.
Unfortunately, the project proved too ambitious and I did not complete it in 24 hours, so it turned into a 48-hour comic. Some of the art got a little rushed at the end, but I’m currently cleaning it up so I can make a printed book for my shop (i’ll remove the “24-hour” tagline before I finish.) It will hopefully be ready for sale in February. (the comic from 2023 is already in the shop.)
Back when 24-Hour comics were more popular, I worked on Saturdays and couldn’t join in on the frenzy. Even though the excitement around 24-hour comic day isn’t what it used to be, I really enjoy getting to challenge myself and make something short and sweet each year. You can bet I have an idea in the works for 2025.
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Full Moon Art Challenge 2024
On December 15th, the last full moon of 2025 rose and I completed another year of The Full Moon Art Challenge.
For these art challenges, I always try to use a medium that I’ve been neglecting and want to brush up on. For 2024, I choose polymer clay sculptures, as I have not done much sculpting in the past few years.
I do plan on running another Full Moon Art Challenge in 2025. Check out the event page if you plan to join in or just follow along.
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That’s a Wrap
That’s my year in review for 2024. In 2025, I hope to take on extra projects again, while still keeping Draconis Wicked going. There will to be a lot to keep up with, but this kind of art is work worth doing.
Happy New Year.
