#file under: things that took forever to find not on deviantart

[alereyusa]

Storytime: Power Ranger Project

Storytime, inspired by the memes of YouTubers, is a new bit I'm adding to Chico's Coop. I'll write whatever is on my mind, but mostly keep centered around a particular subject.

Entertainment | Ah, the tights, blasters, putties, and those perfectly timed explosions. Based on the Super Sentai series produced by Toei Company, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers debuted in the 90's which sparked a phenomenon that is close to hitting two decades of explosive kid entertainment. I was born just a year after it premiered but watched almost every episode thanks to those re-runs on Fox Kids. There were many great shows that defined my childhood, and Power Rangers was a star, campy production at front and center next to Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and a whole lot more.

As I transitioned into the life of a teenager in 2007, time spent watching Saturday morning cartoons were replaced with playing next-gen video game epics and watching movies that Hollywood significantly began stepping up in those times (Transformers (2007) comes to mind - a movie like that just wasn't possible in 2002!). It was like I entered a new generation of time in history. Social media was getting ready to change forever, and technology was advancing rapidly! In 2007, I carried a portable PlayStation with downloaded music in my pocket. In 2017, I have a pocket device that can access a world of information rapidly, stream over a million songs, and share a plethora of only the most dank memes.

I used to not reminisce much on childhood and growing up, because it didn't seem that far long ago. Part of that growing up was writing (for fun, lol) and drawing which faded by the time I reached college. When I was finishing my undergrad, I began to reflect on everything leading up until that point. It was then I realized I let go of passions that I never truly began to advance in. My writing was nothing you'd find in a book distributed by a major publisher today, nor was my drawing the type that people could ooh and ahh at on DeviantArt. This was the time I realized that I could still learn, and what was stopping me?

The lack of inspiration. I didn't look for it when it came to my drawing. I didn't read books like I used to which helped inspire my writing. What helped me get back into writing? Realizing I had a great story I believed people would have a rollercoaster of joy with. That started over a year ago with the revamp of The Chicken Man and the launch of Alerey, a symbol of my pursuit back into these passions. I even started a new story last year (Statue in the Woods), which I've been holding onto the 3rd part now for a while (note on that: It's WRITTEN but wasn't good enough for me to share with you all yet. It will release when the time comes!).

And my drawing? WELL, rewind time back just a bit to New York Comic Con in October 2016. Jason David Frank, famously known in the Power Ranger fan community as the original green ranger, was gearing up for his role as Valiant Comic's Bloodshot in the upcoming live action web series, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe. #JDFBloodshot was a hashtag he started to use to tag his role as the character, and fans were already drawing fan art of him as the character. He began sharing the fan art on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, social media homes of his rapidly growing fan-base.

A little history of my admiration for the dude: After discovering him on Facebook with just under 300,000 followers in late 2013, I became an avid follower of the social media master. After learning about what else he's accomplished since those PR days, which included breaking a world record for one, I became quite vested in the insight he provided into his life, which proved to be very down to Earth and entertaining. Of course, he's human! To this day, he still writes fans back, offers regular contests for signed merch and shout-outs, and is a great role model no matter what the age of the PR fan. To put it simply, he's a cool guy!

So naturally, I wanted to show him my own #JDFBloodshot art. My dilemma:  I have not done a full-effort drawing in years. The first night of NYCC, I followed a YouTube tutorial of a portrait to help refresh my touch with a pencil and learn something new about using the different ones I purchased in a set. After that refresher, I gave my shot at Bloodshot.

JDF Bloodshot by AlereyUSA on DeviantArt

My first thought was, "Whoa, I need to do much better than this!" Second thought was, "I'll share it anyway." So there it was, no beautiful bird came singing to me songs of inspiration while I sat by a tree under falling leaves. No, I wanted to get noticed by a celebrity!! Haha, and I did, it was great! To sum it up, an actor famously part of the Power Rangers series gave me the boost to finally get back into it.

This led to my Power Ranger Project. The 2017 film was to release in March, and I was pumped for the good month. Birthday was approaching as well, along with Logan, Bring Me the Horizon, and the Houston Rodeo. Then, I was recently inspired by speed art videos, time-lapses of beautiful creations by folks showcasing their talents on YouTube. I tried my hand at it with my Harry Potter drawing, which I drew for my graduation cap.

Then I had an idea, a vision of a drawing video of all five new Power Ranger actors, where sped-up portions of their drawings interlaced with each other to the tune of the classic MMPR theme song. In this process, I would draw five portraits. After each portrait, I would take something I didn't like from the previous drawing and try to focus on that in the next. The goal was that by the time I was done with the fifth, I would've gotten some great practice in. Then, I was able to practice video-editing skills for the speed art videos. My final reward at the end was a .wmv file viewable for everyone to enjoy what I envisioned. And I did it!

After spending most of March working on that project, I took a step back for April and used that time I made for drawing to get some reading done. That's why Alerey has been particularly quiet ;D Now Houston's Comicpalooza is happening and that's plenty to celebrate in May. Perhaps I'll get to meet the man who singlehandedly jumped into a megazord, kicked the crap out of all the rangers inside, and then tossed them out only to kick their asses again.

My #graduation #cap! Had trouble deciding what I wanted while still attempting to achieve being somewhat unique, and came up with this fusion! A crossover between #HarryPotter and The #LegendofZelda, this references the popular moment from the first LoZ game. The two fires beside Link were each replaced with a Goblet of Fire, and the sword, of course, with a diploma. I remember Harry being in a position that would be perfect underneath the diploma and finally thought of Book 7's cover art by Mary Grandpré. Also stuck the logo of my pride and joy, Alerey, on there as a commemoration of one more thing I achieved while in college. #MischiefManaged

A post shared by Alerey (@alereyusa) on Dec 15, 2016 at 9:59am PST