"Revelations" ("The DaVinci Code")
Ink Smudges: When it came time to do a picture for The Da Vinci Code, a neat little thought entered my head: the fabled "Konami Code". The Konami Code was a series of buttons that when entered would unlock neat effects in videogames during the NES/SNES era. The most famous result was that when entered properly, the Konami code would grant the user 30 lives in the game Contra. And it became a near fact that the only way to actually make it all the way through the game would be with those additional lives. Anyone who plays videogames now or even then know the mantra: "Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A Start". Its as ingrained as the Pledge of Allegiance.
So knowing that the plot of The Da Vinci Code dealt with art, I casually suggested to Jake that he should draw Erik and Daryl sitting in an art gallery looking at a "modern art" painting of the Konami Code. Simple. Yet he somehow misunderstood me and decided that the code would be "hidden" in the Mona Lisa. So yeah, he hands me a penciled pic and expects me to be able to paint the Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings in the world. Gee, thanks pal.
I knew I could never get it right, so I just added the colors that were prominent in the painting and added a few Photoshop tweaks to make it at least look like what its supposed to be. I think it looks passable.
As a side note... I never really know how to color Daryl. His head isn't really supposed to be on fire, its more of an electrical thing (or at least is it was last time Jake explained it to me), but I can never get it looking "just right". I guess its one of the reasons that every single time I color Daryl it looks completely different from the last one. One day I'm going to have to sit down and get this guys colors right. - Tony
Pencil Marks: Regardless of how much procrastinating Tony wants to do, it's not every day I find myself having to draw the Mona Lisa. Given I knew the joke was going to be the 'Konami Code', it would have made more sense (not to mention more room) if I had gone with my original thought: depicting 'The Last Supper'. But for simplicity, I opted for the former.
All things considered, the picture didn't come out all that bad. If I have had the foresight, I might have drawn the characters separate from the background in order to allow Tony more flexibility to accomplish the idea I had set out to do. Unfortunately what I handed him was everything penciled on the page and an almost impossible special effect for him to pull off. So in that aspect, I believe Tony did well.
I drew the Mona Lisa. Who would have imagined? - Jake