dW - Article Archive - Operaman & Speed Dial

Jan 14^th 2008

Operaman & Speed Dial

This is my entry into My Opera’s An Artist In You contest. Since the contest prize involves a cheese slicer I thought I’d try to do something that was so cheesy I’d need that slicer to slice it up, so I did my play on one of the cheesiest images I’ve seen used in conjunction with Opera, a man I’ve dubbed “Operaman”. You can click on its image to get the original picture used by the fine people at Opera Software to launch Opera 8.

It took me quite a while to figure out something to do, and in an off comment to Jeffro I said it’d be funny to do Operaman. He thought it was an excellent idea, and I went with it. I didn’t just want to draw Operaman. I wanted to do something funny with it, perhaps play on a feature of Opera. Speed Dial instantly entered my head, and I thought it’d be perfect to do a Flash sort of character where it has super speed. Speed Dial was born.

I don’t normally draw in this style, as I tend to prefer a cleaner style. I grew up drawing superheroes, and anyone who knew me back in the day knew I was a walking X-Men encyclopedia. I knew everything there was about X-Men. I wanted to tip my hat to a style used in American comics. This gave me a chance to try my hand at coloring the characters similarly to how they’re colored in these days. I think I did okay.

Well I hope you guys enjoy it. It’s not to be taken too seriously. It’s meant to be cheesy.

Responses

Vetle Roeim Jan 15, 2008 03:14:42

Awesome. Awesome to the max. ;)
Eirik Stavem Jan 15, 2008 04:29:48

If you don’t win the contest with this contribution, there’s no justice in the world ;)
Ralf Demuth Jan 15, 2008 05:41:04

Could someone please help me to shut the mouth again? This is so good! :)
Chris Thornton Jan 15, 2008 07:04:56

Completely awesome, Khad!
David Storey Jan 15, 2008 07:58:41

Where is Mini man?
Vetle Roeim Jan 17, 2008 05:42:15

Oh yeah! Mini man and Community girl!
Dustin Wilson Jan 17, 2008 08:01:38

What about Widget? Can’t forget that little guy.
David Storey Jan 17, 2008 08:05:21

I still think mobile widgets should be called Midgets…or maybe not.
Espen Øverdahl Jan 18, 2008 08:17:24

We demand Mini Man and Community Girl!
Oleg Melnichuck Jan 18, 2008 13:24:45

Yeah, Dustin! What about the ‘Opera Family portrait’? ;) :D I think that would be just amazing! :up:
yeeliberto Jan 18, 2008 15:44:43

Yeah, where is mini man?

by the way, your wallpaper is ace, what app did you use?
Oleg Melnichuck Jan 18, 2008 16:01:32

Looks like Adobe Photoshop… That motion blur from SpeedDial Man is definitely like made in it. And background shine is similar to what can Adobe Illustrator make… ;)
violetisha Jan 19, 2008 13:54:42

WOW Dustin! This wallpaper is amazing! I love you ilustrations!

Dustin: I’m your fanz!!! :headbang:
Dustin Wilson Jan 19, 2008 15:31:53

The motion blur wasn’t quite done using the filter alone as it took some painting to get it to look right, but it was done in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos 3 12×12 tablet. The background and text was done using Adobe Illustrator.
David Storey Jan 20, 2008 06:47:04

and of course you need the Web Opener Valkyrie and the dev.opera Liberian and the Opera Labs crazy scientist…and…
djosh_losh Jan 20, 2008 08:18:23

I’m not a big fan of US comix style! But funny thing is a funny thing! And Opera is Opera! It would be nice to see some other characters! :up:
Dustin Wilson Jan 20, 2008 18:31:03

David: You can stop now. The more you say the more people’ll want me to draw :D.
David Storey Jan 21, 2008 16:56:35

Khadgar: You’ve never heard of O-Men? I heard it was a big Hollywood hit.
Dustin Wilson Jan 21, 2008 20:35:49

Was that the one with Pee Wee Herman in it… oh wait… no.
Cyro Mar 05, 2008 10:09:49

We need villains.

How about “IEvil”, “Sufferari” and “Dunce the Fox” ?