So this is my samurai MINIon… I believe he is part of the “Ookagowa” shogunate. Recently I had the chance to play “Age of War” at Saltire Games (my local game shop) It’s a quick dice based game in which players try to capture castles and various clans. Lots of fun, but reminded me of how little I know.
MINIon #0777, mentioned that they had Japanese style tattoos, so combined with having played Age of War- this is what happens. 
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A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0777
So this is my samurai MINIon… I believe he is part of the “Ookagowa” shogunate. Recently I had the chance to play “Age of War” at Saltire Games (my local game shop) It’s a quick dice based game in which players try to capture castles and various clans. Lots of fun, but reminded me of how little I know.
MINIon #0777, mentioned that they had Japanese style tattoos, so combined with having played Age of War- this is what happens. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1177
I didn’t always understand the connection between a pet and a person… no really. I know many of you would find this difficult to understand knowing the bond between myself & Hemi (best cat in the world). You see as a child I never had a pet, I had hundreds of them. At one point we had three (?) dogs, four or five cats, two goats, five or six chickens, four guinea pigs, two hamsters, two parakeets, and around 100 rabbits. It’s hard to get attached to a pet when there are so many to choose from. As I grew older the numbers dwindled, but it still was difficult when we just kept getting more. So when I moved away, I made a conscious choice to not have a pet. Hemi was Sue’s idea (she had never had a pet).
I bring this up because many MINIons have pets, and want to have their pet included in the badge I draw… this is more difficult than you would think. Basically I can draw a “dog” but to draw your exact dog is hard. You know where every little spot is, and that exact expression. I had a student once who asked me to draw a dog- and then told me the exact breed. I then asked her to describe it for me and she said it looks like a collie, but smaller. So I drew a collie and was told that I got it wrong because the tail wasn’t right. The dog on this badge is the best interpretation of a sable German Shepherd I can do. I hope it’s good enough. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0562
Don’t make MINIon #0562 angry, you wouldn’t like MINIon #0562 when he’s angry. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1682
Hippity Hoppity Happy Easter! A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0723
So I met this couple on the road during MTTS 2014 and as part of my not having to socialize I brought my sketch pad along to the evening event in Reno and doodled. I ended up drawing a lot of MINIons for people and one of them was a MINIon Marine… Getting the basics right is easy, but having a retired Marine living across the street, I know there are specifics (even when talking about ex-marines vs. retired marines- and I probably got it wrong.) When I drew this in Reno I googled the Marine Corp insignia so that I got that right. The good thing about my doodles is they are black and white, pen and ink, that’s all. When adding color, you get an entirely new dimension to mess up. I probably should have taken a picture of the drawing to make it easier- doh! A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0157
I’m not sure if I have the correct variety of apple for this one… but that’s an easy enough fix.
When we study tall tales my students read about the pioneer who brought apples to Oregon… it is a rather interesting story, the version we read (Apples to Oregon) is told by his daughter who lets the reader know that his family, may not have been as important to him as his cargo of saplings. As with many tall tales there is some basis on fact, but I doubt he really named his kids after kinds of apples. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0055
ZOOOOOOOOM!!! When creating personal MINIons sometimes it is hard, and as I have said before the difficulty is trying to meet everyone’s expectations. When just drawing for drawing’s sake I can make mistakes and there isn’t an issue. When I draw for someone (even when I don’t charge money) I always worry. Maybe it’s because I have a very low self esteem (I was raised in a time where everyone didn’t get a trophy for showing up). Maybe it’s because I’m a geek and an introvert and do have trouble in social situations. Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher and have been told how worthless what I do is- over and over and over again. Second child? Possible. there are lots of reasons, but in the end it’s my problem, and I just hope I do the best I can.
MINIon #0055 gave me more than enough information to draw a MINIon. Enough, in fact, that I almost redrew Cecil when he was cosplaying trying to cover every geek group possible. In the end I went with the number- 55 for inspiration. For those in the MINI community you know that even though every MINI is a MINI Cooper – that they all have a numeric designation (the first MINI was the R-50, I drive an R-59, Sue drives an R-56 and the latest model is the F-56). The R-55 was the Clubman, one of the many MINI designs that “ruined the brand forever” 😉 The Clubman is the one that’s a bit longer and has barn doors instead of a hatchback. I have no problem with it, frankly- it’s one of those hidden gems in the MINI line. Besides the R-55 this MINIon works in aviation, and is a pilot… the plane he flies (hopefully) is the one in the MINIon’s hand which also has the number 55 in its name (I may need to change the color after this posts). A Year in MINIons- MINIon #0643
Sun Wukong, the monkey king…. c’mon you knew he had to be a MINIon.
In college I actually took a few classes (they were required to graduate since I didn’t play sports). One was “World Literature” which, at the time I thought would be a little different. So when I got the reading list with books like “A 100 Years of Solitude” and “Monkey” it made me realize I wasn’t on Ceti Alpha V anymore. I did learn enough to be able to drop a few titles in the middle of a conversation so I might sound well read, when Star Trek references didn’t work. I did actually enjoyed some of the titles, including “Monkey” a retelling of the classic Chinese tale “The Journey to the West.” No Cecil was not modeled after this character, but then again, the subconscious is a strange thing. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1960
So you know this was one I had to do. I thank my friend Jim McClain for posting a sketch card he had done of Groot. I decided I needed to do something similar for fun.
As for “Guardians of the Galaxy…” yes, I did like the film (I really haven’t seen a Marvel Studios film I haven’t liked & no, I haven’t seen Iron Man 3). It has not caused me to buy all the Guardians of Galaxy LEGO sets, comic books, lunch boxes, t-shirts, etc… I do like Skottie Young’s work and have picked up his Rocket Raccoon. This was just a good old fashioned fun film and actually caused me to go back and reread the Rocket Raccoon mini series from the 80’s which was stranger than I recall. I also bought the first “Nova” trade paperback on a suggestion, which was great and included Rocket. I’m curious as to what will be on the new mix tape… because they have set the bar very high.
I have drawn my share of raccoons in this comic and at cons (one of the only big drawings I actually have sold), but this is about Groot… who debuted in Tales to Astonish #13 in 1960. A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1964
Hey all you swinging cats (figuratively speaking, not literally- that would be cruel)! The people responsible for the issues with the first posting have been sacked. I still have no idea where a lounge singing MINIon came from, but it’s cool. Especially now that it has actually posted.