RYUSEI WORKS on Tumblr

John Paul Cassidy, Bronxite cartoonist/animator/filmmaker residing Richmond, VA. Creator of REKIRA and LILY MERRIWEATHER (both are works in progress). This is my Tumblr page. You can also follow me on: Blogspot (Main Art Blog) deviantART YouTube Vimeo Facebook Twitter View my art on this blog.

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At last, the first official teaser for my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster!

Animated on Blender, the copy titles were designed on FireAlpaca.

The colorful background smoke effect took 2 to 3 uneasy nights to animate. (Blender users, make sure you delete your file's cache folder once you get the render you want!) But it was nonetheless what I was looking for.

And did you notice something else? That's right, that roar in the background is Rekira's new original roar! (As opposed to the Godzilla/Sanda mix-roar I've created in the 2000s.) I actually wanted to create an original roar for Rekira, as this was a way for him to have his own identity, and it was 15 years in the making (with sound elements from 2009, and more in 2024, finally completed in October of last year). I am extremely proud with how it turned out! I've always wanted to create my own Godzilla-style roar for my own monster.

Watch for the next teaser as production rolls along!

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 I really wanted to post this yesterday, but I only just overcame a bunch of technical hiccups at the eleventh hour. But I'm nonetheless very excited about this.

 Yesterday was the 35th Anniversary of when I officially began production on what would eventually become my original kaiju story, Rekira the Super-Monster! Originally a Godzilla fanfiction, which I would revise and refine in subsequent years; in 1997, I was encouraged by a dear friend to turn the story into an original work (because - and he put it so much better than most other people did - of the benefits of doing an original story; having creative freedom and owning it personally). I agreed, and after much revisions through the years, I refined it into my ultimate love-letter to Godzilla and other tokusatsu (as well as other aesthetics, like midcentury modern cartoon styles and 1950s/'60s retrofuturism). Here are two finished pieces related to my project, both modeled on Blender and texted/signed on FireAlpaca.

One is the finished figures of Rekira fighting his first adversary, Cheligon (which you've seen in past posts), from one of my render sessions on January 23rd.

The other is new finished figures of the three main characters of the story: Tatsuo Kongoji, Raitaro Hayama, and Verena Freston. The new V6 figures are lower-poly and easier to shape/texture, with much better rigging poseability, and these are the best ones yet! I finally nailed the cartoon style I was going for. I've got some more pics on the way, from other modeling sessions. But otherwise, it's hard to believe that 35 years have gone by... Enjoy!

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Finally, I finished the model on Blender for Electric Eel Monster Cheligon (Denki-Unagi Kaijuu Kerigon), the first adversary for the titular kaiju of my original project, Rekira the Super-Monster! I'm very satisfied with how it turned out.

For good measure, I included the original version, created on 3DSMax for my Rekira short in 2008...

Originally called "Chelios" (based on "chéli" = Greek for "eel"), this monster was actually created from just copying the 2008 Rekira's model and modifying it, only it was rushed. It still did the job quite well!

The new version is like night and day!

Modeled on Blender (with the texture made on FireAlpaca), with this promotional image assembled on FireAlpaca, I crossed an electric eel with a salamander, basically. The new name, Cheligon, is a combination of "chéli"/"eel" + "dragon." The result is much more satisfying, with a sleek, slimy-looking texture, and a color pattern that is reminiscent of 1960s/1970s kaiju of the same type. This is very true to the design I've been working with for the last decade! Wait'll you see it in action with different gimmicks...

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This coming Tuesday (January 6) will be 35 years since one of the greatest days in my life (the details of which I'll post about one day)! Long story short, I went to NYC Creation Con for the 4th time, with my mother, and bought a couple of videos (including the first five episodes of Ultraman, in English; finally seeing an Ultra Series for the first time, after hearing/reading about it for so many years), watching samples of other videos (including The Space Giants and Kamen Rider Black), and to top it all off, bought the first issue of the short-lived Markalite (Summer 1990), one of my favorite magazines of all time! (And yes, named for the Markalite FAHP/Flying Atomic Heat Projector mecha from The Mysterians.) It's like much of my questions were answered, including learning the word "tokusatsu" (special effects) for the first time! And it was my gateway to tokusatsu fandom, after trying to find out more about my favorite Japanese sci-fi stuff for many years!

Here are the two main human characters from Rekira the Super-Monster reenacting Markalite's influence on my life. Raitaro Hayama reflecting my teenage self from the time, and Verena Freston looking on with curiosity (because tokusatsu, at the time, was considered so weird and not worthy of mainstream attention). Drawn on tablet in FireAlpaca (in a pencil style).

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Tomorrow (January 2nd), Tsuburaya's Ultra Series franchise turns 60 (when Ultra Q premiered in 1966)! (And Spectreman turns 55; five years apart!) So my original kaiju, Rekira, gets his own silhouette in the style of the original 1966 Ultraman show! Drawn on tablet in FireAlpaca.

I picked a fine time to get into both the Ultra Series and tokusatsu fandom; January 6, 1991 (on the franchise's 25th Anniversary), 35 years ago this month, when I went to NYC Creation-Con and bought some stuff that changed my life... but that's another story. ;)

Happy New Year!

[ryuuseipro]

Here's my final work of 2025!

Drawn on tablet in FireAlpaca, here's the Olympus Key Staff (secretly the Dynamic Heralds), the main characters of my kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster, wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

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I think I really nailed it this time. :)

You may have seen them in some test footage I posted recently, but I recently completed updated versions of the main heroes of my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster! And with them, I did a second version of the reenactment of my last art of 2022 on Blender, and this time, I finally nailed it, for my last CG work of 2025.

Once again, depicted are the main characters, the Olympus Key Staff (who secretly transform into the superhero team, the Dynamic Heralds), hanging out in a huge studio similar to the Rainbow Room from The Monkees! (It's the same exact one used in the previous version.)

Either way, these deeply touch me.  🥲

I'll still be doing some drawn art by the end of the year, so stay tuned!

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I'm about to unveil my latest 3D models of my original kaiju, Rekira! Two variants made with the same model; a dragon variant and a bipedal variant. This is the first time since 2008 that I decided to make a fully bipedal version. These are the best models yet! I'm impressed with both versions. Made in Blender.

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Here's that lovely Rekira teaser poster again, but with slightly fixed Japanese text (thanks to Instagram user "masked_elone")!

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Today is the 34th Anniversary of when I started the project that ultimately became Rekira the Super-Monster, my own original kaiju project! Production is still underway, and to mark the occasion, I did two versions of the teaser poster, in Japanese and English! This has my current V3 Beta model of Rekira, done in Blender (with which I'm animating the project), and the posters were done in FireAlpaca.

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Huh. So I got a thousand likes. :)

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Huh! So I got 1,000 likes on Tumblr! :)

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My first art of 2025 has Rekira, my original kaiju, celebrating the Year of the Snake (in a snakelike physique)!

Drawn on tablet in FireAlpaca.

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Here's my final art of 2024, with my original kaiju, Rekira, waving goodbye to his inspiration/hero, Godzilla, after the King of the Monsters' 70th Anniversary turned out very well. Despite its problems, 2024 was still a very good year!

Done on tablet in FireAlpaca.

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Art Highlights of 2024!

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So as of today, this movie is now exactly as old as Godzilla was when he starred in it! 😉

TOKUTEMBER SUPPLEMENT: The movie that brought Godzilla into Japan's then-new Heisei dynasty (1989-2019), here's the innovative Godzilla Vs. Biollante (Toho; 1989)!

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Despite these difficult times, I still have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving:

-Mom and Sissy being in good health. -My big brother Peter and his friend Panda had a great and safe two-week trip to Japan, and showed me all sorts of stuff! -I went to two Galaxy-Cons this year and met wonderful guests. -This is, to date, the best Godzilla Day I've ever had (the Godzilla Fest livestream, going to see Godzilla Minus One for the 4th time, and watching my Criterion Blu-Ray of the original 1954 film)! -I'm making very good progress on my original kaiju project, Rekira the Super-Monster! And for Thanksgiving, I'm sharing a bit of it: I'm unveiling the final look for the eponymous monster, as completed in Blender! Assembled in FireAlpaca.

Happy Thanksgiving!