Random Thoughts on New Layouts in the Dad Zone

Random Thoughts

You live, you learn, and you learn to live with regret.

What? Not all of my random thoughts are going to be happy and/or funny.

Tales from the Dad Zone

Since my son was born I've learned a few new things, like how much I can really get done on less than six hours of sleep a night (hint, it's not as much as you would like to think). I've also learned that changing a boy's diaper has an entirely set of do's and don'ts, like don't lean to far over your son while changing him and do keep your mouth closed at all times. Most of all I've learned one seemingly strange, random piece of information. It's this: boys stink. Here I'm  not talking metaphorically like, "raising a boy is hard tiring work that should be done by...someone else." No, I mean the literal olfactory sense of the word, "stink," as in "smells bad." Let the boy go two or three days between baths and you can smell him coming. My son has this tangy acidic funk. The first time I noticed it was in the kitchen, and I thought I'd accidentally got some balsamic vinegar on him after fixing dinner. Turns out it wasn't vinegar. When  my son gets funky he smells like salad dressing.

New Layout

I'm experimenting with a new layout, and I'll probably be tweaking it as I go. I'm not wild about displaying the full text of every post, but this layout does give me some flexibility that Blogger's dynamic themes do not. Most importantly it lets me add custom items to the sidebar. Like the "Donate" button, which I'll explain a little more, below. Until I settle on a look and configuration I like there will probably several changes over the next few days, weeks. Bear with me. It's my hope that it's leading to bigger and better things.

That Money Thing

A notable new addition to the sidebar is a "Donate" button. I'm a thirty-something lefty so I believe in net neutrality, and I believe that content on the Internet should be free, and I will do my best to continue to provide free comics, commentary, doodles, and...don't-les (for lack of a better non-word). What I've found over the lat couple of years of doing this is there are soft-costs associated with providing "free" content (with what Internet Service Providers charge it's more like paying for a monthly pass). Some of those costs include art supplies, getting a better website for Geek Speak, upgrading my digital capabilities, buying and learning new software, getting a better and/or second monitor, and (yes) my time. Further down the road map is merchandise like shirts, mugs, books, and prints, but a donate button is a step I can take right now. If you've enjoyed Geek Speak, sketch dumps, and my commentary, please think about pitching in the price of your favorite coffee drink at Starbucks.

Sketch Dump

I'm not going to leave this post there like some kind of public broadcasting pledge drive (but seriously, I support public broadcasting). Here are more doodles from my notebooks at work. 

This handsome fellow is me taking a stab at drawing the character of "Gluttony" from Full Metal Alchemist. I don't watch a lot of anime, but I got hooked into this and Attack on Titan as a way to pass the time while feeding my son. In Full Metal Alchemist I really love the idea of equivalent exchange; the idea that you can't get something without giving something in return. The concept of this balancing force is a huge theme in the story of the Elric brothers. 

One of my projects required daily email notifications to go out to a list of users. To spice up the daily email to my co-worker on the communications team I started adding some of my drawings. After a while the text of the email messages started to reflect the theme of the drawing. 

Something that will probably become a recurring theme in my sketch dumps is "drawings I can't freely share around the office." This is one. It's not really "NSFW," but she is showing a lot of leg and some side-boob, which is...less than professional. In a way I couldn't help myself. I love the classic femme fatale in her elegant gown, perfect hair, holding a gun, and killing you slowly with a smoldering look. 

Nothing much to say about this other than the obvious; I took a stab at drawing Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes. 

Started this out going for the titular character of the amazing Battle Angel Alita manga series. I didn't quite get there, but ended up liking the result nonetheless. 

Mugging for a Gonzo Sketch Dump

Mugging for Gonzo

Where I am working now it is apparently a kind of tradition for managers to buy a company-branded mug for their new hires. In most cases the new employee doesn't get a say as to which mug they end up with. My manager, in her infinite graciousness, let me pick one for myself. When I selected a "Gonzo" from "The Muppets" she and my co-worker exchanged a look and said, "I knew that was the one he was going to get." I really wonder what that says about me.

Gonzo was always my favorite of the characters on The Muppet Show. He was always doing something interesting and crazy. Gonzo was always swinging on a trapeze, or riding a motorcycle through a burning hoop, or firing himself from a canon, and he was always surrounded by chickens...oh...the chickens. Gonzo was always doing something and it was usually something exciting. 

I liked the other muppets just fine, but they never really appealed to me in the same way. Kermit is the one designed to be everyone's favorite, the one you're supposed to like. I like Kermit just fine, but he's so gosh-darned straight-laced and likable that he bores me a little. Ms. Piggy, well, I just never warmed to her. I don't hate the character, but she just never grew on me. Maybe I just find her shrill. Fozzy is funny but kind of pathetic. It goes on like that. I just never felt like the other muppets had the same pizazz. 

Sketch Dump: The Final SADA Installment

As my time at SADA Systems wound to a close I found myself with extra time, and with a little bit of a "devil may care" attitude. It's understandable. In the last couple of weeks I basically had one foot out the door at all times. I took advantage of the extra time to do some extra doodling. Here is some of what I came up with while I was counting down the days to when I could punch out for the last time.

Venting

This is such a bad pun, even for me, that I am absolutely sure it was drawn to break a creative log-jam. Kind of like the cartooning equivalent of writer's block. I had a brand new notebook, and I'd already accepted the offer from what would become my new job, so the last thing I was going to do was use a notebook to take notes.

Banana Split

This may have been a little inappropriate, but it's hardly the most risque thing I've ever doodled at my desk. I liked the over-the-shoulder pose, but thought it would be fun to put a mischievous twist on it. 

I Make My Own Friends

In this case I don't have anything really funny or glib to say. It doesn't happen very much, but every so often I draw something sweet, or sentimental. In this case I think I wanted a sense of nostalgia for the simple joys of growing up, but also a kind of melancholy loneliness. The child is building the snowman alone. 

"Dur Sync"

That was depressing, I think it's time for another stupid pun.

Microsoft "Directory Sync" called "DirSync" for short is a tool that synchronizes data between an on-premise Active Directory system and a number of hosted systems. What it's used for aside, this is what goes through my head every time someone calls it "DirSync."

Said the Bugbear to the Beholder-Kin

This is where I fly my geek flag and make a reference to two classic monsters from Dungeons and Dragons. For those who may not know the game or its assorted ghouls and goblins (both of which are actual monsters with their own unique stats) a bugbear is related to goblins and orcs, but they tend to be bigger, tougher, and more savage. Beholders are, usually, giant floating eyeballs with teeth. Some have smaller eyes on stalks that protrude from their bodies, and each eye has its own excruciatingly painful way to kill an adventurer. 

In all likelihood that's the last thing the bugbear said before the beholder vaporized half his body with his eye-beam, then devoured the other half. 

Work Sketching the Foglios of Comic Con

Work-a-Doodle: Sketch Dump

I'm doing the finishing work on a new Geek Speak, and while I'm doing that I would like to share some of what goes into my notebooks at work. These are some recent drawings, mostly done between taking notes while listening in on a conference call.

 

 

The first drawing, of a young witch on a broom, is me experimenting with drawing a pin up. It does occur to me from time to time that my notebook at work may not be the best place in the world for me to be drawing even mildly racy content like this, but when it turns out relatively well I convince myself it was worth it for the experience and practice. 

The next one is Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin and one of the major villains in both Spider-Man and Daredevil comics. For this drawing I actually pulled out my Prismacolor markers to do the shading. That's not something I can do a lot of at work. It takes time and attention that I usually don't have time to spare. On this day I was mostly doing time sheet updates, so I had a minute here and there to spare for coloring in a little bit. 

The third one is kind of a play on the song by Shakira. I had the thought, "if hips don't lie, what would they say?"

Finally, I drew Batman holding a toy from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. For those not hip to the MLP, that's Fluttershy he's holding. That's right. Batman's a Bronie. Deal with it. 

Comic Con - Day 2 - Continued

When I left off last I had waited in a long line (though not the long line) only to be shut out of getting into the Korra Panel. On the one hand, it sucked not being able to get in and get a look at what lies in store for the titular (snicker) Avatar in The Legend of Korra: Book Two, but if I had been able to get into that panel, it would have radically changed my entire day. 

As I said last time, after being disappointed at the doors to ballroom twenty I headed to the floor. Once I got to the floor I knew the author and artist of Girl Genius, my favorite webcomic, would have a booth in with the rest of the groups who were promoting webcomics. On my way to their booth, however, I got side tracked by another artist's display. The Noah Fine Art booth featuring works, conveniently enough by, Noah had amazing paintings featuring Disney characters. His work has a whimsy and a lightness to it, while maintaining solid technique that grabbed my attention and held me at his booth, even as I saw Kaja Foglio (who writes Girl Genius) walk past on her way to something elsewhere in the Con. I would like to have lingered over Noah's work a while longer, but I did want to try to catch one of the Fine Foglios while I had the chance. 

When I did make it over to the booth it was to find that both Phil and Kaja Foglio were elsewhere. I had a great talk with the lady holding down the fort for the absent professors. We talked about her being a preschool teacher by trade, but helping out in Studio Foglio, and about the comic in general. Then she mentioned that Phil was drawing for donations to the Cartoon Art Museum in another booth just a little distance from where Girl Genius was set up. I thanked her and headed over. 

I didn't actually get a picture of Phil, but he looked pretty much exactly as I had pictured him. I started talking to him and asked if he would mind drawing a picture of my daughter holding a lightsaber from a photo my wife had taken and modified (she added the lightsaber). He was happy to oblige for a fifteen dollar donation to the Cartoon Art Museum, which I was happy to hand over. This would be the best money I spent at the entire convention. 

Phil is a gracious, fun person, and he chatted with me while he drew, which he certainly didn't have to do. On a slight digression it's always interesting to watch pros work. They make it look easy, and every one of them has a different approach to starting a drawing.  At one point Phil asked me what I do and I said something marginally witty like, "I'm a project manager by day and a cartoonist in what little free time I get." The comment was innocuous in and of itself and he went on drawing and talking, but somehow the conversation swung back around to my drawing.

I don't really recall how we got there, but something was said and it opened the door for me to ask if he would like to see a drawing I had been working on of Agatha, the main character in Girl Genius. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sure, let's see what you've got." I can understand the momentary hesitation. In his position, especially attending events such as ComicCon, and presumably Emerald City Comic Con in his hometown of Seattle, he must constantly get people running up to him and saying "I'm a a cartoonist, would you like to see my sketchbook." Still, he invited me to pull out my Nexus tablet, open it to the drawing I had been working on, and hand it over. 

Whatever reservations he had appeared to vanish in another moment's hesitation before he said, "hey, I like this! This is really good!" Which he didn't have to do. He could have politely handed it back with something non-committal such as, "that's very nice," or, "nice, keep up the good work," or "is that it, whatever, NEXT!" The latter would not have been too unlike my experience in auditions. Not only did he not do that, but he took it a step further; escalated the awesome, if you will. He asked if I had comic strips up, which (if you've been watching this blog at all) of course I do, and he asked me to send him a link. 

Phil Foglio, an artist whose work I respect and follow, whose regular comic is a bright spot in my day every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, asked to read my comic strip. I never understood the expression "you could have knocked me over with a feather" until that moment. Honestly, I felt so light that a feather might have done me grievous bodily harm. 

I immediately went to the car to put his drawing of my daughter away. While I was down there, away from most prying eyes, and safely away from either of the Foglios, I immediately did an exuberant happy dance. I don't dance, at least not well, but I made an exception on this day. 

In its own way this was another authentic Con experience; making a connection, no matter how brief, with someone who creates work you admire. It occurred to me after the fact, in the midst of the glow from talking with Phil and while sharing the experience with Lendell Prime as we walked over to lunch, that if I'd been able to get into the Korra panel, that whole experience with Phil would likely not have happened. I probably still would have met him and spoken with him, but it wouldn't have been the same. 

I ultimately did send a link to this blog and, by extension, Geek Speak to Phil and Kaja through an email address they share. I haven't heard back from them yet. Whether I do or not, and whether he really intended to do so or not, that talk with Phil made my day. 

Doodling in a Sketch Dump

Work-a-Doodle: The Sketch Dump

So...holy crap...it takes a long, long, fucking-long time to do finish work on my comic strips using my Wacom tablet. What would take me an hour with my art markers, and would look more than passable, is taking me freaking days to do on the Wacom. The results look good, but my God I hope that it starts going faster as I get more accustomed to working with it. 

Anyway. I had promised two Geek Speak strips this week...That's looking like it's not going to happen. I'd still like to share some of my work, so I went back through some older drawings that I've had sitting in a folder for a while now. Mostly these are doodles taken from my notepad at work. When I started looking through the pages of doodles it reminded me that I'd been meaning to scan these for ages, and it just never happened...until now.

I've clearly come a long way, but there's still some good stuff in here. I'm presenting them here in no particular order. Enjoy. 

Months ago, probably closer to a year at this point my office had a problem with bugs, mainly cockroaches. Now, California doesn't really get roaches the way Texas or Florida do, but the roaches we do get are harder than hell to get rid of. I never actually saw any bugs myself, but the building where I work eventually did have to call an exterminator. Gross as that is, there's still something funny about it. 

I want to say this one came from watching a nature special about turtles that discussed how hard it is to determine their sex. That would be a great excuse, but I'm pretty sure it's not the case. 

In the end I think this is just me being silly. A little gross, too, but does anyone really mind?

This one was drawn a while ago, around the time that a co-worker's son was graduating from high school and going on to college in Boston. At the time I think my co-worker was saying something along the lines of there was no way her son would stay in Boston because it's too cold and he'd miss his mommy (not sure if that last part actually happened, but it kind of fits my co-worker). It occurred to me as she said it that she might have been setting herself up for disappointment. His college in Boston had to have at least a few perks like girls, epic St. Patrick's Day parties, and lots of really good beer. 

That, and seasons are pretty. People from Los Angeles lament the cold in other states the way a vampire laments the rays of the sun, but it's a kind of sour grapes situation. If Southern California got anything resembling real seasons I think most people would really enjoy it. 

I'm pretty sure this is one of the few drawings I've ever done that employed the use of a straight edge. 

This was drawn years ago, so I don't remember the context at all, but I'm pretty sure I was having a bad day at work. 

 

Another one that was most likely drawn on a bad day at the office. In spite of that I really like this one. It has that feeling of cruising along and then suddenly hitting a wall, either of your own making, or one that was dropped in your way. Is there anyone working in a standard-issue cube farm who hasn't beat their head on their desk from time to time? No? I'm the only one with forehead bruises? ...awesome...

Life Intruding on Hard Boiled SteamPunk Girls

Life and the Intrusion of its Stuff

I've been a little light on posts lately, and there's a reason for that. It's a good one. Give me a minute. 

Oh that's right, mostly it has to do with trying to burn the candle at both ends. If you've been reading this blog you know that I have a regular 9-5 gig. Lately, due to a combination of this and that (I won't go into specifics here) things have been more demanding, which means more working late, which throws off my schedule for the evening, and I'm ultimately pretty tired by the time I can actually sit at my computer and try to spin gold from the rough straw of a blank page. 

Family life is something else altogether. The time I get with my wife and my daughter is the most rewarding thing in my life right now, but it has its own demands. Anyone who has ever had a toddler will understand. 

Then there's wrestling with the recurring existential dilemmas, but that may be a topic for a different post.

Doodles: Hard boiled SteamPunk Marker Edition

Life stuff and the wall of thorns it has thrown up in my path notwithstanding, I have not been idle. In a previous post I mentioned that I was learning to work with some professional art markers I'd ordered. Here you can see some of the fruit of those labors. 

The SteamPunk character was drawn from a photo reference I found in a quick Google Image search...and will probably never be able to find again. It's a good thing I downloaded the original. The second image is my own, but I used an image from the Rockstar Games video game "L.A. Noir" to help with some of the details. It helps to make it feel authentic. You just can't pull a fedora out of your butt and...wait...that sounded weird. 

I really like the way the markers feel and the depth they add to my drawing. Since I started working with them I can't believe I didn't start buying sets here and there much earlier. 

With the same markers I did a couple of drawings for people at work. One was the "Awesome Possum" because I overheard one of the ladies I work with say that a couple of times to people she had on the phone. I thought it was hilarious so I drew a hip possum in sunglasses. The other was a kind of manga-styled-self-portrait of me making a "happy food face" for another of the ladies at work who brought in homemade mini-cupcakes for the office. 

Unfortunately I gave both of the ladies the original work and didn't get a chance to scan either one. The cupcake face I'll probably be doing again. One of my coworkers suggested putting it on a t-shirt. I've been thinking about it and it occurred to me, "why the hell not?" The same co-worker said I should be putting more of my art in a blog. He was right about that, so I should give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to putting some of my drawings on apparel. 

Doodling the Looking Glass of Date Night

Work-a-Doodle: The Looking Glass Edition

 

Every so often I'll get an idea stuck in my head and the only way to get it unstuck is to get it out in the open is to write something or draw it. That was the case with Alice of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland after an episode of Warehouse 13 (seriously, watch this show, it's great) where that character played heavily in the events. There's also a trend toward depicting these staple fantasy characters in as sexualized a manner as possible. Zenescope comics is hugely guilty of this. That said I enjoyed doodling a kind of naughty take on Alice, and I had a lot of fun drawing the Hatter. 

This page of doodles was, understandably, tucked under my keyboard at work for a while. 

It's also a good example of why I will never, ever hand-letter Geek Speak. 

Night of Dates: The Date of Nights

There are many, many good things about being a parent. When you make the choice to be responsible for the rearing of a new human being, there are many rewarding things about the process. Other people you know who have kids of their on will tip you off to a few of them, but most will be a surprise. It's kind of like the world's longest special edition DVD with limitless Easter eggs. Yes, even longer than Lord of the Rings.

As rewarding as being a parent can be there are some down sides. One of the biggest of which is you and your partner will suddenly find it very difficult to spend quality, offspring-free time together. Part of it is just the demands of raising a kid, part of it is that you don't want to leave your precious little ones with a stranger because something could happen. Used here stranger has a somewhat looser definition. It could mean a baby sitter referred to you by a friend who has a degree in early child development psychology, a list of references as long as Uma Thurman's legs, and has so many connections in the intelligence community she could make a phone call and have anyone who looked at your child the wrong way found, bagged, and shipped to a hole in the ground somewhere in Cuba.

Stranger could also mean someone you've know for almost twenty years and his wife.

Which brings us to the Saturday before Father's day. Mildly Sensational and I have had some...trouble...getting out to spend time with each other. Put another way, we haven't had a date night since our anniversary last year, which puts it at about eleven months. We're not shut-ins, we do get out, but when we do, it's with our daughter in tow. Our friends love our daughter, and we love seeing her interact with them and how that changes as she gets older. Even so, we occasionally find ourselves longing for the opportunity to sit down to a meal without a two year old going all Helen Keller up in our business.

The day before Father's Day I worked with our good friends (and guest stars in this blog) Tea Leaf and Celluloid Girl and arranged for them to watch Veronica while Mildly Sensational and I did something exciting and adventurous! We went to dinner and a movie!

Before leaving we armed Tea and Celluloid with Disney movies, snacks, her favorite toys and walked them through her routine. Then we walked out the door. We hadn't made it ten steps before Little Wonder (Normal Guy and Mildly Sensational made a Little Wonder, get it?...never mind) started banging on the screen door, crying, and yelling, "MOMMY! DADDY! MOMMY!" We paused for a moment. Then we walked faster. I may never get skid marks off the garage floor where the tires squealed as I peeled out. Seriously it was heart-wrenching, but we trusted our friends to be able to handle the situation. Even if her distress turned out to be more than they could handle on their own, we knew Marlin and Dory from Little Nemo were standing by to make the assist.

It took us only about twenty minutes to get to the Glendale Galleria where we walked under a big sign that said Pacific Cinema 18 or something similar. I promptly went to the ticket counter positioned under a sign proclaiming show times for all the movies currently playing at the Pacific Cinema 18 to get our movie tickets. I smiled and exchanged pleasantries with the girl behind the counter who was wearing a shirt that said Pacific Cinema. Then I reached into my wallet pulled out my AMC gift card and handed it to her. Then stood a little perplexed when she said she couldn't use it. Then felt phenomenally fucking stupid when someone probably half my age had to explain the card was for AMC and, being Pacific Cinema, the couldn't accept it.

As it turns out they do accept money and we were able to get our tickets without further incident.

The movie we were seeing was Star Trek: Into Darkness. It was incredible. It borrowed heavily from some
moments in the original series, and especially from one of the original movie adaptations, but it put enough of a fresh spin on the characters and the story points to make it feel completely original. The movie has been reviewed to death so I'm not going to beat that particular expired equine, but I am going to write another post later about Star Trek in general. It will make you cry. I promise.

After the movie we went to the Granville Cafe in Glendale. It's an easy walk from the movie theater, and the incredible. The crowds at the mall were nuts. Not the worst I've seen, but a seriously claustrophobic person might still have dived into the fountain at the center of the green to get away from the crushing throngs. Everywhere within the Galleria you could think to eat was packed to capacity and people were waiting around outside, eyeing the young, elderly, and infirm with open hunger.

Just around the corner from that was a Granville Cafe shaped oasis of sanity.

We were seated almost right away on entering and ordered our drinks and an appetizer. An appetizer wouldn't be necessary, ordinarily, but Mildly Sensational is working on Little Wonder Mark II. The calorie demands of pregnancy are unreal, so after sitting through an entire movie she was starting to get a bit of a predatory look. Fortunately it was nothing sweet potato fries couldn't fix. Dinner took a while to get to us, so the restaurant offered to comp either dessert, or the appetizer; a crazy generous gesture that was unnecessary as we had been enjoying the first real opportunity to talk that we'd had in a year.

The food was terrific. My steak was perfect, and their wasabi mashed potatoes are one of life's true pleasures. We did get dessert this time, and I enjoyed the hell out of a slice of lemon drop cheesecake and bruleed lemon slices (which I could eat like potato chips, seriously, give me a bag of them already).

All too soon it was time to head back. Much to our delight when we returned home our friends still had their sanity and hadn't put on diapers of their own in an act of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." They reported nothing out of the ordinary and left while our daughter watched some Disney cartoons they'd found on Netflix.

As a parent you forget all too soon the simple joy of being with someone. I'm glad we had the opportunity for a reminder of the things that make us work so well.

Geek Speaking of Drawmelts and the Legend of Captain Sexy

Geek Speak

Shock and Awwww Yeah!

This strip was interesting to put together. There was text in the last two panels, but after I had added it I looked at the strip again and realized the reactions I'd created for Mark and Steve sold the joke better than my actual joke. This is something of a first as I consider myself a writer first, and my natural inclination is to have dialog.

If I'm being really honest this is the result of watching Penny Arcade's series Strip Search. In the judging of elimination round five Jerry Holkins, the writer of Penny Arcade, points out that one of the strips created by someone who was up for elimination worked better with the text removed. That seems to have happened here. I liked my joke, but it didn't work as well as a couple of panels of straight up reaction shots. 

It's fun to see Steve (the short bald one) and Mark (tall with lots of hair) utterly dumbstruck. Steve especially as he's the one who tends to run at the mouth.  

The next time we see these characters I think I might play with their humanity a bit. We'll see.

Sweet Fancy Moses!

Wow, so someone out there must really like me! Or my mom is checking my blog two hundred times a day from at least five different computers. That seems somewhat unlikely so I'm just going to be really excited that I've crossed the line into twelve-thousand page views! That means since the end of March/beginning of April when I started blogging like a computer-literate honey badger the traffic to my little corner of the Interwebs has more than tripled! That's awesome!

Pirates of Meltdown: Legend of Captain Sexy

Monday was another evening at Meltdown Comics for Drawmelt. This has become something that I really look forward to doing once or twice a month. I don't have the time to do more than that, and I can't really afford to go more, but the time I get is more than worth it. The benefits of drawing from a life model are huge, and it seems like I'm getting better each time.

On the Monday the 20th I changed up what I had been doing and went to Drawmelt unaccompanied. I might not have gone on Monday, but as it happened the model they'd lined up a male model for the evening. For some reason it seems like the majority of the modeling done for these things is done by women, so this was a special enough opportunity I made the decision to head down on my own. 

It is with an artist's professional detachment and pure aesthetic sense that I say, "holy crap this guy is good looking!" As I was drawing him I just kept thinking that his absolutely the leading-man hero type. He is also the first model I've seen who came to the event with a character in mind, and stayed in character throughout the entire evening. He was kind of Han Solo meets the Dread Pirate Roberts. Very Cool.

Here are a few of my favorite drawings from the evening.

This was one of the first from the evening. I had some fun adding word balloons to a few of drawings when the model was switching between poses.

I thought I know what a smoldering look was...then Monday's model threw out a smolder that damn near toasted everyone's sketchbook. I bow to the superior smolder, and regret that I was only able to capture but a pale shadow of it here.

More fun with word balloons. Of all my drawings from the evening I think this one looks the most like the model. 

Doodles and Strip Searching for Web Strippers

Doodles: I, Panda

I don't remember the precise circumstances, or how the whole thing got started, but I was at work one day and was eavesdropping on a conversation when someone dropped the phrase "iPanda." The conversation was entertaining, but I've utterly forgotten the context in which it came up. I do remember that one of my co-workers was really into the idea of an "iPanda" and thought the idea of a Panda with the Apple logon his chest was adorable. 

Between calls and emails that day I doodled out a quick panda with the iconic apple on his chest on a sticky note and put it on her desk. To preserve her dignity and the perception of her professionalism I will just say that her reaction was enthusiastic. 

After that I would occasionally put a new version of the iPanda on her desk. The one to the right here is one I don't think I ever gave her. It's a riff on Kung-Fu Panda that I called "iPanda Classic." 

Penny Arcade: Searching for "Strippers"

Images used without permission, please click the image above to visit the show's website. You won't be disappointed. 

I really can't wait to see how many hits I get based on that heading alone. 

Neither my wife nor I have ever been fans of reality television. Whether it's the over-wrought drama of the contestants, the contrived circumstances, or the plainly rehearsed "spontaneous" moments, there's always something that is just...grating about the whole thing. If were to put that in a twitter-friendly format it would say something like, "I have better things to do than watch hateful, narcissistic assholes be nasty to each other." 

With that said, both of us have been completely sucked in by Strip Search on Penny Arcade's website. For those who don't know (though I'm not sure anyone who reads this would fit that description) Penny Arcade is arguably the most successful webcomic online right now. It has been running since 1998 and maintaining a rock-solid three-strips-a-week schedule. Penny Arcade is drawn by Mike Krahulik and written by Jerry Holkins.

Both Krahulik and Holkins are huge fans of reality television. They started exploring the medium with their web-series "The Fourth Panel" which features them at work developing the comics that get posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Strip Search goes deeper in to the reality television format and brings to life something...wonderful. 

The concept of the show is straightforward enough, and familiar to those of us who remember watching "The Real World" in its first couple of seasons. All of the contestants share accommodations in a gorgeous and well appointed (and well-stocked) lakefront house somewhere in Seattle. Each episode features interviews with the contestants talking directly into the camera about the events of the day.

The show also brings in competitive aspects from shows like Survivor and The Bachelor, and each day two contestants must face an elimination round. One goes home, one goes back to the house, and the challenges continue the next day.

Krahulik and Holkins have assumed a cold, aloof, distant persona for the purposes of the show, presumably for dramatic effect. It comes off as a kind of a nerdy Bond-villain type vibe. To anyone who has watched "The Fourth Panel" or met them in person the contrast with who they really are is jarring. These are two of the nicest, most affable, most giving guys on the planet. Fortunately they frequently break character and you get to see them for the wonderful human beings they really are. 

At one point Krahulik even loses his temper when he has to send someone home at the end of an elimination round, and the work that is the basis for the decision is of such a high quality he can't bring himself to destroy it (in previous elimination rounds they destroyed the strip created by the losing contestant). In a moving moment he offers a testimonial to how much he likes the contestant's work and can't bring himself to destroy and instead hands it back for that person to keep; an invaluable memento of an amazing experience (and the fact that this contestant had already won a Wacom Cintiq HD probably didn't suck, either). 

The contestants are, for lack of something even more glowing to say about them, amazing. Each one is a fine artist in his or her own right and each of them is an established web cartoonist to a greater or lesser degree. In at least two cases (Erika Moen and Katie Rice) they already have an established fan base that even extends to some of their fellow contestants.  Artistic ability notwithstanding, these are people I'd like to hang out with on a regular basis. They are genial, open, friendly, and willing to share. It's a testament to their character that each time one of them is asked to nominate two others to go to eliminations it is an agonizing decision. 

The show works at another level that I'm sure some of those reading this will appreciate; it's a kind of peak behind the curtain into the what it takes to run a successful webcomic. I would even go so far as to call it a boot camp. in the first nine episodes the show has covered topics from ranging from working with a partner, to developing marketable merchandise, to managing your own PR through outlets like Twitter. The notes given to the contestants and the lessons learned in the process are things that are applicable to my own practice, as I develop it, and my be relevant to some of those reading this as well. 

One of the best things about the show, is the respect with which departing contestants are treated. When one of them is told "you are not the strip we're looking for" and asked to go wait in the car they are shortly joined by Krahulik and Holkins who offer sincere words of encouragement. No one leaves having had a bad experience. It is this sensitivity to their contestants and to their viewers that elevates this above the base sensationalism of other reality programs and makes something that is truly engaging and entertaining. 

Highly recommended. 

Doodling Tiny Heroes

Doodles: Tiny Super Heroes
At some point in the not too distant past I got the idea to try and draw tiny, cute versions of Marvel superheroes. I think we were probably watching the animated series adaptation of Marvel's Avengers at the time. Whatever the reason I took up my pencil, turned to a blank page and drew a picture of tiny spiderman...that looks like someone put him together from spare parts. Undaunted I tried Wolverine, and ended up with something that looks like he's up and trying to walk around without the advantage of a skeleton.

Finally I had the bright idea to draw Thor. Not sure why that seemed like a good idea at the time, given that he's not exactly easy with the helmet, and the armor, and the hammer, and the long flowing locks of blond hair. Maybe I just found the right groove for drawing tiny heroes or maybe the challenge of drawing all those details made me focus in a different way, but I managed a tiny version of the mighty thunderer that is almost...cute.

After Thor I tried my hand at the wasp and came up with something that I like, but it turned out more realistic and less cartoony than Thor...Is it weird that I think the Wasp is hot?

Since then I've drawn a few more. Honestly, it's a lot of fun drawing tiny versions of these characters.
This one of Catwoman was done in about ten minutes while sitting in my car before work

Green Lantern is a character I've only recently started to appreciate. I really like the idea of these heroes drawing their powers from the elemental force of Will itself. This one was drawn at my desk at work between calls, meetings, and when I could grab five seconds to add a line here or there. Even so, I caught a couple of dark looks from a manager who I think doesn't like me drawing at my desk.

It seems like it must be some kind of rite of passage that all comic book geeks, artists, and even humble cartoonists must draw Wolverine at some point. It's like someone is going to come and snip off the parts of you that make you a comic book geek if you don't. I think that's why Wolverine has something 10,000 monthly titles and appears in all of the other comic books. I don't mean Marvel comics. I mean Wolverine is in every comic book ever created. As ridiculously overused as I think Wolverine really is, this was a lot of fun to draw. It's another that was done in about ten minutes in my car before work.