NOODLE DOODLE

A Tale of Two Cities

2012-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities is my favourite of the books we had to read in high school. I drew a fair bit from it at the time, but who knows where those drawings are now . . . they're probably not worth sharing, anyway. BBC Radio 4 recently ran a new radio dramatisation of the story which inspired me to try my professional hand at the subject matter. Unfortunately I was short on time so didn't do due diligence in researching the costumes, but it was a bit of fun anyway.

Madame Defarge was not supposed to be a self-portrait, but she started coming out that way and eventually I gave up fighting it. Halloween 2012!

San Fran Sketches, Part 3

2012-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

Any visit to San Francisco is incomplete without visiting the Maritime Museum.

San Fran Sketches, Part 2

2012-01-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

More sketches from Christmas vacation . . .

We took a walk down Crissy Fields to the pier at Fort Point, where there is a very friendly pelican. I picked up a marble-like jelly from the beach.

The 'aged' pages of my new sketchbook make my drawings look so much more legitimate!

San Fran Sketches, Part 1

2012-01-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

I've fallen off the updating wagon, it seems – I've been working too much to draw anything on the side, and have run out of unpublished artwork. But I spent Christmas in San Francisco and did a bit of sketching, so let's see how far I can stretch that out ... Today's edition: People!

Old Town San Diego

2011-12-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to improve my watercolour skills but only get the time to practise intermittently . . . luckily one of those times presented itself while I was in San Diego for Comic Con, as I got to spend a day loafing around Old Town.

Turns out one of the key aspects of doing good watercolours is to take your time with them. Crazy! Each of these took about 90 min.

Cooking is Science

2011-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

When the official cook was incapacitated by a fall from an iceberg in an unfortunate photography accident, other members of the crew had to step in and do his job. One of them was 'Atch' Atkinson, the official doctor and parasitologist, who was more accustomed to working in the lab than the kitchen.

This page in my sketchbook had a disappointing run-in with some coffee at CTN – this is why you scan things full-res the first time, ladies and gentlemen!

Trainventure

2011-11-19T10:48:00.001-08:00

Because Comic Con happens the same weekend as the opening day at the Del Mar racecourse, it's always a bit of an adventure to take the train. At the best, you get to eavesdrop on some hilarious drunk conversations, but sometimes there are delays or cancellations. I quite enjoy taking the train, even when it's crowded or late, but even I have to admit this year was particularly bad ... nevertheless I got a couple of good sketches out of it.The train was initially delayed an hour, so I got to make a detailed study of some elegant turn-of-the-century architecture.We encountered a number of further delays until we were running almost three hours behind schedule, so someone managing the rail network back east decided to cancel the train entirely. They dumped us all off at the Irvine stop where we could catch the next train, which was apparently about 20 minutes behind us (actually more like an hour). It was a beautiful day, and the Irvine station is bounded by fields on one side, but no one else seemed to appreciate this ...

12 November, 1912

2011-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

On 12 November 1912, a search party from the base at Cape Evans found the tent in which Captain Scott and two companions had perished the previous March.

Chicago

2011-11-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

I went to Chicago for the first time this summer. What a wonderful city! I thoroughly enjoyed walking around taking pictures, and while I didn't do as much sketching as I'd have liked, I never do, so that's not unusually regrettable.

I'd seen pictures of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate in Millennium Park (or 'the Bean' as locals call it), but I have to say that you really have to see it in situ to appreciate it – it's entirely mirrored, and reflections are three-dimensional, so it does all sorts of weird things to your perception of volume and space as you walk around, under, and through it.

Of equal interest was observing how others reacted to it. I made a catalogue of the selection of reactions – pretty much everyone who came by did a variant on one or more of the behaviours noted here.

Toronto, Part 2

2011-10-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Toronto's been on my mind a lot, lately. Then I remembered I never posted the remainder of my sketches from my trip there, when we went sketchcrawling at the Distillery. It was super cool! Unfortunately the sketches don't capture the amazing sky that day.

I know I spend too long on my location sketches, but I so enjoy being "in it" that it's hard to change focus too frequently.

Birdie's Birdies

2011-10-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

It hasn't been polar around here for quite some time. Must fix that.

Birdie Bowers was adorable, and Adélie penguins are adorable; as the two of them were often in proximity I imagine there were many instances of eye-watering adorability.

Dagonites

2011-10-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Radio 4x ran a reading of Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and when I was doing a bit of housekeeping on my blog I noticed I hadn't posted my more recent Innsmouth-inspired drawings. No people this time, just a froggy fishy thing I drew on a paper-covered table at a restaurant and then further exploration thereon from my sketchbook.

These last few weeks, one would get the impression I do nothing but listen to Radio 4x and draw all day. This would be incorrect: I also listen to Radio 4 and the CBC. :)

Sredni Vashtar

2011-10-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

A reading of "Sredni Vashtar" came up again on the oft-renamed Radio 4 Extra and just as last time it caught my imagination. This time, however, I got an illustration on paper before the inspiration fled.

It is a perfect summary of why I don't belong in the Disney story department that, when I hear this story, I think, 'That would make a great animated short!' We are . . . very much not on the same page.

Les Miserables – For Once, Not the Musical

2011-10-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Radio 4 Extra* has just recently finished a run of their epic radio play of Les Miserables, and as I've been very busy at work lately I actually managed to listen to the whole thing. It's the closest I've yet come to reading the book (shame, I know) and it was very exciting, particularly the part where I got introduced to a character who is entirely glossed over in the musical, to everyone's loss.

First, the usual suspects, Marius and Eponine:

. . and then my new favourite, Combeferre!Completely aside from his being just a really great character (and played by one of my favourite radio actors, no less) what I especially love about Combeferre is the fact that, on the most important day of his life, he has a cold. How brilliantly mundane! No one ever thinks of that, but it makes him and his experience so much more real. He spends a good deal of time rhapsodizing on tomatoes and how it is impossible to find good ones in Paris, which led to this variant on the drawing.

*which I will think of as BBC7 until I die

Hamlet!

2011-09-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

It is pretty much impossible to overstate how much I loved the Independent Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet, though people who have to deal with me in daily life will tell you I've been giving it a pretty good try. For everyone who wishes I would just shut up about it already . . . I will draw about it instead!

This is my best attempt to mimic the style of Tron Mai, who unfortunately doesn't seem to have a blog or website to which I can link for an example, so you'll have to take my word for it. It seemed a natural fit.

Hamlet was already my favourite Shakespeare play, so I can't say this production converted me, but it is now even more my favourite, because, and I cannot all-caps this enough, IT WAS AWESOME. I wish it weren't such a cliche so I could say 'the text came alive!' and have it actually mean something, but . . . really . . . they found so much life and humour that you would not expect in a famously long and morose play about a depressed prince taking a long time to get around to killing his uncle. I am thoroughly looking forward to anything they put on in the future.

Old Harry's Game

2011-09-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite shows on Radio 4 is a sitcom set in Hell, starring Satan.

You just don't get entertainment like that on this side of the pond . . .

. . . of course, it has a standard of writing which lives up to the promise of the premise, and surprising moments of pathos and insight. It's a bit like The Screwtape Letters, only less preachy and actually entertaining. Sorry, C.S. Lewis, Andy Hamilton beats you on this round.

Alberta

2011-08-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

In trying to alternate Polar Explorer posts with ... well, anything else, I find myself making recourse to yet more observational sketches. These were done on a recent trip to Alberta, which was lovelier than I had remembered.

Perspective

2011-07-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a day-by-day recounting of notable events of the Scott Expedition over on my LiveJournal (much to the consternation of its readers I'm sure), and have been pretty faithful about it, despite life's occasional difficulties.

Even though the travails of the Expedition are ever present in my mind, it's useful to get a reminder every so often.

History is Hilarious

2011-07-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

This actually happened:

It was Christmas*, there was alcohol, Titus got a popgun . . . things happen.

I think this was the point at which I fell in love with the company.

*for a given value of Christmas

Pro-Life Propaganda: That's Not What We Meant

2011-06-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is deeply dumb.

I spent far too much time on it.

I have no regrets.

Sucker for Ships

2011-06-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

I did these sketches about a year ago, a long way from home...

There was a ship, and I like ships, so I drew a few drawings. One of the days I was there they had tours of the ship, and the captain was interested enough in my sketchbook that he let me stay aboard after my tour group left, and go sketch in some of the areas behind the yellow rope. This was my first experience of the Power of the Sketchbook, and while I haven't been able to exercise it since ... who knows where it'll take me next?

Hollywood, Then and Now

2011-05-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Every so often I get bit by Sunset Boulevard and have to listen to the musical soundtrack on repeat for a few days. I'm not sure what prompted it this time, but it was vindicating to find I liked it just as much now as I did ten(!) years ago – it also takes on a whole new dimension when you've worked in the L.A. entertainment industry for a while.

With the rise of YouTube I've actually gotten to see some clips of the show I know so well only through audio. Unfortunately it seems most theatrical productions don't play Joe the way I believe he should be played, as a bitter burnt-out creative professional. Not angry, not really a jerk, not loud or abrasive or a New York shyster (it clearly states he's from Ohio), but rather devoid of any sort of passion; a sardonic, defeated fatalist who's just in it for the money. Entertainment is full of these people!

Our Cheerful Pessimist

2011-05-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Titus Oates was rather the Eeyore of the Scott Expedition. During the first winter, the officers and scientists gave a series of lectures, and one of Titus' was on the management of the ponies which they would use the following summer in their attempt on the Pole. According to Frank Debenham, "He gave us all a surprise as his slow way of talking hardly lends itself to the lecturing, but he lectured really well and his dry smileless humour was splendid."

The King's Caricatures

2011-05-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

Well, hello there bloggy, long time no updatey! Have some caricatures from The King's Speech.

The movie was great and all, but when it comes to caricatures, the director beats all the actors hands-down. Thanks for having such a great face, Mr Hooper!

Tantrum

2011-02-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

Captain Scott reacted badly when he found out Roald Amundsen had set up his base camp across the way.

Wilson Charms the Adelies

2011-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't have a scanner on my travels this Christmas so I had to make do ...

I think I like this photo better than a pure scan, now.

Trying Something New

2011-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hey, so I'm working on a comic! Just a small one – I'm just dipping my toe in a great big ocean – but with any luck and a lot of concentration I'll have it out by July. Stay tuned!

Pinhole Photography

2011-01-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

One of my colleagues is very much into pinhole photography, and as nearly everyone is on downtime these days and looking for stuff to do, he led a class on it. It was fun! These are my results:

They were taken with a piece of photo paper inside a curved tin can, hence the warpy nature of the images. It was fun, and gave a nice satisfying visceral sense of capturing shadows on a sort of shadow-trap flypaper, but my time for hobbies is limited, alas ...

William de Worde

2011-01-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to re-read The Truth, but the holidays and some other obligations have gotten in the way. Those are mostly over with now, so I'm back to it, and am constantly impressed being reminded what a good movie it would make.

Can you hear that?

It's the sound of a great story rumbling towards you, in the guise of a runaway cart carrying a printing press.

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile

2010-12-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

Birdie Bowers always had the sunniest outlook, even when it was decidedly not sunny.

Okay, to be fair, the letter he wrote home about the storm that nearly sank the Terra Nova was more frank in its appraisal of their circumstances (proving how dire they really were) but he still ended it with "Under its worst conditions this earth is a good place to live in."

Gorgeous Lautrecian Creatures

2010-11-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

In my continuing mission to consume all possible information on the Scott expedition, I have recently read Sara Wheeler's biography of Cherry. It was sad in unexpected ways, but interesting ... One point of interest was that during the second winter, when it was 'morally certain' that the polar party was not going to return, Cherry's sketchbook hosted some special guests.

If I had approached this correctly and referred to my research before I started drawing, the bunks would be the right distance apart ... ah well. That's not really the point.

Toronto, Part 1

2010-11-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

After New York, I took the train to Toronto. Hooray Toronto! I had a wonderful (if short) time there, and the first place I got to sit and sketch for an extended period was Casa Loma. It's like, this totally awesome castle?

Later research identified the woodpecker as a female Hairy, in case you were in suspense.

Race to the End of the Earth

2010-11-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

The American Museum of Natural History has an exhibition on, relating to Scott and Amundsen's race* to the South Pole in 1911. As you may have noticed in previous entries, the Scott expedition is an ... interest ... of mine, and Disney insists on letting me walk away with a comfortable disposable income, so I went.

They didn't allow cameras, but they didn't take my sketchbook away. Who wants a load of sketches? You want a load of sketches? You got it!







*Captain Scott says: 'It's not a race! Stop calling it a race! Geez!'

Messin' wit the Shadow Man

2010-10-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I did all sorts of odd jobs animating on Frog, from slight expression changes on a mask to the Disneyest cheering bayou animals. But if I was working on a character, there was one character it was likely to be, and I came to a very important conclusion about the nature of existence about a year ago, which is illustrated here.

I only did eleven scenes of him (and two of those were hand scenes) but I was so enormously, tremendously, gigantically lucky to be a part of that crew, I can hardly express the depths of my gratitude to the powers that be. Most animators never get to work on a character that awesome in their whole careers, never mind on their first feature. Bruce Smith, of course, as supervising animator, is responsible for a huge amount of that awesomeness, because Bruce Smith IS AWESOME. That's all there is to it.

Viva la Revolucion

2010-10-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Reg Shoe, Ankh-Morpork's own communist agitator. He would pay the ultimate price for his ideals.

... well, sort of ...

The Man Who Was Sunday

2010-09-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Continuing last week's Chesterton theme, here is the leader of the Central Anarchist Council, codename Sunday:

The description of him as an enormous grey elephantine man was quite striking; I must admit my own personal mental image was tainted a bit by Watson in Action Sherlock Brain Theatre.

The Men Who Weren't Thursday

2010-09-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

BBC7 recently had a reading of G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, which I surprised myself by enjoying quite a lot (though on reflection, 'eccentric Edwardian intellectuals go on a wacky romp/mystery' is hard not to love). Unfortunately, getting half an hour of audiobook a day makes it hard to hang onto physical descriptions, but that didn't stop me – here's a collection of doodles of the Central Anarchist Council, more or less independent of accuracy. The Secretary (top left), for example, ought to have dark hair and a beard. Pah! I like mine better.

The 6th Inniskilling Dragoon's Lament

2010-09-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

On this, my 'professional' blog, I usually try to avoid posting the frivolous self-gratifying fan art which fills up most of my sketchbook. But the thing of which I have been most proud, recently, is the most frivolous and self-gratifying of them all, and deeply dorky besides.

The song is to the tune of The Legionnaire's Lament by The Decemberists.

If the ghost of Titus Oates comes and burns a spectral blubber stove in my living room, it's no more than I deserve.

Yet Another Doctor

2010-09-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Every time I think I've grown out of being able to listen to a song on infinite repeat, something comes along that compels me to do just that. Most recently it was Clockwork Quartet, a band with a surfeit of style and talent to match. Unfortunately they've only put out two songs so far, but what songs! This drawing is of the Doctor in (obviously) 'The Doctor's Wife.' I've tried drawing the watchmaker's apprentice but he always comes out looking like someone at work.

Fatherland

2010-08-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

The BBC dramatization of Robert Harris' Fatherland is one of the best radio plays I've ever heard. I'm afraid my drawing does it little justice – as usual I forsake the epic drama and get caught on an insignificant detail, in this case the way characters always seem to be bumming smokes off Inspector March.

I don't know why the incessant rain is part of the story but it gives an appropriate atmosphere. They do the sound of it very well, to the point I have fooled myself more than once into believing it was actually a rainy day outside.

I miss the rain.

Shooting On Location

2010-08-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

The part of Inception that was supposed to be downtown LA was definitely shot there. How can you tell? The architecture? The street names? No: Famima!!

You can't frame a shot in downtown LA without a Famima!! in it. Bless those bachelor businessmen and their need for cheap and easy lunches ...

Summer Sketchbook

2010-08-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

It seems that having friends or family in town is the only way I get out of my routine, so I took advantage of this weekend's visit to get back in the sketching groove.

Santa Barbara

2010-08-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Poor forsaken blog ... have a drawing from lovely Santa Barbara:

For how close it is and how much I enjoy it, I really ought to go more often, but it always seems to slip my mind ...

Iago

2010-03-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Until a couple years ago, when a collection of sympathetic villains hit me like a ton of bricks, I did not think of myself as a 'villains' person. But there was one, a decade before, who stood out as appealing in some indiscernible way...

It wasn't even in the proper play that I was struck by Iago – it was in a production of Good Night, Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet), a play about a Shakespeare scholar who finds herself inserted into Othello and Romeo and Juliet, respectively. Iago doesn't even have that big of a role, but he made an impression. I thought it was down to the actor: he had a very distinctive look and played the part with such twisted glee it was hard not to get on his side. But last week, Radio 4 aired a fantastic production of Othello, and Iago was fascinating in that as well. So there must be something to it...

Anyway, I drew this as a tribute to 'my' Iago ... various internet searches have not uncovered who he was, alas. I raise my glass to you, twisted conniving bastards of literature. As long as you don't come after me.

A Correspondence Between Gentlemen of Adventure

2010-02-13T10:41:00.001-08:00

The second thing everyone knows* about the Scott Expedition is that Amundsen Got There First. What I didn't know until I read The Worst Journey in the World is that Amundsen left, for Scott, a letter to send to the king of Norway to corroborate his antecedence. This was so bemusing to me, a child of the late twentieth century, that a man could realistically expect his defeated rival to voluntarily go through the hassle of proclaiming his loss, and that said rival would actually do so rather than mutter a bitter 'screw you' and take no action at all.
*assuming one knows anything at all; the first thing is They All Died.

So of course I had to make a comic about it. Click for make biggar!

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night

2009-12-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, in a slightly older version of the film, Facilier left his hat behind after meeting his end. But that scene didn't make it to the final cut. It got replaced with the crypt you see in the movie now. I'm okay with that, story-wise – but it ruined my Christmas card. [fistshake]

Oh well, posting it anyway.

Falls the Shadow

2009-11-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

You can dress them up and take them out, but animators are still animators even if they throw a glamourous Hollywood wrap party.

The Dentons

2009-11-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

If I were to describe The League of Gentlemen to the uninitiated, I would start with 'Monty Python and The Twilight Zone get together to do The Simpsons.'

Grotesque though they are there is a place in my heart for the Dentons ... a musty, badly-wallpapered place, but a place nonetheless.

If your curiosity is morbid enough to wonder who the Dentons are, this is a halfway decent clip ...

Wheathampstead

2009-11-02T19:01:00.001-08:00

When I was in London, we took a day trip to Wheathampstead.

A Look from the Doctor

2009-07-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately, partly to catch up as I am way behind, and partly to fill the hole left by Frog. David Tennant has to be one of the most animated human beings in existence, and a lot more tasteful than many of his competitors. Here's to the trickster archetype, and being fun to draw!

Only nine episodes to go until I get to The Lazarus Experiment! (why do I always get that title wrong, and where did I get 'Quartermass' from? Oh, never mind, it's this ... curse you, British casting; your limited but awesome talent pool leads to so much crossover humour but also confusion!)

Freedom! Horrible, Horrible Freedom!

2009-07-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

I am officially done on Frog. I handed in my last scene, have been removed from the mailing list, attributed my timecard to a different cost centre, and shaken hands with the associate producer. By Monday, the very last remaining scene in the film should be animated.

GUESS WHAT YOU GUYS, WE MADE A MOVIE!

Words to Live By

2009-07-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, 'what is the use?' For we are a nation of shopkeepers... And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.

– Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The First Returning Party

2009-05-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

I communicate personal information in cryptic references to history!

I just hope this reference does not become an extended metaphor... Get it? Get it? Because the people who did end up going to the pole all died? Never mind...

Conversations with Cherry ... Again

2009-02-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months, but I've gotten sucked back into The Worst Journey in the World, with the usual consequences.
I think this is the point at which my therapist, if I had one, would begin to express concern.

San Francisco via Sketchbook

2009-01-29T22:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a criminally long time since I posted any artwork on here. There are two reasons for this:

1. All my energy, talent, and initiative have been channeled into work; on the rare occasion I draw outside of work I really struggle with it. I appear to be useless without a story and layout department now. Waa, waa.

2. At home, I moved my laptop from the desk into my bedroom, which has made scanning just inconvenient enough not to do it.

Anyway, the long dry spell is at an end! (For the time being, anyway.)

There was a slope in the Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park that was a delightful arrangement of shapes and textures. I'm afraid I turned it into a mash of pencil. With any luck I might learn how to sketch a location gesturally instead of agonizing over every detail...

One night my sister and I went to a neat little wine bar near Market and Rose. We caught an F-line trolley back and along the way it started to reek of a certain illegal herb. There were very few people in the trolley and neither my sister nor I could see anyone smoking. A few minutes after we smelled it, this fellow picked up the odour and looked around. He gave us a questioning eyebrow. I shrugged theatrically. Perhaps it was the driver.

I sketched for a bit inside the Eureka at the maritime museum, in the dying light of the afternoon, listening to a guy practise the mandolin. I think we were the only two on the boat. It was very relaxing, and quite an atmospheric moment.

The Champion of the Seas model at the museum's Visitors' Centre. She was a clipper with such a hubristic name that it should come as no surprise that she met her end in a storm on the Straits of Magellan. It was a fantastic model, to the point that I could almost see it battered by waves and wind. Don't remember what interrupted this one (lunch, probably) or what caused that smudge at the last minute...

These regard Muir Woods day but were drawn after the fact. The first is an entertaining couple we kept running into along the trail; the short guy did all the talking and was from New York, judging by his accent. His companion was attentive but quiet and was probably a Time Lord.

The guys to the right were examining an educational sign that detailed relatives of the Coast Redwood around the world. It wasn't what the dark-haired one said that was funny so much as the genuinely astonished way he said it.

We had coupons for a cruise 'round the bay, under the bridge and around Alcatraz. When the boat pulled away from the dock a voice came over the PA system, rolling off what I thought was the usual safety spiel until it suddenly went hokey. This is how it would have looked:
Inspired by Kate Beaton but drawn without actual reference to her stuff on account of being on the train ... and of course not nearly as funny.

Captain Nemo and the PA guy never stopped – it turned out the whole cruise was narrated, either by them or various other characters. It was the sort of thing you could never get away with in Canada, unless it was at an attraction where you could be fairly certain no Canadians would show up, because it would be heckled and/or eye-rolled nonstop. As the ship drew back to port the narration followed suit, so it was obvious that the whole thing was carefully timed out with the recording. I thought it would be funny* if something went terribly wrong and the artificially jolly actors on the tape just kept going ...
*using that word broadly

I now know why Ronnie del Carmen enjoys sketchcrawling so much – what a perfect city for drawing. I'd have liked to have done more, but that will have to wait until I go back alone and can take things at my own pace.

California Rail

2009-01-24T15:12:00.001-08:00

I've finally got pictures up from the spectacular rail route between LA and San Francisco. Once I weeded out the ones that didn't turn out there aren't that many left, but I hope they give at least a diluted reflection of the trip. I really can't recommend this train ride highly enough. Aside from the scenery the train is great in itself, especially if you're used to flying. You can walk around as much as you like, visit the cafe car, get some really good coffee (with free refills if you keep the cup!), take it back to your comfortable seat with positively decadent legroom, and never once have to worry about falling out of the sky. If San Francisco weren't so awesome in itself I'd be tempted to say the trip's the best part – I would seriously consider taking a weekend, going up on Saturday, spending the night, and coming down Sunday, if I didn't know what I was missing by not staying up there longer.

Conversations with Cherry

2008-11-29T20:49:00.000-08:00

A little bird told me Cherry's full name. I wonder if anyone teased him about it. He's pretty lucky he got away with 'Cherry;' they could have called him 'Nancy Posh Boy Fancy-Pants.'

Of all the sequential art I could be doing, I illustrate imaginary anachronistic conversations with a deceased literary/historical figure. Go fig.

Election Night!

2008-11-09T19:40:00.001-08:00

If you did not watch the election on the BBC, you missed out. A grand time was had by all – well, most; there were some pretty glum people in Phoenix. David Dimbleby, the host, was brilliant – I admire his stamina and his delightful sense of humour, being the ringmaster for the circus that is a three-hour live broadcast with a rotating panel and disparate long-distance reporters.

After a certain point, when I'd given up on trying to get any work done, I tried caricaturing everyone who appeared onscreen for any notable length of time. Good exercise. Notable characters were the poor map guy who was so exhausted by the end of the evening that he was reduced to flapping at the graphics and yammering, the New Yorker who was apparently drunk when they cut to him, Simon Schama who was so excited to be there, next to John Bolton who most definitely was not, and Gore Vidal who had an entertainingly mad interview with Mr Dimbleby.

Some sketches from my own very Californian voting experience follow:

Halloween

2008-11-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

This year, against all possible good judgement, I embarked upon my most ambitious costume yet:

Maladict from Monstrous Regiment to be precise.

The Worst Journey in the World

2008-09-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

There are better ways to beat the heat on a sweltering summer Sunday, but I attempted it by listening to Edwardian men pushed to the brink in Antarctica.

This week's Classic Serial on BBC Radio 4 was a dramatization of The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who was a member of Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to Anarctica. Yes, that Scott expedition. Needless to say he wasn't part of the South Pole party because he wrote this book, but it's a gripping listen nonetheless.

All pre-1950 expeditions that necessitate coats and/or goggles default to Mignola style, by the way.

Dr Horrible's Stolen Ostinato

2008-07-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I vowed it would be professional and sober and not a place for dorky fanart and stupid gags, but dangit, I just really like how this turned out:

This started out as a doodle when I realized the ostinato guitar behind that first song in Act II sounded a lot like the bit in 'The Island' by the Decemberists. That's Colin Meloy, see? Oh, my sides split with laughter! Well because it was that part I imagined it lit like that and the bare pencil sketch just looked bare. So, four hours later ...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, if you haven't seen it, is available on iTunes ($4, bargains galore!) and is some Whedon kind of awesome.

Golden Silent

2008-07-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

I've been told since starting animation school that you have to watch silent films. I'd seen bits and pieces here and there, we watched some Chaplin in class and I once caught a documentary on Mary Pickford on The Knowledge Network*, but while they were entertaining and excellent examples of pantomime, I never took more than a professional interest in them. I was never one of those people who professed that all the best films were made before 1930. The acting was stilted, the film sped up, the dialogue cards too intrusive and plentiful, the stories and gags intended for an unsophisticated audience** and it was all accompanied by some canned ragtime piano music that tinkled on irrespective of what was happening onscreen – not my idea of entertainment.

That was all changed by THIS MAN.

My sister and I went to see the annual Silent Film Gala put on by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, where the musicians, live on stage, accompany a classic silent film. This year's selection was Speedy, starring Harold Lloyd, with a fairly modern score by Carl Davis. It was Lloyd's last silent movie, made in 1928, and shot largely in New York, including Coney Island, the last horse-drawn trolley car, and Babe Ruth (really!). It was fantastic. The print had been restored, it was running at its proper speed, the orchestra was playing a score that had been written for the movie (quite well, I might add, and not some ghastly modern-sounding thing intended to 'update' it, either), and it was absolutely enthralling. The story was simple but solid, the characters engaging, their complications frustrating, the action exciting, the gags plentiful but not distracting, imaginative, and funnier than anything I've seen in recent memory. And the dialogue was surprisingly judicious – most of the time, you knew what they were saying without it being specifically stated, so cards were only used when delivering a specific gag line or important exposition. How flattering, for a moviemaker to trust the audience's imagination instead of assuming they need everything spelled out for them.
On top of that, the whole audience was incredibly involved in the film. I don't know if it was the setting, or the lack of an overpowering sound system, or the fact that you actually had to pay attention to the movie to get anything out of it, but there was much more audible reaction – genuine, unconscious, instant reaction – to what was going on onscreen than I've ever heard before. There was one moment at the very height of the climax where something goes suddenly wrong and the audience, as one, let out a tremendous gasp. It was amazing.

I left the theatre giddy, and with joy discovered that there was a wealth of Harold Lloyd material on YouTube as well as a 5-DVD set of restored films with new scores (most by the same composer as Speedy). Unfortunately it appears all the good clips have been taken off YouTube so you're left with the DVDs (which are better, anyway)... if you have access to a library and that library is blessed enough to have any of them (hint: try VPL downtown), I highly recommend you check them out. Speedy is still my favourite but Safety Last is probably the most famous and is surprisingly gripping while still being funny. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't at least expose yourself to these movies, no matter how much you think you don't like silent film. Just make sure you give them your full attention; that'll be the most rewarding. Take it from a convert. If nothing else, marvel at how a movie can be both funny and charmingly sincere, the art of which seems to have been mostly lost in the quagmire of snarky dialogue and unsavoury characters.
*Last remaining bastion of integrity in educational television since PBS started making shows intended for resale to the Discovery Channel. Only in Canada, you say? Pity.
**as explained by my Animation History teacher when questioned as to why old cartoons were timed oddly slowly and not terribly funny.

Animator vs Reanimator

2008-05-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Look at this – look at this – I'm updating twice in one month! Watch out for further signs of the apocalypse!

I've been fully occupied banging my head against the wall at work, but we had an optional design class so I took the opportunity for a diversion and brought in a project that's been simmering on the back burner* for a while: adapting H.P. Lovecraft's Herbert West stories (PUBLIC DOMAIN!) into comic books, albeit fairly animation-looking ones. I didn't have much of a problem with Dr West:

His half-unwilling accomplice and the narrator of the stories was rather harder ... he's a bland enough personality not to upstage West but not so bland that he disappears completely, and he has to look at least moderately interesting.** I did three pages of thumbnails before I got something I liked, then a mediocre rotation, which I showed in class. Luckily the teacher that day was the incredible Andreas Deja and he had some good suggestions for ways to simplify and push him a bit more so I went back and did these:

That's something to be going on with, I think. They'll evolve a lot, I'm sure, before I'm done. Here's a test setup with the two of them ... the narrator's model hasn't been updated yet.

After the last class I realized what I'm trying to do with their shapes is basically this. Oh well.

*and will probably continue to do so until it boils dry and ruins the pot, to stretch a metaphor to the breaking point.
**He doesn't have a name in the stories but I came to the sudden conclusion that he can have no name but Howard Phillips.

I Has a Cooky

2008-05-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

Said Becky: "Oh Erik, oh Sweeney... I love you, too. Have a cookie, and go see a psychiatrist."

Arooo!

2008-04-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I touched this thing ... many apologies. More will be coming as soon as I can get a chance to work on that daft crossover gag thingummy I've got in my head, but that probably won't be until later this month at the earliest.

Anyway, I hear there's a bit of a Wolf Man Challenge going around right now, so here's my two cents:

Animated Sarcasm

2007-11-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

At long last, after more than a year since starting it (but only a few weeks' worth of actual effort, all told), I've finally got this animation to a presentable state:

That would be Sue Perkins in place of Emma Thompson ... her voice is a bit harder but she's got a good delivery.

Shrek Goes Fourth

2007-11-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hey folks ... Sorry I haven't updated in roughly forever, I just haven't had anything to update with. What little I've drawn recreationally since getting back from California has been of a most specific and probably uninteresting fangirlish nature so it's been sequestered to my LiveJournal. I have a whole lot of things on my 'to be drawn' slate and nearly all of them will be worthy of posting on Blogger ... when I get around to them ...

Anyway.

Upon learning yesterday that the newest incarnation of Dreamworks' cash cow is to be called Shrek Goes Fourth, I realized they were following the Blackadder naming convention, and the inevitable crossover followed:

DONKEY: Hey Shrek! I got a cunning plan!
SHREK: Tell me, Donkey ... Is it more cunning than a weasel with a doctorate in cunning from Cunning University that has just broken into the cunning reserves and eaten so much cunning that it is literally oozing out his ears?

The more I think about this, the more I believe it would be bad enough to be actually entertaining.

Ireland Photos

2007-07-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

I've finally got them organized, captioned, and plotted:

Behold, Ye Emerald Isle!

Gealimh an Daoinn (Gallivanting)

2007-06-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Belfast, alive and well, though I question my sanity when after only a few days in Ireland I turn up my nose at a castle if it is merely Victorian. Everything is so much more fantastically amazing than I thought it would be. This place is seriously awesome. And I have a renewed desire to learn Gaelic if only to figure out the mad spellings.

Today I listened to Radio 4 LIVE and IN THE CORRECT TIME ZONE.

Not enough time to sketch! Have lost all my pencils and must use pen! Many many photos! Have some more exclamation points!!!!

The First Letter of Tealin to the Vancouverites

2007-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

And lo it was a Wednesday, and I was labouring upon my animation, and my desk was within earshot of the chamber of editing/compositing. Upon a late hour in the afternoon, there commenced a Meeting in which the Lords of Colour and the Lords of AfterEffects did converse and dispute as to why the company that did the trailer for Enchanted got the colour so wrong. It did continue for a goodly time and in fact well into the evening. And at no point was anything pronounced by the conversants which could be interpreted as "Aah, 's good enough, the kids won't notice, just ship it." Verily I say unto you, I have heard no such utterance in all my time here. The good citizens of James Baxter Animation have deadlines like unto the Vancouverites, yet behold their passion and commitment! THIS IS THE SOUND OF PEOPLE CARING. Love it.

More Photos

2007-06-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

	It's the magical door ... and I go in it every morning! Magical! I think there might be a forcefield of drawing power at the top of the stairs because it's just ridiculous in there. Here's a detail of the sign, with the world's best logo.
	The Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery is next door, and it has this sign in its window which I found amusing.
	This is a fixture in the local grocery store ... as far as I can tell, you put money in and you get movies out. No word on how they hold you to returning it ... maybe you have to use your store's loyalty card or something so they have your address and can send out their movie thugs to get it back.
	This is the view from my bus stop in the afternoon. One of these days I will investigate that church or whatever it is; it looks pretty cool.

Adventures in Pasadena

2007-06-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

First day of 'work'!

Five Things About California that are Not Like BC:
1. There is not a Starbucks on every corner of a busy, touristy shopping/business district. I walked for ten minutes to find a café, a length of time that would have taken me past three Starbuckses and an independent café in a comparable area back home.
2. The commuter bus is a coach, with no rails to hold while standing up, and with a button in the seat's console to signal your stop rather than a cord to pull on. FANCEY.
3. Jasmine-scented sidewalks that nobody uses vs. urine/pot-scented sidewalks that everyone uses.
4. People who talk to complete strangers on the bus and are not crazy.
5. No $5.95 18-piece sushi combos at liberally scattered hole-in-the-wall takeaways.

Photo Time!
Hey look! It's Robson! With palm trees and no pedestrians! (It was 8:30 am so no walking commuters and no business traffic yet.)
Further proof of Robsonicity: they're digging it up.
You know those trees people keep in big pots as houseplants? This is what they look like when not housetrained.
Oleander bushes that line the Buena Vista side of the Disney lot ... look out, they're toxic. Yes, that's right, Disney has a POISON WALL. Don't tell the kiddies.
The door I go in, in the morning, is the one in the side of the alcove that has the double red doors. It's magical. McCormick would have been my last name if it were not for my great-grandfather and, the story goes, his raising the ire of the IRA. It was meant to be, obviously! We'll conveniently ignore the fact there are thousands of McCormicks...

As for the life inside, well ... this is going to be an awesome two months.

Safe and Sound

2007-06-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

Made it here in one piece, luggage intact (as far as I know), plus arms legs minus scales fins. All good. Now back to lunch and the Mabinogion!

P.S. Ken Duncan has a studio in Pasadena too. To which I say: AAAH. Mayhap I will meet him and pick his brain on his brilliant yet incomprehensible line style.

Absurdism

2007-05-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is, more or less, what I was thinking through that whole part of Pirates III.

Last fling with a Cintiq for a while! Whee!

Special Announcement

2007-05-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm going to J. Baxter 32 Mills Place Pasadena, where are you going? I'm going to J. Baxter 32 Mills Place Pasadena if you're asking where I'm going, I'll tell you that's where I'm going is J. Baxter 32 Mills Place Pasadena – Where? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, J. Baxter 32 Mills Place Pasadena - I can hear you, I was just asking if it was J. Baxter 32 Mills Place Pasadena!

Enchanted Trailer

2007-05-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

ENCHANTED TRAILER! WATCH NOW!! (at least the first half)

Eowyn

2007-05-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Every so often I am seized with the urge to caricature the cast of Lord of the Rings ... this is a good way to keep my head from swelling because it's always a painful exercise in futility. After a couple days drawing the same thing over and over, I think I managed to get Eowyn. I begrudgingly chalk up another point for the Cintiq; as soon as I tried doing it in Sketchbook it worked. (Well, on the second try, but that's close enough.) Blast.

Naked People = Virtue

2007-05-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Airborn

2007-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

I just finished Airborn, Kenneth Oppel's first book after his Silverwing trilogy. It's got airships and pirates and swashbuckling good times ... and apparently a reluctance to give up flying mammals, but who can begrudge him that? Anyway, it was fun, so I drew stuff:

(left) Main character, Matt Cruse, looking kind of bland, but that's more or less how he looked in my head ... and that's why I'm not a design star.

(right) Kate de Vries, leading lady, who makes me wonder about Mr Oppel's wife because she's very much like Marina in Silverwing. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm majorly ripping off some Jane concept art but it turned out nice anyway! Yay me! (No telling how many really awful sketches came before this one...) There's a girl at work whose 'look' I want to capture for her...

A thumbnail for the scene where they're offloading rubber hosing ... it looks cool in my head, trust me. Mostly dependent on colour, though. The composition needs a little finessing before I go that far.

Szpirglas, the pirate captain. After overcoming my tendency to picture him as Reacher Gilt, I realized I could base him off a family friend who fits the description rather well, but these were drawn before the realization, and I'm not sure I have any reference pictures. He could also look a bit like the author, but I don't know what Mr Oppel would think of that. Doesn't look very captainly here, or very piratey for that matter... More attempts later, perhaps.

The book is punctuated with occasional dream sequences in which Matt is flying, so I brought in a bit of the climax and stuck him with a flock of cloud cats ... apparently I can't get over Silverwing either.

Now for some moaning: Every day at work I draw what I would consider decent drawings. Admittedly, they're mostly poses in rotations, but they're solid and confident. I've even taken to doing rotations on paper instead of the Cintiq to keep me in touch with a pencil (and also because it's faster... and better). I get home, though, and open my sketchbook with pencil in hand, and what comes out looks and feels like the stuff I forcibly excreted in the midst of my rough storyboard-induced drawing decay period last summer. What do I need to change? I've been out drawing observational stuff more than ever this year but that hasn't seemed to have helped, it just seems to have made me impatient with my drawings so they're all really haphazard and gestural and I don't bother to get things right.

EDIT 21 MARCH 2009: What is up with this post? How is it getting so many comments? Does it turn up on a Google search or something? Could someone please tell me what is going on?

EDIT 14 NOVEMBER 2009: Thanks to those who commented with info regarding the traffic on this post! Interesting.

The Wintersmith

2007-05-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to reading Wintersmith* and rather liked the image of the Wintersmith handing Tiffany her necklace in the snowy woods.
It started out as a speed painting but was rather blah, so I bounced it off Sean and with his suggestions managed to make this out of it,** which is actually presentable, hurrah!
I've been meaning to update this blog more often but if you look back and see how much of that I've done, well, that is exactly how much recreational drawing I've been doing lately. Must fix that.
*Most recent Discworld novel, but it's a Tiffany one which, while better than most other YA novels out there, did not warrant the urgency of, say, a Watch book or Making Money.
**...though that nullified the 'speed' side of it. Oh well, greater good and all that.

Belated Blogging

2007-03-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

I promised this to some of you weeks ago but here it is at last:

MY PORTFOLIO
~ Rough Draft ~
Please, please, please make some comments ... What should I keep? What should I chuck? There's way too much in the 'design and illustration' section, for one thing, but I don't know what to cut out. Heeeeeeelp!

In Watson's Kitchen

2007-03-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to BBC7's run of Sherlock Holmes radio plays, which are very well done and approximately as addictive as crack. There's a scene in The Final Problem where Watson finds Holmes a nervous wreck in his kitchen, having climbed in from the back garden to avoid Moriarty's men. It's jarring to see (well, 'see': this is radio, after all) this character behave in such an out-of-character way, and the scene made quite a visual impression on me. Watson was supposed to be in this scene but, er ... he didn't turn out. (Holmes is far more interesting, anyway.) Thumbnailed at life drawing with a 4B pencil, tightened up in Sketchbook, and painted in OpenCanvas.

The Oldest Creature

2007-03-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the result of Sean's 15-minute design challenge 'The Oldest Creature in the World' ... it turned out better than I expected but still has a few improvements to be made. I'll forget about it if I don't post it, though, so now it is a Note To Self.

Alphabetizing II

2007-02-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here's the second part of the Dragons alphabet, detailing how to write it out.

Alphabetizing

2007-02-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

In going through piles of old artwork in an attempt to cobble together a portfolio, I found the alphabet I'd designed for Dragons. It's now vectorized and can be seen here if you're interested, and might be followed up by the guide on how to write it if I can find where I put the scan...

Exploiting the Ignorance of Strangers

2007-02-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a collection of observational sketches I've done recently:

I haven't done nearly enough of these lately. Most of them are fellow travellers on public transit, aside from the girl at the hair salon with her substantial boots.

Revisiting the Post Office

2007-02-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

This scene suddenly struck me as I was walking home yesterday. Usually I fritter away my independence on cooking dinner or doing dishes, but today I decided to cash it in and, in an uncharacteristically impulsive move, deviated from my walk home and spent two hours drawing in the library's café. This is the result of that.
This is the scene from Going Postal where Antimony Parker and his Aggie come to thank Moist for delivering the ancient letter. I've bent the text a bit and had Aggie be the old woman in the following:

    'I said is it true you're opening the old place again?' she repeated. 'My granddad used to work there!'
    'Well done him,' said Moist.
    'He said there was a curse!' said the woman, as if the idea was rather pleasing. [...] 'It lives under the floor and drives you maaad!' she went on, enjoying the syllable so much she seemed loath to let it go. 'Maaad!'

It's been far too long since my Going Postal drawing spree... I miss it so. Maybe I'll pick up my cruelly interrupted Clacks Board when I go 'on hiatus' in a couple weeks.

Painted Pirates

2007-02-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

I like the effects I see people get in Open Canvas but never had the time or patience to figure it out for myself... I've been poking around with my revised pirates after work (and, now, this weekend) so here's the result. I've probably forgotten things and could fix others but that's about the limit of my patience (for now) and ought to get back to work on my portfolio.
Oh yes, and I've changed some of the characters and tried to fix some silhouette problems. I hope it looks better... I realised while painting this that I actually know very little about drapery; I know how to express it with useful symbols in line form, but as far as knowing its form well enough to paint it ... no. Sigh. Time for more studying. After the portfolio.

Seattle Coffee Pirates

2007-01-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

My sister tried to get a sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks on Sunday only to discover that, according to the barista, there was no sugar-free cinnamon syrup in the entire city. Considering that the number of Starbuckses here would warrant a container ship specifically designated to keep this city stocked, that's quite something. We concluded that the syrup had been hijacked by the notoroius Seattle coffee pirates.
I think I'm going to go over this again and sort out some silhouette problems that I stumbled into when drawing them all separately. (That was a brilliant idea.)

Six Shots by Moonlight

2007-01-24T15:56:00.000-08:00

I promise this will be the last Herbert West picture for a while (unless the tow-headed little fiend hijacks my mind again); I'm getting a little zombied out for now. This image came into my head the last time through the readings, though, and I couldn't resist. It turned out okay, I suppose, for having started life as an oversized thumbnail that I got carried away with. It's not textually accurate and I cheat the light a lot but I hope it's good enough that this can be ignored.

This is what lunch hours are for.

Masquerading as Originality

2007-01-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

I spent Friday afternoon drifting in and out of naps, being beset with a bad case of cold head – that woozy, floaty, drunk feeling that comes with some colds and which medication doesn't seem to touch. While somewhere between sleeping and waking, this thing came into my head. I think it came from a combination of two pictures Meghan has up by her desk. Maybe it's even less original than that. I so rarely have an image enter my head that hasn't been put there by a book or radio show or movie, I'll take what I can get.

Wotcha Wazzer

2007-01-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Just to prove I have been drawing things not of a Lovecraftian persuasion, here's a drawing of Wazzer from Monstrous Regiment which I did over Christmas.

Re-Animation Formula

2007-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

Of all the Lovecraft stories I've listened to* I like the Herbert West ones the best. This is probably because instead of the main character having wacky things happen to him,** as in most of the stories, Dr West makes them happen, or is at least responsible for 90% of the plot. It must also be said that I find myself identifying with his monomania and emotional detachment, for better or worse, though my interest lies more in imparting life to lifeless lines rather than dead boxers or decapitated Canadian officers...

Anyway, here's a mediocre artistic encapsulation of the formula to the stories (which you can read here if you're interested):

Apparently Dr West = Milo + Wiggins ... erm.

*Thanks to Sean and his CD burner ... I haven't managed to actually read any yet, though considering I haven't been able to actually read anything for the last two months any such attempt would probably have failed anwyay.
**I wonder what Mr Lovecraft would think of me describing his horror as 'wacky'...

Slightly More Fishy

2007-01-05T17:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more attempts at the Innsmouth folk ... I am moving at a glacial rate towards 'creepy' from 'cute.' Maybe a few thousand more tries will do it.

Poor neglected Blogger account ... I will try to feed you more often.

Slightly Fishy

2006-12-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

A generous friend of mine was kind enough to burn me a CD of H.P. Lovecraft stories, which I hadn't been introduced to before. Here's an attempt at depicting 'the Innsmouth look' ... I'm afraid it came out rather more as a graphic style than a set of physical characteristics. Mike Mignola seems to be able to do it possibly without even trying, though he's brillant and well-read enough it's probably conscious.

Kung Fu Eye Action

2006-12-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

Me: ...I always pictured Shadwell kinda scrawny but Moody, if not buff, then posessing a shadow of his former action hero self.
SMK: Moody with Kung Fu Eye Action

Thanks to a well-timed viewing of A Muppet Christmas Carol, Mad-Eye Moody is, has been, and ever shall be Michael Caine in my head ... though here he looks a bit more like Billy Connolly. Probably 'cause he's being silly. And I have forgotten how to draw convincing impacts, if I ever knew. Throw in more secondary action! Yeah!

P.S. In case anyone was left hanging by that Dragons post, and hasn't seen this yet, I got a bit carried away and wrote a sort of essay on what I like and dislike about genres of fantasy.

The Scapegoat

2006-12-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's beneficial to attempt a caricature from memory, thereby getting a more accurate impression of the character rather than relying on specific details. I was resuming my long-abandoned attempt to caricature Billy Boyd as Pippin for a friend's Christmas present (I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog so I think I'm safe in saying that) and noticed he has roughly the same eye shape as Lee Ingleby, so I doodled this little Hollom on the way home from my sister's. A distance of a year or more from the last time I watched Master & Commnader (?!!?!!!?!???) seems to have benefited me in this regard.

Lemony and Beatrice

2006-11-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

I picked up the Road to Perdition soundtrack yesterday, and upon listening to track 13 (appropriately) I was struck with this image of the meeting between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice (not that Beatrice, obviously) over a root beer float, as implied in The Beatrice Letters. The picture is better if you've read the book[s] and/or are listening to track 13, but I hope it stands up on its own...

Dragon Dragoon

2006-10-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

The presence of dragons is a pretty good indicator that something is the kind of fantasy I don't really like. The scalèd beasts are useful for comedy, at times, though. My dad put the image of dragons on horseback into my head and I couldn't resist.

Snicket Photos

2006-10-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

I took my camera on a walk, on a recent rainy day, and managed to snap some shots in the vein of the odd dissociated photos in Lemony Snicket's Unauthorized Autobiography. Unfortunately I couldn't convince all passers-by to dress in period costume or amusing disguises so they're all landscape shots, but I'm inordinately proud of them nonetheless.