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Everything I’ve been up to!

The first drawing of Boulder

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Twelve years ago I sat down to do a live stream (I think on Justin.tv?) and drew a bunch of 3×3″ sketches on bristol. No expectations, no purpose, just drawing whatever came to mind. This was one of the drawings.

Not long after that I challenged myself to create a minicomic from scratch in about a week. Just an hour or two a day. And this bear drawing helped inspire the character of Boulder, one half of the titular team of that minicomic:

Boulder and Fleet: Adventurers for Hire Mini-Comic

I was making a lot of different kinds of adventure comics up until that point. Silver and the Periodic Forces, Switch Runners, The Replacements. They were all fun and imaginative stories, and a lot of fun to make. But I think this is the drawing where my interests shifted back to something I loved as a kid, which was drawing what C.S. Lewis called “clothed animals” stories. And my style started pointing to what my friend Dan Mishkin described as “action whimsy.”

Since then I’ve made a number of minicomics starring these clothed animal characters. And a number of graphic novel pitches. So it feels like the culmination of something to say that in autumn 2024 my middle-grade graphic novel The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue will finally be released.

I need to sit down to do more drawing without expectation. I’ll bet there are more meaningful twists and turns my subconscious has to offer.

The first drawing of Boulder Read More »

Count Fishravin’s Sky Hydra!

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(special thanks to my buddy Zack Giallongo for the name idea!)

It’s been a packed summer of camp workshops, A2CAF, and events surrounding the Facing Feelings: The Art of Raina Telgemeier exhibition (curated by my wife Anne!). So I’m slowly catching up on correspondence and getting back to drawing.

Most of you know that I love using the utterly mercenary toy marketing of the 1980s as a design constraint. Especially Hasbro toys like the Transformers and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. I was sketching Count Fishravin the other day and thought about those Robot Cuttlefish I drew some months back:

And it occurred to me that I might adapt this design to be one of the smaller vehicle sets you’d find in the G.I. Joe line, like Serpentor and his Air Chariot, Destro and his Despoiler, or Zartan and the Chameleon. Maybe Count Fishravin could drive a similar vehicle based on the cuttlefish designs above?

I took this as an opportunity to try learning Blender a little more. This vehicle was designed on paper, constructed as a 3d model in Blender, then imported into Clip Studio Paint. CSP’s 3d tools allow you to import an .obj file and manipulate it like you would any included 3d materials. So once imported, I was able to position the model in any angle I want–then copy the rulers to a penciling layer.

I penciled more details onto the model and printed them out on watercolor paper. I inked on paper and took the drawings back into Clip Studio Paint for coloring.

I thought it might be neat to include some electric (ELECTRONIC) eels for the tendrils on front of the cuttlefish. Though I’ll admit this does evoke a bit of the design of Sky-Runner, the main villain’s vehicle from SilverHawks.

It was a fun experiment that led to more Blender skill acquisition. I might use this in a future story, I might not. But I know I’ll be building more environmental elements in Blender going forward.

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Attack of the Autobots – Four Million Years Later, episode 20

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In this episode, the Autobots attack… some jets on an airstrip?? Megatron reveals the weirdest aerosol spray ever!! Starscream has absolutely nothing to say… about ANYTHING! All this and a human smashes a window in order to jump out of it, hides in a dumpster, and has said dumpster go flying into a brick wall with her in it, but emerges unscathed! And yet I stub my toe and am bedridden for 3 months???

Watch the episode before listening to our commentary:

Attack of the Autobots – Four Million Years Later, episode 20 Read More »

City of Steel – Four Million Years Later, episode 19

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AVERT YOUR EYES, FOR THIS EPISODE IS NOT PRETTY. I mean the Transformers cartoon episode, not our podcast episode. But you can avert your eyes while you listen to the podcast too; that picture of the volcano doesn’t ever move. Anyway, EXPERIENCE: The return of the Constructicons! Optimus Prime CUT TO PIECES!! Season 2 music start sneaking in!!! All this and an ALLIGATOCON!!!!

Watch the episode before listening to our commentary:

City of Steel – Four Million Years Later, episode 19 Read More »

Changing Gears – Four Million Years Later, episode 18

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After 17 episodes of barely saying anything, it’s time for GEARS to shine! Witness: Starscream, on his BEST BEHAVIOR!! Experience: The Autobots DRIVING from North America to Africa?? And watch in horror as Prime and the Autobots mow down MILES of TREES!!! WHAT?? All in our latest exciting episode!

Watch the episode before listening to our commentary:

Changing Gears – Four Million Years Later, episode 18 Read More »

Baba Yaga the Ambiguous Cat Witch

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Penciled in Clip Studio Paint, inked on watercolor paper, then painted in Clip Studio Paint using Ray Frenden’s terrific watercolor brushes (affiliate link).

I’ve been working on several ideas for a new Doctor Baer story, and one that’s in a third draft stage involves introducing the famous slavic witch into my animal world. This is the working design.

I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of material on Slavic mythology and fairy tales, and the ambiguous witch keeps me fascinated. Neither good nor evil, she stands for the wildness of nature itself. Containing all the sublime terror and joy of participating in life. Naturally that would make her a cat in an anthropomorphic comic!

But I’ll let some of the sources I’ve been using tell her story. Here are some good listens/reads on this character and the archetype she falls into:

NSFW but lively and fun discussion on the Deviant Women podcast:

A thorough discussion on the Mythillogical Podcast:

A shorter presentation on the witch:

Another long-ish podcast from Bone & Sickle.

And here’s a terrific book by Clarissa Pinkola Estes on the wild woman archetype

She shows up as an antagonist (though they call her the Hunchback Fairy) in this 60s Russian film that I unironically adore:

And hey–here’s a cool song that teaches you about her!

Expect to see more drawings of her as I work on the story.

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Social sites

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My preferred place to post stuff I’m working on is here, and my preferred place to interact is on the Doctor Baer Discord server. I am on the other social sites (though I don’t check them frequently), including the new Threads site from Meta:

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And then there’s always:

That’s a lot of websites! Some of them may get more attention from me than others. But the best way to connect with me are by following the blog and joining my Discord server.

Social sites Read More »

When Doing it is a Dance

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Darling. Little child. You are required to do what will be acceptable only if you do it voluntarily.

– Alan Watts

This is the best reframing of the cliche “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” It’s a short listen, too.

When Doing it is a Dance Read More »