doctorbaer

Baba Yaga the Ambiguous Cat Witch

Blog / / , , ,

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.

Baba Yaga the Ambiguous Cat Witch Read More »

Drawing Podcast Art – Live Stream Replay

Blog / / , , ,

I live stream Saturdays at 3pm ET. Follow me on Twitch to be notified when I’m drawing! Platform agnostic viewers can watch here.

A replay of the live stream held June 20, 2023. In this session I draw a t-shirt design for my transformers podcast:

Which you can purchase on a t-shirt here.

And a piece for my recent guest spot on Ben & Zack’s Monster Market Podcast:

I also spend a little time showing some of the 3d work I’m doing in Blender to import into Clip Studio Paint:

Drawing Podcast Art – Live Stream Replay Read More »

Live stream replay – Inking A Friendly Game

Blog / / ,

This was another fun one! I talk a bit about how comics opened up for me when I was 13, plans for a possible 2nd Doctor Baer book (and how I made the first one), and how I think about writing dialogue.

But this was my favorite moment from the live stream:

Avoid disappointment and future regret! Follow me on Twitch to find out when I’m streaming next.

Live stream replay – Inking A Friendly Game Read More »

Doctor Baer – Into the Deep!

Blog / / , ,

One of the many style tests I did to find the look for The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. I spent a few years experimenting with different approaches, combining various analog and digital techniques to land on the look of the final graphic novel coming out in 2024.

You can watch me finish this experiment and hear some of the ideas behind these designs during this formerly Patreon-only live stream:

Doctor Baer – Into the Deep! Read More »

A Friendly Game Cover Sketches

Blog / / ,

If you’ve been tuning into my live streams (Saturdays at 3pm ET!) you’ll have seen that I’m in the process of redrawing A Friendly Game, a Boulder and Fleet story I created during October 2016. The original version was made within the constraints of Inktober (or Creative Challenge Season as my buddy Rob Stenzinger calls it). In order to meet my goal of finishing a 24-page comic within 31 days, I threw out the penciling stage and inked over my thumbnails. It was an early experiment in finding what I think of as my “deadline style.” It became a four-year journey to finding a sweet spot between efficiency and quality.

A sample from the live stream, where we can chat about storytelling or why we need bifocals.

The comic came together fairly well considering the constraints. The story explored some of my strong feelings about bullying and navigating conflict, and I got to invent a fun little game kids could play with whatever they find outside:

And the art was serviceable, at least for a minicomic. But I wanted the art to show the same love I had for the story, so I decided to re-draw the book. And I’d revise the layouts so it could match the aspect ratio of Boulder and Fleet: Mining for Trouble.

And in digging through the old materials for this story, I came across several cover sketches I did after wrapping up the minicomic:

For the minicomic I went with no. 4:

But maybe I can go with one of the other designs for the remastered edition!

A Friendly Game Cover Sketches Read More »

A Primary Influence on Doctor Baer

Blog / / , ,

The Palace of Doom! The Roof of the World! The Pit of Chaos! The Amusement Part of Terror! These are the wild locations in my favorite 100-odd minutes of animation. The Revenge of Cobra mini-series is a huge influence on my upcoming book, The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. The world-spanning MacGuffin chase, the alliance-building of the heroes, and the internal dysfunction of the villains is just perfect in this mini-series.

I’ll probably be creatively chasing the feeling this cartoon gave me for the rest of my life.

A Primary Influence on Doctor Baer Read More »

Bussin’ Chips and Clip Studio Paint v Procreate

Blog / / , ,

(well, not really versus, more of comparison from a taste perspective)

A lot of fun chatting happened during this recent live stream. I was ready for a quiet flatting session, but a lively group showed up to talk about Clip Studio Paint, Procreate, and youthful slang!

I live stream almost every Saturday at 3pm ET. Follow me on Twitch to be notified when the next stream starts, and we can hang out and talk about creativity.

Bussin’ Chips and Clip Studio Paint v Procreate Read More »

TPD Special: Influences: Indiana Jones, with Jerzy Drozd & Ben Hatke

Blog, Podcasts, Thunder Punch Daily / / ,

I’m starting a series of special discussions with some friends, focusing on art that influenced The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. In this first TPD Special I’m joined by Ben Hatke, author of the upcoming Things In the Basement, for an enthusiastic exploration of the Indiana Jones movies. We look at how they resonated with us as young people, how they influenced our work, and what we take away from them today.

Lots of story analysis and philosophy in this one!

If you prefer video, you can listen to the episode on YouTube below.

Links mentioned:

Subscribe to the podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TPD Special: Influences: Indiana Jones, with Jerzy Drozd & Ben Hatke Read More »

A Barbarian Horse in the Snow

Blog / / , ,

A wintery panel from my upcoming book, The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. I thought having a chapter of the book take place in the arctic would make things easier on artist Jerzy and his color assistant, but I forgot about the woods the characters needed to hide in!

Get more behind the scenes info on the book via my Patreon, or subscribe to the newsletter!

A Barbarian Horse in the Snow Read More »