Friday, February 26, 2010

the dregs #38

this episode was drawn in late february 2010. i like this one a lot. i got the idea from my friend jimmy the gnome last year while we were at a beer tasting. i don't have to tell you that i had to write this one down because i certainly wasn't going to remember it that night. anyway, i've mentioned before that i like using different angles, but this one is nice because it's a totally new vantage point. the hardest thing about this was deciding how i was going to angle Onions' body. i think it plays.

the science project #51

this episode, titled "i swear, it was like this when i found it" was drawn in late february 2010. i thought this one up after my dad sent me an e-mail with political cartoons, all leaning toward the right. i am more liberal than conservative, so i usually read/watch/listen to more liberal media. these cartoons, however, gave me an interesting and intelligent view of how people view obama's first term (sans the limbaugh-esque sound bites that melt my brain cells). initially, the idea was to show that obama really hasn't made good on the promises he made and we elected him for (one being the removal of our troops in the middle east). then i thought, "what if the Staples' easy button was real or obama believed that it was and was upset that it wasn't working?" my initial thought was that obama wasn't going to understand that, because it's a toy, it wasn't working. that didn't make sense though because he's not an idiot. but the last president was and so, being a liberal, i couldn't just take a shot at obama when george w. bush is soooo much more fun to fuck with.

i hope you like it.

j

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

the dregs #37

this episode, drawn in mid february 2010, is something that i agree with. i am one of those people that hates valentine's day. i know i sound bitter, but it has nothing to do with relationship status. i think it's a stupid "holiday" that i'm guessing was made with good intentions (and you know what they say about those) but has become something gross. don't go out to eat with all the other lemmings because a card company tells you to. do something special because you want to WHEN you want to. that being said, this is a saying that i use from time to time (i also flip flop it for new year's eve). the punchline was something that i struggled with, but i think peg pulls it off.

on a technical note, i used mechanical pens to ink this episode and i think i'm going to stick with them. i'm going to have to get a bigger variety of line widths, though, but it'll be worth it. not only did it cut down on the inking time, but look at the line quality. much better.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

THE SCIENCE PROJECT #50!!!

i would like to start off by saying that i never thought i'd draw this many episodes of SP, and certainly not this quickly. it used to take me forever to get myself to draw just one, and then i'd lean back, feeling accomplished, and not do another one for a month or so. granted, the strip was a lot different at the beginning, but i was just flat out lazy. anyway, reaching this goal feels great. i hope you enjoyed the ride.

this episode, titled "in the land of the blind, you can't see who's plotting to kill you", was drawn in early february 2010. i guess you can say that i dated this one with the FaceBook reference, but i couldn't help myself being somewhat of a FaceBook junkie. i don't know why people get so uppity when the format changes. then you see groups being formed with names like "if we get 1,000,000 fans maybe we can get the old format back" or something, as if FaceBook would throw away a format that cost a lot of money to develop for 1M users. sorry, guys. 1M of more than 400M users worldwide is a minority they can live with. but, keep your chin up and keep requesting people to join your cause. i got away from myself... where was i? oh, that's right. people getting uppity. my brother and i were talking about the newest FaceBook layout change (via FB, of course) and we joked about it causing riots and, ultimately, the decimation of the human race. the rest wrote itself.

what can i say? genius runs in the family. as well as addiction to FaceBook. we've got "the gene."

Thursday, February 11, 2010

project idea

i've been watching a lot of "venture brothers" lately, and i want to start a serial adventure comic. maybe some cartoon pin-ups too. now if only i can find the time...

the dregs #36

this episode was drawn in early february 2010. this one was funny, but i'm really getting upset with my line work. in the "the dregs #35" entry, i talked about how pleased i was with my line work, but i've come to the conclusion that i'm going to go back to using mechanical illustration inking pens. the convenience is just too great to pass up. to give you an idea of what i mean, inking this week's episode took roughly 2.5 hours with so-so line quality. i can shave at least an hour off and be certain the line quality will be better controlled. i like the idea of using the old nib style, but i think i'm about to cave.

the science project #49

this episode, titled "book 'em, dan-o", was drawn in early february 2010. there's no back story to this one. i think i got the idea from an e-mail my dad sent me.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

the science project #48

almost to #50! this episode titled "function dysfunction" was drawn in early february 2010. this idea came from something that happened to me. one day i had logged on to my computer and a minute or so after sending one e-mail to a friend i came back to my computer to find that someone had gotten my e-mail password and sent out advertisements for viagra and cialis to quite a few people on my contact list. initially, i thought i could make a joke out of computer virus sending e-mails for sexual enhancement drugs. that didn't seem to work so well, so i came up with this one. i hope you like it.

also, some of you have told me that you don't like the layout format for this comic strip. i've changed it to a more traditional border and i'll be using it for now on.

the dregs #35

this episode was done in early february 2010. this joke isn't new by any means, but the dialogue fits these characters to a tee, so i hope you folks don't mind my lack of originality this week.

i know i said this last week, but i really like how the line work is coming together. i think this one looks great. the next step - learning and practicing my handwritten fonts. it's the main thing holding the series back, in my opinion. i never put much stock in typography, thinking "who cares? you're just reading it." now, it's actually becoming a bit of an eye sore on an otherwise good looking illustration. unfortunately, i'm sure you'll all agree.