Obsession Du Jour

I just had a meeting with two of my studio mates about joining forces, seeking out illustration work as a unit instead of each of us by ourselves. That has made me think, once again, about my plans for this year. I've done a lot of work lately re-designing the various websites I've got, but I haven't made them into a cohesive whole yet (that's in the pipeline, though), and I haven't addressed the issue of making them into a jobs-seeking resource, which they will have to become.

(more...)

Branko mentions that the latest release of The GIMP has some improved usability features, so I've downloaded it for the studio computer. We'll see. I need more GIMP practice, if only because I found switching last week such a daunting project. I worked with The GIMP for years, but that was ages ago. Since then I got used to working with Paint Shop Pro, while the GIMP changed and changed. Paint Shop Pro, however, has some horrible bugs and stability issues.

(more...)

I'm putting together my part of a joint portfolio for the studio I'm in. We're finally getting our arses in gear to present ourselves to the outside world as a unified organisation, a sort of creative hive-mind that will assimmilate your unformed concepts.
While rummaging through my old art, I found that I rather liked some illustrations I drew for Hello You in 2003/4, so I added a page's worth of them to the Gallery. (Over time, I'll move these pics around. But for now, the material fits rather neatly on a page, representing most of the illustration I've ever done that was aimed at pre-teens)

Some people get Slashdotted, others get Boinged. I just got Mircked. Or maybe that should be "Comicbased"?

In any case, I'm nominated for a Clickie at Clickburg, who I really need to get in touch with on a nearly unrelated matter...
Edit: Jeroen has also been nominated for various projects: Capn, Opa, Van de Pup... and his work on Dangerous and Fluffy.

(To the tune of By the Mystic Regulation (here sequenced by Clifton Coles) from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke

At the start of life's creation
'Twas the chemical relation
That allowed the duplication
Of the precursors of life
That began this vale of strife
(That began this vale of strife, this vale of strife)

And those that copied faster
For the others caused disaster
For the resources they'd master
And the others would lose out,
Then new mutants start their bout
(Then new mutants, then new mutants start their bout)

(more...)

Much as I dislike Little Green Footballs' comments policy, Brad DeLong shows that it's possible to err too far in the other direction.

(more...)

After reading the first two pages of The Tenth Life of Pishio the Cat, I almost didn't read on to the third, because I didn't like the pseudo-primitive style of those two pages. But on the third page, the style changed to a more realistic, but still cartoony one, with really nice black and white blocking, interesting story content, and a big ole cock! The only downside is that the cock isn't French like the one in my comic tomorrow. On the other hand, this one does poetry, which Jean-Pierre isn't bright enough to do.
Seriously, I'm a sucker for styles like that, and may find myself falling for this comic like I've done for the work of Ursula Vernon and Jesse Hamm. But it's early days. We'll see.

Boing Boing rarely tells me stuff I already know, but when it's about music, they're a little behind the times:

Punk cover bands and Motorhead's bluegrass makeover

Punk cover bands: here are two, but IMO that's enough to comprise a genre. Any others out there?
Gay Black Flag cover band BLACK FAG Link
All-Jewish Skrewdriver cover band JEWDRIVER: Link
(Thanks, Sean Bonner!)

(more...)

Next week, Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan will update 5 times to make up for lost time during last week's computer troubles. Last week, I posted filler art, but continued working on the comics so that I could catch up as soon as I was able to.
This means that there will be extra updates on Tuesday and Thursday. If you don't have a Modern Tales subscription, be sure to check the website on those days.
Also, a new chapter will start on Monday, the final one of the long Rite of Serfdom storyline. That means that on Tuesday, the previous 19-page chapter, Grimborg, will stop being free to non-subscribers, and the new chapter, called Home, will become the new free chapter. That's one more day to catch up with the events of the night before the new chapter!

(more...)

I am seriously considering canceling the Internet service at the studio, or at least opting out of my share of it.

(more...)