Brian Moore's Sketchblog » sketchblog

The Mad Scientist’s Day Off

Brian — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:00:34 +0000

A quiet evening in the dome. Background music: “Girl from Ipanema”.

Muggs #7

Brian — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:00:14 +0000

“Haven’t Read That Book” O’Reilly and Fred Frankincense.

This guy, on the other hand, clearly has read the book. (From here; some entries possibly not safe for work.)

Condescending Creature

Brian — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:00:20 +0000

I get frequent visits from this one, usually in cahoots with the Aimless Web Surfing Creature.

NCS Reuben Weekend 2011

Brian — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:35:21 +0000

Here is my super-condensed cartoon report on the 2011 Reuben Awards weekend.

Click for full-size image

Some of the many things I couldn’t fit into the comic:

The webcomics panel on Friday was entertaining, with a lot of contrast between the folks on stage. Kate Beaton’s slideshow moved at machine-gun pace—you’d barely recover from one punchline before another drilled you in the gut. (She also had a great, underplayed delivery when reading all the dialogue.) Randall Munroe was in a more leisurely and analytical mode, showcasing entire XKCD strips in a slide. Dave Kellett was a little in both camps, doing fast and spirited readings of his strips, then slowing down to emphasize a point.

Webcartoonists love Emily Dickenson.

I really hope that Roth video makes an appearance somewhere on the web; there’s at least one frame I’d like as a desktop background.

A color guard performed at the awards ceremony, and another crew shot confetti over the crowd. Abe Lincoln was also there, in the balcony; at one point he overpowered some kind of prowler that crept up on him.

Related: see Kate Beaton’s Reubens comics and Mike Lynch’s Reubens jam comics. Update: and here’s that video with Tom Gammill and the Roths, on Mike Lynch’s blog.

Unintentional Gallery

Brian — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:09:56 +0000

These are pages from an experimental comic I did a few years back, “Unintentional”. I had been feeling stuck in my comics-making work and decided to borrow a strategy from Brian Eno: to pretend that I’d already started the story, that is, pick a random doodle and use that as my first image. So the comic began with the guy finding the head washing up on the beach. From there I improvised another 10 or 11 pages, working directly in crowquill and ink on no-frills typing paper, with washes of Pthalo Blue over it. (The super-intense dye-based paint was needed because the typing paper would absorb and dull a less vibrant color.)

I broke off the comic to go on a vacation, but what’s here has formed the nucleus of a longer and more elaborate story, which I hope I can get out after Sweetened By-and-By.

(I’ve shown these pages on the blog before, but scattered across several posts. Here they’re all in one handy gallery. Click on any of the thumbnails to see the full image, navigate to the next, etc. How did I get to 2011 without playing with Lightbox galleries?)

City Texture

Brian — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:30:50 +0000

More fooling around with patterns, collage, etc.

Pattern Doodles #2

Brian — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:00:21 +0000

Goofing around in gouache, watercolor, ink, collage.

Muggs #6

Brian — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:00:34 +0000

Muggs #5

Brian — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:00:04 +0000

Pictured: “Off-Kilter” Kennison and “Breakfast” Bart Bakersfield.

As Green As Green Can Be

Brian — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:00:40 +0000

Inspired by Eleanor Davis’ recent process post on her NYT illustration, I made some palettes and tried translating them from a glowing screen to pigment on paper. Didn’t work out quite like I wanted—I think I’d have to use gouache only to get those effects. But they’ll be good inspiration for later.