Soltice ain't all it's cracked up to be....

So, I did this:

Read the full story on Epicurus in Exile.

The Twelve Days of Newton

Season's Greetings!

'Tis the season... for Apple and Rainbows. This year, in honor of Isaac Newton's Birthday on December 25, I spent my studio time in December creating drawings for the Twelve Days of Newton. 

As you look through these, it might be nice to know two things:

• Newton had a Pomeranian dog named Diamond. Apocryphally, the story is that Diamond accidentally set fire to twenty years' worth of lab notes by upsetting a candle, a circumstance to which Newton responded "O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done." 

• According to legend (once again) Newton had a cat named Spithead, and he is credited with inventing the cat door for him. Newton cut a hole in his door and covered it with a scrap of fabric so Spithead could go in and out without Newton having his work on light interrupted. (BTW, Spithead is coastal place name in England, nothing to do with saliva.)
  

Without further ado:

 First day of Newton: Not exactly a pear tree, but a whiff of Brooklyn memories...

 Second day of Newton:  Let it snow? Funnily, I drew this before we got our dumping.

 

 Third day of Newton: Need to warm up with a Yule log after that exertion!

 Fourth day of Newton: This isn't going so well, is it?

 

 Fifth day of Newton: Neither is this.

 Sixth day of Newton: This is much easier.

Seventh day of Newton: But  the fourth day of Hanukkah? Not sure how the math works..

 Eighth day of Newton: Try to be neat!

 Ninth day of Newton:Those seasonal TV specials are great!

 Tenth day of Newton: Solstice comes but once a year (well, twice, technically).

 Eleventh day of Newton: Happy Isaac Newton's Birthday!

 Twelfth day of Newton: Nobody knows what Boxing Day is, not even Isaac Newton.

Whatever holiday you celebrate this season, here's hoping it's happy and healthy! And best wishes for the new year.

The Return of Captain Stratosphere

 So, I updated the Buck Rogers pastiche comic so it would be more understandable out of context; to wit, with this cover:

New flip book link here: https://anyflip.com/ugicz/knuc/

Friday semi-marathon

So, some of the SAW peeps had a maxi-session on this Friday holiday-for-a-lot-of-folks, and from 7 am to Noon I participated in reviewing three of the Friday Night Workshop videos and doing the exercises. here we go...

The first was Simple and Specific. The exercise was to evoke a very specific emotional response or feeling in four panels, using minimal words (sound effects allowed). We did it in under twenty minutes. Here's mine:

The next was Four Panel Fun and it had a very specific prompt. We were to find three things in our space to use as characters and a prop and then create a four-panel strip with this structure:

1. Introduce the characters and prop in a context.
2. Introduce conflict.
   
3. Deal with the conflict.
4. Resolve the conflict (or not).

Here's what I used:

Here's the strip:

The last one I did was Drawing Monsters. The first part asked us to draw some blobs on the paper and then turn them into monsters and name them.

In the second exercise, we were given a series of specific prompts and sixty seconds to draw a monster from each prompt.

1. Monster with at least seven eyes
2. Baby minster
3. Minster with hooves
4. Extremely long monster
5. Monster that is strong but not large
6. Monster with a long tongue
7. Monster with a hat on
8. Monster in the water
9. Monster with a stomach ache
10. Monster wearing glasses
11. Monster with too many horns

After so much fiddly-bit work on Captain Stratosphere, it was nice to try some different styles. Most of all, it was great to spend some time with my online community, sharing experiences and tips and stories and art.

Captain Stratosphere

I made an IG post, but I guess this should go here as well... social media has gotten so confusing.

The November Strip has been completed, just in time for the holiday weekend!

Read the whole thing in flip-book version here.

As it turned out, it wasn't an eight-hour comic after all... here's the disclaimer from the last page:

As Captain Stratosphere and team fly off (to the left, for the first time in this comic), I would like to take a moment to (a) thank you for reading this and (b) explain its origin. A few of us in the SAW online cartooning community did not feel up to a 24-Hour Comics Day,  so we had our own 8-Hour Comics Day. In the first four hours, I laid out the roughs for this strip and planned on finishing it that day. But as I started inking, I realized that to really capture an homage to Dick Calkins – his combination of sparse backgrounds, fussy detail, and weird hatching – I needed more time than that. So, I completed a whole ‘nother comic in the last four hours of the day, and gave myself time to really work on this one.  I am still not sure just how successful it was, but it sure was fun.

Have a great Spacegiving!

Pieces of eight

So,on Monday, I participated in 8-Hour Conics Day, and abbreviated version of 24-Hour Comics Day that some of us in the SAW community pulled together. I started the day doing eight pencil-rough pages for what I thought was a goofy story that I could complete in the session. But as I started inking, I realized I liked it too much and wanted to spend some time on it to get it right. I put it aside (it will be my November project) and did another quick 8-page zine in the second half of the day, just fun stuff.  I have actually printed a few copies and made a flip book, too.

Here's the link to the flip-book:

https://anyflip.com/ugicz/wcot/

 

 

Nountober 16

 Uber driver,classroom, paper clip

Chef, airplane, drum

Priest, vineyard, goblet

Nountober 15

 Pilot, hiking trail, feather

Nountober 14

 Opera singer, bridge, liquor bottle

Nountober 13 ... catching up

 Vet(eran), barber shop, dice

Dentist, playground, Rubik's cube

Nountober 12... B&W and Color

Doctor, lake, paintbrush

Boat captain, geothermal pool, keys

Nountober 11

 Musician, sewer, hat

Nountober 10

 Two versions of today's words: scientist, cafe, collar.

Love the idea, didn't like the execution too much, so did another.

Father Georges LaMaitre, originator of the Big Bang Theory.

Nountober 9

 Mail carrier, bookstore, tuba

Nountober 8

Judge, protest rally, recliner

 (Combining random words... no political intent)

Nountober and contrast

So here's yesterday's Nountober. The words were construction worker, cabin in the woods, and shovel.

When I shared this in my inline open studio, one of my art buddies commented that I "always treat mu characters with tenderness". I am not entirely sure what that meant, but I can't say I didn't like it.

In any case, after getting such positive responses to the Treehouse Detectives pastiche a few days ago, I decided to again with heavier lines - and a little less tenderness?It's a bit of a Gary Larson swipe in the end. Word were teacher, cave, stuffed animal.

I guess one of my goals is to be able to draw in different styles... need to get more cognizant and mindful of just what goes into each style in the first place.

While we're in compare and contrast mode, here's another exercise. I am always hesitant to drop spot blacks n clothing,thinking I will lose definition and wrinkles and whatnot, so I tresd it with this boxing guy.

Still not sure what is gained or loss in the transition.

Onward and upward!

Nountober 6

 Bartender, ocean, candle

Nountober 5

 Detective, treehouse, mug.

Backstory: When I was looking for some photo references, I stumbled upon a Netflix Series called Treehouse Detectives that apparently stars animated teddy bears. (Go look it up if you want.) So, I tried to recreate one of those images that show up on the Netflix menu screen. I didn't like just having two teddy bears, so I subbed in some rabbit character from the show, but I kept the tree house in the background and the logo (and added a mug).

I also tried to do this in a different style, with heavier lines and spot blacks instead of my usual hatching.

And I made them less friendly-looking... I dunno, I am getting a real Walter White & Jesse vibe off of this...

Nountober.4

 Photographer, shopping mall, crock pot

Moar Nountober again

Gardener, roller coaster, pine cones

 

Moar Nountober

Therapist, bamboo forest, needle and thread:

Nountober

So, October is the time for Inktober, an event in which participants, working from a published list of prompts, create an ink drawing each day of the month and share with the community. Unfortunately, the event and its creator have been fraught with controversy, leading some folks to branch off into Ink-tober, INKTtober(for tattoo-inspired art) and even more variations on Drawtober, including Creamtober, Witchtober, Monstober, Darktober, Plastober, Flufftober... well, you get the idea. Each event has its own set of prompts, but the overarching model is just to create art, daily if possible, and share.

Well, I decided to create my own [fill-in-the-blank]-tober challenge, and this was born: Nountober!

I fashioned the prompt engine pictured above with the help of my ever-loving boon companion, Coco, the Wonder Wife. She created 31 cards with Persons, 31 with Places, and 31 with Things. Each day, I pull a card from each receptacle and create a drawing that includes all the elements. It's the fifth of the month today, and so far I have completed four drawing from the engine (I took my birthday off).

I have been struggling about where to post, besides on my comics community site. They are one-panel stand-alones, and I usually just post those on the Instagram. But the drawings  I have being making have been in all different aspect ratios, and some of them just don't fit on Insta.  So maybe posting  a detail on Insta and the full image here makes sense. I guess I'll figure that out.

In any case, here are all four Nountober drawings.

Firefighter, desert, clock:

Tennis player, arcade, motorcycle:

Gymnast, skyscraper, ice cream cone:

Lifeguard, sandy beach, anchor:

The band

I was inspired by an Instagram post from an old friend. This is mostly an exercise in just throwing ink on the page...