Taking 5 days off, but here's another Arms and Ether to tide us all over

Heading to the happiest place on earth in the early morn, but here's an autobiographical  Arms and Ether a'fore I get to gettin' to califerny. Isn't it lovely? (Hint, to unlock the complex allegory, substitute Miles Inada for "Miles of Moria" - ed.)I plan on returning relaxed and happy, so look for more flowers and loveliness to bedeck the strip in the new year. I do have the sublime in me, damn it, I do!

Arms and Ether -- Oh No! It's Nakes!

Meet Nakes, the latest melancholy denizen of the Arms and Ether-verse. He's been hard at it, climbing the ladder of worldly success. You could call him over-exposed, but . . . he's got a helmet and spear. What could possibly go wrong??? Find out if you dare, in this week's Arms and Ether!

While we ponder the Arms and Ether-verse--might the New Year bring a female character or two to visit endless night/sweet delight upon all of these lonely souls? Is it possible? Sounds good, but if some ladies do show up, I'm sure it'll be trouble. Here's to a splendid, non-apocalyptic 2010.

Arms and Ether Strip no. 27

So it's just about the one year anniversary of the Arms and Ether online strip, and I've just posted number 27. That comes out to one every other week or so. That's actually not too bad considering I'm also a full time exorcist and railroad man. In this episode we meet a fascinating new character, Ghosthead. An incredible character. Absolutely incredible. Wow. Wow. wow. . . whoa. woe. . . woe.

Arms and Ether - Herodotus Toy now available for download!

Uh oh, there's a wordless panel in this week's Arms and Ether. As we well know from years consuming "the funnies," a wordless panel is often the set up for a joke of some sort in the very next panel!!!! Imagine the potential hilarity. The mirth. No, don't tax yourself with that kind of trivia, just head over to armsandether.com and see the strip in all of its fullness. Also, make sure to download the eagerly anticipated 3D Herodotus Toy by clicking on the strip's 4th panel. Print and cut it out. Stick it on your Christmas tree. Stuff one in a stocking. Stick or stuff one up your @#$%^&. We live in a free world. It's okay to do that kind of thing now. You won't (or at least shouldn't be) judged.

Arms and Ether - Nu 2 U

Hateball emerges from his basement staycation and back into the dark moldy dankness of everyday life--and dang-nabbit, he's got bills to pay! Find out what he has to say about it all in this week's magical Arms n' Ether.

Is "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas a song full of almost unbearable cosmic sorrow? The melancholy seems damn heavy in that sucker.

In other news, I really really miss my dog.

And finally, Montaigne probably had the right idea: sit around in a castle in pantaloons and just go off about stuff all the time. And get a stache. When my son Sam saw me with it as I picked him up from school, he burst into a big smile, started laughing and exclaimed, "Awesome!" Julie was less impressed. I think it was too much too soon in our relationship.

"But it's Movember!" said Scott before Christy handed him the razor and pointed him to the bathroom.

Legends From Camp - online, but not on-time

Way back in the good old days of 2004, I partnered with Sherrif Evan Carroll (Seth Bullard) to set some of father-figure Lawson Inada's (Al Swearengen's) poetry to animation. Todd Barton (Cy Tolliver) did the score. Anyhow, it's now available in the modern fashion, that is to say, "online" and in the "high definition" format that I keep hearing so much about.

Other quick thoughts.
1. Arms and Ether should be up later today.
2. At the very beginning stages of looking into Word Press and developing a more comprehensive approach to this blog thing.
3. I already need more coffee.

Forty Three

1. Lordy, here it is. I'm 43. It's not an age you really think about much, so I guess I won't.

2. Since I'm doing a lot of online demo videos this quarter, I feel like Bob Ross.

3. I spent a lot of yesterday with my pal, Warren Hedges, whose birthday is also November 9. We are team-teaching a class, had lunch, and then he came and gave a talk to my comic book/picture book class. We said that it's our birthday tradition to celebrate by going around together and lecturing to people.

4. Should have an Arms and Ether up by Friday. Looks like the Herodotus toy will be coming at you live.

5. Yeah, numbered lists. Quality meats. I'll try catching up with everything today. AND I MEAN EVERYTHING. As it turns out, there's a whole lot of rhythm going 'round. There will be links. There will be a spiritual and artistic awakenings. There will be naps too. And tasty snacks.

New Arms and Ether with Download-able 3D Molo Toy

Uh oh. Molo's up late, eating Cheetos, and turning to . . . the internet. It doesn't work out for him, but maybe it will work out for you! This week's strip features a download-able 3D paper toy, perfect for cutting out 'round the fire. . . Whatever. Anyhow, read it, click it, and weep in this week's Arms and Ether. And damnit, can't we be Germanic and make "downloadable" an official word? The hyphen thing is really pretty weak.

Arms and Ether is a bit late, but

. . . in the meantime, celebrate the free lovin' with an image from a Digital Media Foundations demo I did today! A new Arms and Ether should be up tomorrow, so plan your day accordingly.

Walking Down The King's Road

Oh my. Walk cycle. Moving background. Sleaze.

New Arms & Ether - Romantic Comedy

It's non-stop action when the Mighty (mightily sensitive) Majax returns to reclaim what's rightfully his - - his naked trembling in the face of the majesty of the existential sublime! Also. . . Pikelhaube camouflages his body with the sky(?)

So, head over to Arms & Ether to get the 4 panels that'll help you get over the #$%^ing bull@#$^ of that @#$%^ing Arsenal v. West Ham game. @#$%^

Majax on Deck

Majax is on his way with a new sword based on the mercifully simple-to-draw Roman gladius. Anyhow, Majax, the sensitive family-man star of the first Arms and Ether comic book, is loosening up for his debut in this week's Arms and Ether strip. If you're lucky, it'll be up by tomorrow evening. Imagine the betterment of your weekend!

UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT 12:30 A.M. Well it's "tomorrow evening" and I'm getting my ass kicked by this strip. !@#$. I've lost the simple structural understanding of the characters I thought I'd finally grasped. !@#$%. Tired. Cranky. Complain.

UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT 1:30 A.M. !#$%^. I think I have to give up for the night. I've got the black and white line work more or less done. Grrrrrr. Not happy. But, I'll @#$ around with color tomorrow, hopefully with a bit more intelligence and perspective. 

#@$%^@ it. Here's some more 2nd Generation Mod music.

Hommage to An Obscure Japanese Picture Book

Working through some Flash stuff for my Art 351 class next quarter so I made a cat. I envy that cat.

Publicity Photo Redux

Always keep an artist photo handy.

New Arms & Ether with Downloadable 3D Hateball!

Megaleos is back and he's created a 3D Hateball toy for you to download. What are you waiting for? Head over to Arms and Ether to see the latest strip and to download your very own little black ball of hate. Therapeutic rainy day fun for nimble-handed obsessive-compulsives.

Megaleos Sketchbook Thrills

I'm doing lots of other junk (video demos for my classes over at the Comics and Animation blog) but here's some sketch-funk just the same. Trying to internalize the fundamental aspects of Megaleos via short crappy sketches.

Chugging Around

A beautiful, beautiful day in Ashland town. Still haven't hit my full stride, but things are going in a good direction. I can live happily with all of that, thanks for asking. Here's David Simon on The Wire in the London Times. (below) And, here's something out of the daily pile. (above)
p.s. From the "Why 42-year old men (almost 43!) shouldn't play console games" file. I got spanked by Meta Ridley (???) last night after a ludicrous 30 minutes of pushing a little button in front of a television set. If I'm going to dick around on the Wii, I should at least be able to beat up on some bosses. Spiritual poverty.

Hateball enters the 3D realm!

Okay, here's Hateball! Now I can use these to help compose my carefully crafted strips. Har har.

Hateball 3D Mock-up

I'll print him out and do a test assemble today. I will, gol-darnit.

Ludicrousness

Things have been busy on the school front, so the Comics & Animation Blog I keep for my classes has been a bustlin' -- so has the Digital Media Foundations Wiki I work on with Dennis & Warren. Clap clap. So to show I haven't been a complete failure in doing some of my own work, here are some sketchbook scans from last Thursday's Drink n' Draw. Yay. Then to bed with me. Right. Sure.

UPDATE: Actually, it's 3:30 now, but I just finished the Hateball toy. I'm going to have the first three toys to download over at Arms and Ether by the end of the week.

Sketchinesse -- Papercraft Charles Burns-Style! -- Hignite's In The Studio

Above are some sketches I did at the opening campus meetings last week. Exciting stuff! It is nice to draw from observation, though. Must do more.

More inspirational TNT from Charles Burns, courtesy of Todd Hignite's outstanding book, In The Studio which features extensive interviews with Brunetti, Burns, Clowes, Crumb, Jaime Hernandez, Panter, Seth, Spiegelman, and Ware. For anyone interested in these artists, In The Studio is a must read.

Charles Burns, Paper Theater, c 1990
from In The Studio, by Todd Hignite, 2006 Yale University Press

The book gives fantastic insight on the creative process and how each artists' work is formed by specific influences. It's nice to see how varied and wacky artists' inspirational sources are. Check out Clowes' response to Basil Gogos' cover for Screen Thrills Illustrated below. If you click on the image you can read Clowes' description of the massive impact Gogos' illustration had on his creative psyche. Buy Hignite's book, you won't be sorry.

Page from, In The Studio, by Todd Hignite, 2006 Yale University Press

Jefferson Treatment Notes

Chris Ware, Rocket Sam Paper Toy, 1996

Jefferson theater
paper toys containing Mulder's ashes for people to release
guns of the dead (toy armada)
A paper theater
sculpture
wistful
high school football lights at night - full moon
the fleeting world
yay

Chris Ware, how did you know that I'd name my son Sam? Get out of my head, you bastard.

Arms & Ether is BACK!

After a 3.5 month hiatus, this week's Arms and Ether features an in-depth consideration of the role of FreeCell in any thinking artist's life. !@#$ it's 2:30. Awesome. @!#$% you, world.

Also, I added one of those url redirect pages to the old jeffnet url. I'm so proud of myself. (not really--that's the sarcasm) But if you ever need to do a redirect page, here's some code that seems to work okay.

Alexis Time

Alexis de Tocqueville's Tenfold Emanation by Miles

Collage concept art for the State of Jefferson project I'm working on with Evan Carroll and Warren Hedges.

Arms & Ether Figures! Collect Them All!

Who doesn't need a 3D Herodotus? Now to finish the dang Arms & Ether strip I started last week. Embarrassing. No. Need to sleep a bit before first day of class. . . shucks.

Gods! Finally! Herodotus Toy First Draft!

Here's the Herodotus toy. I'm going to print out the beta tonight. As I said, I'll make high res versions for the web site after they've "gone gold."
I think this Papercraft stuff is that "supplementary dimension of folding" that Deleuze and Guattari were talking about.
For folks in the class, it took me 1 hour 20 minutes to cut this thing out. Crank up Pandora, or get some friends and sit around and gossip while you do it. T'is fun.

Herodotus Papercraft & Ware vs. Clowes Depress-Off

Well, here's Arms & Ether's Herodotus. . . as a paper toy design. Still haven't put it into an actual template yet. Tomorrow, I suppose. Also, who's the more depressed comic artist Ware or Clowes?

Punk-assed Perspective Procrastination

Miles Inada, Portrait d'un Punkass de Perspective, c 1763

Because I'm not Piranesi or Jack Kirby, perspective can get me down--especially when I'm not in proper fighting trim. It's called being a perspective punk-ass. So, I'm still not done with the latest Arms and Ether. I have to draw a. . . table. . . and . . . a computer. . . impossible! Weak. Fail. Etc.
Oh, and I also don't want to pay the @#$%ing bills which I've been putting off. !@#$%

Saw Derf on a documentary about Jeffery Dahmer with whom Derf went to Jr. High and High School. Crazy. I'm going to check out the comic he did on his experience with Dahmer, My Friend Dahmer. You should probably check it out too.

Papercraft Realized--Molo to the Fore

Here's 3D Molo--off the page and . . . into your hearts? No, no. I'm sure that's not it.

Papercraft First Stab

My first attempt at this Papercraft bidnit. We'll be using this as an assignment in our Digital Media Foundations class this fall. The above is a lo-res version, I'll make a high-res available when I refine the design. Here's a link to the blank template at cubeecraft. And here's a link to 8-Bit Ghost's post on Papercraft.

Dan Clowes

panels excerpted from Dan Clowes, The Happy Fisherman

Read Dan Clowes' stuff again last night. I'd kind of forgotten how good he is. Jeez. Depressing for me, but good for you. Pick up anything of his you can get your hands on. The more the merrier. "The Happy Fisherman" (see image above) changed me forever and is available in the Twentieth Century Eightball collection. He's just pure quality.

On a stupid note, here he is doing a commercial for Apple that is actually pretty damn funny if you are condemned to making comics.

Bad Ratio

Okay, drew on Arms & Ether for 8 minutes, then spent 21 minutes scanning and writing followed by a one hour break to take coffee to my lady and play Freecell. Work to GoofOff ratio = 29/60 or about 1:2. Well, you have to start someplace.

And let's not get into the "work" vs. hard-core work distinction.

On the up side, though, feel a new project coming on. . .

Through The Leaden Atmosphere

It's slow, painful going getting back to makin' stuff. Ugh. I'm very quick to give up, no clear focus, and my concentration is way, way down. Boo hoo. Whinge. I've put in a grand total of 36 minutes (over the last 2 days) on the latest Arms and Ether. Yes!

Yay For Squire

Shouldn't we all be Mods?



and here are the lyrics if you get obsessed with this song as I did. Damn, those guys were really freaking good. Just bought l'album. How had I not heard of them? They even did a cover of September Gurls. Weird.

Squire
WALKING DOWN THE KINGS ROAD

Walking down the King's Road with some friends of mine
The streets are crowded, its a sign of the times
Walking down the King's Road with some friends of mine
The shops are busy, they've got Saturday on their mind

Well I was just thinking how it used to be...
I'm gonna take a look at Carnaby Street!

Well I was walking down the King's Road
Just about to turn around
Well I was walking down the King's Road
Just about to turn around

In The Chelsea Drugstore with some friends of mine
Saw Mr. Jimmy still standing in line
In The Chelsea Drugstore with some friends of mine
Mini skirts, dolly birds and Radio Caroline

Well I was just thinking how it used to be...
I'm gonna take a look at Carnaby Street!

Well I was walking down The King's Road
Just about to turn around

BTW, Chords are: A G for the verses and D E for the chorus-y bits

Pinball, Comics, Deleuze, Hedges

This olden 6 Million Dollar Man pinball playfield I bought offa' e-bay arrived today. I wonder how long I'll be able to enjoy it before someone makes a crappy remake of the show. Time to draw an Arms and Ether and work my way out of my summer funk and estivation.



As part of the end of summer, I've been reading through Jessica Abel and Matt Madden's Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, which I'll use as an optional text for the comics class this fall. The book is well written and smartly organized with many practical steps and suggestions. Abel & Madden are strong but not hopelessly intimidating comic draftsmen (do you hear me, Zombie Winsor McKay?) So, it's a nice book--lots of information in one place. Hats off, you two.

Until, I get something going, check out Warren's post on the Sokal hoax, if you dare.