I wonder if they think of me
There are some unmistakable signs
Seattle, WA | 2007.01.29 | Cast of Horribles | Dream, Earth, Missile, Rocketship, Snowman, Space, Stars
Every night I see less and less
Seattle, WA | 2007.02.02 | Cast of Horribles | City, Earth, Night, Stars, Telescope
Everyone is famous somewhere, right?
Seattle, WA | 2007.05.28 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Fashion, Julie, Night, Shirt, Stars, T-shirt
If I only knew now what I'll know then
There was a lot of discussion about the title of this doodle between Julie and my mother. They both think that the English is bad, that I should have titled it "If I only know now what I'll know then." I didn't agree and it remained the way I drew it. I know the grammar isn't right, but I was trying to convey the circular sense of time: the Little Guy is looking at himself in the past, and speaking as the past Little Guy about knowing the future. I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it, which is why I used the grammatically strange title.
Julie didn't like my first version of the little, Little Guy. He was full sized with an extra large foot. I explained that the large foot is like the large head of babies. Julie didn't buy it and I ended up redrawing him.
Seattle, WA | 2007.06.03 | Cast of Horribles | Childhood, Earth, Night, Philosophy, Stars
Falling closer is no different than drifting away
This brought back memories of my Snowmen in space doodles. I love drawing stars and the moon, and, come to think of it, anything in the sky. Throwing the earth in there with the space helmet was just a bonus.
Seattle, WA | 2007.06.20 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Philosophy, Space, Stars
If you fly fast enough you'll live forever
Ah, the day and a half between the Taiwan wedding flight and the NYC wedding flight. Surprisingly, I wasn't that tired. We somehow avoided jet lag on the way home, and relaxed during the break. I even caught up on some work mails.
The title was taken from the fact that people who fly in airplanes a lot gain microseconds on their life. This is a relativity thing: if you move fast, time for you slows compared to things moving slower. When you fly at 500mph, you are moving faster relative to the people on earth. It's not that you live longer since according to your watch, you live the same amount of time. It's more that your life appears longer to those who aren't moving as fast. It's confusing and funny and absolutely brilliant (not my doodle, but that it works that way).
Seattle, WA | 2007.06.29 | Cast of Horribles | Diary, Earth, Julie, Travel, Wedding
No such thing as the real world
This might have been the inspiration for the color scheme of the Horribles website. I wanted to give the doodle a 50s feel. Notice the string holding up the earth? That was a last minute addition, and gave me the title.
Seattle, WA | 2007.07.04 | Cast of Horribles | Black and White, Earth
It's where ideas grow
Another one of my favorite doodles. Do you see the Super Little Guy? This was his second appearance. I definitely need more comics with him.
I don't actually see these pictures in my head before I draw them. It's a weird process. These are my approaches:
I sometimes "see" the entire doodle and tagline, usually when showering or walking or riding my bicycle. When I do, I jot it down, draw a quick sketch on Julie's free medical sticky notes, and then draw the doodle for posting. (When I say "see" I'm really talking about "know," since, as I said, I never see pictures in my head, only thoughts, if that makes any sense.
Other times I start with what I believe is a clever tagline, and work from there.
More usually, when I have no ideas, I'll start by drawing a background or the Little Guy, and then seeing what takes me. Sometimes I'll have a fully drawn Little Guy sitting on a white background and have not idea what to do with him.
All these methods have produced good doodles (and many bad ones). I used the last method on this one. I drew him, decided to focus on his eyes and neck, and ended up sticking his thoughts on top of his head. Yeah, I know, a cliche, but a good one.
Seattle, WA | 2007.07.26 | Cast of Horribles | City, Earth, Super Little Guy, Trees
The world changes in a moment
It took me awhile (three months to be exact), but I've arrived at this set of doodles. I drew this after speaking with my mother back in September. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She called me in the morning, while I was in the parking lot waiting for my vanpool ride. It was a shock. She had told us earlier that she was going in for tests after unexpected bleeding. I remember telling her that it was probably nothing. When she called, I had forgotten about the tests. That's the type of terrible son I am.
When caught early, uterine cancer is highly treatable. Luckily, my mother was very conscientious and went immediately to the doctor and followed their instuctions. She is doing very well now after a successful surgery.
This is the first of a handful of doodles I drew during this time. There was a lot of waiting in the hospital, and I spent much of this time in Illustrator. Doodling was calming and eased (at least for me) the passing hours while we waited.
Seattle, WA | 2007.12.04 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Mom, Space
I want to copy something but I can't figure what
Many nights start like this: I sit in front of the computer and stare at a blank canvas and wonder what I'll draw. Sometimes I store an idea during the day on a scrap of paper--more regularly I have an idea but forget to write it down, which is the same as having no ideas. Most days I start drawing the Little Guy and hope for inspiration.
Once I have an idea, I either draw from memory if it's simple, or check sewcrates's photo page, or search various image searches for a model. I then start doodling away.
On the good days, I'll end up with something I'm proud of. On the normal days, I'll have something passable. And on the terrible days I'll question why I bother. As I was telling Jennifer yesterday, in my view, art is all about repetition until your fingers bleed in the hopes of creating something worthwhile.
Mercer Island, WA | 2009.02.25 | Cast of Horribles | Art, Earth, Night, Paint, Stars
It's all collapsing in on itself
It's the world! And its squishing me!
Another beautiful Monday morning. The sun is taking a bit of a vacation this week to prepare for next weekend. I don't mind its strategy.
Mercer Island, WA | 2009.05.11 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Suffering
If only they knew the truth
Another beautiful day in Seattle. Here on out, I'll only report on the bad days. Less words that way.
Mercer Island, WA | 2009.05.29 | Cast of Horribles | Alien, Earth, Night, Stars
"The world is almost in my grasp"
It's sunny outside and in the upper 50s. Maybe those chirping birds yesterday really did know something.
Seattle Flight to NYC | 2010.01.21 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Flight, Robot
I should be sleeping
Another beautiful Monday morning. I can get used to this. The weekend went by quickly again. Lots of parks and dogs. I didn't doodle as much as I had hoped. I may end up paying for this.
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.02.22 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Moon, Stars
It's time I return to my own planet
A perfect Horrible for a wonderful Friday. See you next week!
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.03.19 | Cast of Horribles | Alien, Earth, Stars
"Tell it to me straight, I can take it"
We're back from our Dallas trip. I hope you didn't miss me too much.
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.04.26 | Cast of Horribles | Conspiracy, Earth, Rocket
"What's the first thing you're going to do when you take over the world?"
...not have busy Fridays. Ever.
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.06.04 | Cast of Horribles | Blue Guy, Earth
It's good to get out and about
TODO: Think happy, happy thoughts.
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.08.17 | Cast of Horribles | Dress, Dressed up, Earth, Tuxedo
It's possible I've lost weight
I can't believe it's only Tuesday! Oh, wait. It's Wednesday. For some reason that's better.
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.09.08 | Cast of Horribles | Earth, Weight
"What happens when you're on the wrong side of history?"
Mercer Island, WA | 2010.12.09 | Cast of Horribles | Conspiracy, Earth, Grass
"I read the whole internet every day"
