Exhibit A: A sketch request for Arthur in a cupcake car:
Exhibit B: Another completely random pose with a Sheldon reader:
Having worked at Mattel Toys, and fallen in love with their super-expensive 3-D printers waaaaaay in the back of the Mattel Design Center, I of course said “Yes!” ….3-D printing is awesome. (Not familiar with it? Here’s a sped-up YouTube video to give you the basic idea.)
Anyway, to do a 3-D printing, Matthew needs a CAD-type file that could be “loaded into Blender or Sketchup”, which, I’ll be honest, I don’t have. I just draws ’em, I don’t have the skill to model ’em.
But! I know there are a few Sheldonistas out there who have started CAD files of Drive ships, or who have hand-sculpted Sheldon characters in the past. If the former would be willing to share their files, or the latter be willing to do a 3-D scan — if they have access to one — send ’em on to Matthew! Matthew notes that “simpler models print best.”
Thanks!
Dave
It’s Saturday! That means it’s time for our sci-fi series, “Drive”.
Just a reminder: When the emperor mentions a “Veetan”, he’s talking about our big, Russian-sounding friend Nosh. But maybe that goes without saying! This story is unfolding slow enough, at one entry per week, that I don’t want to assume you remember what happened 20 weeks back. 🙂
Anyway, here are the full archives in order:
#1, #2, Text Entry: Continuum, #3, Text Entry: Secrets, #4, Text Entry: Veetans, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, Text Entry: Memos, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29.
Related question: Who knew so many census-related employees read Sheldon? Guys, all I ask is that when you get my returned census form, you don’t call me on the fact that I put down “Breen” as my race. IT IS A LEGITIMATE RACE IN STAR TREK.
Next year, I promise!
This past weekend, I was a guest of Seattle’s Emerald City Comicon, along with my Halfpixel.com cohorts and “How To Make Webcomics” co-authors Brad Guigar, Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub…and the show could not have been more fun.
Photo © Kathy Ann Bugajsky
The convention was awesome. So many fantastic webcomics creators, so many fun Sheldon readers, and such an amazing show all around. But before it escapes into the wisps of time, I thought I’d recap it for you.
Emerald City is one of those rare comics conventions in the U.S. that’s run by people who truly love and understand comics…and who can also pull off logistical miracles to put on a fantastic experience for readers and creators. In fact, they do it so well…the show’s growing to three days next year.
For most of my day at the convention, it’s a huge hug-in with Sheldon readers: Meetin’ folks, gettin’ to know them, and offering up free sketches. Based on the photos Sheldonistas sent me, it appears that this is the angle most people will remember me in: The top of my head, as I sketch. 🙂
Photo ©Matthew Gravelyn
Photo © Natalia Smiley
I seriously got like 19 of these shots from kind readers. But I can only show so many pics of my increasingly-greying hair. So….
Oh wait! Here’s one that someone sent in from a side angle:
Photo © Kathy Ann Bugajsky
Anyway! Let’s talks about the sketches themselves! Because you Seattlites asked for some really funny, really inventive stuff. First off, there were a lot of requests for “Drive” sketches in folks’ “Sheldon” books, which totally surprised me and made me smile to no end. But then there were a lot of just weird and wonderful “Sheldon” sketch requests as well, like these two. Sheldon in Kirk’s chair, and Oso as a sandworm from Frank Herbert’s “Dune”:
Both photos © Lauren
Then there were a lot of smilin’ Halfpixel groupshots, like this one:
Photo © Nic Covell
Or odder ones, like this attempt to make a U2 album cover:
Photo © Jen Mau
And then there were just a lot of fun pics with readers…like pretendin’ to flex and stuff:
Photo © Vanessa
After the first day of the convention, we headed up to the hotel room, where Scotty let me test out his 12″ Cintiq. A Cintiq, for those not familiar, is essentially digital paper. As you can see from the glow below my hand, it’s a screen you can draw on. I’ve been thinking of getting one to use creating “Drive”, as it would speed up my process and perhaps let me get 2-3 installments out each week. But they’re expensive: One-to-two grand! And I’m immensely, immensely cheap. So I’ve been putting it off and putting it off. But Scotty was really nice to let me take his Cintiq out for a test drive, so my inclination to get one is increasing. We’ll see.
Photo © Kris Straub
At night, most every webcomic creator you’ve ever heard of would gather for socializin’ and laughin’. Here’s a particularly good shot Scotty took, for example. In the shot, I can spot Aaron Diaz, Rich Stevens, KC Green (standing, orange), Jeph Jacques (sitting, behatted), Kate Beaton, Meredith Gran, and Brad Guigar’s knee.
Photo © Scott Kurtz
This con was a great one for meeting webcartoonists who I’ve never had the chance to chat with at any great length. Talented folks like Dylan Meconis, Christopher Baldwin, Kate Beaton, Jeph Jacques, KC Green, and Chris Hallbeck.
On Sunday, the Halfpixel lads and I gave a talk on webcomics to a packed, packed room. Here’s a shot of us before we got settled in for the talk:
Photo © Kathy Ann Bugajsky
And, in a reverse shot, a pic of the audience itself. It was 300-400 people, and they were a great group…super ready to laugh. Although this shot, now that I look at it, makes it look like they’re the most sullen group ever. We must not have started talking, yet. *rimshot*
Photo © Strauby, again
Ooo! I just noticed there’s a dude 3-5 rows in recording the talk on video! If you’re reading this, send me a copy of that video: We’d love to make it publicly available, if that’s cool.
Anyway, here’s some great shots from the talk:
Both photos © Kathy Ann Bugajsky
One final thing to note: Sheldonista Conn McQuinn, upon seeing my “Dilly Duck” print at the convention, mentioned that he had recently spotted a “squee” in George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat”! He kindly followed up by sending in this scan:
Cartoon © George Herriman, 1940
And for folks who liked this strip about Fantasy Football and Dungeons & Dragons, there’s this print…
Dave,
How tall is Arthur? Many times you said 14 inches, but on Sept 27, 2003 he was 8 inches.
And then this e-mail:
Dave
On October 31, 2003 Arthur is now 10 inches.
You’re doing this on purpose.”
I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, PHILIP. IT ALL LOOKS CONSISTENT TO ME. la la la la la *fingers in ears*
If you are coming, I need to ask you two things:
1.) At the show, Sheldon original art will be available for $25 off the normal price, but I need you to E-MAIL ME with the date or description of the strip you’d like. I can’t bring all 3,000 original strips to the show, so I really need you to e-mail me before I fly out.
2.) If you’re coming, we’ve put together this handy-dandy Sheldon Guide to Emerald City Comicon. Just click here for the big version that’s ready to print.
This, to me, is a dream invitation. You see, I’ve known I’ve wanted to be a cartoonist ever since I was a little, little boy. And more than that, I’ve always known I wanted to study the flip side of cartooning, as well: The history and the theory and the philosophy and the potential of cartooning. And one of the things that got all that started for me — that really got my dreams fired up for that holistic take on comic strips — was this incredible, insightful talk given by Bill Watterson in 1989 at, of all places, this very same event.
At the 1989 Festival, Watterson spoke of the incredible potency in comic strip cartooning: This rarest of arts that let one artist, one voice, speak to millions. This artform that lets the personal outlook shine through, where so many other mass media arts do so by committee.
So to be invited, some twenty one years later, to speak at the very same gathering of professionals and academics, is magical to me. (It’s humbling beyond words, too, in a stomach-churning way…but let’s focus on the magical aspect of it.)
Because, the funny thing? The thing I want to talk about? Is actually that very same Watterson speech from 1989. Or rather, to offer a loving and respectful rebuttal to it, from 21 years on. I want to speak to his concerns about the space allotted comic strips in newspapers; about zombie comic strips still being drawn long after their original creator had died; about why so many features have stale, interchangeable voices; or why so many are merely advertisements for dolls and greeting cards; or why comic strips in general have been on this slow, downward trend of diminishment in American life for the past 20-30 years
Because basically, I’m going to talk about this incredible change of fortune for the comic strip. I’m going to talk about Webcomics.
I’m going to talk about how this process of removing the middle men — the disintermediation from syndicates, editors, newspapers, distributors, publishers and their ilk…and the resulting freedom it allows — has given comic strips this amazing new lease on life. A renaissance that will produce some of the most personal, powerful work that comics have ever seen. It’s already happening: And with features and cartoonists who do not have to homogenize their unique voices; who do not have to give up their copyrights, trademarks, or any semblance of decision-making in torturous syndicate contracts; who speak with pure, unfiltered voices, writing comics that never would’ve been possible under previous methods of distributing art. And who, most importantly, are producing amazing, amazing work.
The short of it is: The medium of newspapers may be dying, but the artform of comic strips is not dying with it. In fact, the future for comic strips has never been brighter.
——
I know Watterson lives a very private, quiet life, now, and I respect that choice to the nth-degree. But I know he lives in the neighborhood of the Festival, and I’m kinda hoping he comes: Both because I’d like to shake his hand and thank him for that speech in 1989…and because I want him to know that the generation that came after him was listening.
