(Related sidenote: Next up for the award, no doubt, is the “Smooth Skipping Rock for Ponds and Lakes”.)
I’m still astounded when I go to a convention and people show up with gfts. I won’t lie: It’s a lovely thing — but it’s still such unexpected kindness. There have been dozens of Sheldonistas that show up with gifts of Hobnobs, most likely based on this strip (…and Lord knows those cookies rarely last an hour in my hands.)
But occassionally people go waaay above and beyond in their kindness. Some examples that I’ve mentioned in the past:
– A 1930’s cartoon printing plate.
– A cake made out of Sheldon and PvP artwork.
– A really cool Flaco sculpture.
But today I realized that I never shared this gift from two brothers in Baltimore: A Sheldon sculpture made entirely out of colored pipe cleaners. What an amazingly cool way to do it!
Thank you guys! You’ll be happy to know he sits right on my monitor, and reminds me to get back to drawin’. 🙂
Also, if this is your first time watching it, post your thoughts below after you’re done. I’d imagine there are more than a few non-Americans who haven’t seen a Twilight Zone yet, so it’d be fun to hear your thoughts on it.
I’m sure these continue to air in Canada, as they do in the US…but did they make their way to the UK, NZ, Australia, Hong Kong?
“Concerning yummy burgers from a grill that’s never cleaned — there is a “restaurant” in Memphis called Dyer’s (an appropriate name, you’ll see) that has been in business over 75 years. Their specialty is deep fried burgers (just the meat, to be totally clear). No, that’s not the killer part (well, yes, but it gets better/much worse). The killer part is that they deep fry the burgers in a big kettle of grease that has NEVER BEEN CHANGED in over 75 YEARS. They just top it off a bit if needed (probably not often, since the grease from the burgers adds to it). They just throw the patties in and they sink — when they’re done they rise to the top. I became aware of this a few years back from a newspaper article on them moving from their original location — they were treating “moving the kettle” like they were shifting King Tut’s collection. I can imagine a sample of that grease would contain an array of concentrated carcinogens unequaled by even the most outrageous of toxic waste dumps.”
So, just to take you through the decision-making on this, here’s how it went down:
1.) We thought it would be cute if I was Luke, Glo was Leia, and I’d have a little “Yoda” riding on my back, ala “Empire Strikes Back”.
2.) But, when we started to look at baby Star Wars costumes, the baby Princess Leia was just too cute.
3.) That, right there, is where our thinking went off track. Does Glo then become Amidala? But then who do I become, in that scenario? Boss Nass? Greedo? Some dude in the background at Jabba’s palace? It just wasn’t working.
4.) So, we settled on the ol’ comedy “Rule of Threes”, and all went as Leia.
Et, voila.
OK: First up, me as Cap’n Crunch, from two or three years ago….
Next up: Gloria and I as tropical dancers. We called it “Halloween…Con Fuego.” The mustache and flavor-saver, I’m happy to say, were real. The eye-liner, not so much. But Lord above, I was hammin’ it up all night with that outfit. I think the last pic is my favorite, just for sheer ridiculousness of facial expression.
Anyway, this year both Glo and I had a few projects distracting us from our typical costume extravaganzas, but I think we managed to pull out a last-minute “win” over our Option A…which was “not doing anything at all”. Pics forthcoming!
…And in the meantime, Happy Halloween!
2.) I’m going through the captions from our caption contest, and I have to say there’s a lot of really good ones in there! You guys are funny! But, with 1,000+ captions to go through, it’s taking me a while to narrow ’em down to our dozen finalists. I’m hoping to pick them by Halloween. Thanks for your patience!
In our book, “How To Make Webcomics”, in our podcast, “Webcomics Weekly”, and in the university and convention talks we do, we’ve tried to share what we know about artists putting their work on the web.
The book was our first foot forward… but when you set something to print, it’s fixed in time. And the nature of the web is that fundamental things change every 6-12 months. So, with the podcast — and now, with this site — we’re doing our best to keep that conversation going.
The four of us like sharing the successes (and massive, massive mistakes) we’ve had over the past ten years. This thing we’re doing, as cartoonists, is still very, very new, even after a decade…and works in fundamentally different ways than traditional, mass-distributed art/entertainment. There are no schools for this, nor are there established, fixed ways of making it work. So we’re trying our best to help artists learn from other artists. It has its hiccup moments, of course, but overall it’s been a really rewarding culture of sharing.
Anyway, a few weeks/months back, the URL for webcomics.com came up for sale, and the Penny Arcade guys bought it for a princely sum. And, in a very generous move, they turned right around and gave it to Halfpixel to continue that community of sharing. I find that very classy — especially after the expenditure.
So, to work! The site will be a user-generated one, which means we’re looking for artists’ input! Webcomics.com has an open submission policy: We’re looking for ideas, articles, columns, tips, how-to-guides, production videos, success stories, and personal anecdotes. If it helps us all learn to be better artists or entrepreneurs, we want it on the site for others to benefit from. All artists are welcome to submit — not just webcartoonists! (In fact, some of the most rewarding e-mails we get are from musicians, painters, sculptors, etc, telling us that the learnings do cross over into other artforms. So we’re assuming the opposite is also true!)
From the submissions we get, we’ll post the best gems and conversation-starters on the main blog. But nothing needs to be wasted! Even if we don’t use it on the front page, we welcome you posting your ideas in the forums where the idea can still be shared and discussed.
So! If that sounds like something you, your kids, your students, or your neighbor Jim would be into, send ’em on over: webcomics.com.
