The Moxx of Balhoon

Something I drew last night, influenced by the memory of a new Dr. Who episode I saw the other week. Sorry, it doesn't look like real Moxx of Balhoon, who is much sloppier, and doesn't wear a helmet. I guess I'm in the same camp as Sheila Heti, who hears a name and goes ahead and writes about something without researching it. Will try to assemble links for all these things. First thing I have to get is a link so the picture will show up.



Well, this is my Moxx. It's done in pencil, but I liked this photoshop colouring. I'm doing a more complex version which might go up, but right now it's not as nice. Behind him is the Moxess, and of course the holy Demimoxx XVI, the Bulldog of Blarggh.

Invincible

I drew this after listening to an interview on morning CBC radio about a guy who rides in competition something called a "Hand Bike" - three wheels and cranked by an ingenious mechanism.

Whatever you do, don't SCARE THE CAT!!!!

I don't know. A couple of years ago, I was taking things like this to childrens book publishers around Montreal. Was barely let in the door, let alone responded to. These are more elaborate, but not more satisfying to me than the very simple pictures below. Mind you, it doesn't take much more time than the pen and ink things I've been putting up here. Still, the scanner seems to enhance all the flaws. One can photoshop those out, if you're a photoshop whiz, but that seems fake.

The Tumour That Crawls Away

Been fantastically busy again, but that simply encourages me to do more stuff. Had to wait for word on a number of things yesterday, while it was raining, so I finished up this picture I had started while on my Thailand trip. It was really just a lot of pencilmarks and a light blue wash, and I didn't have much idea how any of the buildings or objects worked in the scene, but it has kind of the sense of that place. All crumbling stucco and sheet metal, posters for government officials. And the jungle is encroaching everywhere. I loved it, but was getting totally screwed up by it. Will return soon, I hope, this time with a platoon of Montreal cartoonists. That will be a story, perhaps "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" crossed with "Apocalypse Now."

The title of this post I found written on the picture. Sounds like a good title for a horror story, Lovecraft by way of David Cronenberg. People tell me I look like David Cronenberg, but I don't have his kind of weirdness. I have some kind of weirdness, but not his.

Spring colour

Finally, I get to sit in parks, and draw things! This is that park on Ontario and de Lorimier. Not too pleasant looking at the busy five lanes of traffic east of you, but south, it almost hooks up with the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Plus there's a playset where a lot of the kids and families from all kinds of backgrounds hang out. Very different from the parks in the wealthier Plateau area. I've sketched this church before, and put it up on this blog. Note the careful attention to detail, and micrometer-straight lines. Actually, I was just trying to think of the fronts of the buildings as faces, to give them some personality. There's a fountain in front that has not been turned on yet. That will look nice. In fact, they've made a little natural ampitheatre area, in which I was sitting. I hope they use it for performances and movies and such, but not all the time.

Bookstore Cat Missing

Crumbs! Read on Montreal City Weblog that Khan, the new bookstore cat at Welch's, has gone missing. [link]. Hope they get her back. Sickos in past years have also took cats from Melange Magique and Westcott Books downtown. I don't know what the deal is. Then again, my cat just left for a couple of days, and came back, bold as brass, so you never know. It's spring.

Horse With Lady

Well, family stuff has evened out. Now I've got a tooth problem. Plus a lot of work all at once. If you're freelancing, I don't think it ever happens in a way that's convenient for you. Plus it's deadly to turn away work. Still, I'm managing, for the moment. Re-evaluating what I want to do with this blog. So far it's not been so much links or reviews or things, but my sketches, and a verbal sketch of my mental state. I'm happy with that, and it seemed to be my voice for this. But if things start getting really terrible, then this will be only complaining, and not too much fun. Still, there are always the sketches to post, which perhaps only indirectly mirror my psychological state.

The above doesn't look too Edvard Munch or H. Bosch-like. It's a turn of the century lady with a horse, both subjects I like to draw. I did costume designing for theatre in Calgary (mostly childrens' productions such as "Oliver" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.") Lots of room for fantasy and fun. Also historical recreation. I love the mechanics of clothing. Another gig that didn't make it onto my offical CV was a summer spent painting fences at Spruce Meadows Equestrian Facility (fancy way to say "Riding Stable," but it's more than that. You can see the jumping events they hold there on national television). I dug sketching the horses. This was around the time Peter Shaffer's "Equus" was popular, but it wasn't that popular around that place, for sure.

Drawing Therapy

Rough stuff has been happening in my family lately, way off in Calgary, and there's not much I can do about it here. I think drawing has helped keep me on an even keel through tough times. The cats are good for this too. Anyhow, there was a bit of a breather from work these last few days, and here's some of the stuff that came out of my head.



First off, a relatively normal picture, sort of a film noir scene. The name on the sign doesn't mean anything. If I was doing this for publication, I would probably research it, but it's interesting what pops up. I'm thinking of doing a comic story about 1950s Montreal, using a lot of greys and black, bulgy cars and men in hats. Of course, my main problem has been finding time and motivation to do comics. I'm working on it!

The building in back probably should be darker. Also the lamps illuminating the sign are not obeying perspective (you probably wouldn't have noticed it, if I hadn't pointed it out!). But that's not hard to fix, either. I sometimes do little photoshop fixes on these before putting them up, but the spontaneity of the sketchbook, which includes mistakes, is important too.



This one is a lot stranger. I'm going to explain it. The top half and the bottom actually have nothing to do with each other, and were drawn at different times. Below is Charles and Camilla. The carriage burning is just a thing I like to draw (did lots of overturned cars for a while: hope it's not a premonition!). No comment intended. Charles is a twit, and I have no use for the Monarchy, but I kind of like him nonetheless. He does paint watercolours after all. Wish him all the best, though his wife is funny-looking.

The above left hand is my mental picture of this woman on CBC radio who does a slightly gushy forecast of the weather late at night. Sure she looks nothing like this. They're probably all overweight, and with glasses, and wearing sweats (actually, the ones I've seen look quite cultured and intelligent) But I like to imagine them as slim and wearing cocktail dresses. Something similar goes for how I imagine some bloggers, but that's for another time.

On the left is a girl inspired by the very accomplished comic artist Colleen Doran. I like her stories, but they're pretty creepy in a way, because she gives people these very girly eyes. The guys as well. Still, her stuff is pretty good, if you like High Fantasy/SF. It is probably is read more by women than guys, however. I dig her technique: the detail and costuming.

So now the pair are like peverse angels showering "blessings" upon the newlywed couple.



A panel from Colleen Doran's book, A Distant Soil.

Animals

A bunch of animals, inspired (or taken, however it it goes) from some super drawings by T.S. Sullivant. Have to find the link to those again. [here it is!] At first, I thought it was A.B. Frost, another great old illustrator who did spindly drawings of animals in action, but I was wrong.

Speaking of spindly, I think the house is, like, falling down, but actually it's my style, or at least a good way of avoiding having to draw in perspective.

The guy in profile below is not an animal, at least in the sense the others are, but he's taken from the same site. Again, they're not copied directly, just the ideas for them are.

Blue Met

Above is a not too accurate drawing of Beatrice, a fellow artist with whom I took a "Master's Class in Comics" with the artist Kim Deitch at the recent Blue Metropolis Writer's Event in Montreal. It was neat to hear some of his stories, and see some of his methods, though I would have preferred some more technical content, and actual drawing of comics. Still, some of us sketched like mad, as is our wont.

If you click on the above drawing and go to flickr, you can find two more drawings done on Hyatt Motel notepad stationery.

Anyhow, I've been remiss with blogging, because of more deadlines, and dealing with directors and producers. This is the week before the big MIP television trade fair in Cannes, and a few of my show proposals are being sold around. Sounds glamourous, but I don't get to go. I'm a lowly writer, and an unproduced one at that, so far. But watch this space and see what happens, though I've been pretty secretive about my TV work to date.

Oh, the stories I could tell, if I was one of those anonymous blogging tattletales! But unfortunately, the business is such, these various projects could be totally wrecked if I put stuff about them on the internet.

What a clash of egos and image it seems to be. I'm lucky at the moment, because people seem to like my writing and ideas. I'm trying to make some more money out of them, but I don't feel particularly ambitious in television. It's a way to buy my time to paint my watercolours and feed my cats. Still, it's fun editing and creating, so one might as well take the opportunity.