Fun_Howelleen

So we've seen my Herald "Horror Special," which was my take on Halloween for my weekly comic "Lighter Light," but now here is my take on Halloween time for "Removal." I thought it would be appropriate to draw the spookiest kid in JE and emo him up, so I drew this today, just for today's post.

Easter Eggs: None, really. Maybe that I was thinking of that one picture of emo-ized Harry Potter and company while drawing this? I suppose that this is based on a facebook photo counts, right? I dunno.

Fun Facts: It's the same guy from the my "RockNRoll" comic, only now he's more developed. I noticed his eyes had a very odd pose so I tried to replicate that. I also tried to play up his humorously large schnauze along with his long, thin face--according to his self-proclaimed "manorexia."

And now what follows is what I was originally going to post on Monday, before being so rudely thrown off my gameplan by unfounded assaults on my work.

During sophomore advising night, a few people spoke to us about what to do as we chug along in our Yale careers. One of the speakers was our very own JE Master Haller. He has a really cool look: his hair is youthfully super-hip, but he's got a wizened face that contrasts with the hair. So as he spoke, I drew him.

Easter Eggs: Pictured is the shirt he wore at Culture Draw, not what he wore while giving his speech.

Fun Facts: This is my second time trying to draw him (which isn't to say I succeeded this time, either). The first time was while he was MCing the Culture Draw. If I find that doodle, I'll post it, because there's a nice story there.

After all the "adults" gave their speeches, some seniors gave some presentations. This was the girl who presented, but I don't remember her name--in fact I don't think I've ever seen her before or since.

Easter Eggs: She's looking out of the corner of her eye because I think she spotted me drawing her (I was in the front row), so I drew her looking at the viewer.

Fun Facts: I can't remember anything she talked about--but I drew this and Master Haller on the back of some handout they gave us at the talk.

Ok, that's all for now,

Reuxben

Fun_Horror_MO

Welcome to the start of another week. You might notice today's title may seem like a repeat of Friday, but there's a new twist. I feel forced to unveil this feature earlier than I had hoped, but here it is now: the new suffix, "MO," stands for "Making Of," so now you can see what goes into making one of my comics.

We initiate the feature with the thought line of last week's comic, "Horror" because as I feared, the inevitable (in my line of "work") has happened: someone has taken offense with one of my comics. So hopefully this more in depth look behind the scenes will help affirm that there's nothing malicious about last week's comic.

This is a shot from my Moleskine, a little black notebook I log my ideas in as soon as I think of them. This is the "thought line," the text that sums up my idea.

Again, from last week, I said I sent out a call to the Herald comics staff to try to do a uniform Horror theme week, as a Simpson's inspired "Halloween Special." I wanted the Herald Halloween special week to become a highlight of the year for readers, by having greatly different content just once per year, like the Simpsons' annual "Treehouse of Horror" special. Only one other person took part, and he did a very humorous take on it. But all throughout the week, in my daily ponderings of how to approach the theme, I decided that I wanted to actually scare people, even make them feel a little uncomfortable, but unfortunately I apparently offended someone instead.

Here is a page or so later in that same Moleskine. It's the pre-rough draft of what the comic will look like. I'm now starting to visualize my idea, aside from just text, and trying to put it all together in an interesting presentation. You can see the odd framing I wanted to use originally for the drinking and driving scenes.

Here's the proper rough draft. Check out the struggle to figure out that first frame. Also, you'll find the original dialogue differs from what finally appears. Many things typically change from here until the final draft.

And of course here we find our final draft, with Heroine's hair colored in this time. So ends an obviously notfunny comic that tackles an issue by presenting it so as to interfere with careless thoughts of aimless fun around this spooky Halloween time.

All I can say at this point is that anyone who can call last week's comic a joke is clearly missing the point. I would not like to meet the person who would find this comic humorous.

Would you?

As always thanks for visiting and for your support,

Reuxben

Herald_Horror

You're right. It is Friday. Time for a Herald comic.

As Herald Comics Editor, I pushed the comics staff to go for a common "Horror" theme, but that didn't pan out and now I look a quite odd amid non-horror-related comics.

But now you know: this comic isn't meant to be humorous, but frightening. I thought I could hit harder with something more profoundly frightening, plausible, modern, universal. This was actually the second idea I had to evoke horror, but that more personal horror idea will come next week.

Easter Eggs: "Baby" is one of my least favorite words. My sister's horrible car has a stripe too. The hotel's named from a My Chemical Romance song. The my suite number is 319 because both places are horrific.

Fun Facts: This comic is absolutely not supposed to be funny. It also premieres "Heroine," which is a main female protagonist, as opposed to the usual "Hero" character.

Well, I hope that was spooky. Sadly, no one else at Herald comics went for actual "scary" content. Oh well.

Thanks for visiting,

Reuxben

Fun_GraffitiPart1

Today are two facebook "Graffiti" pieces, which I used to be able to do because it was summer and I had time like that, plus a special treat!

This was my very first graffiti; drawn for a fellow grizzly. It's Taking Back Sunday lyrics from "Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)," some of my favorite lyrics after finding out that my suitemates were giving me the boot this year. I forgive them and remain their biggest fan, but it still hurts like heck. Every single day.

Fun Facts: I like drawing guys screaming. This you know.

I graffiti'd this for another co-high schooler. These are two of the guys from Gogol Bordello.

Fun Facts: They played "Start Wearing Purple," the first time I saw them (on Conan!). Also, this was the first time I tried drawing actual people on Graffiti.

And the treat: this is the autograph/sketch Johane "Ruftoon" Matte graciously drew for me at San Diego Comic-Con! She was so nice, she even showed me notebook thumbnails for upcoming Zhaoka comics!

Fun Fact: Right above Sokka you can see "Whoop it up for Yale today" (I used my " Banner" as an autograph book).

More graffiti to come.

Reuxben

Record_Prometheus

After many weeks of strife, the Yale Record is poised to launch its first issue of the year, the "Crime Issue," tomorrow! If you are a Yalie, make sure to snag a copy. If you aren't a Yalie, consider subscribing! You'll be the talk of your town. We've got an electronic, $10 pdf version, or a printed, traditional $30 version. If you feel compelled to bestow some affordable Ivy-laced humor on your community, please kindly help me out by mentioning my name as your referrer.

On to the artwork. I usually have a more detailed piece and then a couple smaller ones every issue, and this is my "big" piece for this issue. You've already seen the minor piece, "Dance Moves so Cool, They're Illegal," and so now I present my flagship piece for the magazine. It's called "Prometheus, the Pyro-kleptomaniac."

While we were pitching ideas for this issue, someone mentioned kleptomania. Then our chairman said, "Yeah, or a klepto-pyromaniac or something, who steals stuff and sets it on fire. Or steals fire,"

"PROMETHEUS!" I screamed, and everyone laughed. And there was my assignment!

Easter Eggs: the Record's mascot, the owl, is on the templey building. Zeus is hanging out with some liver-hungry eagles in the background on Mt. Olympus.

Fun Facts: I gave him long nails because I think it's generally creepy when males have long nails. And I wanted Prometheus to look creepy. And psycho. To play up the maniac part of his description. I concepted the image as Prometheus crazily flaunting his stolen fire, which he is about to stash in his toga. I'm not sure that comes across, but I'm still happy with how creepy I made the guy.

I wanted to give him darker hair, but I decided to play it safe and not overwhelm the picture with such a big chunk of black. I also wanted to make the sheep's skin black, but I decided that I didn't want to risk losing the detail there.

Tune in Wednesday for something a little different. Tune in Friday for a very special episode of "Lighter Light," my weekly Herald update.

To many more 20s of posts,

Reuxben

Herald_ApplePicking

Fridays mean Herald updates. So here we go (hopefully this comic reads better than last week's).

The idea came from when I went on this apple picking trip sponsored by my residential college, Jonathan Edwards. I felt embarrassed and out of place because I was the only guy there; it was a girl event. There was this other guy, but he's on the organizing committee, so I don't think he counts.

As I traveled through the beautiful orchard, I couldn't help but think how romantic the place was. Happy couples were holding hands and enjoying each other's company. But the longer I walked alone, straying from the peppy JEers, the place became too tranquil to evoke anything but fear. I envisioned axe murderers popping out from behind one of the thick bunches of tree leaves and slicing me up. So I made the comic on romance and fear.

Easter Eggs: the skull and bones reference Yale's famous secret society, which I added after I received a letter from someone.

Fun Facts: Hero's got my favorite jacket. The girl's wearing a Nami shirt. The girl's hair is based on a pirate-haired JE girl. The path shot's from a picture I took on the trip.

And thus concludes the posting-est week ever. But Monday starts another three-post week, with updates every other weekday.

Reuxben

Record_DancemovesA

And now we see the crime: unwanted electrocution. The idea of this whole piece is that it is part of a big, multi-artist collaboration of "Dancemoves so Cool, They're Illegal." So this is the "Electrocution Slide."

Easter Eggs: the electricity at near the center (this picture's right) spells out, in cursive, Y-a-l-e. The "a" is right above the penultimately right vertical floor line.

Fun Facts: This was supposed to be the end of the show, but I learned last night that the design people want to use that alternate "initiator" I mentioned last time for the piece, whose right leg is visible just above this guy's head. So now we're going to have this poor guy being shocked to the right and the left. Or something. I don't know what it'll all look like ultimately, since they mentioned possibly dividing up the characters on opposing pages.

But what does that other shock-initiator look like? Good question. Like this, replete with the unerased pencils beneath the inks:


Yes. So I drew this one first, intending to having him shock some guy to his left. But then I realized I wouldn't have enough space to fit the shocked person, so I drew Shocked Guy below. But then I realized I wanted Shocked Guy to have electricity flowing to the right, which would mean he was being shocked from that same direction. I also thought it would be cooler and make more sense if a girl were shocking him. So then, after drawing these two, I drew Monday's Shocker on another page. But the design people are going to use this guy, hopefully deleting the pencil that I didn't bother to erase (because I thought it would never see print). Oh, irony, will you never stop bludgeoning me to a bloody pulp? How much do you want to bet they'll retain the clearly visible pencils in print?

Easter Eggs: the guy is wearing the same shirt as Ben from Ben10.

Fun Facts: I only inked this Shocker as a warm up before inking the shocked guy. His hair style is modeled after this new guy on the Yale Quiz Bowl team, who found his way to the group from my advertisement on the new admits' boards last admission cycle. So far that makes three 2011ers who I know have read my stuff on the New Admits' Site. Neat!

And so that's my contribution to "Dancemoves so Cool, They're Illegal." I am eager to see the rest of the issue's art. Because I'm art director for the Record, the magazine is wrapping up production, and I've only yet seen four pieces that were not my own (one of which looked like a (rough) sketch and is regrettably seeing print, and another which was a (polished) sketch that has unfortunately been cut from this issue).

Wow.

On a brighter note, if you would like a year's subscription to the Yale Record, "America's Oldest College Humor Magazine"--and to help me meet my referral quota by mentioning my name--please check out our Subscription Page. You can pay a measley $10 for a year's worth of great, electronically transported art and humor, or you can hunker down for the tangible, $30 printed version! Be a purist and get the real deal, or be an environmentally conscious friend to future generations and get the email version--you cannot go wrong!

Reuxben

Record_DancemovesB

Odd title, but it'll make sense come Wednesday. So this is our first glimpse into the Yale Record's upcoming "Crime Issue." But surely there is no crime being committed here? Oh, you would be wrong. You would be dead wrong.

Easter Eggs: nothing visible yet; the sole easter egg for this piece (drawn in two segments) is on the left half, which will find its way to Removal on Wednesday. I guess I sort of was thinking of Toshihiro Ono's wonderful series, the Electric Tale of Pikachu, when I was drawing the lightning, but also I thought of Humberto Ramos' Spider-Man web designs, too. But nothing that would particularly evoke either genius.

Fun Facts: This is actually not the original drawing I made for what I will call the gag's "initiator," but I didn't like the original, so assuming the design people decipher my clues correctly, this is the one that will see print.

Reuxben

Fun_Bulldoggery_Preview

You didn't think it could be done, but I did it! I'm not just talking about a Saturday night/Sunday morning bonus post. I'm talking about how (at writing) I just made the Yale network's "Popular Today" top ten list on facebook!

So I'm tenth of ten. But that's just step one. Step two? Ninth.

As a special treat, here's a glimpse into the future. These are some of the several sketches I submitted for a super-secret upcoming project. That's all for now, though. At least I hope there's some incentive to check back throughout the week: perhaps another bonus post is coming up. Or not. You'll see.

UPDATE: Replace the "tenth" and "Ninth" mentioned above with "ninth" and "Eighth," respectively! Yeah!

Anyway, I hope you feel as warm and fuzzy inside as I do right now,

Reuxben

Herald_Physics

If you are reading this from Burbank, California, please, please, please enjoy your stay!

Alright. An eventful week with midterms and art for the Record's upcoming Crime issue. I also laid out the comics section solo (scary).

I didn't execute the daydream concept well, so a clearer ending has the professor saying, "Centrifugal force? Honestly, what were you thinking when you took my midterm?"

Easter Eggs: Regrettably no L=alpha(ng), for my late physics teacher, Mrs. Lang, who is among the best human beings I've ever met.

Fun Facts: I came up with the comic after our professor, who hates the term "centrifugal force," returned our midterms.

So next week begins an unprecedented three-day update week, like Mr. Wieringo always did. Plus a new category will soon join "Herald," "Record," and "Fun." Food.

As always, thank you for visiting,

Reuxben

Herald_RockNRoll

Welcome to a more care-free update. I was originally going to go with some more depressing stuff this week, but a couple of things changed that plan.

First, I had a discussion that made me feel a little peppier, less in the mood to criticize. Second, it's also Parents' Weekend, so I don't want an awkward weekend. I actually drew this with my sister in mind, wondering if she can get all the lyrics and their bands.

Easter Eggs: All of the background text in the final panel is some of my favorite upbeat lyrics from rock songs. The full text is at the end of this post.

Easier Easter Eggs: The Non-hero is based off a real guy who is named in the second panel. Hero's final screaming pose is a rip-off of an earlier post by--ME! I took the screaming guy's pose from my Fun_WMSdrawings post, and plugged it in here.

Fun Facts: I didn't want to make any lyrics completely obscured, so I left some blank space in there rather than squeeze in words.

So here's the background text:

"Rock n' Roll"

Tongue tied and oh so squeamish
I don’t know where to begin
Let’s go back to the middle of the day that starts it all
Well if you wanted honesty that’s all you had to say
The music played with a calming frequency
Simply singing for the girl
The point’s that there ain’t no romance around there

I miss you more than I did yesterday
Oh baby let me in
Ice cream headaches and sweet avalanche
I’m so full of love it deeply sickens me
You look so good in blue

Just give me strength to pen these things
A tangle on the television and the magazine
I found the cure to growing older
Wait, how come it’s already two pound fifty?
I can’t do this all on my own
I’ll be back with my superman action
Swap jumpers and make another move
Those that claim they’re not showing off are drownin’ in denial
I’m rocking’ steady to the beat in my head

With every breath I wish your body will be broken again
It’s a lie, kiss with open eyes
What are you so afraid of?
I’m trying to find out if my words have any meaning
Case open case shut
I hate the ending myself, but it started with an alright scene

Reuxben