Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Design_catalyst.Sun

We started design work over at Catalyst for this French band called Namaste, but I guess the project got canceled, so I'll be posting some of the sketches.

We had a few designs, this is one of them.

It has to do with their song "Sweet Sunshine," but I can't remember exactly why...!

Reuxben

Monday, December 28, 2009

fun_ntstas.urmom

Hey, have you ever wanted to see jack kelly's note to self comics acted out? Me neither.

So here's "ur mom," in three dee and everything, the first in a series we're going to call note to self: the animated series.

Reuxben

Friday, December 25, 2009

Fun_MerryMerryChristmas

I don't have any Christmas art stored up, so I might update with something else, but for now, have a Merry Christmas.

Hope you had a good time. I realized that having a fuzzy kitty laying on and warming my feet as I watch my favorite DVR'd musical performances from various talk shows while I nibble a bar of chocolate is pretty great as far as Christmases go.

Presents--are they even necessary at this point? Nah.

God bless,

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Fun_Oldboy

I saw this movie called "Oldboy" (main character at left) in the JE Theater after finals. I arrived an hour into it, so I had no idea what was going on; I could only kinda piece it together (yikes). Our pal Spoogleberg is making an adaptation of the comic, starring Wiiru Smissu, I heard.

Usually, I just watch the Iron Giant after finals, but I ran out of time this semester and I forgot my DVD at the dorm, so this was definitely a change up from my routine, boy.

In conclusion: December is for Cynics.

Reuxben

Monday, December 21, 2009

Fun_NyaoAndLater

Such adventures we've had, Nyao! After a reassuring chat with a footballista on the unusually punctual CT Limo, CT's snowstorm delayed us, stranding us in the Vegas after a missed connexn. So we watched and listened to podcasts all night in the airport and then flew back to rest our bones, bound for Diego, where we'd deal with misplaced luggage for the first time ever!

And with some help from 3 songs for 2 dollars, we oneirically rocked this spit, smug in the knowledge that others would prefer you blow $2.

When I got home, I learned we have a new cat! I still miss Mr. Feeny, don't you?

In conclusion: Christmas Is Awesome.

Reuxben

Friday, December 18, 2009

Fun_YaleDailyChews

Aight, homies, here da dill. Next semester I'm going to draw comics for the Yale Daily News every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I will no longer contribute regularly to the Herald. And just to spite those groans of indifference, I'm putting a gun to jack kelly's head if he so much as reaches for anything resembling a post-it note. Et tu, Gerardo? I feel like we just met...

It was all a difficult, heartbreaking decision. I've been with the Herald since Freshman Year, it's hands down the best place for comics, and they're even improving comics' treatment next semester to boot. The reality is that simply not enough people read the Herald for it to be worthwhile. I'm basically dumping my Yale experience down the toilet in the meager hope that I can get good enough at this all to draw for a living. The Herald has been a great training ground, but the readership just isn't there, and I need feedback in order to figure out how I'm doing and what works.

The YDN, assuming it gets its ridiculously inadequate online comics-hosting act together (at least to the serviceable standing it was last board), is much more reliable for feedback. But with the Herald, I'd maybe get an occasional IRL comment, which was nice and everything, but from my editors, I would literally get feedback on things as trivial as how cleverly I hid my signature in the week's comic! There's at least the scent that the YDN actually takes comics considerably more seriously, despite being such a comics-unfriendly environment.

But anyway, I can't bring myself to completely abandon the Herald, as that would feel not only disloyal, but also artistically unwise, so I will submit a comic now and then, but perhaps this semi-retirement will allow me to have some time to actually experience Yale in my upcoming final semester. Among many other taxes, Herald Comics has taken a physical strain on me too, so I am hoping this all adds up to more time for other projects (if not more time for Removal standard comics in print (spot the difference) as well as a less physically-demanding schedule.

So Friday's especially important and controversial since it's not only my old Herald day, but it's also the day I suspect is the slowest at the YDN, despite expert advice indicating otherwise. I hope they know what they're talking about. And I hope you stop by on Fridays. I so enjoy our time together.

Oh...and the top drawing is a group photo I took of me and my "new" editors. Don't we look succulent? I often wonder, if I were to meet myself, would I befriend me? I would probably seem weird and foreign, so no. However, I have actually tasted myself, and I've discovered that I'm disgusting. The others have much tastier names. They serve me up in Commons sometimes, though, if you'd ever like a piece of me.

Also, this is post 400,

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Fun_Feeni-Feeni

Someone once asked about Nyao, so here's this:

When I was developing Zero Like Me, I knew I wanted it to star a depressed guy and his peppy, loyal sidekick who would constantly be trying to cheer him up. The opposite of a sad boy is a happy girl, so I was leaning towards that arrangement. But I was taking a course called Stories of the Strange, full of tales about downtrodden characters meeting fantastic people and creatures. Well, at the time we were studying "Puss in Boots," and that story was basically what I was looking for thematically: the loser main character is nothing without his loyal sidekick to rescue him from his pathetic life, the only one who will stick up for him, help him, and support him to the death, even at personal risk and cost. I thought it was pretty cool how that cat was literally willing to kill people just to make sure his master's fortune went well.

So I thought of my cat, Mr. Feeny, and the way he's always smiling his little cat smile no matter what, but is also always just a little off in his own world, too, and I knew a cat was the perfect symbol but thought it would be difficult to sustain a non-humanoid sidekick. So to keep the feline element, I fused the two by making the sidekick an alien cat being.

Originally she was just nominally an alien, but looked perfectly human; just her costuming bore the cat motifs, which severely restricted her wardrobe to stripes and hoods with ears. So I went for broke and just attached the ears, but decided stripes would be her signature fashion trope, so she can basically wear anything now. I modeled her optimism/apathy after my cats', Oliver and Mr. Feeny, and her costuming just follows two rules: stripes must be somewhere in the outfit, and she always (cough) wears her bell. And she, unlike Zero, can even wear JE gear, too.

Her first name comes from a tweak on a rock singer's name (Nao) as well as the Japanese counterpart of meow (Nya), and Feeni-Feeni is from Mr. Feeny. So there you go.

Reuxben

Monday, December 14, 2009

Fun_zeRock

How many life decisions did you make this weekend? I believe I made two. More on that this Friday.

What's more important right now is that tomorrow's the big launch! Of what? Of The Rollover Motive's debut EP, presumably located here! Aren't they called "Stray Balloon" now? And wasn't the more recent name simply "Rollover Motive," sans "the"? Yes and yes! But I greatly prefer the first version. So to get pumped for that, here's some rock themed artwork, wherein everything digests my dinosaur life.

Also, I've decided to start a rock band. It's like Arctic Monkeys meets The Roots. Basically Gorillaz type action. Only da bess join dis croo.

So besides the two big decisions, I had a pretty eventful weekend in general, actually: I lunched at the Friars' Club in New York and met the author whose book I used in my comedy history paper (he interviewed both old time Yalie Dick Cavett and '94 Yalie/Ex!t Player Allison Silverman). Comics Club launched Escape! and it sold out within 48 hours. I submitted a paper via email just before deadline, but discovered an hour later that I had attached the wrong file (the annotated outline, not the final draft). I learned I missed "Stray Balloon"'s likely final performance of the year. My boss dropped some Bull Tales on me that I'd never seen before (thank you). I bounced between ecstasy and depression and landed in neutral. Two separate young men in an hour's span asked me for input on their aspirations for naked escapades. I wrote a bunch of new comics, some of which could make certain people really uncomfortable, myself included.

All that in one weekend. What did you do? Write a paper? Loser. Study for a test? Loser. Consort with friends? Loser...

In conclusion: order lies within disaster.

Reuxben

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Fun_Escape!Arrives

Just to update what we're looking at here, Escape! is now out in print! You can find some incredible original comics, and a beautiful cover, but we've also collected a bunch of great reprints from the Herald and the YDN.

Free bookmark not included with purchase of free Escape!. Only available while supplies last. Void where prohibited. Please drink responsibly.

All my reprinted comics that were posted on this site with "updated art coming soon" have been touched up so they now look better than originally printed, and are in line with their Removal versions.

But what I'm most excited about is that you may now view certain comics "uncensored." I don't like that sensationalist word, but it's technically true, and it's hecka funny saying that I've been censored. Multiple times.

Imagine that.

The YDN's Zero Like Me gets a section.

So if you're a Rumpus person and you think you're clever second guessing me, guess what, you're not. Yeah, I said it. Just kidding. But seriously, now you can see the original for yourself. Isn't that neat how the depth you're looking for in a comic actually did/does exist?

The Herald's Zero Like Me: Zero Romance also gets a section.

No censorship issues there, just updated aesthetics, but that fool jack kelly does get to print some cut material, too. Might want to drink that all in, it'll have to last for a while.

So take a look at me now,

Reuxben

Friday, December 11, 2009

Fun_Headshout2

The following is a Headshout. I repeat, it is only a Headshout.

Yale Comics Club's Magazine, Escape!, is OUT NOW!
Featuring original comics plus excellent reprints of:
Dead Squirrel Shenanigans
Quiet Glen Mind Police
Confused AKDMKS
Zero Like Me*
note to self*
*The uncensored, updated artwork now in print.

The preceding has been a Headshout. Had this been an actual comic, it would have been accompanied with backgrounds, bodies, and bubbles.

Reuxben

Penny_dm.BigRisky

So, the last Deal of Doggie Mojo is out in the latest issue of the Penny Dreadful.

In "Big Risky," the volume finale, Lillis confronts the Galaxy Police's mighty Admiral Megan Megan.

As I understand it, the story's getting massive edits, so even I don't know how this one's turning up. It may also be changed into a more finite ending, but it was written to continue on, so who knows how this'll shake out.

Ridiculously busy. Full update and pencils coming soon.

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

YDN_zlm.SoArbitrary

That's right, walk away.

Zero Like Me #60:
So Arbitrary
<- Previous...Next->
-First-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in Panel 2.

Fun Facts: Silliman master's house.

Baa: Quite busy right now.

End of semester thank yous--

Thanks: Reed, Pete, Harrison, Sarah N.

Special thanks: Richard, Sarah M., those people that found me in the JE computer lab, Mr. C.

Updated artwork on this and the semester's backlog coming soon.

Reuxben

Monday, December 7, 2009

Fun_FinalExit

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am no Ex!t fan. Their only real attraction is Jeopardy!, but beyond that I just can't get into it no matter how many times I try; I'd take the Crayon over Ex!t any day. I'm doing a paper for my comedy history class, and I came across an interview with big time Ex!t alumna, Allison Silverman '94, (Late Night Conan, Daily Show, and Colbert), and even she gave the Crayon a vague thumbs up over her own troupe.

Asked how the Ex!t Players differed from Yale's other groups, she responded, "I thought they were the flat-out funniest. There was another group that performed long-form material, but I didn't really understand that method until after I graduated. In retrospect, I prefer long form. But, at the time, short form was my preference." (Mike Sacks, And Here's the Kicker, 234)

But to stay positive, here's a sketch from a meeting about college seminars. I was just in it to push JE to get first dibs on a comedy writing seminar, but it looks like that class didn't even get picked up at all! Anyway, I think it's hilarious that this guy is so JE, and yet he's actually quite agreeable. I'm a big fan of voices, and he's got one of my favorites: it makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite mixed with peanut butter. Haha.

I just wonder why he and this guy do not have accents. I'm from California, so I'm pretty ignorant, but aren't Southerners supposed to have accents? I've only heard one legit "Y'all come back now, hear?" sorta Southern accent at Yale ever. It was so ridiculous, I thought someone was making fun of Southerners, but that was how the person actually spoke! Hilarious! Okay. Better stop talking about Southerners before I get into trouble.

Finally, here's a Zero sketch for the kids, also drawn during the Ex!t show, which brings me to my main point--this time it's for real: never will I ever attend another Ex!t show. No more $2 entrance fees. No more sitting patiently for Jeopardy!, that's it.

It's no real loss, since no one in the gang is particularly fun to draw anymore, although there's that Yugoni (pictured above), who looks just like Genchaka. And that guy was seriously fun to draw. It's got to be the shnauz. Intense.

Reuxben

Friday, December 4, 2009

Herald_zlm.UpInSmoke

It's like there's a nuke in my mouth and everybody's invited.

Zero Like Me #59
Zero Romance #12:
Up In Smoke
<- Previous...Next->
-First-

Easter Eggs: Romance 12 on fallout sign. Mr. K refs two people. The first is one of my elementary school teachers who really did get arrested, but for something entirely different from drug use. The second is one of, if not the first Yale people I met beyond my FroCo(s) and my suitemates Freshman Year. Pretty much since my second week at Yale, he's been so welcoming and supportive personally, even before the comics, and especially this year, but it is a horrid fact that he is weeks from graduation. Also, ref'd a freakishly stylish lad; 98% of the time during class, I couldn't understand a word he was saying, although he seems to like comics, so beyond his killer style, he's all aces.

Fun Facts: I'm considering quitting the Herald, and I was just about convinced to stay on until I met a fan in the JE lab while scanning this, who says that although he rarely reads the YDN even he knows my comics, but only from there, meaning (all jokes aside), people really don't read the Herald. So it seems like a wise business move to blitz the YDN, but the Herald is finally becoming the haven for comics I always knew it was and could be again, so aside from pure loyalty, I feel I should stick around since it is more comics-friendly. I hate to be so upfront, but if you have any input, please give me some advice on what to do and where you read my comics, either by voting in the poll in the top right, or by emailing or something.

Obviously there's the bias that since you've found this site, that means you know I'm at both papers, but I'm interested in that majority who only read me in print. The YDN and the Herald do not put comics online competently if at all, so the only real way to gauge my comics is through my site(s), which I do not actively promote. And way more people read me in print than online, so this site only offers me a sliver of the picture, so I cannot know how valuable the Herald is. I suspect a significant amount only know/read my YDN stuff and I'm wasting my time at the Herald, but I do know there are people who really like the Herald so I'm at a stalemate and I need to make a decision soon.

Baa: It weirds me out when aesthetically powerful people talk to me, and it also weirds me out when people I've never formally been introduced to address me by name, so imagine my panic attack when the smoker chap from today's comic started a quick conversation with me in the YDN office.

Okay, it's time for my semesterly thank-yous.

Thanks: Rachel, Joe and the nice Heralders, Claire, Takeshi Obata, Kim Young-Oh, Garry Trudeau, Aaron McGruder.

Special Thanks: Kirk, Mr. Kanter.

Reuxben

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

YDN_zlm.TechNoLogic

Because all that typing really is furious note-taking.

Zero Like Me #58:
Tech No Logic
<- Previous...Next->
-First-

Easter Eggs: Professor Garcia Marquez lecturing about Borges (a double whammy of torture). Sigh, Myahaha, and Pfft. My horrific Spanish essay translated back into English is today's lecture.

Fun Facts: The time on the computer is when the class is supposed to end, and yet it keeps on going, doesn't it? Also, this is the second of my two mandatory technology-themed comics, so like Spanish, I am now done with them forever as far as I can tell.

Baa: I most definitely want to go back to Japan.

By lunch time: No more Spoonglish ever! Take that, Mom!

Reuxben