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. 
I don't have any Christmas art stored up, so I might update with something else, but for now, have a Merry Christmas.
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.
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!
Someone once asked about Nyao, so here's this:
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. 
How many life decisions did you make this weekend? I believe I made two. More on that this Friday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The following is a Headshout. I repeat, it is only a Headshout.
So, the last Deal of Doggie Mojo is out in the latest issue of the Penny Dreadful.
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.
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.
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 like there's a nuke in my mouth and everybody's invited.
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. 
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.
Baa: The first time I dealt with this sports subject, there were cheers. The last time I dealt with this sports subject there were jeers. 
A special advanced screening today, the illustration for the next installment of Doggie Mojo, my prose series in the Penny Dreadful, and it's also going to be the cover. Neat!
This is what it looked like before the bells and whistles.
Easter Eggs: Metal Gear Solid chat window, Gundam style model for the H.Arms, pokeball.
One of my absolute favorite parts about comics/illustration is you get to research and draw all kinds of cool fashions and there's no wardrobe budget, just pick what you want and go.
So I went on Monday and they had tons of free pizza! No water, so I had to drink soda (ugh...), and not even root beer. So maybe it was because I hadn't eaten a meal since The Game tailgate (I did have two bags of Uncommon bunny crackers Sunday, though), but that was some of the best pizza I've ever had. Aside: Sally's is insanely overrated. Pepe's, Papa John's, even Pizza Hut pwn Sally. I am somewhat of a picky and simple eater, but fortunately I can eat the same thing every day for years. For most of elementary school I had a ham sandwich every day until like 5th grade, when I finally got sick of it.
So anyway we're all waiting for the inevitable horror to come that is Indian food. I tried Indian food Freshman Year and it still haunts me. As in Japan, when I arrived at Yale I promised myself to try new things no matter what as that is what college is all about, but I fear I've lost some of that adventurous zeal. But if I'm served free food, I feel doubly obligated to try it, even if I've had previous bad experience.
Thanksgiving break is here, so I'm going to post some artwork every day this week.
Whenever I have to draw real people, I try to get a practice sketch in, and this is lo de Koalabear Onedrop.
These are some costume designs. I wanted neophytes (Zero) to wear Snuggie-styled robes, regular members (Nyao) to wear costumes modeled after the E Stone society in Toshihiro Ono's Pikachu Shocks Back, and I wanted the leaders to dress like Team Rocket. I love Team Rocket, and you've got to be feeling cool and powerful if you dress like them AND wear a cape.
This last round of The Game shirts wasn't terribly inspiring. There was even a ridiculous scandal on one of the shirts.
This next sketch started as a kind of "wacky idea." What if we made a shirt that made fun of how gung-ho Yalies get about Yale? What's the most ridiculous way to show school spirit? What if we had a shirt saluting all of Yale's men who've become US presidents (all of whom have been at best mediocre presidents)? 
So today was The Game, can't tell if it was frustrating, depressing, or just plain sad. But hey, that's what she said, am I right?
In fact, when I stayed at Harvard, I was really unimpressed with the place--everything looks like Pierson. And maybe it was because I was decked in Yale gear, but people didn't seem too nice. Not that I'm a good judge of character. Some of them were kinda off-handedly mean while trying to be not mean. One girl said she liked my art and then followed right up with "sorry you go to Yale." That really depressed me for some reason. Like for a split second I really wished I had gone to Harvard so I could poop all over Yale without feeling like I was biting the hand. But mostly, Harvard felt like an overly spacious series of husks. It was literally and figuratively cold and empty over there.
In Harvard's defense, some people were nice. One guy stuck around to watch me draw and he was really nice, acted like I was a big deal (but have you seen the Lampoon's art?!) YDN 06-8 called, they want their art back. Anyway, I greatly regret not pointing him to this site, but I feel really self-conscious advertising this site. That's why I kinda Easter Egg my signature/site into my artwork rather than just slap it on. If you find the plug, then great, I hope you enjoy if you choose to visit. If you don't, then all right then, off you go, and let's not waste anyone's time.
