YDN_zlm.ShticksAndStones

Drop it like it's hot...a steaming, hot pile.

Zero Like Me #64:
Zero @ YDN Pt.1: Shticks And Stones
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2. My darling Harkness in Panel 2.

Fun Facts: I was so happy to notice Harkness peeking out from behind all that atrocious construction stuff, so I knew I had to work it into the comic, which makes today's setting a JE rooftop.

Baa: Eye contact is overrated...and ridiculously uncomfortable 90 percent of the time.

It looks like we're finally making progress on the YDN online front, so that's great. It will also make Part 2 of this comic delightfully ironic! Since I got Monday off for MLK, I'll have a comic for Thursday, as well.

Aww yeah.

Reuxben

Record_SquidzillaRoboKilla

Today's Zero Like Me will run this Friday because I am a team player, and I care for the YDN's convenience and comfort. I'm sure the feeling is mutual of course!

So today's a double shot of Record interior art, both drawn over the summer, and previewed here.

At left is a higher concept piece from the Freshman Issue, where the artwork (pixelated as poop) was captioned with, "What a terrible calamity!" and then appeared later in the magazine, still pixelated, with the caption, "What a terrible calamari!"

The next piece comes from the freshly printed Internet Issue.

The caption reads: "Transformers 3: Beinecke"

Easter Eggs: Lux Et Veritas, 1701, Old Owl, and California-shaped squid marking.

Fun Facts: I feel weird about advertising this site on anything other than in my comics and on any site run by me, especially in magazines, where I feel it's a bit unprofessional, but I decided to just put a plug in this piece since another site inserted its URL into a few recent issues.

Baa: This one girl approached me one night at a rock show in TD but the music was so loud I wasn't able to catch her name and I'm not even sure I heard her correctly but I think she was trying to tell me she was a fan. I indicated I couldn't understand her, so she leaned in only to scream right into my ear, her voice landing like a punch, physically knocking me back. So all I got out of the exchange was a whole lot of temporary deafness. She seemed nice.

Reuxben

Fun_LateNightToo

Captured via photographic technology, this is a kinda-sequel to last year's "This Is My Late Night Conversations;" it's actually a casualty of a social experiment I undertook junior year: I wanted to see if it would be possible to live with Yalies for a year and feel absolutely nothing towards them at year's end, like perfect strangers, meanwhile examining the emotions that come from self-imposed isolation.

The big goal was to see if by actively seeking and imposing isolation on myself, I could manipulate and master everything I've felt since Freshman Year, which I could then use to improve or inform my art since I feed off of my feelings to operate creatively, like an actor.

My suitemates seemed like nice enough people, but I did everything in my power to maintain that early unfamiliarity, since that would only leave room for isolation's misery and discord to form, if anything.

The golden rule was simple: Don't interact with them (not even visually) unless it's unavoidable. This was a response to how I would drop everything to interact with my Freshman Year suitemates.

My bid to stay emotionally uninvested in my junior year suitemates was a success: I don't know what three of the four(?) look like, and I can't match voices with faces.

In the process of avoiding them, there were some big misunderstandings that erupted over the year, but I chose not to clarify their confusion, letting them speculate all they wanted behind their paper-thin JE walls. They impressed me with some beautifully ugly passive-aggression that helped accomplish the main purpose of my experiment: to manipulate misery.

After one of their particularly painful, poignant moves, I stole away to WLH and drew on some blackboards, riffing off of pure emotion. The result doesn't look too good, as is usually how that sort of drawing goes, but it felt great. Really great.

I love Yale. I loathe May 2010.

Reuxben

Herald_Snatch.df

Last find: Kelly pounces on the first shop that's hiring and quite gruffly asks for a job.
Now find 2!

Even though I knew what I wanted to do in this episode, actually drawing it got pretty perplexing. And to insult my injury, I forgot to color in a couple parts. I really should do these comics over multiple sessions.

Easter Eggs: "Yale" is written in the cracks of the ground under the mysterious thief.

Fun Facts: I consulted One Piece here again because everyone screams in One Piece. Consequently, we have another screaming-guy drawing. Neat! Finish time = ~5am.

And jack kelly--apparently deprived of his usual inks--seems to have switched over to a sharpie for "rock sign."


It's funny because I found a pencil of my favorite brand laying on the street the same week he loses his usual pen brand.

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

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

Fun_WMSdrawings

I compiled some drawings to give away to the kids I tutored during summer school, as an incentive for them to give the teacher some much needed peace on the last day of class, so here are some break sketches plus some of the pictures that were up for grabs--better behaved children pick first.

This is my envisioning what tutoring summer school might be like, followed by the day's lesson. Thankfully they placed me into an action-packed math class.

Next, there's some pose practice. I also wanted to try Ben10-styled hands.

I practiced this hairstyle I really like but I can never get it as I see it. The mouth was Ben10-styled.

We've also got dreadlock practice, inspired by Psyche's Gus.

There's a screaming guy with spittle spewing.

This robot was inspired by my fond memories of the Iron Giant. One of the students also loves that movie, I found out while wandering the class in tutor-mode.

I compiled about five sheets of artwork for the kids to choose from, with early picks for the best behaved. So top pick went to a kid who liked the Spider-Man I drew during my last break. The robot went second and the kid even caught the Iron Giant allusion!
Continuing my efforts to predict what middle schoolers would really dig, I went with a Teen Titans Robin sketch. Robin's pretty cool (minus Scott Menville).

Now we get to the fun one.

I met a kid who was really into Pokemon, and just like me, a big Team Rocket fan.

So I stayed up into the wee hours the last morning of summer school and drew him Team Rocket.

I wanted to give him a special drawing because he was such a character, really smart but easily bored and distracted, and because he told me that his brother and dad are off at war.

He seems really positive about it, always talking about his Master Sergent dad, but I thought he deserved some special treatment anyway.

So believe it or not, this is actually my first time drawing the Rocketto Dan.

It was tricky making them both somewhat feminine, without going too far for either.

I think it turned out pretty ok. But in any case, I made sure to use the kid's favorite Rocket catchphrase, "In your face!" in the note.

He loved it and cheered the words as soon as he saw them. I wanted to tell him that his brother and dad were amazing people, but I thought it might get him thinking about their situation too much.

...well, Chimeco says "Bye!"

Reuxben