YDN_zlm.WhereToBegin

He's got it all.

Zero Like Me #99:
Where to Begin (The Dan Song)
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. "Dan's Got It All" or "Isn't Times Square Beautiful" scored to the best of my ability...Yale's very own master of pathos as I saw him at Yale-a-Palooza. Ref "The Future Freaks Me Out" and "DB" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is Branford, where the squirrels roam. I got a copy of "Dan's Got It All," one of his best unreleased tracks. I heard him play it live once. Incredible. Why doesn't he put this stuff online? Even if it's his version of doodles, it's still absolutely killer.

Baa: I sketched him as he played at Yale-A-Palooza and I was an instant fan, but I could barely remember what he looked like after he left the stage, oddly enough. So a bit later it was the Fall Show (starring Dat Phony) and I noticed the guy a few seats to my right had a mouth that looked just like the mouth I had been trying to draw back at Yale-A-Palooza. So I mustered my courage and went up to him and asked him about his music. I was so ridiculously nervous I was shaking and everything.

There are a few Yalies I get "star"struck around. One is obvious--I'm a huge fan. Another is more of a silly sort of starstruck, not so much a fan as an imagine-that sort of thing. A third is like I-can't-believe-he-knows-who-I-am. There's a fourth, but I haven't had an opportunity to draw her (plus I feel that might kill the aura).

Sometimes it weirds me out that I'm on a first name basis with certain megatalents. I was also a big fan of hers even before we became colleagues (her work got me into comics, really), and I remember being thrilled when she responded to my email four years ago inquiring about how to start a comic. I was so nervous when I met her at Comics Club, and now it's like she's just another human. Funny how celebrity and humanization quarrel.

Ok, Zero Like Me Number One Hundred is coming Friday! I can't believe it. It's sinking in that this is all going to end soon. I almost fell apart earlier today thinking about it. It's bittersweet. Maybe just bitter. But to celebrate 100 (and 1 with the Herald) trips into the abyss I'm going to hold another Rootbeeraganza. I'll dump a bunch of rootbeerios outside the JE Dining Hall, I guess, in time for dinner.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Eww

I just grossed myself out with this one.

Zero Like Me #98:
Eww
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. You cannot spell "Float On" without "Flo a ton," teehee. This comic's signature misrepresented the date the comic was drawn. The comicser drew this on the 4th, not the 5th, and doesn't feel like correcting it. The YDN regrets this error.

Fun Facts: I remember the Trudeau did a run on the iPad unveiling, plus the YDN held a design talk that spent a lot of time about newspapers' necessary future tablet capabilities, but the other day I randomly saw this Stephen Colbert clip (Jimmy?) and I figured this would be something of interest to a lot of people to read about in a comic. Some JEsters spotted me working on it, saw the word "iPad" and asked for a preview. The early reviews are positive...

Baa: I hate macs. But ever since I started using them nigh exclusively for the past week or so in the JE computer cluster, after my laptop went into the shop, I still hate macs. But they're not so bad. But they still suck.

Also, man, do you guys really...bleed like that? Dude, that's rough. That makes me wonder how there can really be...y'know...female tough guys...I mean...eventually...won't they just...y'know...just kinda...just bleed everywhere? I don't mean anything insulting by it, I just...it kinda makes adventure/fantasy series a bit harder to believe...you know? You know, like, is it believable to have strong female characters doin'-it-their-way before they had pads? Oh gosh, I just grossed myself out again. I'm going to stop writing now. Good day.

Reuxben

Herald_zlm.NinjaYouCrazy

Everybody get down.
Zero Like Me #97:
Zero Romance #19:
Ninja, You Crazy!
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 6. Romance 19 in panel 2. Ibuki style. Umezawa's Jitte. Dan's Squareman! Cobra Kai never die. 1988.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is the Wimmin's Taybull area of Cross Campus. More importantly, this is how the Herald does April Fools, fools. We were trying to figure out what to do this year and I mentioned I was planning a comic about ninja, and then it ended up being our team theme--this is the first year we've had a unified theme.

I am thrilled we've been able to continue the April Fools specials I started at both the YDN (2nd year) and the Herald (3rd year)--I wasn't sure the Herald would be on board this year, but we ended up getting it together literally at the last minute! I'm also happy that all the YDN regulars joined in, too.

The keen eye can spot a jack kellyian getting murdered, as right he should be, but the keener eye can spot a Squareman, the signature character from my original Herald Comics editor, Dan. He was the first one to print a comic by me and was really encouraging, and thus remains a crucial human being in my existence.

The other key player, Mr. Chittenden, is still involved with comics. He was my Herald editor after Dan, and he helped teach me the basics of incorporating computers into my work--including helping teach me how to make the first Herald Fools Special possible, techniques I used again this year.

Baa: Freshman Year, I met this black guy who loved rap but hated the N-word--predicament! But the kid said rather than N-bomb, he uses the word "ninja," and that nugget of trivia has been bouncing around in my head ever since.

I also drew a ninja for Zach's comic, which is visible here.

The character on the get-up says Rei, which is Japanese for "Zero" and the pose is Ralph Macchio.

I was in Japan when I saw a Zero fighter, the Pearl-Harboring kamikaze plane, in a naval museum. I was planning my next Herald series at the time, so I wrote "Zero" down as a cool possible villain's name.

But then I ended up creating a YDN comic, and I needed a name for a severely depressed guy. And I thought Zero was perfect for multiple reasons, one of which is it's about valuelessness, but also the kamikaze connotation.

I wasn't sure how the color might get screwed up on this (as it tends to whenever I use color for printed comics), so I went overboard with precautions, including using CMKY and stuff, which kinda really impaired the lines.

Coloring can be fun...but lines are so much more interesting...

So basically, what I'm trying to say is I wanna be just like you.

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YDN_zlm.Pretty

What kind of emotionally insecure idiot can't even stay serious for one minute when talking about his feelings?

Zero Like Me #96:
Fools March In Pt.3: Pretty
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 4. My main man, Harkeness Tower in the beegee.

Fun Facts: Thus concludes this year's YDN Comics April Fools' Week special--"Christmas in March." I hope you enjoyed everyone's Christmas-themed comics! And I hope YDN comicsers continue the tradition after I leave for a worse place. In case you missed the Yalebration, here is Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five.

Baa: Did I ever tell you about my first kiss? Course I did...Hum...Oh, here's a story: In elementary school, I found out a couple girls liked me. They were the two most annoying girls in the class. Does that count as a story? Oh! Hey, there was this one time in like fourth grade when my school had its annual trip to CalSkate, the local rollerskating rink in my NorCal hometown, and a certain girl asked me to coupleskate with her, but I was too embarrassed, so I ran away...err, skated away.

You've Got Mail is so my favorite romantic comedy that it inspired my first proper Herald series, Darling Find. That series haunted me for a while because I thought I'd be a one hit wonder (it was received pretty well--I was working in Swing Space at like 3am when I first read that thread and I literally started jumping and shouting for joy--but nothing seemed to match its success). Fortunately ZLM (and SLS)'s doing pretty well--I went to a psych study the other day and it turned out the guy running it's a big fan! Hilarious!

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YDN_zlm.BustACap

Yale life. Thug life. Is there really a difference?

Zero Like Me #95:
Fools March In Pt.2: Bust A Cap
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 4. Nyao's costume inspired by Winsor McCay's character Icicle from Little Nemo.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is a house on Whitney Avenue, en route to the elementary school I teach comics at. This comic was originally just a heist, but then this happened, and I realized it fit pretty nicely with the thievery theme.

Also, tune in to YDN comics all week so as to get your ho ho ho on!

Baa: As an opponent of frivolity and waste, I am not actually sure that a prize cap is a bad thing, but I do disagree with any sort of everybody's-equal treatment. If someone's outstanding at something, and they win a prize, it should not be a crime that they get something greater than runners-up. If a cap should exist, I would make it no less than $5k; 1k is kind of insulting in the big picture of grand prizes. Sure, five digits to one person is a bit excessive, but I can see how some people might actually need that money. But whatever, 1k is dinky. If you smoked everyone, you shouldn't be ripped off of presumably hard-earned money AND you most certainly shouldn't get fed a line by Yale.

As the resident not-rich person at Yale, I actually do have a healthy reverence for money. So if my reward is a net of zero, as it just gets swapped out for financial aid that would have been coming my way anyway, that is the insult to the injury--that's getting socks at Christmas--the point is to get something extraordinary, not something that was due you anyway.

The 1k cap is a rip off if your prize would have been even a cent greater. Yeah it's nice to get free stuff, but let's be honest, you just won a vacuum cleaner on the Price is Right when you could see the House/Car/Vacation package five steps away. You're this guy if he got paid in McDonalds coupons.

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YDN_zlm.Booty

Zero Like Me #94:
Fools March In Pt.1: Booty
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Iron Giant and Magic card in panel 4.

Fun Facts: TUNE IN TO YDN COMICS ALL THIS WEEK!

Baa: I'm writing this at 4:23am Monday--just got back from my 8pm Sunday night heeling at the YDN. And in one night the YDN butchered anything the Herald has ever done as far as team building. Funnily, earlier Sunday at the Herald eboard meeting they used the word "cliquish" to sheepishly describe themselves as everyone bashfully chuckled in agreement, and, well, this night at the YDN sort of made everything really click.

After all these years, the Herald really does feel kinda like a certain group of people doing their own certain thing, but the YDN feels a bit more...I don't want to say "open," but less like a core clique, you know? Like, the Herald is what it would be like if Scene ran the YDN. That sounds idiotic I'm sure, because the two papers are basically the same thing with different skin, right? I dunno, I see the good and the bad about both set ups--vibes, let's say--depending on where you are in the arrangement or what you want out of it, but for my taste, I've never liked the feeling of "the cool kids"--that group that just outnumbers and outvotes anyone outside of the group--I've had to deal with that sort of set up since elementary school, so if I ever perceive hints of it, I get really disenchanted about whatever I'm lumped into with them. That's kinda the vibe I get from the Herald, not that I feel antagonistic about the paper, I just feel a resistance to get jazzed up about it because I sense that (negative-flavored) exclusive feeling. The Record is a good model of a happy medium (with positive-flavored exclusion)--it feels cliquish, but they put serious effort into making the clique be everyone at the Record, not just the gang running it. Am I making any sense? I don't have anything against the Herald, but it does indeed feel cliquish and Sunday's meeting clarified that, like finally hearing a song you've had stuck in your head after having forgotten the words. So I'm not bashing the Herald or anything, I'm just feeling reflective, as seniors should.

So take it from someone who swings both ways, the YDN is like me-and-my-team-are-doing-something-neat, but the Herald's more me-and-my-friends-are-doing-something-neat. For team building, the Herald just shoves booze in your face--I don't drink, so perhaps if I did I'd feel more gung-ho about more than just the comics section? Then again, if I drank, I'd prolly stop drawing cuz you get chummy when you drink, and that's not how you do comics. So...yeah. I have a new respect for the YDN people: I could not pretend to give a poop long enough every day about so many things I would find not poop-giveable. And yet they do. Troopers, dude. Pooper troopers.

Anyway, I got a comic out of the heeling experience, so I hope I can run it next week (hopes are not high it will survive the pitch...haha). Also, I am apparently an excellent hat maker. Take that, MacGyver.

Ok, tune in to YDN comics everyday this week!

Final art coming soon...

Reuxben

Herald_zlm.Etiquettes

[Update: Final art]

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. But preferably don't.
Zero Like Me #93:
Zero Romance #18:
Etiquettes
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: Romance 18 in panel 1. "Howell" and "TSGA" also in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is the bus stop I use to get to the school I volunteer at. I inadvertently wrote this comic in an email with the lead singer of the Sandy Gill Affair, while doing research for this comic.

Baa: Rock music is the best, and rap is only good if you're either joking around or...this.

Yeah. Although I really enjoyed the "Art of Freestyle" documentary at the Whitney Humanities Center. And speaking of cool rap documentaries, you cannot go wrong wiff diss, son.

Start conversations with strangers.

Final art coming soon.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.GreenPees

Make it rain.

[Update: Final art at top]
Zero Like Me #92:
Green Pees
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-First Comic-
Super busy...today decides my fate basically. I hope for this or at least this.

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1, my lousyish camera in panel 4.

Fun Facts: I started volunteering at a local elementary school, and spotted amazing houses like this one en route. Also, I was horrified to see drunks peeing on the YDN last year, but now it's kinda amusing.

Baa: This is basically the story I told at my Fireside Chat Freshman Year at Zinc....My dad forced me to play baseball when I was little, and I always had to go to the bathroom after I was all cupped up and everything, so I peed on myself trying to run to the bathroom, but not before wiggling my butt a lot, trying to hold it in at the plate.

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YDN_sls.ModernMinstrels

 

Head over to Compton wearing nothing but a Confederate flag and a smile, it's Sick Little Suicide #18, "Modern Minstrels," in which I talk about old new news.

It's like a dream come true for Yalies who hate blacks, women, and black women--we finally get to cut loose and chant along to art, right in the face of female and/or black members of the Yale student body! Sweet!

Easter Eggs: The Herald, Volume, and Scene, the bastions of hipsterdom at Yale...also "yuck" in the paper and "Rifle" on the other paper...just for kicks. Hipster overload!

Fun Facts: I heard my first white guy N-bomb a black guy this year. It was actually kinda intense. Apparently the black guy's cool with it--it's like his nickname or something.

Baa: I saw a play last month called "Race" for Culture Draw where a white guy dropped N-bombs in front of his black college friend and he was cool with it, but then decades later the black friend volunteers all this dooming evidence on his old friend when the white guy is on trial for outrage against a black woman. Zing!

Also, why on Earth are these idiots relevant, in demand, and contracted? I hate you hipsters. I also hate the YCC. That is all.

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YDN_zlm.RunningOnMGMT

Just cuz you don't like it doesn't mean it's not quality entertainment, jerk.

Zero Like Me #91:
Running On MGMT
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" spelled in the rain across all four panels.

Fun Facts: If you ever want to tick off the Herald, just insult or reject their musical tastes! Did you know it's illegal to play music in the Herald office that's from a living artist unless it's an act that does not deserve to be living, or it's an act that's only nominally classified as living since they are geezers whose prime was no less than four decades ago? It's true!

Baa: Seriously, what the crack is up with Spring Fling? More rap heavy stupidity, and the rock is of the unbearable hipster variety. I've been wondering why MGMT reeks of hipster, and I figured out what that means--basically it's an acquired taste that is more grating than enjoyable, at least until you learn to enjoy the searing pain (and not the good kind). Although RADWIMPS is clearly not going to happen, I would think Motion City would be plausible--they played Toad's last year and although they just got signed to major label Columbia Records, they did just play a janky college gig the other day, so they're clearly still accessible.

Motion City is probably my favorite band right now, since MCR has been in hiding for so long. If you don't know how they rock, this, this, this, and this are wonderful studio and live introductions.

The third panel kinda sums the problem I have with more than just Yalies, but my entire generation. When did everyone stop stepping back and examining what they're doing/supporting/etc.? I was in New York yesterday and during the car ride, everyone was bopping and singing along to some of the most awful, hollow music I've ever heard--yeah, mostly rap, but there was also that USA song by that ridiculous hillbilly girl. My gosh, I felt like I was back in the Herald office, except this time I was wedged between a car window and a dancing human being.

I wanna do a comic on my hatred of hipsters. I wouldn't have a problem with them if they didn't rule/ruin everything.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Waffles

What kind of loser-freak nerd actually camps out to be the very first person to swipe at Commons after every break ends?!!

Zero Like Me #90:
Waffles
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1, Yakitate!! Japan reference in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is my favorite hangout: Commons. Also, my laptop's screen's dead it seems, so this is my very first post done completely on a cluster computer (a disgusting Mac, of all things) which is embarrassing not only because I am so militantly anti-Mac, yet must be seen in public using one) but also because I feel like an idiot having a "blog" (I call it a website so I don't feel too grimy about it)

Baa: Break was kind of ridiculous. I started drawing on this site called Fiverr.com, became a featured artist, got a commission from the CEO, met one of my hero's bandmate, and also got swamped with gigs!

If you are visiting from Fiverr, please read this information about ordering. I will not be able to get to you for several weeks or longer, so please try not to ask for time-sensitive projects unless you commission me as a freelance artist, which is to say, not as a Fiverr artist.

Other neat things...I got an article in the YDN...kinda. Aren't you proud of me, Mom? Am I a legitimate part of the newspaper in your eyes now?

Probably the biggest Neat News from break, I started volunteering with the Yale Splatter Program to teach 5th graders how to comics! Last Friday I even brought in a making-of demo and blew their minds...Haha! They're so nice! They have no idea what social anxiety is yet (I feel like Jhonen Vazquez when Nickelodeon approved Invader Zim)! And it's so bizarre for me: my whole perception of kids has been shaped by comics and animation about young people going on amazing adventures, but now that I'm actually back amongst the younglings, I keep cracking up at how hilarious it would be if say Ash were like a real 10 year old. Each episode would take like 4 hours, it'd all be dialogue, and every question would end up being a very, very long declarative sentence. They rock--don't get me wrong!--but they're hilarious like that.

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Fiverr_AttractiveToday

A super special double Fiverr job to close my first Fiverr marathon.
I am quite booked up with gigs and I have to go back to school now, so I will not be able to keep the same production pace as before so I have suspended my gig, but again, if you are willing to wait patiently, I would be happy to draw for you: just send me a note over Fiverr with "ARCHIVE [x]" in the subject heading where "[x]" is your Fiverr name. This will allow me to archive and track your order over a longer period of time, and I will get back to you as soon as possible (I will send a confirmation that you are on my list, but please forgive me if I am not as prompt as usual). Click here for more information on ordering!

Thanks for your patience and support.

As always, this is what I listen to after every gig! And with that, you now know what the past few days were like!

Reuxben

Fiverr_Mo

A drawing for Fiverr.

I'm totally booked on gigs!
If you would still like a drawing, please understand there will be a long wait time.

To reserve a spot on my wait list, please send me a message over Fiverr with "ARCHIVE ___" in the subject heading and fill in the blank with your Fiverr name (and please include details on your picture in the message part of the note). This way I will know to keep your letter UNREAD so I can archive it and get back to you when my schedule frees up. I will reply with a confirmation that you're on my list, but please accept my apologies if I do not respond as promptly as usual--I am a full-time student before a Fiverr artist [update: now a busy graduate].

COMMON CONCERNS (FAQ):
Last updated Jan. 2011.

The intended scope of the "gig" is a "nice, little drawing."

One person (approximately chest and up) or general figure per gig, shades are an additional gig, backgrounds are an additional gig, full bodies are an additional gig. Color is an additional gig per each preceding item. We can combine multiple gigs.

I send files via Fiverr mail as jpegs, unless notified otherwise. I can now snail mail originals via Fiverr shipping. The pictures are roughly the size of my hand and 1.2MB. I must be able to put the image on my site--see my samples.

Please have clear instructions for me when you Fiverr-mail a request. If there is a photo reference, attach it via Fiverr mail as a JPEG, please.

If outside the scope of the gig, or if you do not want to wait as long, I do take official freelance work via gmail.

Thank you for your support and patience!

Reuxben

Fiverr_CEO

Gosh!

The CEO of Fiverr
commissioned a drawing!

Cool!

This is the first non-Yale CEO I've drawn for!

Reuxben

Fiverr_Sleepy

You are getting
very,
very
sleepy.

When I count the three,
go to Fiverr.

1...

2...

3...

Fiverr!

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Fiverr_Norway

Drawing
stuff
for
a
Fiverr!
(while supplies last)

This one goes out
to
Norway!

No way!

Yes way!

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Fiverr_MsJ

I
will
draw you
something nice
for a fiver!

Ask me
about colors, too!

But I think
I will have to

reduce production

once school's back
in session...

Until then,

I'm

running

and

running

over

at

Fiverr.com!

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Fiverr_Beard

Another
client
from
Fiverr.com!

Where
drawings
are
just
a
fiver.

And I'm
a featured
contributor!

Reuxben

UPDATE:

Here

is

the

colored

version

for

a

FIVERR!

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Fiverr_Soldat

I drew and colored this for a client over at Fiverr.com.

It's a cool, handy site where you offer some kind of skill or talent to the Internet that you are willing to do for $5.

And then, if interested, people will contact you and pay you for your talent.

So if interested, I will draw you something for just $5.

Or (of interest to non-Yale visitors, most likely) I can take a picture of something neat and/or unique at Yale for you for just $5.

Only at:

Fiverr.com

Reuxben