A is for Effort

Unicorn Facts

2012-02-06T05:08:00.000-08:00

Don't be fooled by its equine appearance - the unicorn is actually most closely related to the pygmy shrieking leech.

Unicorns first came to North America as pests on ships carrying spices from the Orient.

The gestation period of the unicorn is fourteen seconds.

Even with all their magic, there is nothing unicorns can do to prolong your steady march toward the grave.

More A2Z Brain Snacks

2012-02-03T13:48:00.001-08:00

With the calendar out of the way, I've been slowly working my way back into some of my other projects, which went neglected at the end of last year. Here are a few new signs I made for work.

I got this idea from The Elements Vault by Theodore Gray. The book is a fancy companion piece to his book, The Elements, and includes a bunch of carefully reproduced postcards, advertisements, and letters related to the history of the periodic table. Both books are gorgeous and well worth seeking out. This image is probably the most pseudo-sciencey thing I will do for the store. I had a hard time finding information about the periodic table that everyone I know didn't learn in high school. But when I read about this concept in The Elements Vault I got excited, and I hope that means other people will, too.

This is a question that just showed up in my head one day. I did some Googling, and found that there isn't really a clear answer, but that it doesn't look like other animals have dominant hands. And no one is quite sure why. One major theory is that it has to do with language, as explained in this io9 article on handedness by Alasdair Wilkins. But it's far from conclusive. One of my favorite things about science is the way that what seems like a simple question can lead to a million more questions, and the answers are often located far beyond what we currently know. There's so much left to discover in every direction.

Bygone Bureau Illustration

2012-02-01T16:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, artiste extraordinaire and art director for The Bygone Bureau, asked me to do an illustration for an upcoming humor piece. Today, lo and behold, it has been posted! I might be mistaken, but I think this is the first time anything I've made has been posted on a website I didn't make.

You can see the full image and read the article by Jeremy Blachman over at The Bygone Bureau.

I'm also selling the original drawing, so email me if you're interested.

Tattoo Design

2012-01-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

This is my first solicited commission ever, a tattoo design for a coworker. To my knowledge it has still not been inked, and may never be, but it was an exciting experience. I can turn art into money, and maybe even into human skin! Woohoo!

Sketchbook Comic: Can I Get a Marble?

2012-01-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

A conversation I overheard a few months ago.

Twelve Experiments

2011-12-14T20:10:00.000-08:00

After four and a half months that I made more difficult than they needed to be, my 2012 calendar is complete. This morning I mailed the majority of the copies printed, and a few went on sale at the A2Z Science & Learning Store. It feels pretty amazing to have my work on a store shelf, even if it is a single store and it's only on the shelf because the owners are excellent people.

So far the reception has been great, and even a few strangers have liked it! It's arranged in a little display at the checkout counter at A2Z, and I was woefully unprepared for the recurring anxiety of watching customers look at it with no idea that the person who made it is watching them at that moment. By the end of the day I made a point to go do something else when I saw someone checking it out. Nothing makes me question the entire foundation of my life like watching someone flip joylessly through the first three pages of something I made and set it back down like the latest issue of Us Weekly.

The day isn't yet over, but all of my copies from the first run have been sold or reserved. If you want one but didn't get one, let me know and I'll put your name down for the second run. If I get enough requests, I'll try to have a second printing next week or the beginning of January. Price is a sliding scale from $15-$20, plus $2.39 for postage.

Next up: No more projects ever.

People Like Lions and Puns, Right?

2011-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

This idea is from a dream I had last night. Usually something that's funny in a dream doesn't even make sense half an hour after I wake up, but this one held up pretty well. Well, pretty well for a pun.

I feel equal amounts of pride and shame.

2011-11-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my blog. Since I still occasionally post things, but don't officially do a webcomic anymore, a blog setup makes more sense. Not that this is much more professional, but I'll get a grown-up website someday.

All the stuff from my old website is still there, and the plan is to gradually migrate that site's content over here.

News!
Fundraising has finished for the Twelve Experiments calendar, and I am almost done with the drawings. I can't responsibly announce a release date, but my goal is to get it out before the end of November. And it will definitely be finished before Christmas. I won't be printing many beyond those already pre-ordered, but there will probably be a few available on the store page once I finish.

Thanks for reading!

A2Z Brain Snacks

2011-09-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a series of illustrated factoids for my place of employment. Here are my favorites of the bunch I've done so far.

I'm not thrilled with the scan quality I've been getting, but I think I'll get better at it the more I work with color. I'll post more as I finish them.

Sketchbook Nephew Comics 2

2010-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Two comics in one week?! Don't get used to it.

Today's comic guest stars my sister Alisa and her son.

Sketchbook Nephew Comics 1

2010-07-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

Life Comics: Gobies

2010-03-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks for reading this hilarious comic about falling to your death.

My housemates and I have been watching Life, the new BBC nature series from the creators of Planet Earth (the TV series, not the planet). Last night we watched the fish episode, and let me tell you, I had a tough time deciding which part to make a comic about. The gobies won by a nose, but close runners up included the Sarcastic Fringehead and the insanity that is flying fish egg-laying. Life came out in the UK last year, and it starts in America on March 21. The American version loses some points for being narrated by Oprah Winfrey rather than David Attenborough, though. Don't get me wrong, I think Oprah is a cool lady. But why don't they think we Americans are ready for the dulcet grumble of England's greatest treasure?

Nods, of course, to Salmon Doubts by Adam Sacks.

An Explanation of California Penal Code Section 598

2010-02-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

Go Forth

2010-01-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

This was part of my application for The Center for Cartoon Studies. I didn't end up going there, but it is a pretty great place.