Je tiens à m'excuser auprès de mon lectorat français, mais "IT Guy" n'est juste pas traduisible, ou c'est moi qui ai les neurones en compote.

I'm tweeting for Germany this week! Come and join the fun.

[ Tegan and Sara - Now I'm All Messed Up ]

Deduce THIS

I've been proverbially under the weather (I believe I said something about "2013" and "kicking butt"?), so here is a Sherlock comic I drew last spring. I dedicate it to the new fans who have recently discovered it and justifiably gone looney tunes. (Pot, kettle, black, yep.)

Je récupère d'une sale grippe bien méchante (je crois me souvenir avoir dit que 2013 allait déchirer), alors spéciale casse-dédi pour les nouveaux fans de Sherlock avec un strip dessiné au printemps dernier.

[ Click it, you know you want to ]

Internets

"Je ne te traite pas de s***pe, je dis juste que les femmes qui critiquent [une certaine idée chrétienne de la modestie vestimentaire] font preuve d'immoralité."

"J'aurais juste voulu que mon groupe préféré se contente de faire de la musique sans en gagner beaucoup d'argent."

"Cette loi sur le mariage pour tous est toxique. La preuve, c'est que le débat est en train de pousser de jeunes homos au suicide."

"Je vois que t'es anglais et que tu tiens un blog en vivant à Kreuzberg, t'as pas honte? - POUR L'AMOUR DU CIEL MAIS FERMEZ-LA TOUS"

[ Placebo - Bionic ]

Random Friday Sketchpost: While It's Raining

For today's post, here is a warm-up drawing I did in a café yesterday.

January, you've never let me down: rain on hand until the end of next week. Ha!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Pour aujourd'hui, un dessin d'échauffement réalisé hier dans un café.

Janvier, tu ne me décevras jamais: de la pluie prévue jusqu'à la fin de la semaine prochaine. Yes!

Bon weekend à tous!

[ The Used - On My Own ]

2012 Round-Up

Sonic bonus: 2012: A Clairikine Odyssey - My year in music
(including my personal anthem for 2012)

***

It's a new year! And, as every year, that warrants a written recap of the past year's entertainment, so pull up a chair, brew some coffee and ... let's begin.

TV and Film

Sherlock
My sister Laura has developed a knack for getting me interested in things. And it all began with the BBC's remaking of Sherlock, the second season of which began airing January 1st. Was it the unbelievable writing? The brilliant acting? The incredible photography? No, my dear bromantic pre-Hobbit sidekicks, it was all of it, and it served to remind me of my undying love and affection for storytelling. (I also love handsome actors with brains, but that's another story). Season 3 is such a very long way off.

Doctor Who
I had no idea that I could get this obsessed with a TV show steeped in sci-fi: I am not prone to spontaneously watching remakes of campy space travel, ever. Though my reaction to the first episodes, concordantly, was lukewarm, the series turned out to be thrilling, moving and funny enough to pay back a 60€ investment in the box set several times over. And then John Simm appeared in the Season 3 finale, and I basically lost it. (At the time of writing, I still have all of the Eleven seasons to go.) I wrote a comic about this personal odyssey here.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Apart from the fact that discussing the need for three movies is probably one of the biggest First World Problems in history, I found that Peter Jackson's first prequel was worth every 3D penny of that 13€ movie ticket. I've done a comic review for it here.

Additional mentions: The Avengers for additional geekery; The Dark Knight Rises for putting the "kick-ass" back in "villain".


Music

Finch - Say Hello To Sunshine (2005)
Finch made one of my favorite albums as a high schooler, the slickly produced post-hardcore (or something) What It Is To Burn. I didn't care much for their second (and final) album until I came across it on Simfy in early 2012; I then proceeded to use "A Piece of Mind" as a cleansing agent during a particularly stressful time. Still works a charm, probably alienates my housemates.

Linkin Park - Living Things (and A Thousand Suns)
Though they were another mainstay of my teenage years - and I am convinced that deep down inside I am still 17 - I became frustrated with Linkin Park after Minutes to Midnight, where they seemed to have crawled down the melodic pop hole for ever. (Nothing wrong with melodic pop, except that other people can do it too.) I didn't pay attention to 2010's A Thousand Suns as a result, and when they put out Living Things in May I only cottoned on after the "Burn It Down" single appeared on German television during the European soccer championship (what?). It took tweets from a couple people and some repeated listens on Simfy to rekindle my interest.
When I explained to friend blogger James  that my favorite parts on Living Things were the themes in "Castle of Glass" and "Roads Untraveled", he suggested I give A Thousand Suns a listen, which was one of the best things I've done all year. On the whole it's just a very good concept album with a healthy dose of aggro and some shining moments of songwriting; but it also convinced me of the importance of fighting for your own creative ideas, no matter what the external circumstances might be.

Muse - The 2d Law
The same summer my sister introduced me to Doctor Who, we watched Muse perform their new song "Survival" onstage during the Olympics Closing Ceremony. It was put forth that Matthew Bellamy is actually a rock-and-roll version of the Tenth Doctor, which as a theory comes even more to life when you listen to the shenanigans present on The 2d Law. I am of the unshifting opinion that Muse sort of just sit down and put out awesome albums and make it look completely effortless. Not only does The 2d Law prove this with its bursts of melodic and arrangement awesomeness, it makes it okay that the closing "instrumentals" and bassist Chris Wolstenholme's songs are pretty much tacked onto the end of the album. I cannot fathom how many times I've played this record or danced to the Panic Station riff in my bedroom - perfect "get out of bed, face the world and kick heinie" music.

Tegan and Sara - "Closer" & "I'm Not Your Hero"
Friends and family are no strangers to the fact that Tegan and Sara are one of my favorite artists. I've been a fan since I came across a blurb in the August 2007 issue of SPIN Magazine; ever since their album The Con, they have consistently been reference points for me in the areas of creativity and artistic partnership (despite my mixed feelings about their 2009 album Sainthood).

When they came out with their new synth-driven single "Closer" this fall, my initial reaction was: "Ohhh, they've gone and applied those dancefloor extracurriculars, good for them!" My second reaction was, "Um... Are they ever going to make The Con again?" But the reason I had been hooked on The Con (and So Jealous) in the first place was the inspiration Tegan and Sara provided: raw lyrics, well-developed arrangements and catchy tunes that seemed to reach into my own tiny 20-year-old heart and put words to the exact things I was feeling at the time (mostly emo-ing on a complicated relationship). And though "Closer" was a grower, it was the YouTube release of "I'm Not Your Hero" that sealed the deal. Four years on, they had done it again: put words and melodies on the growth that I associate with the past several years of my life. Still no idea how they manage it.

Books

Natalie Nourigat, Between Gears
Natalie is one of the cartoonists I found myself following during my final years of university; while I was off in Nantes and Berlin finishing my Master's degree, she took it upon herself to chronicle her senior year of college in a diary comic form, an exercise which she was very good at. When the paperback collection came out in February I was amongst the first in line to order. It's been an incessant source of inspiration to me throughout the year and I can only recommend it most highly.

Additional mentions: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (I downed the latter two books in three days and cried during the movie); Stieg Larsson's Millennium (see above, and also here.)


Bloggers

Lauren and Max Andrew Dubinsky
I'm usually loath to use Christian jargon on the internet, but I see Lauren and Max Dubinsky as a testimony of God's grace. Perhaps the most obvious proof of this is that they met on Twitter, but the ways they each apply their gifts as creatives and writers are equally powerful reflections of the God I intend to serve, myself. Lauren is a self-described "tech and arts girl" who founded the Good Women Project, aiming to encourage young girls and women; Max is a writer with a collection of short stories,  a unique narrative experience and an associated novella under his belt. They deserve your attention (and Max' stories deserve a read).


And that's all for 2012. In 2013 I plan to see more Benedict Cumberbatch, play Tegan and Sara's new record until the CD falls apart, get my hands on a brand-new stack of comic books and watch every single TV show this guy has ever played in. Catch you on the flipside!

Friday Sketchpost: Christmas fanart

These are drawings I made for my lovely housemates, because for almost three years, they have never protested my endless listening to Tegan and Sara, and because we like the same TV shows. Well, almost...

Have a good weekend! See you ... Next year.

Gussow

Merry Christmas - joyeux Noël - fröhliche Weihnachten - God Jul!

German vocab time: 1) Musicians at 10:30 AM  - 3) Songwritingness - 4) Music presentation - 5) Coffee, cake and more
6) Running through the forest - 17) Lord's supper; "The blood of Christ, shed for you"

Concerning that jam session, here are some sketches I did. Also, someone recorded most of it and uploaded it to Soundcloud. Enjoy! See you next week.
P.S. The original pages for this comic are for sale! Shoot me an email, if you wish.

Friday Fanart: Vote Saxon!

In keeping with this week's comic, here is some fanart I did of the Master/Harold Saxon, as seen in the Doctor Who Season 3 finale. I sort of went nuts when he appeared. 

Initially I tried sketching him with a serious, deadly look on his face, but then I realized that the Master as played by John Simm really is more of a cartoon character, and so I drew these two accordingly.

  

(Cue the insidious trust me pose.)
I have the growing suspicion that my drawing style lends itself more to brushes than to regular art pens, but I feel really clumsy with a brush pen (Faith Erin Hicks describes it as "inking with mittens"). In the long run I'd like to teach myself to use a real brush.


***

I'm off to Stockholm for the holidays! Dear, dear Stockholm, aka my moody zero-perspective lover. I can be followed on Twitter and Instagram during my stay should you want to get in on the experience of mellandagarna (the actual Swedish name for "the days between" Christmas and New Year's). Which in my case will mostly involve coffee, cafés and TV shows.

Comics will still be updating during this time! Also, I will be announcing something when I get back, so stay tuned.

Ha det så bra, y'all, and vote Saxon.

Who?

This post sums it up as well.

Movie Review: The Hobbit

I drew a comic review of The Hobbit, which I attended Friday (in 3D). Spoilers below!

Settling

[ Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Lost (Live)]

Sick

[ Amanda Palmer - The Killing Type ]

So many languages and one little word

This is a conversation I had with an American friend during my April visit in Stockholm.
Say what you will, though: sometimes English just doesn't cut it.

(I'm on a train to Munich right now, suckaaaaaaaaz!)

[ Coldplay - Major Minus (live) ]

Schwedenland

[ Tegan and Sara - I'm Not Your Hero ]

But Who

This week I had my two remaining wisdom teeth removed and accordingly spent the rest of the week indoors, watching Doctor Who and ingesting soup. Also I have a thing for evil blonde masterminds now

See you Tuesday for a super-special long post! Schönes Wochenende.

[ This is funny, this is not funny ]

Commission Post: Hunter S. Thompson

My dear (and only female) cousin Lauren got her commission in the mail this week! She requested an illustration to go with this quote by Hunter S. Thompson. I sent her a couple rough ideas of what I thought could go with it, and after she gave her approval, I drew this.

[ Journey - Don't Stop Believin' ]

Givin' thanks

[ DC Talk - So Help Me God ]

[ I was a fool for love, I was a fool for love, I was a foooool ♫]

Random Friday Sketchpost: Blinding You With Science

I took to sketching some of the scientific experimentathingamajiggerbobs going on at my employer's. Happy Friday!

[ Strapping young lads performing on BBC 1 ]

Are you my mother?

It's my mom's birthday this week. Happy birthday, mom! She is a funny lady.

[ The Police - Mother ]

Weekend Workpost: Comics Workshop!

One of the perks of my current job is the opportunity to try my hand at hosting my own stuff. This includes comics workshops, the second of which took place on Wednesday. The concept was getting French and German-speaking participants to write a short comic together about cultural differences they'd experienced in either Germany or France. The comics that came out of this were "bang on" (as the saying goes) and it was incredible to watch everyone putting together a comic.

I also got to expound a bit on different writing techniques I've observed and used in writing my own comics. I illustrated my points with samples of my own stuff (including a sneak-peek of something coming up in January 2013... shhhhh), as well as material by C. Spike Trotman and Natalie Nourigat (used with gracious permission).

All in all, it's something I could totally envision doing on a regular basis.

(The brilliant pictures on the wall are by my friend Sarah.)

Random Friday Post: Consider This A Fair Warning

This week Halloween happened and so I dressed up on Wednesday as Lisbeth Salander. I had to go to work in this outfit so I nixed the black makeup and dyeing my hair, but I did wear a fake nose ring all day and a shirt with the "ARMAGEDDON WAS YESTERDAY TODAY WE HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM" slogan. I plan on wearing this shirt on my flight to Stockholm on Dec. 21 (a day early, yes, but it's for effect).

One of the things I struggle with when I draw people is correct posture: as you can see, one half of Lisbeth is facing one direction, her legs and shoes are doing I-don't-know-what. I am attempting to fix this by drawing from life more.

[ Chumbawumba - Tubthumping ]

Identifying

To meet time constraints this week, this is an old comic from last year that I never posted (as can be guessed from my hair - it is now nearly shoulder-length!).

[ El Perro del Mar feat. Lykke Li - Change of Heart ]

Musiker-Auszeit Sketches

Just got back (give or take a few hours) from Gussow, Brandenburg, where I spent the weekend on a retreat with other musicians from my church. I made a point to pull out my sketchpads during downtimes and get ahead on my drawing.

Never sit next to me when I have a sketchpad or a journal handy, ever.

I have a hankering to just go and spend another weekend in the woods with an iPod and my writing tools, actually.

[ Sonic bonus ]

of boundaries

The sadness of
not being able to connect
makes me sorry
makes me sad

the thought of
paths to not tread
wistfulness
in heart and head

the knowledge of you knowing me
seeing things I don't want you to see
it takes away too much from me
I'd rather it not live

I try to be open and kind
and share a part of the divine
but I know all too well what's mine
and I can't let you draw the line.

Berlin, 10.2012