the Erudite Baboon

How To Make Comics

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:49:55 GMT

For any budding cartoonists out there, here's a handy guide to my creative process:

A comic about tongues

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:09:46 GMT

Whatever you do, try not to think about where your tongue is supposed to go.

Since it seems like livejournal is slowly falling apart, I'm going to try posting comics on tumblr for a bit - you can find my tumblr page here: eruditebaboon.tumblr.com. I'll still be posting comics here for the time being though, but I might turn off anonymous comments in an attempt to stem the ever flowing tide of spam.

I also have a book out! It is called Mameshiba on the Loose and it is about beans with dog faces (I only did the words on this one - the pictures are by the brilliant Jorge Monlogo) so if you like legumes that have the faces of animals this is the perfect book for you!

Get it from amazon.co.uk with this link if you'd like me to get an extra commission from the sale. Thanks!

ANTS

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:09:24 GMT

Yes, it's really true: I did shave off my moustache.

A visit to the butchers

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:51:28 GMT

Chacha Chowdhary and chums

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:40:02 GMT

Today in an effort to keep the bunny at bay, I've tried drawing some indian comic characters. Here's the hero of the comic, Chacha Chowdhary, and his friends (I don't have a scanner here, so these are all photographed from my sketch book):

Sabu is from Jupiter.

Next I drew some of the villains that Chacha comes up against:

If you turn robot zed's hat around he does the opposite of what his master tells him! That seems like a bit of a design flaw to be honest. And please don't ask me what is going on with Mister Fix's eyes because I have no idea

Some of the villains are really odd:

Obina is pretty cocky about having two heads, but he doesn't even mention his plant pot hats, dog's tail or kick-ass turtleneck sweater. I am not really sure what is going on with that guy.

Chacha also has a lot of trouble from outer space:

Strange woman, I am not sure those heels really suit you.

Comics Therapy

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:25:47 GMT

Having some trouble with a rabbit

Hourly comics

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:33:41 GMT

Hey! Here are my hourly comics from Hourly Comic Day! I cheated a bit because I just made notes during the day to draw the comic later (because I don't have a scanner here so I can only draw directly onto my computer), and then I got sick for a week (you can see the start of it here!) so I have only just drawn the comics today. I am a fraud!

P.S check out that moustache! TOO COOL.

Dan Tastic page 8: In which we discover the form of man's greatest fear

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:45:28 GMT

Noooooooooooo!

You can read the rest of the pages here.

Comic ideas I will almost certainly never create

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:13:41 GMT

Festive greetings to you! As a christmas treat, here are a bunch of comic ideas that I came up with a while ago that I will almost certainly never actually create. Feel free to buy these ideas off me for millions of pounds. Or two packets of crisps and a Werther's original (wrapped).

Idea 1: WIZARDS ARE NERDS

Well they are, obviously.

Idea 2: GHOST SCHOOL

An ordinary boy gets sent to a magical school full of supernatural creatures? Where do I come up with these amazing ideas!?

Idea 3: the IMAGINATION DRAGON

I know this might not seem like a very good idea, but you have to use your imagination.

Idea 4: SUPER ELITE TEAM

The fact that I have already used up every joke that I could think up for these characters makes a long running series unlikely. And Cool Bot tells the same joke twice.

Idea 5: HOWARD'S MOON

This is probably my favourite idea of the lot, but I suspect I'd need to come up with a title that isn't a reference to The Mighty Boosh.

In other news I am going to India for three months after christmas, where I will be working on comics in Delhi! I hope to get lots of work done, so watch this space!

Dan Tastic, pages 5-7

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:18:56 GMT

Here are some comics! I've inked the last two pages of Dan Tastic, and drawn a whole new one!

You can read all the previous episodes here.

The Kitchen of Great Lamentation

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:20:35 GMT

I hate to post a blog post with no comics in it, especially since it's been so long since I posted anything at all, but I am in dire need of the sage advice of the wisest entity there is: THE INTERNET*.

For the last month we have been getting our kitchen done (yes, folks, not only does this post contain no comics, it's also about the fascintaing subject of home improvement! Woo!), although actually mostly it has not been getting done because we found a giant hole in the wall that was hidden above the ceiling, and... well, that's another story, but to summarise work is supposed to begin again on monday, big sigh of relief, panic over, the kitchen is going to be brand new and beautiful in time for Christmas. Yay! Except ... this morning our builder comes in and tells us that when he knocked £1000 off the quote (in order to beat the other builder who was quoting for the job) he was actually knocking it off the materials, not the labour. So it looks like he's now telling us he was lowering his bid by offering to use cheaper stuff to build our kitchen - which doesn't really seem like much of a discount to me. And it gets better (i.e worse): when we tried to talk to him about this he suddenly stands up, says we can take it or leave it, and literally storms out of our house, jumps in his van and drives off!

Now to be honest, £1000 isn't an insurmountable obstacle - if he can't do it for the price he quoted us without using cheap materials then it's not the end of the world, and it's probably still worth getting him to do the rest of the job rather than try to find a whole new builder to finish off the work. The real problem is that he's flown off the handle, apparently just because we've misunderstood the discount that he was giving us (though to be honest I think he's actually just realised that his original quote is too low and is now trying to get out of it - why else has he waited 2 months after offering the discount to tell us that we misunderstood it?), and now we're worried that he's going to flip out again if there are any problems in future. So - what do we do?

He did calm down enough to send me a text saying that we can make a decision by the end of the day - this is the reply that I have composed so far:

Hi [insert name of moody builder here],

We're just a bit concerned that you keep losing your temper - I can understand that you say we've misunderstood the call we had with you, but what I can't understand is why you became so angry with us for what was an innocent mistake, and threatened to abandon the job. We genuinely believed that the reduction in cost would come from labour, and if we've made a mistake you need to explain it to us and give us a chance to take that information on board, not shout at us and walk out. And if you thought that we had misunderstood your call why did you wait until now, 2 months after the call, to tell us about it? If there is a misunderstanding in the estimate we need to know about it as soon as possible.

We are still interested in you continuing the work, and we would prefer if you do not make cuts to the quality of the materials you are going to use, even if that means that we don't get the full £1000 reduction that you offered us originally. However we won't feel comfortable with you continuing the work if you are always going to lose your temper when we misunderstand something. If you feel like we can continue to work together, then please let me know, and if not then please let us know the cost of the work and materials so far.

Thanks,

James

That's not going to throw anyone into any uncontrollable fits of rage is it? It's firm but fair, right? Or am I being too soft - if he's flipping out now when work has hardly begun, would I be better off being rid of him now and once again beginning my search for that near-extinct creature, the reliable builder? I beseech you, oh wise and benevolent internet, hear my plea for help and grant me an answer.

To hasten you to our assistance, here is a picture of the current pathetic state of my 'kitchen':

And since this picture was taken the sink has also been removed - pity me, a lost soul forced to wash his dishes in the bath! The ignominy!

So there you have it - my information gullet is wide open, quivering in anticipation of the knowledge nuggets that you are about to cram into it.

EDIT: I should also probably mention, he lives on my road, so we can't be too nasty to each other!

* also the stupidest entity there is, but I'll take whatever help I can get

A comic that is not about comics

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:42:51 GMT

comics comics 3: the comicking

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:03:02 GMT

If only it really was this easy to silence my inner critic - I am obviously the most talented cartoonist of my generation, but my idiotic brain just refuses to accept this fact, and is constantly trying to stop me from drawing comics. Fool! Perhaps it's time I invested in a rolling pin after all.

(Ironically enough I had very nearly finished this comic when I decided that I didn't like it, and had to go back and rewrite and redraw the whole thing - damn you brain!)

Oh, and here is the epilogue:

Happy Cyber-Fathers' Day!

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:44:21 GMT

Ok, I have been very bad at updating my livejournal. Here's the picture I drew for my fathers' day card to tide you over:

(Bonus James Turner fact: I work for the company that makes the special effects for Doctor Who! I knew he was going to be wearing a fez in that last episode weeks ago, but I wasn't allowed to tell anyone!)

Two things!

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:23:14 GMT

At the last minute I have aquired a table for the UK Webcomix Thing this Saturday, so I have been working on a few pages of all-new Beaver and Steve adventures to share with people who come to see me at the event. Hopefully the characters will have defrosted properly in time for the event (they might still be a bit cold in the middle). Here is a little preview:

Oh Steve!

Don't worry if you can't make it - I'm sure the comics will be finding their way online in some form or another eventually.

And in infinitely more charitable news, I have contributed an illustration for the Going Going Gone Red charity auction. A bunch of super excellent artists (and me) have all contributed either a head, a body or some legs to a giant game of picture consequences, and the resulting gestalt entities will be auctioned off for charity at the end of this month. Here's my contribution:

Who know what wondrous body little little be-fezzed fellow will be riding around in?

Dantastic page 6

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:23:22 GMT

I felt like making another Dantastic page, so I did!

I hope the robe of visions didn't come across as too creepy...

I am a political cartoonist now.

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:39:53 GMT

Here's a comic I was commissioned to draw for the Muslim Hoosier newsletter:

Biting political commentary!

No Oil Painting

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:03:10 GMT

I have also been keeping myself busy working on some paintings as a commission. Last night I finally completed my masterworks:

And in case you were wondering, yes, that is Steve dressed as Sir Francis Drake.

Rejected

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:02:39 GMT

Here are two of the other designs I submitted to shirt.woot that inexplicably didn't make the cut :

What art director in their right mind could possibly reject these?

Ok, so I am not actually dead.

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:02:36 GMT

Sorry for the prolonged break in posts - travelling to other countries and a commute to the mouth of hell and back each day (well, Twickenham actually, but they are similar) have eaten up a lot of my time in the last few months, but I have been doing 'things' and I will be posting them here. Honest!

Anyway, there is some t-shirt related news: firstly my t-shirts are not going to be available from Topatoco for much longer, so if you want to get one you should probably buy it pretty soon, because once they're gone, they're gone. The shirts can be found here, for now. I guess there are too many hot young webcartoonists out there today, with hot young t-shirts of their own to sell, but I'll show them! *shakes wizened fist*

But if you are still hungry for my own brand of t-shirt-related nonsense, you are in luck, because I have produced a shirt design for shirt.woot which has just gone on sale this week! It has an owl on it :

If you'd like to buy this shirt, it's going to be available for a little while longer from this site here.

And I will be posting stuff again soon. I ... I promise?

Dan Tastic inks and SURF WIZARD

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:38:07 GMT

I liked the idea of surf wizard so much I redrew him:

(Don't worry, Fishy fans, the wonder fish will return!)

I also drew Surf Wizard's arch-nemesis. Gadzooks!

watch out for the Surf Wizard movie coming to cinema screen near you any day now.

Dan Tastic page 5 pencils

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:07:40 GMT

This page took me blimmin' ages for some reason.

Did somebody report a ... booglary?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:10:45 GMT

I am on fire today!

Hocus Bogus

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:11:54 GMT

Dan Tastic page 4 pencils

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:45:47 GMT

I think my inking for page 1 was way too thick, so I'm trying a thinner brush for the text here - still not convinced it looks right, will keep experimenting. Science!