Pencils for Jade/Grandpa retro STRIFE scene. I’ll probably get around to inking this eventually, maybe even coloring it. Posting it for now so I can get back to working on other stuff.
My inspiration for this piece was reading this article about La Maupin, professional badass:
Her father was the Grand Squire of France, meaning that he was pretty much the number-one dude responsible for training King Louis XIV’s pages and maintaining the Royal Stables, and this guy wasn’t really the sort of hard-drinking drill sergeant motherfucker who was going to let his little daughter grow up without learning the finer arts of dishing out knuckle sandwiches to her enemies or running would-be suitors through the small intestines with the pointy end of a rapier. This French R. Lee Ermey trained young Julie the same way he trained the King’s Squires, and as a young woman she learned the finer points of necessary life skills such as horseback riding, horse maintenance and repair, drinking excessively, gambling, fistfighting, avenging your honor, and stabbing people in the fucking face when they don’t have the good sense to step off when you’re threatening them.
Dang if that doesn’t describe Jade’s childhood, doesn’t it? And who better than Jake “Hass” Harley to give out lessons in being a Page?
![Ottawa, Day 5 - Train Wine
It really is.
And that concludes my travel comic for Ottawa! Six days altogether, including the customary 0-indexed initial travel day.
Transcr- aw, heck, you folks know how it works by now.
[[MORE]]
A drawing of the back of a train seat, to the right of a second seat. The little tray table is out and there is a bottle of wine sitting on it. It is labelled “AMTRAK 2012” and has little bunches of grapes on the label. Overlaid over the seat and tray table is the text “Train wine is the BEST wine.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5d6pmwwRN1qie3fso1_500.png)
Ottawa, Day 5 - Train Wine
It really is.
And that concludes my travel comic for Ottawa! Six days altogether, including the customary 0-indexed initial travel day.
Transcr- aw, heck, you folks know how it works by now.
![Ottawa, Day 4 - Dueling Pubs
I had a really hard time talking myself out of going to either one of these restaurants.
So instead I went to Wang’s Noodle House.
Transcript under the cut, you know the drill.
[[MORE]]
Two restaurants face each other on either side of a street shot in perspective. On the left: Highlander Pub, with a sword hanging over the doors. On the right: LONE STAR Texas Grill, with a cut-out of Texas over the door.
Overlaid on the street is the text “THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5d60ixhNp1qie3fso1_r2_500.png)
Ottawa, Day 4 - Dueling Pubs
I had a really hard time talking myself out of going to either one of these restaurants.
So instead I went to Wang’s Noodle House.
Transcript under the cut, you know the drill.
![Ottawa, Day 3 - Rule 34: Grey Goo Porn
Nanite grey goo, not the more pedestrian kind. Lift your mind slightly higher out of the gutter. But not too far.
Explaining how I ended up at this comic idea is a little complicated, but suffice it to say it involved two simultaneous conversations at a pub: One about constructing a Dyson Sphere using Von Neumann probes, and one about sex shops and bondage gear. Somehow I was at the epicenter of both conversations.
That said, I do apologize to the fourth member of our drinking group who looked a little discomfited by the matter.
Transcript under the cut.
[[MORE]]
Under the aforementioned comic title, there is a drawing of two poorly-defined blobby shapes, one arching over the other. Both have CENSORED black bars over their midsections. The shorter blob has the text “*wonk*” over it.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4nkq78fpK1qie3fso1_500.jpg)
Ottawa, Day 3 - Rule 34: Grey Goo Porn
Nanite grey goo, not the more pedestrian kind. Lift your mind slightly higher out of the gutter. But not too far.
Explaining how I ended up at this comic idea is a little complicated, but suffice it to say it involved two simultaneous conversations at a pub: One about constructing a Dyson Sphere using Von Neumann probes, and one about sex shops and bondage gear. Somehow I was at the epicenter of both conversations.
That said, I do apologize to the fourth member of our drinking group who looked a little discomfited by the matter.
Transcript under the cut.
New tablet new tablet my new drawing tablet arrived in the mail today! It is so shiny, and also kind of confusing to use compared to my old increasingly-broken one. So tonight has been full of cursing and fiddling with preference dialogs.
Anyway, in celebration I sketched an unnaturally happy-looking Rose. I fear she may be plotting something.
![This is, of course, a lie. In actuality I misparsed a heavily-serifed “cuites” for “curres”, and apparently a Marmite in French is a sort of cauldron. A kettle, if you will. That’s right, these are actually…kettle chips.
To be fair, though, the seasoning probably does contain Torula yeast.
Transcript and photographic evidence under the fold.
[[MORE]]
Comic heading: Ottawa 2012, SELECTION D2 - $0.50
Drawing of a small bag of potato chips labelled “CURRES MARMITE”, and below it, “MARMITE CURRY”. The art on the bag shows, from left to right, a jar of marmite and some potato chips. The jar of marmite is itself labelled “Full of yeasty goodness!”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m47lsdHvw41qie3fso1_500.png)
This is, of course, a lie. In actuality I misparsed a heavily-serifed “cuites” for “curres”, and apparently a Marmite in French is a sort of cauldron. A kettle, if you will. That’s right, these are actually…kettle chips.
To be fair, though, the seasoning probably does contain Torula yeast.
Transcript and photographic evidence under the fold.
![Ottawa was so intensely and delightfully bilingual that I had no choice but to start picking up a little French while I was there.
Not nearly enough to actually write this comic, of course. No, for this y’all get Google Translate results.
Incidentally, did you know that the expression ollie outie is derived from the French expression allez ôter, literally meaning go take off? No, no you didn’t, because that is totally something I just made up.
Transcript and translation under the fold.
[[MORE]]
Comic heading: Ottawa 2012, jour (day) 1.
Title text: Bonjour! (Good day!) Tout est en français! (Everything is in French!) Aussi en anglais! (Also in English!) Mais le français est plus excitant! (But French is more exciting!)
There is a drawing of a set of double doors of the swinging variety. To the left of the left-hand door there is a sign that reads Ce n’est pas une porte (This is not a door). There is also a sign to the right of the right-hand door, which reads C’est la porte. (This is the door.) On the left door itself there is a poster with an octopus playing a piano, and under it the text LA MUSIQUE DE POULPE (OCTOPUS MUSIC). On the right door itself there is a sign which reads Ce signe est en français (This sign is in French.)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m43wkcXWG91qie3fso1_500.png)
Ottawa was so intensely and delightfully bilingual that I had no choice but to start picking up a little French while I was there.
Not nearly enough to actually write this comic, of course. No, for this y’all get Google Translate results.
Incidentally, did you know that the expression ollie outie is derived from the French expression allez ôter, literally meaning go take off? No, no you didn’t, because that is totally something I just made up.
Transcript and translation under the fold.
![My first travel comic in a while! This is based off of an actual brand of ATM I saw while in Ottawa which is actually called Alterna and actually has a vaguely Karkat-esque logo. It was…disturbing.
Transcript, translation of the Alternian text, and photographic evidence under the fold.
[[MORE]]
Comic with the heading Ottawa 2012, Day 0, titled First Alternian Bank of the Sufferer. There is an image of an ATM with the Zodiac symbol for Cancer, and the text Alterna (no i.) There is Alternian text (Daedric alphabet) on the ATM screen, with a close-up of the text displayed next to it in the comic. The text, when translated, reads: WITHDRAW, DEPOSIT, TAB.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m43vh201D51qie3fso1_500.png)
My first travel comic in a while! This is based off of an actual brand of ATM I saw while in Ottawa which is actually called Alterna and actually has a vaguely Karkat-esque logo. It was…disturbing.
Transcript, translation of the Alternian text, and photographic evidence under the fold.
Tahiti is not in Europe
(Click through for high resolution version and comic transcript.)
So I’ve decided to put Brain Comics on hold for a while.
Why? Well, because honestly, after five years and 300-odd strips (or, if you prefer, 300 odd strips), I’m starting to feel a little burnt out. I still enjoy it, but there are other comic ideas I want to explore, and I want to be able to give them the attention they deserve.
This actually isn’t the first time I’ve put the comic on hiatus for another project. I already did it once when I was getting The Angels of Death ready to go live. This is more or less the same thing, but probably longer in duration.
So I’m going to take some time off. During this time, I’ll be working on new story concepts and sketches, various one-off pieces and short stories, and just plain old recuperating.
I’ll also be putting in some much-needed work on the comic backend, to add things like tags, storyline links for long-running stories, and search capability.
Paradoxically, I anticipate that my total artistic output may actually increase during the hiatus. I’ll be able to focus more if I’m not constantly fighting writer’s block, and I already have a large backlog of projects ready and waiting for my attention.
I do imagine I’ll return to Brain Comics some day, though. There’s only so long one can resist the allure of SCIENCE.
PS: I recommend pairing this comic with the following musical number:
(iPad users: There’s a YouTube embed bug where it doesn’t seek properly, but the song starts at 10:00 or so.)
So there I was, minding my own business, when I noticed that the Sketch Club daily challenge was album covers. That somehow prompted me to create this, based off of this original album cover.
(For those who might be curious: Drawn from scratch (pardon the pun) in vector using Inkscape. About 8 hours of work total.)
I wear a badger now. Badgers are cool.
No ping pong balls? Just play Questions on a minefield.
So, on posting this week’s comic from Gallifrey One, I realized I never got around to posting two other vacation comics from my trip to San Francisco last year. So here are those as well.
Did you know that the Oakland BART station isn’t actually attached to the Amtrak station? Instead you have to walk about three blocks. Ordinarily a trivial walk, until you realize just how heavy your bags are, how freakishly warm California is, and that there are no elevators or escalators to be found once you get there.
…and then we got lost in the hills of San Francisco. I’m still not sure exactly where we were; perhaps we accidentally crossed dimensions and ended up in Jǫtunheimr, the mountainous Norse land of hipster giants. After we finished collapsing our way through the hills, we somehow found a portal back to our own realm. It led us to a yarn store, and then eventually we ended up at the sausagefest which is Italian food in the Castro.
And then I failed to comic any of the other days. The end.
Things to do when you’re out sick at Gally