Getting comfortable with your Dick

"Gargantua"

 

Other than just fun silly comics to doodle away at while I slowly go mad, these Dick Generic comics are exercises in sequential art for me. I've never been a big fan of using panels, I usually end up filling them with random images like some kind of series of bizarre television monitors. Might post some of those later, now that I'm thinking about it. Anywho, these comics are me essentially dividing the page up into sections and sort of bleeding the lines here and there, seeing what happens. I've been working on a series of them, so you might notice more odd or experimental stuff as I post them. Which should be every Friday, as I'm doing quite a few in advance. The first few follow this same kind of question-and-answer format, but the ones I'm currently working on involve some kind of narrative. So, let me know what you think.

That horrifying moment when you've realized that the only jellybeans left in the bag are the gross ones.

Seriously, who thought "Buttered Popcorn" was an acceptable flavor?

And on to the update.

I'm having kind of a rough day, starting with last night. Insomnia persisted and so I finished the MPA/Z follow up drawing. But the longer I look at it the more I hate it. It just feels so petty and stupid now, because I'm not a politician, I'm an artist. And a bad one at that. Still, going to post it anyway, just to see if it gets a reaction.

As I was settling into an unsettled sleep last night, an idea for a character and a strip entered my head. His name is Dick Generic, and he can only speak in dictionary definitions. I was feeling down this afternoon, so I scrawled this illustration out on some scrap board I had lying around from when I made the Chudly American logo. 

That sassy spurting Loch Ness thing was part of a doodle that had been on the page for weeks, and I couldn't bring myself to erase him. Maybe he's a representation of how Dick views the rest of humanity, because of his awkwardness we all appear as judgmental monsters or something. Depth.

Better Late Than Pregnant!

No actual update today, my weekend got away from me for longer than I had planned. On the plus side, I did get to help some friends with a photoshoot, so there's that. Still in the middle of working on the follow up to the last entry, so until that's ready I'll be sure to share any doodles/warm up drawings that happen. Sorry guys!!!

MOON EMPEROR??? I HARDLY KNEW HER!!

Another quick little doodle. A few weeks back, a friend and I were joking on ol' Newt and his grand glorious moonbase plan, and the idea of him as a little chubby thing in a space suit pretending to be the President of Moon-America stuck itself in my head. And so I present to you:
MOON PRESIDENT ALPHA/ZAPPA

It's not very good, but then again neither is he.Personally I think it best when viewed while listening to the Flash Gordon soundtrack, but that's really my answer to improving most things. Depending on the response to this I may do the whole team, if not more. Let me know what you think!

RJ



p.s., you may have to click to view the actual size of the picture to read some of the dialogue. I didn't think that through and I'm sorry. I'll make a note to write larger for the future!

A Cosby-puter For All Seasons

So I finally got around to watching the Harvey Pekar biopic American Splendor today. I really enjoyed it, especially the aspects where the actual Harvey Pekar comes on screen to play himself, very meta. Makes me want to see if I can't track down some of the trades, if there are any left in print.

Anyways, here's a doodle of Bill Cosby as a laptop.

A Verbose Introduction

I am excited and pleased to announce my art blog, The Chudly American, to the denizens of the Internet! I feel like I might be a little late in the game in terms of getting started, and I'm learning about how to do all of this as I go, but every one has to start somewhere, right?

Now I suppose the next question is “what the hell should I expect from this blog?”. Well, for the most part it's going to be my art, which if I had to describe it would best be explained as Jim Henson and H.R. Giger's lovechild, published by Mad Magazine. There's usually a heavy focus on themes of metamorphosis , deformity, monsters, cartooning, super heroics, and (as I recently noticed) sexuality. Not erotica by any stretch, but sometimes imagery with subtle or not-so-subtle sexual undertones. It won't always be that kind of work, however, as I do draw other things. But it will probably be the bulk of it, so leave your stomach and your outdated moral sensibilities at the door. Pen and ink drawings mostly, paintings sometimes, just whatever happens to come out of me that week. It is my intention to update every Sunday, either with a new piece or something from the archives. I have a grotesque number of old sketchbooks and notebooks, so what you see may be a few months old or several years old. But I will do my best to provide adequate explanation so hopefully there won't be any confusion. If I'm working on something intricate, which happens, I will also post WIP updates.

Like I said, I'm learning as I go, so if something's off or you think my work needs, well, work, then feel free to comment and let me know. I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

-James