Doodles, Robots, and a Vegas Magician

all drawn by me: a human!

Welcome Back To Doodle Town

Hello and welcome back. To kick things off, here’s a quick timelapse video of lots of doodles done in Procreate. As you can tell from the first handful of seconds, it took me a while to land on what I was doing!

I love this style of high-density doodling. This one might even make its way into the next Sorry Thank You. Speaking of which…

Robot Art Collectors

Here’s a brand new comic from the upcoming Sorry Thank You Vol. 3. It’s one of many never-before-seen comics of mine I premiered by reading them aloud as part of Comics O’Clock at Heavy Manners Library, which was a true joy. Huge thanks to Mikey Heller for putting together such a fun and inspiring event with an incredible line up of talent! Here’s a photo of me reading Detective Doodle aloud:

Featured Artist on The Daily Egg

I don’t think I ever shared this very nice write up and interview about my comics on The Daily Egg! What’s wrong with me? Here you go!

See You On Cara

I’ve joined Cara, an Instagram-style app created by and for artists (specifically by an artist who just won a huge lawsuit concerning AI). Right now it’s in beta and a bit sluggish, but I hope it continues to thrive! Brad Colbow put out a solid summary video on why it’s so appealing.

It would be great to have a place for artists to share their work without it being used to train AI, which Meta unfortunately plans to do with everyone’s IG accounts. Fun fact: I tried to “opt out” of that mess, and they sent a reply that was pretty disheartening.

I know I’m biased as an illustrator, but hear me out: AI-generated art is unethical. It only functions after scraping the work of countless artists without their consent and without crediting or paying them - allowing companies to make over $200 billion off this sweeping exploitation. While there is hope for more ethical models, as it currently stands, using generative AI means you’re complicit in devaluing creative work (especially if you’re using it in the hopes of turning a profit.) A helpful resource to learn more: Create Don't Scrape.

Thankfully, I’ve had a handful of productive conversations with folks who didn’t realize there are a bunch of cost-efficient alternatives to using AI art for their projects, and thought it was worth sharing those resources in this post.

More Nervous Magician

On to more fun topics: I’m continuing to explore this nervous magician character, as part of a course I’ve been enjoying that’s taught by the talented Nate Wragg. Can’t wait to create more with this sweet lil’ magic man. I’ve also been messing around with an “edgy Vegas magician” character as a foil:

Things I’ve Been Enjoying

• We are blessed with too much good new music:

  • the new album from Wallows (on repeat: You)

  • Dehd (on repeat: Mood Ring)

  • (new to me) Francis of Delirium (Blue Tuesday is their single for a reason!)

  • The wildly talented Chuck BB put out a metal album - I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy that comes with a beautiful zine / lyric book full of original illustrations

• I finished reading Disney Revolt, about a fascinating time in the history of animation - the main thing I’m learning: Art Babbitt was a bad ass!

That’s all for now - I think you’re great!