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Hey, I know a handful of folks still check in over here (thank you), so I apologize for the lack of updates...since September. I just tried to get a new post going but I'm running into compression and color issues. (Looks like I'm not the only one.) I post more regularly over on Tumblr and Instagram (bobjinx), so I recommend following along over there until Google and Blogger sort things out.

http://bobjinx.tumblr.com/

http://instagram.com/bobjinx/

Happy 2014!

Brain #1 Mini-comic

You can now purchase the mini-comic I had at MeCAF and CAKE over at my online store. It’s 44 pages, black & white, and is the first full-length story featuring my brain character, who first appeared as my twitter avatar and later in a couple short comics in Heeby Jeeby Comix. Light on dialogue, the story is told entirely through pictures and panels. Below are pages 2-7 of the book as a preview—only scrapes the surface of the story. Again, you can buy it over here. I’ll sign and doodle in it for you. Thanks!

New comics and prints for CAKE

I’ll be at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) this weekend with all sorts of new stuff. I debuted Brain #1 at MeCAF, but I have a bunch more printed, folded, and stapled with a brand new color cover. I’m really excited to share this comic with everyone—it’s a 44-page mini. And I’ll have new prints—including the Bravest Warriors as Catbugs. As always, there will be plenty of Heeby Jeeby Comix on hand (issues #1-4). So come say hello! The festival runs Saturday through Sunday (June 15-16), 11am-6pm. I’ll be in the back corner at Table 21. You can see the full list of exhibitors, here.

Bravest Warriors at NYCC 2012

It's already well underway, but for those of you heading to New York Comic Con this weekend, I’ll be part of the official Bravest Warriors launch, signing the NYCC exclusive issue of BOOM! Studios Bravest Warriors #1 with Breehn Burns (series writer/producer) at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Manhattan from 6pm - 9pm, Friday night. Open to the public! No pass or badge required.

I drew the limited edition cover (above) specifically for this event, so it'll be your only chance to get your hands on a copy. There will be a sneak peek screening of an animated episode of Bravest Warriors as well. So, come say hello!

More information here and here.

In other news.... 

.... THIS happened.  (braaaiiiiiiinnnnnnn ... )

slumberland ...

Cute and cuddly

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd been drawing a bunch of cute little characters lately, and they come in sets. Here's the first, the product of a morning of doodling at FableVision. You'll have to click on these buggers to view the larger image.

The prompt: Draw a bunch of friendly characters for kids! --OK!

Here's a closer shot of my personal favorite of the set.

I had a similar prompt for the next set of characters—a group I designed in collaboration with animator Bob Boyle, for preschoolers. He drew a little, I drew a little, and we landed on these critters. Almost huggable, right? It was a fun change to bounce around ideas with another Bob. (Again, click to view large.)

In even larger furry orange territory, I made this picture for my great friends Renee & Keith, who are soon to be married—in just a couple weeks! (WOOOOOOOO!) It also features their cat, Timmy. Congrats, you guys. Adventure awaits....in cat balloon!

That about wraps up all things cute. In other news, I recently acquired a Cintiq! So far I'm really digging the combination of inking on it with Manga Studio, where I drew my tired and exhausted little friend, the brain. Kind of how I've been feeling lately—lots to do, getting it done. (Phew!)

A Winter Scene

I drew this as a gift for our newest member to the FableVision team, Polly Searles!
I just added some color to it tonight. The year is finally winding down, and it's finally getting cold in Boston. Now, if only it would snow.

Stay warm. And have a Happy New Year!

I hear beards are in.

Favorite Music of 2011

2011. Where did the time go? Are you done with your holiday shopping? Are you done with your Top 10 Lists? I didn't think so. Let's dive right in, as I'm sure you have plenty more important things to worry about.

Much like last year, two albums battled it out for the top spot. The rest fell somewhat easily into the list. But if you're me and you put anything up against Yeezy... Yeezy wins. Hats off to Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), though—for one hell of an album that I'm sure will top a lot of lists this year and hopefully win him a Grammy or two. Heck, he's great on Watch the Throne, so everyone wins.

My TOP 10 Albums

1. Jay-Z and Kanye West
   – Watch the Throne
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
3. Toro y Moi – Underneath The Pine
4. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
5. Neon Indian – Era Extraña
6. SBTRKT – SBTRKT
7. Cults – Cults
8. tUnE-YarDs – w h o k i l l
9. Panda Bear – Tomboy
10. Cut Copy – Zonoscope

Other albums of note:

The Beach Boys – The SMiLE Sessions
Whether or not this is how Brian Wilson would've assembled it in the late 60s is beside the point. I consider it a privilege to finally hear the original studio recordings. And they're great.

Laura Stevenson and the Cans – Sit Resist
I good friend turned me onto her music, and now I'm doing the same. She has a great voice—nearly made my Top 10.

Jim Guthrie – Sword & Sworcery LP: The Ballad of the Space Babies
Candy Claws – Dreamland Soundtrack
Jürgen Müller – Science of the Sea
Tycho – Dive
The above four albums are instrumental and mostly electronic (a few are soundtracks). I often play them while working. I can't say enough about Candy Claws, who are one of my favorite groups at the moment. Play 'Sword & Sworcery' by Superbrothers if you haven't already, too.

The Roots' Undun seems promising, but it's too early for me to give it a spot.

Finally, I mined a ton of individual songs from music blogs this year—a lot of them from Said the Gramophone (consistently, one of the best). So, be sure to check them out.

As always, more than anything else I'm curious to know what everyone is listening to. Feel free leave your favorites in the comments. I'm also on last.fm (bobjinxmusic) if you want to follow along next year.

Here are my lists from previous years: (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)

New Brain comic for Heeby Jeeby

Hop over to Heeby Jeeby to read a new brain comic.
Over at my tumblr, too! It's a one-pager.

Brake for Brains

(click on this very tiny image to view large)

Jellies on the Brain

Got my comics hat on!

See you at MoCCA Festival this weekend!

Table B21. Heeby Jeebys, prints, and more!

Oh, great.

Spring has sprung.
(Don't forget to do that thing to your clock tonight.)

Favorite Music of 2010

It's become a yearly ritual to sort through my favorite albums come the first week of December. Now, it's silly to sort and rank things—let's just get that out there. And you're probably sick of seeing these lists already. But if you care about something, like I care about music, it's a good way to wrap up the year and especially fun to look back on.

This year, two albums rose to the top: Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Sufjan Stevens' The Age of Adz. Which is interesting, because the last time Sufjan released a monumental album (Illinois, in 2005), so did Kanye (Late Registration). That year, I was torn between the two. But this year, it isn't even close. It is ridiculous how much I love Kanye's new album. Not to mention G.O.O.D. Fridays. I'd say he is my favorite artist/musician of the moment. The man, the music—argue with me all you want. Ha!

So, you know my #1 and #2 spots. Here's where the music landed.

My TOP 10 11 Album picks*

1. Kanye West
   – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy


2. Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
3. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
4. Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
5. Toro y Moi – Causers of This
6. Robyn – Body Talk*
   
7. Caribou – Swim
8. Blackbird Blackbird – Summer Heart
9. The Apples in Stereo – Travelers in Space and Time
10. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
11. Chromeo – Business Casual

*Edit: After listening to Robyn's new album, it definitely should've made the final cut. But I didn't think it fair to bump anyone out, so I now have 11 albums.

Because it's always hard to cut it off at 10 11, here are some other good ones from this year:

Best Coast – Crazy For You
Candy Claws – Hidden Lands
(for these guys, check out In the Dream of the Sea Life from 2009—better, imo)
Ratatat – LP4
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Vampire Weekend – Contra
The New Pornographers – Together

And some albums that are newly growing on me:

Robyn – Body Talk (bumped up to the list!)
The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

As always, I'm curious what everyone else is listening to, so PLEASE leave your favorites in the comments.


If you think you share some of my musical tastes, look me up on last.fm (bobjinxmusic)

Here are my lists from previous years (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)

and FINALLY, here's the censored version (for Walmart):

BOO.

Where is my mind?

The brain is on the loose over here at Drip! I'm not sure how, but he got into the banner. Which is alright, I guess. If you missed him on Heeby Jeeby, here's his debut comic:




...which has now been dubbed "Brain Freeze." I kind of like "Cubed", too. Especially because I built this comic from a 4x6 square grid (if that sort of thing interests you).


I definitely plan on doing more comics with him, so be on the lookout.

And as a brain BONUS, this fellow just arrived in my inbox.


...who was delivered and drawn by the one and only Trevor Van Meter! WOW! That's one damn fine root beer float. I'm certainly not going to discourage pin-ups and "brain art" like this. The invitation is open!

Trevor has a leg up on me because he actually gives his characters awesome names. You may have heard of his creation, "Crappy Cat."


Hop over to this website to check him out—and PLAY THE GAME (which is hilarious and insanely well-crafted). I mean it. Play it. You can even download a FREE iPhone app featuring Crappy Cat comics. Comics on a phone, you ask? YES.

So, that's your dose of brain for today.

Ice Cold Root Beer Floats!

Just what you need to beat the heat!
Go read my new comic over at --> Heeby Jeeby!

Spears and brains

With June winding down, I'm getting back into making comics. Here's a page (penciled rough) from a comic I'm working on with Dan Mazur (writing). It's shaping up to be a 10-pager, which is one of the longer comics I've tackled in some time.

And then there is this brain guy.



He's been throwing a fit because all he does is stand in as my Twitter/Facebook/Flickr (etc) avatar. So I'm working him into a comic...or two. If he behaves.

One last thing:

A public service announcement.

My hard drive crashed over the weekend. I put it to bed and it died in its sleep. All my data was wiped out, just like that—ZAP! Fortunately, I had all my artwork backed up on an external drive.

So PLEASE, back up your work. It happens.

Brainy Christmas!

I played with the new version of ArtRage tonight. If you follow me on Twitter (@bobjinx) you may have caught me raving about it. They added a bunch of new features, including an inking pen, watercolor brush, and selection & transform tools. I only exported to Photoshop to resize and save it as a proper jpeg—the new ArtRage even has color adjustment options. The inking pen is a bit too smooth for my taste, though very impressive. So I inked the little brain dude in Flash.


I did prefer the inking pen over the paint brush for detail work—you'll see I added the drool marks and puddle after I inked in Flash. If you're curious about how I use Flash with ArtRage, I can do a tutorial at some point. Sherm Cohen has already covered the Illustrator/ArtRage combo like a pro. But essentially, all I do is export a hi-res transparent PNG from Flash and drop it on a layer in ArtRage to paint under.

Have a great holiday everyone!
...and Merry Christmas!

See you in 2010, if not sooner...