Ian Listens to Space • 14 January 2006

I kinda wanted to draw something of Ian getting horribly injured for a change. Killing Jeff is fun and all, but I have other friends to mutilate. Here we see Ian's head decompressing. I guess he should have used that space helmet.

In reality, this came about because Ian's D&D character was brain raped. I'll leave that to your fertile imaginations to think about more fully.

The Clarke Alarm • 14 January 2006

Ian and I were discussing Arthur C. Clarke's Odyssey series of books, and both felt that 3001: The Final Odyssey sort of missed its mark. At the instant Ian said this an alarm at the nearby fire station went off, something we determined to be the Clarke Alarm, alerting good ole Arthur C. of our criticism. From his home in Sri Lanka he boards a travel pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey and blasts off to settle the problem.

Mecha, Mecha Stalin • 14 January 2006

I have this peculiar tendency to have Mecha-Stalin sing songs and generally act pretty fruity. These are glimpses of his life when he's not tormenting Ian. Consider also Stalin's Song from Issue 2, or "I Touch Myself," later on in this issue.

Map of Lith • 14 January 2006

Ian's D&D character, Mesmer, came from the Island of Lith. We postulated that through a combination of influence and megalomania, Mesmer had the entire island sculpted into the shape of his head. Dungeonmaster Jeff refuses to use this map as a guide to the island.

Helidozer • 14 January 2006

We had gone out to dinner on the 13th, a dour Friday for me, and I came up with the idea for a helidozer, combining two awesome things: helicopter and bulldozers. I thought it would be efficient to fly in a bulldozer to a site rather than truck it up a mountain. The next day at D&D I drew my idea, and it was met with so much negativity. Ian was convinced that it would explode right from the get-go. I am alone with my concept.

Khrushchev's Dream I • 14 January 2006

My webcomic Ian in Communism Land finally returned to the Internet on 1 February 2006 after a thirteen month hiatus. But the comic itself was completed on 14 January, and I held off posting it for eighteen days. I returned to work at the start of a pre-planned tangent called "Khrushchev's Dream," which results from Khrushchev receiving a blow to the head and being knocked out. Returning from a long break into such a tangent isn't really the best idea, I'm sure, but that's how I had written the story to play out.

This final frame, showing the Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace in October 1917 was one of the things that drove me to do this segment. I really wanted to depict that moment, even though drawing it nearly drive me batty.

Bugs • 29 January 2006

I don't like bugs very much, so being covered in them is very much a less than desirable situation. I hope I managed to capture some of the trauma I must be going through in this picture.

The only reason I drew this was because Jeff&Erin had a blue pen that I really wanted to color something with. It looked like it would produce a fairly nice color. So I decided that a bunch of bugs would do the trick nicely. I was satisfied.

Ian's Mercury Leaks Out • 29 January 2006

This one also came about because I wanted to use a particular marker. In this case the silver one from A Pic A Day, Issue 7 and Poor, Poor Jeff, Series 5. Only this time I wanted to use it on white paper for a change. The result is much better in person. The scan lacks the shininess.

Josh Gets a Nosebleed • 29 January 2006

Katy had given me an extra red marker that she had, so I used it to subtle effect in this one. I tend to do greyscale pictures, using my markers for shading purposes, but the red is so nice that I really like to add it. Luckily I tend to draw a lot of blood. In truth, I never get nosebleeds. It only happens if I happen to get whacked in the nose pretty hard.

Leeloo-Dallas Multipass • 29 January 2006

This came out of nowhere. Without references, I later realized I got the shape of her shirt and suspenders a little off, but who's paying that close attention? If you haven't seen The Fifth Element, you should. If only for how weird it is.

Crab Fuhrer • 29 January 2006

Another one out of nowhere, though this one was intentionally out of nowhere because Ian wanted to know what had inspired the Multipass drawing.

Crab Hitler is worried about the tactical situation in the Atlantic.

Felicity • 5 February 2006

Felicity wanted me to draw a picture of her for use as an avatar in her journal, so I drew this interpretation of her. Unlike most of the art I do, this one was colored in Photoshop, with the green on the sweatshirt being sampled directly from a photo of her wearing that shirt, though she later changed it to black in her copy of the avatar (below). She's looking up at Necoconeco, the symbol representing cuteness in the manga and anime Azumanga Daioh. At one point in the series the character of Sakaki wears Necoconeco on her head like this.


At least she seems to be happy with it! I get giddy when my friends use my renditions of them as avatars in their journals. I feel accomplished and useful.

I Touch Myself • 14 February 2006

For Valentine's Day I decided to do something special. I drew a comic featuring Stalin signing "I Touch Myself," by the Divinyls. It's a sexy song, and I liked the idea of having my favorite lyrical dictator belting the words.

The full sized version is available on my journal. I've scaled it down here due to space and content. It's mildly not safe for work.

Jeff on Jeopardy • 17 February 2006

At some point in the evening somebody said that Jeff would tap someone's tush, and I harbored an idea combining that with Jeopardy all evening until I decided I should draw it. Y'see, that part of my brain that tries to stop me from being crude was fighting the good fight, but the effort was ultimately futile. I'm glad I didn't listen to it.