The August prints are out in the world*, the September prints are going to the printer this weekend, now seems like a perfect time to unveil the October print design!
Seemed natural to get a little spooky with this one. I’m very sorry if I scared you! I’m also sorry that people at the Robo-Ninja-Agent-Force tier won’t get this until November, but that can’t really be helped I supp...
2021-10-09 11:23:31 +0000 UTC View Post
More spookiness for your October pleasure! I was worried I was being foolish with another daily drawing thing, but I’m having fun doing these. Considering doing something unique for November too…
But anyway. About half way through these! Happy…er…middle of October!
2021-10-08 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Hens love roosters, geese love ganders, everyone else loves Ned Flanders!
Flanders is an excellent case study for this project. There's an entire trope named after him - flanderization - that is related to how TV characters change over time, and how a character's central quirk can take over ...
2021-10-07 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the most significant, non-significant characters in the show's mythos. I mean, there he is every episode*, right there in the show's intro, but what do we really know about Mr Largo?
I think he might have been at least partially designed as a foil for Lisa, but quickly became obsolete in this regard as very quickly the show established that Lisa's main enemy is...well...the world.<...
2021-10-04 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
BOO.
Oh sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you! Welcome to October, I’ve decided to draw and post a different Treehouse of Horror character every day this month! Spoiler: I’ve been drawing them in advance, so you lucky people get an early look (and I threw an extra one in there for my lovely Patrons (HEY THAT’S YOU!))
If you’re interested in more of these daily drawing challeng...
2021-10-01 08:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Unlike the classic character 'girl playing "German Santa"', I'm taking a stand here: This is Ralph Wiggum. The Simpsons wiki says it's him, and I'm agreeing. Here he is as he appears in the episode, playing Hotei-osho:
2021-09-30 08:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Ooh, this one might be potentially contentious!
I am making an executive decision here: this character, identified as being in Lisa's class, is NOT Janey. She looks sort of similar (as much as she can wearing a Santa costume), but I do not believe her to be Lisa's occasional friend Janey, mostly because she's white, and Janey is black.
I know that season one features a few race-chan...
2021-09-27 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hiya folks!
Just thought I’d share the design for the exclusive print for September! This piece was moderately popular on social media, and now folks at the Robo-Ninja-Agent-Force tier will get an A5 print delivered next month! (Technically I’ll be making a couple of minor adjustme...
2021-09-24 08:23:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I was pleased to see Skinner show up so early! Sorry that I had to put "Armin Tamzarian" in there, but I might as well be thorough.
Skinner is one of those useful characters that can be seen as a symbol of the show's overall point of view towards a subject - in this case the banality of authority. He is not malicious or resentful towards Bart (usually our POV character), he just...is. He'...
2021-09-23 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Listen, I know. I KNOW. This is absurd.
I considered this for longer than I should have. I was so excited to start the actual show, the first real episode of this iconic series. Watching the episode, notebook in hand, my eyes glued intently to the screen. Following a brief car journey with Homer and Marge, we arrive at Springfield Elementary, ready to enjoy a Christmas concert fu...
2021-09-22 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
The final batch in my quest to draw a character from each Pixar film!
I’d argue that overall, the second half of Pixar’s output is shakier than the first half BUT I did really love Soul, and Coco is top five material. I like all these movies to an extent, really, there are very few absolute low points in the studio’s output. Researching and reinterpreting their character design for ...
2021-09-21 08:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
A quick minor detour before we get to the actual show! I believe this is the only character we'll be covering outside of the main canon, in an advert that aired before the show did. Milhouse is unnamed in the commercial, but was apparently designed by Groening, so they folded him into the actual show (he's in the first episode, even!)
2021-09-20 08:00:04 +0000 UTC
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So here we are! The first major milestone, every character from the Tracey Ullman shorts has been drawn. Here they all are together.
That‘s 20 characters so far, 20 total. I also did two ‘bonus’ character, but they aren’t part of the official count so they’re not included here.
What did we learn along the way? I’d say about half of these characters are “recognisable”...
2021-09-16 19:16:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Here we are! We made it! This is the last character of the Tracey Ullman shorts era. There are three shorts after "Family Therapy", but no new characters appear in them. And this guy is a DOOZY.
I know, he doesn't look that interesting! In "Family Therapy", the Simpsons attempt to resolve their issues with his Dr Sherwood (identifiable only by the name on his door), and after the family c...
2021-09-16 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I forgot to post this guy after Bart the Hero! In the short “Scary Movie”, this is the big reveal at the end, causing Bart to scream in horror! The mutant has no lines but I thought he’d be fun to draw anyway.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, 2021-09-15 20:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
More Pixar characters!
Inside Out is my second favourite Pixar film, it’s lovely and clever and the very best of what the studio can accomplish. Here in Scotland, Brave was a pretty big deal too, I’d never seen the cinema that packed for an animated film.
Confession: I actually haven’t seen Cars 3. But I asked my wife and she said this was the character to draw.
One more...
2021-09-15 18:40:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Another one of our favourites, a character who shows up for a single shot:
I was trying to remember if any later characters have no visible eyes through their glasses, and it's pretty rare. This is a Professor Farnsworth trait, not really a Simpsons thing. I can't really tell if they'...
2021-09-13 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A lot of these shorts designs share a lot of similarities don't they? Muzzle-bears, blue hair, kind of bell-shaped body. This guy is almost interchangeable with Jake the Barber in some ways.
I'll be honest, I don't have much to say about "Security Guard". He's a foil to Bart, not much else. It's funny that, for our purposes, we just covered a short where Bart stops a robbery of a candy st...
2021-09-09 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostHi-de-hi, campers!
So it’s been a month of the Patreon, and I thought it’s be a good idea to discuss how things are going! Think of it as like a performance review. No, wait, that sounds tedious and boring. Think of it like a DYNAMITE EXHIBITION. KA-BOOM!
Firstly, thanks so much for being a part of my Patreon! I am grateful and stunned that anyone would want to see the work I’...
2021-09-07 10:11:47 +0000 UTC View Post
A bunch more Pixar characters! I still think of some of these guys as “recent” additions to the Pixar roster, even though they’re over a decade old!
Up is one of my absolute favourite films of all time. The first 10 minutes as as close to perfect as visual storytelling can get. Got a soft spot for Wall-E as well! A magic one two punch of movies there.
The Cars films I have les...
2021-09-07 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
This is it: the LAST character from Bart the Hero. We did it people, time to celebrate in the streets.
I had to add that "may be Bill" caveat because the only way to watch these shorts is on YouTube, from old garbled recordings. I think Bart calls him Phil, so until we get a 4K restoration mastered from the original cels and recordings then that's the best we are getting.
One unexpe...
2021-09-06 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Before Wiggum, before Lou, before Eddie, this is our introduction to the law in Springfield. This guy appears for a single shot, and oddly his car is parked right outside the candy store just as the burglar exits. Was it a setup? Did someone in the burglar's intricate web of connections squeal and foil the whole candy caper before it even got off the ground? We may never know.*
This guy h...
2021-09-02 08:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
For no real reason, I thought it might be fun to draw a character from every Pixar film so far! Here are the first six.
I love me some Pixar. Not every film is a stone cold classic, but it’s undeniable they’ve made some great, great films. Heck, one of their films is in my top ten of all time! We’ll get to it.
I think I was interested in drawing these folks because my style is...
2021-08-31 18:54:40 +0000 UTC View Post
The "Bart the Hero" celebration continues!
This guy is such a cartoon burglar. Look at that mask, barely obscuring his face. He looks like one of the Beagle Boys.
This guy's genius plan is to rob a candy store (maybe he thought it would be as easy as taking it from a baby), before tripping ...
2021-08-30 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Strap yourself in folks!
Finally we've gotten to the part of this project that everyone's been waiting for: Bart the Hero. For some reason, this short, that lasts just over a minute, introduces more characters than any other, except for Good Night.
And they're all NOBODIES.
Take this chump for example. Mr Chupo owns a candy store that Bart frequents. Perhaps he was intended to...
2021-08-26 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey hey!
Krusty is one of those klassic - sorry, classic - characters that allows the show to make broader statements about a specific area, in this case showbusiness.
He's a children's television presenter, the type that comes on between cartoons. There's no reason that he would be as huge a celebrity as he appears to be within the Simpsons world, but if the writers need a stand in...
2021-08-23 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh, the cat is named Scratchy! I got it now.
It's funny how The Simpsons has to define what a cartoon cat looks like within their world.
One of these is a cartoon cat. The other is a cartoon cartoon cat. Neither of them look like cats, not in a literal sense, but the audience has to underst...
2021-08-19 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
SO! Here's my first digital comic, available for Patrons! If the attachment on this doesn't work, please let me know.
Living in Springfield would be an existential nightmare, and these illustrations show why. There are new illustrations and bits and pieces unavailable elsewhere, and you'll be the first people to see them as the print version won't be out until next month!
Speaking o...
2021-08-17 08:19:35 +0000 UTC View PostHello wonderful people!
I have great news! My new zine, "Eye on Springfield", will be available for pre-order tomorrow!
"Eye on Springfield" is a collection of Simpsons illustrations exploring the nightmare of being a character in a long running TV show. 2021-08-16 18:14:26 +0000 UTC View Post
In recent years I've become an amateur animation historian, which is basically a pretentious way of saying that I put old cartoon shorts on when I've had a couple of glasses of wine. The more I dig in, the more obsessed I am with finding out the history of Disney or Warner Bros or Fleischer Studios or whoever. The Looney Tunes DVDs have audio commentaries; I'm the nerd who listens to them.
<... 2021-08-16 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post