Sir Kyla

Shorts, minis, zines.

2013-05-05T21:07:19Z

In the time since I last posted here, TCAF has come and gone, and Spera Vol. II has been released - and with TCAF nearly upon us AGAIN, it's time for some Spera updates!

Last year we sold out of Vol. I on the first day of the convention, which was shocking and embarrassing and hopefully won't happen this year, when we will have Vol. II on sale as well. If you're not coming to TCAF or you can't wait a whole week to buy it, it's already available in fine comic shops everywhere and also fine online stores! You can also buy the digital version on comiXology.

And speaking of comiXology and Spera, boy, have I got a relevant piece of news for you: the digital chapters of Spera Vol. III will start their serialization later this month. The hardcover will be released in autumn this year (you can preorder it online).

I have a short comic in Vol. III, which has also just been posted in the online comics section on spera-comic.com. Take a peek under the cut to see the spread in all it's uncut-but-not-very-web-browser-friendly glory!

Introducing Nole and Kyle, Vol. III's antagonists. This comic takes place during the events of the comic I illustrated in Vol. I, when Lono flees her castle with Pira.

I also posted my mini comic, Plea, on my website last year, and utterly failed to mention this fact anywhere online. Or anywhere at all, really. Allow me to redress this lapse by posting it right here, right now.

Also: I contributed an illustration to the amazing Women Warriors zine put together by Roxie, Julia and Abby and it sold out at MoCCA Fest last month because it's so amazing, no honestly, SO AMAZING. It's so amazing that you should preorder a copy from the second (and final!) print run. :D Right here!

Katherine Talbert, ladies and gentlemen, from Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword.

Here be Monsters

2012-02-13T00:02:57Z

It's been a long time since I did any finished pieces in black and white, so I figured I ought to brush up on my greyscales before diving into the mini comic I've been scripting. And what better way to practice than with fan art! It's, uh, all part of the process. I'm not putting off finishing that script. Really.

Doctor Warthrop and Will Henry from Rick Yancey's wonderful Monstrumologist series.

I could imagine this scene perfectly because, living in the country, my windows are awash with buzzing masses of flies every fall. I think my flies crawl in through the walls, though... not out of the slowly decomposing body of a bedridden sea captain.

Upon that massive hill of steaming manure.

An anthropophagus turns his frown upside down.

If you haven't read The Monstrumologist, I highly recommend you give the series a go! It's packed full of monsters, and people being eaten by monsters, and people turning into monsters and people generally being monstrous anyway.
Simon & Schuster canceled the series after the third book and I was pretty much ready to start making ritualistic sacrifices to the literary gods to make them change their minds, but luckily a lot of people who are far more pragmatic than me actually wrote to S&S - enough people so that the horrible order was rescinded, and there will be one more book.

Point being, the series is great. It's a horror story and a love story... and Warthrop would probably tell you there's no difference between the two.

Now go forth and buy it!

And have some more random doodles, too.

A New Year of Comics and Monster Balls

2012-01-12T03:18:50Z

Happy New Year, everyone!

Every time the holidays roll around I get this itchy desire to draw that tried and true image of people sitting by windows, peering out at twilit snowscapes. Every. Year. I can't escape it. So this year I indulged myself with a painting for holiday cards. Wait, I mean last year. The full painting is under the cut!

I have a few extra, so if anyone would like a late holiday card, send your address my way.

It occurred to me after all the painting, scanning and printing was done, as I sat licking envelopes, that the image of taxidermied monsters with their balls hanging out is perhaps not the most festive choice of subject matter. Ah, well. What's done is done. As always, I regret not the past, but look towards a future in which an older and wiser Kyla may choose not to draw monster balls to express her seasonal cheer. Anything is possible, right?

The little monster helmet, by the way, was inspired by this dude right here, spied by sockefeller and me at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This museum was, I think, both our greatest humiliation and our greatest triumph. We had eight hours to see the sights of Manhattan, and we spent every one of them ogling about half of the first floor of The Met. Then we went back the next day. And still didn't see everything.

...I recommend it :D

And at long last:

Vol. I
is in now in stores!
Please check it out!

A couple of panels from my comic. Pira is not hitting things with swords? What on earth.

You can preview the first chapter here on Archaia's site (that one's drawn by me). I also posted the artist line-up and some preview panels a few months back, and you can see one of Emily's pages on Josh's tumblr (which you should follow for more Spera tidbits)!

There have also been lots of new short comics posted on spera-comic.com over the past few months (and a new design, if you haven't checked back recently). Behold the amazing work of Anna Wieszczyk, Julia Scott and Roman Muradov under the Online Comics section.

I hope everyone enjoys Vol. I! If you're in Toronto, The Beguiling has a nice stack of the books waiting for homes!

And whatnots

2011-10-26T02:55:26Z

Catchin' flies.

So hey, I never mentioned here that Flight 8 is now in stores! But it is! You can even buy it through the magic of the internet! (I am still amazed that I can click buttons and make books appear on my doorstep. I do miss having bookstores around, though.)

I did a process post on Riddle a little while ago that sort of skimmed over the technical process, but I never mentioned inspiration, which is something I've been asked about. I never know what to do with questions like "where did you get the idea" because nobody really wants a huge list and it's rarely one specific thing that sets me off, but in this case I can say I got the inspiration for the snakey beast from Frank R. Stockton's The Griffin and the Minor Canon, which is a story I found in a lovely volume called Tales Before Tolkien. Monsters in Victorian fantasy are always so reasonable... albeit with an appetite for human flesh. Dangerously polite!

You can find Stockton's story online, since it's Old, and Old things are always online somewhere.

Also Riddle related: bit of pixel art from Matt Marblo (who will be in Spera Vol. I, remember). So awesome!

Here are a few panels, sans dialogue or sequence, from a comic that I probably won't mention again for quite a while. I was really into Minoan, Mycenaean and Etruscan wall paintings a few months ago. I still am! The obsession waxes and wanes with a tendency towards waxing.

And a big thanks to everyone who dropped by at NYCC to take a gander at our Spera posters and whatnots. The place was packed... with comics. I grabbed a copy of Giannis Milonogiannis' Old City Blues, another title published by the wonderful Archaia. Giannis is awesome and he makes awesome comics, so check 'em out!

Spera Vol. I & NYCC

2011-10-12T03:35:29Z

We’ve made oblique mentions of it and we’ve made ephemeral tweets about it, but it’s high time it had a journal entry of its very own.

Spera Vol. I
In stores December 2011!

The Spera graphic novels are being published by Archaia, retelling the story of the original web comic and continuing on from there. The first volume will be released this December, and you can preorder it online as well.

Spera is a collaborative series written by Josh Tierney, with each chapter illustrated by a different artist. The line up for Vol. I is really fantastic and I’m all-over pleased to have my art in the same book as these talented folk!

Emily Carroll
The indubitable, indomitable incomparable Carroll, whose art flattens cities and moves mountains! You will lose yourself in her lovely work and won’t even mind when you realise there’s no way out.

Hwei Lin Lim
Who is Hwei? Where did she come from and what does she want? She wants to knock your socks off with her beautiful, airy artwork, that’s what!

Olivier Pichard
Olivier’s watercolour comics have been with Spera since its web incarnation, and I’m so glad they’re sticking around, because they’re simply gorgeous.

Kyla Vanderklugt
Hey, that's me. If I’ve sold you on everyone else, well, you’ll have to read through my comic to get to theirs, because I did the first chapter. :D

In addition, the book includes several short - and not-so-short - Spera comics that supplement the main story, drawn by these lovely ladies and gents:

Jordyn Bochon
Cécile Brun
Matt Marblo
Luke Pearson
Leela Wagner

And if you follow any of the three of us on twitter, you already know that this weekend Josh, Emily and I will be promoting Spera Vol. I at the
New York Comic Con!

Drop by the Archaia booth and say hello! Most of the promotional material for Spera features Afu Chan’s wonderful cover artwork, so I designed an NYCC exclusive postcard with artwork from Emily’s comic and mine to have on hand as well, since we’ll be the only two Vol. I artists at the booth.

We'll be at booth 1546, the Archaia booth, on Friday 1:00-2:30PM, Saturday 5:00-6:00PM, and Sunday 2:30-3:30PM. We'll also be there Thursday night from 6:00-7:00 if you've got a four day pass.
So come grab some Spera swag! See you soon, mes amis.

grumpy viking boys and puns, this post has it all

2011-09-21T04:17:21Z

Thorfinn, my son, just who have you killed with that sword.

Lately I've been full up busy drawing things that I can't post online yet (that's a good thing!), so I don't have much in the way of new art to share (aside from drawings of pint-sized vikings, apparently). But here's a round-up of some comics, hourlies and sketches from the past several months that haven't made their way onto my journal yet.

I am not sorry for this punny mess. I DO NOT REPENT.
This one was for the TCAF program - since Josh and I were sharing a table I whipped up this strip with Josh's Spera gals and my riddle-solving lad from Riddle.

Here's an inked panel from a comic I did during the summer. What could it be about? And if you're going to make some smart-alecky guess like, 'two dudes sneering at each other for a bunch of pages' - er, well, you're pretty bang on, actually. So much fun to draw!

My buddy Irma pointed out that I never posted my hourlies 'round these parts, so here they are, from February:

Also:
On Nights Like This

On Nights Like This is a comic anthology created to give a voice to survivors of sexual abuse and other similar forms of trauma. The project has just been launched and there's an open call for submissions.

You can find a poster for the project here. Post it, tweet it, and - well, I don't use tumblr, but I assume you would tumble it, which sounds pretty exciting. Uh, what I'm trying to say is, this poster is a pearl and social media is its oyster. Spread the word! My friend Mara has been working hard to make this happen!

Flight Formation

2011-07-04T06:30:19Z

Flight 8 was released last week! Some of the other artists have been posting a bit of process for their comics, so I thought I'd join in.

I'm pretty new to comics, so I can't say I'm any sort of an authority, but I can show you how I tackled this particular comic, and I hope someone will find it interesting! Or momentarily diverting. Not incendiary, at the very least.

Here are some of the earlier sketches of the boy and the beast. I'd already jotted down some basic elements of the story, but without getting a visual feel for the characters, I felt like a lost little lamb with no way forward. Baa.

In the very earliest sketches, the little snake-y beast was a little sphinx-y beast.

After writing out fragments of the script in various impractical places (receipts, bills, my hand), I wrote out a more-or-less final draft, with some preliminary thumbnails alongside.

Even to me, these hardly make sense anymore.

Entirely relevant and essential to the story. Possibly.

I consider this to be an - ahem - highly legible and perfectly practical thumbnail (I've heard some voices of dissent). Mostly these were for my own benefit, and I was able to get feedback on the pacing and layouts from the rest of the Flight crew!

When I drew my first Spera comic, I did the roughs in pencil. This time I decided to try going digital. It worked out for me here, although I'm sure there are people out there who'd tell you there's some sort of rule against this, haha. My own rule is to never listen when someone tells me not to do something, until I've tried it myself first! (Er, I'm talking about art technique, here. So don't try goading me into exploring a toaster with a fork or something, you scoundrel.)
With all that said... I went back to pencils for the next comic I drew. Live and learn.

And lo, it was inked. Looking at the plain inks made me a little nervous, since the compositions depended a lot on value and colour. I almost always do early colour studies, but not, apparently, when it really counts.

The colours were all done digitally. I painted the sky and the snow and flatted everything else. Then I popped on some texture - I use hand-painted bits of acrylic and various papers I've scanned over the years. For this comic I painted some new textures, though.

There! If that seemed suspiciously straightforward, it's only because I don't know how to visually convey all the useless self-deprecation, second-guesses, and general angst, haha. But I don't need to, since I'm sure we've all had a cup of that now and then. COMRADES IN ARTS!
It would have been interesting to post the process for some of the later pages, since they went though some changes from thumbnail to finish, but it's a short comic and I don't want to spoil it. :)

Here are some other posts about Flight from the artistes themselves!

Nicholas Kole
Katie Shanahan
Cory Godbey
Der-shing Helmer
Scott Campbell
Jake Parker
Tony Cliff
Sonny Liew
Kostas Kiriakakis

And while I'm on the subject of process, here's a bit of concept art for a new comic I've been working on.

More chain mail! And I didn't even choose the fantasy setting myself this time, I swear. Not that I wouldn't have, if it were down to me. Just sayin'.

Time for comics! And TCAF!

2011-05-07T02:36:01Z

LiveJournal, it has been too long! We should do this more often. Catch up and whatnot. There are a couple of new things being pumped out of Chez Kyla Studios lately, so click through to see what's what!

I was invited to contribute a comic to the final volume of Flight, being released this summer! What did I do to deserve this honour? Was it... all the ritualistic sacrifices? Er, however this came about, I am completely chuffed to be part of such a wonderful anthology, and I have to extend many thanks to all the Flight crew, who helped me with so many suggestions and critiques (this is my first solo comic), despite their busy schedules. They are the best of people!
You can pre-order Flight Volume Eight right now, if you are so inclined!

Here's a little preview of my comic:

Remember how I said Spera was going to print with a second Volume that Josh, myself, and several other artists were working on? Well, the plans got shuffled about - we switched publishers, and our wonderful new publisher Archaia wanted to have the first volume - the web comic - in print as well. We decided that the web comic, beautiful collaborative experiment that it is, really is best suited for the web - so Volume I has been remade for print! There is a stellar line-up of artists who have worked on this book, you will not believe it. More on this later! It deserves its own post.

If you've read the web comic, perhaps this scene looks familiar.

This weekend I'll be exhibiting at TCAF - come say hi if you're going to be there! I love saying hi to people. I was greet the hell out of you. Also, you could, in theory, give me money in exchange for the following items (if these sorts of capitalist transactions tickle your fancy):

Breaking Up the Band, my ridiculous series of paintings about dynastic disasters, has been transformed into a booklet! Each painting is accompanied by an enlightening (hopefully) blurb. Six paintings conveniently sized to fit in your pocket. I will also have the original paintings, framed and matted, on sale!

I got the go ahead from the editors of Flight (thank you wonderful Jason person!) to print off a few copies of my comic to have on hand at TCAF. I doubt I'll be printing any more after these babies are off my hands since it will be printed in the anthology, but if you prefer your comics slightly crumpled and smelling faintly of musk (don't ask), you might want to grab one of of these!

The amazing and stupendous piratecore made these awesome buttons for me! For every button you buy, I will say another 'thank you' to Rosemary. She will want to kill me by the end of the weekend.

I'll have various illustration prints for sale, too!

And here's where you can find me:

I'll be tabling with Josh Tierney, and he's got some Spera goods on our table! You can pick up a comic by pollums and there's an anthology with comics by yfrontninja (who will be tabling right next to us!), Luke Pearson and eblocky with some pin-ups to boot!

KYLA OUT

Of Mughals and Mutinies

2011-03-30T02:08:16Z

The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah II

I thought it was time to round off the series of paintings I did a while ago about family dynasties - the Plantagenets and Romanovs got two pieces each, but the poor old Timurids only got one, and nobody knew what it was about! Here's a summary of the events surrounding the fall of the Timurid dynasty, to give a bit of context.

Bahadur Shah II, or Zafar, was emperor mostly in title. In early 19th century India, the East India Company governed the subcontinent, and Zafar was something like a pensioner of the Company. He was hardly a political or military threat to the British - in fact, his interests tended towards the arts, and he kept a court of artists and poets, being an accomplished poet himself.
After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the sepoy soldiers rallied around Bahadur Shah in Delhi, asking him to support them and put a face on the Rebellion. Zafar, now an old man, and with few resources to support an army, wasn't keen on the idea. He couldn't seem to get rid of those soldiers though, and he eventually agreed to recognize the rebellion. What followed is known as the Siege of Delhi. Long story short, it didn't end well for the rebels. Zafar fled, and the next day surrendered to the British in exchange for his life. The British also accepted the surrender of three of Zafar's sons. These three princes were taken back to Delhi, where they were lined up and shot. Zafar was put on trial by the East India Company and exiled, after the British finally conceded they couldn't kill him since they'd promised not to. I'm not sure how a mercantile company managed to put an emperor on trial, but never let it be said that the British are not a determined people. And thus ended the rule of the Timurid dynasty.

If you'd like to know more about the Rebellion and Bahadur Shah, I recommend William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal. You can also listen to him give a lecture about these events right here! Dalrymple says there was a solar eclipse towards the end of the Seige of Delhi, a fact I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else, but I thought it was interesting enough to work into the illustration. Zafar is sometimes depicted with a halo of light around his head, so I selfishly appropriated that imagery for myself, haha. It's a halo! It's an eclipse! It's a blood spatter! It's a combination overwrought metaphor-decorative visual-composition balancer - don't leave home without one!

There's a film about the beginnings of the rebellion - or a part of them. The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey! I saw it when it came out in theatres here. Good stuff! Here's one of the scenes.

And while I am recommending Bollywood films, there's no way I can't mention Lagaan, one of my favourite movies ever (set during the British Raj, so a little while after the Indian Rebellion). The musical numbers are so wonderful, particularly Radha Kaise Na Jale - watch it here! And who could forget O Rey Chhori, a.k.a Crazy Lady with a Shawl?

And finally, if you're still with me here, and are also in Toronto, this is the last weekend the AGO's Maharaja Exhibition will be running, so if you like glittery things and beautiful paintings, I suggest checking it out! It is an absolute feast for your eyeballs.

Oh, and here's a little snakey monster, about to be mailed off to sunny California. Scanning metallic paints: don't try this at home, kids.

Next time on Kyla's Sporadic LiveJournal Updates: COMICS!
Also, I now have a (very extremely inane)
twitter!

THE END.

Peninsular Pie?

2010-10-11T03:39:00Z

Happy Thanksgiving! I should probably take a break from eating pumpkin pie and watching movies about the Peninsular War - it's Kyla's Pie and Peninsula marathon! - so this seems like a good time to scrounge some homeless things off my hard drive and slap them up here.

Here's an old doodle of Gen, since I mentioned him before. I think with the cloak I was aiming for 'Byzantine' and somehow landed firmly in the realm of 'Gen looks like a girl'.

I guess this was Zevran. I guess it still is!

Some initial sketches for Arina I meant to post with her concept.

One video game reference per day! That's my quota.
But really, why is wildlife always so bloodthirsty in video games?

And now to thoroughly humiliate myself:

Yes, I needed to call the Embassy for advice on how hard to push a door. It's good to know the Embassy's got your back (even if they're laughing at it).

And may my no.2 brush be the sacrifice

2010-10-01T18:47:14Z

I'm going cross-eyed looking at comic panels, so I thought I'd take a break by getting my hands (and arms) (and furniture) dirty with a bit of paint.

This one had been languishing on my shelf, partly painted, since spring, so it was high time I finished it up.

At one point in the early stages, I had laid a red wash down for the coat and painted the lighter flowers on top. When you stood in front of the painting the flowers showed up, bright and vivid, but if you moved off to the side they darkened, blending in perfectly with the red around them. It was crazy! Painting = basically black magic.

Would that make this the altar?

And, unrelated...

...a mound of doodles.

Spera Spera Spera Take Two

2010-09-23T22:58:43Z

Josh asked me to design a new character for the Spera series. She'll be debuting in a short drawn by Sarah Searle.

Meet Arina, the winter witch! She needs to borrow people's warmth to survive. Lono hasn't any warmth to spare. CONFLICT. DRAMA. NOT TO BE MISSED.

À propos of Spera, there are two new shorts on the Vol. II section of the website, with gorgeous art by Cécile Brun and Miss Irina. Warrior tabbies and vanishing steaks! Also not to be missed. Nothing Spera-related is to be missed, d'you hear!

Spera Vol. II!

THIS JOURNAL IS NOW DIAMONDS

2010-09-02T03:19:41Z

More fun with colours! And... diamonds.

I keep pulling out my tablet lately instead of working on paper. Really I'm supposed to be penciling things, but it's been so hot, and I have to keep covering my work with tissues to protect it from the sweat that is pouring off my hand. Today it's 36°C with humidity, but apparently it's going to drop to 12° three days from now. I knew there was a reason I was stacking firewood in the sweltering heat last week!

Meet A: drive (for Tim!) and I: drive!
A: drive is pretty old school, and sometimes he thinks this gives him free license to act superior. I: drive is not entirely impressed.

Lame Puns Ho

2010-08-31T16:21:18Z

This was just a little colour experiment that got away from me... file under 'Photoshop exercise run rampant'.

Meet C: drive and D: drive! I've always felt bad for D: drive.
What's wrong, D, did C do something really shocking again? Did she... clear the cache? Of cookies?

Everyone Disapproves

2010-08-22T00:35:09Z

Haters to the left, Alistair. Morrigan's hot stuff and you know it! Except she has this annoying habit of disagreeing with everything my Warden says. Morrigan Disapproves -12. But getting some lip action always cheers her up. Alistair Disapproves -5.

...I really want this T-shirt. Could I just turn myself into a walking billboard for this game? I'll need some Zevran undies and some Sten-themed socks.

Spera Returns!

2010-08-15T16:09:43Z

That's right, Spera is going physical - real live paper, and blood, sweat and tears! Or ink, I'm not sure what kind of printing method is being used.

The first issue is shaping up beautifully, and I'd love to share the wonderful work Giannis and Afu have done on it, but you'll have to wait until it's on sale this October! In addition to the main story, each issue will be rounded out with extra short comics and beautiful pin-ups from a bevy talented artists. There will also be more short comics on spera-comic.com, so keep an eye on the Vol.II section of the site!

To keep up on Spera news - or to inquire about contributing to the project - you can visit Josh on the web at joshtierney.com.

...Y'know, I pulled the design for the above promo out of the thin air in my head, but I keep thinking it reminds me of something - sort of a cross between an historiated initial and some retro food advertisement (Robin Hood Flour?). I dunno! This is like, backwards referencing.

Helseth fangirl, going on twelve years.

2010-07-06T15:16:15Z

For some reason there are a lot of people who don't like Helseth very much. This may have something to do with the fact that he tries to have you killed (repeatedly). It's called consolidating your power, gosh. It's what you do when you ascend the throne!

What started out as a quick drawing to express my Helseth-ly love turned into a medium experiment. I enjoy working with both traditional and digital media, and sometimes the project dictates which I have to use, and sometimes I know right from the start which I want to use, but sometimes I can't decide. So I did two versions of this piece in the same day to compare the processes.

I don't always do pencil drawings if I'm working digitally - I usually scan in the thumbnail and estima-ink over that, or I jump straight into inking if I don't need to do a thumbnail. But since I was painting it as well I went the good ol' drawing route.

Ahhhh!

And here's the traditional version! The obnoxious metallic gold highlights don't show up in the scan, though. Such a pity.

I still work at being more loose when I'm painting. On screen, I think the digital version has more life and expression, but printed out, I'm not sure how it would hold up to real paint. If anyone prefers one over the other I'd be curious to know which!

Thank you for being a patient guinea pig, Helseth.

Spera Spera Spera

2010-06-01T16:02:15Z

spera-comic.com
Part four of Spera is now online!

Everyone's pages look amazing. I am starting to feel uncomfortably unworthy of being a part of this project. Nevertheless, it was a blast to participate. I'd like to try my hand at more comics in the future!

On the subject of comics, have you seen Emily Carroll's comic of The Hare's Bride? Yes? Well, go and look again! :) I can't get over how pretty it is.

Finally, if you live in the Toronto area, maybe you've heard of The Keyhole Sessions - not your average life drawing sessions. Costumes and bondage and bears, oh my! Well, possibly not bears. That's where I'll be this evening, exercising my long-disused life drawing muscles. My lovely friend Mara models for them when she's not saving lives or drawing beautiful pictures herself. Check out their sessions you're ever in town on a Tuesday night!

The Trials I am Currently Avoiding

2010-05-25T03:01:49Z

Presenting
The Trials of Housework

The Iron Casket!

The Hall of Porcelain!

Mount Appliansus!

If I add any more to this series, it will be a piece about doing laundry. I hate doing laundry. When I imagine myself at the pinnacle of achievement - a point in my life when I've accomplished my dreams and fulfilled my goals - all I really see is myself having enough money to afford a maid who will do my laundry.

And a manservant to hover nearby with a pitcher of lemonade and a tray of canapes while I lounge on a beach along the Turquoise Coast, perusing the latest issue of Hedonism Now. But I could have him do my laundry as well, I suppose. I like to economise.

Speaking of menservants, here are some sketches! Which have nothing to do with menservants. WORST SEGUE EVER.

By the way, my pal Jordyn Bochon is having an art sale/commission-a-polooza over here if you're in the market for some awesome original art! Go give her money! And while you're caught up in the spirit of things you could also give me money. :D I mean, how will I afford my canape-bearing shadow otherwise?

Of comics and pudding

2010-05-18T23:04:51Z

Hey! You know what are awesome? French comics. I haven't actually spoken French in years, but I'd like to keep it up, so rather than, you know, go outside and speak with all my Francophone neighbours, I think I'll read comics in French instead! Except when I can only find them in English. Then I'll read them in English.

I thought I'd recommend some comics I've enjoyed recently!

Miss Pas Touche is set in an upscale brothel in 1930s Paris. Blanche, the slightly-off-her-rocker protagonist, begins to work at the brothel in hopes of tracking down her sister's murderer. The kicker is that Blanche is a virgin and intends to stay that way! Good luck, missy.
Available in English too!

The Professor's Daughter is set in Victorian London. You know how Victorians were so crazy about Egyptian mummies? Well, Lillian has gone and fallen in love with one! Also: mummies proposing to Queen Victoria. A MUST READ.

Dom Juan ou le festin de pierre is, well, Dom Juan - in comic form. I fell in love with the art and bought it right away! Sganarelle, stop ruining your master's fun! He only wants to marry every lady in the world ever. Or at least one a month.

The Baker Street series chronicles the, uh, lesser-known adventures of Holmes and Watson. I popped into the Arthur Conan Doyle room while I was at TCAF and was surprised to find the table spread with... comics? Turned out they were having a little exhibition to coincide with TCAF and one of the comics was the second volume of this series! Who could be defiling portraits of the Queen with moustaches?

The next two I haven't read, but I fondled them thoughtfully at The Beguiling while my wallet looked on in disapprobation.

Socrate le demi-chien is a series about Heracles and his dog, Socrates. Part dog, part philosopher, all awesome. Not exactly retelling Classical myths, it looks like the series is more inspired by them. And it's Sfar and Blain again!

Belladone is about a female Musketeer. 'Kay, that's all the recommendation I need. Sword fights! And beautiful drawings.

Hey, what, I'm not done recommending things yet! You should check out Britt's awesome Viking comics! She doesn't know this yet but I am going to elope with them. But of course you probably know her work, so here is someone you might not have heard of: our friend Selena Wong. She's an amazing illustrator, check her out!

I also recommend this rice pudding I made last night. I also recommend cats.

Okay, I am done.

Let Them Eat Cake!

2010-05-06T01:56:30Z

I have a longstanding tradition of shoving my face full of food during cutscenes. Unfortunately in Asscreed, cutscenes are sometimes interactive; generally it's a case of 'press this random button now to not look like an awkward douche'.
So of course Leonardo is all, 'give us a hug', and I've got my hands busy cramming rum cake into my mouth. What the heck, Ubisoft! Let me have my cake (and EAT IT, too).

And because I am apparently on an inking-old-video-game-doodles kick:

Oh, Sheldon. What was Jimmy up to this time? Too much PDA?

Hey hey, Reaver (and therefore STEPHEN FRY) is going to be back in Fable III! I'm not the craziest Fable fan - I never finished the first one, and I thought the second one was dragging a bit... until Reaver showed up. Oh, Reaver, you can sell me out to my enemies any day of the week!

...I wish I had a diary that narrated itself in the voice of Stephen Fry.

Dogs 'n' swords, I'm a fan

2010-05-03T01:35:24Z

Here's the first of a few pages that'll be appearing in the fourth and last installment of Spera, a collaborative comic about girls and swords and big dogs! And adventure.

What's that? You haven't heard of Spera? Poor soul! You can head over to spera-comic.com to read the story thus far. There are so many talented artists who have put their time into this project! Definitely check out Julia Scott's pages, they are so super rad - I found out about Spera after coming across her work. Fate, I tell you.

I sent poor Josh about four different versions of my pages - I haven't done much in the way of comics in the past, so I was experimenting a lot. He suggested putting up the different versions here to demonstrate my process, but I think it would only demonstrate my fumbling ineptitude, haha. Anyway, I'll post more when the fourth installment goes up later this month!

Meanwhile, here are some character sketches from a couple months back.

or like a logophile being allowed to make puns all day

2010-04-16T18:33:14Z

I received a wonderful something in the mail the other day. I love receiving somethings in the mail. Anythings in the mail! Except bills, get out of my mailbox, bills.

This particular something was The Silence, book of fiction extraordinaire, which sports a cover illustrated by me. I've always loved oggling book covers, and so getting to illustrate one myself is like... it's like a podophile being allowed to draw feet all day. Imagine the happiness!

Check it out over here on amazon! And by 'check it out' I mean 'put it in your cart and check it out'. In case we weren't clear. ;) I highly recommend the read!

Wrap-around magic:

In other news, I bought a new computer chair, so excuse me while I go spin around on it for hours on end. My old chair didn't spin so well.

kylavanderklugt @ 2010-03-23T22:07:00

2010-03-24T02:08:22Z

I have this thing for repetition - I love the look of similar shapes in images, all lined up. Of course, once you start drawing something like that... I mean, who wants to draw a million toilets? I do, apparently!

No really, this was actually a blast to draw. It's part of a small series, one of the things I have to put up on my website. But I want to redesign my website before I upload new work, simply because if there is new work up and a new design, I can freely apply the term 'renaissance' to it, and I really do love that word. Website, prepare to be rebirthed! Or maybe I'll just tack some bells on.

Ah and here is a doodle that has no other home! Onto the journal with you, homeless doodle.

kylavanderklugt @ 2010-02-15T21:29:00

2010-02-16T02:30:28Z

Last week, I made a fast friend. He's so smooth and cool, but his touch is warm and tingling. When I'm with him it's as if my pain disappears.

His name is Topical Analgesic. I think this is the blossoming of a long relationship.

My hand was aching a bit last week while I was finishing up a painting, probably because my studio was too cold. Someone suggested using pain relief cream, and I was so happy it worked I drew a retarded picture to express my joy!

This post is brought to you by Old Man Kyla: a cripple before her time.