Jason Young Fortnight’s a big fan of autobiographical mini-comics. One of those is a diary comic called You Don’t Get There From Here. Guess what? I’ve never read it. But I do not particularly enjoy autobio minicomics not called Veggie Dog Saturn. But that’s just me. Anyhoo, he asked me to draw the subject of YDGTFH, the comic’s author Carrie McNinch. Y’know, an actual person. Which is weird. But, it’s his Fortnight. I didn’t want to draw her in the same style as she draws herself, so I had to try to draw an actually cartoon likeness, which is among my least favorite things to do, ever. This is probably very negative sounding to Carrie, but I don’t wish it to be. I just don’t like drawing actual people. I’m, whattayasay… bad at it. Carrie and Jason have been pen pals for a while, trading comics and art. Jason and I met Carrie briefly in Chicago a few years ago at a small press con. She seemed very nice.
068 – Carrie McNinch
067 – Concrete
Jason, of Jason Young Fortnight fame, forced me to read a Concrete comic a few years ago, and I loved it. I then went out and bought a couple of the trades. Haven’t read ’em! I’m awful. I loved drawing this, though. This is also the second time Jason has requested Concrete from me. I’m not sure what he expects me to do that I’m apparently not getting right.
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Speaking of mild-mannered, smart men trapped in inhuman bodies, I watched The Incredible Hulk last night, as part of my “let’s catch up to The Avengers 2” plan. I didn’t like it when I first watched it, and now seeing again in the light of 10 other films, it truly is the worst Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. Sure, that could be me saying “It’s good, just not as good as the rest!” But I’m not. It’s also just a terrible movie in general. The whole thing is poorly cast, the plot is paper thin, and – what should be the showcase for this type of movie – the special effects are awful. The Hulk looks like a cartoon of a rotten taffy puppet. He’s also inconsistent in size and shape everytime he appears. The character is also more of a sad-sack than he is raging monster.
William Hurt gives a more monsterous performance, though blustery and over-the-top. Ed Norton is… okay. He’s a good actor and he gives Banner a decent charm, but I’ve also never been as in love with Norton as most people are. Liv Tyler is tissue paper. Tim Roth is… sweaty. Tim Blake Nelson does a nice job with a thankless role as the future (and never will happen) Leader. And then there’s poor Ty Burrell. He does well in his two scenes as the sadly unnamed boyfriend to Betty Ross. Well, I know his name. It’s Doctor Leonard Samson, and the very least we can do is honor him by remembering that. His name is Leonard Samson. His name is Leonard Samson. HIS NAME IS LEONARD SAMSON!
066 – Pig Iron
Jason Young Fortnight should be a band name, like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Remember when that insisted on being something? Oh, the 90s. I love you, I miss you, but you were awful. Anyhoo. Pig Iron is from Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew. I believe he is in the aforementioned Crew of Zoo. As will be a recurring sub-theme within the Jason Young Fortnight, I never read CCatZC. At least I’ve heard of it. That said, I drew Captain Carrot not too long ago, and then drawing Pig Iron, I kinda loved the whole experience. I actually spent a lot of time on Pig Iron here. I recall drawing this while at work, in a Tim Hortons waiting for my girlfriend, at a Subway while getting my oil changed, at home, at drawing night, at my folks’ house, at my girlfriend’s house. I lived with Pig Iron for a while. And now you will too. Do it. Live with it. Make it your desktop wallpaper. In hindsight, I should have scheduled this for Easter. Ham.
065 – G.I. Robot
It’s a Fortnight of Jason Young proportions. And here we have G.I. Robot, and I had never seen or heard of this character before drawing it. Even after reading up on him while doing this sketch, I still don’t get it. So there we go. G.I. Robot, everybody.
064 – Frank
Jason Young Fortnight, Day 4. It’s also Easter sunday. Jason didn’t request the easter bunny, but he did request Jim Woodring’s FRANK, who, I guess, could kinda be easter bunny-ish. If you squint really hard. And are on the drugs. I’ve only read one of Jim Woodring’s books and kinda hated it, but I can’t deny the man is an amazing artist. I’mma go google his giant fountain pen and see how that worked… hold on…
Apparently he made it, and it works.
Happy Easter!
063 – Longshot
It’s the Jason Young Fortnight, and you’ll just have to live with it. So here we have Longshot (sans mullet). I like Longshot. I couldn’t tell you why. He was an X-Man, but not really a mutant. His mini was drawn by a newcomer Art Adams before he was ART ADAMS. He had a spiky blonde mullet. And, well, quite frankly just never fit in with anything. Yet everyone loves Longshot. Seriously. Even my non-comic-reading girlfriend loves Longshot. Maybe that’s his “mutant” luck power. That everyone likes him but doesn’t know why.
062 – Bighead
Jason Young Fortnight plows forward! Here we have Jeffrey Brown’s superhero, Bighead. I own a couple issues of Sulk which features Bighead, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them. Or really, much anything else by Jeffrey Brown for that matter. Met the guy a couple times, seems like a heck of a nice dude. He corresponds with Jason on ocassion. I certainly like his art and respect his work.
061- Deathray
Today begins my first theme of 2015: Jason Young Fortnight! Jason is one of my closest friends (Physically. He lives about a half mile away). He has been one of my biggest supporters, he has been there for me emotionally for many years and I love him like a brother. He’s made some requests over the years of the Sketch-a-Day, but while I have devoted theme weeks to other friends of mine, I have not done so for Jason. That gets rectified now! The next fourteen days are all Jason Young requests!
First up, Dan Clowes’ Deathray! I loved this issue of Eightball, and was happy to draw the character. So, a while back, I mentioned to my girlfriend that I maybe had an urge to color something with crayons. She went out and bought a 64 pack of Crayola’s that then sat on her bookshelf completely unused. She would – on ocassion – bug me about using the crayons and how she bought me crayons and why haven’t I used the crayons yet? As I was drawing Deathray, I decided, hey, I’ll use those crayons. Fun was had! Crayons.
By the dubs, don’t forget to check out Jason’s own spectacular blog o’ art.
060 – Foolkiller
Happy April Fools’ Day. The flamboyantly-dressed man with sea-shell adornments and an incinerator gun would like a word with you.
