The Lady Mermen volleyball team took State back in '05.

"The administration could not have chosen a more inappropriate mascot."

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The Spirit, Rather Than the Letter

For two months now, I haven't felt like drawing anything. I dunno why. Zach sent me some captions. I'm just lazy.

Anyway, in the spirit of blog, namely me co-opting Zach's creativity as my own, I present the following images as possible artwork for a cover album that desperately needs to happen.

These first two go together as the cover and insert. The patterns are from photos Zach took at his bandmate's grandma's house. The design is entirely my own.




For this next one, I took the same photos and inserted them into a squiggly drawing that Zach had done:



So let's all peer pressure Zach into recording some covers so that Patterns From Grandma's House can actually happen. Anyone have any ideas for songs in the public domain?

Happy belated Hitchcock's birthday!

While having nothing to do with Nulla Dies per se, I felt I owed it to the guy to pay my respects. I wouldn't have a thesis (which I very recently completed!) without him. Thank you.

And I did, too!

And she had done the whole thing with eyes closed.

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Silhouettes, Version 2.0

At twilight, the trees became, much like the lovers themselves, simply silhouettes.

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Like the Postal Service song?

The trees became, much like the lovers themselves, simply silhouettes.

Not the most readable thing I've ever done...but maybe that wasn't the point.

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Thank you, Mr. Gorey.

Neither of them could ascertain what was buried there.

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Rewriting Dialogue

"No, I don't imagine I'm the type to get into the saving business. Regardless, you don't look like the type that needs saving."

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Subtext

He forced every rhyme; she loved every line.

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Don't pretend you haven't thought about this, too.

While not inspired by any specific caption, this series was born out of an offhand remark I made to Zach. I think it fits with the spirit of the blog.

And now: Thank you, Mr. Mucha.

"Jillian played the glockenspiel."

Inspiration here.

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Thanks, Mr. Lichtenstein

"We can't stop here, darling! Look at the sky--there's not even a sun!"

In addition to Roy Lichtenstein, whom I was consciously imitating, there's also a degree of Daria in this illustration, though unintentionally.

I love obvious halftone.

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Left to my own devices

"He needed a nice, boring girl whose conception of the avant garde consisted of haphazard outfits and misused substantives."

Zach went away for the weekend to pursue cases of foreign intrigue, and I was left to fend for myself. The caption I wrote didn't inspire me, oddly enough, so the drawing is very minimal.

Here's the track list, since that's what really sells it:

The Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
1234 - Feist
Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches
New Slang - The Shins
Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

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I hate your calamari-themed dress, as well.

Her sense of propriety prevented her from elaborating.

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Welcome to your subconscious.

Colin was, more accurately, the man from her dreams.

Inspiration taken from here. Men are hard to draw.

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Nice ass, indeed.

A quick peek through Angelina's unmentionables confirmed what Jake had suspected about her political affiliations.

This is Zach's first post to the blog.  Kerry sent me the caption and I had a few days to consider it.  The Obama underwear might be a cheap joke, but I'm pretty proud that I got him to wink and smile smarmily.

Ultimately, it was this disparity in cloud-shape formation that led to the breakdown of Robert & Petunia's relationship.

(He's saying, "That one looks like your mother! Hehe... Right, baby?")

I hate to follow up the awesomeness of the last drawing with the lukewarmness of this one, which I'm not very happy with. The caption is great, and it might be one of those that is more evocative without the image. Instead, I rob it of its potential for multiple interpretations, and all for a cheap mother-in-law joke. I'm nothing if not destructive, though, so there you have it.

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But look for the return of The Librarinator in Issue #38: "Overdue Fees of Death!"

Onomatopoeia Man saves the day again!

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Who doesn't love a metatext?

So many details were hardly necessary.

...Especially when you eschew important things like alignment and spacing! Oh well.

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I have seen the fnords

Of all the slang the tween crowd had appropriated from his sizeable lexicon, this pleased Randall the most.

References for images: here, here, and here.

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Happy Hump Day.

But it wasn't a human after all--it was Mr. Jingles!

Observations:

1. I watched a lot of Yellow Submarine as a child.
2. I could have spent more time on the human suit. I don't even know if it reads as what it was intended to be. Meh.
3. For someone who spent the last 4 years drawing nothing but letters, I sure can't seem to get motivated to put any effort into it now.

Lately I've been devoted to solving the mystery of how to use my new colored pencils, thus the dearth of drawings. Zach's been keeping up his end of the bargain with new captions. Blame me.

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Saturday Night Quickie

Never before had Beatrix been so haunted by l'esprit d'escalier.

1. It occurred to me after I had drawn this that it would have been funnier if the ghost had said "BOOOOOOOOOOTS."

2. Would a ghost leave a shadow on the stairs? After much debate, I decided he would.

3. Anyone who spent as much time watching Mark Kistler's Imagination Station as I did in my youth should be able to draw better stairs. Also, I never know where my light source is coming from.

4. Easter egg for the superfans: Flax Art & Design bag on the left; Netflix envelope (Grey Gardens [the original]) on the right.

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Cheshire Cat-induced PTSD?

It was the teeth. My God, always the teeth.

Who else would be so traumatized by teeth but Alice?

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It may have been Latin, but it was still a tramp stamp.

Caveat utilitor: Let the user beware. (The sheer misogyny of the image and this phrase specifically didn't strike me until I started inking it at a hipster coffee shop...whoops.)
O tempora o mores: Oh time, oh morals.
Omnia dicta fortiori si dicta Latina: Everything is stronger when said in Latin.
Nulla dies sine linea: No day without a line. (The new rallying cry of this project)

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It was the teeth. My God, always the teeth.

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