Artstuff: Panel Jumper
Behold the Panel Jumpers – Cole Hornaday and Ben Laurance. They produce a series of videos and podcasts focusing on comics and comics history. Cole is generally the face in front of the camera and voice behind the microphone. Their videos are minimovies that both educate and entertain. Besides the youtube channel they also do a live show called, not surprisingly, Panel Jumper Live. For each of the PJLs they commission a local artist to do their portraits. I was honored to be asked to create their portraits for their upcoming June 22nd show.

Above is a scan of my original black and white drawing. Cole and Ben are both fans of the Mad Max series so I put them in post-apocalyptic gear. After the apocalypse the survivors with have fabulous outfits and fascinating hair styles. It’s true.

The image below is my first finished color portrait.

I did a second version after Cole asked me to make the Panel Jumper logo red. A perfectly reasonable request. That’s the color it normally is. I had gone with blue because I thought it worked better with the background.

With a red logo I adjusted some ot the other colors and the image below is the final result.
At this writing no one is sure if the scheduled PJL will happen. Plagues mess up all kinds of plans. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Story Seed #39: Alternate H & Ws

African American Holmes and Watson
Korean Holmes and Watson
Congolese Holmes and Watson
Cyberpunk Holmes and Watson
Wild West Holmes and Watson
Medieval China Holmes and Watson
1950s Noir Female Holmes and Watson
Anytime/Anywhere Holmes and Watson

Arthur Conan Doyle created a solid story formula in his Sherlock Holmes adventures. A genius detective and loyal friend solve mysterious crimes. The detective is kind of misanthropic and weird, the friend is more normal and relateable to the general reader. Add in the Baker Street Irregulars, Detective LeStrade, Mrs. Hudson the long suffering housekeeper, Mycroft the spymaster, the Woman and arch nemesis Professor Moriarty and you have a template for a series of mystery suspense stories.

The formula has been used many, many, many times by many, many authors over the years. Some folks have just changed a few details and given the characters new names. Others have gotten permission from the Doyle estate and written new adventures. Some versions have modernized the setting. Some have tweaked the characters ages or relationships. Generally the new versions don’t stray too far from the original. Sherlock Holmes stays male and stays British.

But the formula doesn’t require the genius detective and the loyal friend to be British or male or to take place in Victorian England. The brilliance and resiliance of the formula is that an author could pick any setting and with a few adjustments make the formula fit. It’s been done a few times. Watson & Holmes. Miss Sherlock. Baker Street. There’s room for a lot more takes.

Pick a setting. Start playing.

Other Newsletters

Nothing Here is a newsletter spearheaded by author, Corey J. White. He has regular and guest contributors and a wide focus discussing and linking to various articles, podcasts, videos, newsletters and other interesting things. I like this newsletter for the variety and for originating out of Australia. I think better when I get perspectives from outside the US.

Lifestuff: Coronapocalypse Days

Unlike cinematic apocalypses, fashion during the Coronapocalypse is pretty staid. Mask and gloves on top of whatever you’d normally wear.

Functional. Hopefully.

I spent Sunday doing some spring cleaning and organizing. I’ve been letting things pile up for years. I can ignore stacks of books or art or paperwork for long periods of time. Last week I had taken time to clean off the top of one of our flat file cabinets. I’d expected that job to take longer than it did and was relieved at how quickly it had gone. I’d uncovered some art that I’d forgotten that I’d done. That’s always entertaining.

I’ve got plans for reorganizing our library/studio space but it’s a big job that will involve moving hefty pieces of furniture. I’m not ready for that yet. I tackled smaller jobs. Took out the recycling. Packed up the old Mac Mini. Set aside the two backup hard drives. Cleaned off the table that the Mac had been occupying. Covered the table again with art and art supplies that had been on the floor in the spare room. Recycled some process art – blueline and reference images. Stirred up a lot of dust.

Emptied the shelves in the pantry. Checked the “best by” dates on various cans and boxes. Looked online for evidence whether the food in some of those containers would still be edible. Kept the stuff that was only two years past the date. Five year and older got opened and dumped in compost. Returned to shelves the remaining items. Hey! I can walk around in the pantry now!

Monday, yesterday, Sabe went to the vet for blood tests. Hopefully we’ll get good news. He’s been suffering his own fashion crises lately. We got him a sweater because he’s lost weight and also taken to sleeping behind Sarah’s nephews gaming machine. Where it’s warm. He’s adapted to the new garment with grace. In the midst of the above (and other more mundane activity) I’ve continured to work on illustrations. I’ll post the commissioned work when appropriate and the practice work in between the archived stuff I’ve been finding.

I hope things are going well for all y’all out there. I make it through the hours by remembering that change is the constant of life. Sometimes I can direct the change. Sometimes I just need to ride things out. Feel free to write. I’ll do my best to answer. Take care!