Mr. Witchhunter

This is another character that, if you readers remember, I am doing for a gaming friend of mine. This character is an elf and a witchhunter. This was inspired, in part, by the pilgrims from the Salem Witch Trials, well at least the hat, anyway. This was drawn with a dip pen and waterproof ink.

Until next time...keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

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A Bibliophile's Short

Although I cannot really put into words how truly nice this short film, but...well...you know what, just watch it for yourself and you'll find out why (if you, diligent readers, are bibliophiles like me).

Do click here.

Oh Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!

This is one in a series of drawings that I am currently working on for a friend of mine. My friend is very into video games and card games (like Magic, a card game that my friends play frequently, I merely collected the cards for the illustrations). What my friend did, as a little side project for fun, was a create different profiles for different characters, this particular one is a knight, although he looks a bit like a astronaut. The inspiration for this particular character was the poem by Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky. I had always had a soft spot for this particular poem ever since I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass when I was a kid. I shall keep this post short, so, until next time.

Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Notes: this was drawn with a dip pen and waterproof ink, it shall soon be watercolor'd.

The Detective Scribbles, No. 11, Guy Noir

I know I haven't posted anything in a while, so I thought that it would seem fitting to start out with a quirky and hilarious detective, a detective by the name of Guy Noir, Private Eye. Although he isn't quite as popular as Sherlock Holmes, he makes up for it in hilarity. The character of Guy Noir was created by the modern-day Mark Twain, Garrison Keillor. Noir is, as his name stipulates, a detective that comes straight from the era of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
The character of Noir premiered in 1995 on the enjoyable radio program called "A Prairie Home Companion", which is hosted by Keillor. What I quite enjoy about the program, in general, is the down-home sort of feel to the entire program and also the pure nostalgia that one feels when hearing a program like this, comparing to the world of today with smart phones and such. The character of Noir has a small little show on the whole program, but it, like the entire show, is quite enjoyable all the same. Click here to view a small tidbit from the Guy Noir program.
The actor Kevin Kline played the humorous detective in the movie version of the radio show, aptly named A Prairie Home Companion. In short, I would highly recommend both the radio show and the movie, they are both nice, quaint little programs that always put a smile on my face, at least.
Not to worry, another "real" detective will adorn this blog soon.
Notes: This was drawn with a dip pen and waterproof ink.

The Detective Scribbles, No. 10, Ellery & Richard Queen

To start off the new year, here is a new set of detectives in "The Detective Scribbles" Series. They are the father and son duo, Ellery &, his father, Richard Queen. I quite stumbled onto these detectives when I was in dire need to find some new detectives that should adorn this series. I thought that they were quite interesting as characters, with the slightly foppish and highly educated Ellery Queen and the retired Police Inspector, his widowed father, Richard Queen. What I think is most interesting is that I think that this sort of team consisting of family is merely interesting, much like how I think that the relationship with brothers Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes is quite interesting, mainly because such a team is considered rare in the realm of Detective Fiction, at least in my opinion. Anyway, I am getting quite ahead of myself, back to the characters that this post is dedicated to...Ellery and Richard Queen.

Ellery and Richard Queen made their way into the realm of Detective Fiction in 1929 with the premiere of The Roman Hat Mystery and although the author in question also went under the pseudonym of "Ellery Queen", the author of these various mysteries were actually authors. The dandy detective was created by cousins Frederic Dannay (1905-'82) and Manfred Lee (1905-'71) (which is probably why the family portion of this detective series is so very evident, I know that I am stating the obvious, but I just thought  that it was interesting). The cousins where very fond of the stories of Doyle's character of Sherlock Holmes and this dandified detective of Ellery is basically the repercussion of such a love for the legendary character. Since the small hype for the first Ellery Queen mystery (mentioned previously) the two cousins collaborated from 1929 in over thirty books and many a short story was written including the foppish detective and his father. To have a little description of the character of Ellery, he was introduced as being a bit of a snob. He is a well-educated, well-dressed Ivy-league graduate and wore pince-nez spectacles, as if he hadn't looked pretentious enough. What is interesting, in the story structure, is that all the evidence is presented to the audience, unlike with most mysteries in which all the evidence which is presented in a quick way, but too quick for the audience to notice, or it is far too minute, and all the evidence in question is kept very close to the chest of the detective and isn't revealed until the end. This is what I find interesting, it is much like an actual puzzle in which the audience has all of the pieces before them, but it is both the detective's, as well with the audience's, task to find the culprit with the pieces before them. The Ellery Queen stories are quite interesting from both a reader's aspect and also from a critical standpoint, inviting the audience to pitch-in, so to speak, with the mystery. I would highly recommend reading some of the Ellery Queen stories due to terrific writing of the two cousins.

The character of Ellery Queen has such a towering reputation in America, he might even be like how Sherlock Holmes is to England, basically. The character of Ellery has been portrayed both on radio and the small screen. An interesting fact is that the father of one Mr. Timothy Hutton, who plays the character of Nate Ford in the TV show Leverage (which is very good indeed), and his father's name is Jim Hutton and he starred as Ellery Queen in the TV show in the 1970's. Also, and I thought that this was clever, is that in one particular episode of Leverage that is entitled "The 10 li'l Grifter's Job" in which the main characters masquerade as various characters of detective fiction, Timothy Hutton's character dressed up as Ellery Queen, in dedication to his father (which brought a smile to my face, at least). Right-o, to finish up the first post of the new year, as this series is drawings down to a close, I simply cannot wait for the last few detectives, I hope that you will enjoy their stories as much as I have.

Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Notes: The drawing was made in the same fashion as the previous ones, drawn with waterproof ink and drawn with a dip pen and pencil.