The New Banner...HUZZAH!

If you are a diligent follower to this scribbler's website, then you'll notice that there is a new banner that adorns the top of each of the pages. It is a hand drawn banner that I had created just last night, according to the date that I am writing this post. I was just thinking that the blog was getting a bit bland with the right ordinary banner with just some simple words upon it, so I decided to doodle this quickly. Posted above is the unedited version of the post that isn't cropped and lettered via the website picnik, which I have mentioned before in previous posts. It is a faithful website that I have used numerous times to make some doodles and pictures look official. The style of the banner was inspired by an artist by the name of Eric Canete, who is a truly one of my favorite illustrators, now. Needless to say, I had a truly great time doing this great collage of various things, but one of my favorites to draw was something I called the Cthulhu Hat, the bowler with tentacles, that is holding up the sign that says "Bowlers are Cool," simply because they are. I have also done some much needed updates to the site, so do tell me what you think of it in the comment section of this post.
Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Some Tintin...Well, actually Calculus

Here is the first colored picture to grace this post. Noted, it probably isn't that good, but I had fun painting one of my favorite characters in the Tintin series, the absent-minded and hard of hearing Professor Cuthbert Calculus, or, as he is known in the actual French text, Tryphon Tournesol.
This interesting little character made his first appearance in Red Rackham's Treasure in the Tintin series, the same comic the movie is based off of (see the post entitled "Nostalgia & Comics" to see the movie trailer). The inspiration for the look of Professor Calculus was from an actual person, a Swiss scientist by the name of Auguste Picard. Just as a small history lesson, Picard was a physicist and balloonist and was very tall. Herge once said that he had made Calculus a sort of "mini-Picard" because he would have to enlarge the frames if he didn't. If you would like to look further into the scientist's life click here to see the wikipedia page about Picard.
Also, as a mere side note, I realized that the character's name is actually Professor Calculus, not Doctor, but the ink had already dried before I came to that sobering fact. Most sincere apologies to those diligent readers.
Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

The Detective Scribbles, No. 2, Mister Nero Wolfe



For those devoted followers and readers to this blog, you will remember that I had sent out into the ether a little riddle. The riddle can be found in the previous post, to help reduce the rambling. Now, to continue, here is my new piece of work for the series entitled "The Detective Scribbles," and it is the corpulent American amateur detective Nero Wolfe.

For those who do not know of this colossal calculator, Nero Wolfe, here is a brief explanation. The character of Wolfe and his trusty sidekick, Archie Goodwin, came from the brain of one man by the name of Rex Stout, who was, coincidental, an Indiana native (which was a fact I didn't know about until early this summer). Stout, for those interested in his works, was born in Bloomington, Indiana, just a further explanation on the tid-bit of information given. Anyway, back to the character of Nero Wolfe. Wolfe made his first appearance sitting in his brownstone on West 35th street in 1934 in a story called Fer-de-Lance and it was well reviewed as being a work of genius. Since Wolfe's genesis was during a period known as "The Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Wolfe had more eccentricities than you could shack a stick at. For instance, Wolfe, who is described as being "a seventh of a ton" in the stories, is always punctual when it came to his meals, and his meals consisted of only the best cuisine that came from his manservant Fritz Brenner. When Wolfe was having his meals it was made clear that no one, absolutely no one, was to disturb Wolfe during his meals, which almost seems to border on the religious for any character.

Another of Wolfe's eccentricities was his absolute love of orchids. His orchidophile attitude was nearly as religious as his meals, note that I am sure that orchidophile is a severely made-up word. He tended to them as if they were family. Although these are just two of Wolfe's many eccentricities, it is true to form that Wolfe is the American version of Sherlock Holmes.

Speaking of which, you might find small, almost minute, similarities with Stout's Wolfe and Doyle's Holmes. One of which is very prominent, almost "a seventh of a ton" prominent, it is the almost uncanny resemblance to Holmes' brother Mycroft. You  could flip through the story of The Greek Interpreter and find some distinct similarities. Both of them are very, very corpulent computers, basically. It is even speculated in some circles that Wolfe is the child of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes, which could explain the resemblance. Also this could explain the similar amount of syllables in both Holmes' and Wolfe's names. But I shall quit this speculation and try to wrap this up.

To conclude this post I shall recommend that anyone interested in Crime Fiction, especially American Crime Fiction, try to find a copy of one of Rex Stout's analytical detective Nero Wolfe and his trusty sidekick Archie Goodwin, they are certainly entertaining. Click here to go to the wikipedia page about Nero Wolfe and the Wolfe stories.

Both of these drawings, sorry for the abrupt transition, were drawn with an old fashioned dip-pen that I had bought near at the beginning of the summer. I was not qutie sure which Wolfe picture to present on this blog, because I admire this character deeply, so I cut off all deliberation and decided to post both. The one at the beginning of this post was my favorite and most faithful out of the two because of the orchid, but I had accidently put Wolfe smiling, which I found to be odd since he is such a serious character, so this second one here sort of balances it out, I think, but it is a mere speculation. I shall, perhaps put some clues for the next detective in this series before the week's out, mainly because I am still deliberating which detective to draw next. If you, being, hopefully, a faithful audience, have any suggestions, please do leave them in the comment section of this post. Thanks.

Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Further Update & Some Hopeful Perseverance

Over the past couple of weeks there have been many hurtles that I hope shall come to a neat end. I am currently in the process of writing a detective/fantasy story, as well as other more important hurtles that have interrupted my correspondence. Now, with any amount of luck, I shall now be on my way to posting more little scribbles with extraneous and utterly boring explanations and such within the week. Speaking of which, this update is also a preview to the next drawing in my series that has but one doodle to its name, currently; it is the Detective Scribbles. You, hopefully being an avid reader of not only things on the Internet, but of actual books, will receive but one clue from this scribbler.

The detective's name is Roman in origin and he might remind you of a brother of another very famous detective of international renown.

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

Update...and frustration

This is merely an update and an apology due to the fact that there have been a series of technical and chronological difficulties in the new series, titled "the Detective Scribbles."
I have been cleaning and organizing various things only to find that the days are ticking away without any new pictures being scanned. I can guarantee, however, that this series will continue sometime later in the week, but otherwise, here is this picture depicting my frustration with technology nowadays. It is a small and not a very detailed drawing compared to the previous scribbles that have been posted, but it is still quite humorous to this scribbler. Thanks and keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

The Detective Scribbles, No. One, Monsieur H. Poirot

Here is the first drawing in a whole new series of doodles, entitled The Detective Scribbles. Hopefully, every week or so, I will have a new drawing that consists of a new fictional detective. This week is the most famous detective in the world, according to this character's "little gray cells," I am, of course, speaking of Monsieur Hercule Poirot, the brainchild of a very clever woman by the name of Agatha Christie. He was a Sherlock Holmes of a generation that just emerged from the first World War. This fastidious little character with his waxed moustache and seemingly infinite intellect emerged onto the literary scene in 1920 with his first adventure, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (a book that I would recommend for any bookworm who has an interest in crime fiction). Since his first adventure to his swansong in Curtain, Poirot and his fastidiousness that bordered on the obsessive compulsive had solved grand and marvelous crimes that enthralled the world because of his creator, Mrs. Christie.

He is one of my favorite fictional detectives because he's a character to sort of snicker at due his eccentricities such as how he keeps everything neat and tidy, much like his idiosyncratic moustache, and how it is said that even the slightest speck of dust would hurt more than a bullet. This little Belgian detective has had many actors who have tried to portray him on both the silver screen and the stage, but my favorite actor who has portrayed him is possibly the only one that I think could play Poirot to a T: that is the English actor by the name of David Suchet. If you have followed this particular blog with any particular interest, you will remember that I have mentioned a program called Masterpiece Mystery, which is on PBS. You will find that, at least at this present time, there is a new season of the Agatha Christie's Poirot that is currently airing, it's last episode in the season, Hollowe'en Party, is set to air...well...tonight, Sunday, July 3rd. So, to wrap up this quite lengthy post, I would highly recommend reading Christie's little Belgian detective and see his little grey cells at work, or tune into Agatha Christie's Poirot starring the quintessential actor David Suchet, if you are fans of crime fiction, I doubt that you will disappointed. Thanks for enduring the rambling. Keep a sharp eye out for my next post. (Note: I am well aware that the drawing sort of leans over, quite harshly, to one side, I am most sincerely sorry, it is the one of the faults of being right-handed.) Click here to check out this season of Agatha Christie's Poirot and also previous seasons of the program.

Bow-ties & Other little Things

 Here are some two interesting scribbles. I will provide no elaborate explanation, no metaphors or similes, I will just post these two drawings for mere enjoyment and out of sheer, bloody boredom. Enjoy and keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Ink'd Birdbrains

 Here are some semi-new doodles, I hope not to ramble, but give a brief description of each and the process as well as what medium that I used. This restful little character to the left was just something done out of boredom one day when I was fiddling with a partially secondhand calligraphy set. Now, if you have been following this blog with some deal of effort, you will recognize this meandering character. This is the very first drawing on this very blog! I have to say that it is still one of my favorites. That very drawing was done with just a regular pen and a lot of time to spare. Now this last character is very much like the first character that I have mentioned. This rather stern creature was also done out of sheer boredom and just an itch to play around with my calligraphy set. Now, with that done, I hope you enjoy these small doodles. Thanks and keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

A Simple Drawing & A Simple Story

To accompany this drawing, I will not write a novel as I have done with the previous posts, but I will do my best to summarize. Here goes. During the winter of this previous year my friends and I had a small party and were told to bring white elephant gifts. I, quite literally, made a small painting of a white elephant that was picked up by a friend of mine. Another friend then asked if I could make her another white elephant, but with a green background (the first one had a blue background). So I painted it, but for months on end I kept forgetting to give it to her. Months had passed and finally I have given her that small painting and, as a sort of apology, I made this little drawing of a white elephant in a green, and yellow, suit (note that the blue-ish colors were originally green, but after years of mixing different watercolors, they now have a blue tint). So, I shall end quite simply: here is an apology from me, mon ami, I am truthfully sorry for the delay. Keep a sharp eye out for my next post.

Books and Scribbles

 Over the summer months I have had time, quite a lot of time, actually, to go to the bookstore in town to buy some secondhand books just to keep myself occupied as the summer rolls onward. One of the books that I have purchased is a children's book called Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear, but what I hadn't realized was that it was illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, an illustrator who I greatly admire. If you have not heard of Mr. DiTerlizzi and his work then here are a few of his pieces of work. He is mostly famed for his collaboration with author Holly Black with the series The Spiderwick Chronicles, which are lavishly and quite creatively done. Another is The Spider and the Fly, it is a delightfully macabre poem that was written by Mary Howitt and illustrated by Mr. DiTerlizzi. He is, in short, one of my favorite illustrators that is still in the land of the living and if you want to try to take a personal gander at his work before purchasing any of it go to his website here, I will grant that you will not be sorry.
To get back on track, this small scribble of the man with the camera was inspired by one of the characters that was in Dinosaur Summer, the main character of the book, if I am correct. To briefly summarize the book it is set in the thirties in America, but it isn't the world that we are all familiar with, it is set in the same world that was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It isn't Sherlock Holmes' bustling world of London, though, it from one of his more strict characters, Professor Edward Challenger. For those not familiar with this particular character, he is a bearded, brutish man who finds an island that is inhabited with dinosaurs, this story of Mr. Bear's is very similar in that regard. It is a great adventure story about dinosaurs, fictional and otherwise, and film-making as well, I would recommend it to anyone who has time to kill.
This regally bowing character to the right here was inspired by one of my favorite stories when I was growing up, and it still is, it is Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Although this very much looks like a mouse, I always sort of thought that it was Rat from the whimsical story. Granted that I didn't truly doodle him to be a spitting image of Rat from the story, I enjoyed doodling it all the same.
This last and final scribble in this post needs no real introduction, mainly because it has his name clearly scribbled upon it. This is just a small doodle of one of the most eccentric sleuths in detective fiction, Monsieur Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's famous brainchild. Although he may not be the quintessential Poirot with the messy and owl-like eyebrows, it started out as merely as an experiment. I have recently gotten a dip pen with different nibs as well as a practically brand new bottle of ink. This small scribble was mainly the result of me experimenting with that particular pen on a scrap piece of watercolor paper.
I know that I may have crammed three new drawings into one post, but finally I shall quit rambling and end...keep a sharp eye out for my next post.