Accidental Tech Podcast - John Siracusa Paper Doll

The John Siracusa Paper Doll that I posted on Monday was a talking point at the start (like, 0:45 seconds in) of episode 145 of the Accidental Tech Podcast hosted by Casey Liss, Marco Arment and John Siracusa himself. I'm chuffed about this.

ATP is one of the biggest (certainly amongst those with an Apple bent) and best tech podcasts around. I've listened from the start and have followed the work of each of the hosts for years. Hearing them talk about one of my dumb drawings was weird (in an embarrassing, everyone-is-looking-at-me kinda way), but mostly really cool*.

Have a listen, subscribe if you haven't already. There's a good chance you'll like it.

So big thanks to the ATP guys and hello to any new readers / followers that I might've picked up. I look forward to irritating you until you eventually unsubscribe.

* Casey pronounced my name correctly too. That doesn't happen often.

John Siracusa Paper Doll

This is the nerdiest thing I've ever done.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Reconcilable Differences, a podcast on Relay.fm hosted by Merlin Mann and John Siracusa.

During a conversation about clothes on episode 14, Merlin suggested to the audience that they maybe make a paper doll of John so that he could get a makeover without actually getting a makeover. John didn't seem too thrilled with the idea but it sounded like fun so, y'know, sorry John*.

These days, most of my illustrations exist as thoroughly layered Photoshop files - keeping things flexible can be useful when a client asks you to move things around. I figured that a paper doll would be a natural fit for this way of working and, with the exception of a few fiddly bits, it proved pretty straightforward.

So I battered out an unflattering drawing of J-Sir (again, sorry!) and spent an hour or two on the lightbox fitting him with some clothes and things. Scan it all into Photoshop, add a bit of colour and that's a pretty productive Saturday night right there. I know how to party when I need to.

I had planned to add more outrageous items of clothing to the collection but, honestly, I was already plenty embarrassed that I was playing dress up with a man from a podcast. Putting him in a Darth Vader suit wasn't going to make either of us look any cooler. Most of the clothes are things described in the episode, I guess the makeover will have to wait.

You can download a PSD version of the paper doll over here (there's a fully knolled-out illustration on that page too). Turn different layers on and off to create different outfits. Feel free to add to it and share it around.

If people like it, I'll probably revisit the Siracusa doll sometime in the future. Drawing more clothes doesn't take long and it might be cool to try out some different ideas. If you have any requests or feedback, let me know on Twitter or in the comments below and I'll see what I can do.

* A note to JS - if you see this and really don't like this stupid thing that I've made, I'll take it down right away. I know it's weird.

Funny Numbers - I'm Alan Partridge

This is an excerpt from the I’m Alan Partridge, 'Alan Attraction' DVD commentary where Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham talk about 'funny' numbers. I've always found it tremendously insightful.

1. I love that comedy writers, good ones at least, even think about this stuff.
2. They're right. 50 is funnier than 37. 37 is a try-hard number. 37 is the definitive 'random' number. 37 sucks the fun outta the room.

Here's an excerpt from a GQ interview with Kevin Smith, to really hammer the point:

GQ: Speaking of hockey, why do you wear the number 37 on your jersey?

Kevin Smith: That was the number in Clerks when Veronica, she'd sucked 36 dicks, and then Dante was like, "Thirty-six!" And he's like, "Does that include me?" She goes, "37." And he's like "I'm 37! 37! My girlfriend sucked thirty-seven dicks!" And my friend from high school, Mike Belicose says, "In a row?"

GQ: Was that number chosen randomly?

Kevin Smith: I knew a girl who I was very familiar with who had given twelve blowjobs, and I thought that, at that age, was excessive. So for [Veronica's] number to do something that would kinda shock Dante, I looked for a number that was high, but not ridiculous. And I talked to a lot of my friends that were girls, like, "Hey man, how many fucking blowjobs you think you've given?" And once you get them past the lie, you get to numbers that usually were in the double digits. But the highest one was maybe 28 or something like that. And I was like, "Good god!" So I was like, "I'll go for 37 because that's out there but not too out there." Fifty would just seem like too much. Thirty-seven seemed like a doable fucking number.

And everyone knows how funny Kevin Smith is. He uses 37 everywhere. He even brings up 50 as a counter example for Christ's sake. Get outtahere Kevin Smith, go sit with the Birds of a Feather guys.

For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of 100 but I worry I'm trying too hard in the opposite direction.

Beth Dawson - Getaway

Getaway, a comic by friend Beth was shortlisted for the Cape Observer Comica Graphic Short Story Prize 2015. She didn't win (screw those guys) but that's by-the-by, it's a beautiful piece of work. Make sure you read to the end*.

A high-res PDF version is available on Beth's site. Share it around if you can, it deserves a wide audience.

Beth's other work is equally amazing - comics, illustration, animation and jewellery. Follow her on Twitter (@bethmadethis) and on Facebook (Bethmadethis). You can also read an interview with her (by me) from last November when she came runner-up in the COCGSSP 2014 with her comic After Life.

* Sorry for going all clickbaity, but you'll see what I mean.

Pissed Modernism

I'm very happy to say that I'm part of Pissed Modernism, a group show opening tonight (16th Oct) in Edinburgh.

Everyone involved is great: Want Some Studio, Ursula Cheng, Ben Rider, Jane Stockdale, Devin Wallace, George Douglas, Lucky Budgie, Emer Tumilty, Anneloes Brunt, Fraser Gray and Conzo Throb.

At the opening party there'll be beer from Edinbrew (it's also BYOB, so go nuts), a charity auction of beer bottles with custom labels and the chance to say hello to the artists (and maybe buy something?). Pissed Modernism'll run for a week at Gayfield Whitespace.

Full details:

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Pissed Modernism
A group show featuring 12 artists.

Gayfield Whitespace
11 Gayfield Square
Edinburgh, EH1 3NT

Runs: 16th - 21st October 2015
Opening party: 16th October, 6-9pm
Free entry!

Pissed Modernism on Facebook.

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Come along if you can. I've put together some new work, some old work and some bits and bobs on the merch table. Say hello. Righto, I gotta go catch a train to Edinburgh.

Big cheers to Marco for sorting everything out.

Carbs

Carbs, AKA Jonnie Common and Jamie Scott, released their debut album Joyous Material Failure yesterday. It comes in a pizza box and it's very good. Here's a review to prove it.

Going by other articles, I'm now meant to say something about Scottish hip-hop and how crazy a prospect that might (or might not) be but och, you're a smart cookie. I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself. The video for Life Drawing is a good starter:

The official album launch is tonight (Saturday 12th September) at the Glad Cafe in Shawlands. I wholeheartedly recommend you come along. J&J are fantastic live and the Glad is a brilliant venue. Don't be scared of the Southside. It's, what, 5 minutes on the train from Central? C'mon.

Support comes from PHOENE and Sham Gate who are new to me. DJ Miaoux Miaoux is playing tunes too. He's old to me. Christ, he's old.

If this appeals, you should follow @carbsinjection on Twitter, check out the Save As Collective and commit to coming to the gig tonight on the Facebook event page. Here's Jonnie's new video for Stick a Flake in Me (I’m Done) as a prize for getting to the end.

Oh, and here's a couple of big versions of my drawing: Jonnie on top / Jamie on top.

Studio Stuff

I've been taking pictures of odds-and-ends around my studio for a while and putting them on Instagram. Now that I've got 16 of them, I can make a 4x4 grid and put that on Instagram. The photos are a bit inconsistent when viewed together. That's fine, I wasn't planning anything like this when I started.

Since this is a blog, and since I feel like it, I'll talk about the objects in more detail:

1. Charlie Brown figure - I found this in Forbidden Planet on Buchanan St. years ago. He's a comforting presence and will likely follow me everywhere. (seems to be the Great Pumpkin version)

2. Goblins - I was big into Games Workshop when I was 10 and I periodically paint miniatures to see if I still can. These goblins are from Black Scorpion. I had planned to paint a full Blood Bowl team but got bored halfway through.

3. Glass duck thing - Came from my mum and dad's attic. I remember this lying about the house when I was little. No idea. I keep badges in it these days.

4. Aberfeldy 'Ramble' Whisky - I designed the label for this limited edition bottle of Aberfeldy in 2013. One of the coolest things I've done. They occasionally pop up at auctions for a nice price. The whisky gets good reviews too.

5. Lump o' Tarmac - I nicked this piece of the old Stirling skatepark when it was being rebuilt a few years back. I wrote a thing about it at the time. Loved that place.

6. Captain Red Beard - My most favourite Lego minifigure ever from my second most favourite Lego set*, the Dark Shark**. The feather isn't an official part of his get-up, but it gives him some flare.

7. Silent Monitor - My mum brought me this back from New Lanark. It's a wooden block that mill superintendents would use to report on the performance of workers. Black for bad, yellow for good etc.

8. Turtles Plaque My gran gave me this when I was mad into the Turtles. She was great at keeping an eye out for things I'd like. She once bought me a massive slab of wax because she knew I used it for skateboarding.

9. Argos Team Badge - I worked in Argos for years. The most common item sold during my time there was 875/7049 (Stirling was a student town, figured the clothes rails were for moving in to new digs). Never once wore this badge.

10. Orcs - Converted these from a set of Warhammer Black Orcs for the aforementioned Blood Bowl Team. Pleased with the wee numbers I added to their shoulder pads.

11. Christmas Lego - My mum bought me the pretty spiffy Lego advent calendar. You'd get a different scene each day. This only comes out in December, obvs.

12. Lego Santa - Despite appearing 4 times on this list, I'm not that into Lego. I've rebuilt a couple of my old sets and dug out some of my favourite minifigs but I don't buy new sets or anything. This Santa (again from the advent calendar) is dope though.

13. Lego iPhone Dock Probably don't need to write any more about this.

14. Moses? - Just guessing, I've no idea who he is. No idea where he came from either. Cool wee thing. Shame about the broken staff.

15. Fingers Crossed (mini) - Awesome handmade hand by my mate Jen's Bolden Ceramics. A birthday gift from Alex. So cool I gave it its own shelf.

16. Petit Cyclist - Another birthday gift from Alex. Spotted in a shop window in the Merchant City (forget the name, will update if I remember). It reminded me of Bretodeau’s box.

I've tons more junk lying around that I'll likely share. Follow me on Instagram if that's your bag. I try to put some effort into it and I'm quite proud of some of my photos.

* My favourite being 6066-1.
** More commonly known as the Black Seas Barracuda (the US name).

Guilty Pleasures Podcast

In this episode Glasgow based artist David Galletly nervously tells us his guilty pleasures!

I did a podcast.

A week or so ago I had a wee Twitter conversation with Philip Larkin about his appearance on the Guilty Pleasures Podcast. Shortly afterwards, Stuart Tompsun (the host) got in touch to ask if I'd like to record an episode. I would like to record an episode, thanks very much.

You can listen to it via the embedded Soundcloud player above, on the Guilty Pleasures Soundcloud page itself or, best of all, by adding it to your podcast app of choice via searching or on iTunes.

While I'm not particularly pleased with my performance (I didn't hold the mic properly, I ramble, my voice is torturous), I am proud that I was brave enough to have a go. I listen to a lot of podcasts and kinda felt like I had to, I dunno, live up to something rather than just have a chat.

Anyway, that's by-the-by. Though I don't care about what I have to say, you might. And if you do, you'll maybe be looking for more information on the stuff we talked about. Not being one to let an opportunity for painstakingly gathering links pass me by, here are extensive show notes from episode 10 of the Guilty Pleasures Podcast:

Our Stuff

• My animation for Pringle
• Some of my illustrations for Wired
• My stop-motion video for Kid Canaveral
• Stuart's stop-motion video for Shambles Miller
• One of the many Skate 3 videos I made.
• The Survival in the City post I wrote a while back

Animation

• It’s Such a Beautiful Day by Don Hertzfeldt
• The Red and the Blue - Italian animation, not French. My mistake. Also nothing to do with Pingu.
• Don Hertzfeldt’s Simpsons couch gag
• Banksy’s Simpsons couch gag
• Sylvain Chomet’s Simpsons couch gag
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - I had seen this before. Forgot in the heat of the podcast.
• Piece and Pound Coins by Swatpaz (above)

People

• Swatpaz - the best, Jerry.
• @KatoAbes aka TheBoldKato, aka Mrs. Swatpaz
• Limmy on Vine
• Philip Larkin on Vine
• Lizzy Stewart - illustrator based in London

Muppets & Puppets

• Jim Henson making puppets
• Jim Henson's memorial
• Kermit And Fozzy Meet Cows
• Elmo makes Holly Willoughby cry
• Big Bird learns about death
• Ricky Gervais and Elmo
• Zig & Zag
• Mr. Blobby with Wayne Sleep
• Barry Killerby
• Blobbyland, the abandoned theme park
• Gordon the Gopher
• Ed the Duck with Andi Peters.

Music

• Murder on The Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis Bexter
• Jonnie Common - Crumbs
• Carbs - Life Drawing (above)
• Lil' Dicky - Bruh
• Inquisitive Podcast #50: Favourite Album: Bryan Irace and 'Kid-A'

Misc

• Presstube screensaver - I use this on my computer
• French Girls - Take selfies, get drawings.
• All This Mayhem - Tas Pappas Documentary
• Tony Hawk - The 900
• Gizzi Espresso in Shawlands

Think that's all of them.

Guilty Pleasures is a great wee podcast - Stuart does a brilliant job at getting his guests to open up. As a good starting point, have a listen to this week’s episode with David Ferguson (aka Swatpaz). He's less painful than me.

Saying that, now that I've taken my first step, I'm tempted to have a go at making a podcast of my own. It'd probably be good for my growing inability to talk to other people. Would anyone out there listen (if I got better at it)?

*crickets*

Cheers Stuart for having me on.

Birthday Thankyous

Working from home makes you weird. And, if you're already weird, working from home makes you weirder. It's one of the downsides of a pretty good gig.

After 3 years of full-time self-employment, the isolation has had a noticeable effect. I've got, like, bad at interacting with people. I'm not bloody Gollum, but I'm rusty and I worry that I'm boring for people to put up with.

'I've got no pals' is a half-joke I have with Alex whenever she's busy and I can't face going to something alone. It's not true, but when you've only spoken to two people all month (my wife and the postman), it can be easy to forget that other folk might actually wanna hang out.

Anyway, that's a long way of getting to my birthday, which recently happened. It was a good birthday.

First up, I thought I was turning 33 when I was really turning 32. So even though I technically did get older, in reality, I didn't. I beat the system.

Second, I got a treasure hunt. An hour-long treasure hunt for presents on my 33rd* birthday. When did you last do a treasure hunt on your birthday? You were probably 8. My wife is better than yours.

Alex's plan was elaborate. Clues led into cupboards and under floorboards. Sometimes I'd find a present, sometimes another clue and sometimes a little challenge. I smashed a piñata, I lucky dipped, I broke eggs, I exhibited at the GOMA.

Bucks Fizzin'

Best of all, Alex asked a bunch of my friends and family to improvise video clues that played at points along the way. This caught me by surprise (see the aforementioned 'I've got no pals' bit).

I'm not going to share the clips here, but I'd like to thank everyone who made one. I'm really touched. Cheers: Mum & Dad, Jen & Alan, Hilary, Johnny Lynch, Stuart, Concetta & Shawn, Frank & Nicky, Kim & Del, Rory. They meant a lot.

Special mentions to Mark, who got the biggest laugh with 3(!) videos of impressions of Alex and me; Jonnie, who sang a song. Fergi; who did his in the bath (props on the strategic camerawork, Katie); Lynne, who got Bruno involved; and Fiona & Ian for their mini-epic, The Godfather-In-Law, recorded in Sicily.

So, aye, thanks to my pals for being my pals. Thanks for the presents. Thanks if you sent a card, a message or a tweet. Sorry I'm a bit rubbish these days.

Cheers Alex x

*32nd!

Alone at IKEA

I've cycled to IKEA to size up some bits & pieces for a job. Since it's dinnertime, I'm eating my dinner. Since it's IKEA, I'm eating meatballs.

Eating alone at IKEA is quite nice. Like a big coffee shop. I could sit here all day using the free WIFI and I don't imagine anyone would bother. It's a bit lonely, though.

This photo is my meatballs flipped and arranged using the new Layout app from Instagram. I've never posted anything to my blog from my phone before but I liked how this turned out so I thought I'd give it a go.

Reconcilable Differences Podcast

Reconcilable Differences is a new Relay.fm podcast hosted by John Siracusa and Merlin Mann. It launched yesterday. I was so excited that I drew a picture.

John Siracusa, who I've drawn before, is a longtime favourite podcaster of mine. I first heard him on Hypercritical and have followed him through Neutral to ATP. He's a picky guy (by picky, I mean two whole episodes on video game controllers and a 3 hour conversation about Goodfellas picky) who talks a lot of sense.

Merlin Mann's Back to Work was incredibly helpful to me when I had a job I really hated. I don't think I'd have had the confidence to go full-time as an illustrator without listening to episodes like Failing with Style on my miserable morning cycle to the office. His other podcasts, You Look Nice Today and Roderick on the Line are also great.

John and Merlin have occasionally talked about things like Totoro and Toy Story over on the incomparable, um, The Incomparable podcast, but having them together on the regs is gonna be a treat. Cheers to the folks at Relay for making it happen (co-founders Myke and Stephen seem like the nicest dudes in the world. I'm stoked for them).

Reconcilable Differences is pencilled in for 10 episodes over the summer and episode 1, We All Ruined It Together is a brilliant start. I'm already hoping that they'll keep going longer. Give it a listen.

ps. There's a big version of the artwork over here.

What I Wore Today (in 1996)

A wee WIWT drawing from my sketchbook.

I was 13 in 1996. This meant I was too young for Britpop and too old for the Spice Girls. I didn't like football either. I was a dork. And, like any good dork in the mid-90s, I got swept up in the big rollerblading boom and dressed the part for 4 years.

Though it's not a period I'm particularly proud of, I'm happy to have grown out of my awkward phase before nu metal came along and really stank up the place.

Lego iPhone Dock

There's a cable situation on my desk. I'll not go into the full extent of it now*, but I reckon I can fix some the problems with Lego. This Mother's Day, I filled a biscuit tin with grey and white bricks from my childhood stash when I was home visiting.

My first project was to build a dock for my iPhone. Nothing fancy, just something I could easily sit my phone in to let it charge while I'm working.

Building a structure to hold a phone isn't difficult, but keeping the stupid Lightning cable in place is a bit of a fiddle. Like lots of things from Apple, it's tiny, smooth and featureless - not the easiest when your materials are also tiny, smooth and featureless. No cheating with cable-ties or paper clips or any of that nonsense either.

Nailed it.

Voila! My patented cable-holder. It works like a charm. The connector can't push down because of the little clasps, it can't pull out because the grey pegs lock the cable in place, and it can't rotate because it's held tight by part 4590**.

As an added bonus, the wee peg system forced me to leave the front of the dock open to save space. I think the exposed cable looks neat.

The rest of the dock is less inspired, but it'll do for now. I've jazzed it up with grass and flowers (and a parrot), but when I get over the novelty, I'll likely strip things back to a simple white block that matches my desk.

Hey look, I'm writing this post.

To take strain off of the Lightning connector, the phone fits snugly in a trench between the flat grey plates. The whole thing is also tilted slightly by a couple of 'feet' at the front so the backboard takes some of the weight. When I have another go I'll try to make the phone sit at more of an angle.

Some niggles:

1. I'd like to lose 1 brick's worth of height. This might not be possible because of the size of the Lightning connector, but I think a flatter dock would look better.

2. The front is a little busy because I used a ton of flat white bricks to hold my cable-holder together. I bet I could simplify this with another go.

3. I need more flat plates for the top. I know I've got tons of these back home but I forgot to bring them with me. Right now I'm compromising by filling the gaps at the back with four studs and they drive me insane.

4. As most of this Lego is 20+ years old, it's a little grubby. The white bricks in particular don't look great (they've yellowed - some worse than others). I guess I could buy more or rebuild in grey or black or something.

5. After Googling for 'Lego iPhone dock' I found this. It's similar to my dock (but nicer) and it makes me jealous. Mine'll be prettier when I've got a better selection of bricks.

Writing 600 words on this stupid thing is maybe a little much, but I'm trying to break a spell of writer's block so even if nobody reads this, I feel better for having written it. If you did read this, um, thanks.

Next up... USB cables.

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* ...but I might later.

** Brick 4590 took a long time to identify for writing this post. How the hell do you Google for a specific, weirdly shaped Lego brick? You Google for 'LEGO Plate 1 x 4 Offset', that's what you Google for.

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UPDATE ON 18th Nov 2015: I've discovered that someone made a .lxf file (a digital version of a LEGO construction) for my iPhone dock that's more-or-less accurate. Cheers momijis200, whoever you are.

Go: view / download the file on the LEGO Digital Designer page if you want to build your own.

Glasgow City Arts

A wee feature about myself / my work has just gone up on Glasgow City Arts. I don't go into much depth about my crippling self doubt, but there's a few behind-the-scenes snippets about my process that might be interesting if you like my work.

Glasgow City Arts is a new online magazine covering art and culture in Glasgow. It's a great resource if you live here, are planning a visit or want to discover new artists and projects. Give the site a bookmark and Follow them on Twitter.

Cheers to Mark for sorting it out. Sorry I was such a flake on the emails.

Jonnie Common - Binary 101

Jonnie Common's new video for Binary 101 is a belter. Available on Trapped in Amber.