Many of the houses in the Oxford area follow the same basic layout. At the top of the stairs there is a teeny tiny room that, technically, qualifies as a bedroom. Although I can’t fathom how anyone but a small child could use it, let alone fit even a single bed in there! So this has become our office/studio. I am taking this photo with my back to the far wall. The door is to my right and, next to my left shoulder and extending all of the way along the wall, is our industrial shelving which holds our files, printer/scanner, and many art supplies (drawing pads, etc.). I have a similar set up as Lyon where I have lines mounted on the wall above the drawing table where I can hang works-in-progress (WIPs) and reference materials. Below that is a bar with attached cups holding my marker sets.

This next photo shows the computer desk in action. With my new desk-mounted arm for the second monitor, I can rotate the monitor 90 degrees if needed. I’ve always wanted to do this because, when drawing comics, I am usually working vertically instead of horizontally. This allows me to see the whole page at a much higher resolution than if the monitor is mounted in the normal landscape layout. You can also see something I have wanted to do for years, and finally got around to- I mounted an angled board to the back of the keyboard tray of the computer desk. When using my graphics tablet, I can put the keyboard there, within easy reach, and put my Wacom tablet in the keyboard tray itself. Hooray!

The desk-mounted monitor arm also allows me to swing the monitor over towards the drawing table. This means no more having to copy and print references, as I can simply throw them onto the monitor. It also means that I can easily watch videos or sports while drawing (when streaming a Wisconsin Badgers game at 2:30am, I need to keep myself occupied, so I tend to draw a lot at the same time). You can also see my new LED light “box” (although there isn’t much ‘boxy’ about it, it is soooo slim!) sitting on the keyboard tray.

The latest and final addition was putting a peg board, purchased from the hardware store, up on the wall. Using this, I can keep my rulers, stencils, french curves, and other assorted tools handy. Smashing!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of the new Asplenia Studios workspace. I also hope you are equally as excited as I am for all of the new projects we’ll be putting out soon!

as always, click on the image above to see a (much) larger version… perfect for your new desktop wallpaper!

This drawing, done completely in marker (although the clean border was added digitally) on a 14″x17″ (35.6×43.2cm) paper, was inspired by the logo below on the left (designed in the early 2000′s by Duke Togo, a member of the MacrossWorld Forums), which is itself inspired combining the NBA/MLB logo designs with the colossal SDF-1 Macross spaceship (below right) in place of the outline of the athlete.

The Macross franchise began with a 36 episode TV series in 1982. Due to the popularity of the series, the creators were able to animate a full-length feature film (Macross: Do You Remember Love? [1984]) which condensed the storyline while updating the character and mechanical designs. These designs are where I have taken my visual cues for the characters in this image.

After moving and finally setting up the ‘art studio’, I completed the Wings of Apollo poster and then wanted to draw something for me before tackling the rest of the Otus Analytics Dashbot comics (coming soon). This is what I decided on, an idea that has been rumbling around in my head for a long while.

I hope you enjoy the drawing as much as I enjoyed making it!

Here we see the distinctive Wings of Apollo logo shining brightly. Above the logo are David (percussion), Pat (bass), and Jesse (guitar, vocals, wild head dress). Below are tens of thousands of screaming fans!

Wings of Apollo are Nashville-based rock ‘n roll band whose popularity is growing daily, fueled by their uncontrollable desire to create powerful rock, an insatiable thirst for gigs, and the fact that their phenomenal self-produced debut album is COMPLETELY FREE*!!!

To keep up-to-date on when this poster is printed and released, as well as other news, keep visiting the Wings of Apollo web page, or go ahead and LIKE them on Facebook!

*although donations are graciously accepted.

Here is a photo of our ’200 Fans T-shirt Giveaway”: Mira Elmore!

Mira was chosen randomly using a letter generator on the web. Be sure to share this with all of your friends and tell them to ‘like’ us on Facebook and/or ‘follow’ us on Google+.

We’re on our way to our next t-shirt giveaway at 300 fans!!!

In The Empire Strikes Back we first meet Boba Fett. Badass bounty hunter, right? I mean, he looks so cool. But what, exactly, does he do that makes him so nifty? He outsmarts Han Solo by tracking the Millenium Falcon to Bespin. He then stands around while the Imperials do all of the work capturing Han, Leia, Chewie, and C-3PO; proceeds to sound totally awesome by saying, in a raspy whisper, “He’s no good to me dead,” shots his gun once (ONCE) at Luke, and then takes off in the Slave-1 while Lando, Leia, and the others try to enact a rescue.

Really, think about it. He doesn’t do shit.

Flash-forward three years to Return of the Jedi, and we get to see Boba Fett hanging out at Jabba’s palace because, once you’ve captured the galaxy’s most valuable bounty, there is nothing like hanging out at the house of the guy who posted the bounty in the first place, right? Anyhoo… as we all know, our rebels stage a big escape attempt ensues at the sarlacc pit. We (briefly) get to see Boba Fett use his jetpack before, rather quickly, getting his gun chopped in half by Luke’s lightsaber. After which, a semi-blind Han Solo (humorously) accidentally ignites Boba Fett’s jetpack by hitting it with a vibro-ax (because nothing says quality engineering than having a jetpack accidentally go off when hit with a rod), sending Boba Fett flailing through the air into the side of Jabba’s barge. He then falls into the mouth of the sarlacc, whereupon the beast lets out a hilarious burp.

Wow. Boba Fett is, like, soooo cool (not).

Then, we get Jango Fett (and a young Boba) in the prequels or, namely, Attack of the Clones, since this time around Lucas felt that two times the Fett should only go into one film. And suddenly, for some odd reason, the Fett family now sports a Kiwi accent.

Whatever.

In his first major fight scene, we get to see a slightly more competent Jango Fett take on Obi-Wan Kenobi while Boba sits in the cockpit of Slave-1 generally making an ass out of himself. Jango holds his own well enough against a Jedi, using all sorts of tricks including the giant missile on his backpack.

Later we see Jango lead Obi-Wan on a thrilling dogfight through an asteroid field (looks those 3,720 to 1 odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are actually pretty damn good). Boba Fett chuckles like a chucklehead, almost totally negating any coolness that he may have had from the original trilogy.

Then we have the big fight scene in the Geonosian arena. Jango gets the drop on another Jedi. This time it is Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson in his best role since National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1) and Jango sets his cloak on fire. That’s right. Fire.

Against a Jedi.

I mean, if you get the drop on a Jedi, don’t try to burn him!

Because here’s the thing- you gotta finish the job, or else you’ll just piss off Samuel L. Jackson.

But, no Jango doesn’t finish the job because Samuel L. Windu hightails it out of there by doing this ginormous leap into the arena. The whole battle kind of gets sidetracked with clones coming in and Yoda talking to the left of normal grammar, but Mace L. Jackson remembers. Oh yes, he does. And finally it gets back to these two.

Jango and Mace Windu charge at each other. Mace Windu is easily deflecting Jango’s blaster bolts WHILE charging at him which, when you think about it, might make it a good time to vacate the premises. But, no, Jango keeps coming at Mace Windu and…

…Mace Windu cuts his damn head off.

The end.

So when you look at the sum of what the Fett family actually does, it ain’t really much. But I personally know people who have Fett-related tattoos. From actual images of Boba Fett, to the Slave-1, to the Mandalorian symbol- a mythosaur skull.

I don’t know… they seem fairly overrated to me.

Be sure to visit the Wings of Apollo website to download their debut album for FREE, and then be sure to go Like their Facebook page to keep abreast of news and concert schedules.

In the meantime, here’s a tease of the upcoming Wings of Apollo image we are working on!

This morning, the missus, our daughter, and myself were heading to our local CPAM (France’s social security) office to update my wife’s status. On the walk, we discussed what I had read the precious evening. One thing I brought up from the book is a habit that, apparently, the English share with many Americans wherein there is a situation where there are two tellers/cashiers/ATMs/whathaveyou, and no preset system of queuing (ropes, rails, etc.) exist. In this case, it seems the English will tend to form a single line, with the first person in line going to the next available opening. We laughed because the French totally don’t do this. Either they don’t know how, they don’t care, they don’t want to or, sometimes, they believe that they have the right to go to whatever is open next, regardless of who has been waiting.

Fast-forward about an hour. We have updated the wife’s status, and are now going to utilize the automatic kiosks near the front door in order to request our European medical cards*. The layout here is not done very well, it is basically a dead end with the two kiosks situated in a row slightly to the left, so there is really only one way in or out. Meaning that when you are done, you have to walk back out through the line of people waiting to use one of the kiosks.

Through a stroke of luck, we arrive when there isn’t a huge line, and are quickly at the front. Instinctively, we hold back so that we can move to the next available kiosk. A line forms behind us. Of course, you know where this is going…

That’s right. Despite 1) there being an obvious queue of people, and  2) the obviousness that we, being at the front of the queue, are forming a specific line for either of the kiosks, some woman comes squeezing past us to go wait behind the person using the kiosk which is further away.

I didn’t know whether to laugh at the absurdity of this French woman, or slap her around a bit. I eventually decided to call her out on it.

“Madame…”

I get her attention.

I jerk my thumb over my shoulder.

“Queue.”

She feigns surprise at her line-jumping, tries to mutter a sheepish “Je suis désolé,” and moves herself to the back of the line.

Now, some people may think this is a bit of a one-off but, rest assured, this is the general attitude here in France.

Queues, you see, are for other people. Not me.

Now, of course, some may also think that every French person acts this way, which is untrue. As evidenced by what happened in the line after us.

As we finally move up to the next open kiosk (the closer of the two), we start doing what we need to do. I see an older woman walking up to the further kiosk, and suddenly I hear a man loudly telling her that there is a line. I turn around and, sure enough the man is at the front of the queue, with people behind him, and this woman thought she could just skedaddle past them all.

In an astonishing escalation, she started to argue to the point with him. He is telling her that there is a line and she is responding with “Je vu ! Je vu !” Which, essentially, means “Yeah, I saw it.”

Uh-huh. She didn’t even care that there was a line, and thought a valid argument against the people who have been waiting and called out her line-jumping was to tell them that she knows the line is there (implying that she doesn’t care).

So, there you have the yin and the yang of it. I’d like to say that most French are like us or that guy and actively try to form logical queues but, regretfully, it seems that most are like the two ladies who thought that THEY d0n’t have to abide by the norms of civilized people. Over three years of living her has taught me this.

Oh, and NEVER go the McDonalds by Bellecour at lunch or dinner time. Trust me. There is no queue there, only a mob.

*This card allows you to receive medical treatment in participating European countries under your resident country’s medical coverage. We are getting it as a “just in case” thing for when we go to England, as we are covered under France’s social security for quite a while.

This Otus Analytics Dashbot may not seem like the smartest fish in the barrel (what?!?), but he more than makes up for it with great service, and maybe a new and exciting feature!

OK then. I hope you enjoyed that view, because that is one of the last times any of us will see it. No, Asplenia Studios isn’t closing up shop. But we are moving. The better half of Asplenia Studios landed herself a job at the University of Oxford in the UK, and we will probably be moving very soon (it’s a long story as to why we don’t have a set date yet).

In case you haven’t noticed anything new coming out of Asplenia Studios lately, it is because I have been juggling watching our 10-month old daughter and prepping a lot of our household for the pending move. In the meantime, we are still working on projects for Otus Analytics, Wings of Apollo, and other great companies. Mostly the slowdown will be on the comics-side of thing, although we are working with some friends of Asplenia Studios on a project to provide translated versions of our GAMERGEEKDADDY comic strip, and hope to have those up soon.

Soon we hope to get settled in at Oxford and really get things back up and running. Until then, we hope you have a happy and safe holiday season, and a great start to the new year!

These three were done in mid-2001. All ink. Maybe I’ll color them digitally?