My Godchild got married a month back, so I thought I’d share the caricature I did for her and her new husband for their thank you cards. Congrats you two! Live long and prosper!
Archive for Blog
Another entry from Ellie’s field guide of observations: The Denticulated Arborial Hangdog, actual size.
The Hangdog sits high up in the trees, waiting for unwary passers-by to pounce upon. His stinging bite lasts for only a split second, but he feels really guilty about it afterward.
I was out at the annual Strang Institute Garage Sale over the holiday weekend. It’s a yearly deal held in the parking structure near Mission Control. Anyway, I casually opened up an old Rand McNally atlas and my eyes beheld a map of the solar system just like one that I had when I was a little kid. At five bucks, I couldn’t pass it up!
Joel Duggan, one of the three creators who interviewed me for Comics Coast To Coast, sent me his interpretations of Ellie, Jeff, and Muffin using the newly christened Sorbet Pallet (or was it Sherbet (or Sherbert, as we say in the Mitten State)) that I use. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah…I was bowled over by the incredible job he did. It’s this kind of thing that really makes doing Ellie so much fun.
And please go visit Joel’s wonderful comic Starcrossed. It’s so well drawn and just darn funny. His character designs really show off his animation background. And just so you know, it’s PG-13. Consider yourself informed.
Thank you so much, Joel!
Just a few weeks ago Ellie on Planet X was picked by Comics Coast To Coast as the Webcomic of the Week. Hot on the heels of that cool, the good folks over there decided it would be even cooler if they had yours truly join them on their weekly webcast for an interview. What fun! So if you want to hear me go on and on about myself for like an hour and a half, and what I do regarding Ellie and the Strang Institute Mission Control, head on over to Comics Coast To Coast!
Count how many times I say, “Ya know?”
Yesterday I received a cool email from Ellie reader Carsten.
“Recently you talked about how you have been waiting for the transmission of the first picture from Mars.
Today I found this interesting link about the first pictures from Venus and the restoration of these old pictures…
…and because I like those raw data images, I thought about how a raw data based composed image from Ellie might look.”
“…I have just tried to simulate the look of those 70s, 6Bit raw data images…just for fun…”
Well, thank you Carsten. I proclaim your interpretation of Ellie’s raw images…FUN!
Nothing to report today, but here’s a sketch of our three heroes. Note that I didn’t have their anatomy quite right yet when I drew this.
As we’ve mentioned before, Ellie could be seen everywhere and on everything back when she launched into space so long ago. So it’s a no-brainer that she would have been seen in PEZ form!
Ray Robinson is a collector of first day of issue covers – stamps that have been cancelled on an envelope on their first day of issue. What makes the ones he collects special is that he combines them with his other hobby of collecting comic character sketches. I was thrilled when he asked for Ellie on an envelope with this really cool Project Mercury stamp from 1962. I was also scared to death that I’d mess up and ruin it. I mean, this stamp is older than I am!
Here’s a closer look at the stamp which commemorates the program that launched John Glenn as the first American to orbit the Earth.
You can see more of Ray’s First Day of Issue Covers, featuring some really amazing artists, at his blog comicfdc.blogspot.com.
Thanks for the honor, Ray!
UPDATED:
Ellie reader Carsten wanted to know if there were any stamps with our favorite robotic explorer on them from back when she was launched, and if we could see any of them. It took me a bit to find one, but voila!
I’m pretty sure there were several more.
Denver Brubaker, creator of Tales of a Checkered Man, is one superlative guy! Not once, but twice did he send Ellie on Planet X some lovin’ in the form of shout outs. First, on the TGT Webcomics podcast, at about the 1:18:40 mark, he bestows some high praise by including Ellie in with some other fine comics. And then…AND THEN, while Denver was sitting in on the Comics Coast To Coast podcast, he suggested they choose Ellie on Planet X as the Webcomic Pick Of The Week. You can hear that blurb at the 27 minute mark.
So, do us at Ellie Mission Control a favor by visiting Denver’s comic, Tales of a Checkered Man! And visit the two podcast links above to listen to more interviews with other outstanding comics creators.
Thanks Denver (isn’t Denver Brubaker like the coolest sounding name? Like a Colorado version of Indiana Jones? Denver Brubaker and the Mystery of the Golden Retriever, or something. I’d go see that)!