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Airplane fish are a GENRE now.

Twice a year, I offer my books in “Artist Edition” — I create a custom unique sketch in every book, for those that desire it. Patrons of the most recent offering are well familiar with my fixation on “flying fish,” by which I mean strange hybrids of fish and aircraft (or fish and armored vechicles, or insects and aircraft, or land mammals and construction equipment). Here are some examples from this spring’s series of Artist Editions:

I will be honest with you: I have harbored furtive dreams of turning this particular subject into an oeuvre, of creating larger and ever-more-complex tableaux of sea creatures/aircraft, engaged in all sorts of aerial hijinks in glorious, full-painted color. (The sketch at the top of this post was an expression of this urge to refine and develop the theme.)

Well, thanks to diligent reader and frequent correspondent Kevin S., I have learned that apparently someone else had the same idea — Roland Tamayo:

I HEREBY DECLARE TAMAYO MY NEMESIS

…although I should point out that my inspiration, and perhaps Tamayo’s as well, was and is the surrealist vehicular work of Stan Mott:

I believe this more comprehensive collection may be Stan’s official site, but with respect, it’s miserable to navigate. However, if you have a little patience you’ll find the charming “History of Tanks” illustration series there, which I’m sure is why 90% of the sketches I’ve done at conventions in the past year have featured tanks in some fashion (usually attached to African wildlife).

Finally, consider this your official warning that the fall Artist Edition series will become available very soon! Before the moon is full! October is going to be a big month, I’m just brimming with exciting news. ALL IN GOOD TIME.

16mm film camera for sale!

I’m selling a 16mm film camera! A bunch of years ago, on a lark, I decided to buy this Krasnogorsk K-3. The K-3 was invented by the Soviet Union to capture battlefield footage on 100-foot spools of film, and it has a wind-up crank so it doesn’t require lugging a battery pack around or any external source of power at all. The 17-69mm F1.9 zoom lens is also removable and swappable (it’s got a Pentax M42 screw mount), and the camera’s even got a built-in speed control to shoot from 8 to 48 frames per second.

Here’s some footage I shot with it a few years ago (apologies for low YouTube quality):

And here is the eBay auction! I’m even offering free shipping (to the U.S.) because I am kind of dumb, and I’ll toss some free Monocle Poppers into the package too. The auction ends tomorrow is over. Thanks!

TONIGHT: ArtNight @ Pasadena Central Library

Quick! What day is it? Where are you? If you answered “Friday, October 8th” and “within walking, driving or teleportation distance of Pasadena, California” then do I have an event for you. It’s the Pasadena ArtNight, from 6-10pm tonight!

From 6-10pm tonight, the entire city becomes an arts festival, with exhibits and panels at galleries, museums, performing-arts centers, colleges, the Symphony and even City Hall. Specifically, I’d like to draw your attention to the “Art of the Book” exhibit at Pasadena Public Library, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet and physically interact with authors such as Dave Kellett, Kazu Kibuishi, and myself! And presumably some other people too.

Further, different artsy events are taking place all weekend as well!

Letters from the Wright Brothers

In 1900, three years before he and his brother accomplished the first controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight, Wilbur Wright wrote to renowned engineer Octave Chanute for advice, one inventor and thinker to another:

…My business requires that my experimental work be confined to the months between September and January and I would be particularly thankful for advice as to a suitable locality where I could depend on winds of about fifteen miles per hour without rain or too inclement weather. I am certain that such localities are rare.

I have your Progress in Flying Machines and your articles in the Annuals of ’95, ’96, & ’97, as also your recent articles in the Independent. If you can give me information as to where an account of Pilcher’s experiments can be obtained I would greatly appreciate your kindness.

In 1917, after decades of inventions, feuds, lawsuits, the death of his brother from typhoid, and only one year before his last flight ever as a pilot, Orville wrote a letter of his own to a certain Master Milford T. Ware:

Dear Sir,
I have your letter of October 21st. I am sorry that I have no drawings of gliders that I can send you.

I’m kind of having fun pretending that the brothers were writing to each other. What a mismatched pair my Imaginary-Wright-Brothers are, ol’ earnest Wilbur and cantankerous, cigar-chompin’ Orville.

“We’ll never getting this thing to fly!” barks Orville, pacing in his shirtsleeves in the dusty bicycle-garage, as Wilbur reaches into his suspenders for a pair of calipers to check a measurement. By way of response, he confidently spins a propeller — “Oh, no?”

With a sputter, a crack, and a clatter, the motor seizes and tumbles into a pile of bicycle gears. Outside, chickens scatter as the air heats for the hundredth time that day: “Willl-burrr!!!!”

(This post is really to bring to your attention the existence of 100,000 aviation photos and artifacts recently posted by the San Diego Air & Space Museum on Flickr — where the latter letter was found — and the website Letters of Note, which reprints correspondence from all manner of notable figures, and whence the former letter was found. Both collections are well worth your exploration.)

Malki-in-Progress UPDATE

Some cool stuff’s been going on over at my behind-the-scenes art blog, Malki-in-Progress !

• For many strips, I’ve been posting close-up shots of individual panels so you can check out the detail. I particularly like the one above — the expression just makes me laugh. This dude’s having a bad day.

• I’ve also posted a few rejected bits and lines that never quite made it into strips — sometimes it takes a few attempts to hone in on what a strip needs to focus on.

• Also some drawings, including hand-drawn maps for the upcoming collected edition of my Dispatches from Wondermark Manor novel series!

• A kind soul has also created a separate LiveJournal feed for the site, and it’s also got its own RSS feed. MiP posts also piggyback on the @wondermarkfeed Twitter, which posts the updates from this main site. There are thumbnails from MiP over on the right sidebar of this site, too, for handy at-a-glance notification of updates!

• FINALLY THERE IS THIS AS WELL

WHAT COULD IT MEAN