Roll-a-Sketches from Comic-Con! Gen Con THIS WEEK!

Here are a few of the Roll-a-Sketch drawings I did at San Diego Comic-Con this year!

And I’ll also be at Gen Con in Indianapolis, this weekend. I’m at the Blind Ferret booth, #2129! It’ll be my last convention of 2017.

Stop by and get your own drawing possibly as lovely as any of these (click the images for a closer look):

FARMER + RHINO:

ELEPHANT + MAD MAX:

SUPERMAN + STEAMPUNK + SPORTS + MUSICAL:

SHREDDER + PIRATE + STEAMPUNK + MERMAID:

And finally, CHICKEN + DOCTOR:

Bonus Roll-a-Sketch drawings FROM THE VAULT

Behold, The Nine

 

I went back to my collection of Roll-a-Sketch drawings (of which there are many, many that don’t make it here onto the blog) and put together a sort of BONUS PACK of never-before-seen entries!

And I also wrote some commentary on each, which is a new thing that I haven’t done before and which I frankly find fascinating. Perhaps you will too?

The post is available to all $5+ members of my Patreon! The patreonauts who support me and Wondermark and the other things I make for you are all cherished jewels of humanity to me, and if this BEHIND-THE-SCENES oversharing of drawings is of interest to you, I would like to make it a more regular thing.

PATREONAUT BONUS: A bunch of Roll-a-Sketch drawings! ]

Roll-a-Sketch drawings from Comic-Con!

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Here are a few of the Roll-a-Sketch drawings I did in San Diego last week!

BUT FIRST: I want to thank the patrons who’ve supported Wondermark this month on Patreon! All of you are precious to me, and I appreciate your kindness more than I can say.

But I want to especially thank members of this month’s Cast Card Subscription Program: Miri B., Jack T., Rahul J., Scarlett L., Colin M., lograh, Michael I., Emily R., Brian M., Nicholas M., and Janet O. As top tier supporters, they deserve mention here where everyone can bask in their reflected glory.

These fine patreonauts, and many others, have my thanks and a promise of a firm handshake or mutual respectful nod if we ever meet in person.

Now, here are some drawings!! (Click any image for a closer look)

PANDA + DOG:

chase the pleasures that matter to you

VADER + BEE + PHILOSOPHER + MOOSE:

most impressive

New at San Diego was the introduction of a FULL COLOR OPTION at the Platinum Reserve level. Here by way of example is MILKSHAKE + MERMAID + GHOUL + TMNT [Ninja Turtle] + MOOSE + C-3PO:

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This particular gentleman has for years brought around a sketchbook with captions pre-written on the top of every blank page — as a challenge for the artist to draw something matching the caption. Here is BEAR + ANTELOPE + HE-MAN + YAK:

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Thanks to these fine folks and many others who dropped by in San Diego!

Want a strange but haunting drawing of your very own? My NEXT stop will be Gen Con in Indianapolis, this coming weekend!

I’ll be hanging out at the Blind Ferret booth, #1437, along with a whole plethora of pals such as Sam Logan, Jeph Jacques, Kory Bing, Alina Pete, and Phil Foglio.

I’ll also be repping T-shirts from TopatoCo pals Kate Beaton, Ryan North, KC Green and more, so come take a browse!

KC even let me make a wooden magnet out of his world-famous flammable dog:

this is a magnet.

We’ll have them at Gen Con, booth 1437! See you there!!

Roll-a-Sketch drawings from Maker Faire!

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Here are a few of the many Roll-a-Sketch drawings I did at Maker Faire this year!

Thank you to everyone who came by and said hello; I saw a lot of returning faces. Maker Faire is a super fun environment to be immersed in for a few days — you’re surrounded by robots, and art cars, and 3D printers, and drones, and everyone’s just interesting. I had many lovely and surprising conversations with creative folks.

I have never been to any of the other, subsidiary Maker Faires — only the flagship show in San Mateo, which has a wholly enclosed, Vatican-City-style craft fair section that is technically what I am there as part of. But in the coming year I hope to make fewer papergoods and more tangible “weird things” so who knows, there may be room for me at another city’s Maker Faire yet.

FLAMINGO + TELEPHONE:

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BLENDER + ROLLER DERBY:

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SNOWMAN + BUG:

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PUNISHER + 8-BALL:

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VEGETABLE + VIKING + BATMAN + CINDER BLOCK:

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BLENDER + COP + BUTLER + BEAR:

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WALRUS + HELICOPTER + DOLPHIN + 8-BALL:

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ALSO: We’re getting close to the end of May, which means it’s time to reveal the Wondermark Cast Card that’ll be going out to Patreon subscribers!

This month’s card features Boutrous, the camel from the classic Wondermark #558, “In which a Camel is merely ordinary”.

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(This particular comic was also narrated in audio form by voice actor SungWon Cho, here. It’s…super good.)

The monthly Patreon Cast Card subscription, so far, has been going out to a HIGHLY EXCLUSIVE GROUP. Later in the year, there will be another new “achievement” Cast Card that you’ll be able to get in a different way… And of course, the Roll-a-Sketch “Patron of the Arts” card is available at all my convention appearances this year.

Thank you very much to all you Patreonauts, at any level! We’re very close to a $500 goal that will prompt the start of a monthly annotation series, in which I go back through the archives and puzzle out just what I was thinking for comics deep in the archive.

Last month we crossed the THIRTEEN YEAR MARK with Wondermark. A decade ago, I was a very different person, in a very different place in my life. I don’t write comics the same way now as I did then, mostly for the better (I hope), but who knows. I think it’ll be interesting to go back and interrogate my younger self. That’ll become a monthly thing once we crest $500 on Patreon.

I am very grateful for your support via any method: Patreon, the store, saying hello at a show, or just a word to a friend. I’m thankful for every kindness — it’s always been, and continues to be, a privilege to do this for you, and by reading this you are by definition a Cool Person with Good Taste.

NICE

WORK

Roll-a-Sketch drawings from Seattle!

I just got back from the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, and here are a few favorites of the many Roll-a-Sketch drawings I made for folks there!

Roll-a-Sketch, as longtime readers know, is something I do at conventions and other appearances: folks can roll some dice to select random words from a list, and then I have the task of combining those words into a creature!

It’s really fun for two reasons: (1) I never have to draw the same thing twice; and (2) the person commissioning the drawing has no say in what it becomes, and is sometimes even disappointed with the words that the dice choose for them — but nonetheless, they nearly always enjoy the result.

It’s a good life lesson in accepting matters out of one’s control, perhaps… as long as the person in whose control those matters are is me, and the matter’s stakes are limited to a creature drawing.

Click any image for a closer look!

CTHULHU + CAT + HELICOPTER + BB-8:

I like how it has a method of flight AND a backup method of flight

DEADPOOL + BABY + HELICOPTER + TRUCKER + MARIO + ELEPHANT:

my precious, terrible baby

BABY + ELEPHANT:

weren't we all, one way or another

You can see how even when the prompts are similar, I try not to do the same drawing! (Here’s another particularly grotesque example.)

DEAD + BIRD + DRAGON + LASAGNA:

a bit of a cheesy joke

CAT + ASTRONAUT + ALADDIN + BICYCLE:

down to his last life probably

LEGO + HIPSTER + CTHULHU + EGG:

this will probably be the last 'hipster' I draw in Roll-a-Sketch

Finally: are you ready for this one???

EGG + FLASH:

I'm not even a dad and I made this joke

I would like to remind everyone that I am a professional comedy writer.

I also gave out some Roll-a-Sketch themed “Patron of the Arts” Cast Cards to folks in Seattle! I’ll have these particular cards at all my conventions this year — and I’ll probably do one brief online Roll-a-Sketch offering later toward the summer as well, for folks who can’t make it out to a convention.

oldie but a goodie

My next show will be Maker Faire in San Mateo, May 20-22!

If you will be attending Maker Faire, or are nearby in general, perhaps drop me a line — unlike at a comic convention, I don’t really know anybody at Maker Faire or have any insight into the haps (despite attending the show for many years).

I would love to have breakfast or dinner or drinks with some cool folks while I’m in town! The social element is a big part of what makes these shows fun, and I’m overdue to figure that out at this one. (I’m also still nailing down lodging for that one, so I’m open to any local tips or suggestions.)

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello at ECCC! It was lovely to see you all. And thanks especially to the gentleman and his kids who are fans as a family of Boom! And a Bear Comes Out (the party hit of the summer). There are few things better than hearing a very small child sing back to you the silly song that you wrote about a bear hiding in things and then coming out of them. Raffi, eat your heart out.