the silly hour

I was working very late last night, and when it got to the Silly Hour, just before hitting the sack, I couldn’t resist drawing something for what was happening here in the comments on nedroidcomics‘ blog post.
(This picture refers to a painting by Valetin Serov, which is very famous in Russia but I guess not so much here.)

While he was in town, Will Kirkby (chamonkee) did a sketchy life drawing of me, and I liked the head so much that I sat next to him and did my own little drawing based on his sketch. It looks like a cross between the way Will draws and I draw.

And tozocomic made me laugh with his drawing of our pub-going group a couple nights ago, and he let me post it here. It’s me, Will, Stuart and Dave. (As you can see, I’m rather tall-ish.)

‘Comickers in search of a pub’ by David O’Connell

My friend Kim Toohey has posted a link to a November article in the Guardian about one of my favourite writer-illustrators, Satoshi Kitamura here. I was particularly intrigued by this:
He draws with ink, but instead of a springy, steel nib he uses a Japanese glass pen, with tiny grooves to accommodate the ink . This creates a distinctive line that blobs now and then as it glides, giving an unmistakable character to everything he draws.
Does anyone know who makes these Japanese glass pens? I’ve never seen one.

Want some recommendations for this year’s reading? My writer friend Candy Gourlay has made a video interviewing the kids in her neighbourhood to hear their best picks! (Thanks, Mia, for the Vern & Lettuce plug.)