2D Goggles | Dangerous experiments in comics

Merry Christmas!

Written by sydney on December 22, 2010 · 14 Comments

This entry is part 11 of 11 in the series Meanwhile..

Happy whatever-seasonal-celebrations you celebrate from 2dgoggles Amalgamated Comics Industries! I drew up this gag and then went looking for a nice Primary Document to wrap up as a present for the readers, when what should I find but this about Scottish Yuletide traditions:

Is there not one of my gags those danged Victorians won’t steal! Good lord. That’s the best Babbage/Christmas thing I could find, unless you count that time Babbage got naked on Christmas but that’s not quite the tone I’m looking to set (a ‘screw loose’ you say Babbage..).

So I’ll leave you with a a festive Difference Engine reference from 1867:

Happy holidays all and hope to have the next episode up soonish!

PDF

( 14 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..

A Matter of Proportion

Written by sydney on December 16, 2010 · 20 Comments

Someone was asking me the other day for the official proportions of Lovelace, for the purposes of building a model as an excercise, which is forcing me to face the fact that are in fact no official model sheets of Lovelace at all. A shocking business!

This whole comic thing is as you may have noticed a leeetle haphazard, and I don’t in fact have proper model sheets for anybody, as I’m sure is pretty evident from the drawing! I’m kind of enjoying drawing by the seat-of-the-pants, I have to say. Maybe because I’m still thinking of Babbage and Lovelace as a learning excercise first and foremost– there are advantages to having gone so far without a model sheet from that aspect. By letting the panel-to-panel needs of the comic dictate the drawing rather than the other way around I think I’ve found some stuff out about how I work.

High on the ‘stuff I’ve found out’ list is that I really enjoy being able to let the characters glide between levels of ‘cartooniness’ depending on what’s going on in the story and if they’re being all cool and heroic or getting up to hijinks. So there’s in fact a sliding scale of proportions, so far between around 5 and 6 heads high:

5 heads high seems to be about the size of Tintin– I’ve been looking at a lot of the beautiful old Fournier Spirou comics lately and I think I could probably push the proportion a bit more. For academic interest, some comic proportions:

The big head obviously gives the comical, baby-like appeal, but it also makes it much easier to stage panels so you can read the body and the face at the same time. Terry and the Pirates on the right there is my favorite ‘straight’ comic and Milt Caniff keeps to a very consistent real-life adult proportion; Bruce Timm’s Batman on the left towers at a majestic 8 heads! I doubt Babbage or Lovelace will ever attain these Olympian heights. On the other I haven’t gone so far as needing a Chibi Lovelace and Babbage but this was fun to draw:

Oh, what the heck, Chibi Brunel:

In Important Fashion News, I was visiting Bruges a little while ago and saw these boots in a little folk museum, which were so bad-ass and perfect (from the 1830s!!) that I’ve been basing Lovelace’s whole costume around them since the moment I saw them:

The flared breeches I’ve been putting her in these days are totally the wrong period for both Lovelace and her awesome boots but I like to draw them so that’s just too bad.

Organist 10 (of 8) is going along but wow it’s getting awfully huge so we’ll see how it goes..

PDF

( 20 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..

Lovelace and Babbage vs The Organist, Part 9

Written by sydney on December 4, 2010 · 30 Comments

This entry is part 9 of 12 in the series The Organist

Soooo many monkeys.. day late, dollar short, here is it is! Part 9! Remember, every single panel of Lovelace and Babbage is drawn only with ink distilled from the blood of the finest genuine Victorian orphans! Enjoy!

PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS NOTSES!

– not a whole lot of notes for the first part, though if you want to read the actual training methods of Victorian Organ Grinder’s monkeys this is fairly horrifying. So, historical accuracy on the psycho monkeys.

– mostly this episode (this whole story, really) is grown from a spore that implanted itself in my brain from The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. It’s a bit hard to explain what this is.. let’s turn to the ever-invaluable Google Books, shall we?

First, the Bridgewater Project:

So far, so clear? This is an age that comes before “Origin of Species” but one that was already copying with volley of blows against its intellectual foundations from that usurping berserker, Science. The Bridgewater series was supposed to assure everyone that everything was Okay and not to worry. It seems to have gone pretty well with a bunch of respectable chemists and so on writing eight respectable little books on, essentially, Intelligent Design.

Anyways in one of these, natural-philosopher-about-town William Whewell (coiner of the word ‘Scientist’ by the way, in reference to Mary Sommerville) wrote the following:

We may thus, with the greatest propriety, deny to the mechanical philosophers and mathematicians of recent times any authority with regard to their views of the administration of the universe; … But we might perhaps go farther, and assert that they are in some respects less likely than men employed in other pursuits, to make any clear advance towards such a subject of speculation.

I confess I couldn’t follow Whewell’s argument myself, but I do know fightin’ words when I see them. As the living representative of Mathematics on Earth, Babbage couldn’t be expected to take this lying down, and thus wrote the ‘Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, to, as one reviewer put it, “call the unpromising subject of mathematics into the field.”

The 9th Bridgewater isn’t very long but it is pretty fantastic, though even his best friends must admit it’s a little disorganized. I heartily recommend downloading the PDF or ePUB version (link is on the far right), if you want a snapshot of both 1830s scientific thought, and of the brain of that marvellous mixture of Mr Pickwick, Mr. Toad, Don Quixote, and Leonardo Da Vinci that was Charles Babbage. It includes:

- the importance of diversity in science. Yes, he uses the word ‘diversity’. It’s Political Correctness gone mad!– All about Geology! — an astonishingly modern description of Evolution.. imagine if there was ONE RULE that controlled evolution.. what could it be.. what could it.. oh look a squirrel! — FUND MY DIFFERENCE ENGINE YOU BASTARDS– Wanting to be really really famous is totally not a character flaw — the most unconvincing explanation of miracles using statistical analysis you are ever likely to read– — oh and a whole Christmas cracker of other stuff. What there isn’t a whole lot of is an explanation of how mathematics demonstrates the benificence of God, but, whatever. Particularly striking is his God-the-Programmer view of the Universe, and his thought experiment– what if God created a whole bunch of universes– an infinite number! each with different laws!

In amidst this stuff is the bit about the eternal reverberations in the atmosphere from which I’ve extracted the above. This was the Big Hit of this book, though maybe does not hold up as well in terms of Science as the multiple universes thing. At this point I should throw around some half-digested bullshit about Chaos Theory and butterflies or something.

Wonderful as Bridgewater is, its reception by the baffled book reviewers is also entertaining.. highlights:

“Some chapters have no end; many more have no beginning; and one at least may be fairly said to have no beginning, middle, or end.”

The Lucasian professor still seems to labour, to use his own words, under that ‘imputation of mental incapacity’ of which he so loudly complains.. I particularly enjoy the comparison of Babbage’s ‘morbid sensitivity to neglect’ to none other than… Lord Byron!

You can read these and a few more in my collection of primary docs, Bridgewater. Collected and annotated with MUCH LABOUR BY YOUR TIRELESS AND HUMBLE SERVANT who is now going to bed.

PDF

( 30 Comments )

Categories: The Organist

Mindless Consumerism!

Written by sydney on November 28, 2010 · 7 Comments

Greetings, Gentle Readers! Next episode is coming along but I felt for a little change of pace to try my hand at a couple of new tshirts. BEHOLD!

We Need Coffee by sydney_padua

Lots of requests for this as a shirt, for some reason.. As always with zazzle you can fiddle around with the shirt styles and colours, male, female, or for the drunken infant in your life. I’d avoid straight black or straight white shirts– it seems to look best on mid-range tones, I did the sample girl one on darkish blue. Zazzle tip- if you don’t live in the us, substitute your national dots in the url in lieu of the .com in your nav bar — zazzle.co.uk, for instantance– and you get the same page essentially but in your national currency.

And.. Enchanted Math fairy! In two styles, the Tasteful:

Enchanted Math Fairy Simple by sydney_padua

and, UBER-GIRLY:

<
Enchanted Math Fairy by sydney_padua

Also availabe in men’s extra-large, of course.

Next episode is rolling along, — sample:

So you see it will be VERY EXCITING! Also, there are more charts, and an epic ton of Notes. Going back to drawing now.. is it too early to break out the holiday Cognac? I think not.

PDF

( 7 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..

Lovelace and Babbage Vs The Organist, Part 8

Written by sydney on November 2, 2010 · 39 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 12 in the series The Organist

At long last! DANGER! INTRIGUE! CHARTS! It’s Lovelace and Babbage Vs The Organist, Part 8!

Just a few short notes for this one..

- John Thomas was a Welsh harp prodigy who was put through school by Lady Lovelace, so he did owe her (although the real one was 9 years old at the time). He eventually became Harpist to the Queen! Just one of those random facts I have to stuff into the comic somewhere. Maybe this whole business is like ‘Singin’ In The Rain’, where they were contractually obliged to turn a random bunch of 20 year old songs into a musical.

The song is Ar lan y mor, here’s a restful moment for you and a nice change from the usual cacophony around here:

Lovelace herself was divided on whether to pursue the strand of music, or the strand of mathematics in her short and restless life. The harp was her favorite instrument.

- Triads to appear in Chinese music but as it is heterophonic they’re not characteristic. Wikipedia: allowing me to bullshit through my teeth since 2001! When the Triads appear you can play the following:

Diminished triad

That’s what you call an Enhanced Comic.

Really sorry about the long waits folks.. I figured when I was done the film (coming soon! as well as the US release for The Illusionist! ) I would be a buzzing bundle of energy but instead I crumpled into a heap a little bit. I’m off to Denmark for a couple of weeks to teach at the Animation Workshop, which is a kind of animation retreat/monastery/spa so I expect to regain my Vital Magnetisms, as well as have some nice Danish beers and draw me some more comics!

ADDENDUM: The shady character is selling a mix of tin whistles and piccolos. Fun fact, I played the piccolo in Jr High Band, which is about as high as I got in my misspent youth.

PDF

( 39 Comments )

Categories: The Organist

Beam Us Up!

Written by sydney on October 27, 2010 · 11 Comments

I’m nearly done the next episode, so hang in there — in the meantime something else I’ve been working on is a wallpaper for Tor.com– it’s called “Beam Us Up”, and you can pick it up now at their Steampunk Fortnight celebration! Teaser:

That’s Darwin with the jar (I like his dorky looks of youth, without the beard), and you can’t see it properly but Wheatstone (reformed) is wearing a miniskirt. I’ve promoted Eleanor Cressy (born on-board ship, rumour had it) from navigator to Captain, and OF COURSE there’s only one possible Chief Engineer!

This was inspired by an amazing thing I saw a while back on the BBC– Airship Around The Globe!!!

It made me think of an adventure-and-intrigue packed voyage of a crew of cool geeks boldly going forth to seek out new colonies and subsume old civilizations in that Victorian way, on a giant airship kitted out with cutting edge technology… wouldn’t that be fun?

PDF

( 11 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..

NEWS, Thrills, etc!

Written by sydney on October 16, 2010 · 9 Comments

Plague! Houseguests! Nice weather! Bottomless todo lists! Stupid ‘life’ and ‘work’ etc! All of these, my friends, have stood between you and new comics. I GROVEL BEFORE YOU.

However, there’s a couple of RED HOT news items that cry out— nay, continually nag– to be brought to the attention of the vast middling-sized and peculiar demographic following this here 2dGoggles. VIZ:

— FIRSTLY, you may notice the banner has changed, and there’s a dazzling new Episodes Page for easier navigation. I say ‘easi-ER’ because I doubt getting one’s head around this sprawling mess of a blog will ever be ‘easy’. I don’t really know what’s around here or what it all means myself!

— TWO- the Geek Calendar is now available for purchase! I am Miss August. I can’t help but feel I’m mightily outclassed by every other month (Simon Singh! Aleks Krotoski! Brian Cox! ), but luckily no one does anything in August anyways so no one has to look at their calendars that much that month. Amazingly they managed to find one picture where I look a little bit like a normal person, because I saw some of the discards and I look like this:

SO many thanks to the lovely folks from Geek Calendar, sorry I flinched away from the camera like a cat from a spray-bottle! The photos in the Calendar look absolutely stunning and it’s all in a good cause, so pick one up from their website!

THREE AND VERY THRILLING INDEED!

(and also I want everyone to stop emailing me about it because I have just got to the fabled Inbox Zero and want to admire it for a while)

There is a momentous project underway— hang on, let me find a big enough font—

TO BUILD AN ANALYTICAL ENGINE!!-

John Graham-Cumming, of the splendid Turing Apology Campaign, is masterminding this scheme and you can read all about it on the website or on Oreilly.com.

This is plainly in a desperate attempt to save 20 bucks and win the coveted “Build a working Analytical Engine, Win a 2DGoggles TShirt!” prize, but as STEP ONE this project aims to finally digitize Babbage’s papers— something I’m sure we can agree ought to be done without delay. Who knows what gags might lurk in there! Actually this just goes to show you the power of Thinking Big because I had on my todo list ‘start campaign to digitize Babbage papers’, and not only did it get buried between ‘sew missing buttons on winter coat’ and ‘make some goals or something’, but also somehow I doubt it would have made the BBC!

I certainly hope the readers of this comic can muster a respectable display of support for this noble proposition, so get on over and pledge! Ten dollars, pounds, or euros is the going rate and I’m sure it’s plenty worth it for the chance of seeing something like this!

And finally— if you’ve recovered from that excitement— in addition to cramming in some work on Organist Pt 8, I’ve done a new wallpaper for Tor.com’s upcoming steampunk fortnight! You’ll be able to get it from their website and I’ll alert you when it’s up, in the meantime.. Teaser!

PDF

( 9 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..

Lovelace and Babbage vs The Organist, Part 7

Written by sydney on September 9, 2010 · 44 Comments

This entry is part 7 of 12 in the series The Organist

I have dragged myself up from the floor, and with quivering pen have managed to scratch out the following almost-illegible CRY FOR HELP. The Organist! Part 7! AKA, Act II part 1, because I totally have this whole thing planned out. Really!

A heaping’ spoonful of NOTES:

– All the concertina primary documents I KNOW you are craving! Patents! Price lists! ~~Evil plans!~~ I’m still finding Wheatstone a bit slippery as a character.. I’m going for a Bunsen Honeydew/Werner Von Braun thing at the moment. Speak to me, Wheatstone! What’s it all about?

– I have to record in these notes, the uncomfortable fact that Charles Babbage did die under torture, of a sort– his mortal enemies the street musicians played continually under the window of his death-bed room, while his poor son unavailingly begged them to stop. Evil of this variety does not thrive in the Pocket Universe I’m happy to say.

– After that, I’m sure we would all be cheered up by a Wurlitzer rising up out of the ground:

–Things I DO NOT MAKE UP: The TELHARMONIUM.

“The Organist” was going to be a wee short cute episode, until the Helpful Bryce (who himself openly admits to studing the organ!) sent me a missive alerting me to the existence of a turn-of-the-20th century, 200-ton electric organ that broadcast over the telephone wires. What is a girl to do with this information? I ASK YOU? Hence, this monstrous epic that you see unfolding before you.

– Scientific American on the Telharmonium.

A Telharmonium documentary, if you have 20 minutes or so. Part 2. Featuring Mark Twain: ” The trouble about these beautiful, novel things is that they interfere so with one’s arrangements. Every time I see or hear a new wonder like this I have to postpone my death right off. I couldn’t possibly leave the world until I have heard this again and again.” Sadly there is no recording of the no doubt celestial harmonies of the Telharmonium, I am informed it would resemble a Hammond Organ:

The Telharmonium proper is too electronic for this comic, though it does feature pleasantly steampunky cogs (and overalls! and child labour!):

What with this high technology of telephone wires and paper cones, and I was highly concerned that this is edging out of what may properly be considered the technological scope of this comic until I found:

- Music By Telegraph! Yankee Doodle, carried by lightning! The Tele-orchestri-phono-blater-ion thus can theoretically be brought back to the 1860s, give or take. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, this notion led to the Harmonic Telegraph, which led to the Telephone.

– On the properly period front, here’s a lovely Orchestrion for you. Put it on a loop and crank the volume!

Oh what the heck, here’s another. You know you want more!

You’ll get a new one every episode now. Collect them all!

– The Correspondents have absolutely nothing to do with this comic. This Shadowy Kingpin does bear a striking resemblance to The Organist, but I’m sure he is PERFECTLY INNOCENT:

Let us hope the Organist’s plan does not succeed and fill London with such MUSIC! Because that would be TERRIBLE!!

As usual, no eta’s for the next episode, but now I have been Flung Out Into The Streets* I have little more time for these Frivolities, in between the health-giving country-pub walks I intend to do as soon as it stops raining. Comments are always welcomed, I know I’m ponderously slow at responding but I really do love getting them!

*don’t worry I am routinely Flung Out at the end of movie, and tend to find myself Flung Back In Again in fairly short order, which is why my hair is always such a mess.

PDF

( 44 Comments )

Categories: The Organist

Well It’s About Time

Written by sydney on August 23, 2010 · 22 Comments

So, Giant Monsters, wrestled! And I don’t mind telling you, I am KNACKERED. This is how it went down:

Your Intrepid Correspondent will need a small period of convalescence to recover her energies. But fear not!! There is no greater Balm To the Soul and Restorer of Animal Vigour than the Healing Power of DRAWING COMICS, so I’m aiming for Part 7 of the Organist to appear around the beginning of September.

A few small news items:

-The Amazing and Stupendous GEEK CALENDAR, starring a bunch of really cool people, and, for some reason, ME, is now available for pre-order. No I’m not naked. Why does everybody ask that? It’s to support libel reform in the UK, a subject of anxious interest to cartoonists and to all who value the basic human, and, indeed, simian! Right to Point and Laugh. Early Birds will be put in the draw for Fabulous Prizes, including this drawing!

-I’m spending today cleaning up the sole page of the Salamander People quasi-episode for Steampunk Reloaded. I’m disconcerted by the Borgesian metaphysics surrounding the unfinished, and even un-started ‘Salamander People’– suspended somewhere between Being and Non-Being… does an Imaginary Story exist, or not exist? Anyways this does give me an excuse to look at pictures of Giant Salamanders. Bet you thought I made those up, didn’t you?

- On the Primary Documents front, check out this adorable engraving of Charles Babbage!

That’s him in 1841, around the time he fought the Salamander People, or at least went to Mount Vesuvius. Found via Google Books, in the Portraits and Biographies of Thirty-Six LIVING SCIENTISTS, if you read Italian there’s a nice, if unsurprising biography following on that. I would like everyone to take careful note of how closely the top part of his hair accords with the comic, though I’m disappointed to see that he combed the sides for the occasion of having his portrait taken (and they’ve given him a regrettable, and inaccurate, Victorian-ized cupid-bow mouth). Don’t you just want to hug him?

PDF

( 22 Comments )

Categories: Meanwhile..