The first thing you need to do is follow Graham Annable on Twitter. Then you wait. And you wait some more. If you’re lucky, you will catch him between things to do. In those periods, the Grickle artist tends to doodle, taking requests from his Twitter followers. Now, if you’re really lucky, he’ll turn your suggestion into a personal doodle. He did that yesterday with my cat eating snails with the shells still on in a restaurant idea. The result can be viewed here. Pretty cool, huh? And as you can see in his Flickr photostream, he’s made quite a lot of those Twitter doodles already.

Has Graham Annable turned one of your ideas into a Grickle doodle? Do you know any other artists who take requests, either on Twitter or somewhere else? Maybe you are an artist yourself who draws on demand? If any of these apply to you, please do not be shy, and speak your mind in the comments below!

As much as I am a fan of his portrayal of Ernie though, I can’t say the same about his peanut butter floor. I’m not a fan of conceptual art in general, but I can appreciate that some people get some enjoyment out of it. And indeed, a floor that’s smeared with peanut butter is an excellent example of Schippers’ philosophy that even if things are completely absurd and useless, they can still be worth doing.

But I have two problems with this peanut butter floor as presented by Boijmans. First of all, you can’t walk on it, or even taste it (though you can smell it, my word, you can smell the thing from miles away). The whole thing is religiously guarded by museum staff, thus exalting it to the status of art, while it would be more appropriate as an interactive concept. By that I mean they should have done it like in 1997, when the peanut butter floor could be walked on, and slipped on. Not that I would have visited it in that case, but at least it would have made things a bit more interesting!

My second concern is a rather more serious one. The floor took 900 litres of peanut butter to complete. A family could eat peanut butter sandwiches for years and years from that. In a time when some people are having a lot of trouble making ends meet, I don’t feel such waste of food should be applauded and even called art.

You could argue that all art costs money, and that money could have been used to buy food. That’s true, but the same could be said about anything that’s not food, not just about art. The problem here is that all that peanut butter has already been produced and could have been eaten, but instead it’s wasted on a piece of art that will deteriorate over time and eventually be thrown away.

This brings me to my point that artists have a responsibility towards their environment just like everyone else. They shouldn’t be above that just because they happen to create art. I’m not saying that they should be censored, they should just use their common sense and ask themselves if what they create will benefit anyone other than their wallets and that of the museums.

You can watch a video about the peanut butter floor if you want to make up your own mind. After that, please let us know your take on it in the comments!

Jurassic Park

From the trailer to the reports that have been made of the style of gameplay this will have, I’m very much looking forward to Jurassic Park: The Game, because it will be so much different from anything Telltale has done before and I feel that they will do it well regardless. The graphics look amazing, I know Telltale have been pushing their engine to the max to do this and it shows. While it may not be in the same graphical range as some other games that are out there, for an action/adventure game it’s absolutely stunning. I especially like the direction Telltale is coming from by not including the original characters as the main focus of this game, thereby allowing new personalities to take prevalence and develop and be freshly implanted in the players mind.

So, basically, Jurassic Park is a game I’m looking forward to from Telltale this year. Unfortunately, that can’t be said for everything…

The Walking Dead

Yech. A zombie game. Really, Telltale? And I know that the series is very popular, and there’s comic books and a TV series and blah blah blah, its just that aren’t there enough of these kinds of games as it is? I thought Telltale came about because they wanted to make adventure games and no other company did. I thought Telltale was trying to stand out from the crowd. But what with the apparent probability of this being an action game and potentially also a first person shooter (unlikely as that seems), I worry that Telltale is thinking that it has to conform to the general, boring, currently popular releases in order to make money. (Dead Island or Call of Duty: Black Ops, anybody?) But here’s a tip for Telltale; by trying to change your games to appeal to a wider market, you also risk cutting off some of your longer supporters in favour of a group who will, lets face it, ditch you for the next big thing later on. Although I may sound harsh, this is my opinion, and I just don’t like zombie games. Granted, I’m still going to play it, because I think that any game Telltale makes is probably going to be in one way or another entertaining, but I don’t think I’ll be a rabid fan of this series. I hope there won’t be another one coming afterwards.

Fables

Ok, so after my displeasure at The Walking Dead, I’m happy to say that Fables, another comic book video game, looks like it will be BRILLIANT. First of all, the idea of this comics themselves is wonderful and creative, take this and add 2 heaping spoonfuls of Telltale brilliance and you get a potentially awesome video game. I had a quick look at some pages from the comics yesterday, and the writing is fantastic. I can’t wait to get into this game. It’s just a shame that it won’t be out until 2012…

Hector: Badge of Carnage

This game… This game… I can not wait for it to be on PC. Ok, granted, Telltale is not developing this series, merely publishing, its still brilliant. I got the game on my iPhone yesterday and am currently loving it. I wish I found out about it earlier. By the way, a review will be up sometime next week. It has classic British humour, llewdness, strong puzzles, great characters, brilliant voice acting, and I’ve only been playing for half an hour. This is another game that Telltale’s got me anticipating.

Puzzle Agent 2

Frankly, I’m very relieved that one game Telltale’s done before wound up on this list, and I’m especially glad that it’s Puzzle Agent because that damn game had no ending the first time around, and I’m looking forwards to seeing how the game wraps up, as well as the developments that are made in the puzzle, graphical, story telling and plotting departments. Also, the Hidden People are back, which makes me scared. Honestly, they are some of the scariest little… I can’t say that word… that I’ve found in games EVER! So it should be good…

King’s Quest

Wait, what? King’s Quest? When I saw this I got excited. And I don’t know why. I’ve never played a King’s Quest game. I mean, I’ve played Peasant’s Quest, but not King’s Quest. It’s just that hanging around all the old adventure gamers has made me sort of feel like I know these old games, and so I think I’m going to have a good time when this game gets out in 2012.

So that’s pretty much it. All in all, I’m pretty happy, I think Telltale can do a good job, except that damn zombie game that they seem to be so happy about… Oh well, maybe it will turn out alright. But what do you think? Tell us in the comments!

The vast collection of old paintings, pottery, utensils and ceramics alone is worth a visit to the Boijmans museum. Especially the collection of paintings, from Renaissance masters to impressionists and from the Middle Ages to surrealism, is a joy to behold. In addition, the museum has a huge collection of drawings and prints, and one in particular stayed with me. It was a drawing from the prison series by Piranesi. It’s just one of those things that speak to your subconscious in a way that only great works of art can.

Speaking of great works of art, I had a delightful aesthetic experience of an entirely different nature in the museum café. Two, actually. The first one was a visit to the toilet. You may think that’s nothing special, but in this case, the restroom is actually one big art object in a pleasant green colour, designed by Joep van Lieshout (you can see a picture on this page). This turns the otherwise mundane event of emptying one’s bladder into an adventure, believe it or not.

The second was a matter of taste. Apart from the coffee, which was excellent and served with a piece of nougat, there was something else. Something out of this world. A piece of chocolate cake. Now, I’m quite fond of chocolate, and I wouldn’t quickly say no if you offered me a piece of it, but this was something else. What a great cake. Actually, it was a chocolate truffle cake, so that makes it even better. I guess.

But the best was yet to come. There’s an exhibition going on by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, called Notion Motion. Now, I don’t usually go for those modern minimalistic (read: nonsensical) works of art, and this looked a lot like that… at first glance. When you look closer however, it becomes apparent that Eliasson cleverly plays with the viewer, making you interact with the huge art installations and leaving you trying to figure out just how he does it. What at first looks like stupid video art turns out to be a cleverly designed installation using only light and water, which you, the viewer, can influence in many cases. It’s truly something to experience, but you have to hurry, since the exhibition will end October 17.

I ended my day with a walk through this. I actually had to look twice… no, thrice, and maybe even more times, to make sure it was actually an exhibition. It really looked like a part of the museum that was under construction. I read the accompanying description, and when I reached the word ‘dada’, I figured that it was art after all. It was. Of sorts. It was fun to walk through one time, feeling a bit like Alice in Wonderland, but at the same time you wonder why this is art and that is not. Maybe that’s the whole idea.

In any case, if you ever find yourself in Rotterdam, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is one of those locations you absolutely must see. The daring combination of both traditional and modern art ensures anyone can have a great time there, and if you like just one of those two before you go in, you just might come out liking the other one as well, if only a little bit.

CZ: What tools do you use to create your masterpieces?

SS: Mostly Photoshop CS2 and a small Bamboo Wacom tablet, seriously I use that thing so much the tip of the tablets pen is wearing down! Hope I can buy a new one some place… anyway, I also like to do traditional stuff as well, painting with acrylics mostly. I love the feel of acrylics on a fresh canvas, you get the indents of brush movement and your hands can follow them, I’ve always liked that for some weird reason. Not only that but it looks great, the colours can really stand out, they can be soft or as hard as the painter chooses, we can look at are dear friend Mr Purcell for proof of that.

CZ: How long does it take you, on average, to complete a work of art?

SS: I’m very quick when it comes to sketching characters and depending on the method I can colour them in quickly as well but when it comes to the backgrounds and environments in general I struggle and my brain seems to freeze horribly, sometimes I’ll cop out and just do simple splash of colour behind them but when I know that I can do better than that I will knuckle down and try to something detailed and interesting so it can at times take me about 3 to 5 hours. When I do comic books however they can take a few days of course depending on how many panels are in play.

CZ: Have you ever had a poster made of your art or considered making it into a poster?

SS: Oh I don’t know if I’m good enough for that really, maybe if I get better and if my comic book gets a little more popular and people want a poster then sure I’ll go for it but right now I feel like I got a long way to go.

CZ: Is it difficult to do Max’s head?

SS: Not really difficult but it did take a few doodles to get it right, I think mainly because I always draw big smiles and small eyes in my regular art, as for the body though I struggle a little more but I think that’s mostly my struggle to draw hands.

CZ: What about Sam’s body?

SS: Oooh boy now that is a task, I can barely draw the six foot dogs head but the body is a job in it’s self, his feet especially, but I usually just try to build his body up with many little and big circles but I hope in time I’ll get the two legged canines body just right.

CZ: How long does it take to think up a concept for an artwork?

SS: It’s weird because I never just think “I’m gunna draw Sam and Max today!” I’m usually just sitting around or something and then an idea kicks me in the head and I then I have the throw this idea on paper or draw it on Photoshop as fast as I can before I loose it, that goes for any drawing really not just fanart. Sometimes the picture seems die halfway through sketching and it’ll ether been thrown away or DELETED (haha I shouldn’t of written this after watching Strong Bad emails) but if the idea is really good it’ll end up completed.

CZ: Did you teach yourself to draw, or did you get taught, or both?

SS: I’m not sure… I think I mostly taught my self but then again when I first wanted to be good at drawing I went to the school library and got out books, those god awful “how to draw manga” things that to be honest didn’t look like manga and I wasn’t even much of a anime fan (not to say I hate it mind you). Also looking for tutorials on Deviantart like “How to draw wolves” or “How to draw Invader Zim” … My god I was really stupid kid! Oh well, we all go through phases when we’re kids, live and learn huh?

CZ: What is your honest personal opinion of most of your works?

SS: I don’t really know, sometimes I want to say “Hey I’m not doing to bad!” but other times I just seem to hate it, especially my old stuff, like I said I was a very stupid kid. But hopefully my work can only go up from here.

CZ: Do you prefer cake or pie, and why?

SS: Gimme cake! I love cakes, mostly sweet sugary cakes; I’m a very unhealthy person in that respect… Oh gee thanks! Now I want to go to the shop and buy some! Oh but I did go through a phase when I was eleven-ish where I would say “I like pie” a lot and to be honest I didn’t that much but I simply said it because I thought it was funny… yeah, stupid kid remember?

CZ: How old were you when you started drawing, and were these early “artworks” any good?

SS: Let’s see my first thing I submitted to Deviantart was December 24, 2005 (huh I don’t remember it being so close to Christmas) so I was 13 but I was drawing before then, I remember, so lets say 12 for safe measure. I started getting “serious” because of a website called Neopets, a website I now despise, because I saw people drawing their Neopets and it looked cool, I thought only professionals could use fancy drawing programs and when I saw average people using it I flipped out and wanted to draw awesome pictures of my pets on programs like Photoshop as well, of course now I know it’s not the program that makes a good drawing but back then I was dead set convinced. As for them being good… no they are and always will be terrible but we all start off bad.

CZ: Are you currently working on anything?

SS: I’m working on small projects all the time, most never get done, but I’m happy that my comic series is coming a long so well. I think why is because I’m just having fun with them and I haven’t given them a serious tone or a continues plot line. I get this sense of freedom and I can do whatever I want with them. I also would like to do another Sam and Max comic like my other one, I carry on the ending of the latest episode in a bizarre way, though to be honest all the episodes end in bizarre ways so how I can add to that I don’t know. I have to wait a while before I can make/post them though because of spoilers and what not. I’ve been chucking around a few ideas so I suppose I’ll just wait and see what happens.

CZ: You have very interesting styles, would you ever part in search of a new style?

SS: I’m always messing around with art styles and evolving old ones; it’s all a game of wait and see.

CZ: Finally, can you tell me what your favorite artwork of yours is?

SS: I’m not really sure, I suppose I like my comic books the most because their simple and yet very expressive and full of movement, I love drawing that sorta thing.

Sam and Max wise… erm, suppose my latest one where they are fishing, background could use a lot of work though but I suppose I just like the idea of them being casual, what they might do when their not freelance policing.

First up is Mariaan Krog, whose art you can see here.

Could you tell us something about yourself, and about your connection to South Africa?

I am a single mom to a 14 year old son. I am a full time Fine Art Visual Artist. I specialize in animal portraits. I was born in South Africa and am still living here. I’ve only once been overseas – on my honeymoon trip to Mauritius! I’ve also been to Swaziland and Lesotho, but these countries are boxed inside of South Africa.

What do you like best about South Africa?

Its wild animals, landscapes and bio-diversity.

What do you like least about it?

The fact that it does not promise my son a future. It is still years behind the first world countries in terms of technology and fairness to all its people. To make a success of his career, he might have to go overseas. He has incredible talent and is thinking of becoming a cartoonist.

When did you start creating art?

I started painting when my husband died in 1995. Before that I was more into interior decorating. Once I had to paint murals for a friend’s house, it was a gigantic task, but brought out the best out of me. Only then did I realise I want to do art for a living.

Does South Africa play a big role in your art?

I would have to say that the fauna and flora in South Africa play a big role in my artwork. And then of course the South Africans that give me commission work. They have an influence on the style and method of the artworks I create for them.

How do you think art may be able to help people in South Africa, and all over the world?

Art, e.g. a painting, tells a story. It is a story told by the painter. He/she creates the background, the main characters and the line of the story. In this way an artwork can portray a specific message to the world. A message about the necessity of healing for all people in South Africa can be a great way to tell the world about what and how we feel about each other here in South Africa. Art can definitely help us here and since it’s a global message, it can also help others around the world!

Be sure to read on to the next page!

CZ: What tools do you use to create your masterpieces?

LR: I’m going to get into a bit of pre-Sam & Max history here, if that’s okay …

In the Before Times (i.e. prior to owning my first Wacom tablet), I pretty much used whatever I could get my hands on. Most of it was dry media of some sort since I favored sketchbook paper, even for more involved pieces.

Then Photoshop and a graphics tablet arrived in my life. Their promise of a faster, all-digital workflow as well as the allure of Ctrl/Cmd+Z made my pruney little heart sing like a treefrog.

The rest is more or less history, although I always keep a sketchbook, pencils, and kneaded erasers on standby. Even Cintiqs, fantastic tools that they are, can’t quite match the feel of pencil on paper (although they’re getting closer!). And there’s still a certain reassurance in knowing I can hold some part of whatever I’m working on in my hands that I can’t quite get with making a good-quality print out of a .psd file.

CZ: How long does it take you, on average, to complete a work of art?

LR: Ooh, that varies a lot. Mostly because Real Life isn’t on its best behavior often enough to lend me the time, alas. But on a good day, I can get a simpler, full-color piece hammered out in a few hours. And on a good streak of days, something complex within about a week or two.

CZ: Have you ever had a poster made of your art or considered making it into a poster?

LR: Not fan art, no, but there was one character I created when I was going through a (very brief) “I SHALL DRAW LIKE BLEEDMAN” stage years ago. It was one of the very first sketches I scanned into Photoshop for clean-up and color, and my parents decided it would be our Christmas card. More relevant to the question at hand, my dad had it blown up and printed as a poster, which was cool at the time. I’m afraid to even look at it now, wherever that poster has ended up.

CZ: Is it difficult to do Max’s head?

Not too bad, although at first it was harder for me to pin down than I’d thought, casaba-shaped or not. (Or could it have been because it’s casaba-shaped? I’ve never really liked casabas. Ah, the intrigue … ) Getting the face right can be a challenge too, but it’s also the funnest part. His ears are usually the easiest.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Max is one of those rare characters who looks just as good from a full-on view as he does at three-quarters. (Curse that pinchable, iconic noggin of his!) But he seems to have sacrificed a non-weird looking profile in the process. Seriously; I’ve tried it. Steve Purcell even brought that up one of the sketchbooks. It seems even sociopathic bunnies with psychic powers can’t have everything.

5. What about Sam’s body?

LR: It’s easiest when I think of his torso as a pear-shaped, half-filled sack of flour. A very large, plump half-filled sack of flour.

( … And now I’ll take a moment to appreciate the fact that it’s impossible for me to incur the wrath of a fictional character equipped with sociopathic tendencies and a big gun. Whew … )

Anyway, Sam’s really fun to draw. It took awhile to get a handle on him, but it helps that his design has very little by the way of sharp angles — a feature that works well with my drawing style. His head and fedora still have ways of perplexing me, but hey, they’re the hazards that come with wanting to draw one of my very favorite characters. And of course it figures that I’d end up preferring the one half of the Freelance Police duo who’s harder to draw, huh?

CZ: How long does it take to think up a concept for an artwork?

LR: It depends. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do from the start and have a good idea as to how I’ll go about it. Other times I only have the first part figured out and have to wrestle with the drawing for an hour or so to get the “how” end of the deal pinned down. Other other times, a vague concept and sheer determination are all I have to my name, and diving in somewhat — sometimes completely — blind is the only way to get the ball rolling towards anything at all. Something between the two extremes are the most common in my experience.

CZ: Did you teach yourself to draw, or did you get taught, or both?

LR: Both. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, but started taking art classes as soon as it was possible. I can’t imagine having done one without the other, myself.

CZ: What is your honest personal opinion of most of your works?

LR: Heh … and here I thought you were going to ask hard questions!

In all honesty, though, I look at most of what I’ve done and yearn for more expressiveness. More fluidity. I have The Illusion of Life open next to me right now (because I’m a dork like that). The gestural mastery in there makes me ache for a hand and mind that can just coordinate with each other and behave and lay down sketches with such confident, emphatic finesse.

It actually isn’t too far off from what I’ve learned (am still learning) as a writer: you have to be willing to roll your sleeves up and dig in to the mess of not knowing just exactly where and how you’re going to render every single line. Because you don’t know what you’re missing if you pursue tunnel-visioned perfectionism from the get-go.

When I grow up, I hope to have the guts to embrace that notion fully.

CZ: Do you prefer cake or pie, and why?

LR: Hey, that’s not fair! I really, really love both!

… Well, okay. In lieu of arm-twisting, I’ll admit I like cake a bit more. Something about the texture. Especially combined with a delicious, not-overly-sweet frosting. And the filling. With berries. Mmm.

CZ: How old were you when you started drawing, and were these early “artworks” any good?

LR: As I mentioned before, I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. It’s been ages since I’ve seen any of my earliest stuff, but I would probably think an orangutan dropped a bunch of pencils on paper from ten feet up, figured out what to do with them after poking holes with the lead, then proceeded to scribble something that might or might not be a dog with six legs. Then again, that would be an insult towards orangutans.

Which is to say, we are always our own worst critics. But it’s still fun to look at those old sketches and doodles, to think about the progress from way, waaay back then till now. No, it gets harder when looking back at more recent work. There, I have to remember that with the cringes comes those little twinges of, “Hey, I’ve gotten better.” Maybe I’m not as far along as I’d like, but progress is progress, and like it or not we all improve at our own pace. It’s an invaluable recognition, especially on the bad days.

CZ: Are you currently working on anything?

LR: Yup! Digital from start-to-finish this time. It shall find its way into the wild as soon as it’s ready.

CZ: You have very interesting styles, would you ever part in search of a new style?

LR: To try out something new and expand my horizons a bit, sure! It’s good to learn (and maybe even master) a variety of styles whenever possible. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to become a stylistic nomad. At least not to the point of lacking a “voice” of my own. The way I draw will continue to evolve, but it should remain distinctly its own in some way or another.

CZ: Finally, can you tell me what your favourite artwork of yours is?

LR: For Sam & Max, I’m really happy with how the Tomb of Sammun-Mak poster turned out. I hadn’t tried my hand at art nouveau yet (somehow; I’m pretty sure I was one of the two people who hadn’t), but it was something I’d been wanting to do and it suited the era most of the game took place in, so I figured, “Hell, why not?” Also, all the art I’d done for Sam & Max so far was pretty simple. It was time to knuckle down on a bigger project.

Even taking into account some of the headaches along the way, the poster was a pleasure to work on. Further big projects — of a more fan-comicy ilk — should be on their way in the near-ish future as a result.

Thank you light_rises, and one again this wraps up our latest installment in this serial. Hopefully we can get more artists to join us later for more in-depth interview! Goodbye for now, everyone!

Ginny N

Age: Unknown

Relationship Status: Unknown

Number of fingers and toes: Unknown

But what we do know is that she produces some damn fine Sam & Max fanart! So, without any further ado, I present my mostly unedited interview with Ginny N, based in Chile:

CZ: What tools do you use to create your masterpieces?

GN: Tools, tools, toooollllssss… Pretty much depends on what I want to do more than the tool itself. More recently I use a lot of Photoshop, but I also use Illustrator and SAI Pro Shop some times. That’s when it’s digital, I also do some traditional work. In that case I use a ton of Fabell Castell Coloring Pencils I have inside a DSi Box and some Felt-tip pens for the lines. For the big Black parts I use Markers like what you’d use for CDs or the Whiteboard Markers.  The idea of the pencils and the computer (Because I use a Laptop) is basically, those are transportable, and, since I don’t have a workshop, I can start a piece of work everywhere in every moment. I have to admit I’m not going everywhere with the Coloring Pencils or the Computer itself, but the Felt-tip pens and the Sketch Book are always with me, so I can start a drawing before class or while I’m waiting for something. When I’m already doing something, you can see me with the DSi Box, but those moments recently had become somewhat rare.

CZ: How long does it take you, on average, to complete a work of art?

GN: 4 hours? I think? If it’s one character posing, probably that will take 1 to 2 hours. If it’s the character posing with a decent background, a bit more. Always depends how complex is the composition and which tool I’m using. For example, Sameth and Maximus took about 3 hours (That was done in Paint. Yep, the same one is in Windows XP) and Bird in a Cage took about 2 days inking, but Samurai Sam took about 1 hour and half. And that it’s without thinking of the concept first. The concept can take a lot of time, because when I have an idea I usually don’t have any time and presto! The idea can be there for days and weeks until I have some time or motivation for do something. Just ask Movil Lagomorph Launcher: I got the idea in June, the Sketch in September and the inking plus coloring took about 5 hours in October.

But, in the ideal time with a forgiving and familiar tool, 6 hours  average (I’m just guessing). But the concept is totally random, like these ones for example.

ED: I am proud to say that I have a full sized poster of the Movil Lagomorph Launcher hanging in my room right now

CZ:  Have you ever had a poster made of your art or considered making it into a poster?

GN: Not really. I have considered the possibility but now I’m trying to frame the originals every time I can.  Once I had some “posters” of work of mine in different museums as part of expositions about Chilean Comic Artists, as part of the New Generation talent. And once I sold small posters and postcards in a Comic Convention. (While I was thinking about do something like Graham Annable does in (his) the Grickle Store, but I’m not sure if something like that will work, do you?)

CZ: Is it difficult to do Max’s head?

GN: I think Max’s head is not THAT difficult as probably looks like. His head has some little rules you have to know, like the head has more width than height, and the eyes always goes in the line of the ears.  Miss those rules by a little is not always dramatic and always will still looks like Max. Sam’s for the other side has some little rules I still cannot figure out too well and miss those little details become, at least for me, way more dramatic than miss some of Max’s. Now, I have to adopt some tricks for avoid Max’s face looks too flat. I mean, Max’s head can take two tries tops but Sam’s can take like 5 tries and suddenly I have to change his whole pose. Max’s face is a bit more “human” and I guess that’s the easier part of his face, but, since at the same time is really simple and iconic, can scare a little if you don’t investigate first.
CZ: What about Sam’s body?

GN: I learned to draw by imitating Sailor Moon at first, which mean my first characters were (And still are) really thin. I came across to another character before who looks really bad with my awfully thin typical body type, so I had to learn to do wide shoulders for that character. Then I came across with Sam, I adopted that wide shoulders type of body for him. Thank goodness he wears that clothes which are always too large for him, because I just recently figure out how to draw him overweight. I guess because Noir Sam doesn’t have the Jacket, I came across the necessity of figure out a way to draw him without that trick of his jacket been too big for him. Somehow.
CZ: How long does it take to think up a concept for an artwork?

GN: The Concept is just a flash idea. When I want to draw something. When it’s a request take a bit more time. But never takes more than a day. Sometimes takes less than a second in fact.
CZ: Did you teach yourself to draw, or did you get taught, or both?

GN: I taught myself to draw, but sometimes I ask for advice to my sister, who got some classes. Mostly because I never was really the arty type in my family or at school, I never asked for classes or never anyone recommended to me something like that.  So I was always drawing because I liked and because I wanted do it for fun but never seriously or for a living. I must admit the art and the colorful thing in the images actually run in the family but either my mom or my sister (Or my ex-Art Teacher for that matter) likes my style, so, that was like an uphill battle I never wanted to fight. I got more confidence when I came to College, where people started to ask me why I was studying Computer Engineering instead of Graphic Design or something. I never changed career because I also love Computer Engineering, but that people is mostly responsible of what I’m doing today about drawing and art.
CZ: What is your honest personal opinion of most of your works?

GN: I love them for what I learned by doing it, but some are just plain embarrassing. But, the biggest problem I always have with all of them is there always ALWAYS a little detail I couldn’t fix while I was doing it. I always finish looking at the problems instead of the good things, especially when I did the drawing recently. So, there’s no drawing I really feel ok if I present it to someone. I upload it to DeviantArt by default (And, if it’s a Sam and Max Fan Art, to the Forum) and if someone react, then I keep showing the drawing to someone else. But, by default, I love my drawings but I think they aren’t good enough for the rest of the world. Then I do a test first. Just in case.
CZ: Do you prefer cake or pie, and why?

GN: Cake because when we have cake is for a special occasion while we eat pie for Tea Time when we want.  Apart of that, in Chile, we don’t really eat pie. We eat Kuchen. Or Tartaleta. The only one which is actually Pie is the Lemon Meringue Pie. For some reason.
CZ: How old were you when you started drawing, and were these early “artworks” any good?

GN: What will it happen if I said I started to draw about 15 years ago or something? Ok, I think you can say I started when I was about 14 years old, technically, but I was doing doodles and weird sketches since I have memory. Those really old drawings I guess were somewhat good, because, when I was 14, I started to put more effort in the same drawings. You know, background, inking, coloring. People seem to like them, but I don’t have those really old drawing anymore. I have some which are like 10 years old, and sometimes I surprise myself about their good features. But I think my stuff now is better, thanks goodness.
CZ: Are you currently working on anything?

GN: I have a couple of webcomics in Spanish which come back and forward of been in hiatus or not. But basically: “Thousand Moon” is a Town of Adventure story but IN SPACE; “Tower of Time” is a mission-based tale about, supposedly, keep the history just like must happen and “Soul”  is what happen when you try to do a detective story using a parody as a reference (It’s not really a mystery story by the way).  You can see blatant “hints” of where I get the inspiration for all the characters in the three stories and, with “Soul”, those are so blatant I’m seriously thinking in change the design of the main character and another one. But, well, those are my personal projects right now. I’m thinking in doing a Fan Comic about “certain” series, but those ideas end up as fan art because I’m scared of not get the main characters right. I think of them as great but difficult characters to work with.
CZ: You have very interesting styles, would you ever part in search of a new style?

GN: I think, somehow, I came across with something special you can call my style, which is, far I’m concerned, not really common. I could start to imitate another style, but more for grab more tools for my own style, than for search a new one.
CZ: Finally, can you tell me what your favourite artwork of yours is?

GN: It’s like make choose a favorite child! But, if I have to choose something, I would choose some logos I did long time ago for a University Committee and a Computer Laboratory. I did those logos like a ton of time ago, and I still see them in the official main page or in announcements of both groups. The original guys for which I did the logos left both groups sometime ago, but the logos are still there, been adopted as part of them as a group for other guys. I don’t really know those new guys and probably they have no idea I did those logos, but those are now of them and not mine, and I’m so proud to see someone else adopt them. I want that been the destiny of my characters and my comics too, but I still have a lot of time and work to do for get something like that.

Thank you Ginny for your time! You can see tons more stuff by Ginny at her DeviantArt page, here!

Earlier in the week I caught up with Mark Darin and asked him a few questions about Nelson Tethers and a couple of other things. And, thank god, he responded!

Cultural Zest:     Hi Mark. Now then, let’s get right into it. Now, you’ve worked on many games for Telltale before, such as Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, Tales of Monkey Island, and the odd Sam & Max adventure. But Nelson Tethers is a completely different art style compared to these games. How did you find development of Puzzle Agent compared to these previous titles?

Mark Darin:     The development of Puzzle Agent has been pretty similar to the process of developing other Telltale games. We started with a premise, the kind of game we wanted to make, and from there spent a lot of time building a rich story around that.

CZ:     How different is it to produce a puzzle game after so much experience in the field of general adventure games? Is it difficult to come up with original puzzles that hold a flame to that of Professor Layton’s previously established puzzles?

MD:   It’s not that much different, we just have to have a clear picture of what we intend to create from the outset. What conventions from Adventure gaming are not going to work as well, and what things that we already do well are going to work for this genre?

Puzzles are everywhere! While professor Layton is a definite inspiration, there are plenty more out there! We are trying to delve into puzzle types that haven’t been used so much in Layton, and utilize puzzles that are going to enhance the storytelling of the game as well.

CZ:     Who came up with the name “Nelson Tethers”?

MD:   I’m not sure whether that was Graham Annabelle himself or Dave Grossman, our creative director. One of those two.

CZ:     When was the idea to do a puzzle game first thought up?

MD:   Oh who knows. We are always talking about doing different types of games around here. As long as we can tell an intriguing story with interesting characters, we’re excited about it!

CZ:     Had members of Telltale been eager for a Grickle game before this project began?

MD:   Of course! We have had Graham’s Dank/Dunk comic running on our site for ages! We are all big fans of his work.

CZ:     Did the Telltale Pilot Program come about because of Nelson Tethers, or was Puzzle Agent a by-product of the creation of the Telltale Pilot Program?

MD:   They both sort of came about on their own. They were each bubbling ideas getting attention from different people at different times. Luckily, both ideas kind of emerged at the same time and were a perfect compliment for each other!

CZ:     Speaking of pilots, it has been rumoured that there will be four such “pilot” episodes. Are you able to divulge any information about future games?

MD:   Nothing to report on future episodes at this time. Right now we have our hands full getting everything he have planned for the pilot in there! It’s gonna be a game like nothing else!

CZ:     Do you believe Puzzle Agent will be successful enough to develop into a full series, or is that something impossible to tell until you can judge players’ reactions?

MD:   If we didn’t believe in its success, we wouldn’t be making the game. Period.

All right then, that’s the end of the questions about Puzzle Agent and the Telltale Pilot prgram. But it’s certainly not the end of the questions!

CZ:     When did you begin developing games, and when did your love for game development begin?

MD:   Well, lets start with the last part of that first. My love for game development began when I was just a wee lad. I was always making games, of course they weren’t video games at first. I would make up games with my brother that used dice and action figures. Then, sometime in the late 80’s I got a Commodore 64. That’s when I started making games. My first game was a 2 screen parody of Maniac Mansion called Maniac Outhouse. Well, two screens including a title screen. No, it wasn’t a good game.

CZ:     Do you draw inspiration from anywhere in particular?

MD:   I can’t say any place specifically. Movies, books, all sorts of entertainment inspires me. (Reality TV does not count as Entertainment for me!) I think my biggest source of inspiration is my friends. I have such a talented and creative group of friends that I have to remain driven just to keep up with them!

CZ:     There are many people in the world today who consider games as an art form, and those who do not. Where do you stand in this argument?

MD:   Without getting into a whole debate, I’ll just say this: I have felt the sting of having to compromise my artistic vision to accommodate things like marketing, budget and so on. The very fact that those things CAN compromise the creator’s vision and that compromise can be the cause of tremendous stress implies that there is an artistic intent in there somewhere.

CZ:     How much fun is it working at Telltale Games? Could you pick any particularly outstanding co-workers?

MD:   I love working at Telltale. Best job ever! And I could never call out just a few outstanding people, but I can name all the people standing up right now: Will, Steve, Franklin, Greg, Joel, Sean, Seg and Andrew.

CZ:     About SBCG4AP: Although it was about 2 years ago now, how would you describe working on this project and with the Chapman brothers?

MD:   Amazing, just as you would expect. They are really cool guys and ridiculously talented! Weekly phone meetings with them were the highlight of the project for me!

CZ:     And finally, you began Pinhead Games many years ago. Have you any plans to add to this site or have you essentially finished with it completely?

MD:   Unfortunately, I’ve left it go without my attention for far too long! I always meant to keep it going strong, but I underestimated how busy I’d be here at Telltale. I’ll never be finished with it completely though. Ya never know what might pop up there one day!

Thank you Mark for your time, and we can expect to see the fruits of Mark and Graham’s labor hopefully sometime in June, so watch out for Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent! And maybe you should consider taking advantage of Telltale Games’ 50% off pretty-much-everything-in-their-store-deal when you pre-order Puzzle Agent at the same time, if you haven’t already! And hurry, because the offer expires on June 8th!

How would you describe yourself?

Well, professionally, I’d describe myself as a storyboard/comic/animation artist. Characteristically, I’d say I was a fairly quiet fellow who enjoys drawing cartoons and playing ice hockey.

Growing up, how did you turn into a cartoonist/animator?

I don’t know how it happened really. Neither of my parents are artists and I didn’t go to any special art schools in the beginning. I think reading tons of comics and watching far too much animation on television as a kid are the culprits.

Do you prefer drawing comics or animating? Do you approach them differently, or do you use techniques from one in the other (like treating a comic as a storyboard for a non-existent film, for instance)?

Both mediums have their strengths and weaknesses and I’d have to say I like them both for it equally. My art style doesn’t really vary much between the two although the types of ideas I can convey in each do differ a bit though. As just one guy creating the art I find animation fantastic for simple, impactful moments and the comics allow for a larger and longer scope to be conveyed within a story.

‘Channels’ is a great example of a video where Graham uses animation to convey quick moments of absurd humour

So far, what has been your favourite project that you worked on?

That’s a really tough one to answer. I feel I’ve been really fortunate to work on a lot of great projects over the years so it’s hard to single one out. A couple that are up there are the Coraline feature and the unreleased Sam & Max: Freelance Police game. Both experiences were amazing in terms of the teams I worked with and the knowledge gained artistically.

The trailer for ‘Coraline’, on which Graham Annable worked as a storyboard artist

Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent is an upcoming game based on your work. How do you feel about translating your work into a game?

I feel great about it! After doing the Youtube cartoons on my own for so long it’s been really fun to get the momentum of a whole team behind creating a Grickle style art project. The types of games that Telltale creates make it a perfect fit to translate my art into a video game format.

How heavily have you been involved in its development?

Quite heavily for this first pilot episode. There is just a ton of art direction involved and stylistic choices that need to be conveyed so that as a team we’re all feeling on the same page for the game. I think as time goes on my role will evolve and perhaps lessen as the process is more fully defined.

Do you have an opinion on the whole ‘games as art’ debate? Do you think video games will gain a greater cultural status, much like comics and animated film have achieved over the years?

Certainly. Games are every bit as much art as anything else out there. It’ll just take timely events and specific projects to help change that cultural mind-set. It’ll happen for sure.

Where do you find your inspiration? For instance, in some of your videos, you use quotes from the 1951 science-fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Where do things like that come from?

Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. Certain films and books just push all the right buttons for me and The Day the Earth Stood Still definitely falls into that catergory. It’s such an impossible thing to define where inspiration comes from though. One day it’s a film, the next it’s just something your friend says or a weird memory you recall. My ideas seem to happen a lot when I’m just driving home from work or washing dishes I find.

An example of a short film where Graham uses the legendary ‘Klaatu barada nikto‘ phrase from ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’

Do you have anything else on your mind that needs to get out?

Well there’s plenty kicking around in there. You’ll just have to keep an eye on the Grickle channel to see what gets out next.

Thank you for your time, Graham, and good luck in your endeavours!

For more information about Graham Annable’s work, do check out his Grickle web site. If you want a source of near-endless amusement for a rainy day (or a sunny one), the Grickle channel on YouTube is the place to go, where you can watch more hilarious shorts than at a gathering of stereotypical tourists.