Better Late Than Never… Amirite?

Maki| December 22, 2009 6:42 pm

The December issue of Auxiliary Magazine, which includes drawings by moi, is available for viewing either in PDF or with their snazzy new flash applet! Enjoy!

 

 

PSA From Jeezy Creezy

Maki| November 25, 2009 9:05 pm

 

 Today’s webcomic is brought to you by Matthias Grunewald, an old churchy story I heard when I was young, and loopy end-of-the-day thoughts. Enjoy! Don’t eat too much turkey like JC did.

In somewhat related news, here’s a BBC article I found while looking for an appropriate image for the comic.

 

 Church Removes ‘Scary Crucifix’

Big Apple Comic-Con

Maki| October 18, 2009 10:40 pm

This weekend was the Big Apple Comic Con here in NYC and earlier today Nadir and I, along with friends and family, went to take in the sights and buy lots of comics. I’ll have a more in depth report soon as I sort through the photos and read all the comics I bought. Until then, here’s a comic that was much funnier on the train when I thought of it Clicking the above image will take you to it in all its non-sequitur glory.

Note: Shatner was indeed there, though the image of him shrewdly poking his head out from behind a curtain I was standing next to will now always be how I remember him. Enjoy!

Sometimes, You Really Want that Seat

Maki| October 14, 2009 8:44 pm

 

New webcomic today, featuring myself this week. Any New Yorker can tell you about the intricacies of the subway system and its riders.  You see some messed up stuff sometimes. This story did happen and I do truly hate people who talk out loud to themselves. Stop it. We’re not interested.

Oct. Issue of Auxiliary Mag Released!

Maki| October 10, 2009 11:27 am

Old news by now, but the October Issue of Auxiliary Magazine is out featuring spooky halloween themed fashion tips, music reviews, and an interview with Doc Hammer of Venture Brothers fame! Auxiliary is run by friend/classmate/one-time-roommate Jennifer Link whose design and photography background lend to a beautifully constructed periodical. As usual, I contributed some frantic doodles this issue, which I posted below.  Click on the link above to view a definite up-and-coming alternative life/art/music/fashion magazine! 

 

 

BONUS: These should have been different posts, but I’ve been lackadaisical in my updates. Below are some sketches and recent entries into my facebook group ‘Ozgur’s Photoshop-Arama’ now affectionately known as OPA!!!!

 

 

Pinup time!

Maki| August 30, 2009 4:37 pm
pinup-time

Just a quick post of some recent digital paintings. Most brain wracking has been a remake of an old painting I called ‘Bad Medicine’ which was going great until it became a ’sad girl’ painting by a trusted confidant and muse. Utterly shamed that this aspect had slipped past me I scrapped the current version and have been trying to work out the foreground element. Because I’m so proud of my 8-bit pixel work, I’ll post the image without the angst as a work in progress, seen here second. The next image is the aforementioned sad girl I excised from the painting (love digital for this reason. UNDO!) that I decided to keep around if only as a new painting to look at.  

The first image is a pinup for Dusk creator/writer David Doub in anticipation of the second trade paperback of the series!

 

 Seems to be an issue with NextGen Gallery (my spiffy image plugin) and the new version of Wordpress so image uploads may be on hold as I really don’t like making thumbnails myself after years of NExtGen spoilage! Cheerio!

Inspiration

Maki| July 30, 2009 3:52 pm

 

 Oh man, this post is looking like a cheesy motivational poster already. Right below the clouds should be:

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD

Which happens to be what the placard out in the hall outside my new apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn reads (I have an awesome new landlady who decorates the hallway of the building). I have to admit, the phrase has grown on me. But before you begin to wonder if I rediscovered religion, just put it outside of its Judeo-Christian context. It sounds downright boastful, and I love it. If you still aren’t seeing it my way, here’s a little comic for you:

This is what goes on in my head when I read that quote. And it feels even more fitting for a neighborhood dominated by East Indians and Orthodox Jews. I only wish today’s webcomic was as inspired as the little gem above. Herein we have a classic case of ‘Maki thinks of the punchline and tries to mad-lib the rest’. I’m not sure how well it worked. Sometimes I feel like I’m a brilliant writer and sometimes its a mad-lib where somebody has scribbled swear words into all the spaces. To make matters worse, my bum-ass computer kicked the bucket and all my fonts are on that drive. So today you get Comic-Sans and a generic block type. Sigh indeed. 

Though if I got anything out of this, its that I like painting clouds. The ones you see here were sitting happily outside my window. Happy, dancing little clouds. I can see this as a comic I’d come back to. Maybe scramble the dialogue a little bit or enter a blank into the next Ozgur’s Photoshop-a-rama. Stay tuned and enjoy!

This Mad-Lib brought to you by Nadir, though I’m surprised there isn’t a shamcock somewhere on there.

 

Your reality is invading my fantasy world…

Maki| July 4, 2009 7:36 pm

[Edit] I wrote this thing to announce a related comic, which can be viewed by clicking above. My absent mindedness is fittingly ironic here.

Today we delve into the line between fantasy in reality and fantasy in subconscious. Some people like to read into dreams, but my dreams are usually so direct and so insultingly simple, that it’s too clear and obvious what they ‘mean’. Thus I have no problem having a dream about swimming with my iphone and thinking ‘Gee, I guess I’m worried about breaking this thing’ or jump kicking helicopters and thinking ‘Ok, that was too much game time before bed.’ I buy into the camp that believes dreams are a subconscious and often irrational manifestation of everything from anxieties to a weird mix of what you did that day. So having dreams about work usually worries me because I shouldn’t be thinking about it that much.

Self-analysis describes me pretty reliably as an escapist. I love movies and video games for the total immersion, for that moment where you forget where you are and what you have to do later in the day. This is why I never go to see documentaries at the movie theater because I see a movie to get away from reality, not to have it put in front of me during my special escape time. You watch that movie about Darfur, I’ll be over in the next theater watching Star Trek. This love of escaping has been with me for quite some time. As a child, I was a chronic daydreamer. School was always a colossal battle of me vs. my attention. And when I wasn’t actively daydreaming, I was trying to make it look like I was paying attention. That or pushing on my closed eyes to get a fireworks display in my head. School was kinda rough. I still find myself daydreaming, but it limits itself to the occasional lapse in attention, while listening to music (I direct music videos in my head.), or when talking to you, because you’re boring. Oh ha ha ha, I’m only kidding, loyal reader. Without you around I’d just sit here and enjoy the light show. Which doesn’t sound like a bad idea actually. TTFN, folks.

 

P.s. For you folks who love podcasts, I highly recommend the Radiolab episode on sleep for some great stories about studies done on tetris dreams and if I can find the episode, the story of Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote his books based on narratives played out by little people in his dreams. Wacky.

 

You REALLY have to play Prototype. Do it now.
My day job. Oh holy moley would it be awesome if I painted in my sleep. It’d save me so much time!
My day job. Oh holy moley would it be awesome if I painted in my sleep. It’d save me so much time!
A select few will know exactly what Calvin and Hobbes comic I’m thinking of. Commence giggles. ‘Do you think I’d look TOO interested?’
Try it! They’re called Phosphenes

 

Yippee Ki-yay

Maki| June 28, 2009 4:59 pm

Some of you (not many. ok, maybe two) will remember a little ways back I posted an image of a custom toy I made for buddy, pal, and Die Hard aficionado Nadir. No? Well, that’s probably because I snuggled it way down in one of those clever popup text links I do. Anyway, said toy mod was featured on Jailbreak Toy’s blog the other day! Check it out here.

So here’s the story:

KHAAAAAN!!

Maki| June 22, 2009 12:41 am
khaaaaan

That’s ‘khan’ for ‘Comic Con’, but writing ‘Con’ with lots of O’s is bound to get me some hate mail. I spent the past weekend at Nadir’s place along with his brother and trusty sidekick Scooterus The Uterus. Therein we gorged on food, beer, and base pleasures of the flesh. or video games. Whatev. But the highlight of the weekend was the 2009 Philadelphia Comic Con! It was my first, sad to say, and I would gladly do it again. Here’s a slew of photos that will do the talking for me.

I have to thank Nadir for taking us to the Con, his brother Yener for the camera, and Scott for being an awesome cameraman. Nighto!