Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cartoon and illustration

Help me track down this data-scanning monster.

bad grammar — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:56:10 -0800

This drawing or graphic appeared in the print section of either the Washington Post or the New York Times on Saturday or Sunday, May 11-12 (my house gets both papers on Sundays and inevitably mixes them up). All sections were put out for the recycle bin Monday before I could clip the article. The illustration was so striking that it has driven out of my head any memory of the article's correct citation or specific topic (it was about data-mining companies). I have been searching the websites of both papers and could not find it or the illustration.

A large, red, feathered and spiky, four-legged monster stands atop a field of data. Its head is a single enormous eyeball emitting a beam of laser light. A tiny human figure stands atop the eyeball, pulling on reins or levers to guide the beam. The beast has an upright, stove-pipe-like tail with numbers and words streaming out of it into the cloud.

Can you find this?

tickingclock — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:36:43 -0800

I'm asking this for a friend in neuroeconomics. She says:

A man is looking outside a window at the 13th floor and see another man is falling. The former asks the latter "How are you doing". The latter answers: "Fine so far".

Can you help her find this comic? If not the exact comic, could you suggest any other comics that "illustrate people's ignorance to the incoming risk or uncertainty?"

There's a hole in my bucket!

chocolatemilkshakes — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:34:47 -0800

What video clips feature someone futilely filling a leaking container (or a similar futile task)? I am looking for a video clip I can access on the internet for an illustration.

I am looking for a clip of someone ignorantly filling a leaking container. The elements I hope to show up in the video are that the person or people filling the container are expending lots of energy/work/time to fill the container. Maybe an assembly line style passing along of the bucket, or someone running frantically.

They should not realize that all this work is a waste because whatever they are filling the container with is leaking as they add more. But it is ok, maybe even good if they eventually notice the leak.

It could be sand, water, anything in any kind of container. Even some animal storing up food while another animal eating it as quickly as it is being gathered...

It could be a cartoon, the three stoges, a movie, whatever you can think of. I feel like I have seen plenty of clips with this sort of idea, but can't think of any to look up and my google-fu is failing. So I turn to you wonderful people for help.

The more clips the better, any you can think of with this kind of theme.

Thanks so much friends!

What blogs are geared to beginning drawing/dry media artists?

cowbellemoo — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:33:15 -0800

What blogs are geared to beginning drawing/dry media artists? Specifically, I enjoy artists dissecting their sketches for gesture, construction, perspective, lighting, etc. There are a million boring tutorial sites, but who is giving out nuggets of drawing wisdom in a more abbreviated, blog format? I've found Rad how to and the Art Center and those are really fantastic. But I want more!

How do you ink a drawing with a brush?

pantufla — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:34:06 -0800

How can I learn to ink drawings using a winsor & newton series 7 brush? I would like to learn how to ink clean, curving lines over my pencil drawings, and to have control over those lines. I've heard that the best brush to use for this is a Winsor & Newton Series 7. I've also heard that it takes lots of practice. Some of the brush masters I've been studying are Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, and the Hanukas.

I'm having a hard time generating those types of lines, or even finding information about how to create them. Can anyone offer pointers on brush inking technique? Everything from how to hold the brush to loading it with ink, different strokes to practice, etc. Thanks!

Image of Vault Boy Spoofing Ayn Rand?

brownpau — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:21:11 -0800

Does anyone remember a short comic parody of objectivism using an archetypal 1950s character in the style of "Vault Boy" from Fallout? I think the cartoon was called "Atlas Shrugged in Three Easy Steps" or something along those lines, and ended with two men locked in hand to hand combat. Assorted searches have yielded only frustration, but I know I saw a link to the image somewhere here on Metafilter.

Looking for work by a cartoonist.

Xere — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:17:06 -0800

Trying to recall the name of a certain cartoonist or illustrator. His work looked like a lot like Ulf K, but with wider, more curly lines. I think he did mostly (if not all) black-and-white cartoons. Sequential boxes/frames. No dialogue, as far as I can recall. Possibly dead, or quite old. I think his name may have had a Robert or Pierre in it, but I'm not sure. My google-fu for Robert and Pierre cartoonists fail me. Definitely not Robert Crumb or Pierre Bellocq.

How do you do pen and ink illustrations?

Shane — Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:56:56 -0800

Pen-n-ink illustration filter:
I've recently taken a renewed interest in "embellishing" or "rendering" in pen and ink. This has led me to this picture of a fiddling cat, which is naggingly familiar to myself and also to my Mom, although neither of us can remember the artist or source. Also, I came across this illustration from an Aesop's Fable, but I do not know the artist either (evidently, though, Aesop has a long and old tradition of finely illustrated editions.) Can anyone help me out?

And while we're at it, do we have any pen-n-ink or comics style artists out there? What good books or practice-methods have helped you? (I've had this great book since I was a child but am only now making good use of it.) Do you use traditional quills, or have you transitioned to modern markers and such? Or a Wacom tablet?
Really, I'd love any info from anyone who creates art or plays with the techniques.