Slackbot draws stuff

[Slackbot]

Cool! One more follower! Soon I shall be able to take over the world! </OrsonWelles>

"You Haven't Needed Me..." I wrote two chapters of Runt today, after which I did an illustration that has nothing to do with that story, or any other for that matter. Just playing with ideas. As of the time frame of Trials and Tintinnabulations Sidebottom hadn't been seen in years. Where has he been all that time? Inspired by When Rabbit Howls, but only in terms of imagery.

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

Aw, poor Sidebottom. That's a great interpretation of him after years of not coming around. It's also a nice contrast to the one you did earlier where he's the more vibrant one. Although, on question. The title is "You haven't needed me," is that the reason for his not showing up? Becuase I would think that if Boober hadn't needed him it would mean that Boober had learned to loosen up and therefore Sidebottom would still be doig something (does that make sense) Sidebttom seems to show up when Boober's surpressing him most is what I'm getting at.

 

[The Count]

So... Penny Dreadful resembles a non-descript green Frackle, when not in costume.
Hmm... Does that mean what I think, that when she is in costume she's done up something like Elvira?

 

[Slackbot]

The Count: Exactly, Penny Dreadful is more or less a Muppet Elvira, with a touch of Divine.

Gonzo's Hobbit: Don't be sorry for Sidebottom. You're right on the nose; he shows up when Boober has been starving himself of fun. When Sidebottom doesn't make himself known, it's because he's content to be Boober. Hence the picture: he's faded into the background, but he's happy because he no longer needs to act up to get what he needs. Boober just hasn't realized that yet, that's all.

In my stories, Sidebottom would rather not have to manifest himself, because doing so means separating himself from Boober, becoming only a small subset of a person. Oh, he'll do it in a heartbeat when there's a real need, but as soon as that's over he wants to re-integrate.

Originally I wanted to show Sidebottom lying down, as if he's been asleep all this time, but the problem is that with only a mouth to work with I couldn't get across via facial expression that he was merely dormant, not dead. So I drew him sitting back in a comfortable (sorta) resting position, as if he had been still for so long that stalactites and stalagmites had grown in front of him. (And through one foot. Ouch.)

 

[The Count]

Mmm... That's what I thought. I came up with a pumpkin-skinned female Anything Muppet (AM) and named her Belfryra, bit of a pun, but I like how her descript came together.

 

[Slackbot]

Belfrya, heh. I get it.

One thing I've been wondering about: how does the style of arms and legs I've been drawing on the Fraggles look? I like drawing limbs with a bit of shape, which is definitely different from the puppets, but simple tubelike limbs look blah to me. I like to imagine that there's a realistic body, with bones and muscle and stuff, under the skin. How does it come across to y'all? Lifelike or weird?

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

The Count: Exactly, Penny Dreadful is more or less a Muppet Elvira, with a touch of Divine.

Gonzo's Hobbit: Don't be sorry for Sidebottom. You're right on the nose; he shows up when Boober has been starving himself of fun. When Sidebottom doesn't make himself known, it's because he's content to be Boober. Hence the picture: he's faded into the background, but he's happy because he no longer needs to act up to get what he needs. Boober just hasn't realized that yet, that's all.

Oh okay. The impression I got was like a discarded toy cuz I thought he was covered in dust.

As for the bodies, I never really noticed before. Looking at it again, there doesn't seem to be too much of a difference to me. There's a little bit more definition to mee if you look closely, but that seems to create more of a dimensional effect to the character so they don't look so flat.

 

[Slackbot]

Eraserboober: I bought a Boober plushie, planning to use him as a base for a custom doll, but when I got him this was the first thing I thought of. Good old-fashioned nightmare fuel.

Note: This has nothing to do with Runt, thank heavens.

 

[The Count]

Eraserboober? Good ol' nightmare fuel? Please elaborate.

 

[Slackbot]

Boober as the baby in the film Eraserhead. It's a visual gag, based on how much the doll resembles that, er, character. The film is very surreal, bizarre, freaky, and also weird. To give you an idea of what kind of lasting impression it leaves, I took a friend to see it, and for a year afterward all I had to do was very softly imitate the baby crying and she would freak out.