Punctuation Birds

Sunday ink!

2009-11-05T10:01:00.003+09:00

Ok kids! The big move is done, and everything; comics, art, blog and more is over at Sunday ink! Thanks for joining me here, and I hope we can have plenty more fun times over at the new site.

Pip pip!

And then...

2009-08-20T21:47:00.002+09:00

Ah, my friends. Thank you for your patience and perseverance. I have been flying for a while now, and still some more to come. But rest assured that when I land there will be comics and fun times for all.

In the meantime, can I recommend this? It's beautiful and subtle and a quiet masterpiece in the making. Enjoy.

Leaving

2009-07-26T23:53:00.004+09:00

I have a small announcement to make. This week marks the end of a short chapter in my story. I've been living in Japan since July last year, and tomorrow I'm moving out. For those of you paying attention, that means that Punctuation Birds has been coming to you live from the land of the rising sun.

Not-so-coincidentally, this week also marks the end of the current run of the Punctuation Birds comic strip. Friday will be the last day. I think it's been a great experience, and I'm very happy to have done over 100 strips. But now I'm moving on.

Although the comic is finishing, I'll still be working on various projects, including some great new comics to come in the near future. So please do keep checking this blog for updates as we go.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you. You were my favourite reader, and you always laughed at the right bits. I also really liked that time when you took a dig at Dickens from the back of the lecture theatre. Trollope had the giggles for a week.

Pip pip!

I like... Kukuburi

2009-07-17T15:56:00.003+09:00

Have you seen this? It's an amazing comic and definitely worth a moment of your time. The artwork is gorgeous and the story is pretty great too.

Pip pip!

Something wonderful is cooking...

2009-07-10T18:24:00.002+09:00

Oh my, I'm excited about this one. Please keep coming back to see how this project develops. It's a children's book about my young friend Lior starting a band with his cat. It's seven shades of fun, and I think it'll be a winner. Hurrah!

It's always an experiment

2009-07-01T07:27:00.000+09:00

Just playing around with some nice Japanese ink, folks. Enjoy.

It's stuck on bear!

2009-06-27T22:02:00.003+09:00

Wow, these silent comics are a touch violent. I never set out to do that, but I guess I took the element of physical comedy to its logical conclusion. Guts.

By the way, I would pay good money for a pet that changes channel. Can anyone help me out?

Pip pip!

Anniversary!

2009-06-23T20:30:00.003+09:00

Good grief, Charlie Brown! I totally forgot to mention that yesterday's Punctuation Birds was comic no. 100! Thanks to everyone for their support, and thank you, gentle reader, for your ongoing friendship and loyalty. Also, I think you're a really great kisser.

Pip pip!

Heart

2009-06-20T09:48:00.002+09:00

I really like the idea of the silent comic. My Punctuation Birds strips rely very heavily on words, and an assumed knowledge of the source material to 'get' the joke. But there's something oddly appealing about a comic that can be read and understood by anyone. The language is completely visual, so the story is clear. I find it interesting though, that the meaning of a silent comic is far more open to the personal interpretation of the reader.

What do you think?

From Gotham with love

2009-06-10T16:58:00.002+09:00

In which justice isn't served

2009-06-04T16:49:00.002+09:00

In the words of Wile E. Coyote (and possibly Charlie Brown), you can't always get what you want.

It's a matter of choice.

2009-05-29T17:16:00.004+09:00

I actually do have an opinion about this. One of my favourite comics is XKCD. It's a beautiful comic in many ways. The characters are all stick men, and everything is simply drawn, and regardless of this the content is amazing, and all manner of topics are covered in the strips. XKCD is often nonsensical, going for the random giggles, but sometimes the gags are about physics or mathematics, and I have to look up the reference before I get the joke. It's high-concept, low-art at it's best. Take a look!

Let's go back a little...

2009-05-24T17:36:00.006+09:00

Presented here are some thoughts on my creative process, and one aspect of Punctuation Birds that defines the comic as it is today. Enjoy!

Have you ever wondered where your ideas come from? Surely all the ideas are out there somewhere, but where do you find the impetus to make that first mark on the page?

When I was at school, we would sometimes be given creative assignments in class. Perhaps it was a challenge to write a story, or paint a picture or something along those lines. I was never particularly worried by them, and always relished the chance to create new worlds drawn from the depths of my imagination, peppered with plots, devices and ideas borrowed from whichever author is was reading at the time.

I would take each task as it came, ideas sparking from the rules laid down. How would I talk about ‘my family’? Where would I go in my ‘time travel adventure’? Who would be the hero of a story involving a cat?

But the most difficult were those rare times when the teacher would say ‘Do you whatever you like.’ Do whatever you like? Oh, the terror of those words. The blank page staring like some great abyss; a universe in wait, offering nothing and demanding everything.

I understood at an early age that boundaries define creative freedom. Rules given by others are obviously the easiest to follow. But what happens when we impose rules on ourselves? What happens when the universe of the blank canvas is made so small it seems impossible to find a way in?

In recent centuries practitioners the creative arts have increasingly experimented with the idea of constraint. The use self-imposed restrictions has been seen as a way to force new ideas to emerge, challenge the artist to see his work methods in a new light and break old habits. A literary example is La Dispiration by Georges Perec (1969), a novel that doesn’t use the letter ‘e’, or Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham (1960), which famously makes use of only a fifty-word vocabulary.

I’d like to point out that while I had an appreciation for such restrictions even as a child, I had never fully understood them, or even articulated them as a legitimate concept until quite recently. It was more a natural instinct than anything. But this instinct laid the seeds for Punctuation Birds inception and development.

My first introduction to constraint in comics was in my second year at university. I had the joyous fortune to participate in a semester of comics making as part of my visual arts studies. In the first couple of lessons our lecturer brought in what he considered to be important graphic novels and comics. It wasn’t much to speak of, but in amongst the class notes was a photocopied page from Alan Moore’s Watchmen. I was only vaguely aware of Watchmen at the time. I knew it was a famous not-quite-superhero comic from the 1980’s, but that was all.

Our teacher Dr. Rob pointed out that one of the distinguishing characteristics of Moore and Gibbons’ book was that the framing of each page was regulated. Each page had three rows, and each row had three equal sized panels (more or less). He never used the word ‘constraint’, and it was more an observation than anything, but Dr. Rob had drawn my attention to something I’d never really thought about.

Some years later, I picked up the dense and glorious From Hell. Again, Moore and Eddie Campbell had followed this pattern of regulated panel sizes, and standardised framing. It was a stylistic choice, and I was beginning to see the benefits. Not only that, I noticed that in both works, the author and artist had deliberately omitted the onomatopoeic ‘sound effects’ so common in other comics. In leaving out the BOOMs and the KRA-KOWs, Moore had created a more realistic, subtler world for us to enter.

From Hell was an inspiration. I still hadn’t heard of constraint, but I was beginning to be aware of the creative freedoms possible in its use. After reading that book a fire was lit, by the writing and especially by Campbell’s beautiful imperfect line work. I spent the rest of that year (2005) working on my first book, a full length telling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel & Gretel. I took these constraints (panel size and a lack of sound effects) as my own, and ran.

In 1995, the Danish auteur Lars von Trier founded a cinematic movement called Dogme 95. His manifesto led a loose association of filmmakers to impose strict rules upon their creative process, in the hopes of producing innovative new works. These rules included such things as the use of hand-held cameras, diegetic sound and the omission of the director’s credit. The films created out of the Dogme 95 project drew considerable attention not only to von Trier and his compatriots, but also to the use of constraint as a legitimate exercise in filmmaking. Of course I had no awareness of this at the time. I was thirteen, and blind to any film that didn’t involve something blowing up.

In 2003 Lars von Trier made a film called The Five Obstructions. In it he challenged the Danish New Wave director Jørgen Leth to remake his experimental short film The Perfect Human five times, each time with increasingly difficult constraints imposed upon the creative process. The results were honestly exciting.

This was it. This was the moment when it all clicked. All I had needed was an intense Dane to explain to me what I’d felt bubbling away at the back of my brain for most of my life.

The blank canvas is an abyss. Constraint is the thin rope back from the edge.

I saw The Five Obsctructions only two years ago. It also happened to be around the same time I started reading webcomics. I was reading (and still am) all manner of comics; comics wider in style, genre and concept than I had ever even imagined as a teenager. One strip I kept coming back to was Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics.

Dinosaur Comics is a constrained comic, with the constraint being the artwork. It never changes. North rewrites the story every day using the same artwork and characters time and time again. This constraint is so successful that the first time I read it, I’d been through two dozen strips before I even noticed the artwork hadn’t altered. The words changed the context of the pictures. It was, for me, yet another revelation. Context was mutable, even if an element of the comic (or writing or film) was not.

Following a link on Wikipedia I discovered that Dinosaur Comics was one of a relatively short line in the history of constrained comics. I was surprised to learn that the first proponent of the style had been the American filmmaker David Lynch, with his newspaper strip The Angriest Dog In The World.

The idea of a constrained comic was then lodged firmly in my mind. And when I decided to write a new webcomic in 2008, this was a direction I was already heading. Punctuation Birds was born out of love and necessity. The love was a love for books, comedy and human nature. The necessity was one of time. Punctuation Birds is decidedly quick and easy to create. I only have to write it.

My constraints are fairly basic; the unchanging artwork, and a refusal to admit that my characters are actually birds. I’ve come close a couple of times, and have in fact broken the second rule once (although that comic was written in a cipher). Anything else goes. I have no restrictions on style, genre or subject matter.

Knowing that those three panels are all I have is unbelievably freeing. They give me just enough rope to look down, and keep me from falling.

Mystery, what!

2009-05-19T21:30:00.002+09:00

This comic is a couple of years old, but it still makes me giggle. I hope it does for you too!

Inspiration

2009-05-12T21:46:00.002+09:00

Sometimes people ask where I get ideas from. It's a good question. It's a complex question. The ideas for Punctuation Birds comics come from long hours sitting at my desk staring at my notebook. Often I have the punch line of a strip and work backwards, or come up with the opening line and work forwards. I can tell you, the latter method is much harder. In that case it's more than likely I'll write panel up to #2 and realise I have a potential dozen or so punch lines waiting for me at the end. G'arr indeed.

But sometimes, people give me ideas. I don't think they mean too; if they do, it probably doesn't turn out they way they expected. Take the comic above, for example. I was asked to create a quick drawing as a gift for some students doing a lovely job of cleaning their classroom. Easy enough. A cute bunny with a cloth and bucket. Done and done.

The idea didn't leave my head after the job was finished, though. And I pondered, oh how I pondered, what would happen to this cute little bunny in its cute little world of home-making. Evil sideways Dave brain juices started flowing. The result is what you just read.

Ask me about the pandas sometime.

Other things

2009-05-09T09:54:00.006+09:00

Hello there! I hope you're enjoying the new comics over here. There's a lot to be said for finding new ways to share your work. and now that Punctuation Birds has a new home I can spend a little bit of time here showing you some of my other comics and drawings. Ones that don't necessarily involve talking birds.

How about this:

I completed this painting this week. Earlier I'd been talking to my good friend AC about the benefits of inking with a brush instead of a pen. Now, I usually use a pen for my cartooning, but AC suggested that the linework possible with a brush was more interesting, because of the variations possible. Only a day later I was reading this amazing comic, and the artist was saying practically the same thing!

So I got out the old brushes and inks, and gave it a go. Now, this picture isn't a cartoon in the strictest sense, but it has the qualities of simple clean linework and a bold image that you might expect. I guess it's a portrait; I used a photo of an actual person for reference.

When I'd finished, I realised the painting reminded me of one of my teenage influences, Wilson McCoy. McCoy was the second artist to work on The Phantom comics, from 1939-61. I loved the clean lines and solid blacks in his images. Each panel looked liked it could have been a woodcut. It's strange how much impact an artist can have, even years later.

In the meantime, I'll still be drawing comics with a pen, but I'm going to be more open to the possibilities other tools hold.

Pip pip!

Where's my comic?

2009-05-06T08:21:00.004+09:00

Hello there! If you're reading this you might be wondering where today's edition of Punctuation Birds is. Why, it's somewhere else! From this time forth, your favourite literary-themed avian comic strip will be residing in the Webcomics Nation.

A word of warning. It appears that this 'nation' bears a remarkable similarity to a country in North America. If you live elsewhere in the real world (as I do), you will have to wait until it becomes Monday, Wednesday or Friday in the USA before reading that day's adventure. Sorry, I can't tell you the exact time. If you're traveling in that direction, please take a look at some of my other comics on the site.

As for this address, keep reading! This corner of the Punctuation Birds galaxy is to become a journal of art, comics and other amusements.

Thanks for reading!

home-made

2009-05-04T19:17:00.002+09:00

It's all true

2009-05-01T06:48:00.002+09:00

There's something afoot!

2009-04-30T18:57:00.003+09:00

Greetings, my dear young readers! Thank you for your continued patronage of my humble words-and-picture story. I have a surprise for you! Over the next few weeks I will be uploading several years worth of comics to the internets, including my full-length comic of Hansel & Gretel. Oh boy! You can find them courtesy of that fine establishment, the Webcomics Nation.

The address that you see in your browser might give you a slight indication of things to come. But fear not, while the address may change, your thrice-weekly dose of nonsense will go on as normal. Hurrah!

If you like Punctuation Birds or any of my other comics, why not write a review on Webcomics Nation, or share a link with your friends? Also, may I remind you of the fun times happening on the facebook? I think I may.

Pip pip!

The story

2009-04-29T08:17:00.002+09:00

He's coming to get you

2009-04-27T06:47:00.002+09:00

Ba-zing

2009-04-24T06:51:00.002+09:00

Forsooth, yo

2009-04-22T06:50:00.002+09:00

What's that funky smell?

2009-04-20T06:51:00.002+09:00

That Gulliver was cra-zee!

2009-04-17T06:49:00.002+09:00

How do they all know the words?

2009-04-15T06:49:00.002+09:00

The big bang

2009-04-13T06:51:00.002+09:00

Here at Punctuation Birds we're not above cultural stereotypes in the service of historical inaccuracy. Pip pip!

Opening night

2009-04-10T06:49:00.002+09:00

He's at it again

2009-04-08T06:48:00.001+09:00

Punctuation Birds: for all your true historical facts.

And my pants

2009-04-06T06:50:00.001+09:00

Anybody want a peanut?

2009-04-03T06:50:00.002+09:00

I did research and everything

2009-04-01T06:53:00.001+09:00

Wearing trousers, too

2009-03-30T13:29:00.001+09:00

Cleaning up

2009-03-27T07:36:00.002+09:00

Punctuation Birds. Our topical humour is over 100 years old!

Why I don't like shopping

2009-03-25T07:49:00.001+09:00

Oh, that old story

2009-03-25T07:48:00.001+09:00

True story (again)

2009-03-20T08:58:00.001+09:00

He left a bit of a mess.

2009-03-18T06:49:00.001+09:00

Outrage

2009-03-16T06:49:00.002+09:00

Here at Punctuation Birds we don't mind giggling at the naughty bits. Just don't ask us to explain them to your little brother.

It's true!

2009-03-13T06:54:00.001+09:00

ooh, postmodern.

2009-03-11T06:49:00.002+09:00

Unbiased opinion?

2009-03-09T06:47:00.002+09:00

Dangerously close

2009-03-06T06:58:00.001+09:00

The travels

2009-03-04T07:15:00.001+09:00

Concrete shoes

2009-03-02T06:50:00.001+09:00

Deadly Dangerous Danger Time!

2009-02-27T06:50:00.001+09:00

Huzzah!

2009-02-25T06:49:00.002+09:00

Wow! Can you believe it? This is Punctuation Birds number 50! Thanks for reading, and for that delightful basket of cookies. Here's something you can do on the facebook. Apparently that's what the kids like these days. Pip pip!

It's done with magnets

2009-02-23T06:51:00.001+09:00

Part 3

2009-02-20T06:49:00.002+09:00

Part 1 and Part 2 are here.

A=E

2009-02-18T06:48:00.006+09:00

Here at Punctuation Birds we like to keep things interesting. With that in mind, today's comic is presented in delightful 'Substitution Cipher' mode. It's not meant to hurt your brain, just tickle it a little.

EDIT: Here's the answer, you cheeky devil. Need I say it? Spoiler alert!

Are you taking notes?

2009-02-16T06:51:00.002+09:00

It's more fun if you say it out loud

2009-02-13T06:57:00.001+09:00

Strange but true

2009-02-11T08:55:00.003+09:00

Here at Punctuation Birds we like to stretch the truth a little, most commonly with our friend Mr. Trollope. But seriously kids, this one is for real. What makes it even stranger is that Luke told me the same story an hour before we saw it happen together!

The world is full of mysteries (and Japan is full of crows).

Deadly serious

2009-02-09T06:57:00.003+09:00

What on earth is he going on about? You have been warned.

Dangerous times

2009-02-06T06:52:00.002+09:00

Junk mail

2009-02-04T06:49:00.001+09:00

Change

2009-02-02T06:49:00.001+09:00

Sometimes you just need to blow off steam...

2009-01-30T06:51:00.002+09:00

Step four: the humans are dead.

Actually, his name was Louis

2009-01-28T06:50:00.001+09:00

Part 2

2009-01-26T06:58:00.003+09:00

I say, do you remember Part 1? It was a little while ago. But here at Punctuation Birds we have no fear of returning to an idea that tickles our fancy. All I can say is, look out Mr. Trollope.

Reflections

2009-01-23T06:53:00.001+09:00

... And it's free!

2009-01-21T06:54:00.001+09:00

It's today!

2009-01-19T06:53:00.001+09:00

Something to look forward to

2009-01-16T06:54:00.001+09:00

The creative process

2009-01-14T06:54:00.002+09:00

I really don't have any evidence to back up a supposition that Trollope was a belligerent old racist. Wow! History can be fun!

A return to our regular programming

2009-01-12T19:17:00.002+09:00

What's all this about? Cast your mind into the distant past of last week...

Competition winner no.3

2009-01-09T06:55:00.002+09:00

Our fun and final winning entry comes from that esteemed scholar W.S. Moore. Will definitely wins the prize for outright wackiness. His comic gave me a jolly good case of the giggles. So thank you Will, and thank you to everyone who entered the competition. If you ever feel like sending me an idea for a new comic, or ask a question about PB, please send me an email! pockydave(at)gmail(dot)com . Pip pip!

Competition winner no.2

2009-01-07T10:46:00.002+09:00

Today's winning entry comes from the delightful and clever Raewyn MacGregor. Raewyn's comic wins the prize for obtuse literary reference, seemingly one of the trademark elements of Punctuation Birds. Her comic strip relates to this book. Thanks Raewyn!

Competition winner no.1

2009-01-05T11:08:00.002+09:00

Today's comic comes from that most talented of writers, Mr. Michael Isaacs, of Melbourne, Australia. Michael actually submitted two entries for the competition, and I chose this one. So, let us all applaud the young man for his way with words!! Hurrah!

Bah!

2009-01-02T08:57:00.002+09:00

Punctuation Birds: We mock because we love.

A Cosby Sweater

2008-12-31T10:47:00.002+09:00

Well today is the last day of our famous competition. I think I might do it again sometime. Please check the site in the very near future for the winning entries. Thanks to everyone who participated. And thanks to you, handsome stranger, for reading this comic- have ye a merry new year!

Oh dear.

2008-12-29T15:48:00.003+09:00

Just a last minute reminder that the Punctuation Birds competition is almost over! Entries close on the 31st, and then it's fun times for comic lovers around the world. I have some great comics from every corner of the known Universe. Except Belgium. Those guys know how to hold a grudge. Pip pip!

A bit of culture

2008-12-26T09:09:00.001+09:00

Later..

2008-12-24T08:02:00.003+09:00

Well then young people, there's still a week left to send in your entries for the Punctuation Birds competition. I've had some really interesting comics so far, but there is always room for more! Good luck, and may the mighty gods of guano bless your typewriter.

Based on a true story

2008-12-22T08:15:00.001+09:00

All the cool kids are doing it

2008-12-19T06:49:00.002+09:00

I say, have you been thinking about the Punctuation Birds competition? I know I have. Please keep sending me your splendid ideas for stories!

Grown-up time

2008-12-17T06:48:00.001+09:00

It'd be rude not to

2008-12-15T06:49:00.002+09:00

Hey, we already have some great entries for the Punctuation Birds competition! It's going to be a very interesting set of comics. Please keep them coming! Pip pip!

Competition Time!

2008-12-12T21:01:00.002+09:00

Have you been enjoying Punctuation Birds? I hope so. Maybe you'd like to try writing a comic yourself? Maybe you've been sitting there all this time, thinking 'I could do that! I've read books! I know funny.' *

Well yes, my fine and good-looking friend. You could do that. And chances are you do know funny. So with that in mind, I dare you- no; I double-dare you to create your own Punctuation Birds comic strip!

The Rules:

1. You create a 3-panel comic. It's totally awesome and rocks my socks.

2. You email it to me at pockydave(at)gmail(dot)com by December 31st, 2008.

3. You have a cup of tea and a bit of a sit down.

The Options:

1. You are quite good with a pen and paper, and you draw a comic and email it to me.

2. You know a thing or two about computers, and you ask me for a blank comic and add the words yourself.

3. You are a bit of a whiz with the old typie-typie, and you email me a script. I make the comic for you.

The Win!

The best entries will be selected and posted in a week of glorious guest comics. If you want your name and/or website added to your comic, I'll be happy to do so. Besides this you will also win the People's Ovation And Fame Forever.

So good luck, have fun and thanks for reading!

*Maybe you haven't been thinking these things. Maybe you've been thinking about girls, or lunch or something. I don't know. Not psychic.

Homestyle science

2008-12-12T06:48:00.001+09:00

Fun times ahead

2008-12-10T06:53:00.001+09:00

Everyone's a critic

2008-12-08T06:46:00.001+09:00

Part 1

2008-12-05T06:41:00.001+09:00

A word from the doctor

2008-12-03T06:47:00.002+09:00

May I have some more?

2008-12-01T06:48:00.002+09:00

Shark-Repellant-Bat-Spray?

2008-11-28T17:58:00.002+09:00

Home again

2008-11-26T06:47:00.001+09:00

Tasty treats

2008-11-24T18:06:00.002+09:00

In other news, I didn't contact my good friend Michael on his birthday. Sorry Mikey, I was thinking of you while I was in Tokyo (but a little out of reach). Did I mention Michael is an incredibly talented performer? You really should put him in your moving picture and/or televisual programme. You should indeed.

This just in..

2008-11-22T09:22:00.001+09:00

Lunchtime

2008-11-19T06:46:00.002+09:00

And now for something we hope you'll really enjoy

2008-11-17T06:47:00.002+09:00

Don't forget to brush your teeth

2008-11-14T06:46:00.001+09:00

Cookies

2008-11-12T06:49:00.002+09:00

Ah yes, the Brothers Grimm. Ripe for parody indeed. But for true fairy tale mischief I would recommend Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, and Rhyme Stew. They are full to the brim of hilarious wordplay and violence. Fairy tales the way kids ought to read them.

If you go down to the woods today...

2008-11-10T07:39:00.001+09:00

Things take a turn...

2008-11-07T06:50:00.002+09:00

Well, I guess you never thought you'd hear the 19th Century referred to as 'trendy'! Here at Punctuation Birds we pride ourselves in being well and truly behind the times. Keep reading for future stories about 'that newfangled wireless', and 'what's that Hitler chap up to?'. ooh, topical.

Today's comic also acknowledges this amazing book.

Overload

2008-11-05T06:51:00.001+09:00

holly jolly

2008-11-03T16:37:00.001+09:00

In other words...

2008-11-02T00:37:00.005+09:00

Punctuation Birds is just getting started, but maybe you'd enjoy my other comic- Chicken Salad. It's a little project I was working on earlier this year. Feel free to take a look at the archives! To get the most out of reading the comic, may I suggest starting at the beginning (and then clicking each successive 'newer' post)?

I think I may.

This is Cake Town!

2008-10-31T06:54:00.001+09:00