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Hanging out with Cara (ihavebeensherlocked), Jackie (jackiemakescomics), and Calista this weekend made me want to do nothing but draw Sherlock fan art. Did two today. Here's the first. Redbubbled for your convenience
Finally, I've got something new for sale:
SHERLOCK HOLMES PAPER FIGURES
This set of 8 paper figures makes an excellent addition to the collection of any Sherlock Holmes fan, whether one intends to display them on a bookshelf or reenact the great detective's exploits on the floor of the family play-room.
The figure set, professionally printed on a nice, heavy recycled matte card stock and packaged handsomely by my wife Liz, who did all the folding, stuffing, etc (see below), is available for $11. Shipping is free on this item, TO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Unless there's like some sort of post office in Antarctica and it costs seventy bucks to ship a letter there, or something, but that's a bridge we'll cross should we come to it.  Also, I'm a HUGE fan of the wonderfully done BBC Sherlock series (which is available both on DVD and on Netflix Instant), and I couldn't resist making a complimentary Sherlock and John figure. Now, before any of the rabid Sherlock fans ask, no, I'm not selling this one. Sorry. I don't want to incur the wrath of the BBC (which I love) nor do I want to make money off of their property. But I do want to make it available if anyone who gets the 8-figure set happens to be a fan. So I've included two "buy it now" buttons, same price - one is for just the figure set, the other is for the set plus the extra figure which I based on the likenesses of Cumberbatch and Freeman. Be sure to check the latter if you want the extra figure, and if you don't, please check the former. I didn't make nearly as many of the BBC ones, and want to make sure that those who want 'em do, in fact, get 'em. If this figure somehow inspires a fence-sitter to watch the show, hooray!
This is the last one in the series, but don't fret... I'll have news about the paper figure collection this upcoming week!
The 2nd most dangerous man in London!
If one pays attention to little details, one finds all sorts of amazing connections. I'm terrible about this in real-life, but decent enough when it comes to books. Case in point: back when I was planning on becoming an Episcopal priest, I sought out a number of works by noted Anglicans pertaining to the church's view on aspects of the supernatural, and found one book of particular interest: The Book of Were-Wolves by the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould. Shortly before this, I'd played the role of Major-General Stanley in probably my very favorite operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" (no surprise as a favorite, I expect). This is a role I'd like to reprise someday, because I played it the same way everyone does, and I'd like to approach it with more of a blustery C. Aubrey Smith type of delivery the next go 'round.
ANYWAY, in Mississippi I attended a church where the music was not all that spectacular, and as a result we ended up singing that famous martial hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers." Reading the credits(?) at the bottom, I found that the hymn was a collaboration of the Werewolf scholar Baring-Gould and composer Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan)!
Some time later, while becoming a more enthusiastic Sherlockian, I found that many of the best essays and annotations were by a William S. Baring-Gould. Upon examination, I found that this was Sabine's grandson! The world of letters is a small one indeed. This series of connections is probably EXTREMELY boring to all but myself.
I include this little whatchadoo here because Mycroft Holmes, pictured here in all his ambitionless brilliance (likely on route to the Diogenes club), is most probably NOT Sherlock Holmes' only brother, though he is the only one expressly mentioned in the canonical Arthur Conan Doyle stories. This deduction was arrived at by William S. Baring Gould based on a line in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," in which Holmes says that his ancestors were country squires. As the oldest son of a squire would most certainly have stayed home to take charge of the estates, Mycroft could not have filled this role AND his government duties in tandem. And, as younger sons of the gentry often went into government in the Victorian era, it is logical to assume that Mycroft is, in fact, the MIDDLE brother, and Sherlock the youngest. This assumption has since come to be more or less agreed upon amongst Holmes fans, and the name of the oldest brother is bandied about as Sherrinford, which was the original name given to Sherlock by Conan Doyle before the publication of A Study in Scarlet.
Learning!
Lestrade gets a lot of grief. He brings it on himself, but even so, this "sallow, rat-faced man" has the good sense to outsource.
It's a Christmas miracle! Well, not really, but I am posting twice today! Presenting the fourth in the Sherlock Holmes character series: Wiggins!
Wiggins is the head of Holmes' urchin intelligence squad, and I picked him for today because he's so adorably Dickensian.
Also, it looks like I've found a way to print these and make them available as a "Paper Figures" set by mid-January!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! And God bless us, every one.
 Often described as "long-suffering," Mrs. Hudson is Holmes' landlady and housekeeper, and puts up with her tenant shooting patterns into her walls as he sits idle and bored.
My landlord when I was in college, a psychiatrist whose name I can't recall, put up with similar antics from me with far less fluster than did the great detective's. I had a habit of sitting on my couch on the opposite end of a very wide room and shooting from the hip with a Red Ryder bb gun at a full paper towel roll that sat on my entertainment center whenever I was watching tv. As a general rule, I was a decent shot, and would usually hit the roll, send it spinning (its weight was such that it would usually remain upright after), and try and hit it again before it stopped its tilt. I wasn't infallible, though, and the wall behind it was peppered with small holes. The wallpaper was so thick, having been covered and recovered for decades, that it would have a slight give if you leaned on it, and the bbs would embed themselves deep.
I'm pretty sure that the landlord had written off the place as a lost cause long before I'd moved in, so the leeway I was afforded was likely not a reflection of any personal magnetism.
The second in the set of Sherlock Holmes characters, today's Baker Streetian is Dr. Watson. Back whenever I gave up doing theater out of a distaste for the amount of rehearsal time most organizations take (when I was growing up, we learned our lines and showed up for blocking - the whole months plus thing is not my bag), I still held a hope for four roles that, should the opportunity present itself in my future for me to play any of them, I'd do my best to make it happen. One of these was Dr. Watson, mostly because I thought he hadn't be played right, and I was of a mind to rectify it.
Then, in the past few years, Watson has undergone a serious p.r. overhaul. Is this due to Kate Beaton's comic showcasing the discrepancies between book Watson and movie Watson? I like to think so.
Whatever the cause, the two most high-profile Holmes stuff in recent years - the Robert Downey Jr movie and the BBC show - have given Watson his due. Granted, the movies don't get the dynamic right (Watson should be in awe of Holmes), but even so. It's truly Watson's decade. And, so, I can scratch Watson off my list of roles I want to do someday, as it's been done proper. Also, I ain't got time for acting!
For years, I've been meaning to do an indefinite series of small paper stand-up figures, akin to a collection featuring circus illustrations that was in a local museum that I visited often as a kid in Kentucky. I always liked the idea of a shelf-full of literary characters, and after doing the True Grit drawings figured that I'd lighted on a drawing style suitable for the undertaking. I'm not sure at all how best to go about producing these - attempting to print them myself eats through ink, and I'm wary of using most commercial printers, as one rarely has the capacity to oversee color correction and paper handling - and so it won't be until I figure out how to print a batch on matte card stock that I'll make these available (in the Holmes series, there are eight).
Once I do, though, I hope it's something that I keep with for a very long time. As I said, having an army of these paper figures has been a fancy since I was a kid. So here's the start! One of my favorite series, which I never tire of rereading (after going through True Grit four times in a month, I definitely needed a change, so now I'm hopping back and forth between Holmes, a book about T. Roosevelt's days as Police Commissioner of New York, and a collection of Kipling stories), Holmes has a wealth of characters from which to draw, and I picked out a few of the more shining stars of the canon (and warning in advance - Irene Adler ain't in there, so no hate mail when they're all done, please).
First off, thanks to all those who joined the Crogan Adventure Society! With the exception of the handful who got e-mails from me earlier this week, all of your packets have been mailed off and should arrive to you by today (except maybe you Brits - not sure exactly how long it takes first class mail to get out your way).
Back at HeroesCon, Guy Davis was nice enough to pass on a couple of his sketchbooks to me. They were incredible. I quickly started seeking out his work, of which I was already a big admirer, including all the B.P.R.D. trades I could get my mitts on. I generally tend to avoid team books - to me its a rarity when there's a uniformity of artistic vision - but Davis, Acardi, and Stewart have it nailed. These are some of the consistently best comics being made today, full of all sorts of the pulpy stuff I love. It got me keen on the characters pretty quickly, and I did a few sketches of the characters. Here's one, Captain Ben Daimo:
 I've also been re-reading and re-watching my Sherlock Holmes books and movies, mostly as a result of all the brewhaha of the new film. I'm extremely keen to see it, but haven't yet - trying to cut back on expenditures. But here's a pic to keep me in good spirits 'til it gets to redbox:
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