Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The case of the moustache umbrella

Yesterday I did something rather embarrassing that I hoped you would never see. I drew one of my moustache umbrellas.

As a top artist of today, I like to render objects in a manner that is, if not photorealistic, semi-competent. When asked to draw a house, a small child draws a square with a triangle roof. However I rotate that box with a triangle on top to a slight angle, giving it that "professional sheen".

The one weakness in my visual arsenal is umbrellas, which, if I do not stop myself, I still draw as if I was 4. Which is to say, I draw them like a mad moustache or (a headless bat). It's not that I don't KNOW that an umbrella is a dome shape. I have a wire loose. I have a feeling that I've only ever drawn four or five of them in my life.

Anyway, below, I have put it right. Please forgive me. I've been working very hard.

23 comments:

Old-Red-Dog said...

You realise, of course, people will be clamouring for the original to be reinstated, don't you?

Anonymous said...

But...I liked it when it looked like a bat! I thought it was a deliberate thing. You know, sprightly girl whose heart-patterned, traditionally feminine tote bag contrasts with her bat-shaped, gothy umbrella? Something like that. Also, it looked like it wanted to fly away - and don't all umbrellas really yearn to be free?

radioguitar said...

I rather adored the moustache umbrella, and in fact thought it was a bat, perhaps suggesting that the young lady was in flight, and perhaps speaking of some inner hankering to be drawing Esther.

John A said...

It's not going to be FUNNY when I have my NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.

Jeremy D. Impson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeremy D. Impson said...

Well no, not for you...

M. Greco said...

Relax, John! We all assumed you were being your clever, quirky self with that slightly menacing umbrella. The website is called SCARY-go-round after all!

Anonymous said...

A.) That's a very nice drawing of an umbrella.

B.)Regarding today's Bad Machinery -- Are you sure you weren't a little girl whose family was on welfare but who spent most of her time with better-off peers before you grew up to be you? Because I swear, you get it looking just right.

mustardsundae said...

The TWO PERSON umbrella, useful for sharing with mere acquaintences and colleagues when you don't want them to get wet, but don't really want them rubbing up against you, you know, like when you share a normal umbrella?

Get it on Dragon's Den, man.

Laura said...

I love this, and I prefer this version! I second the request for it to be on a waterproof tote as I think that would be a great rainy day bag!

Unknown said...

I didn't realize it was an umbrella, I thought it was a great ghostly pair of shears about to clip her locks. Those shears were pretty badly drawn, I'm glad you changed it.

JA, I've been meaning to ask you--what sort of pins is the British Pin Council concerned with? I know that what I, an American, call a "pin" is generally called a badge in the UK. Do you have bowling there? There are pins in bowling.

Food for thought.

Lisa said...

I rather liked the bat-brolly, but this one is much happier-looking. More cheering on a rainy day.

Tiki Snakes said...

I totally didn't notice that there was a bat crudely tied to the end of her stick. :)

The new umbrella is much more convincingly an umbrella, but it's not nearly as inherantly amusing.

I think sometimes a man should be free to ignore the petty convention of 'the shape that things actually are' in favour of making interesting marks.

Jessica Jewel said...

I have grown rather attached to the mustache umbrella... (Granted, I only looked at it for about a minute--but in that short amount of time, it wormed its way deep into my heart.) I agree with the first comment: I would "clamour" for the original version! <3

John A said...

I'm releasing it in two versions, the standard one, and "batwing moustache on-bag Sharpie annotation" version, they retail at $15 and $250 respectively.

John A said...

Colin Rankine:

the British Pin Council stems from this late 2009 blog post

Anonymous said...

Not to join the contrarian horde, but I did like the original design--I thought of the old umbrella more as suggestive of the top contours of an iconic heart on her bag. The new way is fine also.

Mike said...

The "animal expert" in today's comic is Moby, isn't it?

Bloggy said...

Bring back the mutant bumbershoot!

DCW said...

I didn't even notice the moustache umbrella at the time. Very strange.

You drew umbrellas like that as a child? I'm pretty sure I just drew a semi circle on a stick. I didn't even try and get my head around it.

Alex G. D. said...

I also did not notice anything wrong with the first umbrella. Perhaps there is something wrong with me as well.

Unknown said...

Perhaps you could release a bag that had both prints - one on either side, so that the wearer could flip them over at their discretion. :)

Mrs.Beck said...

Definitely read the title as "In case of moustache umbrella" and figured the umbrella was there to fend off wiley moustaches...hence the squiggles on the top of the umbrella. Only after I read the post, rather than just looking at the image, did I realize the actual title was quite different. I still really enjoyed my first thought.