Guten Tag.59--Have a Blue and Green Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! Technically, Christmas Eve, but I won't be able to post this tomorrow. Well, here it is, a milestone by any of my standards. Strip #100, and I hope it fills your heart with Christmas cheer and memories of years past and present. Of hanging ornaments with your brother. Hope everyone has a great day and holiday week. My older brother and his girlfriend are staying with us this Christmas, so I'll have plenty to keep myself busy with. Plus, I'm going to start working on putting a Guten Tag book together and getting it printed. As well as finish the first issue of Mega West. But that's for another post and time.

Well, see you all next year. 2010. Dang. Only two years left before we destroy the world through man-made climate change, just like the ancient Mayans predicted thousands of years ago.

Alright, take care.

Frohe Weihnacten und ein gutes Neues Jahr! (Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year)

-ryan

Guten Tag.58--Leftovers and Making Amends

Wow, busy times right now. Little break from the madness that is final exam week. Which for me means "4-5 projects due in the next four days" week. Paintings, graphic design, metalsmithing/jewelry, psychology. ugh.

Anyways, Guten Tag is nearing the 100th strip, which means break time for me. Oh, that's odd, it looks like it's going to stop at #100. How coincidental... Probably won't have that one done until next week.

In the mean time, stay classy. I think that is from a movie. That I have not seen.

-ryanHOFFMAN

Guten Tag.57--Pigturducken

Hey everybody, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope all is well: family, friends, food, football..., weather, traveling, etc.
This strip is inspired in part by the tradition of preparing Thanksgiving turkey in a turkey fryer, as well as the other tradition of Turducken (which I am slightly mortified by, but still interested in trying). And I thought I had invented deep fried butter for an Illustration class last year, but it appears Paula Deen and others have perfected the art of it already.



Well, that does it for this week. My older brother is flying in from Texas, and going straight to Thanksgiving dinner with us, so I'm excited. Should be a fun weekend.

Take care.
Don't eat too much deep fried butter.

-ryan

Guten Tag.56--Modern Communication and Green Christmas

Hey everybody. The second strip here is inspired by a radio station serving the greater Detroit area called WNIC, and they usually start playing Christmas music right at the beginning of November. Take a listen. I'm sure a lot of people prefer this, but I can't listen to it until after Thanksgiving, or else I'll get burned out on the Christmas spirit before it even arrives.

Man. I can't believe 2009 has already flown by. Life just keeps accelerating. Ponder this in your brain.

Take care.

-ryan

Guten Tag.55--Pumpkin Bed

Hey, finished this yesterday. Hahah. What other things can you think of doing with old, moldy pumpkins?
Make a list, then share that list with your family. You can make a day out of it.

Alright, I gotta fly. Catch ya later.

-ryand.hoffman

Guten Tag.54--Halloween Stuff

Hallo everyone. It's Halloween tomorrow. So I did this illustration/animation in the spirit of Halloween. My inspiration was a friend telling me about 3-D pumpkin carvings, so after much scholarly research on such academically respected websites such as Google and Wikipedia (there exists a Predator pumpkin, and it is cool), I thought the best idea for Lex to carve would be something insanely detailed, such as the Coliseum. So yeah.

Oh yeah, here's this week's comic. Halloween costumes. And a little social commentary for good measure.



Alright. Take it easy.

-ryan[drew]hoffman

Guten Tag.53--Brotherfight pt.2, Ring of Death, and Apples.

More comics today. My Xbox 360 did indeed die recently, and for some reason I thought of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. That's okay if you haven't seen the movie. I liked about 66% of it, but did not care for the psychedelic drug trip-like flying sequence towards the end that goes on for TWENTY MINUTES. The last scene of the movie was awesome, though. But yeah, YouTube the HAL-9000 scene if you want. I did.

Anyways, I just realized that there are eight more weeks until I give Guten Tag a break for the new year. Once I finish #100, I'm planning on putting a book together with all 100 strips, as well as earlier stuff I did before it was printed in Wayne State's newspaper. Maybe some pages from my sketchbook and production photos? I think it would be a cool little book. Also, I'm thinking I'll have more time next semester to work on strips, so I was thinking about trying a longer and larger format for Guten Tag. I've got other ideas and projects brewing--some with my brother, others with my good friend Sean, so I want to give Guten Tag some room as I explore those possibilities.

Alright, well, I've got some stuff to do. Have a great week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.53--Man vs. Wild and Indoor Voice

Hey everybody. School is busy. These are the most recent comics that I have drawn. I hope you like them.
Alright, I must do more homework. Take care.

-from rayn hfofamn

Tuten Gag.52--Michigan State Trooper and Metalsmithing Class

Took a little time off between updates, but things have been busier around here. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece flew in from California the 26th of August, so we've been spending time with them as well as family on my mom and dad's side. On top of that, school has started back up, further increasing the busy-ness. But I'm enjoying it. My little niece is awesome!

I'm getting closer and closer to my goal with Guten Tag. I want to get over 100 strips by the end of this school year and collect them into a book that I hope to sell. I'll likely have more than 100, plus extra stuff that I want to put in there like scans from my sketchbook where I work out ideas for my strips, and other stuff. I'll probably start doing actual work on that during Christmas break.

Well, have a great Labor Day.

-ryan

Guten Tag.51--Headed Down South to the Land of the Pines

Hey everyone, just got back Wednesday night from a week in Cleveland, Tennessee. I stayed at my friends' house before they went back to school at Lee University. It's been a while since I've been down there, so I enjoyed it. Met a lot of their friends from Lee and went to some cool places down there. Drove through Chilhowee Mountain, swam in the Ocoee River, and of course, ate at Chick-fil-A, Zaxby's, and Krystal's. And yes, there was discussion among those of us from the North and those down there from the South concerning the correct term for 'soft drink' (prompting this week's strip). Fun times. 

I might be going back in a couple months with my family since my oldest brother and his family unit will be in Michigan in less than a week! We used to go down to Knoxville every other year when we were younger, so I'm excited. 

Other than that, school is starting in a couple of weeks. Bring it on. I have a couple books due at school.

I think America may be slightly better if we all ate a little more chicken.

later.

-ryan