ryan(drew)hoffman

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

2009-12-24T15:06:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-13T01:14:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-26T15:01:00.006-05:00

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

2009-11-15T16:10:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-02T01:30:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-30T21:33:00.004-04:00

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.

2009-10-18T15:48:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-29T22:21:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-07T13:19:00.007-04:00

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

2009-08-22T13:17:00.010-04:00

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

Guten Tag.50--Special Milestone Post!

2009-08-10T12:49:00.003-04:00

There's really nothing special about this post. I just wanted it to be. See, 50 is half of a hundred, which is a significant number in terms of milestones and in general. Because it's easy to add 100s to each other, since it's practically 1 with two 0's. And it's almost as easy to add 50s to each other, since they're half of 100. I think this is why we place more importance on "50th anniversary", or "250 years of service!" or "100 ways to do 'x'" (although, 101 of anything trumps 100, because it's one more. sometimes you will see this in book titles. e.g. "101 dalmations", or "101 ways to help birds". but by this logic, we should also see titles with the numbers 102, 103, 104, etc. because all those numbers are bigger than the others).

But could you imagine the chaos if we switched from counting 50s and 100s to 47s and 94s? People would either have to use math or their cell phones (because they have calculators in them). Pandemonium.

Alright. Chew on that for a minute.

Take care.

-ryan

Guten Tag.49--Moths

2009-08-03T18:15:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone. Not much going on lately. I think that's the first time I did that extreme of an angle in a Guten Tag strip in the panel with the moths. I want to mix things up every now and then without going too far from the look I've stuck with for Guten Tag. I think it fits. That's actually what my porch light looks light.

In related project news, Sean Phelan and I recently finished the final (fingers crossed) page layout thumbnails for the first issue of Mega West. Today I got all my bristol board together and cut it to size, and now I just need to start drawing. I have another blog for that project, so if you want further news, I'll be updating it soon. But feel free to go there anyway: MEGA WEST

Awesome, I'm pumped.

Alright, that's it for now.

Take..luck.

-ryan

Guten Tag.48--Thrice the Guteness.

2009-07-21T13:42:00.003-04:00

Oh hey. I suppose it's been a while since I updated. A fair amount of stuff has been going on in the past few weeks. Most importantly, I recently got back from visiting my brother and sister-in-law in California, and I finally got to meet my niece! Madelyn is amazing and such a joy to be around.

Brandon and Joanna, (my brother and sister-in-law) were in China for the past 4 years, and had Madelyn five months before they left to come back to the states, so it's crazy to think that my little niece has already been in China (dur), as well as Vietnam, Hawaii, and some other asian countries (I think), before she was even six months old.

I can't wait until September when they come and stay with us for a while.

GUTEN TAG! I made some:

On an unrelated note, I recently bought the game Psychonauts off of Xbox 360. I remember playing the demo a few years ago, and liking it. But after someone from the boltcity.com message boards pointed out that Scott Campbell art directed it, I had to check it out. (Scott Campbell, by the way, draws some cool stuff. He's also involved with the Brutal Legend game that's coming out.)

So I just finished the game last night. I tried to get every item and level in the game, but I'm a level short of 100.

Overall, the story was very unique and solid. The dialogue was excellent and very funny at times, and I thought the character development was given great attention.

The game is for the most part a platformer, but goes out of its way to bring different challenges to a traditional platforming experience. Not a lot of puzzle solving, except for in the way your different abilities are used.

The thing I really liked about it was how the overall concept of a 'Psychonaut' played out in different levels. You interact with certain characters throughout the game, and transport into their minds in order to solve what's wrong with them in the game. These are essentially the 'levels', and each is unique in its look and feel as well as its gameplay. For example, one guy you meet is like a conspiracy theorist gone mad, so his mind is a 60s era suburb with all the streets at odd angles and curving above your head. Another level takes place on a Settlers of Catan/Risk type gameboard where you can switch between controlling pieces on the board from afar, as well as shrinking down to the board level to complete objectives.

Finally, the aesthetics of the game are great. Great environments, great art, great soundtrack, etc. Really cool game worth buying.

Well, that's it until next time. Still working on MegaWest with my friend Sean. We've almost got the page/panel layout of issue 1 completed. We already did, but it felt like the pages were too crowded with panels, so it needed to be reworked. Can't wait to finally start pencilling and then inking.

Scrabble.

-ryan

Guten Tag.47--A Double Dose of Wasting Your Time

2009-06-15T20:35:00.005-04:00

Hoo boy. Busy week coming up. My cousin in the Air Force will be home tomorrow and is getting married this Saturday. I'm standing in the wedding, so all the usual wedding stuff is going on this week, plus it's the last full week of my illustration class. My last project is to design a barf bag. Not a whole lot of ideas yet, except for this sketch:

For those unaware, a rainbow colored yawn (or rainbow yawn, for short) is one of many euphemisms for barf. I thought that it would make sense that a cloud would vomit a rainbow, given the context of this bag possibly being in an airplane. It would be colored of course. So yeah, this illustration class is great.

Too bad about the Wings.

This is not a sports blog, and I am nowhere near qualified to discuss sports, so I won't.

However, the Red Wings are an amazing team, and I think one of the best faces of Detroit that we can present to the country, so I'm bummed to see them lose the Cup.

But they will definitely be back next year.

Alright, end of stuff unrelated to Guten Tag.

Drink milk.

-ryan

Guten Tag.46--DoppelTag Saturday! The Learning Channel and Rabbit Season.

2009-05-30T16:56:00.007-04:00

Because even though it is summer, and I only have one class, I still find a way to be lazy and not update on time. Apologies.

Yeah, you've probably watched these shows on TLC. I know I have. While eating triangles.

I think the inspiration for this week's strip came from years ago, when one of my brothers either almost ran over a bunny when mowing the lawn, or actually did, and severed its foot. And I'm neither a PETA fanatic, nor a proponent of animal cruelty, but I can't help but see the irony in the latter scenario...

Well, I wish you a fantastic week. Don't get stressed out.

-ryan

Guten Tag.45--Comi-conned

2009-05-18T16:43:00.006-04:00

So yeah, I went to my first comicon this past weekend. It was pretty sweet. Saw Guy Davis, who has been drawing the B.P.R.D. series regularly for the past few years. Got to talk about the series a little bit while he did a cool sketch of Abe Sapien.

Also got to talk to David Peterson, who draws Mouse Guard, and is also from Michigan. My friend Sean and I were talking to him about how he does his comic, and just comics in general. He had some good advice about plotting the script and laying out panels. He also did a nice sketch of one of his characters, Black Axe for me.

The cool thing is that this all happened within an hour of the doors opening, so I just walked around for the next 6 hours looking through boxes of comics. I guess that's how comicons go? Maybe it's just Detroit. I'm sure San Diego or New York is much bigger and has more stuff to do, but that's alright. The fact that there were less people than I expected meant it was easier to talk to the guests, so that was cool.

Some dudes from Battlestar Galactica were there too. Commander Tigh and Chief Tyrol, for any nerds who follow the series...like I did... Anyways, they were cool to talk to. Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) was talking to us about the Red Wings/Anaheim series, so that was cool. Some old dude was creeping out the girl who played Kat from BSG. He wanted her to sign a picture that was taken of him and her, in which he was wearing a shirt with a picture of him and her on it... It's like when you take a picture of yourself holding a mirror. And then he got down on his knees and gave her a box of chocolate or something. The dude sitting at her table, comicon security or whatever, I guess, was up in his face waiting for him to do something, but this guy was just being weird in a non-threatening way. Awkward.

So overall, got a bunch of sweet deals on trades, got to talk to some artists/writers that I like, got to talk to some guys from a show I watched religiously, saw a few people dressed up like Deadpool and other superheroes, Storm Shadow(?), missed Taimak (Bruce Leeroy from The Last Dragon), etc. It was alright. I'll probably go back next year.

Alright. Later.

-ryan

Guten Tag.44--Finals

2009-04-26T15:04:00.002-04:00

How is it possible to make it through the day on 3 hours of sleep? I'm just glad this semester is almost over. No more all-nighters for me.

-rh

Guten Tag.43--Unbiased Journalism

2009-04-19T13:03:00.001-04:00

Just presenting the facts. You decide.

-ryan

Guten Tag.42--Car Trouble (Edited 4.19)

2009-04-04T17:55:00.003-04:00

So I've been listening to a number of composers lately: Holst, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Stravinsky, Belioz, Sibelius, etc. Thank you, Pandora radio. My oldest brother tells me that most of these guys' music falls under the genre of tone poems, not necessarily formal classical music, even though I wouldn't be able to make that distinction. (at least not yet, since I haven't studied or listened to enough classical music)

Anyway, tone poems stray from the formal structures and traditional scales found in classical music, and try to evoke a certain mood or match the persona or feel of a certain subject. It was a modern movement of the late 19th-early 20th century that was most likely inspired by the aftermath of WWI (acc. to my brother). I'm really digging it, as opposed to older classical stuff, because a lot of it seems more dynamic and chaotic. I like to think of it as classical music's counterpart to post-rock/post-metal music (Explosions in the Sky, Pelican, etc.)

Anyway, I'm glad that the sun's getting out more everyday. I like to be warm, not on the brink of hypothermia.

-ryan

Wow, just realized I didn't upload the strip before this one.

Here it is anyway:

alright. later

-ryan

Guten Tag.41 (I think this is a bad post naming convention. I mean, the number refers to the number of the post, not the number of the strip, so why..

2009-03-25T13:52:00.006-04:00

...am I even numbering them at all? Shouldn't I just give them titles? I guess numbers give you a bearing of which post is more recent, but that's what the navigation bar is for. For now I'll keep the numbers, since I'm not clever enough to come up with a catchy title for each post.)

alright. comic strips.

-ryan

Guten Tag.40--Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

2009-02-28T23:04:00.005-05:00

So here's the second of my graphic-novel movie related Guten Tag strips.

I really want to see Watchmen. Even if there's not a giant squid bomb...

Gah. busy busy busy. I wish I could draw all day.

Alright, take it easy everyone.

ryan

Guten Tag.39--'Catchup'

2009-02-22T15:58:00.010-05:00

Alright, hopefully you've noticed the redesign of the blog. It's all thanks to the awesome skills I've been honing in my web design class so far. Oh yeah, scroll all the way down the page to get the full effect. I'll probably have to change it soon for spring, but knowing Michigan, that might not come for a while.

Anyway, I have been doing strips, so here they are. Suggestions?

later

-ryan

Guten Tag.38

2009-02-06T14:49:00.003-05:00

hello hello. I'm all excited that it's going to be 45 or 46 degrees tomorrow. But I'll probably stay inside all day and squander this heat wave by doing 'homework'.

enough jibber jabber.

look, I made this:

-ryan

Guten Tag.37

2009-01-25T13:44:00.002-05:00

Not much to talk about since last time, except for the fact that I've finally played Left 4 Dead. My lust for zombie genocide is momentarily quenched.

Oh also, it's still one hundred degrees below zero here in Michigan.

Alright, later.

-ryan

Guten Tag.36

2009-01-17T19:04:00.004-05:00

Long time, no see. Sorry. I apologize by presenting you with these original Guten Tag strips, free of charge:

Well, it's a new year, and already for me it's off to a good start.

My brother and his wife had their baby recently and she's beautiful.

Madelyn Marsaili Hoffman.

I can't wait until when they move back to the states.

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.35 --A Merry Guten Christmas

2008-12-25T12:07:00.006-05:00

Well, it's been a while, but I made it through finals. I think I did alright.

Christmas sure snuck up fast didn't it?

Well, I hope everyone has a nice Christmas with their family and friends. I'll probably see you next year.

Have a great rest of the year.

-ryan

Guten Tag.34

2008-11-30T15:22:00.004-05:00

Hwoah. We are looking December in the face already, and I can't believe it. I think it's kind of funny how I only have about two to three weeks of school left this semester, as well as about 5 or 6 projects and exams to do, and yet I subconsciously tell myself it's nothing to worry about. yikes.

You know, I think I'm coming up on the one year anniversary of Guten Tag. I'd like to put them in a book eventually, but I'm going to have to find time for that as well as several other projects I want to do.

right. good. week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.33

2008-11-28T12:38:00.004-05:00

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving, everyone.

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier, but late is better than never.

At the risk of sounding corny or preachy, giving thanks isn't something we should only do on Thanksgiving. Be thankful for what God has blessed you with: your family, house, friends, ability to go to college, anything. These are all blessings that we shouldn't take for granted, since any of them can be taken away so quickly.

This is somewhat inspired by waking up to see footage of the standoff in Mumbai, India, but tragedy and war, conflict and persecution exist all over the world every day.

As Americans, we need to be thankful for our military for protecting us from danger abroad as well as within our borders, as well as our police, firefighters, paramedics, etc. who risk their lives to protect U.S. citizens. This is something we take for granted, and it is a blessing from God. We need to thank God for that.

But as Christians, we need to be thankful that our God is not the God of the U.S. alone. His children live in India, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Africa, all these 'dangerous' areas that we watch on tv from the comfort of our living rooms. We need to be thankful that God is watching over them. That God is in the midst of every war, every terrorist attack, protecting his children, and giving them the strength and peace to carry on through conflict and share the joy and love of Jesus with others.

I know we are almost desensitized by the amount of tv coverage of war in the Middle East and other places, but we can make a difference by praying that God continues to protect his children--missionaries as well as Christian nationals--and works through them in these difficult situations to bring others to Christ. And if you feel called as a Christian to serve in the military and protect our country, do it. We need to be thankful and pray for our troops in general, but also for our brothers and sisters in Christ who have made such a difficult decision, that they always seek to serve God in their actions. God blesses countries that protect their people, and He will bless his children who risk their lives to keep others safe.

I know I usually shy away from long posts, but this is something that I've wanted to share lately. I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving with their families and friends. Okay, I need to do homework.

Have a great week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.32

2008-11-17T13:10:00.005-05:00

Once again, a double portion of Guten Tag:

Alright, take it easy.

-ryan

Guten Tag.31

2008-11-07T12:46:00.003-05:00

So yeah, here's that Halloween strip from last post that I promised.

It probably would have been more appropriate if it were posted before the election, but I got a little bit busy.

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.30

2008-10-22T09:51:00.003-04:00

Wow, October is almost over. yeesh.

Thankfully my Beard-tober is going pretty well.

Oh yeah, Guten Tag.

I think I might do a Halloween strip next week. I have an older one from last year I could rework.

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.29

2008-10-12T15:56:00.004-04:00

Guten Tag is back up and running every week, hopefully. School is busy, but I managed to plot out a couple ideas ahead of time, so I'll be able to work off of those for now.

Time for some things I'm interested in.

1) Appaloosa

I want to see this movie so bad. I haven't spoiled myself by reading any reviews, but I hope it's as good as 3:10 to Yuma or better. Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris are great choices for a western.

2) Anathallo-Canopy Glow

Goodness. One of the greatest bands right now, and this album is finally coming out on November 18. If you don't know who they are, it's honestly hard to describe their sound besides saying that it's multi-instrumented and almost cinematic. Instead, listen to 'Noni's Field' on their myspace page: anathallo

This song is so promising that if all the songs on the album are as good as this, it could easily be better than their previous album. Which for me is hard to fathom, since Floating World is up in my top 5 albums. Gah. They're so good and from Michigan (although they've moved to Chicago).

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.28

2008-10-01T09:34:00.002-04:00

Okay, quick update since I have to leave for school in a couple of minutes. I say 'quick' because I've been busy with classes and other projects, and I was going to put this up on Sunday, but didn't get to it. Thankfully, I've gotten Photoshop and Illustrator up and running on my Mac, so it's going to make doing my strip a whole lot faster. Alright, have a good rest of the week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.27 (Twice the Guten Tag!)

2008-09-14T15:52:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the non-post last week. Last weekend was hectic. I was expecting to roll into the semester like it was nothing and just have all this time to throw around and put to good use, but instead I came to the realization that 15 credits can kick your butt. I had to buy a lot of books and supplies. I think I'm getting a handle on the flow of it, though.

Well that's a brief break that I wish could last just a bit longer, but I've got to work on my speech that's due tomorrow. The topic is what I would do if I had a million dollars. I don't think I'd do anything outlandish, except provide the financial means to work on comics and music and design without worrying about having money to pay bills. Of course, I'd need a house to pay bills on. So I'd buy a house. Probably in Tennessee or some other state that has landscape nice enough to look out on every morning. And then I'd have room for a recording studio and an art studio. But I should probably invest it first. Whatever.

Have a good week.

-rh

Guten Tag.26

2008-09-01T16:08:00.002-04:00

Happy Labor Day everyone. Hope everyone's relishing their barbecue and family or whatever you're doing. I personally have been relishing my first ever 44 ounce Ocean Water from Sonic--a moment made all the more better by the fact that I got it half off during happy hour. great.

(Give me a squiggly...)

Not a lot's been going on this week. I just finished my last day working at Walmart Friday, so I'm kind of relieved that I don't have to go back there and toil away aimlessly at projects that just get rearranged a couple of days later.

"Here, take a couple of hours and stack all of these heavy things on that shelf, and make them line up, and make it look like there's a ton of them, and price them all, and make sure they all have clearance flags on them...even though we plan on moving them somewhere else tomorrow. Thanks."

Now, I'm not bitter at all, it's just that when your job is basically moving stuff around so people will buy more stuff faster, you realize you really don't have anything to show for your work. And that's why I don't want to stay at a place like Walmart. I have some opportunities this fall that I wouldn't be able to fully commit to if I were still working there. And this is already on top of a full 15 credit hours this semester. So that's why I decided to quit.

Trust me, it was nothing against the people who work at my store, because my attitude has totally changed over the past year. I went from trying to distance myself from my coworkers in an immature effort to maintain my sphere of comfort and 'normalcy' to getting to know a bunch of people who are actually really fun to work with. I think people who are there for years are able to do it because they get along with their coworkers and that helps them to get past the stupid things they have to deal with.

Well, mull that over and take your next retail job with a grain of salt. Hopefully it helps.

Alright, back to school this week. It should be pretty fun.

-ryan

Guten Tag.25

2008-08-25T13:37:00.003-04:00

Well well, the Olympics have come and gone. And now it's back to school for most of you, as well as me. Personally, I'm excited to get back into the swing of art classes, as well as being able to work on a couple of projects I've been putting on hold this summer due to work. But I'll have an update on what those are once they've gotten a considerable amount of momentum behind them. (hint: one's comic related, and the other's music related.) So yeah, I can't wait for this fall.

Alright start crackin some books. learn you some edumaction.

-ryan

Guten Tag.24

2008-08-17T14:18:00.002-04:00

Here's this week's strip a little earlier than usual lately:

haha. If there's any hidden reference to China's solution to their stray cat problem before the Olympics, believe me, it wasn't intentional. But I'll take full credit for it anyways, because that's the attitude of a winner.

I don't think much more can be said about Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal last night that hasn't already been said, but wow. America totally dominated swimming in this Olympics.

Alright, have a great final week of Olympic coverage that will be sadly void of swimming events. Let's hear it for Team USA in...basketball? volleyball? Anyways.

later.

-ryan

Guten Tag.23

2008-08-14T11:52:00.002-04:00

Ni Hao! Hello everybody. I hope you all get a chance to watch the Olympics. I know I've been almost glued to them since day one--partly because I went to Beijing last summer to visit my brother and sister-in-law, but also because it's the perfect sporting event for those who hardly follow sporting events. I know everyone's talking about Michael Phelps, but I'm wondering if they're ever going to show the decathlon events. I just want to see people throwing heavy stuff and javelins. We'll probably see. There's a whole week left.

Oh yeah, Guten Tag.

Check it:

Alright, you all have yourselves a great week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.22

2008-08-06T20:49:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody. I've been pretty busy lately. Here is a comic strip. Drawn by me.

Have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.21

2008-07-27T16:06:00.005-04:00

Hello hello. I've got two new strips this time, since I was lazy and didn't get the last one up in an appropriate amount of time.

Lately I've been coming up on a day or two before my strip is due, not having a clue what I'm going to draw, and I'll sit there for hours hoping some sweet idea pops in my head. It's not particularly a good way to do things, but I think the nature of my strip allows it to work, since these strips really don't follow a strict chronological order. Anyway...

For all of you who are interested in comics, but shy away from them due to the overabundance of nerd that's inextricably associated with them, let me suggest a book that will restore your faith in this medium:

It's called Flight, an anthology of various stories from several very talented independent comics creators who are still up and coming. The stories range from personal recollections to inventive fiction, and each author has their own unique style of writing and art. This is the fifth volume in the series, and like the ones before, it's a

great value for the amount of story presented (around 380 pages!). My favorite stories were "Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise" by Scott Cambell, "The Dragon" by Reagan Lodge, and "Seasons: Frank and Frank" by Chris Appelhans. I'd suggest checking it out at Barnes and Noble or Borders first, if you're not familiar with the series, but it's definitely worth it. You can also get it on Amazon.com. These guys are doing a great job in comics.

Alright, until next week or the week after that, have a great week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.20

2008-07-18T12:56:00.005-04:00

Holy delayed update, Batman!

So like a select few hundred thousand nerdly Americans young and old across the country, I attended a midnight screening of The Dark Knight last night. By the time I got to the theater from work, it was already packed and people were throwing beach balls around in restless anticipation for the movie to start. Yes, there were a lot of Batmen in the crowd, but I saw more Jokers, and from my seat all the way at the top I could even spot a 60s era Robin down on the floor...who turned out to be my friend. But it was all good, since this movie was and is worth it. Go see it.

It is the best Batman movie in existence. It has the best plot, the best characters, the best action, everything works. Heath Ledger owned Joker, and I would say almost stole the movie from Christian Bale. I used to love the animated 90s Batman tv series, and this movie evokes the grittiness and dark chemistry between Batman and Joker better than any other Batman movie. I knew I was going to love their characters, but Harvey Dent was the icing on the cake for me. Finally a realistic, fully realized Two Fa..I mean, Harvey Dent. He belongs in this movie, and it only works because of him.

The only sad thing about this movie, is that I don't know what to be excited for in the next one. With the last movie, we were waiting on Joker, but now it could be anyone, and that's a little scary. I don't want to see the third movie suffer to a lame, minor villain that, sadly, the Batman universe is full of. Who would they reinvent? Riddler? Mr. Freeze? Poison Ivy? Penguin? I don't see how they'll fit into this franchise. I just think that they've already picked the best villains (Ra'as al Ghul, Joker), and they're going to have to write one heck of a story for the third movie.

Alright. Nerd ramble completed. Go back to your lives.

p.s. I still need to see Hellboy 2. argh.

Guten Tag.19

2008-07-10T11:19:00.003-04:00

Peep the strategy. Of my new strip:

This comes in relation to a recent purchase I made. I finally broke down and bought my first Apple computer. Yeah I know, I might as well be attempting to make fire with a bunch of sticks and rocks, since I'm living so far in the past, but I decided it was a good time to get a decent computer if I'm going to go ahead and do graphic design for the next couple of years. I went with the Macbook Pro for a couple of reasons. One of which being the wider display that's better suited for design programs such as Photoshop and Ilustrator. One of the things that gets a little on my nerves when using Photoshop is having to move the toolbars around so they're not constantly in the way of my 'canvas', and hopefully this will free up that kind of space. The other reason was the faster processing speed and higher memory that will be needed to run those programs simultaneously without lagging like heck. Finally, the Pro has these cool stereo speakers on the sides of the keyboard that are louder and, I think, fuller than the ones on the Macbooks. Anyway, I'm liking it so far. Plus, I got the free iPod deal for being a student. I was going to go with the nano, but I got the 8 gig Touch cause it's like having an iPhone without the phone, and having to pay for it every month.

Alright, enough jibber jabber about Apple. Hellboy 2 comes out tomorrow, and I want to see it so bad. I will burn in nerdly passion until I see it. Here's a movie poster I want, because the creator of Hellboy drew it, except it's going for upwards of hundreds of dollars on ebay.

Alright, I'm out. Gotta earn them dollars at Wally World.

Have a good rest of the week, sorry for the belated update.

-rh

Guten Tag.18

2008-06-30T11:40:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. Not much to say this week. Summer's going by fast.

Well, have a good one.

-ryan

Guten Tag.17

2008-06-24T11:43:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay. Good news is I have two strips this time.

Man, I've been pretty busy lately. As some of you may know, I work at Wal-Mart and they recently decided to give me around 36-37 hours every week. Now this would be alright at any other Wal-Mart or any other retail store, but I work at a Wal-Mart in Taylor, Michigan. I imagine it would be hard for anyone unfamiliar with the area to understand what that means, but it's usually a sea of people every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.

People who are more than less unaware of the fact that we employees essentially clean up after them all day. People who don't understand that this is a company that can afford to roll back prices on almost everything, because the majority of its merchandise is made in China.

Having worked at Wal-Mart for more than a year, I'd like to share some advice that I think might help potential or current customers:

Don't expect the employee in a certain department to be an expert in all things covered in that department. He/she doesn't have time to sit around and compare specs between toasters or air conditioners or pools. More times than not, she's just going to default to reading the product label back to you.
Don't expect that since Wal-Mart sells and assembles bikes, it also has the expertise of a local bike shop. The assemblers at my store have about a 15 minute time limit per bike, and don't really have time to make sure the brakes are adjusted just to your liking. And please don't bring a bike back multiple times to get it fine-tuned. If you want professional service like that, go to a bike shop and pay for it. Wal-Mart can't provide it for free.
If you're going to buy anything that you plan to stick in your vehicle, make sure it fits in your vehicle. Honestly. I think one week I helped at least 3 people carry out a pool/tv/furniture to their vehicle only to find they planned on driving it away in a compact. Like it would just magically fold down into the trunk.
Don't leave your trash on shelves. Although this really goes without saying, but there are more than enough people who need this advice. I'll admit, cups and water bottles are one thing, but come on, used kleenex? band-aids? And honest to God, there have been two separate occasions where I've had the distinct privilege of finding a used diaper. Oh yeah, you're right, that is a good spot for it, right by the books.

Well I hope that helps. You guys have any more questions, feel free to ask me. But right now I have to get ready for work. And it's my birthday, no less.

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.16

2008-06-08T22:14:00.003-04:00

"I wanna play the guitar...and I wanna get paid.."

Wow. Quick week:
Watching the red wings almost win the cup, work, watching the red wings finally win the cup, saw the Indiana Jones movie (more on it later), more work, graduation open house for my cousin, church, etc.
Dang, summer is going by too quick, and I have too many projects on my mind and not enough time to complete them. Music and art are competing interests right now for me. I feel like I have a lot I want to do with music, and a lot I want to do with art, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pursue both equally or have to choose between them. I guess it'll come down to whatever pays better..haha. Sadly.

Oh yeah, Indiana Jones. I don't know, I hear a lot of negativity hurled towards this movie, but I'm going to stick to my guns and say I liked it. I thought it kept the tone of the other movies, even with the use of today's special effects and cgi. The action scenes were pretty exciting, except I don't know about the Shia LeBeouf tarzan scene, that was a little stretch. There's a lot of negativity aimed at the end of the movie, but without giving it away, I thought it wasn't too far fetched from what some people believed actually happened in that culture. (with giving a little bit away, at least it didn't talk or make contact with the characters). Anyway, if you're an Indiana Jones fan, you have to see it. If not, I'd wait till dvd. It was pretty good.

Alright, I obviously don't have a career ahead of me in movie reviews, so I'm going to leave that to the professional cynics who have lost imagination and know that movie sequels are fundamentally doomed to suck in comparison to the original.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

ps. (lyrics from The Snake the Cross the Crown, which is an awesome band making honest music. find out for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/snakecrosscrown )

Guten Tag.15

2008-06-01T23:58:00.001-04:00

Alright alright alright alright alright.

Twice the wait means twice the Guten Tag. Hope you can handle that.

Go see the Indiana Jones movie, like I...will soon be doing...

Can you find the hidden message in this one?

One day I'd like to collect these in a book. But I think I'm going to wait until when I graduate from Wayne State and don't have a reason to do these every week. Hopefully by then more people will be reading these. That should bring the total readership up to one.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.14

2008-05-21T12:50:00.000-04:00

Hello. Guten Tag time.

Oh man, I'm watching The Empire Strikes back, and I've come to the decision that the original Star Wars trilogy is one of the few movies worth passing down to my kids. That is, if I have kids. That is, if I get married. If I get a girlfriend. Anyways. I remember first seeing the movies as a kid and thinking how big the story was, and how believable the characters were. Now, after watching the documentary that's on the dvd box set, it's crazy to see how they made so much work on such a small budget, at least by the standards of today's movies. It's weird that with all the advanced technology and ability to depict space battles in cgi in the newer Star Wars movies, the models used in the original trilogy look and feel more believable to me. Well enough nerd musing. Have a great day.

-ryan

Guten Tag.13

2008-05-12T18:50:00.000-04:00

video games have almost eaten my brain. but I'm doing better, and getting back into the habit of sketching and drawing a lot. here's the new guten tag.

-ryan

Guten Tag.12

2008-05-03T13:14:00.000-04:00

Alright, Guten Tag is back. I didn't have to turn it in for a couple of weeks due to finals, and I was a little swamped with final projects myself, so I took a little break. But it is indeed back. Now with 50% more good.

Guten Tag.11

2008-04-05T12:45:00.000-04:00

I was trying to think of something witty to say, but I got nothing.

And this strip is inspired by true events. Sad to say.

-ryan

Guten Tag.10

2008-03-31T02:20:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone. This week's strip comes to you devoid of any underyling political leanings or eco-friendly diatribes. I think it pretty much sets the tone for all future strips. But I must apologize, for although I drew this strip with my bare hands, I outsourced the job of coloring to my computer. I think it did a pretty crappy job. It's fired. Have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.9

2008-03-24T13:27:00.000-04:00

Gah, the snow came back again this past week. But it's alright. Like a friend who has difficulty recognizing when he's overstayed his welcome, it'll finally go away. In a wet, ugly mess if it has to. Oh hey, I drew another strip. And wouldn't you know it, it's somehow related to what I just said. What a coincidence. Have a good week.

Guten Tag.8

2008-03-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Happy St.Patty's Day everybody. Go celebrate your temporary Irishness but try to cut back on the alcohol influenced vehicular manslaughter.

Yes I know I've been slightly lazy in getting these strips up, but they're up now. I've also switched my process again, and I now draw and ink the strips first before scanning them in. I was dissatisfied with the final look of my earlier strips that I had done in Photoshop, and I think the traditional method of pen and paper brings out my personality better. Whatever. Here are the three I did since the last update:

-RH

Guten Tag.7

2008-02-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

Hey what are you all doing today? Reading my new comic strip? That's good to hear, cause I read your mind and decided to place it in this blog for your convenience. That way you don't have to call me up and ask if you can come over to see it. Or mail me for a copy of it. It's right here, free of charge.

So you're not reading my comic strip today? That's cool. I'll let you get back to Facebook. Here, I even provided a link so you don't have to do any typing. Facebook

Have a good one.
-rh

Guten Tag.6

2008-02-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

Holiday related strips. No better remedy for writer's block.

-rh

Guten Tag.5

2008-02-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

Alright new Guten Tag. This is also the first strip in which the tall guy is named. But not the short guy. That might come later. You might just have to stick around to see that.

Also, unrelated to Guten Tag, but I have another idea that I'm working on, that I can hopefully post weekly or every other week. It's basically short visual gags that I come up with when working on the strip or other stuff. I'll have to think up a catchy name for it though. Hmm.

-rh

SquidSquid.com

2008-01-26T23:33:00.000-05:00

So while googling squid for a photo reference for a sketch, I came upon this website devoted to improving giant squid/human relations.
squidsquid.com

It's pretty informative, with tests designed to gauge your SQ (Squid Quotient), aquatic animal personality test, 10 reasons to fear a giant squid, etc.

I took the aquatic animal personality test and ended up as a whale (surprise surprise).

Check it out.

-rh

Guten Tag.4

2008-01-26T02:31:00.000-05:00

Well hello.

Indeed I have a new strip to post. It was inspired as I walked back to my car from class Thursday night in the bitter cold of approximately a billion degrees below freezing, waiting for any one of my extremities to fall off. I'm pretty sure the cold vacuum of space is somewhere around the temperature of any given winter night in Michigan.

Posted.

Have a great weekend and subsequent week.

-rh

GUTEN TAG.3

2008-01-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

Here's the new Guten Tag strip.

I used a new approach this time. Instead of doing the strip completely in Photoshop like before, this time I penciled the strip on paper, scanned that in to Photoshop, then put a layer on top of the pencil rough and 'inked' it. Although I had one less panel filled with art this time, I think it still saved me about an hour or two.

Before, I would go back and forth, using old faithful Ctrl+z, in order to get the lines looking smooth and natural as well as proportionate, but doing a pencil rough first and then doing the lines on top is much easier. It's like having your outline set down before writing a paper. The whole process just goes faster and smoother.

-rh

Water we going to do? Almost flood the basement, that's wat.

2008-01-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

Today was pretty funny.
Actually, it sucked a little bit, but then that became funny.

I've had my drums and a PA system in the basement for a few weeks, waiting to be set up again, so I decided to do that today. After I finished, I remembered that when my band used to practice down there, we had strung up some rope light to the wall to make it look cool. More like we duct taped it there. So this time, I had the bright idea of screwing in some hooks to hold the light, instead of duct tape. I got maybe 3-4 in, found the stud through the wall for the last one, and was drilling the last hook when water just shot out all over the place.

I drilled through the dang water pipe. Water sprayed all over the wall opposite the pipe, which is about 15-20 feet. Which sucked majorly, since like I said, I had all my drums and PA system and artwork from last semester just sitting there soaking up gallons of water. I think my guitar amp was actually facing the pipe. I finally got the valve shut off, but I hope all my stuff dries out.
I actually almost drilled into the electrical wiring, which was maybe an inch from the water pipe.

Oh well. Crisis over.
This only strengthens my belief that art is where I should be heading, and definitely not any sort of carpentry or home repair.

GUTEN TAG.2

2008-01-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here's the weekly strips I've done so far for Wayne State University's newspaper.

GUTEN TAG!

2007-12-07T14:14:00.000-05:00

This is a comic strip I started back in October just for the fun and challenge of doing a consistent strip. Recently I went to the campus newspaper office at WSU and asked if they were looking for new comics, so now I'm privileged to do one each week for the paper. So even though I'm doing a weekly strip, I'll also try to do 2 or 3 each week.

Here's the "dailies" that I've done so far, just to catch you up to date. The weeklies will be posted as they are finished.

(click to magnify):

Oh yeah, if you're wondering about the German at the end, it usually has something to do with the strip. If there's some slim chance that you are in fact not German or do not speak German, you can check out this site for help: http://dict.leo.org/