Rooby Moon

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:12:20 -0800

Another RSS change...

THE NEW RSS FEED LINK IS: feed://roobymoon.com/?feed=rss2

Well, my apologies once again. I have changed the Rooby Moon site for what should be the last time... for a good while at least... for the better I believe...

I'm now running WordPress as the home page. It has been a strain for my poor, addled, code-illiterate mind to fumble the small bits of code editing I had to do to nudge this into shape. But it is working now, and so at least I no longer am doing all the blog functions manually, in plain HTML, as I had been with the old site. Phew, that was a lot of work, even for my low trafficked site.

So, as I started with, my apologies. This change to a WordPress blog unfortunately means that the RSS link has changed once again. This post will be the last RSSPECT RSS post. To keep getting RSS notices of new strips and posts you will need to update your RSS reader's link to:

THE NEW RSS FEED LINK IS: feed://roobymoon.com/?feed=rss2

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:06:27 -0800
Ya, he's just one big happy.

click image to enlarge

Ya, he's just one big happy, no. 152

Introducing Nuncle Billy, AKA Mr Happy.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:43:24 -0800
New Strip Tomorrow

I've been working on the site once again. I'm still working at getting it to run as a blog here on the home page. I believe I have a solution, and will be making some changes here in the next week or so.

I'm also slowing my production of the strip down a little. I'm still producing the five black and white daily strips, and one full page, color Sunday, but instead of posting them MWF, I'm posting them now on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 05:59:32 -0800
Friday, Nov. 9, 2007

A Squeeky Adoption

"A Squeeky Adoption " no. 151

Squeeky is back....

I've added a couple of items for sale: two of the strips for sale as prints, either framed or unframed. I've created a gallery at:
http://cmacneil.imagekind.com/RoobyMoon

I'll be adding more strips to the gallery as time goes on. If there is s strip you'd like to buy a print of, let me know, and I'll add it to the gallery.

I haven't added it to the BUY STUFF page here yet, but I will in the next couple of days.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:32:16 -0800
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007

...Until Mom Knocks their Petals Off...

"...Until Mom Knocks their Petals Off... " no. 150

Today's strip.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:38:04 -0800
Monday, Nov. 5, 2007

Relaxation Exercises

"Relaxation Exercises " no. 149

Today's strip.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:47:56 -0700
Friday, Nov. 2, 2007

Any Old Hermitage In The Storm

"Any Old Hermitage In The Storm " no. 148

I tried the Noodler's ink in the GFKP Pentel brush pen. Dissapointingly, it didn't flow well. I had to really slow my brush marks down, and they didn't come very black because, even drawing slow, not much ink ended up on the board. I've been using Strathmore 500 series bristol, and the GFKP ink bleeds some. It's not the blackest, either. Maybe I should try another board. I read somewhere that someone had found that the Pentel brush pen ink bled on Canson bristol board but not on the Stathmore 300 series. I hadn't been using that because the 500 series works so much better for me with the pen, but maybe I should try some.

I'll try the Noodler's in a fountain pen tomorrow.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:12:09 -0700
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007

They Sough So

"They Sough So " no. 147

The sticky business continues...

Still working with brush and ink. On Monday's strip I used a no. 2 Windsor Newton brush with Black Magic ink, today I used the Pentel GFKP brush pen again. I actually ended up snipping off the trailing hair That I mentioned liking in my last remark here about this pen. I used a 30 power magnifying glass and a new X-acto knife, and cut just a smidge off the end of the longest trailing hair. It's a little more blunt, but it is a little faster now, and doesn't flick a hair line off the side when I turn a corner. Of course, I have gone this route before and snipped brushes down to little more than fuzz-garnished sticks. Good thing the GFKP is relatively cheap.

Just got a bottle of Noodler's Bulletproof black ink. Haven't cracked it open yet, but am looking forward to it. I used to run the old formula (many years ago old) of FM waterproof ink in my Pelikan 120 fountain pens. It would clog them far more than the Pelikan ink, which re-wets itself, but if I cleaned the pens regularly (ha!), then they would last OK. I haven't used them for sometime-- I'd given up on using a good, waterproof ink in them.

I did a web search for alternative inks that I could run in both my Kaimei and Pentell brush pens. Something more black, more lightfast, preferably waterproof, that will run through a brush pen and fountain pen. A tall order. The reviews I read on the Noodler's Bulletproof Inks were generally rave. I ordered mine at ebay.

I also found a blog entry by Elwood H. Smith that he uses Pelikan 120 pens and used to use FW ink, again until FW reformatted their ink from carbon to acrylic. He suggested to his readers a couple of Dr. Martin's inks to try that he uses now, and one of the comments below his blog entry was a suggestion to try Noodler's ink.

I've got the Noodler's. I'll order the Dr PH Martin's inks next and give them a try too.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:54:34 -0700
Monday, Oct. 29, 2007

The Satisfaction Of A Job Well Done

"The Satisfaction Of A Job Well Done " no. 146

Nuthin' better than that done-the-job-right feeling...

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:12:01 -0700
Friday, Oct. 26, 2007

Glue For Two

"Glue For Two " no. 145

Today's strip.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:20:12 -0700
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007

The Hole Story

"The Hole Story " no. 144

This Sunday's, er, Wednesday's strip, a Halloween theme. A few days early (seven is a few, isn't it?).

Halloween can't come too soon for my kids. Their champing at the bit. This year is going to be the biggest haul ever, or so they have told me... And no paper bags for them.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 01:56:27 -0700
Monday, Oct. 22, 2007

Fashion Lug-Nuts

"Fashion Lug-Nuts " no. 143

I can still smell the stale costume smell.

Dragging out the costume box each October. Digging through the tangle of eye-holed musty sheets, home-made clown costumes, vacuum-formed devil masks, brown-paper-bag indian vests. Finding the costume with just the right look. And something you could move in. We had a lot of ground to cover.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 01:50:13 -0700
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007

Reality Check

"Reality Check " no. 142

How solid is reality? How solid are my kids heads? They clonked them together the other day. A resounding CLONK that sat them down and stopped whatever rough-housing they were up to. I think it was something involving a two-part balancing act on a stack of chairs...

I'm actually a little ahead of the game with the daily strips. I've sketched several ahead, and even have some of them inked and ready to go. I just finished the pencil for the next full-page color strip, and will ink it late tonight after the kids go to sleep.

I drew this one with a brush. Most of my earlier brush-drawn strips I did with a Windsor Newton series 7 #2 brush, and Black Magic ink. This time I used a Pentel brush pen. It works well. It has a very fine tip, with a couple of trailing hairs that help the marks track. Not as black an ink as Black Magic, but you can't see that here, particularly after I adjust the blackness in PhotoShop.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:29:07 -0700
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

Brains, Is It?

"Brains, Is It? " no. 141

I'm working away at the dailies. I'm having fun. I have a lot of ideas that are too short for the big Sunday strips. I like the six panel. It fits well with my think length. I think.

I'm drawing these the same way I do the large strips. I sketch them first on bond, then ink them on bristol on a light table. I'm drawing the dailies around 10" x 8 3/4", each of the six panels are about 3 3/4" x 4 5/16". I've drawn this and 'Tesla Would Be Proud' with dip-pen, and used a 2 pt Rapidograph pen for the borders. The next few after this I have done in brush and ink. It may be splitting hairs to tell the difference in these lower-res web images, but I am enjoying drawing with a brush once again.

Rooby Moon, by Chris MacNeil

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:08:12 -0700
Monday, Oct. 15, 2007

Tesla Would Be Proud

"Tesla Would Be Proud " no. 140

Here is today's strip. As you can see, it is the first of this new set of daily strips I'm now doing.

I'm now drawing five black and white dailys and one full color, full-page Sunday each week.

Of course, since I am posting every other day, my 'week' is actually two weeks long. And, as my Sunday strip is usually posted on Wednesday, it should be called a full-color, full-page "Wednesday" strip.

Hmmm.

Well, net effect, not just one new strip each week, but now three-- Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Plus the original full-page color 'Sunday' every other week.