Mysterious mysteries continue to mystify and possibly bore ...

You lucky devils, you! It's because of my lateness last week that I created TWO My Three Bosses in a row so you can have this week's early! However, in this rowdy game of give and take, I got confused and made a totally stupid last panel, so ... sorry about that.

(No there will not be another one on monday.)

Fightstravaganza!

Maybe it was the sudden sting of upper-Midwest summer humidity. Maybe it was all the talk of Tim's soon-to-arrive athletic training equipment. Whatever it was, the testosterone suddenly and inexplicably shot up at the Attic, and what had been until that time a calm studio of creative exploration turned into the most intense, take-no-prisoners brawl this tri-state area has yet seen. Witnesses to the wild display of strength and ferocity run amok found themselves without words, but fortunately with Ace bandages and a digital camera. In the end, as suddenly as it came, the frenzied fisticuffsmanship came to a close, with no clear winner decided. Only time will tell if such a terrible fate should ever pass through the studio again. (We pray not.)

Max, you're fired!

With fresh new animators coming from all around to replace me, I feel it is now appropriate to begin revealing the rest of the mystery craziness we had the other day ... not out of spite, but for the sheer adventure of it ...

Welcome Julia!

Julia Vickerman has accepted an animation position from ours truly! It's exciting to have her on board, she draws, paints, animates, does great voices, and is a swell storyteller.

Here she is with ol' TS at the last Lutefisk Sushi:

The Most Shamelessly Self-Indulgent Post Ever!

So, after a two-month absence from the company blog, effectively shutting myself off from the virtual side of things so that I could use the flimsy excuses of "graduating" and "senior projects" to squirrel away from life, what's the most tactful and apologetic way for me to re-emerge into the light of the social, interpersonal blog? Right! A post that completely and shamelessly showcases me! That said -- again, with the full disclosure that it's admittedly a blatant ploy for personal recognition -- I thought I'd share a streaming video of the MCAD Commencement Speech I gave last weekend.

Next post, I'll be back to the non-Jon side of BTA, I swear. Just had to shake this one off.

Art-A-Whirl This Weekend!

Come visit our open studio this weekend during North East Minneapolis' Art-A-Whirl. Food, bands, art....and us. We'll have free booze and snacks, plus stuff to look at and talk about.

The Thorp Building (Birthplace of Art-A-Whirl)
1618 Central Avenue NE
Minneapolis.

We're in Suite 216 above Diamond's Coffee Shoppe.

A very special M3B

My first fan art evar!!!!21LOL!

Seriously, though, awesome toonin' from one of BTA's own Three Bosses!

Happy Day to Those Most Vocal on Our Blog

MCAD Graduation tonight

So the Minneapolis College of Art and Design has unleashed another batch of creatives out into the world to be eaten alive by reality. Part of their graduation preparation is the Senior Show, which is a large gallery exhibition of their work. The senior shows are really fun to go to, though less full of surprises than I hope. The really good students always make themselves known to the world before they graduate...Or maybe on the night of their graduation..with help form this blog post.

Aside from Jon White, who works with us and you already know, you'll want to keep an eye on these guys:

Eric Carlson- At last year's MCAD art sale, his work seemed to be the prize for the people I ran into. Designers I know have been "collecting" Eric Carlson art for years...which I thought was weird...as he's still a student...until I saw it.

Milky PopYou can already buy Megan's stuff in stores like Robot Love, but now that she has all the time in the world...she will cover said world with excellent clothing and accessories.

Sara LitnerIf Sara's business skills are anywhere near her design skills she'll outlive being "Aesthetic Apparatus' first employee" and become THE Sara Litner.

Julia Vickermanwill move off to Hollywood and all of you can say..."I looked at Julia Vickerman's website before she was famous." She's a terrific animator/artist and has a charisma/humility mix that will have her rising through the ranks of wherever she lands.

Process

Secret employee works on the delivery menu for the secret pizza restaurant.

Pizza Hut never shellacs their stuff.

New Kanary Kid Koming Kwikly!

Here is a sneek peek at the new Kanary Kid Komic soon to be seen.

Is it too early for a spin-off? Ehhh ... who cares!

With the steady stream of interesting work keeping our collective nose to the proverbial grinding circle, I felt as though there hasn't been a whole lot of mystery going on at the attic recently. Then I remembered the secret adventure that nobody talks about anymore and -- seeing as how the nation is distracted by the whole Valerie Plame thing -- decided it wouldn't mean much to break the silence this week by telling it. Keep refreshed for the weekly installments of this My Three Bosses spin-off: Agent Kevin in the Cavern of Mystery!

Conspiracy Comics Jam (day before) Cinco de Mayo

Another exciting Cartoonist Conspiracy meeting was held at Diamond's Coffee Shop in Nordeast Minneapolis. Highlights include Rice Crispie squares.


Steve uses his red laser eyes to come up with a gag for the night's theme: "Babies Can't Do Anything."


Conspirators also passed around the cover to the upcoming "Mission Accomplished" -- an anthology of Minneapolis' losing contributions to April 1's "Jam War."

Darth Vader

I drew Darth Vader because one of our computers is called Darth Vader. This is because it's a cool black color. Darth Vader is also a cool black color, and until 1999 and 2005 (respectively) we were completely unaware that he ever said anything like "Yippee!" or "NOOOOOOO!". He was awesome until then.

In fact, no space-Jedi-men are as cool now as they were from 1977 to 1999. Yoda's a wuss who hid in a swampworld for 20 years, Obi Wan's a big baby who obviously allowed the desert sun to age him prematurely, and Jimmy Smits just sat around until his planet blew up. Oh, and he wasn't a jedi.

The emperor remains awesome. He was mean throughout 6 movies, and then got tossed down a shaft by his apprentice. That was cool. The only downside is that he left teeth marks on all the scenery.

The Sweetest of All Sciences!

Jon White's Rise To Power.

Jon White is graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in a couple weeks with a dual comics and design major. That's not all...Jon just found out he's been selected to be the commencement speaker.

CONGRATULATIONS JON!

Big Time Attic Microcon group pic

I think this is the only one we got of everyone:


Jon White was getting his graduation in order and BTA secret member was out because he's a secret member.

Big Time Attic Photos from MicroCon 2006

The hard sell: Zander, Shad, Rob, and a toy dinosaur.


You can see the vast expanse of tables set aside for BTA this year. Thanks, Nick!


Tim and Max discussing the best way to close a deal.


Max working on "My Three Bosses" (see below).

Mini-Con!

Well, there have only been three posts, and it's already time again for My Three Bosses. With this shocking acceleration of my stressful production schedule, I hope you'll notice that the comic strip has stayed remarkably the same.

"Diary of a Cartoonist" Breaches Literal SFX Code.

I used to think I was different and special by using literal sound effects. You know, if someone is punching a guy, the SFX will be "Punch!" instead of "Bam!" etc. Pretty clever, right? No. I ran across this YouTube "show" called "Diary of a Cartoonist" where this guy talks about tough issues like racism while he draws a comic strip at high-speed. Anyway, in episode 7 he talks about using literal sound effects and says that "everyone's doing it." Thanks a lot, dude, you breached the number one comics code, that if you talk openly about a sweet new comics move then it will instantly be uncool. There goes my career. Literal SFX were all I had. Thanks a lot. Or "Thanks alot" since I may as well have never learned to write.

Here's the link. He breaches the code toward the end.