Howard Tayler
@howardtayler.bsky.social
Vaxxed & 8x-Boosted, He/Him, Husband to Sandra Tayler, Father of Four, #mecfs/#LongCovid, howardtayler.com, schlockmercenary.com, writingexcuses.com. Occasional automated posts, but mostly this feed is artisanal me.
EXACTLY.
Or, as I said in a different thread, use your phone to take pictures of your pets, your dishes, the scratch on your car door, the grass poking through the sidewalk cracks, ANYTHING.
INVENTED STATISTIC FOR SLIDES:
"Only 25% of presenters know how to incorporate pictures."
Or, as I said in a different thread, use your phone to take pictures of your pets, your dishes, the scratch on your car door, the grass poking through the sidewalk cracks, ANYTHING.
INVENTED STATISTIC FOR SLIDES:
"Only 25% of presenters know how to incorporate pictures."
November 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
EXACTLY.
Or, as I said in a different thread, use your phone to take pictures of your pets, your dishes, the scratch on your car door, the grass poking through the sidewalk cracks, ANYTHING.
INVENTED STATISTIC FOR SLIDES:
"Only 25% of presenters know how to incorporate pictures."
Or, as I said in a different thread, use your phone to take pictures of your pets, your dishes, the scratch on your car door, the grass poking through the sidewalk cracks, ANYTHING.
INVENTED STATISTIC FOR SLIDES:
"Only 25% of presenters know how to incorporate pictures."
If you can't do those three things, well...
November 28, 2025 at 6:09 PM
If you can't do those three things, well...
Do you have pets? Take pictures of them doing pet things. These can become flavor art for almost anything.
November 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Do you have pets? Take pictures of them doing pet things. These can become flavor art for almost anything.
An opportunity to deploy this!
November 27, 2025 at 11:41 PM
An opportunity to deploy this!
But since you might not want to browse away from this thread (and I don't blame you, occasionally I sneak something genuinely entertaining into these extended brainfarts) here's the salient point:
November 27, 2025 at 11:13 PM
But since you might not want to browse away from this thread (and I don't blame you, occasionally I sneak something genuinely entertaining into these extended brainfarts) here's the salient point:
Here's today's graph. We're doing our big meal tomorrow, so the afternoon high is from Sandra doing a bit of prep work in the kitchen (where the meter lives.)
The spike at 10:43am is me moving the meter, so it was right next to my face's CO₂-holes.
The spike at 10:43am is me moving the meter, so it was right next to my face's CO₂-holes.
November 27, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Here's today's graph. We're doing our big meal tomorrow, so the afternoon high is from Sandra doing a bit of prep work in the kitchen (where the meter lives.)
The spike at 10:43am is me moving the meter, so it was right next to my face's CO₂-holes.
The spike at 10:43am is me moving the meter, so it was right next to my face's CO₂-holes.
So what DOES make you sleepy on Thanksgiving?
Odds are good that it's CO₂, especially if you're cooking with gas.
I've seen our indoor air CO₂ spike just over 3,000ppm on Thanksgiving. All the people plus all the gas cooking, it adds up.
Odds are good that it's CO₂, especially if you're cooking with gas.
I've seen our indoor air CO₂ spike just over 3,000ppm on Thanksgiving. All the people plus all the gas cooking, it adds up.
November 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
So what DOES make you sleepy on Thanksgiving?
Odds are good that it's CO₂, especially if you're cooking with gas.
I've seen our indoor air CO₂ spike just over 3,000ppm on Thanksgiving. All the people plus all the gas cooking, it adds up.
Odds are good that it's CO₂, especially if you're cooking with gas.
I've seen our indoor air CO₂ spike just over 3,000ppm on Thanksgiving. All the people plus all the gas cooking, it adds up.
If you see this, post your black & white artwork. Yes, b/w photography counts.
November 27, 2025 at 5:19 PM
If you see this, post your black & white artwork. Yes, b/w photography counts.
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle.
November 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle.
A lot of today's grinding was on the TERAPORT effect, which (in it's current, probably-good-enough form) is Kirby Krackle, followed by knock-outs of Kirby Krackle, with clipping mask splashes of different colors using various particle brushes, followed by a particle eraser in the middle.
November 19, 2025 at 11:15 PM
A lot of today's grinding was on the TERAPORT effect, which (in it's current, probably-good-enough form) is Kirby Krackle, followed by knock-outs of Kirby Krackle, with clipping mask splashes of different colors using various particle brushes, followed by a particle eraser in the middle.
I've spent the last four hours grinding very slowly on the bonus story.
Here's the spreadsheet showing my progress:
Here's the spreadsheet showing my progress:
November 19, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I've spent the last four hours grinding very slowly on the bonus story.
Here's the spreadsheet showing my progress:
Here's the spreadsheet showing my progress:
The one thing that AI-generated art is reasonably good at, a thing that actual, literate, pattern-understanding human artists tend to be BAD at, is coming up with nonsense lettering for signage.
We (speaking as a human) tend to fail at meaninglessness.
But AI? It's the default.
We (speaking as a human) tend to fail at meaninglessness.
But AI? It's the default.
November 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM
The one thing that AI-generated art is reasonably good at, a thing that actual, literate, pattern-understanding human artists tend to be BAD at, is coming up with nonsense lettering for signage.
We (speaking as a human) tend to fail at meaninglessness.
But AI? It's the default.
We (speaking as a human) tend to fail at meaninglessness.
But AI? It's the default.
It's almost always bad, but every so often the Photoshopping or (more likely) AI-generated marketing art for junk on Amazon is so bad it's awesome.
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
It's almost always bad, but every so often the Photoshopping or (more likely) AI-generated marketing art for junk on Amazon is so bad it's awesome.
That panel comes, chronologically, immediately after this one, but there are two intermediate page spreads between them.
November 18, 2025 at 4:00 AM
That panel comes, chronologically, immediately after this one, but there are two intermediate page spreads between them.
I'm working on the bonus story for the next Schlock Mercenary print edition. It's a story about sapient dinosaurs 66-ish million years ago. Of course they have domesticated pack animals, so OBVIOUSLY I need to draw what happens when one of them gets spooked.
November 18, 2025 at 3:56 AM
I'm working on the bonus story for the next Schlock Mercenary print edition. It's a story about sapient dinosaurs 66-ish million years ago. Of course they have domesticated pack animals, so OBVIOUSLY I need to draw what happens when one of them gets spooked.
What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
November 17, 2025 at 1:26 AM
What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
Name a film made between 2000 and 2010.
SPEED RACER. It's one of my all-time favorites.
SPEED RACER. It's one of my all-time favorites.
November 15, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Name a film made between 2000 and 2010.
SPEED RACER. It's one of my all-time favorites.
SPEED RACER. It's one of my all-time favorites.
This summer I learned about a very simple bit of folded steel that fills that gap. It's called a "stove gap cover" and I now have one on either side of the stove and between the counter and the refrigerator.
10/10, can recommend.
10/10, can recommend.
November 13, 2025 at 1:56 AM
This summer I learned about a very simple bit of folded steel that fills that gap. It's called a "stove gap cover" and I now have one on either side of the stove and between the counter and the refrigerator.
10/10, can recommend.
10/10, can recommend.
What is up with the shape of this spoon? It's a hospital spoon (no emergency, simple procedure).
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
What is up with the shape of this spoon? It's a hospital spoon (no emergency, simple procedure).
November 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Trash Cinema from @blambot.bsky.social.
November 10, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Trash Cinema from @blambot.bsky.social.
My "writer brain" just throws dialog and action into boxes. My "illustrator brain" arranges and reshapes those boxes as actual panels for telling the story, but when my writer brain sees those the story (or the telling) changes. New options open up.
It's how I end up with layouts like this:
It's how I end up with layouts like this:
November 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
My "writer brain" just throws dialog and action into boxes. My "illustrator brain" arranges and reshapes those boxes as actual panels for telling the story, but when my writer brain sees those the story (or the telling) changes. New options open up.
It's how I end up with layouts like this:
It's how I end up with layouts like this:
100% Can confirm
November 8, 2025 at 4:37 PM
100% Can confirm
One of the spot checks I run when formatting text for titles or stuff is to make sure I haven't stacked identical letters or letter combos above one another. It looks weird, and I scoot things to fix it.
Yet somehow STRANGER THINGS gets away with it.
Yet somehow STRANGER THINGS gets away with it.
November 8, 2025 at 6:13 AM
One of the spot checks I run when formatting text for titles or stuff is to make sure I haven't stacked identical letters or letter combos above one another. It looks weird, and I scoot things to fix it.
Yet somehow STRANGER THINGS gets away with it.
Yet somehow STRANGER THINGS gets away with it.
Milo has decided that I'm not allowed to script any more comics today.
November 7, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Milo has decided that I'm not allowed to script any more comics today.