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[contact-guy]

pov you’re sir henry baskerville ☠️

[contact-guy]

'Allo! Two things- first of all, I am INCREDIBLY excited for the remainder of The Dying Detective; it was one of my first exposures to the SH stories. That said, may I ask why you chose to use a pearl as the icon for it in your pinned post?

It’s an oyster in apple emojis, for Holmes’s iconic oyster monologue -

And thank you, the next part is taking a minute but I hope it’ll be worth it! Extremely cool how this started as “3-5 loose drawings per story” and has evolved into “20 pages of fully rendered comics per story” lol

[contact-guy]

sick and twisted of me but every time Watson experiences a major upset he gets a new line on his face

(pre Milverton -> post Milverton, forehead crease gained from all the worrying)

(Boscombe -> post Boscombe, cheek crease gained from needing to be more cynical)

[contact-guy]

Does Watson ever swear in canon? I know Holmes says “what the deuce” and other things but does my #1 man ever go off?

[contact-guy]

The Criterion Bar’s Gay History

Most know the Criterion Bar as the place where Dr. John Watson met his young friend Stamford on that fateful night before being introduced to the one and only Sherlock Holmes, the man who would be the star of Dr. Watson’s writings.

What is not commonly known or spoken about is the Criterion Bar’s Victorian history…

That of being a Victorian Gay Bar.

Now official ‘gay bars’ were not exactly a thing in the Victorian Era due to anti-LGBT laws (including Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885). That said, the Criterion Bar was known (when the stories were written) as a meeting point for gay men in the Victorian era.

‘A New City of Friends’: London and Homosexuality in the 1890s

By Matt Cook

“..Ives noted that the Criterion Bar on Piccadilly Circus was ‘a great centre for inverts’ until it closed in 1905 .”

The Inverted City: London and the Constitution of Homosexuality 1885-1914, M. D. Cook

https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1620

The Criterion Bar is spoken about by George Cecil Ives, an LGBT advocate in the Victorian era and leader of the secret LGBT society, the Order of Chaeronea.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Chaeronea

George Cecil Ives was also friends to both Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Cecil Ives were friends and cricket teammates on the team “Allahakbarries”, which, at the time, they thought meant ‘Heaven Help Us’.

When it comes to Sherlock Holmes, of all the bars within London that could be chosen for Dr. Watson and Stamford to meet, and for Watson to be lead from to be introduced to Holmes, Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle chose to use -that- one.

(Special thanks to @ImaBretthead for pointing out the bar’s past.)

“ Willie Hornung, the brother-in-Law Of ACD, was a friend of George Ives. He used him as the model for the gentleman thief Raffles, in his series of books. Sir Arthur was also acquainted with Mr. Ives.

Cafe Royal, The Langham Hotel, The Criteron Bar…These are not coincidences.”

- @ImaBretthead

[contact-guy]

Holmes's reaction when Watson gets near the trapped box full of deadly poison vs. a random cop

[contact-guy]

i was trying to work on another thing and then this happened and now i’m upset

[contact-guy]

ザゼン。

そろそろシャーロックホームズを観るか読むかしたいです。とかいってドラマは全部途中までしか観てないな…

[contact-guy]

I hope you know how cruel it is of you to put the dying detective directly before the final problem. I’m literally so anxious (in the fun way) over the next few installments that I’ve already made all my friends tired of hearing about it. I think when the final problem is posted I’m just going to lose my mind

I actually rearranged things a bit so the upcoming order is: BLUE CARBUNCLE (Christmas special) and BLANCHED SOLDIER (solo Holmes special) before THE FINAL PROBLEM. Does...does that help

[contact-guy]

God I just love that in The Dying Detective you made it so Sherlock is struggling to convince Watson he's sick. Watson knows him so well at this point. It huuuurrtttsssss (positive)

THANK YOUUU I wanna talk about this because it ties into why I love comics so much, and why I love adapting prose into comics. It's a pretty well known idea that part of the job as a cartoonist is to be the 'actor' for your characters - to try and inhabit their heads, figure out their body language, make their expressions with your own face as you're drawing them, etc.

This brings a certain level of intuition into comic drawing that I find really magical. Sometimes I'll have something written (for original work) or there will be something in the text (for adapted work) but when it comes time to draw it, I just...can't get the character to do it. None of my drawings make sense or feel authentic. It feels like they've turned from 'real' people into flat paper dolls. I've been doing this long enough that I've learned when that happens, it means something in the text needs to change.

For Dying Detective, I started sketching it as a direct translation of the book, but something weird happened as I went:

I found I kept cropping out Watson's face. Maybe it was just that I'd drawn sad Watson too much recently and I was tired of it. But I couldn't figure out how to draw him reacting to Holmes being sick with genuine distress, the way he does in the book - not within the altered narrative I'm telling with the Sketchbook. They've known each other too long, they're in too tense of a place in their relationship, and Watson is too familiar with Holmes's tendency to make a scene.

So to experiment, I drew him looking skeptical instead.

And THAT was fun and easy, which meant it was the right direction to go. It also made the scene go from feeling like a single, sustained note of distress, to an unspoken power struggle, where the characters end in a different place from when they begin. For this specific adaptation, it was a good change to make - and it was something I only discovered through the art. All this to say that I love comics always and forever!!!

[contact-guy]

‘Baptisms’ by Radical Face is a post-hiatus Watson song btw

[contact-guy]

[contact-guy]

random appreciation but, I had a big creative loss earlier this year that I can’t quite discuss yet, and making original work has felt so hard and daunting…getting to go insane making comics about sherlock holmes of all things and have folks read them has really meant the world to me as I find my footing and confidence again ! thank you tumblr dot com!

[contact-guy]

Hello! I am sorry for keep asking this, but do you have any updates on when Watson’s sketchbook will be available to order, I can’t wait, I love them so much 😁

I hope you are doing well :))

(Me when I get my copy 😂)

Working on it I promise!!! (I'm working with a distributor so it's a few more steps than just me shipping out packages) Aiming to have the shop up by the end of the month :)

[contact-guy]

 "Knowing how genuine was her regard for him, I listened earnestly to her story when she came to my rooms in the second year of my married life and told me of the sad condition to which my poor friend was reduced."

THE DYING DETECTIVE part one - the best way of successfully acting a part is to be it.

If you're not familiar with this particular story I REALLY REALLY encourage you to read it (it's short!) because 1. it's really good and BONKERS and 2. this version is very close to the original but deviates in certain and important ways.

(this is in the Watson's Sketchbook series)

[contact-guy]

 "Knowing how genuine was her regard for him, I listened earnestly to her story when she came to my rooms in the second year of my married life and told me of the sad condition to which my poor friend was reduced."

THE DYING DETECTIVE part one - the best way of successfully acting a part is to be it.

If you're not familiar with this particular story I REALLY REALLY encourage you to read it (it's short!) because 1. it's really good and BONKERS and 2. this version is very close to the original but deviates in certain and important ways.

(this is in the Watson's Sketchbook series)

[contact-guy]

more sillies