The road between analog and digital is a two-way street for a lot of cartoonists these days.

Bringing it home this week: A shop talk video featuring Doug TenNapel (via a tweet by Kazu) and an email from artist Nate Simpson about his use of the Cintiq.

TenNapel’s video covers many of the same techniques my generation was using 20 years ago—right down to the Windsor-Newton finest sable #3—but with a difference. Mr. T. is perfectly comfortable using digital tools (has in the past, might in the future) he just prefers the traditional ones right now, and his affection for them shows in the video.

Meanwhile, Simpson has fallen head-over-heels in love with his tablet monitor and has been producing some amazing art and discussing process over at his blog for a while. 100% digital and happy as a clam.

Both are talented artists. Both have set foot on both analog and digital soil. Now they’re settling on whichever patch of land is making them happy. And if they ever want to pull up stakes and go back, they know the way.

I remember when that two-way street was a dirt path.

Guarded by Trolls.

Well, here’s something that took a long time to make and was totally worth it.

As someone working on a three year graphic novel project, I find this sort of thing encouraging.

(via Ian Gilman)

Multiple random plugs (get it? Hanh? HANH?):

One of my favorite This American Life segments: David Rakoff’s heartbreaking “Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace,” Act Three of Episode 389 – Frenemies. If you agree with me that TAL is one of the best shows ever on radio, consider a donation.

Had a surprisingly good time watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Probably helped to be sitting between two kids who were laughing at all the genuinely smart and/or bizarre gags. Way better movie than it needed to be to fill it’s demographic slot.

Whole family is enjoying Glee and rooting for it to get better already.

“Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” by Das Racist/Wallpaper. Find it. Listen to it. Hate me forever for making you do it.

Recorded in Barcelona in May.

Note that I don’t always talk that way. When getting translated in real time overseas, I enunciate a bit more and avoid too many exotic terms. Still I guess it adds a bit to the wonky atmosphere.

Link via Ivy.

Ivy and I took way too many photos in Spain, some of which I’m still trying to wrangle after coming back from Woods Hole, but here’s something I had to share right away.

The festival guests at Vinetas desde O Atantico were frequently treated to “Pulpo a la gallega,” the region’s iconic octopus dish, but the strangest occasion had to be during our visit to A Coruna’s aquarium — in full view of real, living examples of the species. I got a cool video of one of them so here it is.

In other video news, Bert Hernandez’s magnificently insane kid’s show The Naked Cosmos is available again. Get it while you can.

A pre-launch screencast on the much-anticipated Longbox (via Dirk).

It’s not on the sidebar, but I’m actually on muggy but beautiful Cape Cod at the moment (I left barely 24 hours after we landed in L.A. from Spain) doing a government thingey (unrelated to Obama’s visit, though I realized tonight that he’s reeeeely close to here), so blogging continues to be a bit irregular. Hope to return to regular updates Monday.

Kane Lynch has a lot on his mind. His site features comics, videos, and photocomics, each section with its own oddball set of sensibilities. It’s hit-and-miss, but I liked several bits for different reasons which is always refreshing in a sea of mono-talents.

Of special interest to comics fans is his ongoing long-form comic The Relics. The figure drawing is pretty raw, but the story feels solid and well-planned, and you can see the art gradually improve as it runs to catch up. Given enough time, (and life drawing courses) you could see Lynch developing in a similar fashion to Jeph Jacques (compare: early JJ vs recent JJ).

Or he might just make music videos. The guy is obviously restless.

Either way, another one to keep an eye on.

Sputnik Observatory launched yesterday. Cool site with lots of video interviews including a few with me from 2006 (note shark in background — it’s my old studio).

Be sure to pass your mouse over their logo once you get there. It made me happy (though I am easily impressed).

So, no sooner does Amanda Palmer (Lexington High School alumn) put together a Neutral Milk Hotel inspired production at my old high school, and no sooner do we see my old pal Brian Dewan (Lexington High School alumn) performing in LA (and also doing something related to Neutral Milk Hotel lately, oddly enough) when suddenly, our friend Sally is linking to Eugene Merman (Lexington High School alumn) giving this year’s LHS commencement speech a day or two ago.

In fact, Eugene even went to Diamond Junior High, where Kurt Busiek and I first started hanging out, playing chess, role-playing games, quoting Monty Python, and talking about why I had no interest whatsoever in Kurt’s latest hobby: comic books… while Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn sat in a Howard Johnson’s 3 miles away, sketching out the TCP/IP protocol on napkins.

Most common question from our friends who didn’t grow up in Lexington, MA: “What did they put in the water?”