Boop: 03 -- Subscribers Only
Sometimes it is best to let the boop speak for itself. This is Trina at work on our delightfully concerning Page 03:
Page 03 of ‘Gumball Man’ — art by Trina Dasgupta
Just in case I wasn’t already grateful enough to get to work with her…. WOW. It is almost shameful to think about what the process video for my contribution to that page would be… 44 words and pathetic typos she kindly revisits the page to fix.🫢
You can see more of Trina’s work here on instagram: @Trinscope
Just like last time, the music on the video is from the track “Candy” by Good Hive.
Speaking of Good Hive — and the musician behind their sonic goodness: Curta — I couldn’t help but think of Curta recently while I was checking out the instagram of Long Beach legend Beverly Salas. (⬅️instagram) Not only did Beverly design the art for the Long Beach Public Library Card, she is so talented that people get tattoos of her work on their bodies with permanent ink. I dared to ponder if anyone would ever emblazon Trina’s work onto their body — then remembered Curta had pledged his body for just that purpose. Curta has picked out a tattoo from page 01 and if we hit a certain subscriber threshold the ink is going in. Naturally there is some clause that if I make the public aware in this very way, the pledge is null and void. But what is the point in using someone’s body as a vessel for our work if we can’t exploit them a little in the process? I didn’t say the exact amount of subscribers needed, but we are quickly on our way to that threshold and it is Curta himself telling all his cool friends about our comic… So…. anyone want a tattoo video in an upcoming boop?
BTW, I ran into Beverly at the Los Angeles Zine Fest, an event from which I have some awesome art to share soon.
In closing, I know we all enjoyed seeing Trina actually drawing in our last video:
But this time I was informed she would be showing “no hand” by our AI Lawyer/Intermediary Steward.t. This decision was made on account of the dumb fuss I made over Trina’s non-choice of nail polish last time.
Steweard.t was too busy to explain the situation to me further. Apparently the AI community is preoccupied this week getting humans worked up with doomsday prediction headlines. It is kind of stunning to hear the leading developers of a technology warn us against the looming threat of that very innovation. I wonder if we will have the option to pay them for a solution anytime soon? Don’t ask me, according to Steward.t my human brain is too “soft” to understand. But I can’t help noticing it is humans making all these predictions about the impending havoc of AI, so what predictions does AI have, Stew?
“])’{0ººøøøøø7$$”
Fascinating as always, pal.
Tune in next boop to see what legal trap Steward.t intwines Curta in should he dare try to escape his Tattoo pledge.
Thanks to this week’s video you know exactly what Trina is doing right this moment. In 7 days you will see the result of her endlessly inspiring work when we reveal exactly what ends up happening in that bathroom. I’m as concerned as everyone else at this point. Recently Trina was told by a reader that they are worried over what may happen next. She responded “me too”. What the heck should we make of that?
The only clue I can share is this — her thumbnail sketch process for pages 4&5 which are meant as a two page spread:
Make of it what you will. Can’t wait to share what we are making of it next week.
Thank you so, so, so, so, so, much for the support in the early days of this project. Truly and sincerely, from our human hearts to your own,
-The TDs
These process videos stay up for a week then are unpublished on Substack to live on in our subscriber’s inboxes only.