I got inspired.



Poll #1423588
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Who's it going to be?

Jack the Ripper's good looks are based on Ray Frensham, the whores are inspired by the epoque charm (see what I did there?) of my favourite Swedes Lina and Lisis!

stephenfry: Fine morning walk through the town, now about to travel to Neuschwanstein for some filming on the subject of poor old Ludwig II.

YES YES YES YES! Thank you, Stephen!!

Oscar Wilde won by a landslide in the last one. I've decided that the runner up in each poll will be included as a choice in the next. Since they were tied this time, I just chose my favorite. Enjoy!

Poll #1421082
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Who is coming to visit?

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who showed us such grand support in our effort to earn the money back from our lost wedding tokens. We got such an overwhelming flow of support, both from people able to buy art and those not able to - that we were deeply touched.
i know that we have some of the best friends and fans on here EVER.

Thank you SO much.

We have just ordered the monocles from the online gift shop of the Met. (No losing it at a diner this time!!!)

We earned more money than we needed for them, so rest assured, the extra will go straight to....



Miss Agatha Runcible. Who we recently found out - loves to chase Jon Stewart's hand around the screen. Someone put a goddamn lolcat caption on this.

OK guys! You should know that all proceeds go towards buying back my engagement monocles which we stupidly tragically lost an hour after buying them.

ORIGINALS - Shipping is FREE in the US, go to my Etsy Shop to buy! They are both in high quality black display frames.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade lawrencegullo.etsy.com

PRINTS - Shipping is FREE in the US, and just at +$1 for elsewheres.

These are limited prints which were left over from the events where we sold them. Comment here to reserve them first!

These prints are a little under 5" by 6", on mat photo paper

Gypsy Boy and Goat (5 left at $5)


Gypsy and Ravens (5 left at $5)



( Naughty (NSFW) Prints )

Also check out my sweetheart's journal, as he will soon be posting some of his gorgeous art too, including requests!!!!

Thank you guys so much. I know we'll be able to do this.

I had a lovely day with some friends from London, and we all trotted off to the Met so that, among other things, Fyodor and I could get to the serious business of buying our wedding rings.
These beautiful imperial russian inspired rings were sadly not the right size for my heathen accomplice's finger, but I spied a few minutes later something even more amazing - a Faberge stick-monocle on a golden chain. I thought, this would be perfect items for us to use as symbols of our union. Eccentric, beautiful, lens themed.
Then disaster struck. We went out with our merry throng to a diner for dinner, and somehow left our purchases behind. I called the diner not 10 minutes after we left, and they said they didn't have it.
I'm absolutely gutted. Such wonderful things, and a lot of money (to us) gone. And I certainly don't want him to use his new computer money to buy another set. And I can't cut into my medication money to pay for another set.
So I think the only course is to try to do as many drawings as possible to sell on here.
Ugh... gutted. And after so many of you were kind enough to support my comic, now I am in need of finds again. So watch out... I'll be posting a ton of art to sell tomorrow.

D:

You guys need a gay correspondent, and I think it should be me.

I thought I'd get right to the point. With sexual minorities increasingly in the news, from the outrage at the Defense of Marriage Act to the coming out of Chaz Bono as a transsexual man, you need someone to do some representing.
And not simply a flamboyant BFF type doing entertainment commentary. I have long been waiting for a gay reporter to be in charge of something other than style news. Rachel Maddow is a case of an incredibly intelligent and skilled news personality doing real (and varying degrees of opinionated) journalism. Fortunately, lesbians do not have the stereotype of only being concerned about interior decorating to dog their heels. Unfortunately, gay men do.
I know, I know, sending a comically straight man to infiltrate a predominately homosexual atmosphere is hilarious. But just think of the opportunities that would open up with a serious gay reporter. You know - as serious about being homosexual as John Oliver is serious about being British.

My experience. No, I don't have any experience whatsoever in journalism. I am however an award winning playwright, published writer and blogger, and an experienced performer. I have a degree from the finest art school in Europe (according to them) and throughout university had regular comedy performance gigs which had to be written and put together in a matter of days, or in some cases, hours. For my whole life, my father has been a news writer or anchor, so I am seeped in experience by proxy. Like an army brat, with my father going from ABC to CBS to MSNBC etc etc.
As a student abroad, I kept abreast of American news by religiously watching online several channels at once, delighting or despairing in how different the media was compared to the BBC.

I consider The Daily Show to be not only hilarious, but indispensable as a jester among mad kings. Someone who says it's all right to laugh. Someone to get a human moment. This is what I'd like to do for homosexual issues in the news. Naturally I don't want people to give up hope and stop working for a better America for gay people, I want them to be able to laugh too. I want to ease the despair.

With confidence, your faithful watcher and person allowed to use the F word,
Lawrence

Poll #1416867
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Who's at the door?

As I embark on my newest project - loosely inspired by the brilliant William Blake, Taxi Driver, in which at the end of each page, a reader's poll is cast dictating what character the hero encounters next - I am set to thinking again about The Body Dandiacal (for my hero will be of its vast and colourful numbers).

I was asked recently on my journal why I thought so badly of a certain website which professes to be an authority on Dandyism and tends to dish out vitriol soaked reviews of nice chaps while kissing the arses of twats (??) like Sebastian Horsley. Well, one reason is personal, anyway. People I admire and respect have been victims of this petty.. I hesitate to call it elitism, because how can you be an elitist while praising the gutter ramblings of Sebastian Horsley?
The second and more justifiable reason is philosophical. There are all sorts of people who claim to be authorities on Dandyism these days cluttering up our lives and giving rambling speeches about what is and is not acceptable to wear, do, think, etc. and I find that rather misses the point.

Let me put this into words and succinctness that I would hope to use at a social gathering so that listeners would not be too bored with my soapboxing.

Dandyism is not about making up an arbitrary set of rules for the purpose of putting other people down and perpetuating one's own philosophies to the exclusion of others. Dandyism is about a Superior Aristocracy of the Spirit. It is men and women and those inbetween who have permitted themselves to follow their own bent. It is to the inclusion of all who approach their passions with natural elegance and noblesse oblige.

A nice metaphor may be adapted from The Main Man, Beau Brummell. By casting off makeup and wig powder and perfumes, he was casting off popular fashion. He was embracing his own unique beauty, and letting it be shown to the greatest effect. This child of whores then taught the prince of his land that his own body was elegant, and that the trappings of royalty were nothing compared to a beautiful spirit.

And as I fear I am in danger of sounding like Rick of the Young Ones phiffing on about self righteous this-and-that, here are people who I think deserve credit for their Body Dandiacal..

Dickon Edwards I am glad to call a close and personal compatriot
Lord Whimsy Decadent botanist and follower of his own whim
Ola Salo "It takes a fool to remain sane." Truer words ever spoken? The answer is probably not.

Finally and at last, for those who have ever felt alienated by some prick who claims to be 'this generation's Oscar Wilde,' then goes on to dictate what other people should do (which Oscar Wilde never did), I leae you with these words of encouragement from Elvir Laka.

"We didn't come from monkeys, so stop acting like a monkey! We came from love." ...or something. His accent is a little tricky to decipher.

After surviving the Geek Sauna(tm) that was MoCCA, I found I had met some super lovely people (why are all my fans so hot??) and made quite a bit more money than I thought I would have! Yaay! Money for Agatha Runcible's vet appointment!
Aside from the patrons, there were also some sublime artists, among them of course my gracious hostess Lucy and her swell buddies from Chicago.
On Saturday, Miss Darcy scored Fyodor and I some free tickets to see the seediest/most glamorous burlesque I've seen in some time, hosted by a drag king version of Tony Clifton. (wikipedia Andy Kaufman if you don't know who that is) At the host's guest table were also two chronodysphoric blokes who were so artsy it made my teeth hurt.

A most agreeable weekend all around! I'm super jazzed to continue making comics. Speaking of which.... need to make the next Baritarian Boy tomorrow....

And of most interest to some out there - there are plenty of Vampire Deluxe! comics left over, so comment here if you'd like to reserve one.
What you will get:
• Vampire Deluxe! signed by me on the inside cover.
• A 1 inch Vampire Deluxe! button.
• A DJ Pavel Pipovitch paper doll.
Price: $7
Shipping inside USA: FREE!
Shipping overseas: $2 (so total to someone in England would be $9)

*******EDIT*******
I'm sorry I had to include some shipping for overseas, as it was about twice what I was expecting. :(

xxx
Lawrence-collapsing-on-the-floor.

Rachel of Poseur Ink has just uploaded a map of MoCCA booths, so I thought I'd share that too and tell you where I will be.


I'm under the r!

Pointed out, of course, is where Poseur Ink will be.. they will have Side B, in which my (now critically acclaimed) Prague comic has been published, and many other super cool music-oriented comics.

Myself and Unholy Hell Productions will be at Lucy Knisley's booth, 335. Which (aside from also being Joon's hospital room number in the Johnny Depp film Benny & Joon) is right under the R in Poseur.

And if you don't already have a reason to go to MoCCA this weekend....

BUTTONS!

Yeah.. crappy image. But the buttons are of the lady on the Vampire Deluxe cover and the first hunt page of Baritarian Boy.

I felt as though I were an English lower noble coming to bid on the dresser of Marie Antoinette. Both scraping for some beauty of the forgotten world, and funding the tide of the next. And that forgotten world, little do I know it, is a part of me disappearing. It cannot be like this!

An enormous costume wearhouse is going out of business here, and I have just been part of a handful of industry insiders (and friends of insiders) pillaging it for vintage clothes, costumes, shoes with the names of broadway stars on the inside, hats, and strange looking props that from a distance look real.

My colleagues walked out with bags and bags of stage-worn dancer's shoes for ten dollars each, and costumes you could sell on the internet for 5 times what you paid for - of course none of us would.
I came out with what I can only assume is an opera costume, brand new, black velvet, lined with canary raw silk. It's in the style of the 18th century, a frock coat with a full skirt, and, inexplicably, a ten foot train. I could barely carry the thing. And I paid shamefully little for it. I also hunted down a waistcoat and two tone wingtips for my same-sex heathen accomplice and a pair of cream oxford semi-brogues. I am the best personal shopper ever!
The whole experience was overwhelming. It was a place one could get lost and starve to death within. I had to drag portable stairs over to the waistcoats.

Previously...

A client of mine from a year or so ago has left her broadway show to be in.. HER OWN ONE WOMAN SHOW on broadway! Completely amazing. So of course I had to come and see her. She is a really amazing lady, and I hope she becomes an even bigger star with even more happiness. Her show was co-written, and semi-autobiographical. Mostly philosophical, and completely touching and fun.
When one is happy, and high on art and creative energy - things gravitate to one. On the way home we stopped for a midnight snack at Grand Central (a magical place, if you have ever been there - where else can you walk in a small circle under the constellations and never see the same person twice?) and were given croissants, a cookie, and a bottle of water for free! It was a tasty ride home.

Now off to wear my new old shoes from the last beheading to a ball where people are convinced the last 80 years have never happened.

In the words of Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, "I've been stabbed...! Don't stop the party!"

Baritaria, or, Barataria (as misspelled by Gilbert & Sullivan and Cervantes) has long been a subject of fascination to me. Though I have only been there in my waking and lucid dreams, I feel a strong spiritual (umbilical?) connection to the land that bore (and consequentially exiled) me.
Baritaria's history is only beginning to be plumbed and collected by His Grace, the current Duke of Laborschead. At the end of Soviet rule, His Grace immediately opened his inherited estate as a museum for the public, and filled it with his collection of antiques. Thanks to the flow of support he has managed to get over the years, the Laborschead House Museum is now the leading organization in rediscovering Baritaria's rich cultural history.
My and my partner's new project is a comic exploring this newly accumulated history of art and lore, politics and upheavals brought to light by Laborschead House.
The hub story involves a modern student of art named Felix who explores Baritaria's capital city with the help of a resident tour guide named Havel. Each encounter with history, be it a painting, a building, a family - results in a mini story. Like the first segment, which has just reached its conclusion - a Victorian era hunt through the peasant lands of Baritaria in search of mad wolves.
Knowing a country - or even a city - in intimate detail can give one such a wonderful perspective of their own land. Dear readers, this is the land of my heart. Imperfect, terrible, bloody, ever changing, but even so, ever seeking beauty.

Hi ho, all creatures great and small - I will be at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival at the table of my extremely talented lady friend Lucy Knisley on June 6th and 7th!
I know her fab books will attract a lot of attention, but it would be awesome if a few people were there for me too!

MoCCA Fest is SUPER cheap for something of this ilk, and it will probably be super fun - I'm excited!

I'll be selling my collaboration with famed ladies' man and glam rocker David Ryder Prangley, called...

Vampire Deluxe!!
A semi-farce to answer all the freaking Vampire books out there.
Finally, some wily lotharios take advantage of the fact that aaaaaalll the ladies like undead princes of the night.



I'm hoping the printers will have finished them by June 6th + 7th, but whether they do or not, I will be doing portraits and selling art and crap. You know. The usual.

Please come! Have a fun day in the city and get yourself some comics!

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I cry tears of pure tweed!

I knew there was more potential in that Oxford Cambridge design..... And it was this.





Now you can declare boldly on whatever horrible cotton undergarments you wish that YOU know the difference between the rival camps of fop and the body dandiacal. And the morons who can't tell the difference shall have to be educated by your heaving bosom and/or pectorals.

Roma V Neo-Nazis

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-romanies-hold-nationwide-protest-against-extremism/374865

Too small... Wish I had been there. A little bit of protesting helps more than silence though. We'll get there.

Here is Baritaria, as depicted in m'colleague's Phreekombudae poster. I put in Baritaria's country shape a few of the most historically noteworthy monarchs. Hopefully you'll get to meet all of them in the course of the comic! You have already seen Valliet I...



The dates are of their reigns - Perdik is not king yet (at least in the modern part of the comic) but 1997 is when he was recognized by the state as the crown prince. (after Soviet occupation)