When we first developed the Brilliant Boy concept in the mid-1990s, the easiest way to distribute an idea was on paper. Fast forward to 2009 and technology now allows us to digitally publish an idea to a potentially global audience. The world has changed. But some things will always stay the same, like our love for comic book art and story-telling.

So it is with great pleasure that we are relaunching the Brilliant Boy website, and with it a Brilliant Boy comic strip. There will be a new strip every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and it will follow Brilliant Boy, Bookman, Stymie and Poetica on their daily escapades in small-town Baskerville. We hope you enjoy.

We welcome any comments on the comic or the website. We will do our best to reply. Thanks for reading.

–David

I like to share with you a promotional illustration we did for Brilliant Boy when we were still self-publishing our comic books. It captures the essence of the “Drake” storyline (BB#2-6), a vampire tale inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I still like the illustration for I think it shows everything that I want Brilliant Boy to be: adventure, mystery, excitement and fun.

In fact, we still use the image today to promote our comics at book fairs, as seen in this photo of a home-made point-of-sales display.

–David

People sometimes ask us how we came up with the unique and unusual names for our characters. Well, I came up with the idea of Brilliant Boy during my last year of university, where I was studying Visual Communication Graphic Design. I’ve always enjoyed my Typography classes, and had developed a tremendous respect and admiration for the Typographic trade. When I realized that I wanted a motif for my comic book creation, I decided to name my characters after Typographers and Type Faces that I liked, as a way to pay homage to the people who’s work influenced how we perceive the printed medium. So as an underlying theme, I’ve made it a point to name all the inhabitants of Baskerville after Type Faces.

The list below shows the Type Faces that I named my characters by:

It’s funny how cartoon characters evolve over time. I guess we grow with our creations, and as we mature, so do our artistic styles.

Here is a drawing of Gill and Poetica that appeared in the Brilliant Boy #2 comic book. My, how they’ve changed!

It’s been such a nice weekend weather-wise that I just had to put down my pencil and hit the local park in search of interesting things to photograph. It didn’t take long as the bugs are still out in full force. Here are some of my pix…

There was a nature event at Tommy Thomson Park (Toronto) on Sunday, so I grabbed my camera, hopped on my bike, and headed down. They had several birds of prey on display, so I snapped some photos of those…

Tim and I were asked by the Literacy Coordinator at Calico Public School (in Toronto) if we would like to participate in their Literacy Night, an evening of fun and festivities to promote reading among their students. Of course, we said “Yes”! So I created a Brilliant Boy-themed handout that included cartooning tips, Brilliant Boy comic strips, and a comic template for the aspiring cartoonists.

As many as 90 students dropped by our table as we gave demonstrations on how to illustrate and cartoon. Kids just love to draw and colour, and it was fun just watching them doodle. We had a great time, and we think the kids did too. Thanks for the invite, Calico P.S.!

SCAPULA is one of the most creative webcomics on the internet, produced by the very talented Aiden Casserly. I was fortunate enough to win a contest on his website (well, almost tied for a win, but Aiden was gracious enough to also give me a prize). The prize…this cool sketch of SCAPULA with Brilliant Boy. Thanks, Aiden!