R.I.P. E.O.D.

It is with a sad heart that I report the demise of Totally Dublin magazine and with it, at least for the time being, The Eye on Dublin. I've really enjoyed working on it. It was a fantastic outlet for topical doodlings and a playground for my silly imagination.

I have plans for at the very least a last hurrah for the eye, if not a full return, so stay tuned and I shall hopefully have some news soon.

I'm going to leave up the blog anyway just as a gallery of all 38 installments.
Cheers
BC

Spend and save!!!

Lazy double post or bumper two-for-the-price-of-one post, depending on your outlook.

April's eye on dublin was a comic cover homage which tried to flip things on its head and present the worst of the celtic tiger over spenders as the potential heroes of the recession. Afterall, when you think about it, it's not the poor, scrounging working class mother of nine that's going to kick start the economy but the coked up ditzy PR girl willing to spend hundreds on a haircut.

May's eye on dublin was once again money centric, this time with those who have become obsessed with saving it. Its oh so hip to go to flea markets, car boot sales and charity shops but staying at home and eating toast is actually probably going to cost less. A pretty teapot for only 5 euro is not a bargain if you already own 14 teapots and this one is made out of paper.

Pied Piper Paddy

This is going up a tad late considering Paddy's Day was Tuesday but no harm. I've done paddy's day themed nonsense before but he's a saint who keeps on giving. This year he's taken the form of a pied piper luring the younglings away with his sweet booze. Despite tales to the contrary, there is something decidedly serpentine about our patron saint. But the only apple this snake is offering is in a two litre bottle of cider.


This also has the honour of being eye on dublin number 36. So I've been at this malarky for three years now. Oh how time flies! It seems only like yesterday I was producing Celtic Tiger themed doodles and wondering where we'd spend our massive personal fortunes.

Valentine Dole Queue

Just can't avoid recession influenced fun at the moment. This month's eye on dublin takes on romance and poverty in one fell swoop. So like many other national institutions, Valentine's Day has just been nationalised due to a shortage of dates. The resulting queues can take hours for a paltry Government hand out. A second date is out of the question.

Job Creation Scheme no.666

Ok, I've already referenced the Tower of Babel in an eye on dublin a while ago (Babel Royale - the leaving cert tower of death - in the June issue) but it's just too good an image not to revisit.


There's also the influence of stunning manga and anime Tekkon Kinkreet and it's western/eastern hodge-podge shanty town metropolis. Go see it/read says I.


This combines to make the eye on dublin's recommendation for job creation, the Celtic Tiger Commemorative Building. Job creation, the building industry, possible collapse, it's all a very subtle metaphor you see AND it gives me a chance to draw cute cat heads.

Naughty and Nice

Obviously a Christmas special was unavoidably for December so I decided to add a small dose of humbug into the mix by introducing the Anti-Claus, complete with tommy gun carrying Penguin sidekicks (he's based in the South Pole you see, so no reindeer). Still fun and seasonal though; he's not a serial-killer or anything. Just a curiously attired burglar. Go Santa.


Merry Christmas one and all. Except you. Yes, you.

GAME OVER, MAN. GAME OVER

Slightly odd one this month. I was away in middle of nowhere in wildest England when I did this one. So no scanner and a long panicked hunt for an entrance to the interweb. As a result it was done in double time all in illustrator vector glory, no scratchy pencil lines to fall back on.

Straightforward idea of the celtic tiger as a broken down 80's arcade machine. With the arcade game reference I could have overloaded it with various elements if I'd been drawing everything by hand but because of my vector drawing limitations I kept it fairly simply. Worked out alright as a result, I think....