Jump Drive N' Whale

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

As if I'd pass up the change to draw an airborne whale.

I'll first start off with the title of this particular entry. I think it's a play on the song "Jump, Jive N' Wail," by The Brian Setzer Orchestra. The whale pun is obvious, but NOT so obvious is the allusion to warp speed motors, also known sometimes as "jump drives." In reference to a hyper jump, or warp drive, etc. But maybe I'm just trying to hard / not trying hard enough.

Alright, so in the booksketch entry before I mentioned a missile being turned into a whale. That obviously wasn't the entirety of the scene. Another missile was turned into a pot of petunias. Very high in the sky.

Does that explain it? No?

Well, our rag-tag bunch of protagonists had just located this mythical planet, when its defense system sprang to life and launched missiles at them. Guided missiles, at that. Well, their target was none other than the Heart of Gold spacecraft that one of the main characters happened to steal. What's so special about this ship? It runs on an "Improbability Drive."

So, in other words, the harder you crank the engine, the more...improbable things become. For example, a pair of guided missiles turning into seemingly random objects/creatures seems highly unlikely right? Even downright improbable. Luckily, the engine was randomly turned on to a high improbability factor (the main character, Arthur saw this as their only means of escape).

SO, I hope that explains it. And I hope it inspires you to read the book (if you have not already). It is pretty probable that you'll enjoy it!

Mech-ancholy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I've actually just read HHGTTG for the first time recently. Until a week or so ago I assumed it was a kid's story about a child that gets hold of some universal guide, and goes romping around the galaxy getting into zany alien-scapades. Apparently I was wrong! There aren't any kids to be found. But there are lots of other things, like death, improbability and manic-depressive super-genius robots. Lots of quirky humor and imagination. Missiles turning into whales, and the like.

I quite enjoyed it.

The aforementioned moribund robot's name is Marvin. He simply loathes humans. And, well, most of everything. Mostly because he is so much smarter than everyone. And everything. At one point in the story, he is assigned to stand around and watch over an entrance to a subterranean passageway. Then the main character, Arthur, calls him up a hill to join him, but changes his mind when Marvin is halfway up the rock face. Sighing in resignation, Marvin trudges back down the rocky hill and returns to his station.

Lots of head-hanging and dropped shoulders. And sleeping, haha.

About the Illustration
This booksketch was done using Micron Pen & watercolors. I had it in my head that Marvin kind of resembled Helper from The Venture Brothers cartoon, haha. One thing I took for sure from the book's description was that he had downward-facing red triangle eyes. And he was humanoid in appearance. And he was metal (of course).