Recent Work

Tortured Scrolls A series of hand-drawn animated GIFs inspired by the internet slang phrase “doom scroll.” Reflects the tension between making disposable art and the relentless pressure to generate content. Medium: iPad, Apple Pencil, Looom App. Created: December 2024 – January 2025 [Link]

Moving Words A collection of 22 hand-drawn animated GIFs. Each short message plays with shifts in meaning—clever, uplifting, and occasionally bleak. Some were created with Emily the Strange in mind. Medium: iPad, Apple Pencil, Looom App. Created: January 2025 [Link]

Existential Night Flyers tells the story of Goth Cat, a brooding cat who is on his own but looking for connection. He sends his messages out to the world. Published 2025 [Link]

Strange Cat Art School Professor Space Cat teaches art classes at Strange Cat Art School, where student-made Emily Strange posters are taken aboard his spacecraft and sold at an alien planet swap meet. Published 2025 [Link]

This Is How I Draw Cats Now: Book 01 was begun on April 11th, 2022, as a creative exercise in reimagining the drawing of cats as a springboard concept. Each issue documents a shift in tools, approach, and sensibility.
Medium: Ballpoint pen on index card; Adobe Illustrator on iMac
Date Range: April–June 2022
Format: 2.75 × 4.25 in., 32 pages
[Link]

This Is How I Draw Cats Now: Book 02 was created using a stylus and tablet with Adobe Illustrator on iMac, this issue marks a shift from ballpoint pen to digital drawing.
Medium: Stylus and tablet; Adobe Illustrator on iMac
Date Range: June–December 2022
Format: 2.75 × 4.25 in., 32 pages
[Link]

Morrissey Gets a Job finds Morrissey joining the workforce. Office clip art meets Smiths and Morrissey song-title puns. First featured on Morrissey-Solo.com in 1999, then gained viral cult status after being reposted on various sites (Dangerous Minds, Post-Punk, Reddit) in the 2000s. 24 pages. Published 1999 [Link]

Brian Gets a Job follows artist Brian Brooks as he moves across the country to begin work at Cosmic Debris, the company behind the Emily the Strange character and clothing brand. Chronicles the years 1999–2006, covering his role as illustrator, designer, and eventual art director. Published: 2024 [Link]

Emily Gets a Job follows Emily the Strange® as she brings her signature darkness into the workplace. A sequel in spirit to Morrissey Gets a Job, and the Brian Gets a Job series, draws from my love of office culture—my first job was as a file clerk, and I’ve always seen office supplies as the ultimate art supplies. Published 2025 [Link]

Rock n Roll Coloring Books

I began a series of small self-published books (zines) as a way to distribute my “artwork” to other people irl. I launched the Rock ‘n’ Roll Coloring Books zine series in 1995. It began as the Paul McCartney Art Club. A few issues later gained traction on fan sites, leading to a SF Weekly write up that accurately captures a productive 27-year-old Brian.

Photocopy Collage Frank Zappa Does Sports Coloring Book (1997)

Photocopy Collage Queen Baby Coloring Book (1997)

Photocopy Collage Yoko Ono Drives Trucks Coloring Book (1997)

Photocopy Collage The Residents Medieval Coloring Book (1997)

Photocopy Collage Grateful Dead California Gold Rush Coloring Book (1997)

Emily the Strange

My early career began as a key artist and creative force (1999–2006) behind Emily the Strange®. View more about My Emily Strange History In 2019, after a 13-year break, I returned to the brand and started what they now call “creating content” in the form of new designs and animations for their Instagram Reels, using a stop-motion method I developed in Adobe Illustrator. Follow the @emilythestrange_official Instagram account.

Oopsy Daisy

Oopsy is a reminder to keep going—even when designed to fail. Back in the early 00s, “Oops, I said the F-Word” Tee shirts were all over the malls. Even Britney Spears wore Oopsy Daisy. We had international licensees and a stationary line by Chronicle Books.

Today Oopsy is busy just trying to make it through today. Oopsy fangirls the other characters that fill out her world, Princess Pretty, Sidney Punk, and Gora X, and vice versa. See more about Oopsy Daisy. Or follow along @oopsyofficial on Instagram.

My Neighborhood Projects

A long-running documentation of Temescal, North Oakland—where I’ve lived over 25 years. Part preservation, part turning my surroundings into a fantasy theme park, and part my hobby.

Combines plein air, field sketching, mapping, and construction-site observation. Read more about My Neighborhood Projects in this in progress website.

View the 2023 edition of Temescal Now guidebook to my neighborhood’s businesses and buildings. Follow along as I document the comings and goings of our local surroundings. Follow on Instagram @temescalnow.

My Life Projects

I began documenting my artwork and growth as an artist from the early days by dating my drawings and taking notes and diaries about my projects, beginning in junior high and continuing on to present day.

I am working on a newsletter that I will be posting soon to Subscribe to Now That Looks Like Fun on Substack.

Instagram

My main Instagram account is @briancharlesbrooks

Videos

Images: How To View: Apps: Vimeo & Youtube Logos, Tools Used To Create Videos: tripod, iPhone, beret

I’ve created videos beginning with drawing Timelapse’s, which soon transformed into What Should I Draw, which then turned into weird outdoor videos around the neighbo

Some of my videos are on my Vimeo site. I also had a Youtube Channel at one point, somewhere around here. Is this the link?

Music

My music related endeavors can be found on Bandcamp.

There are currently two for Breakfast With Idiots. One showcases songs, and the other collects some of our albums.

I also, as it turns out, have another account for my solo albums, under the name “Sgt. Rick Sings”.

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