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]
Stranger Returns: This Is How I Emily Strange Now, 2019-2025
Return to a character and reckoning with how we fit into each other’s life after birth, possession, exorcism, exile and a return to character Chapters: New Design | Animations | Fan Art | Strange Cat Art School [Link]
Stranger Returns: This Is How I Emily Strange Now, 2019–2025
A return to the character and a reckoning with how we now fit into each other’s lives—after birth, possession, exorcism, exile, and quiet rebirth.
Chapters: New Design | Animations | Fan Art | Strange Cat Art School
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]
Gets A Jobs
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
In the 1990s I began making self-published books as a way to share my “artwork” in real life and connect with like-minded people—this was pre-internet. Creating weird fan art, interested me as a way of creating something of value, to certain people, ie; an existing fan base.
The series began as part of what I called the Paul McCartney Art Club: a purposeful indulgence in making self-indulgent fan art that were proudly out of touch and out of step with the fine art education I was receiving at the time. The subject matter was “brain dead,” culturally speaking—on purpose—but the obsession and dedication were completely sincere. [Link]
A few books from this series later gained traction on fan sites, leading to a SF Weekly write up that accurately captured a very productive 27-year-old Brian.
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. I created Oopsy and developed her with Rob Reger and his company Cosmic Debris. 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.
In 2018, after a 13 year break, I began designing new designs and flushing out her world. Today, Oopsy is still busy just trying to make it through the day. Oopsy’s world is a dangerous one, a trip out doors is rife with disasters waiting to happen. Oopsy escapes from her troubles with a little help from the influencers she follows – Princess Pretty, Sidney Punk, and Gora X, and vice versa. See more about Oopsy Daisy. Or follow along @oopsyofficial on Instagram.
Beverly Hills 90210
Beverly Hills 90210 In The Wild West Coloring Book (1997)
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.
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.
Newsletter
I am working on a newsletter that I will be posting soon to Subscribe to Now That Looks Like Fun on Substack.
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”.
©2024 Brian Brooks