Nonsensology: the Art and Daydreams of Able Tong

Aspiring illustrator yet to make it in the world. I love animation and children's literature. My favorites are Lewis Carroll's Alice, Rupert Bear, most things Disney, and L. Frank Baum's Oz. If you want to ask about commissions, email me nonsensologyart(at) gmail.com . Instagram . Bluesky Social . Twitter . Behance . Redbubble

[nonsensology]

Fun fact: some of the voice actors from Arthur also appeared in Are You Afraid of the Dark? I was feeling nostalgic again so I drew Arthur and friends as their AYAOTD counterparts.

Jodie Resther: voice of Francine; Midnight Society member Kiki

Daniel Brochu: voice of Buster; Joshua the ghost from Kiki's story "The Tale of the Jagged Sign"

Michael Caloz: first voice of D.W. (Seasons 1 - 3); the title character from "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost"

Walter Massey: voice of Principal Haney; Grandpa Samuel from "The Tale of the Room for Rent". He also portrayed Bob McGorrill in "The Tale of the Silver Sight: Part 3".

Melissa Altro: voice of Muffy; Alex from "The Tale of the Room for Rent"

Arthur Holden: voice of Nigel Ratburn; the Court Jester from "The Tale of the Wisdom Glass". He also portrayed Ichabod Crane in "The Tale of the Midnight Ride" and Mr. Brooks, the chemistry teacher in "The Tale of the Dead Man's Float."

Michael Yarmush: first voice of Arthur (Seasons 1 - 5) and voice of grown up Arthur (series finale); Jonah from "The Tale of the Manaha". He also portrayed Peter in "The Tale of the Reanimator", and was the second voice of Tough Customer Slink (season 9 onwards).

Other actors that appeared in both:

Daniel DeSanto: first voice of Alberto Molina (Seasons 6 - 7); Midnight Society member Tucker

Vanessa Lengies: first voice of D.W.'s friend Emily (Seasons 1 - 6); Midnight Society member Vange

Tamar Kozlov: voice of Prunella; Kathy in "The Tale of Laughing In The Dark" and Cissy Vernon in "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran"

Mitchell David Rothpan: first voice of George (seasons 1 - 7); Andre in "The Tale of the Zombie Dice"

Brigid Tierney: voice of Jenna; Emma, the British girl in "The Tale of the Closet Keepers"; also the real-life sister of Jacob Tierney, who portrayed Midnight Society member Eric

Mark Camacho: voice of Oliver Frensky; the delivery man in "The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors" and Leonard Buckley, Mike and Ben's Dad in "The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle"

Ellen David: voice of Bitzi Baxter; Ellen, Jed's Mom in "The Tale of the Full Moon"

Michael Rudder: voice of Harry Mills; Mark Carballo, Adder's Dad in "The Tale of Vampire Town"

Joanna Noyes: voice of Grandma Thora; Mrs. Westwood, the teacher in "The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle"

Marcel Jeannin: voice of Bo Baxter and Patrick Ratburn; the Corpse in “The Tale of the Dead Man’s Float” and Adrian Harcombe / Macbeth in "The Tale of the Walking Shadow"

[alex-the-nonsensologist]

My Early 2000s themed bag, complete with Bliss, the Windows XP wallpaper, recreated in felt and paint. I spent far too much time on the background knowing it would just get covered in buttons, but I still had a lot of fun nonetheless. (Here's a cool video about the history of Bliss.)

See below for my first attempt at recreating Bliss.

Initially I used only a single piece of white felt, and assumed it would be easy to paint on top with acrylic. As you can see, I discovered that felt does not absorb paint very well, so I ended up with an unsuccessful mess. For my second attempt, I used separate pieces of pale blue and green felt, and slowly layered the paint on top, before cutting and gluing them together onto the board. I'm very pleased with the final result!

Trivia: Other 2000s favorites I had considered for the buttons that did not end up making the final cut include: Disney's Enchanted, Howl's Moving Castle, Spy Kids, Monsters Inc, Mean Girls, Yotsuba&!, Disney's Holes, and Digimon Tamers.

[nonsensology]

📖 Utopian Scholastic 🌍

🐠 Frutiger Aero 🦋

🌀 Wacky Pomo 👁️

[nonsensology]

No one mourns the wicked.

I wanted to draw something a little more simple than the elaborate illustrations I've been making as of late. The drawing of King Candy as the Wizard is actually old art from 2014. I was too lazy to recreate it, but I didn't want to leave the background empty either lol. I'd previously imagined Vanellope and Taffyta as other Oz characters, but I think they also work well in the context of Wicked.

[nonsensology]

I really wanted to draw the Midnight Society kids dressed as their characters from their stories. I like to imagine they get back together for reunions every once in a while.

For those not familiar:

Betty Ann as the title character from "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner"

Sam as Margot / the Vampire from "The Tale of the Night Shift"

Tucker as the Headless Horseman from "The Tale of the Midnight Ride"

Gary as his recurring character Sardo, introduced in "The Tale of the Super Specs"

Frank as his recurring character Dr. Vink, introduced in "The Tale of the Phantom Cab"

Kiki as Peter from "The Tale of the Captured Souls"

Kristen as the Sandman from "The Tale of the Final Wish"

David as Dougie from "The Tale of the Twisted Claw"

Stig as the Corpse from "The Tale of the Dead Man's Float"

Eric as the Carnival Barker / the Cellar Demon from "The Tale of the Dark Music"

[nonsensology]

Fun fact: some of the voice actors from Magic School Bus also appeared in Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and I was feeling nostalgic so I drew the MSB kids as their AYAOTD counterparts.

Daniel DeSanto: voice of Carlos; Midnight Society member Tucker, introduced with his story "The Tale of the Midnight Ride"

Maia Filar: voice of Phoebe; Melissa from "The Tale of the Dollmaker"

Stuart Stone: voice of Ralphie; Doug from "The Tale of the Quicksilver"

Amos Crawley: voice of Arnold (Season 1 only); Ethan from "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner"

[nonsensology]

Inside you there are two Wonderlands fighting for control.

Something something, being an artist is great because you can draw your OTP however you want, something something.

[nonsensology]

I was still in an Oz mood, so I finally got around to drawing my Wizard of Oz AU for GF (I nicknamed it Emerald Falls). I've had this idea for a long time, after realizing that Stan fits incredibly well as the morally grey character of the Wizard himself. While the Wizard does become a sort of helpful uncle figure who learns real magic in the later Oz books, judging him solely on his appearance in the first book alone, he does a lot of questionable things that make it perfectly understandable why adaptations like Wicked choose to portray him as a villain. Also, I'm amused by the idea of Stan stressing himself out pretending to be the ruler of a fairy country.

In addition, there is:

Ford as the lost Prince Ozma, based on Princess Ozma (Ford's journals also take the place of the Silver Shoes / Ruby Slippers)

Dipper as a combination of Dorothy Gale and Ojo the Unlucky

Mabel as Scraps the Patchwork Girl

Fiddleford as a combination of the Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead

Soos as Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman

Wendy as the Lion (not so much cowardly in this version, but rather secretly stressed out like in canon)

Waddles as Toto

Axolotl as Lurline the Fairy Queen

Melody as the Good Witch of the North

Jheselbraum as Glinda the Good Witch of the South (in the original Oz books, Glinda has a magic Book of Records that instantly records everything that happens in the world)

Pacifica as Princess Langwidere

Gideon as the Wicked Warlock of the West

Gnomes as the winged monkeys

Bill as the Nome King, which I changed to the Troll King in this AU to avoid confusion with the monkey gnomes

Bill's henchmaniacs as Whimsies, Growleywogs, and Phanfasms. It's not entirely clear in my drawing, but in this AU they would appear to be made of rock, gems, and lava. I imagine they would move like how the gnomes were depicted in Disney's Return to Oz in creepy claymation.

[nonsensology]

I really wanted to draw something to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my favorite Oz movie; Disney's Return to Oz (premiered June 21, 1985). I included a couple characters from the broader Disney Ozziverse: Master Wix, from the cancelled book series Abadazad; and Finley and China Girl from Oz the Great and Powerful.

Abadazad is not strictly an Oz adaptation, but the story is so heavily inspired by the original Oz books that I feel it only fair to mention it when talking about Oz. It's so whimsical and charming! Sadly, it was cancelled after only three books, with the third book having only been released in the UK (I am so lucky to own a copy of all three), which is especially frustrating considering it originated as a comic published by CrossGen, but after three issues was rebooted as a novel-comic hybrid after Disney bought CrossGen's assets following the latter's bankruptcy.

I do not particularly care for the writing in Oz the Great and Powerful, but I do like Finley and China Girl. I also appreciate that this movie correctly designates Glinda as the witch of the South, not the North, and attempted to portray her as the wise character she is in the books, as opposed to her bubbly portrayal in MGM's classic musical.

I first watched Return to Oz shortly after my high school performed The Wizard of Oz during my junior year. This is a special memory for me as I helped paint and assemble props for the show, as well as provided the art for the cast and crew's t-shirts! My school's version of the show was unique in that it also incorporated songs from The Wiz. I had so much fun participating in the show, that I was inspired to check out more Oz material. Initially, I wasn't impressed by Return to Oz. But not long after, I began checking out the original Oz books from the public library, and the more I read and grew to love the world that L. Frank Baum created, the more Return to Oz grew on me. Now that I'm older, I can especially appreciate it as an example of 80s dark fantasy movies, as well as the incredible craftsmanship in its special effects. I wish this movie had been better received back in the day.

Disney somehow never manages to make it big with Oz related projects. Walt himself never got to make The Rainbow Road to Oz, a planned movie that would have starred the Mouseketeers. Return to Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful, and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz were not critical successes. And of course, there's Abadazad's cancellation. ABC's Once Upon a Time was probably the most successful integrating Oz in its great big fairytale multiverse, but I feel the writing quality of that show deteriorated pretty fast so I don't count it. It's actually kinda sad how Disney never sticks the landing with Oz. For a long time, Disneyland Paris' version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats featured a miniature recreation of the Emerald City, perhaps the only remaining reference to Oz anywhere in the parks. Sadly, it was recently replaced with a diorama of Paradise Falls from Pixar's Up. (Look, I enjoy Up, but it is not a fairytale and therefor does not belong in that ride, OMG Disney, you need to stop recklessly spamming unrelated IP everywhere.)

I do sincerely hope that someday, once Disney manages to finally pull itself out of its current dark age, that they can create an Oz project with a lasting impact and legacy on the public conscience. (At the very least, Disney could either uncancel Abadazad, or give the rights back to the creators.)

[nonsensology]

I've been having a hard time getting back into drawing, so here's some cute doodles from a while ago that I forgot to share.

There is no denying that we live in a scary world, where leadership and authority is abused. It feels so easy to give up right now. I wish I knew the right words to help make it all better. All I can offer is this: Deep breath, chin up. Tomorrow is another day. I wish you the best.

[nonsensology]

This past Sunday was Alice Liddell's 173rd birthday (b. 4 May 1852).

I drew this right around the time Party City closed all its stores in my city (RIP). If I had the chance to host my own tea party, I would go absolutely overboard with the lanterns and banners. I love fun and festive decorating!

[nonsensology]

The world may be falling apart, but I’m pulling through by living vicariously through my OTP. Here are some cute cards to show your loved ones how much you care! 💚💙💚

Each card is 4.25 by 6 inches (approx. 10.8 by 15.25 cm).

[nonsensology]

Despite the weak plot, I've always thought the visuals in Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms are utterly gorgeous, and I wanted to create something based on the aesthetics of the Four Realms.

[nonsensology]

PSA

I just blocked over 200 new followers that I suspected of being spam bots. If you are not a bot and I've accidentally blocked you, please send me a message and I will reevaluate.

For any new followers, please make sure your profile looks like it belongs to an actual human being, or at the very least, not a generic stock photo human. Thank you.

[nonsensology]

Oh MY GOODNESS, IT BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE BEEN ON YOUR BLOG. I HAD SAW ONE OF YOUR POSTS ON MY FEED AND I AUDIBLY WENT "hmmm that artstyle seems so familiar to that one person I used to interact a lot on reddit before I randomly left" AND THEN IT CLICKED

[ Sorry if this seems weird BTW I DON'T MEAN TOO I'M JUST REALLY HAPPY TO SEE YOUR ART AGAIN ]

That's alright! I'm really touched to have made quite a positive impression! I hope you'll stick around! ^_^

[nonsensology]

Hi just wanna say your Nutcracker “Of Mice and Dolls” au art is so cute and i have been thinking about it very often this Christmas season. Best wishes!

Aaaah, thanks so much! I'm flattered! I wish I could tell you when I'll return to this project, but alas, an artist's schedule is never consistent. In the meantime, I hope my other stuff is to your liking! ^_^

[nonsensology]

Happy Friday the 13th! Just because October's over, it doesn't mean the spooky fun has to end!

I wanted to make something that combines Halloween and Christmas aesthetics, and loved how this turned out so much that I ended up adding it to my Redbubble shop. 👉👈