Words and Pictures...

Today's installment has two cartoons...there are things I like about each and things I do NOT like about each. Let's start with the first one I did this week.




This one is based on a flawed premise. It is from an article about President Obama wanting foods aimed at kids to stop using cartoons to market their wares if that food is considered "unhealthy". I made it into where he is altering the usage of the cartoons. I did like the art in this one more though. In particular, I liked the ink wash, which is the first time I've really used it in a cartoon (that I can remember anyways).

I get what the president is trying to do but leave it alone. Cartoon marketing is just a symptom of the problem. As usual the solution lies in education. In this case, education about healthy eating. Leave my Chester Cheetah alone!

So here's the next one I did this week which is NOT based on a flawed premise...



Now this one I like the premise more but I do NOT care for my art in it as much. I did it in color because that wedding just had to be drawn in color. It was too bright not to. However, I think I overthought the wording for the Donald AND the priest. I do still think that overbearing jackass would try and crash it if he thought he wouldn't be shot. Which I most certainly hope he would have been...*sigh* perchance to dream.

And this last thing is just for Mark...I like giving him little updates on our project and see what I've been up to periodically.




See you next time!

A Peek Behind the Curtain...

I know this doesn't count as a true post since I didn't actually finish a piece for blogification. However, I DID get a lot done this week. It's just all preliminary sketch work and character design type stuff which I don't feel is worth showing or I am just keeping super hush hush.

So I thought I would go with my next favorite thing when I read other artists blogs. I like to see their work space. It is interesting to me because I like to see how they arrange for convenience and mostly I like to know they are just as messy as me.

You can see my beat up little easel in the corner here. Behind that is an old display unit for toys that I salvaged from work. It works darn well as a catch all art supply storage unit.





As you can see I am big into research. Reference books, National Geographics, art books, and a lot of comics everywhere. (Comics count as research materials, don't they?}




And then here's a better shot of where I do most of my work these days, my work desk. I traded a college buddy for this thing years and years ago and I thought about exchanging it for a newer model but I just can't bring myself to ditch it. It works too well for me.




I hope today's installment has been slightly interesting for you. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to have something more post-worthy from an art perspective.

Westerns Are In My Blood...

Really and truly. My grandfather used to go to the bookstore and buy as many as fifteen or twenty of the little cheap-o western paperbacks every couple of weeks. He would read through them and as I was really the only grandson who read as much as him, he would give them to me. I had an entire giant toy box filled to the brim with Louis L'Amour's, Zane Grey's, and any number of other lesser (and sometimes, although rarely MORE) talented writers. Combine this with a love of rodeo and well, you have the makings for a lifelong affair right there.

So fast forward to now. As a voracious consumer of westerns AND comic books it seems only logical that I should try to come up with a comic book western story. So I was talking with my good friend Cap'n Tony (a writer of soon to be renown) and we came upon the idea of doing a Jonah Hex short story and then submitting it to DC Comics. Even if we don't get in, it'll be really cool just to do one. So, while the good Cap'n bangs out the literary side and I await my duty of illustration, here's a quick drawing out of the old sketchbook that I did to get used to the character.



Maybe a little inspiration for the Cap'n, as well.

A Good Title Makes All the Difference...

Two posts in one week! I'm on fire!

Anyway...so I finished the baseball ink/watercolor. I'm very excited about this piece. I really enjoyed working on it and I think it shows.




"Hitter's Count". Ink and watercolor, 9"x12" on watercolor paper. It can be yours for $125. Just get in touch with me if you are interested.

Truth In Advertising

First of all, I am aware that I did miss yet another week. However, what I have coming up is well worth the wait! My baseball ink and watercolor is coming along MUCH better than expected and I am very excited. Hopefully in the next couple of days. Now on to today's business!

I have made no secret of the fact that I dislike politicians. But I have a real distrust of politicians that make a grab for power using extremist rhetoric and are usually trying to undo that which benefits us all. Like the EPA or the Clean Water Act. You know, those annoying little things that don't allow corporations to poison the living hell out of all of us to make a buck.



I think I have heard this joke before but a buddy and I were talking last night and this idea hit us. A special thanks to Cap'n Tony for the assist on this one! I know it would actually be hard for politicians to be MORE obvious with who they are truly beholden, but this would just make it simpler to plainly see it in written out in jacket form.

Peanuts and Cracker Jack...

Spring has sprung and a young man's (okay, fine...MIDDLE AGED man's) fancy turns to baseball. For the first time in many years the Paintmonkey is excited about baseball again. Lady Paintmonkey is less than enthused about this turn of events but I have promised her I won't be forcing her to watch all that many games. This is largely because I prefer listening to them on the radio. This is what got started yesterday as I listened to my Braves whoop the tar out of the Nationals.



I was going to wax poetic about America's past-time but many more people with better vocabularies than I have already done so. I'll leave it with a a simple "Let's go get 'em Braves!"

This one's for the Cap'n...

...and the millions of fans who are ready for Wrestlemania tomorrow night being held in Atlanta, Ga! And since I am one of those millions of fans, I felt the need to express this. (And it was a request from my buddy, the Cap'n.) So here you go, a preview of what should be the best match of the night. HHH vs. the Undertaker. Fun night for the Paintmonkey!



Baseball started this week as well but since Wrestlemania is only once a year, I figured I'd wait til next week for my homage to America's past-time.