Back to old-school...for a bit

I'm back to purely being on Blogspot for a bit.  I will get a brand new shiny website soon, but for now back to this.  If you want to see art on a daily basis, check out any of the official Paintmonkey social media pages (just over to the right there).

Here's a giraffe I did at Zoo Atlanta this summer...


Enjoy!

Busy busy busy...

...which is no excuse. Unfortunately, lots of things are coming at me so postings may be even farther in between. But follow me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. I get stuff on those pretty regular. And this page will be undergoing a MAJOR transformation sometime soon...stay tuned.

But quickly here are some things I've had going...

Firstly a record sale worthy of the history books:

My friend Travis asked for an ad. That is what I came up with.

Secondly, the internet auction for the Art Gone Wild work that didn't find homes at the reception will be over on July 31st. Bid now! Follow this link.

And lastly, I did this to get people to donate to a worthy cause. Follow this link to see details.

Enjoy and keep watching!

Oops! May the...7th be with you?

Forgot to post this the other day.  I put it on Facebook and Twitter but forgot to put it here.  Oh well, here it is now.  Hope everyone had a lovely Star Wars day or May the 4th Be With You day or whatever it's supposed to be called.

P.S.  I thought of this after I'd drawn it but I should have put as the headline "Exhaust Port Malfunction!"  Darn it, I always think of it too late.

Zoo Sketching

So the wife and I went to the zoo for our anniversary on Friday. I wanted to flex my on the spot sketching muscles a little so instead of a camera I took the trusty Moleskine, a pencil and some Copic pens. Here are the results.

Giraffes wiggle a lot more than you would think. Very hard to try and get the patterning down before they move away.

That lion is just like a big house cat. I picked this pose and the minute I started sketching he rolled over onto his back. Jerk.

I have done many sketches of Kelly for a children's book. I love drawing elephants.

I was drawing the cassowary and it kept coming to the fence right in front of me where it would just stop and stare. Creeped me the hell out. Stupid dinosaur...

And this guy was my best model. He just sat his vulture tail on the faux zebra corpse for about 10 minutes while I sketched away to my heart's content.

There may be news of zoo painting coming in the near future. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when I know.

Education Public Service Announcement

I meant to get this up last week but I've been sick and it kind of fell through the cracks. So here it is now...

At some point I'm going to take on the meaningless-ness of "No Child Left Behind" but we'll start with this...

Whale Coloring!

I helped out the folks at work with some coloring pages for a family event about the new exhibit about whales.  These were some designs I had submitted for something else that weren't used so I let them be used for this.  I think they're pretty fun.

And this next one was originally a vertical design but I felt it worked better horizontally.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Stan Lee!

That is all...

Texas Goodbyes and Stereotypes

I know I've been gone again.  But I really have been working.  Just too busy to post anything.

So at the day job we lost another cashier.  Sad, because she was a wonderful employee and the only one who talked sports with me!  A true loss for the museum.  But, her husband (a pilot) was transferred to Dallas and her family is from Texas so I can't be TOO bummed out by it.  Good for them!

And as a Texas girl she is a graduate and die-hard supporter of Baylor University.  She even got me rooting for them!  So I came up with a card for her to wish her well.

And this week I have been watching the WNFR (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo).  I figured what a great link.  Even though the finals are held in Las Vegas, most people think "rodeo" when they think Texas so there you go.  Here's my sketches from late at night...

I've got more things in the works right now but I really can't show them until after Christmas.  (Surprises for people, you know!)

I Got the Politicals!!!

(God, I hope a topical ointment will contain it.)

So yes, the current Washington idiot carnival that's going on has inspired me to once again show my cynicism and disgust with all politicians and their ilk.

However, it did get two toons out of me for this week's political edition of Tuesday Toonsday, so I guess it does have SOME benefit.

Number 1:

(Seriously...I just don't believe ANY of them...)

Number 2 came from listening to this more and more over the week and it just kind of started sounding like a hostage negotiation and I was the one wrapped up in an extension cord and gagged with a dirty pillowcase lying on the floor listening to them list the demands over the phone.

So yeah...I pretty much hate all politicians.

Have a great week!!!

No Politics...Yet

I know all everyone is thinking about is the government shutdown and the loss of such wonderful things as national parks, Mars rovers, and panda-cams.  But I am here on the job with today's Tuesday Toonsday to brighten your spirit!

Today's toon comes from when I spend too much time over-analyzing and becoming annoyed by certain commercials while spending the day watching football.

Another benefit to watching football is that sometimes you see that someone has taken one of your labors of love and blown it up and is waving it around on national television.

So no political cartoons to remind you of the current state of affairs...but the week's not over.

Time Constraints

Sometimes your life just gets in the way of doing all the stuff you want to do...like making cartoons with substance.  So you end up feeling (and making things) like this...

And just to show you I'm not COMPLETELY falling down on the job, here is the inked phase of a project I am doing for my alma mater...



So I guess technically this is a very successful Tuesday Toonsday.

The Paintmonkey's Greatest Fear!

And here it is...



Seriously...I've had nightmares about being accidentally shaved.  I just don't like the way I look with no facial hair.

Pomp(adour) and Circumstance

Fairly straightforward This Week in History with the Paintmonkey.

And pop culture was never the same.

A Glimmer in the Sky

Today's Tuesday Toonsday doesn't have a "funny" bit per se...only the fact that I found interesting this week.  I'm playing more with the size of the work and what I can get away with inside the confines of each of those different dimensions.  For instance, this week I wanted to put a powdered wig on the Paintmonkey.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the room for it after getting all the information in.  It's a work in progress...

And without further adieu...

I had fun drawing Halley though.  Just seems like an uncomfortable way to dress for science.

Game Day Saturday in the South

There are holidays that MUST be acknowledged.  Christmas, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day.  (Seriously, you don't like Arbor Day?  Quit breathing.  That air belongs to the people who care about Arbor Day!)

But here in the South there is a day that combines the excitement of all of those with the summer gluttony of eating wings and for some, drinking copious amounts of beer.

This...

Other parts of the country may celebrate it as much as we do, but I am not from those places.  I am from the South and this is what I know.  Happy Game Day, boys!

Twister Toon

Just thought this was interesting...

I am having fun looking through all the websites with facts on them.  If I do this long enough I will be a bar trivia GOD!

Fact Toons!

I told you I'm going to be more positive with my Tuesday Toonsdays and I meant it.

But first a re-introduction.  I am the Paintmonkey.  This is me...

...pretty much.

So as the helmsman of this venture, I introduce to you:

This Week In History With The Paintmonkey!!!  I will choose a day of the upcoming week and find a fact that I want to illustrate and present it to you.  I will also make cameos.

I chose this week's date because I just really wanted to draw Babe Ruth's tubby self smacking a home-run.  (Seriously, my sketch of this had the ol' Babe looking like Chris Farley was playing him in the movie.)   HOWEVER...just 42 years after that momentous feat, the Paintmonkey's little brother was born!  Coincidence?!?!  Well..of course.  But still, it leads into me telling my little brother happy birthday!  (See what I did there?)

Enjoy knowledge!  Brain stuff is fun.

Paintmonkey Podcasting!

The day is here!  The Paintmonkey is now in the realm of internet podcast lore!  I told you a couple of weeks ago about the Jack Davis event I attended.  This is the last part of that evening.

After the art opening Robby and I headed over to the restaurant where our friend from school, Jeff,  was at a trivia contest.  It was being hosted by fellow geek, Scott.  Scott is actually a talk radio personality.  He has a good voice for it as evidenced by the fact that he is the main guy in just about every radio commercial in the greater Brunswick area.  More on this later.

The podcast is called Dinner 4 Geeks.  I've discussed them before but this was the first time I had gotten to meet the other three.  We met Ryan at the Jack Davis event.  He had to run by his office before the podcast and when he got there we found out why.  Ryan makes his own action figures.  As a gift to Robby and I, he had made us a zombie head and one of the chilled monkey brain entrees from "Temple of Doom"!

Pretty sweet, huh?  I can swap out the head of a Han Solo Kenner figure and make him an extra on "The Walking Dead"!

So then we started the podcast.  You can either download it at iTunes or listen to it here on Libsyn.  Ours is Episode 31.  I apologize if I babble a bit.  I didn't actually find out what the homework was until right before the recording but I stand by my statement (for the most part) that I can find something amazing about any of the artists put forth.  And I did.  Even Ryan's really obscure ones.

But here are the gifts I gave them.

For Scott (who I still can't believe could tell what year this outfit was from)...

For Ryan...

 
For Ron...

And finally, for Jeff...

Again, it was a fantastic evening, and I had a ball.  Now through all of this, I knew Robby and I were pinko liberals walking into a hotbed of conservatism.  Ron is (or used to be) the head of the local GOP and Scott's DJing gig is on...*shudder*...FOX!  I listened to his show that morning and I actually quite enjoyed it.  I don't agree with everything he was saying but I did think he was quite reasonable.  (He thought it was funny that I said that.)  Even our friend Jeff is pretty much on the right hand side of the political spectrum.  Ryan is...well, I'm not sure about Ryan.  Ryan just...is.

But this got me thinking.  We are all going to disagree about things.  But if we shun the other side we will never find common ground.  We will never truly understand what the other side thinks.  We all need to talk about the stuff that makes us the same.  I had a wonderful time discussing artists and pop culture and geek matters with these guys.  And not once did they hiss at me or call me some derogatory term for liberal.  Maybe the way to healing the country is through Geekdom.  And that night we found that one thing that can bring us together as a nation.

Rob Liefeld is just awful .

It's Tuesday...Again!?!?!

Seriously...wasn't it just Tuesday last week?  Anyways, this week's Tuesday Toonsday is another from my "Creatures I Have Seen" line.  I know it's a been a little negative (most stories from the world o' retail are.)  So in an effort to be better, I am working on something new and positive for next week.  That's not to say negative won't slip back in.  Far from it.  I still find horrible things funny so in they will go.  But I will TRY to be more positive.

This week's entry:

Now I am not saying that single dads who go out with their kids are awful.  I know many single dads who are incredible parents and love their children very much.  I am pointing and laughing at the ones who pay NO attention to their offspring and then throw a credit card at them in order to maintain the familial "love".

BONUS!
I am throwing in the mountain lion mascot I've been working with.  I did this sketch a while back.

And then I finished it up as this...

Worked out okay...

Jekyll Toonsday

This continues my coastal Georgia adventures and carries it into this week's Tuesday Toonsday.

On Saturday, I decided I would drive over to Jekyll Island and see if I remembered anything from when I was a kid.  I did not.  A lot more "resort-ey" than I remembered.  Oh well.  However, this was my main takeaway of the island...

Sorry it's not in color.  Next week I will be back to normal "tooning" schedule.