Not Political, I SWEAR

I have pretty much sworn off the political cartoons. Mostly, I just don't need my blood pressure getting that high.

But I heard a term that I have been ITCHING to put down on paper all week. "Vulture Capitalism". I just wanted to draw a vulture dressed up like the Monopoly man. So I did.



The cartoon just kind of fell into place around that one image.

Also, I love the idea of Romney's name being short for "Mittens". Which at least 2 percent of people in this poll actually thought...which I also love.



C.E.O. Mittens? Hilarious. PRESIDENT Mittens? Not so much.

(Okay, maybe I am being political, but it didn't start out that way. Honest.)

White People On Cell Phones...*

So I went with a friend to Greensboro, NC yesterday to deliver a car. It was a simple up and down trip with us staying overnight at a Sheraton hotel. Simple enough. But just exhausting enough that we didn't REALLY feel like going out to explore last night. Fortunately for us, it was not just a Sheraton, but a Sheraton Convention Center. This means a plethora of people watching! Watch out, you little weirdos! We SEE you!

Sadly, it is apparently the slow season for convention-ing in Greensboro. Not even all the bars and restaurants in the place were open. Ah well...with sketch book in hand my friend and I headed for the lobby to do some people watching. I was loaded up on sweet tea caffeine and he was running on "coffee" and we took up our positions overlooking a ball room that was in and out with people in suits. Through the door we could see a giant screen with people screaming emphatically into microphones while disco lights flashed and techno beats filled the air. It was either a corporate Tony Robbins "pump up the sales-people" conference...or a Republican fundraiser. And judging by the amounts of white people...I have my own suspicions about what this was.

Which leads me to my series I did in the lobby:

White People On Cell Phones















Here is where the * in the title comes in...this was the only couple of the evening that were sitting still long enough for me to sketch that DIDN'T have cell phones. Mostly they had what can only be described as a "crushing amount of angry tension".



And these last two gentlemen whom I actually drew this morning who were going into a completely different lecture. And were black. And not talking on cell phones. (Although the first guy IS playing on an iPad. Does that count?)





An odd little weekend. See you next time!

Gonna Be a Good Year

The power of positive thinking! I have a Bulldog cartoon ready to go and I finished it up just in time to have a post for the first day of the year. Also, it felt very natural to sign it with "2012". Yep...good year a'comin'.

So without further adieu...here is my first Bulldog of 2012.



I DO feel a little strange using a semi recent movie reference as a punchline. I usually try to keep the humor a little broader and therefore more universal. But it's been a LONG holiday season for numerous reasons, so Harry is gonna kick the Michigan State Spartan in a hole like Gerard Butler in 300. Done.

Hope everybody had a great new year's celebration! I look forward to sharing more art with you and hopefully a fun surprise or two. The resolution to post every week continues! Have a great 2012 everybody!

One More Before the End of the Year...

I said I would get at least one more in and by gum, I will! Even if it is completely random and strange. So here (in not quite finished form) is an idea I had for a Genghis Khan bobblehead.



I will explain the reasoning for it later.

Have a great New Year's and I will see you all...well, probably tomorrow. I've got another Bulldog to post! Have fun tonight everybody!

Commission Work and Exercises

Finally I am posting! I'm not kidding when I say I'm working. I really am! And I know I have not been a faithful blogging Paintmonkey this year, but I think I've done pretty well all things considered.

Here is the commission I did for a Christmas gift (thereby precluding me from posting it last week).



I had a lot of fun with this one. I did it the same way I did the gorilla this summer and I like the way it turned out. It was a gift for the client's mom and according to the client "she loved it!". So, mission accomplished!

And here is what I do when I'm watching the Falcons get beat on Monday Night Football while Drew Brees makes NFL history...



I imagine what Johnny Cash would look like as Wolverine...apparently.

I'm not done with 2011 though! More to come before the New Year!

UPDATE: I MADE IT!!! I just noticed the archive numbers and I have posted 52 updates for the year 2011! Okay so technically I didn't post one every single week but I'll take the average! Paintmonkey for the win!!! (And again, I still have one or two more so I will (again...technically) have more than met my New Year's Resolution! Woohoo!)

Just A Little Something

I'm trying to post things every week but a lot of what I'm doing is not for public consumption just yet. So I guess I can fall back to my faithful sketchbook. Here's a happy fish mounted to the wall.



And yes, I find those singing fish hilarious...well, for about a minute and a half. Then they have to die.

It's Time...

It's time for Georgia to play for SEC championship. It's time to shut up all those idiot sports pundits who keep harping on and on about Georgia's "easy" schedule. It's time to prove that Georgia is always a team to be feared.



Can UGA take down the unstoppable behemoth LSU? I think they can. I originally designed this week's cartoon with Harry holding the SEC championship trophy. But I realized that went against what I had drawn up all season. I never actually guaranteed a victory (which is what that would be doing in essence). I just promise that the other teams know they got hit in the mouth. THAT I guarantee...LSU will know they got hit in the mouth whether my beloved Bulldogs win or lose.

But I think they're gonna win.