Special appearance by Retail Q. Cat. He speaks for those that can't.

I'm pretty happy with this one, as simple as it is. The last panel is meant to be an homage.

More pondering and self-criticism.

More comics about comics.

Some days, I got nothin'.

Musing, musing...

Never happen. Doesn't mean I don't think about it.

Pet peeve #1 at work. Retail Q. Cat is my spokesman. He screams when I have to smile.

What to draw...

Life in retail.

One more page for today. I actually penciled one more after this but it was at dinner and I just got home. So, tomorrow.

Embarrassing? Yes.

A comic for today. And it's true.

Playing about with ideas for the next comic. Also thinking about dumping the bunny that represents me. So I threw this together before work.

And some more. This time, the lines are too thin, but that's ok. The tail is coming out better.



And this is a sample for a kids' book I'm working on with mom.

More Lucco practice. Thank you old Disney model sheets!

Some Lucco practice. I never stop learning how to draw my own character. The top image was posed from an old Mickey Mouse model sheet. Those guys really knew how to draw. They could really push the poses, something I have yet to become comfortable with. The bottom image is from memories of Barney Rubble boxing, though I couldn't find online ref for what I wanted.

Took the last little experiment a step further and did a splash page. Special thanks to Supermouse comics for the color.

Just a little experiment using old comic books to color some Lucco drawings.

Did another video inking demo. These are fun to do but I don't know that I have much more to show. This one's of Tamino and shows a different approach to inking.

I got me some video! Just a demo of me inking. Had to split it into two parts as it went over YouTube's max. This was fun to put together, likely more fun than it is to watch but there you go. Next time I'll make one with goofy voices:

Finished portrait of Mr. Rumbold. ink over acrylic on board, 16x20.

A bunch of recent things. Some more Retail Q Cat sneaking about, a weird little doodle called Blobfox and the linework for the next painted portrait, in this case "Are You Being Served"'s Mr. Rumbold.

A little something for a certain person's birthday. It's nice to do figural work once in awhile.

A few more sketches of Retail. Don't think they'll lead anywhere but he's fun to draw. So there.

Gave him a new name (based on what I do for a living) and angered him up. Most of my characters seem to be grumpy. Except for Harlon. Weird. Retail Q. Cat. The 'J' doesn't stand for anything. It was on sale.

Haven't posted anything in too long. Did these designs while waiting about for dinner at my partner's family. Little cat thing. Just a bit of fun.

I had some people misinterpret the nose on the last drawing, thinking it was buck teeth. I can't see it this way, but thought I'd post the initial drawings I did which are likely a bit clearer.

I've not been totally satisfied with Harlon's nose. It's the one leftover from what was a very flat, 50s illustration inspired design. Since I've been studying classic animation more and more, trying to give more dimension to my cartoons, this was tripping me up. So I spent the morning doing a few pages of sketches with something a little less flat. Also pushed the eyes a little closer together. This is the current final design (what character in comics or cartoons ever stopped evolving?). Posed for this while translating me into the bunny.

A very self-indulgent page indeed. But if I didn't draw it, it wouldn't get out of my head. So here it is. Fite, Harlon and Tamino are all my children in a way, and their 'worlds' feel like empty sound stages, places where something once took place. Likely, they will eventually mean something only to me. So I visit them and remember the joy they gave me. It's not that I think them shining examples so much as they're mine.

Two more pages.

Two pages of a comic that came from nowhere. Don't know if this is going anywhere and if so, where.

Resized this so it would fit here, also sped it up a little and added a bag so he was shown to be hitting something. If I were doing more with this, I'd change his expression on the second frame as well, but as this is just an exercise, I'll leave it as is. To me, this feels more HB-ish all the time.

EDIT: Threw in another arm movement just because I could.

So here's playing about with the same process as below but with Harlon. I don't like the coldness of the line weights, but that's something I can work on as I did with Lucco. This is getting a lot closer to what I want. Even in the HB 'few drawings as possible' approach, there's room for a lot of expression. In this case, I wanted a little extra something from the ears and will likely try and keep that. As always, it amazes me what the eye will fill in between extreme drawings.

Not a great deal going on artistically as I wait to hear the fate of Tamino at my first choice of publisher. Still trying to get a hold on a process for animating Harlon. I think I'm aiming too high, wanting to do Disney level stuff right out of the gate. I need to aim more at HB. In that light, here's a down and dirty little gif of Lucco jabbing at the bag.

Lousy scan. Did this as a technical exercise. I was right. I did want to paint this. Acrylic on paper.

More playing about with Illustrator, this time with my otter, Lucco. Might want to paint this.

Just a quick Illustrator doodle. I wanted to try using tools I don't usually use, in this case the gradient mesh. I don't think Harlon's design translates well to 3D but it was worth doing.

Been working on things in the background as well as having to get a new computer and get that up to speed with the proper programs and such. Threw this together as some fan art for someone I've been following blog-wise for awhile. I love his abstract work and decided, after a recent post of his, to try my hand at a little something of his. I didn't really grasp his better sense of composition but it was fun to do. His name is Don Shank and should be followed here;

http://www.donshank.blogspot.com/

This is mostly what I did during the 'big snow.' Oh, there was shoveling as well, but mostly this. Illustrator recreation of an old image. The weapon, shield and helmet are historical, I just don't remember from where.