An Old Head

This is ancient. As I recall, a friend of mine doodled a head in photoshop and I doodled on top of that. It wasn't really supposed to be Wolverine, but by the time I finished it, that's who he kind of looked like, so I put the costume on him.

I was tempted today to expand on this-- he needs a stogie, he needs a beer-- but I'm way too busy to be clowning around with stuff like this. Maybe later.

A Tale of Two Oscars

I painted these guys a couple of weeks ago. They were done as an illustration for the newspapers I work for; I didn't read the stories but, as it was explained to me, they went with a normal story about the Academy Awards and a lighter, jokey one put together by the staff.
...The sillier story was called the BANG awards-- referencing the acronym for our cluster of newspapers, Bay Area News Group. (Yeah, no one who works here is really happy about that...)
...So, I found a statue image, did a quick trace and painted that to get the figure on the left. I duplicated my first effort and painted on top of it, putting on new arms and a face. I probably got too detailed with the face (he looks more scary than scared) but it was a fun exercise.
...All in photoshop, of course.

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How to Shop for Art!

This illustration ran in the papers last Saturday. I drew it in a way to appear to be a ball point pen drawing-- one of my favorite tools! But, of course, done in photoshop because... well, for no good reason other than it's more efficient.

I wanted it to run as a drawing; no color! Well, as I neared the finish it looked pretty drab to me. So, I tossed some pale colors on there, trying not to betray my original intentions overmuch.

Eh, it's okay. I like the Picasso!

And here is a small composite I created to run in the masthead with the teasers. This one I colored differently because it ran on a blue background, and with it's natural blue tint it looked blah.

Some Monkeys Do

Okay, one more old drawing. This was done about 5 years ago for an opinion piece on medical marijuana. I don't recall the particulars of the story, but I think it was a lighter piece, probably mentioning the "lucky" monkeys in the control group. I don't know what's up with those doctor-types; they're sort of hovering there, not doing much. Maybe one should be holding a bong and the other, a banana! Hindsight! Oh well...

I miss editorial illustrations. We don't get to do those anymore; I would hesitate to to that kind of thing regularly-- it might be dangerous. Our editorial cartoonist was laid off a couple of years ago, and I have a small fear that if I were to do some work for the editorial page I might be mistaken for another editorial cartoonist-- the position is no longer viable in the modern newsroom.

I'm not really an editorial cartoonist kind of guy, but I do enjoy the illustrations. I'm not a politics enthusiast, and I don't follow that sport closely enough to feel confident about commenting humorously about what's going on. I have a quiet but seething hatred for most politics and my first inclination isn't to have a laugh, but rather to spit, or throw tomatoes. A nice, vague illustration for a column, though? I like that stuff.
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The Evolution of Travel

Another oldie. This cartoon was probably done in 2004 or 2005. It was on my website a long time ago and the caption said:

...Cute little drawing for the travel section. It was a story about how one's preferences and expectations of the travel experience changes as you get older.

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...It appears to me that it was done entirely in photoshop. If I may take the liberty of criticizing the cartoonist that I was, I like the first two figures but the woman on the right is pretty weak. What's with her legs? They look really wierd to me.
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Old Editorial Illustration 1

I'm going through some old stuff again and I've found a few pieces that are interesting enough to show. This one-- a photoshop painting/drawing-- is kind of cool. I have a vague recollection of working on it, but I don't remember seeing it in the paper.
... My old caption describes it this way: Drawn for an opinion piece on U.S./Cuba relations, particularly the sanctions placed on Castro by the W administration.

I do recall feeling that Fidel did not look old enough, and that W didn't look enough like W. Reassessing it now, Fidel's alright-- we can tell who he is, anyway. W? Eh. He's iconic enough now that you only need get close and people can figure it out. I'll give this one a C+.
... Sorry it's not any bigger-- a quick search of the Jeff Durham Digital Archives doesn't have a larger version. I fear it may be on one of those archive CDs on the shelf up there-- see? There are about 200 unlabeled discs up there.
... Truthfully, it may be worse than that. This drawing is old enough that it may be on one of those Zip disks! See, over in the closet, top shelf? See those 3 shoe boxes? Yeah. Hopeless. I don't even have a drive anymore-- just lots of disks.


Man those were expensive.
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More Old News

This was a quick illustration done for a business story a few years ago. It was one of my first purely vector efforts, although I may have done a rough in pencil or photoshop. Not a brilliant, high-concept piece, but it filled up a spot that might have otherwise been blank.

...I kind of like it, although it feels like a spot illo that's been puffed up and decorated with a weak art head. Them's my speciality!

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Another Oldie

This is another ancient illustration that I have unearthed upon a backup CD-- carbon dating reveals that the CD was burnt in about 472 BC. This time the topic is how to behave at a gathering of friends and family. I'm pretty sure it was related to the holiday season, but not totally sure. 

 

Looking closely at the original file, it appears that I drew this entirely in photoshop. This was during a period when I was not completely comfortable drawing digitally from start to finish, and my preference would have been to draw the characters in pencil and then scan them in. This is probably one of my first pure digital productions for my newspaper job.
...The guy on the right, being forcibly fed the broccoli (or whatever that is) is a caricature of yours truly. For years I was obsessed with how I might look when I was older, and I'd often doodle myself as I thought I might look. This was one of those instances.
...I have not resorted to sweater vests as of yet, but that's the guy I'm starting to look like. Yessiree. Hm. Maybe that vest doesn't look half bad! Yeah...
...Just kidding.
...(Hmmm.)

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Old Heads

...I extracted these fellows from a particularly lousy illustration I did for work several years ago. I was poking around on a couple of old backup cds and there it was! It was terrible. I will not show it.
...I didn't save any of the paperwork, and I couldn't tell you what the story was about, but I think it had something to do with blind dating, or online dating-- which can be kind of the same thing, I suppose.
...But, I kind of like these guys. A nice character contrast study. Go Raiders!
...Painted in photoshop!

The End

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