That's A Bluejay!

I started working on a comic a couple of years ago, and I managed to create a few pages but ran out of momentum. Last night I looked over the unfinished work and glanced over the outline I had written and was inspired enough to do a quick panel.

Sure is fun to work on comics. Sure is hard to find the the opportunity to work on my own stuff with a time-consuming job and a commute that is a life-draining parasite.

Uh-oh. Cranky today.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Quincy

First, I know this is a quick change of mind after griping about it in my previous post, but the Blogspot "Dynamic Views" are back on again. I still feel slightly underwhelmed by the mechanics of the access to displayed art, but it does look snappy!

And I'm looking for freelance work and/or a new job; prospective employers and clients can see more of my art without having to scroll down the page to see one, image, at, a, time.

Maybe I'll switch back again if I convince myself it's for the best. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.


This is a spot illustration that will run in the newspaper, modified slightly for blog presentation. In the paper it is one of a few illustrations and will be very tiny.
The accompanying caption advocates finding time to appreciate and enjoy your pet during the holidays.

This is a portrait of one my cats, Quincy. I've mentioned him before, and used him as inspiration a few times over the years. He is a true character. He is my best friend and I hate him. He wakes me up at least three times every night wanting food or play. Every night!

True to form, he is circling the monitor, harassing me right now. I must feed him, or play with him. Now.

Blog Notes and a Bad Cartoon

Dynamic Views? Off for now.

I'm giving up the "dynamic views" style of blog-viewing here at blogspot. I like the way it looks, but I've been told by a few people that they can't access it with their browsers.

I find the dynamic views environment a little frustrating in that you have to click an extra time or two to get the artwork to open up large in a tab or another window. That seems like too much work to me.

And, in the past, I've used my link list to conveniently click over to other blogs I like. I've found that I'm not getting out and about on the blog-scene without easy access to my list. So, with disappointment, I'm done with "dynamic views" for now.

Most Productive Year

If you look to the archive list on the left you'll see that 2011 has been my most productive year as a blog-artist. It may be a case of quantity crushing quality, but on the surface it looks like I'm improving.

This Post's Art
Here is a junky little drawing I posted on my Tumblr blog the other day. (I have designated Tumblr as my post-crap-quickly-without-worrying-about-it-too-much blog.) I've never posted here without displaying a doodle of some kind, so if this seems slightly desperate... it is.

In the panel, I'm paraphrasing of a conversation I overheard in a pub a couple of decades ago. I was going to make a full-page comic out of it, but I won't have the time for that in the near future. Also, I just felt like doing a grubby little drawing and messing around with a retro comic-coloring style.


Passing Fancy

This is a hasty finish over a rough for my previously posted "Missed Connections" drawing. My attempt here didn't really fit the assignment and it's more unconventional than most of the work I do for the newspaper, but I enjoyed the look of it.

I didn't want to toss it on the junk-pile. Maybe that's where it belongs, but I enjoy looking at it. It's my blog. So there.

The ENd.


Rrrrocket Blonde!

I drew a little throwaway sketch of this character and then, instead of throwing it away, I painted over the top of it.

She's not a great doodle but she ate up a lot of my time today. I might as well post it.


The End

Missed Connections

The impression I've been given by friends and colleagues is that I am the only person who has not heard of this missed connections thing. Just in case they're wrong and you haven't heard of it either, this is my perspective on it.

You get up from in front of your computer and take a walk through the real world. You see somebody you think is kind of cute and rather than go over and talk and wink and flirt, you go home and post a note on Craigslist about how much you were attracted to whoever that was. Then you hope that person reads Craigslist and remembers you as "that attractive person leering at him or her from behind a tree yesterday." You exchange emails, send pictures, meet for dinner, fall in love and live happily ever after. Or, if that seems like too much time spent away from the computer, you just send pictures.

Angela Hill, one of the excellent writers in the MediaNews collection of wordsmiths, is writing an article to explain this whole phenomenon to pop-culture ignoramuses such as I. Here is my accompanying illustration.

And here is the first rough I did.


Smokin' Joe

This is an old newspaper spot-illustration I drew in 2004 for a project that is explained here. I'm sorry to hear that he has passed away. Joe Frazier was my favorite fighter when I was a kid. Whenever he was on TV he seemed like a pretty nice guy; and I really liked the sound of the words "And in this corner... Smokin' Joe Frazier!" Dad would say that whenever we started play-boxing.


Frazier lost to Ali and Foreman. That's all.

Frazier, in his prime, beat Ali, in his prime. 'Nuff said.

Sad to see you go, Joe. I'm not a religious person by any stretch, but if I'm wrong -- and there really is a Valhalla -- I know you're lacing up your gloves right now and getting ready to stand in against whoever wins the Gentleman Jim Corbett/Joe Louis fight.

The End

Rough Doodle Paint-Over

A couple of weeks ago I hacked out the sketch on the left. Fleshed him out in a long series of very short painting sessions, finishing tonight. Whew. Long time to get that done, and not all that crazy about it.


But it's the only drawing I've done lately. Been busy. I hope to pick up the pace soon!