Three Little Paintings, Plus One!

I found three old thumbnail-ish doodles on the computer the other day. I made them several years ago. I was trying to get back into drawing and painting personal work for artistic growth and pure enjoyment – an effort I undertake from time to time – but on that particular occasion I only lasted about three days. "One little painting a day," I said. I sustained the pace for three days and I haven't seen them since.

Last week I stumbled upon them and – inspired for the moment – I decided that I would take up the task once more. "I'll finish the last panel – down in the lower right corner, still blank – and I will post them for all to see,” I said aloud. There was a cat perched on the shelf next to me and she seemed to nod in agreement, or maybe she was just cleaning her paws. Looked like a nod to me.

Painted in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop. Open in a new window to embiggen.

I started the new thumbnail but made the mistake of looking critically at the ones already done and I decided that I really should fix them first. “After all,” I reasoned, “they're old, they no longer represent the artist that I am now; and besides, they aren't very good.” I’m my own second-worst critic; only my daughter dislikes my art more than me. She is never impressed.

Over a couple of days I spent several brief runs of “spare time” dolling up the old drawings and making a new one. I don't know that they were improved by the attention, but I did get to spend some time creating art, or whatever it is that they are. 

At any rate, I intend to make this a regular thing once again! More regular than three days this time. I’m certain of it! Really.

The End

Three is Better Than One, I Hope!

Three illustrations! I'm not motivated enough this evening to work up a separate post for each one but I'm in the mood to clear the deck. So, to get them out of the way – one of them has been lurking in my "draft" list for over a year – I'll just line them up and knock them down.

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This was for a story about robots taking over the jobs of people at Amazon... I think. This is the one that's been lurking for a long time in my draft file. I can't find the pdf of the print version and a quick, half-assed web-search yields a bazillion stories about Amazon and robots and Amazon's underpaid, often shafted workers, but not this story. I shouldn't wait so long to post stuff!

Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop, I believe.

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The next illustration is for a story that ran just a week or two ago about the conspiracy theory consumers who have spent too much of their lives gazing into the abysmal internet and either pretend to believe or actually do believe some really stoopid crap. This time the deep-thinkers are sure that the California wildfires have been set by the secret cabal that includes the shadow government, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and so on.

I don't know. How secret can any cabal be if it's got Zuckerberg in it? At any rate, the illumi-nutty are sure Zuck's got satellites armed with lasers so he can start forest fires in California to help him rule the world that he kind of pretty much rules already.

The story, by the Mercury News' great science writer, Lisa Krieger, is here. She is, as always, measured, mature and insightful. That's why she writes and use I crayons and make pictures. If I were to write that story I would use the adjective "stoopid" at least twice in every paragraph. 

I'm not without sin; I am an eager audience for a good UFO or sasquatch story, but I don't believe any of that stoopid crap – well, I don't believe most of it. (Would anyone in 1967 think to put breasts on a gorilla suit, as seen in the Patterson film? That would have taken a mad kind of genius. But I digress.)

Drawn in Clip Studio Paint with a touch of Photoshop.

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This ran in early November with a story by Erin Baldassari, and you can read her fun story here. The Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission hosted a competition for ideas to help ease the horrible traffic situation in the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose areas. They received hundreds of submissions and Erin picks out some good ones that were a tad too outlandish work, although they might just the things to make it all better if life were more like a Looney Tunes cartoon. 

Drawn with Clip Studio Paint & minor Photoshoppery.

That's all folks!