3 Works 4 Work

The paper I work at, the Contra Costa Times, has quite the rapport with its readers. In my short time here we have, on a few occasions, invited readers to submit creative pieces of their own, based on a given theme, and they have delivered some brilliant, funny stuff.
...Last month, our readers were challenged to come up with their own faux musical theater productions. I did drawings for the three favorites.
...I would post the submitted lyrics, but I'm blogging out here on my little blogspot island without any official authorization and I don't want to cause any trouble for work or any stress for the people who submitted their pieces. I'll just paraphrase what they're about:
...
Manifesto! The People's Musical
This was for a funny submission about Mr. Marx trying to come up with a name for his book. I wanted to put a crowd of people below, cheering him on-- Karl was singing with an energetic chorus in the reader's piece-- but I had a lot of drawing to do already. So, this!
...Not too effective on it's own and probably a reference to "Peter Pan" that I could have communicated more clearly.
...Over the years I've used the theatrical "Peter Pan" reference in about half a dozen works. Any time somebody uses the the word "theater" I picture Sandy Duncan on a rope spinning helplessly out of control while people sing and dance below, probably secretly hoping that she doesn't get sick up there. (At an impressionable age they ran advertisements for the play during cartoons, perhaps trying to trick all of us into thinking it would be just like Disney's Peter Pan. I wanted to go until they told me Duncan was playing the lead. A girl playing Peter Pan? Pass.)
...
Goodfellas: The Musical
I've probably mentioned it before but I don't have a lot of confidence in my caricatures. I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out, though. Joe Pesci was my favorite of the 3 until I added the hat; for some reason he stopped looking like Joe Pesci to me. Oh, well.
...

The Sound of An Inconvenient Truth
Ha! The music from "The Sound of Music" with new lyrics, it's all about the changing climate etc.
...I used to do the occasional editorial cartoon when I worked at the Oakland Tribune, so I could scratch out a Gore, or a Bush, or an Arafat now and then. I haven't had that opportunity in a long time but drawing this took me back to those days.
...It's fun to make fun of politicians! Republicans! Democrats! They all make me laugh! Some more than others, it's true, but let's not get into that here.

Drawn with pencils, scanned with a scanner and colored inside a futuristic computer!

The End!
.

Part 1: Some Animals

Last week I helped put together a graphic that featured several animals from the Contra Costa County area. These were my favorites.
Presenting: The Alameda Whipsnake, the Red-Legged Frog, the Western Pond Turtle and the Golden Eagle.
Painted in photoshop.

Part 2: The Graphic Itself

Chuck Todd, (King of the Graphics Department) did the map and layout. I researched, painted and came up with the blurbs.

If I'd had more time I would have given the map a more painterly treatment, and probably done something more attractive with the background.

Web Heads

When I'm trapped behind my desk and I have the idle moment, I'll occasionally image-search for mug shots and do quick sketches. Until recently these were committed to stickies which would then be used to dispose of my gum. I'm trying to save some of this stuff now.
...It's amazing how many different faces there are, isn't it? Almost every face I reference has something about it which makes me pause and think "I never thought of that before!" It could be the fold of an eyelid, the swoop of an eyebrow, the fall of a jowl. . . it can be a lot of fun learning from the most basic of observations.
...When I draw from my head-- freestyle, so to speak-- and I'm not concentrating on trying something new, I tend to draw faces, figures, caricatures that are similar to all of the other faces, figures and caricatures that I've drawn freestyle before. As a cartoonist susceptible to my all-too-human nature I will fall into that rut because I'm familiar with how to draw those things; I know I can get things to look the way I want them to look.
...So, at the moment I'm worrying about developing a cartoonist's shorthand that will limit the variety of faces that I can come up with; drawing from mug shots (and, of course, real life) encourages me to consider other solutions.
...A few of my favorite cartoonists seem to have a very limited range of faces or figures, and while that doesn't take away from my admiration for their work, I imagine that expanding their visual vocabulary could only help. I believe in some cases they may have chosen less variety because time constraints or because it's a comfortable and recognizable style, which is fine; for myself I would like to be able to scratch out a completely distinctive character every time. Long way to go on that, I know.
...These are fairly faithful caricature attempts.

The End.

The Walrus

I've always been a big Beatle fan. As a young boy with artistic aspirations I probably drew as many pictures of Lennon & McCartney as I did of Spider-Man.

One fun thing about my job is I occasionally find myself doing something that I had hoped to do when I was a kid. I fantasized drawing the cover for Revolver 2, the album the lads would make when they got back together. Alas, that will never be.

But here I was able to scratch out a big old Paul for the cover of the A&E section, accompanying a story about Starbucks and Sir Paul teaming up. It was a bit of a rush job, and I completed it in about one shift (with an extra hour or two thrown in from the previous evening.)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Perhaps it's a little too "Mark Ryden," but it wasn't intentional!

Painted in photoshop with illustrator helping out on the tablecloth and McCartney's radiance.

My latest McCartney album? Run Devil Run. GREAT stuff on there.

The End
.

Play Ball!

It's that time of year! I don't follow baseball like I used to, and I haven't been to a game in more than five years, but I listen to the Giants and A's on the radio. Nothing like a day at the ballpark, even if you're just sitting in your car.
...This ran as the cover to the special section for this season. I was looking at a picture of Zito when I created the figure.

More Head Sketchbook Sketches

I like those Pitt brush pens, they really are a terrific tool. How easy they make it to go out sketching, and it's nice to have a brush you can pull out for a quick scribble and, just like that, put the cap back on and go on your way.
...This morning I took the time to pull out the bottle of ink and a winsor & newton #3 brush. I did a quick, loose sketch and then switched over to the w&n. My first jab into the bottle was too deep, drenching the ferrule and almost hitting the handle. Wow, I thought, how long has it been since I've done this?
...Long time.
...This is the way to work, though. You may not be able to tell by looking at my modest doodle-- alas, it does not improve my drawing-- but there is a certain quality to working with wet ink that adds Quality. My bottle of ink is old and thick, so it's akin to laying down a shellac, but it sits so nicely on the paper and it his a texture that you can't get with a brush pen.
...I really like working this way again. Another step away from my total dependence on the computer.

the end.

Sketchbook Heads

I have this cat and he goes by the name of Mr. Quincy. He is a rather fussy gentleman, and not much of a gentleman in the traditional sense of the word, but he is a good friend and therefore I try not to speak ill of him.
...He is very conversational. He often approaches me with a high-riding tail and a comment or two. I will reply with a greeting of my own and I'll ask how he is doing. In response he will growl tiredly, and bump his forehead to my shinbone, or commit a smooth slide along the side of my leg, ending with a gentle tail wrap.
...Our conversations are constant. I will say something about the weather. He won't understand but out of courtesy he will pretend he does, and offer a few words which I won't understand. Perhaps it is advice about the frequency of feeding times, perhaps he is forgiving me for the bath I subjected him to yesterday, perhaps he is suggesting that it would be nice for the two of us to go sit in the ivy on the patio and watch the hummingbirds.
...I'd like to think he approves of me, but I don't have any proof that his concerns go too far beyond the obvious despair he feel when his bowl is empty.
...He is a very prominent fixture in my world and he creeps into my dreams and into my sketchbooks. There he is again, damn cat.
...Pencil sketch, scanned and given a ten-minute color job.
This is an assortment of heads. Nobody in particular. Pen, brush and ink with a little bit of white goache because I got carried away with the ink.
...There was a great temptation to fiddle with the drawing after scanning it. When I over-inked, I shrugged and thought "eh, I'll fix it in photoshop." It's bad enough I'm coloring some of these on the computer.
...Which reminds me; I did apply watercolor to one of my drawings but the paper doesn't take to it to well, and the drawing was pretty weak. It shall not appear.

Sketch Heads

...Presenting a couple more head doodles.
...I may be cheating a little bit here– if there is such a thing as cheating in this– because the coloring in today's second drawing is digital, as was the applied color in the previous post.
...My intention was not to fuss over these drawings, but when it comes time to upload them I have this flinching of the soul that motivates me to stain them in hopes of improving them. I will try to keep that in check but I am very much too human and I will probably keep on fussing anyway.
...No reference was used for either doodle, although the second one was based on the dim memory of some cat I saw in a coffee shop. No, he didn't really wink at me.

The End.

Sketchbook Project Underway (again)

...I have never been good at keeping a sketchbook. Rotten at it. There's something about all of those blank pages waiting right underneath the one I'm working on. They speak to me and say things like "hurry up!" and, "You'll never be able to draw this many!"
...I have quite a collection of sketchbooks with the first five to ten pages filled with drawings and then 100, 200 blank pages. If you look in at the gutters you can usually find the remnants of pages I've torn out; the offending pages ripped and tossed for fear that someone would see the horrible scribblings I've managed to put to paper.
...My wonderful wife purchased for me, this past Valentine's Day, TWO sketchbooks. Yes. Two.
...One is a moleskine with watercolor paper in it, about 30, 40 sheets. I'm not really big on watercolor and it looks so nice right now. I fear to lay down that first stroke, I fear to splash that first droplet of watercolor.
...The other sketchbook has less intimidating paper in it, to be sure, but he is thick and dense. Two hundred pages? Possibly. He does go on. There is one of those little ribbons sticking out of the spine, so that you can mark your place if you should have to put it down in the middle of a drawing and come back to that spot later without a lot of flipping of the pages. He gives this air that he is something fine but he does not fool me.
...He is nothing without me. So it is he I will first try to conquer.
...I think I will just fill it with heads. Head studies, as in head #1 here, and made up heads, #2. I will try to deface a page or two every day.
...Onward!

The end