Frank Hamer

Here is a quick drawing of Frank Hamer, Texas Ranger, the man who tracked down and wiped out Bonnie and Clyde.

Created with pencil and brush on very cheap paper. Colored with absolutely no enthusiasm in photoshop.


I've been finishing off a drawing pad that I've had for over 20 years and the paper is terrible. No wonder I never used it. But I've decided to get my money's worth out of it. Almost finished.

Quick Study and a Doodle

I'm totally in love with the work of Gene Colan. I've always been an admirer but I've recently been picking up some Daredevil and Tales of Suspense comics from the late 60s and early 70s out of the 1 and 2 dollar bins at the comic shop next to work; so I'm seeing a lot I've never seen before. He's absolutely brilliant. That word is used way too often, but it applies to Colan.

I've also snagged a bunch of his comics shopping online for about the same price. Classic comics and artwork for much less than the price of a new comic! I seriously can't afford new comics and I don't like them as much as I like the old stuff. I check out new comics at the library but they just don't appeal to me as much as the old books do.

Anyway, sometimes when I have ten minutes to spare before going to work I will do quick studies from photos or old comics. Most of them go to the trash, just because I don't get around to finishing them. The top panel I swiped from Colan a couple of weeks ago. Later, I freestyled the two characters below just to fill the spot. I was going to toss it out when I thought I'd color the thing and fill some space on the blog.

Here it is!

Drawing and Coloring Studies!

Last year I started writing/drawing a short story. Some portions I drew like a comic, some of it was written in sloppy longhand as a script/short story. I came close to finishing it, but I can't find a bunch of the pages! They must be around here somewhere.

I wonder if it might be too irritating to read one story presented in different formats. The beginning done in comics, the second part perhaps presented as a tv script with camera and stage directions included, and the final act written as though it were traditional prose fiction. Would the reader be able to follow the story over such an uneven surface?

In the moments since I finished the last sentence, I've thought of a few examples. Dang. For a moment I thought I had a brand new, innovative idea. Nah. I stole it.

Getting back to the first paragraph, I've been doodling around while thinking about my crudely concocted short story and it's re-shaping in my head. The pages I drew in comics form are still pretty good-- I'll probably post them later-- but the characters don't fit the mental images I have of them now.

So, here I'm experimenting a little with one of the characters and trying a variation on a coloring technique that I've used before.

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Pencil, pen on paper with Photoshop colouring.

Summer Fun Art

This illustration ran with a story about keeping the kids busy during summer. A lot of activities were covered and a broad topic can be a challenge for an illustration. In the end, I opted to focus on one image emblematic of the the story; it also is very representative of my best childhood summer memories.

During the summer my folks would drive me and my sister to a cousin's house and we would swim in a big pool for hours on end. It was a lazy, dreamy, wonderful time and I still think about floating in that pool, laying on the hot concrete, the smell of chlorine and the grass of the lawn. Ahhh. I'm there right now.

A really wonderful time. Mmm.


Okay, I'm back.

I had several ideas for this assignment before I zeroed in on the final presentation. In this rough, I addressed a few of the suggestions in the story, conjuring an iconography for them. I took a sort of aggressive tone with the main figures-- the father dragging the kid away from the video game, telling him to go outside and play, dammit.

I kind of like it! This could've worked.








This was my first rough. The story pitch mentioned a summer activity including a trampoline. I think, personally, a horrible idea. Has there ever been a more obviously dangerous thing to purchase for your kids? Has anyone ever bounced on a trampoline and come away uninjured? Awful, awful idea. Great opportunity for a fun image, though!

Still needs work, of course, but I like this!

So, this is the development of the final. I stole the kid in the foreground from the trampoline rough. It seems obvious to me that an attempt to get kids out and away from the TV/computer/entertainment console is going to be near impossible in this, the age of the laptop/iPod/Pad. Certainly, one of the little tech-addicts is going to bring his tech-toys with him. I certainly would. I certainly do.

I'm working on that, by the way. I don't bring the ipod with me when I'm out and about. I kept getting it out to check if I could log on to wi-fi wherever I happened to be. I wouldn't DO anything; I just kept checking to see if I could see the internet. I hate being that dumb.



At this stage I've finalized the characters and begun experimenting with an approach to the coloring process. First, I colored with simple, flat color. Then, I took those simple colors and overlaid them on a scan of paper that had been painted with a broad brush.

By using a combination of adjustment layers, I applied the texture to those colors. I then replaced the flat colors with the spiffy new, textured colors. I've done this before but it always takes a while to get it to look pretty good. There are some colors that behave entirely differently with the adjustment layers so I have to go through the process of tweaking each color to get it to look right. That's why I tried to keep the coloring simple in the first place.

What a headache.

At this point, I had gone a little wild. I got carried away because I had extra time to work on this and I was having fun. I decided that I would give each kid his own wave to be floating on.

I was really getting into it. But, as I was sorting through nearly 80 individual layers -- adding more waves and more adjustment layers as I tried to get it to look better -- I glanced back at the original rough.

Geez, I thought, that looked pretty good. Now, it looks like the kids are in rough seas; I'm almost worried about them. There should be a life-guard swimming in there somewhere to put the audience at ease.

So, I ditched the nonsensical turbulent water shtick and went back to the original pool. It was quick work from there.

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Bonus doodle: Here's the first drawing I did while brainstorming. I quickly colored it before bed the other night.

Everything done in Photoshop.

Bored Democrats

This ran in the paper a little while back; I can't take much credit for it, though.

The story was about the California Democratic party and a perceived lack of energy on their part heading into the election season; the bored Democrats. I'm all for donkey/elephant cartoons! A long-standing American tradition and one that I'm only too happy to carry on. I've done it MANY times.

This time, Chuck Todd-- King of the graphics department-- had a terrific little drawing mapping out this idea. Looked great! I tried to talk him into using his drawing, but he felt he didn't have the time to work it up properly, so I simply took his idea and drew it my way.

Easy stuff! Didn't even have to do any thinking! 

Roughed out in real pencil and then scanned and buried beneath photoshop coloring. Of course, the story goes into the box there. I'll try to dig up a pdf of how it turned out and post it later.

The Worst Thing I've Ever Done?

I almost feel pain when I look at this. It's taken me a while to confront this one, and writing about it has been very difficult. It's a traumatic experience I don't want to think about. But it's all about getting back on that horse, isn't it? So, here I go.

Sometimes you take a swing at something, like a fastball, and miss. Stee-rike. That's alright. Dig in, get ready for the next pitch.

Sometimes you swing at something -- like a pinata -- and you miss. Worse, you stagger when you swing, and flail three or four times amidst the screaming congregation. (Is that screaming or cheering? You can't tell. Keep swinging!) The pinata seems kind of soft when you club it. When you are finally knocked down and the blindfold is torn away by those who have subdued you, you do not see the cheerful sight you were anticipating. Instead there are bruises and welts and blood everywhere. Party over. No candy.

For this illustration I feel like I sorta clubbed the writer. What a crummy illo.

I work hard to make all of my work "good enough." I'm not saying that I strive for mediocrity, but there are times when things don't come together well. Maybe the concept isn't well-thought out, maybe the application of the idea isn't clear, maybe the subject doesn't inspire, maybe it's an off-day for drawing; an art slump. Still, the professional has to fight through those negatives and try to deliver a piece that is strong enough to stand on its own. At the very least you must try to hit close enough to the mark that nobody will be outraged. Well, I'm a little outraged by this one.

This was for a story about the resurgence of Betty White. All the elements that should buttress the story are there, aren't they? The crowd beneath, holding up the laptop, symbolizing the on-line campaign to persuade the producers of Saturday Night Live to have Betty White appear as host; the lotus flower, growing out of the laptop's screen, symbolizing re-birth of Betty White's popularity. Gag me. An awkward couple of concepts topped with a crummy caricature.

Does it even look like Betty White? At one point it did, but I think I managed to obliterate the resemblance as I went along.

As time was running out before deadline, I thought: "Geez, this looks lousy. I hope I can pull this thing together." I don't think I did. In desperation I pumped up the saturation of colors before I sent it; at least it would be colorful!

The End.

Meanwhile...

I've been trying to find the time to create some samples of comics pages. I used to write and draw stories, but for the past five years I've failed to make any progress. So, I sat myself down and sternly set the goal to create a comic page in a day. Three months later... I finally got there.

I haven't even been goofing around much. Really! I've been (almost) THAT busy.

There's not a lot going on here-- just a few simple shots so that I didn't get hung up on creating detailed environment. There was no story in mind when I started it-- although now I have one. Obviously, I won't get around to making the whole thing unless mankind's life-expectancy suddenly grows by a decade or two. It's not that great anyway; just a sci-fi/western thing with no real plot.

I had a great time writing the dialogue in ten syllable bursts (not strict iambic pentameter, tho-- I just made it fit the syllable count.) It took a couple of days to do that, but that was because the story was growing and sorting itself out while I wrote-- I kept changing things and writing notes and making doodles for the rest of the story on a couple pieces of paper.

The writing took much longer than the picture-making. I'd guess there's about 7/8 hours drawing time here and about the same for coloring.

I stole the general layout from Steranko-- I've seen a couple of examples where he's done this: Full-length figure going top to bottom, and three panels falling down on the right.

Because it's bothering me so much, I'm compelled to write this: I am not a fan of word balloons done in vector and laid on the artwork after-the-fact. I dislike that a LOT. I much prefer to see the balloons drawn on the page, so I cringe and weep when I seen them all over my work. Is it resistance to change? I don't think so-- I hated it the first time I took notice of it and that animosity has not diminished. So, maybe it is resistance to change! Either way, it sure it quicker and easier to make adjustments on the fly. I see the appeal, but I despise the look.

I hope to do more pages for fun and portfolio, soon!

The End

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A Very Slow Month

And by slow I mean not much art has been getting done. Horribly busy.

I've mentioned my second job before, but I don't think I got around to saying what it actually is. I've been teaching an online class for the Academy of Art. I enjoy it a lot. It's very rewarding personally, but it is time intensive.

Billiam Franzem

The online environment is interesting and effective if the students are studious and committed; they're pretty much on their own when it comes to doing the work. It's not like a real classroom situation where I have face to face contact-- if someone doesn't turn in their homework in person I can raise the eyebrow at them, let them know that ain't right. Online, you don't have those loaded non-verbal weapons to use on the slacking student. Perhaps there's an emoticon for that...

A simplified description of the class is:

1) Students read the lessons online, and they get a homework assignment that pertains to what they've read. There is one lesson for them a week, which also involves a quiz pertaining to that lesson.

2) I answer questions the students may have about what they have read; they often come up with some real puzzlers, so I have to know what I'm doing... or I have to scramble quick and go find the answers.

3) The homework is submitted to a message board where I critique and encourage, with the students (hopefully) joining in and doing the same. In effect, I am a message board moderator that all participants sort of feel they have to be nice to. Pretty good situation!

I stray off-topic a bit and try to get some chatter going about... whatever. Mostly art, of course, but I think it gets pretty dull when we only type about homework. I try to turn it into the art-conversation forum I would like to post in.

All kidding aside it is a lot of fun, and I feel great about it when I see a student progress and improve over the semester. Can't beat it.

It does, as I said, take a lot of time, but this week is the last for me until the Summer semester begins (although I'm not sure if I'm going to do it-- I feel like I need to get some personal artwork going again! I'd rather take time off from my real job, but reality intercedes...) I have a couple of household projects that need to be addressed, but I hope to get in some artwork, too.

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Oscar Fentwick Zimm

These heads have been sitting here for some time, ready to go. I started to write a story about them, but I realized the story wasn't about either of these guys; so, I drew a couple more pictures for the story and the story grew.

I'm still working on that post. Should be done soon.

So, here are these heads. No story, but at least I gave them names.

Pencil, brush and P-shop.

The African Yorkshire Terrier

In the early 1900s it became fashionable for adventurous souls in the upper-crust of western society to travel to Africa -- the Dark Continent -- for the thrill of hunting on safari. It was not uncommon for the more daring women of the time to accompany their men into the wilds of that uncivilized land.

Many of these refined ladies brought along some of the accoutrements of their fashionably pretentious lives to make the hardships of the safari less traumatic. It was not unusual to come upon an encampment to find a wind-up Victrola playing wax records or a full-length mirror set up inside a woman's tent. A very popular comfort for the ladies was the companionship of a lap dog. Sadly, a number of these domesticated and defenseless critters wandered away from the safety of their campsites and were tragically lost to the perils of the savage land -- or so it was thought.

During the past decade, from the remaining wildernesses of Africa, there have been reports of large packs of very small dogs lurking in the jungles and roaming on the veldt. These accounts were not given credence until recently, as the frequency of these sightings has increased, and the carcasses of several beasts -- victims riddled with hundreds of tiny, vicious bite-marks --  have been studied.

The few human witnesses to the attacks of the African Yorkshire Terrier describe the dogs as swarming and overwhelming their prey much in the manner of the piranha. It appears there is little defense against the quick, painful, skin-pinching bites and high-pitched yapping as they circle and confuse their quarry.

So far there have been no known human victims. Why not? It seems odd considering their seemingly fearless attacks on water buffalo, hippos, and even the occasional lion. Scientists have not yet been able to study these resourceful beasts but the popular theory is that they still retain the instincts that cause their domesticated cousins to fear being stepped on by someone with heavy shoes.

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Acrylic painting and story by me, about 12 years ago.

Old Newspaper Illustration Plus One Doodle

Gosh, I don't remember the particulars of the story that I did this drawing for. I don't think it was the centerpiece; more likely something to fill up space after the jump. Maybe they didn't even use it.

I think it the story had an incident wherein the ball ended up in a gopher hole in the outfield and the fielder had to drop his mit and actually dig like crazy to get the ball back. I wish I could say he got it out and threw the runner out at home, but that would be a lie.

That would make a good story to go with this, tho. I might re-type this later and spiff it up with a pleasant fib.

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 I've had this doodle floating around for years! Always kind of liked it, but I didn't know what to say about it. I have no idea where it came from. It's mine, but I'll be darned if I could tell you a thing about it.

I posted it in draft mode when I first started this blog-thing. It just sat there. Didn't know what to say. Eventually I deleted it. It was too hard to think of something.

Well, it was parked in a folder next to the above drawing. Now, it sorta has a story. The doodle that would not go away.