Smile!

Here is my adoring dog as an etching.
It was a rough day, and I needed to draw something I care about. Her smile brings cheer to my gloom.
This is an etching done on a plastic plate - and then hand printed onto paper using classic etch printing techniques with my hand made press and water based ink.
She looks so nice, but you 'ought to see her chase them Zombies! She doesn't know which she likes to harass better, an unsuspecting cat, or a Zombie hopping walk on one leg, or even better, a Zombie Cat missing a leg!

Look out - he has a cook book!

There ya go. My first full page panel! I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be about before I did it. It kinda has to do with the fact I have been baking cookies on my car dashboard for the fun of it. Chocolate chip. I use a black ceramic bowl covered with saran wrap. It cooks about 8.5 hours. They are cooked all the way. But don't leave them too long after they cool. They get very hard. Otherwise, they are great!

Pure Zombie Hunter

OK. So here is the deal. I want attention!
Here I am out there hunting zombies all daylong, I have this blog, and all I put up is my doodles. You read the blog title and think zombie hunting comic. So where are the comics already?
Let's be honest, I have a real tough time drawing from imagination. So did Norman Rockwell. But, if I am realistic and patient with myself, maybe I can improve. So, Ill give it a shot and see if I can draw anything comprehensible. I do far better drawing from life. Cartooning might look simple, but it tougher than you think! Simplicity can be one of the greatest expressions of real skill.
My journey thru art has been rough. I don't know what is realistic to expect of myself. I had a mother who could draw PERFECT characters from imagination, and still thought she had no talent at all. It's humbling to have to work at it so hard when it was effortless for her. But it is also a journey thru myself as it reveals what I'm made of, my limitations and insecurities.
It is tough finding my own voice. My own place. And figuring out if my work means anything. I figure if anything I'll have a nice 'body of work' to leave my family who doesn't talk to me. It sure would be nice to find people in the here and now who get something from what I do.
I tried sharing my talent today when I got a baby shower card to sign for someone. I took a chance and did a cartoon baby saying "mom. enjoy your baby shower!" I don't think God gave me my talents to keep all to myself and not share with others. So, why not? Though it makes me squirm to think how it makes me stand out from the other folks who signed with the regular trite greeting card lines.

Oh, the pain! Anybody got some truth!?

It pains me to see the lies and distortions
concerning the looming US gov "default" &
the blatent power grabs and greed behind it.
You can get a gleaming of the truth here:
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/fundmastery/2011/07/12/the-u-s-treasury-will-not-default/
It's all just bullying tactics in my opinion.
an effort to scare everyone so we will glady
let them have all the money they wants!

Feeding on The Word

I was in a pen & ink mood today and drew this for fun. My desk at work. I have a pocket bible by the monitor. Hence the title.
A good cross hatch piece of art has a feel to it unlike any other. But I am finding a good drawing it more challenging than I thought. It takes thought and precision. Those two words generally don't describe me. I'm more random and global in my thoughts.
Comics are interesting and all, by my deeper appreciations is for fine art. Illustrative art. Comics are more interesting in their story telling ability. But artistically, illustrative art appeals to me more.
Didn't post over the weekend. I dusted off a solar panel I've had in storage and put it up again. It took alot of work. And it led to some melancholy remembrances of people that didn't work out.
You can have a relationship to a friend, and it might consume you and make you miserable, but when they are gone, man, there is a HUGE hole in the heart!
These are the things I turn to - to stay sane and get perspective, loose myself in art, and the Word of God.

Manga Men

Practicing manga style characters. And then some mouths.
The fact they are facing each other is just cause I had space on the left. But makes it interesting anyway

Pink Pearl and Pepper

Nothing like a cold glass or Dr. Pepper
with my trusty Pink Pearl for drawing it.
I read an excellent blog article about a student of Howard Pyle named Elizabeth Keeler Gurney.
It reminded me of some fundamental stuff about art that I have forgotten. The sheer intimacy that happens with the artist and the subject of their art. My best drawings come from really getting to know the thing I draw. Be it a mug of pop, a shirt laying over a chair, or face. To truely capture the thing, you have to know the thing, make it a part of you. and if you do, when later you view the art, that piece of it in your heart recalls the thing intensely.
The best quote from the article is this "The artist may have spent weeks upon the painting, yet it has little interest. We turn away, saying, ‘Very clever, but in heaven’s name why did he paint it?’”

Batman Sketch

I thought I would try my hand at Batman.
I didn't auto-leval it in order to leave it looking like a pencil sketch.

Ka-Zar Printed atlast!

Here is the finished print of my fan re-creation of the Ka-Zar panel. All of it etched & printed by hand. I even went so far as to prick each dot individually to make sure it came out right. I only used the wheel on the blue dots in the background. This is how I spent my fourth of July weekend. See older posts to see what the real panel looks like.I also spent the fourth trying to let my dog know the world wasn't ending in spite of the scary noises!

Happy Puppy

She looks so happy, doesn't she? A dog's unconditional love is a joy to be around!

Lifeguard & Ben Day

Here is this morning's practice sketch done in pencil.

Progress with Ka-zar:
In my quest for the perfect dots for my ka-zar challenge, I happened upon a little history about those little dots that fascinate me.
"Ben Day also ben·day or Ben·day (b n-d ). n. A method of adding a tone to a printed image by imposing a transparent sheet of dots or other patterns on the ..."
"Invented in 1879 by Ben Day for introduction of shading effects in line drawing and reproduction therefrom."
Currently, I am focusing on a grid of straight sewing pins through a plastic latch hook "canvas". One of the challenges is the pins aren't precisely all the same length. And the latch hook canvas is half the resolution I want (25 dpi).
According to the information I unearthed, comics back in the day had a very limited pallete which used only 25, 50 & 75 dot screens. So that is what I am limiting myself to.