greatest hits again

I think Joel was a senior at Bard when he announced that he was volunteering at the local prison, teaching the inmates philosophy.

Immediately, this great image came into my head; huge thugs, crack heads, murderers, gangsters, etc. all sitting around a classroom with little, defenseless Joel commanding their attention. I can just imagine the heated discussions, like, "That guy, Ludwig Wittgenstein didn't know #($*%& about how the world works!!!" I prayed that the discussions never over heated, because Joel would have been an easy target.

But, no!! He commanded their respect and everything went very smoothly. The inmates were eager to learn!! As it turns out, Joel is showing a definite talent for this kind of thing, and is looking at getting a teaching credential, with an emphasis on special-needs kids!! It is always amazing, the things in our lives that spur us on to greatness.

Anyway, this toon is a fun depiction of my first image of teaching in a prison...

staying home

This was on our '03 calendar, and I like this toon because it captures the essence of living at our house. It is very easy to just stay home!! We have nature running past our doorstep at about 100-800 cubic feet per second!! The river running past our house adds soooo much wildlife, and entertainment. When it is warm enough, our favorite thing is having that cup of coffee sitting on our deck watching the birds, river, dogs, cat,and anything else that wanders by. Plus, Chris has done such an amazing job landscaping our house that it is fun to watch what flowers are blooming, and what vegetables are getting ready to pick. I absolutely love where I live, and I think this toon really nails that. Even though the dogs in the drawing look a little wierd, you can still tell that they are relaxed and happy lying on the deck. Everything about the drawing reinforces a relaxed enjoyment of nature. That is what our house is all about!

greatest hits again

After our amazing trip to Nepal, we had to get the house ready for a wedding!! We had the wedding in our own yard, and I must say...it was gorgeous!! So, I tried a couple of different compositions to show the wedding, and didn't like any of them. I finally just decided to draw the whole thing. So, I looked over our numerous photos, and tried to include everyone in the drawing. So, if you were at the wedding, look for yourself in this toon. You should be there. If you can't find yourself, let me know. This is a little like "find waldo".

preview of calendar

This is a preview of the upcoming calendar. It is also the drawing that I submitted with my essay about becoming a 4th degree black belt. My poor honey has been sooooooo tolerant with me playing "master tae kwon do" for the last nine years!!
By the way...the test went well!

architectural novel

I ran into one of my sketchbooks, and in it I found a bunch of drawings I did back a number of years, which made me almost want to do a comic strip. I had the background figured out. It happened when we had one of our really good electrical storms, and all the computers in the area had to be unplugged, or risk getting fried. Phone lines went dead. It was interesting. So, I came up with this...

That concept spawned the following development for a story line. Yep, the character sounds a little familiar, but stuck in a no-win situation. At least I am not stuck designing door knobs!! So, this is my image of what it would be like working in a large architectural firm. Not my cup of tea.

So, I put the two ideas together, and came up with this little ditty below. It has some fun potential for a continuing story...perhaps a graphic novel?? The concept I like here is showing how removed from Mother Nature our society has become, and how one instant of anger from Mother Nature, and we are TOAST!! Whether it is a bolt of lightning, a hurricane Katrina, or a psunamie. Perhaps there is something to be said about living in harmony with mother nature...

greatest hits #2

I just love this drawing because of the fun time we had paddling the lower Columbia River. We stayed at Skamokawa, on the Washington side of the river, and paddled up stream from there, and down stream, to the beach where Lewis and Clark holed up for a whole winter, near the mouth. Our trip was guided, and the guide liked bird-watching. But at the same time, we could see the landscape, and paddled through some old indian villages. That's what those funny looking palm trees you see in the drawing are, old pilings from buildings that had been built over the water, and the tops were rotted off, and ferns had been growing them. They were all over the place!! The birding was great, and obviously, we saw some bald eagles that were spectacular!

topo duo

Hold the presses!! I found a bunch of old sketch books from years gone by this last weekend, while cleaning out the guest bedroom. This drawing is one of my favorites.


Two kayakers, in a Topo-Duo, in a very UN-harmonious situation. Yes, dear reader, I draw from experience. Chris and I have paddled the Topo-Duo down just about every major river in the West, including Middle Fork Salmon, Main Fork Salmon, Colorado through the Grand Canyon, the Rogue, Deschutes, Umpqua, McKenzie, and I don't remember where else... There have been times when I order us to paddle somewhere, and Chris has told me in no uncertain terms...."NO!" At one point, we were going to paddle back into a rapid to help out a raft that was lodged on a rock. As I paddled forward, Chris was paddling backward!! She wasn't going to have anything to do with that nonsense! That was the episode that spawned this drawing.

I think I have learned over the years, that this is a team effort, and both parties need to be in agreement before anything gets done. At least I hope I have learned...maybe not...our latest adventure in the Topo was on the Rogue, and we ended up going over lower Grave Creek falls upside-down, dragging both our heads over the rocks; all because I thought I could make a spiffy move above the drop. I forgot to include Chris in this decision.
Old dog, new tricks??? hmmmmmmm

Pendleton Roundup

Here's a fun one, just because it exudes excitement and motion. Besides, cowboys are just plain fun to draw!! This is from my '95 calendar, "Welcome to Oregon". It featured fun things to do or watch throughout the state of Oregon . This drawing represented the Pendleton Roundup, which has gotten to be quite the event, attracting pro rodeo cowboys from all over the country. I haven't been to see it yet, but have heard that it is really fun. Hopefully I will get to see it b.i.d. (before I die).

first greatest hits

So, I have begun working on the calendar for 2011!! Wow, I have been doing this for a long time! My first calendar was in 1994, so that's 17 calendars I have put together. So, I thought it might be fun to do a "greatest hits" series of posts. I will be selecting my favorite drawings, for whatever reason.

My first "greatest hit" is this series from a wonderful trip to Nepal, back in the '03 calendar, which means we were there in '02. I chose to post both these drawings because they were in the same calendar, and were from the same trip. And what a trip it was!! Lindsay did an amazing job of planning our itinerary. She was there for 6 months or so, while our trip was to visit her for 2 weeks. Wow, hiking, paddling, more paddling, riding elephants, bird watching, shopping,and tons more!! So, two highlights were riding elephants, and, believe it or not, battling leeches during our 4-day trek. Our elephant ride really did come face to face with a rhinoceros!! Quite a stand off. Fortunately, our elephant won the argument. Then the battle of the leeches wasn't necessarily a good highlight, but certainly something all of us will remember.

I think these toons really capture the feeling of the time, and have a spot of humor as well. They were colored with my felt markers, which is less formal and precise than Photoshop, but a lot of fun to work with. So, the feeling that these toons evoke from me make them one of my "greatest hits."

pygmy owl

I found this one in my archives, and although it never made it to the calendar, it catches a fun theme. Pygmy owls are, as their name implies, really small. Mean, but small. When one landed at our pond, there was actually a pretty big hub-bub. The other animals that come to our pond were pretty agitated. But this LITTLE bird, being a bully and hunter was an interesting juxtaposition. So, that is what spawned this sketch. I am sure the Pygmy Owl has a short person complex.

happy birthday

My wife's birthday was two days ago, and I did a crappy job of addressing it. I was too wrapped up in my own affairs to pay it much attention. Not a good way to keep a healthy relationship!!

It is not that I didn't care, but I didn't take the active role in making it a special day for her. So, it ended up being just another day. Even after all these years, birthdays are special, and need to be treated as such. So, to those readers who are new to the business of relationships, remember to remember your better half's birthday, and do something special with him/her. It is now too late for me to make my better half's birthday special, but watch out for next year!!! and the year after!!!! and the year after that!!!

So, this little toon is simply posted to tell my honey that I really do love her, and once again wish her a happy birthday...even if I didn't do right.

downtown banners

All right Everybody!!! I get to honk my own

horn!!! This is a photo of banners I drew for the Bend Downtown Association. These are up all over downtown. Another company did the graphic layout, but the cartoons are MINE!!! It is always fun to fantasize, and think that maybe I am getting famous. Anyway, these toons show some fun whimsey, and I am always into fun whimsey! So, come to Bend and see my posters!

House in Miranda

Every once in a while, my drawings overlap with my
profession, designing houses.
This is a drawing from my sketchbook. I was at my sister-in-law's house up in the hills of Humbolt Co., and had some time to spare. So, I decided to sketch her house. It is a different looking house, obviously vintage 70's hippy-style. It is very cool, though, with a lot of beautiful redwood. Anyway, I think I caught the essence of the design well, and it reads very clearly also. It is fun to look through old sketchbooks and come across little gems like this.

good wolf vs bad wolf

This is a drawing I did for a book of fables that I helped
create for my tae kwon do instructor and the owner of the gym. I illustrated a whole compilation of stories. It was a lot of fun, and Master Graff has used the book a lot since, reading the fables to his students at the end of class. It is very rewarding to know he uses the book.
This fable is of a native american grandfather who is telling his grandson about two wolves, one very good wolf, and one evil wolf. The grandson asks, "Which wolf is stronger?" The grandfather replies, " Whichever wolf you feed more."

think about it....

My friend, Judy, asked for a couple of drawings that showed a person who is somewhat overweight, but not really fat to represent her marketing for a product called "Heavy Hands." That presented a challenge for me, because that meant that I had to accurately depict a character to fit a description!!! I have never been good at boundaries.

So, I worked it out with my middle aged character, Flora (see Bob and Flora post 11/30/2009). I think I captured her essence quite nicely. Her character is getting further developed. She is still cute, but certainly middle aged, overweight, and no sense of style. But you gotta like her. She just oozes, "Nice".

Then I added my new character, a young lady, again overweight, but not seriously. She is a pseudo-jock, and wants to work out. She is even using "heavy hands".

I drew these as pen and ink, then scanned them to color them in Photoshop. Again, I think it worked out quite nicely.

wrong turn

I don't know if I have already said this, but I drew toons for a running magazine published here locally. This is one of the toons, illustrating a story about a marathon runner who missed his turn and ended up somewhere out in the boondocks! He obviously ran more than the 26 mile marathon. I liked the composition with the high-tech (exhausted) runner, contrasting the relaxed, pipe-smoking hillbilly. Then, colored in photoshop created some fun depth. A short stint as a professional toonist!!

discovering gravity

Okay, it has been pointed out to me that I have already posted "Chemo-girl." So, I was just reviewing a little bit so you don't lose track of what I have done!

Now this toon was a special present for Joel on his 21st birthday. I researched and placed many quotes from his favorite philosophers. It is acutally kinda hard to read, but my goal was to use the written portion to create visual texture. I think I accomplished that, but this would be a good concept to try again sometime. I really like the character, walking along, pondering the cosmos, about to discover that gravity works (falling apple). He is rather R. Crumb-ish.

The concept is really quite simple, but one can spend a long time looking at it, trying to get the quotes. By the way, my favorite quote is by R. Crumb himself. Try to find it.

chemo-girl

Here is one of my photo shop toons. I had this printed on a t-shirt for my sister-in-law to help her spirits while going through chemo-therapy.

I really like this because it is empowering, bright, shows a lot of action, and just makes me feel warm and fuzzy!!! How hip can you get, while losing all your hair, and one breast???!!!! This is hip!!

the photo shop coloration really helps punch out the colors, and shows the third dimensional quality, the roundness of the figure.

Fun stuff...

tae kwon do kick

So, it is high time I update my tons of toons. I scanned in a couple of fun images. This is one of them. This was drawn about 6 years ago, when Maryn and I were both red belts in tae kwon do. Obviously, this is a portrait of me holding the board while Maryn executes a great running side kick. Yes, it is exciting to jump and kick a board, but is also exciting to be the board holder!!! Fortunately, Maryn's kick was precisely in the middle of the board, and my fingers lived to hold another board!!
This image grabs me because of the action, and the shadowing of the primary characters. But it also shows distance by including the masters, who are the ones giving the test. Those are the three guys sitting at the table in the background.
These belt tests were always nerve-wracking and exciting, and the board breaks were full of victories and failures. There were countless young students who did not break their board, but would tear-up as their hands or feet would quickly hurt like hell!! The key was to regroup, breathe, think about the technique to get the job done, and DO IT!!! Not so easy when your hand feels like it has been broken into a hundred little pieces.

whitewater rodeo

Right now, all the rivers are up, and flushing tons of water eagerly to the sea!! I am looking forward to hearing my friend Robert's tales of adventure on the Bruneau/jarbridge river in Idaho. It was flowing at over 2x the recommended flow...ooh, exciting!!

AND I AM MISSING IT!!!

So, with that in mind, I thought I would post my image of a whitewater rodeo at Bob's Hole, on the Clackamas River in Estacada, near Portland. When I drew this toon, rodeo's consisted of jumping into a nasty hole, and trying to look cool...a smile...twirl your paddle...some have even juggled balls while riding sideways in the hole. Today, the dynamic is completely different. Now, it is how many acrobatic tricks can you do in the hole...cartwheels, flips, etc. Crazy stuff they are doing now. As for me, I just try to survive while in a hole like Bob's Hole. It is scary stuff!!

Enjoy the spring runoff!!

mom

I haven't posted a blog in waaay too long. Too many things going on. Mostly, helping Mom pass into the next existence. It wasn't easy to watch her wither away. Now she is gone.

After her passing, I had a chance to go through some of the old pictures in her albums that were hidden in every nook and cranny in her house. I am looking forward to going through all the other scrap books that are scattered around. Anyway, I found this photo, which I love. Mom is 19 in this picture, before she married Dad. I believe this was taken during her first "date", a trial run on Dad's boat, "Carola". She is so gorgeous!! and full of life!! She remained so full of life, right up to the end.

I will miss her...

tae kwon do

Here's another toon from my days at Berkeley, working with whoever it was that had some good ideas. I mentioned him in one of my posts awhile ago. This caught my eye as I was going through my archives because, as it turns out, I am now very into Tae Kwon Do!! Go figure!

This drawing is my imitation of a New Yorker cartoon, kind of nondescript. You have to look deep to get the humor. The punch line is in the sign in the window. I hope you can read it. If you can't, let me know.

An interesting sidebar here: UC Berkeley is host to the oldest Tae Kwon Do tournament in the United States. It started in 1973. That is just about the same time that Tae Kwon Do spread outside Korea!! Oh, wait...it was also about the time I was at UC Berkeley!! If I had gotten into it back then, instead of 8 years ago, I would be an uber-experienced grand master by now. Funny how things work out like that. Of course, I had a lot of other fun experiences in Berkeley during that time....

Joel's back saga

It has been a while since I posted, but I finally got inspired!! This toon is from our calendar, 2007. In 2006, Joel had a whole bunch of hardware inserted into his back to straighten out his scoliosis, and we all thought that everything would be wonderful, and he would be straight upright, and everything would be rosey, and the weather would be sunny from now on, and there would be peace on earth!! This toon gives a direct quote from Joel's doctor at the time! I added the nut and bolt lying on the table later, because, as it turned out, the operation didn't work, and it BROKE (and there was no peace on earth, and it still rains)!! He had hardware floating around willy-nilly in his back, just waiting to poke into his vertebrae, and damage his central nervous system. Needless to say, it has been a difficult few years for all of us, but especially for Joel, who has been in pain the whole time, dealing with broken hardware on two occasions, and fighting back infections. Well, as of this last week, I am pleased to announce that all that hardware that was in his back, now lies in a glass jar, and for the first time in four years, Joel is relatively without pain!! He is now back in his home in Urbana, Illinois, recovering from his recent surgery, and fighting off the infection he has been carrying in his back for the last four years. GO JOEL!!! We are all rooting for you! You rock!!

Deer battles

As I was sipping coffee this morning, gathering my strength to face the day, three healthy deer walked past our window, just outside the fence line of our garden. I figure that as long as they are outside the fence, I'm okay with them. When they get inside the fence, then I have to deal with them.

Anyway, between the deer and the time of year and the fact that everyone is thinking about gardening, I thought I would post this little ditty about gardeners battling deer. I did this poster for Heart-Springs Design, a wonderful landscape design firm that I have worked with for the last 20 years. My wife has worked for them for about the last 5 years. A very creative and talented group. Anyway, the owner of Heart-Springs gives a lot of seminars, and one of the topics was, "How to make a deer-proof garden". So, she needed some artwork for the class, and Voila!!

It is always a challenge to make deer look evil, but I think the grimace worked pretty well. And with each character wearing boxing gloves, they are on a level playing field, in that neither one has the advantage. I think that is pretty reflective with the reality of gardens here in deer-country. It certainly seems like we are always battling the deer without gaining the upper hand.

This is a fun toon, again drawn in pencil. It has a brightness to it that exudes fun.

I overlaid this drawing on a starry background, with a comet tail behind the kayaker, and titled it "to infinity and beyond!" I have lost that one, though. Damit! When I find it, I will post the whole thing. Meanwhile, enjoy this piece of it.

surfing in the 70's

Here's another from deeeeeep within the archives. In the late 60's and early 70's, I was getting very into surfing. At that time, Rick Griffin was a pretty regular contributing cartoonist for Surfer Magazine. He had developed the famous surfing character, "Murphy".


Well, about this time, his "cartoons" became real pieces of art. You can Google the guy and see a lot of his posters of the 60's and 70's, as well as posters from today. Somewhere within this span of time, he found God, but that's another blog...

His art is unbelievably wonderful though, so I spent some time trying to create that graphic presentation. So, this example is an attempt using just the old colored felt tip pens and regular notebook paper. I am sure I did this during one of my really boring classes in high school. You can see that the paper has started to decay as you can see the brown area in the upper lefthand corner. This is only one of many pages, which I will post sometime soon.

Surfing and cartoons....another wonderful combination!!

bungee jumping

This is a fun toon from one of my earlier calendars. Bungee jumping has always struck me as a little bit suicidal. Basically, I think it is nucking futs!! But there is also a part of me that thinks, "Wow, that would be a rush!!"

So, I think this character's face really captures that sense of terror, with a bit of exhillaration. And everyone in the background is having a good laugh at his expense.

I also like the perspective of this composition. The guys on the bridge are an integral part of the total composition, but are way in the background. So, we have a pretty long depth-of-field to this one. It is also an inaccurate perspective in order to get the pieces to all work together. In other words, while the guy jumping is directly above you, the bridge in the background had to be off to the side so you could see the people standing there watching. But, with cartoons, you can bend the rules...

I really like drawing toons...

various sketches

This entry represents something that I REALLY need to do more of...simply going out and sketching people, things, whatever!!

When Chris had her store, I used to be able to go with her to different markets, and while she was busy in the various convention centers buying children's clothing, I would be wandering about aimlessly with my sketchbook. It can be a bit frustrating, but sometimes very rewarding. The frustration comes when either what you draw doesn't look anything like what you are observing, or you create a wonderful sketch, and your subject leaves just before you finish it. To eliminate this second form of frustration, I got pretty good at "fast sketching", a process of getting the gist of the subject on paper as fast as possible, then filling in the details at my leisure.

You can see from these sketches that the subject that is the most developed is the architectural post. You might think that is because I have a background in architectural forms and features. You would be wrong! That capital is well-developed because it couldn't leave before I was done sketching it!! Yep...inanimate objects can be very rewarding as well!

Here's another from my whitewater calendar of 1994. I believe this one was also published in Paddler Magazine, which was then called River Runner. Anyway, I later experienced some rough sea kayaking at Wilapa Bay, and I had about as much fun as the guy in the back seat in this toon. Not much!!! The only difference was that Chris, who was in the front seat was having WWAAAAAY less fun than the guy in this toon. Sea kayaking in rough conditions just isn't that much fun!! It is a lot of work!

it is easier than it looks

I kinda hate to post this one, cuz now the secret is out...the guy in the stern really doesn't work very hard. I am sure we are important, as the cartoon states, we have all the control of the boat from back there. But we certainly don't work very hard!! This toon obviously has some self portrait similarities, only this one includes my honey, who has faithfully paddled the front position for years. By God!! She sure keeps my boat moving forward!!

sketchbook revisited

Again, one of the fun things about sketch books is that you can draw anything...even photos out of magazines. So, I found this photo of Jenny McCarthy in People magazine and gave it a shot. She looks a little creepy here, but there are some aspects of this drawing that do capture her....oh, like the big mouth...Then of course I have to include a "Mr. Snoid"-like character to make comment, or, in this case, a bug. That bug, by the way, is the same bug that became the logo for Gyminy Crickets, my wife's baby movement class she ran in here a gizillion years ago. That character always comes in handy.

Register to Vote

Another toon from the archives...about 1975...

I think we all know who this character is....

This reaches back to my "activist" days at Berkeley. I tell you, I will use any excuse to draw another toon!! This is certainly one of my best charicatures. Nixon was an easy mark, though, and I think I caught his essence pretty well. Caricatures are definitely NOT my forte. I have tried to draw them a few times, with very limited success. The key is to find the character's most prominent attributes, and exaggerate them. I should try Obama's attributes. He has a lot of very distinctive facial details that would be fun to exaggerate. I will keep you posted.

point-counterpoint

It was suggested by CAB that I present a "point-counterpoint" to the gardening experience at our house. So, yesterday's post was the "point". And today I present the "counterpoint", the on-going war we are having with various animals that like to take advantage of the juicy vegetables, and plants in our garden.

The fence, depicted here, was new when this picture was drawn, and still little critters sneaked in to the garden. So, CAB put up bird netting to catch the little suckers. Sure enough, we caught a small chipmunk, and he died tangled up in the netting. A small victory for our side!!! We left his carcass hanging in the netting for all creatures, great and small, to see the consequences of messing with our garden!!!

Believe it or not, that seemed to help. However, the battle continues, and we will see what new enemy presents itself come this spring.

gardening

Here's a toon from an older calendar drawing. I like this cuz it depicts our garden, and our efforts in the garden quite well.

As much as the guy is grimacing, trying desparately to pull out whatever weed that is, I think this drawing portrays great vibes. It shows the lush foliage, abundant vegetables, and great joy being able to show the huge tomato!

This is a depiction of our garden, and I have drawn a lot of depictions of our garden. I just think this captures the feeling. Our garden is a big part of our summer. Every winter, about now, Chris starts pulling out the garden catalogs, and figures out what to order and puts together a planting layout for when the snow thaws. Whenever we have a warm spell, she thinks it is time to plant again. As much as I bitch about it, I do actually enjoy the gardening part of it. It's the moving of rocks that gets to me more than anything. And our yard is full of rocks!!! Give me a small patch of weeds to pull on a nice sunny day, and I will be quite content. I think it will get more enjoyable as I get older. That's what you do when you retire, right?

wierd critter

I sat down yesterday to watch the NFL conference title games, this one between the Jets and the Colts, and felt I had to do something productive at the same time, so I got out my sketch book to draw. Just draw!

It is a strange sensation to just sit down and draw something. You have that blank piece of paper staring at you, saying nothing! I know that there are a number of things I am supposed to be drawing, but I didn't want to deal with them. I just wanted to draw. So, this little ditty is what I came up with....ooh, I am not sure this is a good thing....Maybe there are some deep, underlying psychoses working their way to the surface here. It just sort of morphed into this wierd critter holding a skull in a bizarre moonlight by a castle with a grom hanging on his back. Does it mean anything? I don't think so...just fun to draw.

It was actually bringing out some of the Gris Grimley art, with an ode to R. Crumb. (the grom on the back). Who knows...anyway, enjoy the moment.

the newsletter comic

Well, I posted the cover of the OKCC newsletter last post, so I thought I would go ahead and post the portions of the newsletter that followed my theme. So, enjoy Kaptain Kayak and his adventures battling those fiendish engineers of Hoover Dam!!

Kapt. Kayak!!!

There was a short period of time when I was the editor of the Oregon Kayak & Canoe Club newsletter. It seemed like a pretty long period at the time as I put in a lot of work on this thing. But my feeling was that if I was going to be doing all this work, I was going to format the newsletter MY way!! Of course, I love comics! So, hence, this cover from one of the issues of the newsletter. What was fun about this was that, in addition to the cover, the story played through the whole newsletter, along with all the regular articles. Sort of a sub-plot to the theme...

Of course, covers are the eye-candy to any successful comic, with great graphics, action, and tension to draw the viewer to buy the damn thing!! So, this being true to its roots, I tried to get a lot of action (look at those flying bricks, caused by Kapt Kayak crashing through the wall), tension (obviously Kapt Kayak doesn't like that fiendish engineer, who just so happens to look a lot like mad Dr. Frankenstein. And the engineer looks pretty scared, too), and lots of fun graphics (shading, titles, angles, etc).

I really liked doing this one. I will post some of the inside of this newsletter at another opportunity.

kickin' in the rain

Wow, how time flies when you are having fun. I can't believe it has been this long since my last blog.

So, this little gem is another from my sketchbook. I was searching for something to draw about Tae Kwon Do summer camp when it rained so hard. This was drawn at the same time as the blog I posted on Dec 18. So, instead of singin' in the rain,, I thought kickin' in the rain would be more appropriate.

I have also always liked the perspective of having the foot be the biggest piece of the composition. You can see here that the foot is probably 3x the size of the guys head. Then of course to emphasize the fact that he is in the rain, his other foot is in a puddle.

So, this isn't a great piece, but just a fun little ditty.

I will try to get more on here....really....

only you can prevent forest fires

I apologize for not getting more toons out, but suddenly, work beckons!! But this is fun, so I will do the best I can, so keep checking back.

So, this toon was drawn for my favorite landscape designer who has worked with me on a number of projects. She specializes in native, deer resistant, and fire resistant landscapes. She also does a lot of seminars about landscape theory here in town. So, she wanted a toon about putting forest fires on notice that they will be punished (as in fire resistant plants). So, the courtroom scene seemed appropriate. Giving Smokey the Bear personality was easy...been done already. But, making fire the bad guy was fun. He not only has a personification, but he is a complete insolent jerk. He looks a little anarchistic, defiant of what Smokey is accusing him of. Of course, the ranger and the judge are all accusatory as well. But don't you just love his little shoes??? He still has to be able to walk...
A little photoshop shading helps punch out the characters.

overladen canoe

This is another from my first calendar, 1994, whitewater calendar. This was inspired from some of our expeditions...on lakes. But it would be fun to think about what it would be like to run rivers so laden down with gear.

To really get an idea of the ultimate over-laden canoes, you should read the story of Teddy Roosevelt's first descent of the River of Doubt, a tributary of the Amazon. Look at the pictures. 25 foot canoes weighing about 25000 pounds, with about 2 inches of free-board. Crazy stuff.

Open canoer

So, this is a fun little ditty I did for the Lower Columbia Canoe Club. They didn't go for it, but I really like the R. Crumb look to the character. And I figure I can use the graphic with a different title sometime.