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.