tons of toons has been lying dormant for way too long.  I have been drawing, and have some more toons to add, including new calendar drawings.  But I wanted to start with a drawing that didn't make this year's calendar.  Chris thought it was too scary.  But I really like to composition and the concept of it, so I am posting it on my blog, to start things off again!!

We had a Peregrine Falcon spend some time at our house this last summer, and he made a few surprise visits to our bird feeders.  We realized that we were chumming for hawks by feeding our birds that are residents to our house.  We would periodically find little piles of feathers around our yard, and we confirmed what was going on when I happened to be sitting on our deck watching the birds, when POOF, and this guys showed up right on the lowest branches of our tree.  He missed the birds, but gave me a good show.

Keep watching for updates.  More to come!!

tournament logo

Haven't posted in a while. Meanwhile, I have been working on this graphic for Master Graff's upcoming tournament. It is going to be for the older members of the tae kwon do community. Those over 40...

So, the challenge was to make a character that looks old, but not feeble; universal, but not sexist; and, of course, badass!! I fell back on my favorite character that I have used a number of times before, bald with the long white beard. Sort of my own "Mr. Natural". Then I played off the cane as a gag for being old, but this guy is still badass!!

Then I used Master Graff's logo as the background. So, now this tournament is easily identified with High Desert Martial Arts.

A little photoshope fonts for the info, and Voila!!

If you are in town on Oct. 6, come on down and watch. It should be a fun tournament.

which wolf?

This story was posted on facebook by a friend, and I got so excited, I had to post the drawing I did of the story. I included this story and illustration in a book of fables that one of my tae kwon do friends and I made for our instructor. He loves to quote little stories like this for his students to ponder.

how to swim in rapids

Swimming downstream after ejecting from your kayak or canoe is a pretty important skill to know. My daughter, Maryn was writing about it at school, and needed a couple of illustrations to drive home the technique. So I put together this quick toon to get the point across. "face downstream, hold on to your paddle, keep your feet near the surface, lean back. The challenge is to show what goes on above the surface, and what goes on below the surface. So, I created a stylized water line, which shows some dynamic motion as well as defines above vs. below the surface. The fish helps that too.

Then Maryn wanted a drawing to show how to swim through "holes". So I penned up this little ditty below. It has a more dynamic water's edge as the hydraulic is also more dynamic!! For those who don't know, you are supposed to curl up in a tight ball to protect against impact with rocks, be patient, and hope the water sends you downstream. I really like drawing kayaking toons....

Fishing in Canada

It has been a long time since I have posted, but I have done some more sketching, and I obviously hope to do even more. This summer has had its share of fun trips. One of them was to Canada and Alaska. While in Canada, with our friends, the Shaseks, we went out into the ocean on a chartered boat to catch our weight in salmon and halibut. I am afraid my sea-legs aren't what they used to be, so, in this depiction of our epic adventure, that is me with my tongue over the side!! We did get our limit of both salmon and halibut, but I was glad when we got back into the calm of Ucluelet bay!!

This drawing shows some pretty good action to it, which makes it a lot of fun. It represents the first draft. It will most likely be similar to the final draft, which will be in the upcoming calendar. Look for it at Christmas time.

another greatest hit!!

This toon was first shown in my 2007 calendar. I had torn my miniscus (knee cartilege). It was a simple orthoscopic operation, and they didn't think I would need to be put out all the way. However, the doctors had me all hooked up just to be on the safe side. So, as the operation started, I was sooooo fascinated by the TV monitor, that I started asking them a lot of questions. That was about when the club came down. I saw the surgeon glance at the anesthesiologist and give a quick nod. That was the last thing I remember until I woke up in the recovery room!!

Greatest hits again and again

Back in '07, my uncle, who had lived in Europe forever, died. My dad wasn't feeling great at the time, so he couldn't go to attend the funeral, so I volunteered to visit Paris to represent the family. I decided that taking my youngest daughter would make the voyage much more fun, and provide her with an opportunity to meet her cousins. We spent 9 days in Paris alone, seeing family, seeing the sites, and mourning the loss of my uncle. Needless to say, we had a really great time together. We did the Louvre, Notre Dame, La Rive Gauche, Tuileries Gardens, Arc de Triomphe, etc. The perfect tourists.

During our visit to Notre Dame, I couldn't help but have images from the old movie, "the Hunchback of Notre Dame". I believe it was Charles Laughton who swung out of the rafters of the cathedral to rescue the damsel in distress from being burned at the stake, and hid her out in the highest perches. So, this toon is the combination of the movie, and our visit to the site. It was also really fun to try to draw the facade of the cathedral. There is an INCREDIBLE amount of detail to that place. It certainly made me appreciate the masons of the middle ages.