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!!

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.

tae kwon do-do

I have been training in Tae Kwon Do for almost a decade now. Recently, my instructor went out on his own, and started High Desert Martial Arts. So, he is in the process of developing his own look; logo, color scheme, etc. He has always been a great supporter of my cartoons, from pages in my calendars, to a book of proverbs I illustrated for him. I even made a poster showing the different pressure points. At his former do jang, the little kids (ages 4-6) were the "L'il Dragons". So, I came up with something new...the high desert "Tae Kwon Do-Do's". The character is pictured here. I hope to get this stenciled, or silk screened on the backs of all the little uniforms. This character is exciting for me because he has a lot of potential to be in different scenarios. Hopefully he will become the subject of many coloring projects by the students, including fire-safety, dealing with strangers, courtesy, and a whole host of others. I think I can also draw this guy kicking the butt of some opponent. I will keep you posted as things develope on this new look!!

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.

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!

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...

the first entry!!

So, here is my first REAL entry to my new blogspot! The purpose here is to share some of my old drawings, and some of my new drawings with you all. This also gives me an opportunity to explain myself and what I was thinking with some of the drawings. Many of these will be recognized from my annual calendar. I can't believe I have been drawing the family calendar for over 15 years. Wow!

So, I thought it would be appropriate to have the first drawing be a self portrait. I really like this drawing as it hits a lot of what I had been into at the time. Notice all the fun gear, including a tae kwon do outfit, including headgear (cushion those blows to the head), a bow staff (another tae kwon do implement),a snowboard, kayak, and dartboard. The two drawings on the wall represent house designs, and some 'toons I did for a running magazine for a while. The little figurines at my feet are Warhammer miniatures, which I have spent a lot of time and $$ painting. More about that another time...then, of course, the chord to my computer screen is always attached to me, so work is never far away. Obviously, I am happy about the whole situation here, oh, and also have my favorite tunes playing at all times. Life is good!!!