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.

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!!

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!

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.

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....