I’m brushing up on some old character designs for future use… Thanks again to Mike Altman who said I wasn’t allowed to draw Monkeys (for some strange reason) when I was in a drawing workshop he ran. After I vetoed llamas (under the excuse that they couldn’t tell me the difference between a llama and an alpaca) I was given raccoons- which led to a lovely raccoon filled arc. Who knows I might try a Rocket Raccoon doodle before the month is out.
Today, I finally was able to pick up this week’s comics (still need to actually read them) Sadly, I have gotten to the point where I’m not reading as much “mainstream” stuff. With the “New 52” at DC and the current destruction of the Ultimate Marvel Universe (I know it’s going to come back in a few months, but still could we do without all the world ending drama and just tell a good character driven story. SO what was in my comic stack this week? Invincible Universe #9, The Walking Dead #119 (Since I don’t have cable anymore, this is how I get my zombie fix), Manifest Destiny #3, The Shaolin Cowboy #4, Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #3, Earth 2 #19, Hinterkind #4, and Fairest #22. None of these are all ages, none of these are really geared towards kids. 4 Image titles, 2 Vertigo, 1 Dark Horse, 1 Marvel, and 1 DC. I know Vertigo is DC, but still…
Tonight I had the chance to try out Marvel Legendary… If you didn’t know I’m not into Collectible Card Games. I’ve tried a few and really just never really go into them much. I did the whole collectible miniature game thing starting with MageKnights, and moving to Heroclix. As the rules kept changing I finally stopped playing them. So what did I think of Marvel Legendary? Interesting game play, but I still need to work on actual game… I don’t think it helped that we decided to go against Galactus, that would be like sending Miles Morales against Galactus- Oh, wait, that’s what’s going on in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Will I play it again? If that’s the game chosen I’ll try it again. Will I go out a buy it? I don’t think so. I bought Ticket to Ride, Quarriors, Boss Monster, and a bunch of other games after playing them once, Marvel Legendary just didn’t hit me like those other ones did. I may grow to like it, but I’m not sure. 
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30 Days of Drawing… day 11
I’m brushing up on some old character designs for future use… Thanks again to Mike Altman who said I wasn’t allowed to draw Monkeys (for some strange reason) when I was in a drawing workshop he ran. After I vetoed llamas (under the excuse that they couldn’t tell me the difference between a llama and an alpaca) I was given raccoons- which led to a lovely raccoon filled arc. Who knows I might try a Rocket Raccoon doodle before the month is out.
Today, I finally was able to pick up this week’s comics (still need to actually read them) Sadly, I have gotten to the point where I’m not reading as much “mainstream” stuff. With the “New 52” at DC and the current destruction of the Ultimate Marvel Universe (I know it’s going to come back in a few months, but still could we do without all the world ending drama and just tell a good character driven story. SO what was in my comic stack this week? Invincible Universe #9, The Walking Dead #119 (Since I don’t have cable anymore, this is how I get my zombie fix), Manifest Destiny #3, The Shaolin Cowboy #4, Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #3, Earth 2 #19, Hinterkind #4, and Fairest #22. None of these are all ages, none of these are really geared towards kids. 4 Image titles, 2 Vertigo, 1 Dark Horse, 1 Marvel, and 1 DC. I know Vertigo is DC, but still…
Tonight I had the chance to try out Marvel Legendary… If you didn’t know I’m not into Collectible Card Games. I’ve tried a few and really just never really go into them much. I did the whole collectible miniature game thing starting with MageKnights, and moving to Heroclix. As the rules kept changing I finally stopped playing them. So what did I think of Marvel Legendary? Interesting game play, but I still need to work on actual game… I don’t think it helped that we decided to go against Galactus, that would be like sending Miles Morales against Galactus- Oh, wait, that’s what’s going on in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Will I play it again? If that’s the game chosen I’ll try it again. Will I go out a buy it? I don’t think so. I bought Ticket to Ride, Quarriors, Boss Monster, and a bunch of other games after playing them once, Marvel Legendary just didn’t hit me like those other ones did. I may grow to like it, but I’m not sure. 30 Days of Drawing… Day 10
Will our hero rescue the beautiful princess? Find out on today’s episode of “As the Planet Turns!”
So while there are pictures of me reading comics early on. I recall a well read issue of All-Star Comics in my grandmother’s house in the room I always slept in when I visited. For me Science Fiction and Fantasy has always had a place in my life, from watching things like “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” or the Flash Gordon serial with Buster Crabbe. All this said if you were to ask me what was the defining comic story for me it would be Alex Raymond’s “Flash Gordon”. When my family moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles I recall that my dad bought my brother and I bound editions of volume 1 and volume 2 for us to read on the drive down. I was hooked by the beautiful artwork, and the compelling story, from that point on I worked on gathering the rest of the story, What happened in the Forest Kingdom? The Caves? Did Flash Gordon ever defeat Ming the Merciless? After years I was able to get the story to (*spoilers*) Flash Gordon heading home to Earth with Dale, and Dr. Zarkov. Later after moving on my own and feeling nostalgic, I was unable to find those original volumes (1 to 5). I finally found some reprints that continued the story up until Alex Raymond left the strip… Now I just need to go back reread them. 30 Days of Drawing… Day 9
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I don’t know what to draw! OK I actually sketched out a bunch of things and decided to settle with the doodle of me running screaming from… I don’t know, another snow day? Actually this is one of those drawings I need to keep working on since I tend to draw talking heads so something in action is not something I typically do. I figure as I close in on 1/3 mark of this challenge I’m going to start coming up with a list of things that I would like to practice to help me become a better cartoonist.
As for the conservative attire- I do think I still own a navy blue blazer (it’s a wardrobe staple), grey dress slacks and a white dress shirt. As for the tie… Even with Matt Smith’s departure from Doctor Who- bow ties are still cool. I think I was around 16 when my grandfather came out for a visit, during that time I spent some time talking with him about stuff (I was 16 there weren’t that many serious thoughts in my head). By the time he left I had been taught how to tie a bow tie. The funny thing is that I remember in college years later having to learn how to tie a regular tie. A double windsor is much nicer than a four-in-hand, but when given the chance I will always wear a bow tie. When my grandfather passed away I was grateful to be able to pick a few of his ties which I will never part with.
30 Days of Drawing… Day 8
We’re at day 3 of no school. I can’t blame the school district at all- lots of snow, followed by historically cold temperatures, now people getting back to the swing of things, but finding out that the roads are bad, not in an icy slide all over the place way, although they weren’t great. more along the – feeling like the road has never been paved. So today I went out and braved the roads (in my Roadster). The average speed was around 25 mph. The roads were very bumpy. Along the way I discovered the existence of a new super villain- Polar Vortex! While throwing the United States in turmoil, he has done the worst thing ever! He has delayed the delivery of new comic books! Today is Wednesday, that sacred day for all comic book geeks, know always as “New Comic Book Day” the reason to brave torturous road conditions and risk life and limb… but this miscreant caused the delivery of the holy books to not happen… so now I call on all heroes to stop his nefarious plans to get comic book geeks to read something else on Wednesdays. Who knows… I may not have had anything coming in today, but still it’s the fact that new comics were delayed and this evil-doer must be stopped!
Tomorrow, school has been called again. Hopefully the roads will be better, the parking lot at school will be plowed, and the boiler at school will be turned on. Many people are calling for school to be canceled the rest of the week because the kids will not be able to focus for just one day… I just need to remind myself that soon we will reach the point where they will add days to the end of the year. For me, I do have school work to do tomorrow, but that won’t stop me from keeping up with my challenge and doodling something else! 30 Days of Drawing… Day 7
So about today’s drawing… For years now (20+) I’ve been a regular at Gramboli’s Pizza, our local pizza place. It all started when I was first teaching and I had ordered a pizza to be delivered to the school and 90 minutes later it still wasn’t there. When I called the national chain they said they couldn’t find the school! I decided to try the local place and have been eating there ever since. It’s about a mile or so from our house and a perfect chance to test out the road conditions. When we arrived it was pretty busy – Sue and I think everyone had the same idea to escape cabin fever. The white board used if there is a wait, tends instead to be taken up by a drawing- these have been done by me for a very long time. It started off with Cecil and now is a generic dog. I try to change him when I go in so some weeks you might see three (or four, or five) different dogs! Tonight I erased the Santa Dog and after scrambling for a dry-erase marker, drew this guy. Not my best effort, but I’ll fix it the next time I’m there. 30 Days of Drawing… Day 6
Today the temperature was very cold and the roads were impassable. We have a nice wall of ice and snow at the end of our driveway that I will deal with tomorrow along with work for school. As for the drawing I was taking my typical robot and just playing around with the design a bit. I know there are areas that I need to work on so consider this a baseline. over the next 24 days, I’ll revisit robots and see what I can do to improve them including actually taking more time to color. 30 Days of Drawing… Day 5
I don’t know what inspired me to do today’s drawing… OK, it was cold and snowing. They keep comparing this to the infamous “Blizzard of ’78” I guess when I’m sitting around and kids are complaining that the weather control system has it too cold I can regale them with stories of the Blizzard of ’14. The snow was pretty (and poofy and heavy). I shoveled the driveway twice, mostly because of the predicted cold snap that is supposed to follow bringing temperatures to somewhere way south of zero. Don’t panic we have enough bread, eggs, and milk to make French Toast for an army.
As for the doodle, I was thinking about Calvin & Hobbes and the Snow Goons… An thought of a heroine with an imagination battling an attack of these guys while shoveling the walk… As a teacher, I couldn’t come up with a name for the character that didn’t have some connection to some student, either good or bad. Someday the story will be told if I have the time. but tomorrow (while a snow day) will be inking the conclusion to Cecil’s latest adventure and another drawing… Then some work stuff and the all important petting of the cat. 30 Days of Drawing… Day 4
Day 4 – I am a part of a gaming group that after much deliberation came up with the name: The Holy Order of the Polyhedral Dice. In the discussion a wombat came up as a mascot, so here is what I came up with for a logo. Shirts will be available at some time soon. The discussion will probably now devolve into how do draw the wombat as Wolverine…
30 Days of Drawing… Day 3
After his parents were killed in their limo when they were crushed by a vegetable truck owned by a farmer who sold mislabeled “organic” vegetables, young Peter Rabbit avenged them by confronting vegetable farmers and gardeners (a superstitious and cowardly lot) as… BUNNYMAN! (secret origin subject to change without notice)
OK- so I did a quick doodle and after thinking about how various artists have interpreted Batman (or for those in the know- “the Batman”) especially with his cowl- this idea came to me. I know I’m probably not the first, and I’m not quite sure about the colors, but it is only drawing #3 and who knows, this guy could make it someday when DC decides once again to reinvent their characters for a new audience. 30 days of Drawing… Day 2
“but” you say, “How could this be day two when you obviously did not post anything yesterday?” Yesterday started off with picking up Hemi from the Spa where he had been since we left to visit family over the holidaze. Because of that I was able to DRAW this, but not scan it. According the rather flimsy rules (filled with loopholes, thanks to my crack legal team) I met the challenge by drawing, and since Hemi was sitting on the scanner purring contentedly I chose not to disturb the best cat in the universe and finished this today.
As for the actual drawing- It is Cecil taking on the role of the pre-52 Golden Age Flash. The flash has always been one of my favorite characters. I remember watching “Super-Friends” and always liked it when the flash made a guest appearance no matter whether he spoke really fast or really slow. In third grade I even had a red sweatsuit that I remember asking my mom to put a Flash logo on- it didn’t happen but I wore it when my friends would get together to talk about superheroes… Yes, I was trying to cos-play at age 8. I wasn’t “immature” like the school wanted to label me, I was ahead of my time.
Back to the drawing- While still in my typical style I want to try some different things out including a minor amount of shading and I decided to use a halftone filter to make it seem even more old school. What will “today’s” drawing be? don’t know yet.
