Some Droolings on Life and Comics?

So I have decided that it is time to set aside momentarily the character catalogue (yes after two submissions), and turn my attention to actually producing a comic of sorts that would be just as effective at introducing my characters. The point of the mini-catalogue in the first place was to introduce and describe my characters as if they were new friend of sorts, so after reading a rather informative article about making mini comics, as usual I have been super inspired. The only thing stopping me from 'doing art' as a living is myself, and I must admit that with Mikey getting busy with his new site and three blogs, I am seeing that it will require work, but fun work (not the work I am about to go to in less than an hour, mehk!). I've already familiarized myself with the world of Kinko’s, so it seems perfectly suitable that I spend a bit more time there trying to produce a few copies of a mini comic. Which first of course, requires that I actually produce a comic in the first place? SO! Where to begin? A crap load of drawing lies ahead. Not to mention a really cool contest that I read about on the same sight where the mini comic blog was posted. (youngamericancomics.com), that I would like to participate in. And thankfully the contest has a deadline which always helps an anal retentive organizational freak like myself.

And in other news, I've decided that Work is a sort of boring tragedy of American job culture (thanks for the article Storm) and that the lack of personal discipline turns into a homicidal maniac barrier when pursuing personal desires of the creative mind and soul. My disillusionment with a day job and all that that implies has begun to border a sense of frantic desperation! And on top of these feelings I have been having immensely vivid dreams that in capture Youth in its most full essence, an imaginary perfect Youth, and when I awake I am filled with a sad and reminiscent feelings for a past only procured from dreams! Strange images of people and faces I once knew or never knew at all, mixed atop a background of school campuses or towns that are forever Young, very strange indeed

Smoking Cockroach

*Note: The spelling of alcohol is wrong. Damn!

Character Catalog #1

I am starting a catalog of my most prized and special characters, so that I can reference them as if it were my own family album. This little project of mine is also meant to be part of a larger top secret project, not to be revealed until, well, its actually done. I have been known to talk about big projects too much and then never complete them, so I've decided to keep my mouth shut until I have something to show for it. This is Character Number One: Dazed Frog, and a few details you need to know about him.

Next Up - Character Number Two: Smoking Cockroach

Paul Rand!

Here's a guy that knows how to mix Cute with good clean Design. No surprise that he was born in 1920. There a quite a few things of his that I admit that I am not that into design wise, but that mostly starts around the 80's (i.e. IBM and some mainstream logos that he did). The childrens books he did, like Little One and Sparkle and Spin, aren't among my favorites either as far as 'cute' goes, but I do enjoy the design elements. These two advertisements are really great!

Both images taken from an autobiography titled Paul Rand, by Steven Heller. I was hanging on every word two years ago when I first read this book, and little bits and pieces of Rand's style will sometimes infiltrate my doodles.

new pen

Poop

There are many different kinds. I thought of four for now.

The Sick Poop. You know, too much fruit or fiber in one day..

The Nuggets. When the poop hasn't fully compacted...

The Basic Log. The regular guy in the poop world...

And finally, The Pile, who just keeps coming and ends up nicely piled up...

Sausage Embrace

I don't know why they got seperated, but they're pretty happy to be back together again, these two sausages.

for the lack of freshness

Yes, I am slacking in the department of drawing daily, and that is rather unfortunate! But be prepared! For I have finally, as of 8pm last night finished reading all of the Harry Potter books. Thats right, seven books in three weeks man. Thats probably about 5000 pages or something. Granted, those books are written for 'young adults' and are of course, rather easily read...but I digress. The important thing is drawing lots of cool things. If I devoted as much time as I did to reading all those books I could have published a short character sketch book by now! So for fun, here are a few oldies. And, I promise to myself, that there will be new art up soon...for the two people that read my blog. haha. These are both from 2005, when I first discovered the magic of Copic markers.

cartoon condoms

How about some birth control methods that are really really happy? I drew this today while thinking about a t-shirt contest.

toys! from Mitsuwa!

Here are a few of my most valued Japanese posessions...the Japanese are wonderfully ingenious when it comes to the essence of Kawaii. toys are cool man.

A quick bit about toys. In the 30's and 40's especially, my belief is that those who were designing kids toys and products were greatly in tune with the correct aesthetic of cuteness, or kawaii, in Japanese. You had Paul Rand, designing childrens books and Olympia typewriter ads with cartoons in them, appealing to both adults and children....And it's not necessarily because it was specifically "cute", it is that the shapes and elements involved take one back to a time, an aesthetic memory if you will, that for most brings forth pleasant emotions. The first handmade card you drew for your mom in third grade, of the collage you made in art class in sixth grade. The smell of paste glue and the sound of cutting paper and the texture of a finished product. For most American children, now grown adults, these things will bring forth a feeling of youthfulness (though passed) that encourages the eye to see even a more pleasing sight than it might have evoked without these elements. Perhaps this is merely a minute detail of the whole picture, but for me, it is what makes a toy worth buying. Because the simple truth is that when you get older, you can still appreciate toys but one doesn't actually play with them any more, we just admire them on our shelves or in boxes or in pictures on blogs. So to actually purchase a toy, means it is so great to just look at, without adding anything to it, and that is a great thing in life. Aesthetic appreciation without a serious purpose to it, enjoyment for the sake of enjoyment. Etc...

my first comic

On a whim, I was challenged by someone to see if I could make a three panel cartoon a few weeks ago. I had no idea how I could make something even remotely funny within the space of three panels...so my answer to the solution was to draw a peanut first, because, well, peanuts are funny. It's two nuts hanging out in seperate compartments- that's funny to me. Doin' some hanging out in shell? Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Gestures

I did this two years ago I think. It was when I first started drawing lizards for some reason. Oh, and that lizard in the back is supposed to be holding a gun...yeah....

Fixing and Sticking

Today I had the unfortunate pleasure of having to fix some pieces from my recent art show..."unfortunate" only because I feel that the originals were much better. Transferring this way, with a simple marker and burnishing technique, leads to many mistakes, because trying to keep the paper steady is very hard, and the fumes are annoying, and the pressure of the bone burnishing tool can sometimes rip the paper. Long story short, when the end product is nice and clean, one can breath a deep sigh of relief and really enjoy the way this technique results in a strange sketch-turned-photocopy-turned-screenprint-image. BUT..when one pushes to hard, or doesn't keep the paper steady, the image becomes blurred, very light, and just looks a bit lousy.

This is the Bandaged Man piece being laid down and gridded out very sloppily (the ink from the blender markers dries so fast I easily forget which parts I have transferred and those I have not), and ready for an inky rub down...

And this is the "Ejected Burnt Toast" piece taped down as well. No grid needed here, the lines are so few they're easily tracked...

And then the inky process begins, soaking the paper through...

And burnishing it (here with a bone burnisher) as hard as it seems the paper will take it to get a dark, clean image...

And the finished transfer, with the original mirror imaged photo copy above it, looking slightly damp and worn from the burnishing...

And that is how I did it. But of course, the originals just seemed to posess something greater than these, so I am sad that I ripped apart the originals to use the foamcore beneath it...just to save money on the process. Sort of scandolous of me, I think. It was interesting for me to see how much a difference the slightest movement or photocopy speck of dust can make in the final rendering...
My lesson has been learned. When using ten dollar spray adhesive instead of wheat paste (like everyone so fervently advised me to do after I had done the show, ahk!), make sure you wait the whole minute before applying to two parts, because it sticks better once it becomes tacky, not when it is still freshly wet. I am yet an amateur in the field of most art products, for example, barely learning last year that "matte" isn't simply a French term for 'paint'....okay, perhaps I am exaggerating, but one gets the point - I still have much to learn...I am still a young Gubba.

things i think aren't cool...

..like reading five books of Harry Potter consecutively the past two weeks to catch up with the movie currently showing in theaters. actually I still have 200 pages to finish before i see the movie tomorrow night, which I can do, but then I still have two more to read to actually finish the series before the dramatic ending is revealed through Harry Potter fans that surround me at work. Which is about....1600 pages or more? Meanwhile I've let this blog gather dust and the scanner I've borrowed from Storm to download some recent sketches also gathers dustballs....

AND I still have to fix two pieces from my show that got all bubbly and screwed up, so now I am almost two weeks late in delivering them to their proper owners. Talk about some slacker artist.