Hallmark card contest entry

So... a few days ago I ran across a contest from Hallmark cards. The contest was to design a Mother's Day card which involved a pet in some way. The deadline to enter was just a day away. This was perfect because I only work under pressure. I have always thought making cards would be fun and here was my chance to enter something. I picked up a pen and on a piece of scrap paper, I doodled out the FIRST thing that came to mind. Here is what it looked like:

I knew if I tried to come up with something better I would get bogged down and probably get distracted and then not get an entry in. I quickly penciled a cat on a sheet of copy paper and then "inked" it in with a felt tip. Again, I could have wasted a lot of time trying to come up with the right style of cat drawing, but I was now operating "unencumbered by the thought process" as the Car Talk guys like to say. I scanned the drawing in and added some color with Photoshop. Here is what it looked like:

The inside of the card reads: "You're PUR-fect!"

So... entry created and submitted in about an hour. It was fun! Now I wait...

Shark! Man!

I was INFLUENCED to draw Sharkman by the Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty kids. What a fun blog! To celebrate 5 years of art posted by the kids, we are invited to create some FAN art of one of the pieces online. When I saw Sharkman, he was calling my name! So here is my version. Maybe I can INFLUENCE some of you to do the same.

Oh, and by the way... isn't "Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty" just the best blog name ever?

Postcard giveaway!

I recently printed up a little promotional postcard. After mailing them out to everyone I could think of... and their pets... and next of kin... I still have a few left over. I also just discovered that I can make PAGES here on my blog! The limit is 10 pages. Ten is such a good round number, so I have spent all afternoon making pages. Now my blog also functions as a portfolio site. Woo Hoo! I also did a little sprucing up of the old blog and changed the air freshener. It's like a whole new place now!

So, here's the deal. While supplies last, if you send me your mailing address I will send you a postcard. Cool, eh? All you have to do is click around on those brand new buttons and see what you find. When you come across my email address just drop me a note with your mailing address and a crisp new postcard will be crawling your way by snail mail.

Shark Week!

For some reason, each time Shark Week rolls around on Discovery, I get inspired to do some shark related things. Here is a little Shark car that gets about 30 miles per gallon of chum.

Shark week

It's Shark Week on Discovery channel. This is a Joker shark I drew after watching a Batman movie a while ago.

obsession

Lately I have had an obsession with giving my website a makeover. A few times in the middle of the night I have had a really great or funny idea. The best idea ever! Then in the morning, I realize it was actually a really lame idea. Same thing happens here. I have what I think is a funny idea, then after working on it for days I start second guessing myself and wonder if it is a dumb idea. I guess that's the way it goes. Anyway, you can take a look at my crazy idea by clicking here and let me know what you think. Funny or Dumb? You be the judge.

friendly gesture

a friendly gesture on a hot day.

Winter is coming!

"Winter is coming!" was the cry heard throughout the land. Sir Denigejonz of North Weaselvale knew the remedy for the harsh, approaching winter... his Snuggie! "Yes," he thought, "winter bad... Snuggie good! Now make coffee..."

(click to enlarge)

Pig Martin

I saw Steve Martin in concert a few weeks ago. It was a great evening of music and comedy! Last night he was playing his banjo for the PBS program Capitol Fourth. Here is a quick, little sketch of Pig Martin (Steve's cousin) playing his banjo.

Asleep

Here in my neck of the woods we are experiencing the 13 year cicada invasion. These cicadas lay eggs on small tree branches. The eggs hatch into tiny nymphs which drop to the ground. They burrow into the soil and live on tree roots for 13 years. After that 13 year long nap, they come out, make a lot of noise, mate, lay eggs and die... all in 5 or 6 weeks. A short, noisy life!

I like their little red orange bug eyes.

lesson

Some people have to learn their lessons the hard way.

bicycle

Even a fancy-schmancy recumbent bike can have a very painful seat. Painful seats seem to be standard issue on most bicycles.

Roundness

If you are ever in Nashville and find yourself wandering around Centennial Park, you may stumble across this monument. It was put up to mark the spot of the Woman's Building at the 1897 Exposition. The plaque has a quote that reads "That that is round can be no rounder." I like that. Whatever it means...

monkey see-monkey do

This monkey was all BOTTLED up.

I love the painted objects that Eric Barclay makes. The other day I was rounding up the plastic bottles to take to the recycling center when I saw a little lemon bottle. It was calling to me. So I thought I would take a shot at painting it. Monkey see... monkey do. It was fun, but my acrylic paint was so old it was gummy and didn't flow on well. If I do this again, I'm gonna buy some fresh paint.

walkin' the birdy

Cedric Hohnstadt declared March to be sketchbook month and invited all who wanted to join him in doing a sketch each day in March. He even created a sketch blog where he posted the sketches each day. Sounded like fun to me so I joined in. I figured if I actually SAID I was going to do this, I would be jinxing my efforts so I just plugged away each day to see how many days I would actually come up with a sketch. I didn't to too bad.

Today I whipped out a quick little gator in the morning. Never got anything else done so it looks like this will be my final sketch for this project. I threw on a little Photoshop color on top of the purple pencil lines and brush pen ink... and there you go!

It's been fun. I'm hoping to post more sketches. OOPS! I said it out loud and probably jinxed it...

NYC cobra

A cobra from the Bronx zoo has escaped. Probably out buying up souvenirs all over town.

girl with friend

So, I drew a sketch of a girl. I was basically done when I realized she was standing there, holding her hand out and staring off into space. It looked strange. I decided she needed to have something in her hand to be looking at, but what? Something long like a flag or something. Nah... a flag is no fun... how about a critter of some sort. I started drawing a weasel like animal but it morphed into a possum somewhere along the way. So here you have it... a girl and her pet possum. Possum Girl. Coming soon to a comic book near you.

Toy

Once upon a time I was a little kid. Hard to believe, eh? That was a looong time ago, but I still have a toy I played with back then. A sock monkey. That sock monkey was the inspiration for a character I designed that I named SocMo, which is a shortened form of sock monkey. I'm still trying to decide what to do with this character. He could be the next Mickey Mouse. It could happen. Right? I'm waiting for some direction on what SocMo needs to do. Where is my muse when I need him? Probably sipping coffee at Starbucks. I better get over there and buy him another round...

dinos

I'm still plugging away at sketchbook month (March). Today I drew a few dinos... which seems to be my default when I don't know what to draw. They always look surly for some reason... probably hungry.

Cultivate

I only have time for a really quick sketch for the Illustration Friday word this week... and what could be better than CULTIVATING donuts in your garden?

ax boy

A bit of colored pencil... and a bit of messing around in Photoshop... just for grins.

Godzeera

Something green for St. Patrick's Day. I think I have been drawing Godzillas recently because of the events in Japan. Hope everything there gets under control...

Stir-man

So, the Illustration Friday word for the week is "STIR." I thought I would take a couple of minutes and see what I could do with it. The first thing that came to mind was someone who stirred things. A chef type. But also a Superhero type. After I had the guy mostly sketched out I realized that a super hero needs a cape... so I added a cape. Then I remembered that they all seem to wear their underwear on the outside of their pants. So I did that too... and stuffed his jacket into them. Nothing says Superhero like whitey-tighties. So now I kind of have a Captain Underpants with a spoon. I'm not even going to hazard a guess what he has been stirring...

unicorn dolphins and double rainbows

I'm hoping that a picture of a unicorn, dolphins and a double rainbow will lure some eyeballs here from all over the internets. I need some magic. Maybe a large eyed little kid and some fluffy, big-eyed kitty cats next...

the Good

messin' around with Clint...

Facebworking

...and you KNOW who you are! ...

car

A quick sketch of a little car. There are some great little cars HERE.

Warning

This was inspired by the Illustration Friday word for this week - WARNING. I think this guy should turn around and open his mouth.

flyin' thing

I ran across a picture I had saved because I liked the flying machine. I did a quick sketch of it in my sketchbook. There are a few problems with the drawing... but hey, it's just a sketch...

possum with ukulele

I have participated on the Dueling Banjo Pigs blog. If you want to see lots of pigs playing banjos... that's your place. But today I thought I would draw a possum playing a ukulele. Why not? If you are looking for something to draw and need an idea, try a ukulele playing possum.

Dr. Seuss

Today is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. I found a picture of him in Google Images, grabbed my Micron and sketchbook... and a few minutes later this is what I had.

Swarm

This is what came to mind for the Illustration Friday word SWARM. And no... this is not autobiographical.

Gnu

Here is a gnu from my sketchbook. I scanned it and then played around with it just a bit in Photoshop.

Layers

The Illustration Friday word of the week is LAYERS. I decided to have some fun with the word and this is what I came up with. Isn't it comforting to know that we all have a chewy nougat center?

Groundhog Day

I like the movie Groundhog Day.

Many times I have thought that my life as a freelance illustrator resembles the movie. I get up everyday, do my little routine, draw, go to bed and repeat it all the next day. Each day is pretty much like the one before.

The difference is Bill Murray eventually learns his lesson and moves on.

I must not have learned my lesson. I am still stuck in that endless loop.

Maybe today I will get it right.

There is always hope. : )

dino sketch

I'm drawing lots of dinosaurs this week. Here is a sketch of one of the little dinos that I like...

Dusty

When things get dusty, SOMEone needs to get to work.

Chicken!

The word for Illustration Friday this week is CHICKEN. I kept thinking that I would do something special for this, but here it is... Thursday night and I've got nothing but excuses. Good excuses, mind you. But excuses.

So... I am dusting off and sprucing up an image from a calendar I did a while back. And here is a short story for an added bonus.

A few years ago when I saw that Facebook was open to us regular folks and not just college students, I decided to sign up and see what it was all about. As I jumped through all the hoops to get myself signed up, I came to the point where I could upload an image. I had nothing immediately available. I took a quick look on my desktop and found some artwork I had done for a calendar. It happened to have a National Chicken Day on it so it had a great big chicken with baby chicks, feathers and such for the days of the month. I liked the chicken so I cropped off the head and uploaded it as my avatar.

I never got around to changing the image... I'm lazy. Then later I signed up for Twitter and used the chicken again. Did I mention that I'm lazy? So then I was getting used to seeing the chicken around and decided to use it as my blog avatar. So gradually, without planning I have become a chicken. At least on line I'm a chicken. In real life I am an aardvark. But that is another story.