A studio portrait...

It was fun having a bunch of my fictional illustration buddies drop by the studio. So I captured the event on film... lol!

Back in the BC stone age, (before computers)

Back in the BC stone age, (before computers) I used to make my promotion cards with cut & paste. And with press-type. I hated how press-type would start curling up and the letters started to crack and fall apart. And how I'd run out of zeros and use an O instead.

It was really like doing surgery - precision cut & paste with dexterous hand skills required. I remember the gooey glue-brush and rolling up the leftovers into little sticky balls. lol!

And after all that how amazing it seemed to do computer lettering. Freedom from all the limitations of real press-type letters and freedom to do anything. 

Some spiffy new art...

Here's a collection of some spiffy new art I've painted up recently.

Once every blue moon...

Once every blue moon I like to do an 'art piece' like this. I just can't help it - so it's easier to give in than resist. This was inspired by a scene from a BBC - PBS production - it's dark and somber instead of my usual cartoony dish of happy nursery fodder. I guess the fun part of making 'art' is one can just let go and be messy. This was all done with the wacom in photoshop. 

Add a paper bag and you're done...

And then add a paper bag and mix in Shakespeare and a cat and you're done.

The evolution of Shakespeare into a cat

The evolution of Shakespeare into a cat. I'm not sure why this is important, but I felt compelled to finish drawing it out. I think Ben Johnson had a closer relationship with his cat. I read that he had a servant to keep it's bowl stocked with fresh vittles.

Deep in the Jungle

I always loved Tarzan movies with the treehouse, vine-swings and all those elephants. It was the depth of the jungle that I found so enchanting - hidden depths, elevated trees, simplistic (non-existant) plots. It was more of an experience than a story. Though now that I think of it, Jane really got short-shrift - which seems an oversight. I think Cheetah was given more screen time.

One of my forgotten books - 'The Easter Surprise'

Here's one of my forgotten books - the Easter Surprise. It was painted in real paints on gessoed paper (for all you hard-line real media folks). And it featured idyllic scenes of baby farm animals frolicking in pastoral locales. I think it does have a nice painterly aspect to it. And now I'm much more forgiving of it's innocence, all these years later.  I think it's sweet... loving kindness.