More Happiness

BACK FROM THE DEAD!

This blog was temporarily held in detention and subjected to "Unique Interrogation Methods" by bloggers spam detection robots in order to determine whether it was a spam blog. Apparently the robots determined the nonsense I was spewing was just the usual blogger nonsense and not the kind spambots harvest from other blogs and vomit up. Or they decided they had sufficiently put the fear of robot power into me in order to stop me from posting bad things about robots. Whatever the F- I'm back (and as you can see above) happy as ever.

Face Sketch

IF-POEM (Robopoem2)

Here's another attempt at "Robot Poetry".

IF-Poem (Robot Poem)

Of course this is translated from the original ones and zeros of binary code.

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH.

Good luck.

Angel/Devil

VICE

vice 1 |vīs|
noun immoral or wicked behavior. See note at sin .

IF-GEEKY

This is for Illustration Friday and began as a marker sketch on the edge of a manuscript I was illustrating. It was then colored in Photoshop.

I imagine this guy sitting in a dull meeting about "pro-actively maximizing profit potential while minimizing manufacturing and personnel costs while at the same time harnessing the synergy of our core assets". Meanwhile he drifts into a Walter Mitty-like daydream.

IF-Twisted

This is a quickie dashed off to meet the deadline for Illustration Friday. Originally the guy was going to be dancing but this happened instead. Thanks to my son Reed for input on the background.

Another Marker Sketch

This was also sketch straight out with no pencils. The light gray marker is drying out so the clouds have a dry brush look.

Red

Originally a gray marker sketch, I recolored this in Photoshop.

Brush marker Sketches

These are some old (last year) sketches I did after I'd gotten some cool gray brush markers. I had a blast drawing straight out, with no pencil line, with these. At the time an assignment came in for a storyboard to be done in gray tones. So naturally I did them with the brush markers. The guy I did them for wondered why I did them with markers instead of the computer. I didn't know what to tell him. The truth is, although it probably took more time, it made the job more fun for me.

IF-Camouflage

Vern in Color

Vern

This is Vern. He has a nose for trouble.

Strange Creature

Here's a sketchbook sketch. Although small, I like the way this one looks.

Illustration Friday: Rejection

IF-SUIT

The topic for this week's Illustration Friday is "Suit".
When I used to work downtown, this was a common sight at lunch time.

Shot 2L

Don't play with guns and all that.

Scrap Sketches

Drawn on post-its and scrap paper.

IGOR

This a is another sketch that i colored in Photoshop.
What is Igor thinking?

IF-Cars

I enloyed the Pixar movie "CARS" as much as most but at some point the idea of living cars started to feel sort of creepy. Already we have cars that talk to us. Do we need this? I can see, some time in the future, how the kids that love "CARS" the movie might actually think they might want living organic cars and machines but I certainly hope they think it through first.

IF-Signs

This was done for Illustration Friday a creative art exhibit on the web. Every week they pick a theme and then artists with blogs post their results.

Mind Goblin

Wolverine

Wolverine is a character from the X-Men comic. He's part-man, part-animal, in a long tradition of characters such as, Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, Tarzan, The Wolfman, etc, trapped in a struggle between bestial impulses and civil order. As a superhero working within a team this makes for an interesting social dynamic. He must work with others in an organization, while at the same time he's at his best when he goes berserk and attacks the enemy. He's basically a murderous psychopath barely under control. In a lot of ways so is James Bond, he just looks smoother, nobler and more refined. I think these characters allow us to cut-loose of our civilized selves in a safe and harmless way. In a story these characters are very appealing but would be awful people to know in real life.

ICKY

OOK

Revised: 5/5/07 10:24 PM

Sunfish

I painted this for a sun themed school charity auction.
My nickname for it now is "Retarded Sunfish", because I accidentally coated the front of it with an acrylic retarding agent instead of varnish. I was working on two paintings at the same time and switching back and forth between materials. Whoops! It seems to have washed off okay.

Revision: I should have probably mentioned that a retarding agent slows the drying time for acrylic paints. This allows for more blending with acrylics as they are a fast drying paint. Using it accidentally as a varnish caused the painting to be perpetually sticky, hence the need to remove it.

Spacemen

The Guy

You'll see this guy at various jobs at various companies. Something has happened to him. He's come to embody the monotonous dull routine of the job he does. The musty smell of old carpet, the annoying glow of flourescent tubes, the dry text of office memoranda; all of these have seeped into him as his will has seeped out. He seems nice enough, in a distant way. You might say hello or even engage him in small talk, but you'll never get to know much about him or what it is he does. You'll just know this: Whatever happened to him must not happen to you.

OI!

This very punkish picture is another sketch that was colorized and messed with in Photoshop. I was never really a punk but was and still am a big fan of the CLASH.

You Should See the Other Guy

This was to be the front of a get well card for my nephew who had been in a car accident. The inside of the card was going to show his face, after the bandages were removed, rearranged like a picasso painting . I wasn't sure how bad the injuries were to his face so I decided to do a less edgy card. As it happens his injuries were minor and he would have probably enjoyed the card. Still, I would have felt horrible if he was disfigured and then presented the card I had planned.

Kids Do the Darndest Things

Dad goes into boy's room to tuck him in and notices the boy sleepily hitting himself in the head.
Concerned, Dad asks the boy, "Why are you doing that?"
Boy responds, " I can't stop thinking bad thoughts."
" Bad thoughts?" the dad asks, as tiny beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead, " What kind of bad thoughts?"
In his mind the dad is suddenly adrift on a tiny raft in the cold arctic ocean. Around him are huge, sharp, foreboding icebergs. In their facets he sees tabloid headlines reading: "Shooting Spree at School", "Family Killed by Child", "Bodies found In Shallow Grave". Above his head an iceberg breaks free.
The child notices the dad flinch and asks him, "Are you okay?"
Recovering himself the dad asks again, "What kind of bad thoughts?"
The boy begins to relate all manner of normal childhood mis-behaviors; Not listening to mom and dad, roughhousing, not coming when he's called, small devious pranks and mischief, etc.
Relieved, the dad explains that all these things are normal and that we all think bad thoughts or misbehave from time to time and that's all part of being human.
"Thanks dad." the boy says as the dad heads toward the door.
"No problem." replies the dad as he starts to close the door.
"Sweet dreams," the boy mumbles as he rolls over into his pillow.
"Yeah," a dry nervous chuckle escapes as the dad replies, "sweet dreams."

Random Sketches with Vibrant Pixel Colors

Some fun nonsense.

Aquanoodle

Here's another sketch blown up and colored in Photoshop.

Teutania and Sally May

You could read into thse drawings all sorts of psychological meanings and for all I know they might be there. The fact is though, that these are a result of a collaboration by my hand and paper while my mind is elsewhere. Mindless doodles. The names in the title are just what popped into my head when the computer asked me to name the scanned file.

Heavy Ink

Here are a bunch of brush marker sketches.

And so on...

Kurt Vonnegut is up in heaven right now, looking down on us.
(That was his favorite joke.)
And so on.
(That was a recurring line in his book "Breakfast of Champions", as well as some others.)
HiHo.

Sketchbook Goon

Bunny Thing

This was inspired by a book by artist Michel Gagne, called "Insanely Twisted Rabbits.
Also check out his Insanely Twisted Puppet Show.
Gagne is a multi-talented artist/animator who worked on "The Iron Giant" and "Osmosis Jones". You can find links to the rest of his site and view examples of his work. (Sadly, I recieve no kickback for this referral and I don't even know the guy. I just like his work and his do-it-yourself attitude.
)

They're coming to get you, Minnie.

What?

Have a nice day!

Eyelien 2

A variation on the theme.
Maybe I'll paint this also.

GOT CANDY?

Hippity hop and Easter's on it's way.
This really has nothing to do with Easter. I sketched this in my sketchbook when Aardman's "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" was about to be released into the theatres. I thought at the time that the were-rabbit should look more like this.