Monday, July 30, 2007

Sleep Streaking!


Ever wake up with your pajamas missing?
At first I thought they were on the floor. It was warm last night. I'd probably taken them off in my sleep. Except they weren't on the floor or anywhere in the guest bedroom at my parent's house. After a ten minute search I gave up. I grabbed my shirt and jeans to hide my top and dashed to the bathroom.
My pajamas were on the bathroom counter. Huh?
I wasn't exactly partying last night. I went to bed early. What was going on?
Then the obvious hit me. I have sleep disorders. Usually this means nightmares, waking dreams and thrashing around. Sometimes I'll go for a walk. I don't remember doing so, but the next morning I'll wake up to find a light on or crumbs in the kitchen. Once I woke up with orange fingers- apparently I'd broken into the Kim Chee and didn't bother with a fork*. What class.**
I'm not sure what I was up to last night, but evidence suggests it involved walking around my parents house in my friggin' underwear! Again, such class! Thank goodness I wasn't caught. I guess I'll need to tether myself to the bed post.

* No, I don't take Ambian

**It could be worse- I hear some people do wackier things in their sleep, like eating garbage or going for a drive. I await the day I wake up topless at the wheel with a half can of dog food, trying to explain myself to the police officer.


Saturday, July 28, 2007

The Coolest Pet


This week the theme at the Drawing Board is "The Coolest Pet". This took me a long time to draw and I think it's too stiff. That's me in the howda. I ditched the goose incarnation this once because some of the Drawing Board participants don't know about my blog .

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Storytelling


I have several cartoons pending, but overtime at work, unexpected delays, and the new Harry Potter book are slowing me down.
I think the Harry Potter books owe much of their success to J.K. Rowling's ability to tell a good story. Even before the last book was released she hinted that she'd kill off more main characters, possibly Harry too. That's good storytelling. Even before you open the book you're thinking: Who dies? Does Harry get killed? How? When?
Compare her to a lesser known storyteller whom who recently announced who he was going to kill off and how it would happen. Why the specifics? Who wants to read the series if we already know who gets killed and how it happens? I don't get it.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Giraffes Gone Wild



For a good time, visit The Drawing Board, an new picture blog my artist pals put together. Each week there's a new theme- this week was "Mutant Infested Zombie Giraffes" and we post are take on it. Note that most (perhaps all) of the others are professional animators and thus kick my butt artistically.
Inspiration to whip out the ol' sketch book and practice more.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Who are the Triton Brothers?

click the cartoon for a bigger version

Triton is Neptune's largest moon and really has a backward orbit compared to Neptune's orbit.
p.s.
Update:
Shortly after I posted this, a flap came up in England when, as a movie promotion, a giant drawing of Homer Simpson appeared next to the ancient Cerne Abbas Giant.* Local pagans were outraged.
Another case of crassness perceived as blasphemy.

*Unlike similar hillside carvings, the Giant is believed to be only about 400 years old. One theory is that it's a goof on Oliver Cromwell (garbed up as Hercules). If that's true, than both the Giant and Homer are satirical cartoons!

Monday, July 09, 2007

Death of a Mud Dauber



The wasp had to go. His rap sheet had multiple counts of sneaking in to my parent's house and constructing mud nests by the front door. I was visiting that weekend. My assignment: Execute it. I pleaded for leniency, but my folks said no. They didn't want to confront him and his potential offspring each time they stepped outside. I was to find him. And kill him.
This proved difficult. I swear he* knew what a can of Raid looked like. He flew off whenever it was handy. Each time I put the can away her returned, bumping into the glass door as if to taunt me.
Time to get tough. I found a fly swatter and stormed outside. He was going down. We played chicken for a minute. I caught him on a flat surface and SMACK!
I peered at his battered body, crumpled except for a stinger that whirled like a chameleon eye, desperate inflict revenge. I felt sorry for the little guy. He couldn't help being a wasp. I admired his form. Delicate, streamline, sporty. Art Nouveau with a stinger. One less thing of beauty in the world thanks to me.
Then I remembered that if I were his size, he'd have paralyzed me with his venom and let his kids eat me alive.
I left his body the ants and went inside.

*more likely, a she since it was building a nest

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Bone vs. Bonehead


click cartoon for larger view

I like the expressions on Thycho (the runty guy). Vespa (the other one) looks stiff. A cartooning book I read said "Don't kid yourself: If it's bad draw it over!" I spend half of my cartooning time redrawing what doesn't work. I hope it will get easier with practice.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Martians VIII

Click cartoon for larger view.



I showed this to two people before posting it. One thought it was funny, the other said they didn't get it.

Monday, July 02, 2007

The Martians VII

Click image for a larger view



It's tricky for me to make this stuff look balanced and eye-friendly using just black and white. It's gonna take practice to get it right.
I considered making the sky black in the final panel (it would look better that way) but didn't want to rip off "Krazy Kat".