Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 24, 2010
The Ghost of Christmas Greetings Past
I was going through some old artwork recently and re-discovered a bunch of really ancient stuff that I thought I might share here...
My parents have always been shameless promoters of their children's creative effforts & regularly encouraged of my artistic habit, as well as paying for private art lessons when from when I was 7 until I was 17, even when they maybe might not have really been able to afford it- thanks mom & dad! One way they encouraged my artistic nature was by using my art for their christmas cards & newsletters each year... from very early on.
Here is an example from 1988 (when I was 6 1/2), the very first time they commissioned art from me for the purpose of creating original christmas card art (I just did the manger scene, the rest is my mother's handiwork):
I remember being particularly proud of my accomplishment in creating the illusion of drapery over joseph's kneeling legs, and being slightly disappointed at not being able to duplicate my success with Mary. Kid's artistic temperaments are funny like that...
a couple years later I had begun taking art lessons, and each year, my tutor, Grace Clater, would have a new pen-and-ink christmas design for us to try to copy for our families to use as card covers. Here is the run-down:
1990
1991:
In 1992, we did 2 designs for our parents to choose from. The Hole family ended up using the second design:
In 1993 we were beginning to branch out with customized designs, which incorporated the names of everyone in the family- and I also included a little bootie for my then-baby brother Jacob (and a mouse, which was a common theme in my art of the period, resulting in what I refer to as my "hidden mice" period) :
In 1995 I actually finally did one on my own, at home, a drawing of our own fireplace and mantle, decorated in a christmas theme (and, still in my "hidden mice" period, included a portrait of a mouse that actually did live in a hole in the mantlepiece):
This was also the first year I included the "Holemark greetings" logo on the back of the card, which was an attempt at being clever that seemed to work.
This logo has gone through several permutations...
...including themed series of cards revolving around my comic book and comic strip characters, like this christmas card which must be from somewhere between 1998 and 2001 when I first conceived of the Edwin Aardvark characters:
I even made a couple of birthday cards with some of the early prototypes my comic characters, like these:
Before Rat Cat and Bassett, an early variation of the characters was called "Gumper's Gang":
I have continued creating my own christmas greetings, such as the following:
and inside:
2005:
2006:
2007:
and as my contribution to my parent's yearly Family Newsletter/Update On the Kids for 2008:
My parents have always been shameless promoters of their children's creative effforts & regularly encouraged of my artistic habit, as well as paying for private art lessons when from when I was 7 until I was 17, even when they maybe might not have really been able to afford it- thanks mom & dad! One way they encouraged my artistic nature was by using my art for their christmas cards & newsletters each year... from very early on.
Here is an example from 1988 (when I was 6 1/2), the very first time they commissioned art from me for the purpose of creating original christmas card art (I just did the manger scene, the rest is my mother's handiwork):
I remember being particularly proud of my accomplishment in creating the illusion of drapery over joseph's kneeling legs, and being slightly disappointed at not being able to duplicate my success with Mary. Kid's artistic temperaments are funny like that...
a couple years later I had begun taking art lessons, and each year, my tutor, Grace Clater, would have a new pen-and-ink christmas design for us to try to copy for our families to use as card covers. Here is the run-down:
1990
1991:
In 1992, we did 2 designs for our parents to choose from. The Hole family ended up using the second design:
In 1993 we were beginning to branch out with customized designs, which incorporated the names of everyone in the family- and I also included a little bootie for my then-baby brother Jacob (and a mouse, which was a common theme in my art of the period, resulting in what I refer to as my "hidden mice" period) :
In 1995 I actually finally did one on my own, at home, a drawing of our own fireplace and mantle, decorated in a christmas theme (and, still in my "hidden mice" period, included a portrait of a mouse that actually did live in a hole in the mantlepiece):
This was also the first year I included the "Holemark greetings" logo on the back of the card, which was an attempt at being clever that seemed to work.
This logo has gone through several permutations...
...including themed series of cards revolving around my comic book and comic strip characters, like this christmas card which must be from somewhere between 1998 and 2001 when I first conceived of the Edwin Aardvark characters:
I even made a couple of birthday cards with some of the early prototypes my comic characters, like these:
Before Rat Cat and Bassett, an early variation of the characters was called "Gumper's Gang":
I have continued creating my own christmas greetings, such as the following:
and inside:
2005:
2006:
2007:
and as my contribution to my parent's yearly Family Newsletter/Update On the Kids for 2008:
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Wen's'day Comics Volume 3 Issue 11
See all the previous issues!
or, if the drunk duck site is down, go to here for slightly smaller versions.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
We'n'sday Comics Volume 2 Issue 6
for a really huge version of the page,
check out the drunkduck.com page!
Previous issues:
vol. 1, iss. 1
vol. 1, iss. 2
vol. 1, iss. 3
vol. 1, iss. 4
vol. 1, iss. 5
vol. 1, iss. 6
vol. 2, iss. 1
vol. 2, iss. 2
vol. 2, iss. 3
vol. 2, iss. 4
vol. 2, iss. 5
Friday, January 09, 2009
the mice will play...
Another reason why there has been a dearth of cartoonage on this page for the last month-and-a-half is that i was heavily involved in the production of a play called "The Christmas Con," (original script by Warren Sager) serving as a collaborator on the script revisions and directorial responsibilities, as well as editing together several video sequences that played between scenes. In addition to these duties, I was in the cast as an old man who appeared in one extended scene intended to provide a bit of comedy in a play that was mostly suspense and drama. Additionally I ended up filling in at the last minute as a second minor character, a police detective, when the actor cast in the role (my brother) had an apendectomy the weekend before the show.
here are some pictures:
these two are an elderly couple who come to the main character (a con posing as a minister in order to abscond with money intended to be a christmas fundraiser for a local children's hospital) with an unsual problem: they won a large sum of money, and are embarrassed because they feel like the way they got it was, according to my character "sort of like gambling," and they aren't sure what they should do with it. 
Of course, the con has a good idea what HE wants to do with the money, and convinces them to donate it to his "mission trip" (a perfect way to provide a way out of the country with the christmas funds!)
here I am silently waiting for my "wife" to stop talking (she didn't, but I'm used to it).
here, I nod off while I wait for my lines...
above, I'm the guy in the middle with the handlebar moustache, the detective who arrests the con, as well as catching a mob boss who is after the con for some money he is owed.
Upon learning I had to play two roles, I set about trying to find a way to quickly alter my appearance enough that the audience wouldn't be saying, "Wait, that's the same actor!" and would instead be caught up in the scene.
I messed around with makeup at home fine-tuning the two different characters' appearances- and this is what I came up with:
this is a practice where I was trying out the mustache- notice how different my "wife" looks without age makeup and gray wig- she did a pretty good job of altering her appearance too:
Here I am with just the mustache and a bit of gray in my eyebrows:
and the final makeup:
again:
and the cop ended up being a combination of this mustache and stubble-beard:
and these glasses:
The transition between the two characters (old man was first, the cop showed up at the end of the play to make important arrests) involved spraying black hair spray over my already gray-colored hair, removing the gray moustache and replacing it with the black one, penciling black into my grayed eyebrows, and adding the stubble with a stipple and black makeup, then removing a bit of padding I had in my stomach as the old man, and changing into the black suit, complete with hip holster, pistol, and handcuffs!
And, just for fun, here is me goofing around during practice:
here are some pictures:
these two are an elderly couple who come to the main character (a con posing as a minister in order to abscond with money intended to be a christmas fundraiser for a local children's hospital) with an unsual problem: they won a large sum of money, and are embarrassed because they feel like the way they got it was, according to my character "sort of like gambling," and they aren't sure what they should do with it. 
Of course, the con has a good idea what HE wants to do with the money, and convinces them to donate it to his "mission trip" (a perfect way to provide a way out of the country with the christmas funds!)
here I am silently waiting for my "wife" to stop talking (she didn't, but I'm used to it).
here, I nod off while I wait for my lines...
above, I'm the guy in the middle with the handlebar moustache, the detective who arrests the con, as well as catching a mob boss who is after the con for some money he is owed.
Upon learning I had to play two roles, I set about trying to find a way to quickly alter my appearance enough that the audience wouldn't be saying, "Wait, that's the same actor!" and would instead be caught up in the scene.
I messed around with makeup at home fine-tuning the two different characters' appearances- and this is what I came up with:
this is a practice where I was trying out the mustache- notice how different my "wife" looks without age makeup and gray wig- she did a pretty good job of altering her appearance too:
Here I am with just the mustache and a bit of gray in my eyebrows:
and the final makeup:
again:
and the cop ended up being a combination of this mustache and stubble-beard:
and these glasses:
The transition between the two characters (old man was first, the cop showed up at the end of the play to make important arrests) involved spraying black hair spray over my already gray-colored hair, removing the gray moustache and replacing it with the black one, penciling black into my grayed eyebrows, and adding the stubble with a stipple and black makeup, then removing a bit of padding I had in my stomach as the old man, and changing into the black suit, complete with hip holster, pistol, and handcuffs!And, just for fun, here is me goofing around during practice:
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Saturday, December 24, 2005
mangy
I got to do some painting this wednesday morning for the christmas service, on the stone wall of this manger scene. With 3 colors to choose from(black, white, and brown), and only using a 3-inch and a 1.5 inch brush, it proved a small challenge, but after about an hour and a half or so of work, it turned out okay.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Thanksgiving Comes Before Christmas
As hearts still poundFrom Trick-or-Treat
We hear a sound
Both glad and sweet
The carols swell;Joy's everwhere
As vendors sell
Their Christmas fare
We all prepareTo give and get
And do not care
It's not time yet
Although December'sStill a month away
No one remembers
Thanksgiving Day
Give thanks when youStill have got naught
As well as when you
Receive a lot;
Give thanks before
Blessing's received
And be no more
By greed deceived
For when you do
The Lord will give
His Joy to you
Each day you live.
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