political cartoon

Even though I was a political cartoonist for three years on my college paper, I don't much like to do political cartoons much anymore. I tend to prefer to do cartoons that aren't polarizing but entertain anyone who cares to look at them. Once in a while though, in fitful moments of passionate political fervor, the political cartoonist in me rises to the surface and takes over my sketching hand. Today was one of those times. The Democratic congressional leaders and our president's deafness to the will of a significant segment of the population, and their insistence on pushing for a bill that no one really seems to want but them, kinda has me riled up. So I hope you'll please pardon the following cartoonish outburst (and the sketchy nature of the drawing- I was at least self-controlled enough not to take it to a polished final version):
thank you. And now, back to our regularly scheduled non-partisan entertainment...

meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I've got a bit of a load of work to do- graphics projects, dramatic performance/rehearsals, and animation assignments, so the next cartoons are pretty far down the queue for me, but while you wait, I'll share a few recent sketchbook doodles to tide you over.

here's my most recent page of doodling, done just today- a toothy amphibian of some sort, which began life as two dots on the page, which quickly became eyes, as an odd face and body grew around them:

then there's several bizarre gags or just random ideas that i've done at various times, but just don't seem to have any real place in one of the cartoons on my comics page:

snow business

just toying around in photoshop with an idea I had for a picture.

I Do Requests... when i get the time.

This piece definitely falls into the category of mixed media. started out as a simple sketch a friend had drawn to give an idea what she wanted. She described it as "a visual interpretation of the word 'trust.' " I actually kinda like the simplicity of the sketch, there's something appealing to it.
But the request had been made to have the sketch "redone and polished."

So I started out by doing some thumbnail sketches with a ballpoint pen, trying to get a good idea how I might compose the scene.These weren't really working like I though they should, so i went back to the composition of original sketch, and ended up with a pen sketch like this:
As I tried to decide on what medium to use for the final version, I thought I ought to go back and read the description I'd been given to see if I'd missed anything...and discovered a few details that altered my conception of how the image should look.

"when a child takes a seat, wraps arms and legs around an adult's leg and trusts them completely on their journey as the adult takes the child for a ride...

"[i'd like to see] movement as if the Father is walking w/ the child...the child holding on tightly, showing delight, not fear. i didn't really show movement in my simple sketch. its pretty much a reminder showing a child-like trust for the one viewing it.

"[it should] look like a young child - w/ shorter length, whispy/wavy hair. the legs and feet are the Fathers.... i didn't sketch a robe, but there is one there at knee length.

"...incorporate the words "Father, I trust You" in the dirt below of some sorts, able to see it but meshed in with the background..."

Aha! this changed things a bit. Gone were the jeans, in came a robe. I also added a hand, so I could work in subtle details to indicate the spiritual significance of the image. I also put the feet into motion, where before the father figure in my version had been stationary. I also decided on an ink wash technique to achieve a sort of dream-like quality in the image. The balance of the image was off, so I added a second arm where I'd kinda copped out before. As I progressed through several layers of ink wash, I decided on a whim to add a bit of color to it with some transparent washes of watercolor. Then I finished off with some charcoal and lead pencil over the finished piece to add a bit of texture and darker shadow to it.

We'n'sday Comics Volume 3 Issue 1

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
vol. 2, iss. 6

meet the cast

here are my characters for the next animated shot:I'll probably be refining their appearances as i go along, but i think this is basically how they'll look.

Facials Complete

Here's the final version of my latest animation piece.
quite a difference from this:

or these planning sketches:

I got the audio from the 1944 movie Murder, My Sweet.

polishing!

I'll have my final polishing pass on the animation done this weekend. until then, here's a sneak peek at my alterations I made to the character's appearance, as well as the additional scene elements I quickly modeled to give a more complete feeling to the scene/layout.
ideally the final render would be b&w to simulate that film noir feeling I want the scene to have, but lighting/rendering are -pardon the pun- a dark art to me.

and now for something completely different...

On new year's eve I had an opportunity to perform one of Monty Python's most well-known routines, the Dead Parrot sketch. We only decided on this half-a-month before the performance date, and thus only got to rehearse it twice, but i think it turned out alright all this considered. I hope you'll agree :-) p.s. I'm the nut in the moustache...

Back to the animator's desk!

classes begin again this week for my animation classes, so here's a bit of what I'm working on instead of doing the comics you came here to see...

these are poses meant to hit a couple of key facial expressions in the scene I'm currently animating:

The main physical movements are pretty much done, and now we're moving on to facial animation...you can see the animation sans the facial expressions here:

and the reference video I based it on here (number 5):

when it's all done (in 3 weeks!!!) I'll post the final version...