San Fran, part3

After the quake in the early 90s, Californian sea lions moved into Pier 39. Today, they just lay around there and sun themselves. And bark. Loudly.


Here's the Golden Gate Bridge....and what we could see of it on this trip. Lots of fog obscured our view.

San Fran, part Deux

Last night in Half Moon Bay with the Andarys, Wendy, John, and Reed. Half Moon Bay, where they live, is beautiful...and cold for us Floridians! Notice the jackets and sweaters!

Today in San Francisco, we saw this car, that was part of something called ArtCar Fest.
This one was covered with pens and markers. The PERFECT car for an artist!
Here was another cool one that passed us. This one looked like the shuttle.

In San Francisco!

We're on the other side of the States this week (the VERY left coast). Staying with and seeing our good friends the Andarys in their cool home at Half Moon Bay. Here's a pic of them, John and Wendy, at lunch with us:

Then, here's Barbie with one of their sweet dogs, Zoe....
Me and my babe by the shore....
Finally, a photo of Pillar Point Harbor. This photo doesn't do the breathtaking view justice!

Recent freelance piece

This piece I did last week was for a client's 40th Birthday party. She fancies herself a DJ, and loves 80s music. After two roughs (which she paid for), we decided on this image, with plenty of 80s references.

I approached this piece as an 80s themed Bday party, with the client as the DJ. The partygoers are dressed as 80s personalities/song. I fit in references to:
1. "Raspberry Beret" by Prince
2. Prince
3. "Lady in Red"
4. Michael Jackson in the "thriller" era
5.LL Cool J
6. Run DMC
7. Devo
8. George Michael in the "You Gotta have Faith" era
9. Tv's "Urkel"
10. Tv's "The Cosby Show" (The multicolored sweater)
11. Tv's "CHiPs"
12. Boy George, "Karma Chameleon" era
13. MC Hammer
14. Salt and Pepa
15. New Edition
16. Madonna, "Like a Virgin" era

This piece was a lot of fun, and I fit in a lot of people I work with as "models" for the partygoers.
They're a lot of work, but I kinda like crowd scenes like this. The client is now going to have this piece reproduced on her invitations, and on 45rpm record sleeves for her party.

Yeah, before CDs and ipods, we used to listen to 45s.

Man, I sound old.

Boy

Really creative title to this post, huh? Did this sketch the other day in my sketchbook while at Chic-Fil-A with my daughter and her friend. Just threw some quick color on it today on my laptop (with just the mouse...no wacom on this computer...ugh)

M and M's

Yep, drawing caricatures for a living, you get some pretty "different" requests. That's one of the many things that keeps it interesting after all these years (over fifteen and counting). Not long ago, I had a gig that was supposed to be "Simpsons" themed, and I was supposed to draw people as Simpsons types. "Simpsonscatures"? In studying for it, I went to the Simpsons movie website and made myself into a Simpsons character there. It took some "reworking" in Photoshop, but I kind of liked the results.

Well....in two weeks I have to draw people as M and M's. Yep, you read that right. So, lo and behold, M and M's also has a "character creator" on their site right now. I'm sure my gig is to promote this thing. Once again, I did some Photoshoppery, and here I am as an M and M....

Some more live pix

These are both from gigs where I was drawing live (as opposed to drawing dead?). I liked how this first one turned out:


Don't have a photo of the model, though. It DID look just like him, though. Trust me! I love these Chartpak gray markers that I've been using on gigs for awhile.

This one was at one of the occasional abstract gigs I get to draw at. It's tough, brain-taxing work to turn out simple but concise abstract renditions of people that look just like them....all in a few minutes. But I love it. This one turned out okay...the model had a big smile, but of course she didn't show her teeth when I snapped the photo! I hate when that happens.

Ted Tucker Sketchbook

I know I've been talking a lot recently about other artists' stuff. But, I do that. I think as an artist it is your job, if you're gonna stay creative, vital, and constantly growing, to seek out inspiration and creativity. I do it myself in many ways....by reading tons of books and magazines, watching TV and movies, reading lots of comic books, and by looking at the work of other artists I admire. They may be the giants of cartooning (really into Ketcham and Jack Davis currently), or people that no one has heard about yet. I particularly like to keep up on the work of my talented friends, many of whom I have links to on the sidebar here.


Well, there are few as talented as my best bud Ted Tucker. He just came back from the Baltimore Con , where he was hanging out with a lot of the friends we made back in the days we collaborated on our own Lunar Donut comic book. That's been about a decade ago! We've kept the Lunar Donut Press name alive by publishing my book, "Let's TOON Caricatures" through it (into our 2nd printing now, by the way!), and now by publishing Ted's Sketchbook....

A collection of sketches from the past few years, it gives a brief look into Ted's mind and talent. If you like my stuff, you'll definitely want to pick this book up. Everyone has their own style, but Ted and I are constantly helping and pushing each other artistically. So, there's a lot of similar territory we mine with our styles. I steal from him, he steals from me.

If you want to purchase one of his sketchbooks, just contact him via the link on my sidebar! Tell him I sent you!

Today's Sketch

Did this in car line at my daughter's school today. Thought I'd share. Just playing around with some ideas, and trying out my brush pen.

Dennis Jones/ Cartoon Bible

Since it's Sunday, I figure I'll stay on the cool cartoon Bible theme. Quite a few years ago, I stumbled across this kids' Bible with really great illustrations. The artist's name was Dennis Jones. I could tell he probably had some caricature experience, just from the expressions he was able to give all of his people's faces. A few years later, I emailed him, and sure enough, he had drawn caricatures back in the 80s at Opryland themepark in Nashville. He was amazed I could tell, just by looking at his art.

I also particularly love Dennis' animals, and the cover of this next Bible he did, a "wordless" bible, told just in pictures, showcases them well. This one came awhile after the first one, so the art is a good bit different, showing a lot of computer use versus traditional media. But it's just as amazing in it's own right.
Finally, in looking on the net for pix to accompany this post, I came across THIS book he did. I DON'T have it yet! Oh well...looks like Amazon will be getting some more of my money soon....
If you're into cool cartoony illustrations (no matter your religion), you owe it to yourself to pick these up! Visit Dennis Jones' website, too, to look at more of his great work! (I think it's in my Links on the sidebar of this blog.)

My First Message Bible

I've always loved "The Message Bible" translation by Eugene Peterson. A bit simplistic at times, perhaps, but it really makes reading the Bible easy, as it puts it into modern language. I read it as a supplement to other translations, usually, so I get a fuller picture, though.

Besides spiritual studies, my other love is, of course, cartooning. I've been a big fan of Tom Bancroft and Rob Corley's work at Funny Pages Productions for quite awhile. Every since Tom was with the animated Veggie Tales toons. He later did Opposite Forces", a self-published comic book that I read. Back then, he lived here in Orlando, Florida (we met for lunch one time, and geeked out on art and comic stuff conversation). Great guy, fantastic artist.

Well, now, my two chief interests are combined! Yep, Tom and Rob have just finished the mammoth task of providing illustrations for "My First MESSAGE", a devotional bible for kids.
The illustrations are great....run out and get one today!

Art again!

A cute girl I sketched in my sketchbook this summer while on a vacation. Yes, all little girls I draw are based on my oldest daughter, Brady, who will soon be nine. I love the look of the gray markers on this. It's a combo I use in my sketchbook and on live gigs.
A skatepunk drawn the same day. I put him on a digital background later.

Playing with Painter

Another thing that happened last week, was that we had a huge, all nighter poker tourney over here. Dion Socia, caricature manager from Busch Gardens, and long time friend, even came up for it. Some of you may know Dion's work (and if you don't, look him up!)- he's an incredible artist. He does all of his studio pieces in Corel's Painter, a program I've never tried very much. But, talking to him about it the other night made me want to try it. So, last night, I finally did. I really like the brushes in this program..."straight out of the box", they work much better than Photoshop's, it seems. Can't imagine what a custom made one would be able to do. The lines here look WAY more like the lines I really do, when I'm on paper, than the lines I'm able to get with Photoshop. This pic took about three minutes. Just a quick sketch before dinner.



Hmmm...maybe I need to keep playing with this program.

Big gig at Disney-MGM

Last week, we were slammed with caricature gigs. Most nights I was out working. Wednesday night we had 21 artists out , between two gigs. And that's ON TOP of the 13 retail locations we had to have running. Yikes. So, needless to say, we had to bring in some outside help. It helps that I'm good friends with a lot of the "friendly competition" in the area. We had artists from Sea World and Busch Gardens helping us out. As well as one of my best buds, Joe Bluhm, who flew in from NYC to work a few gigs with me. This was from the big gig at MGM that night, where we had 15 of us drawing:We were all set up in a huge semi-circle. Yeah, that one guy in the plaid is a guest, not an artist. He was joking with his artist, Maria "Hurricane" Bolton, that he should draw her after she finished drawing him. So, she let him. That just HAPPENED to be when I shot this pic.

Afterwards, we all converged on the unsuspecting Orlando Ale House for some food and fellowship. It's always a blast when you get to work with your friends.

My Girls...by Joe Bluhm

On the inside cover of my copy of REJECTS, Joe Bluhm was kind enough to do this drawing of my girls, Brady and Kaley. I ordered an advance copy, so he did this for me. I love it, so I just thought I'd share it with you.

Rejects Rules!

Joe Bluhm , I'm proud to say, is a great friend of mine, and one of the most amazing caricaturists and artists I have ever known and had the privilege to work with. In his new book, "Rejects, the Extreme art of Retail Caricature", Joe shows some of the incredible artwork that has made him a legend among theme park caricaturists. He's since left retail caricaturing, and gone on to greener, more lucrative pastures in illustration for magazines and animation character designer. But this book is a great snapshot of the brilliance he gave themepark customers each and every time they sat down for him to draw. Sometimes grotesque, occasionally cruel, but always incredible, each piece in this book is a work of true caricature art.

For anyone interested in caricature, who wants to see the extremes that a talented purveyor of the art form can go to in rendering a person's face, go to www.rejectsthebook.com and buy a copy of this book. Or even two. Or three. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Tour, Tour, Tour, Part Deux

HEEEERRREEEE'SSSS Stonehenge! Seeing this place in person was amazing. Yeah, I REALLLYY believe some neolithic people spent centuries bringing these stones up here by rolling them on logs. And they JUST happen to be measured by the same "divine measure" (yes, they call it that) that the temple fo Jerusalem was, the Egyptian pyramids are, and the Central American pyramids are. Hmmm...methinks they're on the wrong trail here...
Next we went to the amazing town of Bath. Originally built by the Romans, the British rebuilt it centuries later.
It's in the middle of nowhere, in the English countryside. Too cool.


Well, that's it for now, gang. Thanks for reading, if you have been. We're flying out of here tomorrow, and will be home in sunny Florida by bedtime. We've had a great time on Jeremy and Shalisa's anniversary trip. It's a bit early still, but this was kind of an early anniversary trip for us as well (November 27th will be 14 happy years).

Signing out for now....

London Daze

Today's been another great day in London (we love this city), as Steve and Wendy Hearn came over for the day and have been hanging with us. Here's us and the James' at Westminster Abby.
Next, me and Barbie beside one of the Beefeaters on horseback outside Buckingham Palace.
We couldn't get a time when no one else was taking photos, so we had to have the kid in the orange jacket back there in it with us. Sorry. We tried running him off, but it didn't work.
Here's all of us outside the Palace gates. I guess the Queen didn't get the message that it was us, or she would've had them let us in.
Finally, me next to favorite word lately.

To be continued....

Tour, Tour, Tour, part 2

Kee at Oxford
John Wesley's picture at Oxford


The nest and final stop on Saturday's tour was ChristChurch at Oxford University. It was amazing. The architecture, the "vibe" of it, just everything....was really impressive.

Plus, it has connections to:

Alice in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll was a math professor here for many years. Alice was the young daughter of one of the head guys at the school. Many of the characters and scenes in the book were inspired by things and people at the school.

Harry Potter- Lots of the movie scenes were filmed here, and several were inspired by things here. (I'm NOT a fan of these books, BTW, have never read them, and have big problems with a lot of the stuff in them, so this was all a little lost on me, but interesting, nonetheless.)

John Wesley- Who began the "Methodists"-originally a derogatory term by his enemies, by the way, attended here for awhile.

It was a tiring day, but an educating one. Now, finally, some sleep......

One last thing, though, before I sign off- I hear my almost nine year old is reading this back home with her grandparents...

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU, BRADY! See you soon!

Oh yeah...don't eat too much pizza and ice cream, okay? Love you, girl!

Tour,Tour,Tour

Me and B at Warwick Castle
Me pulling Jeremy into the Dungeon at Warwick
Giant Keelan at the Pub
Aw....


After dining last night at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant (the guy from Hell's Kitchen, the reality show), we didn't get back to the hotel until after 2 am (we're five hours ahead of the STates, if you're keeping track). We were in bed right before 3, and the tour bus came to pick us up at 7:45 this morning! With our 7:15 wake up call, that was, oh, about 4 HOURS OF SLEEP!!!

We all piled on the crowded tour bus, barely awake, and snoozed most of the way to our first destination...Warwick Castle, up in the Cotswalds area of England. It rocked! This castle has been in several movies, including that Kevin Costner debacle, Prince of Thieves, and the classic Errol Flynn ROBIN HOOD. The orginal Guy of Warwick was supposed to have been a giant, basically, and fought dragons, monsters, etc. His descendants built this castle (or he did...I'm a bit confused). It was kept in the family for centuries, they were relatives of England's royalty, and many of their Kings and Queens stayed here. At least that's what I gathered from the tour.
One of the most fascinating things there, and THE CREEPIEST thing we've seen so far, was the dungeon here. Yikes. More on that later!

Next, we piled on the bus and went to a local pub for lunch (pubs are the only restaurants around). It was so old, and it's ceilings so low, I just about had to bend down to walk through it.

All of this was in the Cotswalds area, an area of England that used to produce wool. When the Industrial revolution hit, and cotton overtook wool in popularity, the Cotswalds plunged into financial despair, becoming virtually ghost towns overnight, with the people moving away in droves. But the result was now these towns exist very much like they did hundreds of years ago.
It's almost like they're in a time warp. I had never heard of the area, and so wasn't really jazzed to go see it, but now I'm so glad we did.

Next we went to Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. I never cared for Shakespeare's work, personally (or Francis Bacon's work, depending on the story you believe), but seeing the house with it's incredible gardens (where the kissing pic was taken), was really incredible. And the village itself was really picturesque.

To be continued.....