Moley Moley Moley

Just a chronicle of the process of the mole. I think actual work time on the finished item was maybe 25-30 hours...part of the problem being I am slow (and you can apply that in a number of ways as my friends would readily point out for you) and work kept getting in the way...(I don't know I couldn't have just been born rich like everybody else). But I do continue to learn the importance of 'chunking' detail work. Too often as people start out in the art world they tend to procrastinate a lot and then try to cram large amounts of work into a short time span and the results aren't too stellar.


My one and only reference pic I took as I tried to figure out how the head, back, and belly would line up. And in case you were wondering, no...I'm not nearly this good looking in person...and yes, I do have ducks on my pillow, I'm just not happy to see you.


I did make some changes from the original drawing as I went...part of that whole 'letting the work dictate some of what occurs' thing. While I tend to do a lot of planning I try not to be too rigid. I didn't change the composition but just the detail work. In the upper left hole there was originally going to be a bottle and a mutant centipede. But I had moved the centipede closer to the one mole's ear because it just seemed visually creepier to me. Who just doesn't love a bug about ready to latch on to your ear...or better yet, crawling inside and laying eggs. Then I wanted a bottle still so I put a vase on the outskirts. Talisman was the word for IF so I put a lizard and talisman where the bottle and centipede were going to be at.

In the upper right hand corner I was going to plant another mushroom but changed it to a caged rat...I did this because I just didn't want to draw another mushroom.


The only other real change I made was adding a chair and bookshelf to the back. Originally I was just going to have a wall...but I wanted the picture to feel a bit claustrophobic...since Doc Minceworm is a fraud I figured part of pushing his image of competency would be to have a lot of stuff...plus it would serve as a distraction for sick moles looking for someone to heal them...adding to the ambiance of someone wanting to 'buy into the game.' Having a smaller room (him being a rather large fellow himself) cluttered would give him perhaps an illusion of being more powerful than what he is and continue to help sell him for more than what he is...Remembering old westerns with snake oil salesmen...they seemed to be large (usually tall not so much fat) characters with small 'trailers' filled with junk. As they stood in front of their moving structure it would make them seem larger than life.

On the back right shelf is actually a mole skeleton...the head and front hidden...but a mole skull rests in front of the jar on the upper left.

IF:Drive-In Theater

Parenting tips #47 from the 1970's: I remember in my youth the family loading up in our station wagon and going to the drive-in. We saw such classics as Tentacle about a giant octupus...I remember in one of the first scenes a baby stroller being there one second and then the next it gone with a woman screaming...the movie ended with some guy releasing his trained killer whales and they eventually killed the giant octopus. The second feature was (not sure of the name...Squirms perhaps) about radioactive worms that were eating people. I remember a scene where a guy turned on a shower and worms poured out of the shower head and started eating through the guy's cheeks. You don't get high quality entertainment like that these days....Strangely enough I only remember making it through that one double feature. Well years later I found out the reason...a favorite secret of overworked parents was to put cough medicine (which in them days I'm guessing was pretty much straight alcohol) in the sippy cups mixed with juice...the result was a pretty quick trip to la la land for all of us kids. It is amazing that any of us made it out alive but I have to admit, kids were a lot tougher and easier to handle than the modern variety...so it all couldn't have been that bad.

And the Mole is finished!!!


(click to enlarge)
This is Doc Minceworm...a fraud. The idea here is that as he 'treats' patients he and his critters rob them blind...and they are none the wiser. I posted some of the development earlier but plan on throwing it all in to one post sooner or later...I scanned and paneled the item together which is about 15x20 in size. Some of the subtle shading was lost a bit but trying the photography route made it too dark and I couldn't adjust the levels out.

IF:Impossibility

The mime didn't mind so much going to the electric chair for a crime he didn't commit...but he sure wished that smart-butt guard would stop asking him if he had any last words...

Mole-man update...the mole-man is done for all intents and purposes...just had to bring it in different lighting to touch up the values...will be posting it next week! The good news is that I pulled out one of my old drawing that I intentionally set aside 'completed' in the same manner so I could come back to it with fresh eyes and see what sort of value adjustments needed on it...and man does it need it...

IF:Talisman

After a rough few weeks I promised myself that regardless of what was going on I was posting this week. I thought I had some pretty funny ideas for some of the past few week's words but you'll just have to take my word for it...but you know any picture that includes a disgruntled housewife trying to throw out a man's threadbare 20 year old underwear has to be good for a chuckle...

Unfortunately I couldn't make this weeks word funny even if I hung a clown nose and mime outfit on it...being about 70% finished with my moleman pic I did have a hole that needed filled and a talisman would work perfectly...so I sketched it in last night...that is one benefit to working slower than pete...you can properly grow a picture with all the minerals and fertilizers needed. I am at this exact second 95% finished with the item and I'm going to finish it tonight...right after I finish drinking a large sweet tea and the rest of my tuna sub.