IF: We Have a Swell Marriage

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Been a while! Lots of changes have been going on since school let out...but I'm finally bringing it all back together!!! And I have plans lol...hopefully now I can get back to keeping up with everyone...one of the things I've really missed over the past few months has been not only doing more art but seeing everyone else in action for inspiration...

Student Redraws

(click images to enlarge)

I spend a lot of time teaching the students about the art of refinement. This year I helped students follow the creative process to design templates to redraw in Illustrator. They often had good core ideas but weren't seasoned enough to really see what I was pushing them to...I get excited when I see the base potential there but the struggle is to get them to realize what they have. It was also their first Illustrator attempt and the tools can be clumsy until you get used to them. So after the students finished I took several templates to show them how just little tweaks here and there can make a world of difference. Too often they are satisfied with very 'raw' work. The purpose of this wasn't to embarrass the students but really an attempt to say 'you have it...now you just have to polish it!"

IF: Public Ed...Shadows

(click to read)

The only problem with being done with the school year is I still wake up at 6am...and there aren't even any good cartoons on at that time...It was a weird year...but at least now I can get on blogger...

IF: Soaked

What a Shar Pei looks like after you let it soak too long in the bath...

IF: Ed's Discount Safari

"Any particular reason you decided to blow through that stop light?"

IF: Public Ed: Lesson

click to blow up and read...

My apologies for not being able to comment on others work the past bit...unfortunately filters are screwed up at work which has made it pretty difficult to post and comment...but I can still stalk and view...if you haven't viewed Dan vs. on the HUB then you probably should try to watch Dan vs. Technology...it is one of the better ones and funny for a variety of reasons...Unlike Dan vs. Art...which really was terrible...

On a related note...one of my students asked if my cartoons were about them...my official policy is that all works created are fiction...any similarities to actual persons or events is purely coincidental...purely coincidental...

Real finished poster

We actually got to print these off on a large format printer today...turned out pretty nice...

Here are the mask files.Clearly I had to change the guy mask color but I blame the outrageous color shift on photoshop...Not sure why a document from illustrator won't keep colors intact when x-ferring to pshop...My quick fixes for printing didn't work out with these colors and when printed from photoshop the items looked like they had sat in a sunny window for a month...Illustrator printing='d perfect.

IF: Bicycle

In West Virginia if you are REALLY poor you have a bicycle up on blocks in the front yard rusting down instead of an automobile...either that or you are trying to make the rest of the folk think you are an athlete...

Being from WV I can make these claims and give you permission to laugh...it could probably hit home to some Kentucky or Georgia people as well...but they probably don't find it as funny...

Spring Showcase Poster/Postcard

This will be the first year that we are doing a gallery show...usually we are pretty pooped from dealing with portfolios...but the opportunity came up so we're giving it a shot...not the strongest class but they do have some good work...so we'll see how it goes...I'm excited and hope it works well for them.

IF: Journey 2

Meeting day at school...so it was drawing time...the original idea was just the blank vast distance between the bed and the alarm clock and what a terrible journey it is each morning...but that wasn't an accurate representation of my room...vast or empty...plus I had another hour and a half to kill whilst listening to our guest speaker...

IF:Journey

(click to enlarge...and then you might have to click again to bump it up one more time...had to do the critter a bit smaller to fit the scene in....)

After doing the sea monster one I figured I would do another one for the IF topic...there's a bridge at the local community college that I snapped a pic of and figured this would be a nice place to throw in a hobo critter. I saw a post on a portal a few years ago where people were putting drawings in everyday settings but can't recall what it was...because I'm getting old...and my mind is bad.

Poster Prep Item 1

First created for use on a poster for an upcoming event...

IF:Bottled

IF: 'DU-ET! DU-ET!'...Suicidal No-Talent Singers on the Ledge...

"They thought the crowd was chanting 'DO IT! DO IT!' and jumped...I guess it could've been worse...they could have complied and actually started singing..."

IF:We said DUETS only...

"Well you blew it for us again Larry."


It was funnier in my mind...I think it had to do with coming off a spring break where the average temperature was 33 degrees...I'll try to do better next time...Larry is the head on the far right just in case it was eating you up to know.

IF: Toy

When I was little I had lots of monster toys...I had the Kraken from Clash of the Titans (the tail and flippers ALWAYS fell off when you played with it)...Godzilla with shootable fist (his tail always came off too...and his toenails were broken pretty easily) and my favorite of all time...especially because it held together really well...Rodan...I'm not sure when exactly it disappeared but it had flapping wings, a mouth you could open and close by a switch on the neck...and real grasping action claws...being I couldn't think of anything funny (which is often what I hear when I do draw something with that intent) I decided to look my toy up and do a quick sketch...It's hard to believe that I thought it looked so cool back in the day...now it just seems like a bad plastic muppet to me. The good news is if you are a kid nowadays and aren't sucked into video games 24-7 there are lots and lots of really well designed and manufactured toys out there. Check out the Gremlin toy on this page and watch the video on the air sharks at the very top...

IF 'Cult'ivate...the secret order of the turnip-headed moon worshippers

"Sorry my boy but you can't join...all of our members are homegrown..."

Dad's Night Poster

A poster I did for a guy I work with...I think they get together and shoot things...while playing music...and eating hog...I hope I didn't misunderstand and this is really some kind of black tie event or I did this all wrong...

IF: Stir Fried

"Excuse me...could one of you gentleman direct me to the location of the Vegan Rally?"


Earlier when I thought I only had 10 minutes I did a poorly drawn cartoon with the Kool-Aid Man attacking kids at a party and was going to title it "Stir Crazy"...you know because you stir kool-aid...and in essence you figure that would effect his brain since the fluid somehow has to relate to internal organs...somehow...but then I found out I had 25 minutes so I could think of a better yet equally dumb and poorly rendered idea without having to continue drawing running and screaming kids...

So I thought about 'stirring up trouble'...and then I thought...vegan walking into a hunting lodge...and then I thought...that guy would get fried...and hey...you use vegetables in a stir fry...and then I thought about what I was going to get for lunch...and it has been all down hill every since...

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Church doodle...

You might say that isn't a very good attempt at a sheep disguise...I'm afraid it doesn't take much anymore...I could give you some crazy statistics and evidence but I'll just leave it at this...
"My people perish from a lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6