Mad Kids #11 part deux

Here's the actual comic from the previous post.

During SDCC 2007 I was introduced to an editor at MAD Magazine and he encouraged me to start submitting stuff to them. It was a great opportunity that just "dropped into my lap," something that has never happened to me before. Although it was never something I had actively pursued, it was kind of a childhood dream realised. I LOVED MAD when I was a kid. So, I started submitting work (a lot of it I have already posted here.) The above pic is the first one they bought.

As a little back story to the comic, this is actually based on an idea I've had since I was a little kid. No, I didn't think about single panel gags when I was a kid. I did think it would be funny if someone thought that the outside was "CLOSED" instead of that they were just looking at the back of the "Yes We're OPEN" sign.

My original submission looked like this...


MAD got back to me and said that they wanted to purchase this one but, thought it might be better for MAD Kids, and that the characters should be changed to fit that demographic better. Sam, the Art Director, also suggested more of an Urban New York Pizza joint instead of a San Francisco Coffee Shop (I was picturing it taking place at a coffee shop across the street from Golden Gate Park.)

So, I made the changes and presto, a few months later it was in the magazine. This was a GREAT experience. Editorial and the Art Director were fantastic to work with, and every idea they had made the comic better, clearer, and funnier. I hope to do more work for them.

I'm now an idiot

Hey kids! I have a single panel gag in the latest issue of Mad Kids!

It's in the bottom left of page six. The issue is #11. So go pick yourself up a copy today, spike their sales, and maybe they'll let me do more work for them.



I'll post the actual comic once I find out whether that's allowed or not.

Damn Dirty Apes

Colin Boyd has a redesigned sight. It used to be called Big Picture Radio, now it's called, Get The Big Picture. Check it out here.

http://www.getthebigpicture.net

Colin is one of my two favorite movie reviewers (the other being Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Magazine.) Colin rates his reviews with DAMN DIRTY APES. A rating of 5 DAMN DIRTY APES is the top review score a movie can get.

The last couple site redesigns I have done the ape drawings (to go along with the reviews) so, when it came time for Colin to launch his new site, he asked me to do a new ape design.

Instead of regular apes, this time Colin decided it was time to go with the apes that his rating system comes from, PLANET OF THE APES. Check out his site at the link above, or in my links bar on the right.

This was the original ape I did before it was decided to go Planet of the Apes.

Another T

Another T-Shirt design for the KUPD boys. This one was fun, they wanted it similar to the classic dogs playing poker painting, and I had limited colour to play with.

It's kind of odd working on these things. I designed these characters/caricatures of the guys probably 5 years ago now. I think my skills have improved since then, but I find when I draw these old designs, I fall into the same ruts and drawing mistakes of 5 years ago. There are proportion issues with the designs etc. but I'm afraid if I "fix" a lot of this stuff, the designs will move away from what the client likes about them. I need to find a balance between fixing these things so that I hate the finished drawings less, yet still keep the client happy, and the recognition there.

They also wanted a new theme logo design for the front. I have zero training in Graphic Design yet, I seem to get a lot of work that involves it. Strange.



This is a mock up of what I hope the final shirt will look like.

The flash

From another thread on the DRAWING BOARD. This one is all pics of girls flashing. This of course isn't so much flashing as it is a complete disrobing. Look for the character in the pool to pop up in something else later...

The illusive cover song

Sometimes it's just plain fun to take someone else's ride for a spin. Drawing other people's characters is kind of like a decent cover song, sure it's a fun take, but it's never as good as the original.

There's a cool thread over on THE DRAWING BOARD (link in the links on the right) where people are doing fan art of fellow members of the drawing board. It started with the LOVELY CADAVER drawing I did for Jon McNally, and other people have posted some fantastic stuff. I have a couple more contributions.

The first for Elliot Cowan, a staggering talent, who does some of the funniest drawings around.

The second, Shane Glines' Flint Michigan, one of my favorite characters of his. I'd be surprised if you haven't heard of Shane. Everybody knows that guy's stuff. If you're not a member of cartoonretro.com, your SHOULD be.

Boobs

My buddy Viktor was telling me that he hasn't had the opportunity to draw boobs lately so, I did this drawing for him, just to let him know that boobs are thinking of him.

I think this is the biggest I have ever drawn them. I rarely if ever draw large ones.

More Skulls

Man, have I been neglecting the blog. Sorry blog...

I have been focusing on freelance and a personal project. That means the blog gets ignored. I will attempt to post more now that things are slowing down.

This is ink and acrylics used like watercolour.

Lovely Cadaver

My buddy Jon McNally sent me a SWEET bookmark with an awesome character of his on the front of it. It inspired me to do some fan art of the character. This is what you see here, and what I gave to Jon as a thank you.

Speaking of Jon, he has a blog. The guy is a great artist and a KILLER designer. Great style, and you should check out his stuff...

HERE

98

Sometimes I just do stupid drawings for my buddies. This is one of those times.

Giving thanks

When I was a kid, I HATED having to write thank you notes. It wasn't that I wasn't grateful for my Christmas gifts, I just thought they were BORING(the letter writing.) I didn't understand it at the time, but the format of them was rather dull.

Dear (Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent etc.)
Thank you for the (gift/cheque/spoons of the world collection.) I put the money in the bank/put the kids cookbook on my bookshelf blah blah blah. This weekend I played basketball, we lost.

Love,
John

I soon got more creative with my notes adding drawings, or telling complete and utter fabrications.

Thanks for the spatula. You'd think an 8 year old would have no use for one, but I killed a grizzly bear with it, saving the entire family, and our camp.

Today, the tradition stays alive. Letter writing is kind of a dying art. E-mail & text messaging are faster, more immediate. My mom's voice is still in the back of my head though, telling me to write my thank you notes so, I still do.

I'm still severely lacking in the job arena and this year, I spent WAY too much time on my notes. This is one of them. Vegas and the Hawaiian shirt are true (supposedly the hotel we stayed in had the biggest in the world.)

Also note: This is a terribly inaccurate depiction of my lovely wife. She is actually VERY nice, and amazingly, has never called me an idiot. This whole thing was complete stream of consciousness which can be fun to do from time to time.

Apologies to JOHN CAMPBELL as I sort of lifting his style for this little story. Check out his HILARIOUS comics in my links.

Three cheers for more rejects!

why my friends HATE me

Happy Birthday Dan.

Fun with the various shape tools in Photoshop.

Merry Ho Ho 2007

Merry Christmas Blog Readers!!!

RAGNAROCK

I ended up doing two paintings for the latest Maverix Studios auction this time. To learn more about the auction, check out the MAVERIX link on the right.

The first painting is called RagnaROCK. Hopefully I can put my obsession with drawing vikings to rest now that this painting has gotten it out of my system? This is 8"X10" acrylic on illustration board

The painting below is my second for the auction, and is quite obviously titled, "She Dreams of Pop Stardom." When I set out to do the two paintings, I had no intention of making them thematically linked by music, but it happened. When I was sketching out the viking, he was holding an actual axe and then I thought what if he's holding an AXE? Next thing I knew, I was drawing a guitar. Then I moved onto the girl, and the title popped into my head. I also decided I wanted to do something that incorporated lettering. This one is 5"X7" Acrylic and Gouache on watercolour paper. The lettering is gouache, everything else is Acrylic.

Not up to snuff

What better things to post on your blog than REJECTS! Why post your best work when you can post stuff that just isn't that great! Yes! That's what everyone wants to see.

Maverix Studios has another charity auction coming up and I was lucky enough to be asked to do some work for it. I ended up doing a couple of paintings that I'll post a little closer to the auction date.

This painting above is a self rejected piece. Something weird happened with the pigment in the watercolour I used on her jacket and it kinda ruined the painting. Looking at this again, I'm not that thrilled with the drawing either, so I guess all was the best.

Random randomness

Page of doodles. Um, that girl's face in the upper right, just below the guy with the weird neck, I ripped that off of a Miss Arnette drawing from her blog. I think there was something to the arrangement of her features that I wanted to remember so, I did a quick study. Check out her blog in my links, she's REALLY good.

Searching...

These are a couple of pages of sketches where I was trying to find the designs of the characters in the Capt. Courage comic (which can be seen a couple of posts below this.) You'll also notice my first attempt at the FACA Arena Girl that I self rejected due to general crappiness and sucky drawing.

Happy Halloween

I designed a t-shirt for KUPD'S MONSTER MOSH their big Halloween party they're having tonight.

REJECTION

Rejection is something I think most artists need to get used to. It happens a lot in this business. Being currently unemployed, I have been dealing with a fair bit lately as I search for a more full-time employment situation than my current sparse freelance work. Maybe it's good though, it allows us to reassess our goals and maybe provides that bit of sour that the sweet needs to be properly enjoyed. That said, it still sucks.

As I try to figure out my next move, I have been working on a few side projects. One was submissions for someone I came in contact with a few months ago. This, as the title of this post says was REJECTED. No worries though, now I can share it with the 7 people that read this blog... okay 10.

There was a question in the comments so to clarify, I wrote, drew, and coloured this.