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This is my illo specifically for Illustration Friday’s ‘Remember’ theme. Little people running things in your brain is a common metaphor in cartoons and I thought it would be funny to use it for the theme. I drew this by hand and colored it in PhotoShop. About 5 hours work.
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Well, I decided to draw Cap. I’m not really a big Captain America fan but I do like that in the Marvel comic’s Civil War he opposed the government – proving you can question the government and still be patriotic. And now he’s dead. Or at least, Steve Rogers is dead. There will surely be another Cap.
I did this partly for Illustration Friday but mostly to add to the Captain America Meme that was hot a month or two ago. I know it’s late but since I’m working on my style, I like to try doing my own versions of things everyone else is doing – it helps to see differences of style on a common theme.
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I also did a couple of the same drawing in half-tone versions. Go, Cap!
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The incredibly talented cartoonist slash illustrator, Jamar Nicholas, has a blog called “Fat Wonder Woman”. He started collecting pieces by making requests of friends at conventions and he’s looking for more. There’s some fantastic drawings there, including a couple by Ape Lad. Go check it out.
But before you go, here’s my own Wonder Woman. Ain’t she cute? I drew her with a brush, scanned her, and painted her in PhotoShop. About 3 hours work all together, including 2 versions. Click the image for a better look at her! And also check out this dotty version, which I colored using Ape Lad’s half-tone tutorial.
Yay! This is the most awesome thing ever! Someone I’ve admired for a long time that has produced the most amazing work has not only drawn a remarkably accurate cartoon of my daughter but has linked back to my humble little site! I am thoroughly undone.
Ape Lad (AKA: Adam Koford) started a wonderful project of drawing hobos with no more guideline than a name. For $10 he’d draw the hobo you named on a postcard and send it to you. $10 for art from Ape Lad was an offer too good to pass up! 
So I named one after my daughter and got an incredible piece in the mail. I mentioned in his blog’s comments that I was a bit disappointed he had not drawn a girl and he writes back that day that he’d draw another one! I was just in process of writing this blog entry about the first drawing I received when, while admiring his site, I discovered he had made a new one! Absolutely beautiful!
Ape Lad’s next project is to draw scenes of your, or your kid’s, favorite fairy tale. Don’t miss this chance to get a wonderful piece of art in the mail! I’ve already ordered mine. And be sure to get his Alphabet of Monsters book!
- Ape Lad’s Blog!
- new Jazzy Pink the Scooter Kid at Ape Lad’s
- old Jazzy Pink the Scooter Kid at Ape Lad’s
If you’re a fan of color like I am then you should head over to Lou Romano’s (The Incredibles, Powerpuff Girls) blog. He filled a pad with drawings in a day, “one right after another without any plan in mind. Then they were scanned and painted digitally in the order in which they were drawn. The goal for me was to get ideas out of my head, on to paper and into color as fluidly and as quickly as possible.” His drawings are a blast but what I really love is the colors he used to paint the drawings. Awesome. [via: cartoon brew]
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I did a piece at the chalk art contest at Belmont Shore, Long Beach yesterday. Click that thumbnail image and look at my finished piece (titled ‘Mother’s Kiss’)! It was a load of fun! It was also hard work. I got beat up by sun, wind, hard ground and horrible angles for drawing, my picture got rained on once and stepped on twice, and I had to go home for a while due to a little medical emergency. My wife, Kelly and my daughter, Jasmine gave their highly valuable moral support. I put about 5 hours of work into my drawing. I didn’t win. But I did get an “Award of Merit” which 2 other people got as well – making me part of the top 7 of nearly 75 contestants. Not bad I guess.
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Here’s the kicker – Jasmine and I made the front page of the local paper! There’s me, working hard on my drawing in the background, and Jasmine in the foreground all bundled against the chilly wind. Photo by Press Telegram photographer, Diandra Jay. What’s more, aside from the lovely Diandra Jay, my drawing was photographed by dozens of people. I got enough compliments to bloat my head for weeks. I even posed with my drawing with some fans! And I got a few offers to buy it but I didn’t realize I was allowed to sell it so I turned them down. Oh well.
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Polar – actually, two poles! Polar bears and penguins might hang together in Coke commercials but in real life they never meet. Penguins stay south of the equator and polar bears stay in the north. This little penguin doesn’t seem to get it so the polar bear has to explain it. I sketched it out and inked the line on paper then scanned it and painted it in Photoshop. 2 hours.
In a meeting at work my boss spoke of “funding”. He stressed the word into two syllables and this little guy came to mind. How cute is that?
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My daughter, Jasmine. And a bunny. Racing rockets. In space. Ahhh… all is right in the universe.
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The fortune teller tells his fortune. He’s very excited about it! Is it wealth? Travel? Success? Maybe it’s a date with the fortune teller? This is for Illustration Friday’s “Fortune” theme. I sketched out a few versions and decided to tighten up the composition and go for more muted colors. I scanned my sketch and painted over it in Photoshop. 5 hours.
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Here’s a tribute to a wonderful book. Green Eggs and Ham! I wanted to do something for Easter. I thought of frogs – “it isn’t easy being green” – and came up with several ideas on that theme but then I thought of Dr. Seuss. I decided the “ham” should be a living green pig and the eggs would be him receiving Easter eggs. This is the result. Note the fox in a box and if you closely at the window you’ll see the mouse in the house. This is 7 hours in PhotoShop (off and on – I was sick at the time). If you click it you’ll see a larger image, which is actually half the size I worked in. I went for brighter colors this week. I hope you enjoy it.
[update 4/10] I changed the picture that comes up when you click on it. Now it has a soft border. The original is here.
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