End of the world as we know it

Happy 2012 everyone! I have many resolutions but I don’t like sharing them, so too bad.  I will have my State of the Blog post up soon, sharing all of my favorite stuff from the past year. Here’s to a year of awesomeness!

Going digital

Here’s my very first sketch from my brand new iPad! This was drawn in Sketchbook Pro, and features Jake from my currently on-hiatus webcomic Cooties.

I truly believe that the tablet computer is the future of comics; more specifically in terms of consumption, but possibly in creation as well. I’m looking into the possibility of creating Cooties strictly on my iPad if at all possible. Since it’s now the one device I don’t have to share, it’s likely my best option. I’ll keep you posted!

Season’s beatings

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and stay out of trouble!

Christmas calendar progress

I’m busy at work today on my Christmas calendar project. Happily, my kids are endless sources of inspiration!

Life’s a Happy Song

When I was a kid, and our VCR was an amazing piece of technology, while we rented a lot of movies, we didn’t really own very many. Mostly we’d just record movies off of the TV when they’d play. One of the few that I watched several million times was The Muppets Take Manhattan. Aside from Sesame Street, it was my main beloved method of exposure to the Muppets.

Last weekend I took the family to see their newest film, simply titled The Muppets, and had one of the best times I’ve had in the theater in my life. My nostalgia for these characters wasn’t simply acknowledged, it was celebrated. My kids weren’t raised on Sesame Street or the Muppet Show, and, much like as portrayed in the movie, these characters hadn’t much relevance for them. My 9-year-old son even admitted to being creeped out by those puppets. I figured this weekend would either cure him or traumatize him. I think it cured him, but he won’t admit it.

My 12-year-old son was pretty indifferent. It was like he was just too cool to be there, and I don’t think it connected with him. My 6-year-old daughter, however, was delighted. She laughed, danced a little, and applauded along with the movie’s audience at the big finale. So at least they’ve made one new fan in my family.

For me, it almost felt like this movie read my mind, found everything a Muppet movie was supposed to be, and spit it out onto the screen. The Muppets were playing themselves, not established characters like in Muppet Treasure Island or Muppet Christmas Carol; they’re at their best when they can be let loose to save the day by putting on a show. While Jason Segel & Amy Adams were fantastic in their parts, their characters stepped back and let the Muppets take top billing. It’s kind of a paradox: While nobody goes to a Muppet movie for the human actors, we still have to have great cameos. While the ones in this movie weren’t on the caliber of Manhattan, they were still pretty satisfying (although, what was up with James Carville?).

The songs were phenomenal. When they busted out “Rainbow Connection” at the end, I almost teared up. And if Jason Segel and the newest Muppet, Walter (oh yeah, I drew a cartoon of him above), aren’t allowed to sing “Life’s a Happy Song” at the Oscars and/or have that song win the award, everyone in Hollywood should be fired.

What I think I liked best, though, was the feeling that this movie was just flipping a giant bird (big bird?) to the cynicism that permeates almost all of what our culture is putting out for kids. The movie didn’t try to make the Muppets edgier or “XTreme”; the attitude was as simple as the characters themselves: Life’s a happy song, guys. Laugh and love each other.

2012 preview

It’s that time of year when I get busy on a calendar to give to my family and friends. When you’re related to a poor artist you get poor art for Christmas . Here’s a taste! I want to make this calendar as visually pleasing as I can; if you have to have a cartoon on your wall for a whole month it might as well look great, right?

I am fiddling with the idea of doing this one in full color and putting it up for sale at Indyplanet like I did with The Classroom Curses. I really liked how that project turned out. Time is tight, though, and a calendar is marketable for a very slim period of time. I will try my best. In the meantime, I wanted to post a snippet of January’s installment to get in the 2012 doomsday spirit. Hope you like!

BOO! is here

Hey, everyone! Boo!: Spooky Tales for Kids is now available! A fantastic anthology of short stories in comic form for kids of all ages, just in time for Halloween! My story The Classroom Curses is included; it’s about an unruly group of middle-schoolers who get a creepy new substitute teacher.

There are a bunch of other really great stories here! You can get  a PDF version (great for e-readers and iPads) at The Illustrated Section, or get it in print at Indyplanet! You’ll love it!

Also, The Classroom Curses is available as a stand-alone 8-page comic; you can order it here!

Brock Heasley is celebrating the 5th anniversary of his fantastic webcomic SuperFogeys, and I contributed a strip recapping Chapter 8 of the series. Go give it a look!

Getting closer…

Cover for my upcoming Halloween story. Does it work?

Dadmocracy – Here there be goblins

Fun on the rocks in a new Dadmocracy!

The Classroom Curses – update

Here’s the mostly-finished first half of my upcoming Halloween short story The Classroom Curses, to be included in the Illopond‘s upcoming spooky anthology book. I have learned so much about compressing my storytelling and preparing images for print right at the start; I’m anxious to take what I’ve learned back to Cooties and get back to making it as good as I can. This project has been so fun and I’ve gotten to work with so many great creative people. I can’t wait for this story to see print!

The Classroom Curses – coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first page of my 8-page short story The Classroom Curses, which will be part of The Illopond‘s Halloween comic anthology this October. It’s about a rowdy classroom who gets more than they can handle in their spooky new substitute teacher! I hope to have all of the pages inked and colored pretty soon. In the meantime, you can check out my finished pencils by clicking on the above link.

Dadmocracy – Hipsters don’t eat peas

Check out a new Dadmocracy so you can say you read it before it became popular.

Insurance toons

I was asked by someone in my company to create these for some training documentation. It was great to actually do paid cartooning work for my day job!

Flatting and stuff

During my break from Cooties, I’ve been assisting Michael Regina, creator of the wonderful all-ages comic Kevin and the Light of Destiny. Specifically, I’m helping him prepare some of his recent pages for digital coloring by a process known as flatting. His newest page is the first one I helped with, and I think Michael’s coloring turned out beautifully! Plus, I’m learning some great skills that are helping me put together a print edition of Cooties (yes, it is definitely happening). So go give Kevin a look and tell Michael I sent you!

Dadmocracy – April Foolin’ around

I forgot to post this earlier toda–er, I mean APRIL FOOLS.

Boo! anthology concept sketches

Here’s some concept art for a short comic I’m putting together for the spooky kids’ story anthology being put together over at illopond.com. It’s about a classroom full of kids who get a very powerful and very grumpy substitute teacher; one that inflicts terrible curses as punishment for wrong answers or misbehavior. I plan to have a lot of fun with this; I’ll be posting more art as it comes along.

You can’t stop the beat

My lovely wife and I are attending the brand new Centerpoint Legacy Theater tonight. Guess what we’re seeing?

Dadmocracy – Valentron 3000

Happy Valentine’s Day, folks! Go celebrate with a new Dadmocracy comic!

Dadmocracy – Confronting the Past

Thoughtful literary commentary on today’s Dadmocracy.

Cooties – “Infestation” part 224

Making new friends on a new update of Cooties!

Cooties – “Infestation” part 223

Handicapped access issues in today’s Cooties!

Cooties – “Infestation” part 222

Mind-reading aliens are jerks: a new Cooties update today!

Dadmocracy – For posterity

Creating history on a new Dadmocracy!

Cooties – “Infestation” part 221

Start off the new year with a new Cooties strip!