My Little CrockPot of News and Thoughts

Friday has come and gone and I never finished my illustration for Illustration Friday. You may commence the name calling and the throwing of stones now. In my defense, Saturday was Amanda's birthday, so I was busy celebrating. In honor of the anniversary of Amanda's birth, I started making her a comic. It's my first real attempt at a comic so I'm kinda feeling my way through it. It's called "Birthday Cake" and, if you look at the top of this entry, you'll see the first image from it. It's a true story about my journey to buy the perfect birthday cake. Things may be quiet here on the blog for the next few days while I try to finish it. When I do, I'll post it here. ... Sob Story is too funny. I'm really enjoying this one. Gene Yang's Humble Comics Jason Shiga Southern Salazar Christopher Silas Neal (via PCL LinkDump) My nightmares have been illustrated, thanks to Dave Cooper. ... I can't stop popping them! ... mrdantefontana over at the PCL LinkDump recently held a very cool contest. The first person to leave a comment on that particular post, would get the pleasure of being featured in an upcoming entry. I thought that was a pretty fun idea so I'm gonna do the same here. First person to leave a comment will get bombarded by questions from me in the first ever My Little Crockpot's Interview For The People... I think I may change that name later on... the current title isn't very cool at all...

I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON! I have yet to finish my illustration for Illustration Friday this week! That doesn't mean I haven't tried. I've tried several times, but always seem to end up a page of primitive scratches and indistinguishable lead based vomit. Tonight will be my last attempt for this week and I plan to go out in a blaze of glory... in the meantime, here are some characters that I've created recently. The other is the scary old lady with really dramatic lighting... it is intended to scare. I hope you are.

One from last night: "Stay in the trees, little one; It's safer there" ... I finally decided on what I'll be creating for Illustration Friday this morning in the shower. Hopefully it'll be up soon... Jenny B. Harris is an illustrator living in Dallas that I've had the pleasure of meeting through Illustration Friday. She's got a really fun, bright style that is the perfect compliment to a cup of coffee to shake the early morning Blah's. For more of her work, check out her blog, Allsorts. Elisa has a blog now too! She's only a few entries into it but the stuff she has posted is top notch. Can't wait to see what all she'll be posting in the future.

My entry for Illustration Friday.

Tuesday night exploration: "Hi/Bye" ... Michael Nobbs is the creator of The Beany, an illustrated journal that he keeps detailing the tales of his life in an illustrated form. He also has a nice blog. Cool stuff.

I really enjoy Lori Joy Smith's style. I'm also fond of her blog.

Lori Earley has a fascinating yet slightly creepy feel to her work. I can't stop looking at it.

Circus Posterus, Fine Art Printing and Design

Dig Dug gallery

Derek Kirk Kim was interviewed on NPR? How'd I miss that one?! ... The Computers in my life hate me...

Spoils from the weekend: "Don't Go in the Woods!" ... Here's the illustration that I was working on this past weekend. Actually, this is the second take... I screwed up the first. I think I prefer the way this one looks in person; the scan is a bit too bright and hard for my tastes. ... Comics Links! E-Z Cheese: The work of Thien Pham and Chris Wong When I am King, by Demian 5 Hungry for Brains Kevin K Hanna's The Random Frog Children ... Shane Glines has his own blog now. Read it here. (link via Cartoonbrew)

Cure for a screwed up drawing: "The Quick Go To Guy" ... Yes, that's a painting of my previous "BAM!" guy. I had planned on using a different illustration today, but at the last second, I screwed it all up. Gotta love it. I'll try again tomorrow. ... Milt Kahl speaks! The Seward Street has several clips of the animation legend from a lecture he gave back in the late 70's. Yaaaay! Illustration Friday is a site that's purpose "is meant to challenge participants creatively... It's a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art". Check it out. (link via Robot Johnny) Speaking of Illustration Friday, it was started by a great illustrator named Penelope Dullaghan. I had a lot of fun checking out her portfolio. Fun stuff! **Update**

Steckfigures (via PCL Linkdump)

Joseph Delaney (via The Cartoonist)

More stuff: "The Food Web" ... Man, it's been a pretty crazy week. In a week, this blog has gone from being what I thought was somewhat unknown to being recognized by several different people. I owe a lot of people thanks for that, but I owe much more thanks to all of the people who continually encourage and support me and the brain farts I call my art. Thanks to my wife, Amanda, my family, to Don Smith, and Stephen Thurman (two great guys to work with). To my pals Elisa Chavarri, Josh Burton, Kat Evans. To my new pals Ward Jenkins, James Palmer, Anne from Fishbucket, Johnny Martz , Rebecca Shane and to everyone else I'm leaving out. Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words. I really appreciate them.

Something from a slow Tuesday night: "What Francis Macomber said" ... Both my Mom and my wife are big fans of the illustrator Mary Engelbreit and have subscription to her magazine, Home Companion. At the risk of sounding strange, I have to admit, I like this magazine. Every issue has an interview or two with different artists and illustrators, covering a broad spectrum of styles, mediums, and backgrounds. If you have a chance, check this one out. The Adventures of Tom Thumb is available for download this week at Kiddie Records. For those of you who don't know who Henry Darger was, he is known for lifetime work, a 15,000 page, twelve volume graphic novel of sorts. To read more about Darger, check out this page dedicated to him and his novel. Darger was also featured in a story I heard on NPR a while back. You can listen to it here. (Darger website link via PCL Link Dump)

Yada yada yada: "The Land of the Crude Machines" ... The legendary Milton Glaser Jessica Sances' short film Hiccup (via fishbucket) design agency I Love Dust (via i like) A while back I bought the Old Canes first album, Early Morning Hymns and I really love it. Just the right amount of folky banjo and whimsical toy piano. Now you can listen to the whole album via the internet! Enjoy.

An idea from Josh on a Sunday evening: "Eggplant in the sky" ... I hope everyone had a grand weekend. Amanda and I had our very first Lord of the Rings marathon. That's right. Ten hours of orcs, hobbits, and bedsores. It was a lot of fun... but the transition back to reality has been kind of hard. ... Art by concept artist FengZhu (may be a repost) Derreck Thompson

Something new for a different day: "BAM!" ... I first discovered Keri Smith a while back through Ward's blog and I must say, I really like her work. It's so fun and uplifting. Be sure to check out her blog and read this interview with her at 52 Projects (another site that I like). Sabadabada, devoted to the Brazilian Bossa Nova, Balanco & Sambra records of the 60's. FUN! Al Hirschfeld, Beyond Broadway exhibition George Rarey was P-47 pilot and car driver for the United States Army Air Corps during WWII. Outside of the service, he was a commercial artist and cartoonist. Through the surving members of the 379th Fighter Squadron, a large collection of his Wartime sketchbook drawings have been collected and put online thanks to his son, Damon. Very Cool. Italian site, Papersera, dedicated to all things Disney. Be sure to check out the Floyd Gottfredson illustrations. Michel Gagne's story in FLIGHT #2 ... Weekend is coming up fast... not sure what we'll be doing yet. I'm aiming to get some drawing done... at least I hope too.

Sadly, I just heard on NPR this evening that comic legend Will Eisner passed away yesterday. Details of his passing are briefly discussed at his site... ...He will be missed. Here are a few stories about Eisner's passing: Eisner tribute by Brian Michael Bendis Yahoo News CNN AWN Newsarama

A New Drawing for a New Year: "Me and Abe" ... I hope everyone had a great holiday season, even though it was hard because of the recent tragedy in Asia. Like a lot of people around this time of year, I have made several resolutions for the new year, one of which is to do my part to resurrect the dying art of letter writing. Letter writing is such a personal way of keeping in touch with people. Sadly, in this day of throw away email and quick cell phone calls, receiving a letters is becoming a rare thing... so, if you feel the urge, send me your address and I'll write you a letter... I might even include a crude drawing of a past president with it... ... The AnimWiki is a new, open-ended encyclopedia, dedicated to all things animated. Founded by Vincent Florio, the AnimWiki promises to be a great resource for students and fans alike. Typography gurus, House Industries Matt Pond PA is great band with a great website. Congrats to James Palmer on his CHASING THE SWAMP FOX special that will be appearing on South Carolina's Public Television this friday at 7pm.