Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Beyond Human's new home

Our fellow SHC Hal Jones' comic, Beyond Human, used to be readable online. But Hal had some problems with the site's host, or something like that, so he's had to find a new home for it. It now has the same address as before, but it's a blog. It looks like he's putting up pages from the Beyond Human Sketchbook, after which I guess he'll starting putting up Beyond Human - Issue Number 1. You can follow his progress HERE.

new blog by Walter "Buddy" Simon

Those who came to Sunday's slam met Walter Simon and saw a few of his sketchbooks. Apparently he has a ton of them, all overflowing with weirdness, which, according to him, freely springs forth from his mind of its own accord.

Well, he's been scanning those sketchbooks, and he's started up a blog: Walter's Brain. Judging from the writing there, I have to wonder if he's blessed with a mild form of schizephrenia! I just hope that blessing doesn't become a curse. Let's leave some comments there and bug Walter (aka "Buddy") about joining SHC officially:

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Salty 'Ham Slam 6 - On Reflection

Our sixth official powwow was smashing. We were back at the J this time. Tim Rocks , Kirk Creel, Frank Cummings, Tim Spinosi, Richard Haigler, and Ed Abernathy were there. And me, Chris Garrison. Plus several newcomers, which was awesome: Beverly Toole, Lorenzo Kirkpatrick (and wife Juline), and the not-yet-signed-up-but-hopefully-soon-to-join Walter Simon. Oh, and non-member Paul Godbey invited himself, yet again.

I didn't have any important points of order to discuss this time, so I let Spinosi hold court for most of the afternoon. He entertained us all with his musings on copyright loopholes, elephant poaching, and much, much more.

When Frank Cummings met Lorenzo Kirkpatrick's wife, Juline, he broke into Dolly Parton's classic tune Jolene (except he replaced Jolene with Juline, of course). He has quite a range, and he sang all three verses. It was really quite impressive. Here he is belting it out:


And here's everyone enjoying his rendition:

That's Juline on the left, Tim Spinosi at the end of the table, Walter Simon in the middle, and Richard Haigler in the foreground. On the upper right, you can see Frank's twin, Hugo, hanging his head in embarrassment.



Tim Rocks

And an actual girl-cartoonist showed up this time, if you can believe it. That's Beverly Toole on the left.

Lovable grouch Ed Abernathy (somehow I didn't get a good picture of him) told us all how much he hates Conan O'Brien. And Jay Leno. Also Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon. He's okay with Carson, but I failed to ask about Jack Paar and Steve Allen.

Ed also let us know about the Bilderbergs' plan to wipe out most of mankind, using the H1N1 vaccine. Hey, who can say it isn't so? But it turns out that Richard Haigler is related to the Rockefellers, so he and Ed got into a fistfight over it. Haw! You REALLY should have been there!

When it got to be close to 5 o'clock, most folks went on their way. Those remaining discussed how the fine arts world seems to think of cartooning as non-art. Even though cartoonists are much more capable of getting an idea or emotion across to a wide audience, in a clear way, that the audience can understand and enjoy. And isn't that what art is really FOR?! Whereas, in the fine arts world, it's almost like mass appeal is frowned upon. Coincidentally, I'd just seen a movie online of Doug TenNapel, giving a great lecture in which he discusses just that (among lots of other things). So if you want to see this very good, 52-minute talk I mentioned, that he gave to a classroom full of aspiring animators, go HERE.

Anyway, Walter Simon drew this guy in my sketchbook. I wonder if he's saying, "Don't stick your neck out.":


Kirk Creel drew this tree (check out the cool roots) while noodling around with my favorite brush pen:


Here's a comic jam:


We kinda ran out of time before the story could get going on that one. But it's a pretty cool start, don't you think? So maybe we can pick up on page 2 next time.

Yu-Jen: Samurai Flea! credits: panel 1 by Chris Garrison; panel 2 by Tim Rocks; panel 3 by Frank Cummings; panel 4 by Beverly Toole; panel 5 by Walter Simon; panel 6 by Lorenzo Kirkpatrick.

A now a one-and-a-half pager:


The Wishing Birdie credits: panel 1 by Chris Garrison; panel 2 by Beverly Toole; panel 3 by Tim Rocks; panels 4 & 5 by Walter Simon; panels 6, 7, & 8 by Richard Haigler; panels 9, 10, & 11 by Chris Garrison.

I drew this little bunny on the lower right of this next piece, then I passed it around for everyone to add another character to. My intention was that each character would have a pencil, so the finished product might resemble a Salty 'Ham Slam in progress. But I failed to actually tell everyone to follow the pencil rule, so they don't all have pencils. Oh well, good enough:


Slam Collaboration credits: witch by Kirk Creel; CoCo by Ed Abernathy; kitty cat by Lorenzo Kirkpatrick; through the heart by Tim Rocks; through the head by Frank Cummings; trucker hat bear by Walter Simon; tall bunny by Richard Haigler; girl in repose by Beverly Toole; short bunny by Chris Garrison; pencil face by Tim Spinosi.

I rearranged the characters a bit in PhotoShop, shifting their sizes and positions somewhat, so that they would fit together better in space. And I added the color to the pencils in PhotoShop, as well. I'm gonna use the piece on the Salty 'Ham Slam page, to replace this old one, that I dashed off by myself, a long time ago:


It's hard to remember for sure who drew what on all these things, so if I messed up on any of the credits, y'all please tell me.

All tolled, everybody enjoyed the slam, and much chortling was exchanged. So join us, won't you, for the NEXT Salty 'Ham Slam! (as yet unscheduled) (official members and invited guests only, please)

And you can look back at previous slams, here:

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

TreeTop Family Adventure

Apparently a new family fun park will be opening this spring, in Chelsea. They're supposed to have go-karts, mini golf, mini bowling, "water wars," laser tag, a laser maze, an arcade, etc.

I wonder if they'll want to hire a caricaturist (or several?) for the place. If you're interested in the job, you might ought to contact them now. Looking at the web site, the only way I see to contact them so far is to send them an email by clicking on "group/corporate sales."

Their web site is pretty nice: TreeTop Family Adventure. It's in Flash, and it's got cute, animated birds and bunnies. Does anybody know who created the site? I wonder if they went out of state for this. It would be great if we could nab such jobs for Alabama cartoonists. Whoever put it together, my only critique would be: The white bunnies look kinda like bandits, and they look kinda high.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Salty 'Ham Slam - Reminder

MINGLE!!!


Hey, SHC members, don't forget -- Our 6th Salty 'Ham Slam is scheduled for this Sunday afternoon, Jan. 24th, 2010, from 2 - 5, at the J! Click HERE for more details.

I'm hoping we'll have a good group this time around, but that can only happen if YOU arrive with bells on. Comment below (or email me) to let us all know if you're coming. Perhaps your enthusiasm will be contagious, encouraging others to show up as well.

Read about the fun we had at SLAM 1, SLAM 2, SLAM 3, SLAM 4, and SLAM 5 -- then imagine that, only better! There will be handshaking, camaraderie, serious discussion, fun doodling, vats full of circus peanuts*, an adorable baby aardvark**, and randy Swedes***! So,

MINGLE!!!

* not guaranteed
** at participating Salty 'Ham Slams only
*** chance of 1 in 427,962,803

Friday, January 15, 2010

How much to Charge?

Hi Birmingham Cartooneeeestas, I have a few giftwrap designs to do for a Hong Kong manufacturer.
Please advise on how much YOU would charge, per design @ 15"x22".
All comments & advice is appreciated.
I can't decide on a standard price per design.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Storyboards

Here are some storyboards I just put up on my storyboard blog. I did these a while back, but I'm just getting around to posting them there. Click HERE for one set . . .


and HERE for another . . .

Sunday, January 10, 2010

My Latest Maps

Ahoy! Derek here with a couple of recent things I've been working on for University Graphics. The first is a map of Dekalb County, AL and the second is a work in progress depicting Oxford/Anniston, AL

Friday, January 1, 2010

New Day for Slams?

A survey of our fellow SHC's seems to indicate that, while moving the Slam to Saturdays might gain us three extra cartooneestas, we might also lose another three. So maybe I'll start alternating, one on Sunday, and the next on Saturday. If I can figure out a good place to have them on Saturdays. I think the back room of a Chinese restaurant might be nice. Any other ideas, y'all?

Mmm-wehhhllllll . . . Could be!

These four artists have been threatening to join Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas for going on two years each! All of them say they'll get around to it soon, so . . . we'll just see about that!


Miah Alcorn:



Tom Briscoe:



Hunter Cressall:



Nolen Otts:


Welcome aboard, gentlemen! I mean, assuming you do join some day. :)

Salty 'Ham Slam 6 - planning stage

Hello, Alabama cartooners.

I've scheduled the next slam for Sunday, January 24th, 2010, from 2-5pm. So mark your calendars now! It's back at the J again. More info HERE.

So far, at these get-togethers, we've welcomed the following talented cartooneestas: Christopher Davis, Brian Ratigan, Russell Quick, Shaun "The Weezel" Burnett, Chris Fason, Garth Potts, Stephen Smith, Hal Jones, Kirk Creel, Pat Snow, Tim Rocks, Ed Abernathy, Chris Rosko, Sam McDavid, Jamison Harper, Heath McPherson, James Hislope, Frank Cummings, Tim Spinosi, Derek Anderson, and me, Chris Garrison. And special guest Nolen Otts.

So if you'd like to meet any of them at the next Salty 'Ham Slam (or any other SHC members who we haven't seen yet), email them and invite them to attend on January 24th.

So who's coming?

Angry Space Boy - complete saga

A while back, I posted this, showcasing a six-part series of strips by Chris Rosko. That's from his "Cartoon: by Rosko" strip, in the Birmingham Weekly.

Well now he's done a twelve-part epic, if you include the tangential 100th strip episode, from between parts 5 & 6, and the Director's Cut Ending. This has to be the most liberal helping of cartoon-style punctuation-cursing ever published in a free paper. Click to enjoy the first 3:


Click to enjoy another 3:


Click to enjoy 3 more:


Click to enjoy the final 3 in the series: