amateur art

Chris, you were talking about the appeal of crude unfinished art a while back [here]. I came across this thread where there's an interesting discussion about it (after the initial boosterism):

http://comicscomicsmag.blogspot.com/2008/08/drawing-is-fun_10.html

Ptooey & Loogie Strips

While Ptooey and Loogie's first comic jam awaits a bold cartooneesta to step forward and take the helm, the wacky couple are taking a new approach - the strip format! No, I don't mean you'll be seeing Ptooey work the pole; I mean I've drawn a few Ptooey & Loogie comics in the style of a daily strip. Here they are.


I think these two characters have a great potential for versatility, so I tried to explore that in these strips. I went for romantic comedy in the first and third ones. With the second one, I was hoping to show how they can enter the world of the bizarre or surreal, a la The Twilight Zone, or Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.

I also wanted to add to the Ptooey and Loogie bible some, so I managed to show some things we haven't seen: their fancy duds, their cat, their house's exterior, and Ptooey's lecherous friend. Speaking of which, here's what he looks like --


I don't know what to name him, though. Here are some ideas --

Gooey
Munk
Wexler
Tom

What do y'all think? Vote for one of those names or submit your own ideas for a name in the comments below.

Also, if you're inspired, add to the collection of Ptooey & Loogie strips! As before, you can draw them to look like mine, or you can draw them in whatever other style you like. You could also, if you're wildly excited, volunteer to ink and/or paint any of the existing strips. Or if you have ideas for strips, but have no time to draw them, post them here or email them to me. That way I could keep a growing collection of scriptlets, from which any of us can draw in the future, when we want to do some new P&T strips.

Love Always,
G

Loogie Languishing

The Secret Sorcerer, our not-so-ongoing comic jam, is currently floating in limbo, with no takers. Somebody please call dibs and draw the next few panels! Our unlikely heroine has fallen under the spell of a magical squirrel. Only YOU can rescue her . . . or seal her fate?

The Secret Sorcerer - 1st installment (this post tells you about the spirit of the characters and the jam).
The Secret Sorcerer - 5th installment (this most recent addition catches you up on all that's happened in the panels added by Tim Rocks, Chris Fason, and Christopher Davis).

I hate layers

I finished working on my picture of my muses and I gotta say... I'm not exactly happy with it. I had to reduce the girls and move the layers around a bit to fit'em proper on the background I had picked out. Well, that softened some lines and pixelated others and I was wondering what the hell did I do to eff this up? Well, I shoulda never kept them as JPGs the whole time, I suppose, 'cause I know they pixelate when reduced.
Regardless, I present to you, my Muses; Art, Author, Anger, Asshole, Adolescence, Agony, and Arousal:


If you really want to, you can check out the girls in their full forms, too.

yo garrison!

I'm still here! Meaning "still among the living"... Sorry I have not been able to jump on that jam thing, still swamped etc bla bla bla.

I do have something to post. The halloween gag header doodles started to gel, and here are the next day's doodles. Out of this session the actual finished header grew, and you can see it in the - uh - whichever issue of Nick Mag comes out right before Halloween.

ALSO - shout out to my old pal Hal, who kept me company way into the weehours of the morning as we drew and drew and drew back in the "day".

just a little something...

...that's been noodling around in my head for a while. i hope to get back to it eventually and flesh out the characters and do an online strip or something. just not enough time in the week...

The Secret Sorcerer - part 5

Hey heyyy! Here's part 5 (last 3 panels of page 3), from Christopher Davis. He managed to get some work done on the comic jam, but must be too busy to actually post it or something, so he had me put it up.


Way to progress the story, Christopher! I knew he'd do a good job on this, because, as an experienced improv comic, Christopher knows how to say, "Yes, and . . . " (I've always heard that's the key.)

Anything can happen, now. Who will take it up from here? Comment below to call dibs.

Will the story be finished at the end of page 3, or will it take longer to play out? Will the next installment come down to the end of the page or not? Find out in the thrilling continuation of The Secret Sorcerer!

No one correctly answered my trivia question by identifying the magic trick at the top of page 3. It's the Indian Rope Trick, of course! The rope and the boy's limbs were strong clues, so I don't know why you missed it. It's too bad, really, because the jackpot would have been 58 BILLION dollars!!

31 Flavors - of Cartooneesta

Everyone welcome the 31st Salty 'Ham Cartooneesta to be added to the list - Hal Jones. Click here to read all about him.


Hal has a comic called Beyond Human, which he publishes online at Drunk Duck. Check it out! Click on the "First" tab at the top of the comic page that comes up, so you can read it from the beginning. And set aside some time, because it's an epic!

Don Stewart on the Airwaves

Birmingham's Fox 6 News recently did an "Absolutely Alabama with Fred Hunter" story about Salty 'Ham Cartooneesta Don Stewart and his DS Art Studio.

Click here, then, to see the video, click on the little icon that says "Videos," in the gray Sidebar area, in the lower middle of the page.

The Big Three-Oh!

We just gained a new Salty 'Ham Cartooneesta -- Stephen Smith! With him, we have 30. Pretty nifty. He has all kinds of stuff online, so check out his SHC post for links.


The Case of the Haunted Castle is like - how do I describe it? - an interactive flash cartoon, where you go on an adventure with Spacebabe Tamera the Tiger Girl. Neato!

Sorry, I don't have a Ptooey or a Loogie

What I do got is my first of seven Muses of mine that I've finished coloring, Arousal.


They'll all start with "A's." It's a theme, kinda like the Endless. Y'know... seven of'em, all got their own personality, all their names start with the same letter. You can see the original picture of her here.


I friggin' hate the way all my damn art pixelates one I scan it and turn it into a jpg. But, it looks good now that I've colored it in the Paintshop Pro and once I get all six of her sisters done and put'em on a background, I think it'll look fine.

Rock on, Keep Rockin'
Shaun


PS -- In the header... shouldn't that be bacon with the ham instead of an egg... since bacon is at least a pork product?

The Secret Sorcerer - part 4

I just added 4 more panels:


Credits so far:
Page 1, panels 1 - 4 . . . Chris Garrison
Page 1, panels 5 - 9 . . . Tim Rocks
Page 2, panels 1 - 3 . . . Chris Fason
Page 2, panels 4 - 6 . . . Chris Garrison
Page 3, panel 1 . . . Chris Garrison

I suppose we could finish the story up by the end of page 3, depending on what Loogie gets herself into. I wonder -- Was she really planning this all along?

Trivia question: Who can correctly identify the magic trick being performed at the top of page 3?

Anybody wanting to take up the story from here, just say so in the comments below.

the continuing adventures of ptooey & loogie

been a while since i've been active here... but let's keep things going...

header debacle cont'd.

Well, I've just replaced the header with a slightly improved version. Note that the ambiguous character on the right is now a fried egg. Also note that the background tan is the same tan as the tan on the right, instead of a lighter tan, so it blends in. And note the addition of the pleasing compositional element of the ovoid:


I was going to add some color to the band members, but I think they look better as they are.

Chris Fason's jelly jars received just as many votes, so if anyone wants to continue rallying on their behalf, please do so in the comments. I like them, and I definitely wanted someone to use the jam-as-in-jelly angle, but personally, I think the image is less qualified for this job than some others. Because it's an exercise in graphic design, and not cartooning.


Here's a revamped version of the roller derby drawing, where I pretty much used the colors that people tended to like, from my version with the green shorts . . . but I amped up the contrast and intensity, stealing techniques from Chris Fason's pink version:


If people love this one, perhaps it can replace the rock band. If you wish to start a fervent public outcry, do so in the comments below. Otherwise, the rock band stays, I reckon.

I've been trying to figure out exactly what lesson there is to be gleaned from the rock band beating the roller derby, and I think it has to do with a theory that's been slowly bubbling up in the back of my mind over the last few weeks. How can I put this?

There's something to effortlessness. Many times, a doodle that takes 10 seconds will be better received than a piece that takes 5 hours. Because when you really take the time to pick over every detail, perfecting every line and nuance, it's easy to lose the flair and personality of a quick sketch. So there are times when you should embrace the lazy version.

And: There's something to naivety. I'm noticing more and more cartoons and comics done in a sort of "Outsider Art" style. That is, they're purposefully made to look like they're either drawn by a 6th grader, or like they're drawn by someone who's never seen a comic book before. Like they're drawn by a farmer. Maybe it started with Frog Baseball, or in some way, Peanuts. Now adult swim is overrun with it, and there are all these art comics. I think people are attracted to this for a couple reasons.

1) They always want to see something that looks new or different. So if they're used to Spongebob Squarepants, and then they suddenly see 12 Oz. Mouse, they get a thrill out of it.

2) It's meta. It's a story within a story. If you can draw really well, but you decide that your style is going to look like it's done by someone who can't draw . . . or by someone who was only given 3 minutes to finish the work . . . it creates a story in the viewer's mind. Now, not only are they thinking, "This character's fighting the other character," they're thinking, "This is drawn by an idiot savant who overcame his severe strangeness to create a work of genius. I could have done this, but I didn't. How brilliant this guy is!" It's like The Office. The story is about office workers, but, since it's done in pretend-documentary-style, the viewer can also think about the documentarians behind the camera, and how the subjects are embarrassed in front of the camera, or how they're playing to the camera. There are layers upon layers. And because it's 2008, and we've seen so many things, we're looking around for anything new and different, including the multi-layered.

Not saying that that's good or bad. Just that it's a thing.

something like this...

I'm just sayin!

See, take the little guys drawing as-is, but incorporate it more ergonomically into the page. Maybe a little hint of color to make the hams look more hammy, especially the medicine ball guy on the right.

Well, that's what I'd do if I were King! They have grown on me...

But I still like the jammers too.

Make an executive decision already! The suspense is KILLIN ME!