color sketch

A few weeks back, I attended a concert benefiting musician Russ Rosser, in downtown B'ham. He's a brilliant talent, and he's suffered a terrible injury to his hand. If you have anything to give, please visit the link above.

The show started early, and the sun was just beginning to set. Behind the stage, I could see through a black-barred window to where glowing, peach clouds lit up the hazy gray sky. In the foreground, a lavender curtain and honey-colored wall were illuminated by spotlights. The combination of colors struck me as remarkable, so I made this quick note of it in PhotoShop after I got home.

Salty 'Ham Slam Reminder

Hey, everybody! Don't forget about this Sunday's highly anticipated get-together of the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas! It's on August 2nd, at the J again, from 2 - 5. Expect to see a few new faces, a few old faces, and a few weird faces. For details (and more of my thoughts on the event), check the Slam section of the SHC page, HERE.


I hope to see you all there!

tidbits

A couple of things came in, that I've been lax in passing on. So here they finally are . . .

Don Stewart let me know about this weird job notice on the Federal Business Opportunities web site:

The purpose of this announcement is to seek qualified contractors with the capability to provide presentations for The Department of Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), Management Meeting with experience in meeting the objectives as described herein.

The Contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour, Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace, the close relationship between humor and stress, and why humor is one of the most important ways that we communicate in business and office life. Participants shall experience demonstrations of cartoons being created on the spot. The contractor shall have the ability to create cartoons on the spot about BPD jobs. The presenter shall refrain from using any foul language during the presentation. This is a business environment and we need the presenter to address a business audience.

Sounds to me like they're in danger of turning up a lot of real live Michael Scott's! Whoever gets it will have to make their presentations in Washington, D.C., and in West Virginia. Here's the entire job offer.

==

Kirk Creel let me know that the Shelby County Arts Council announced its 1st Annual Juried Art Exhibition, which will start on September 3rd. If you want to submit, you have to get your painting, 2D mixed media work, or photography to them between August 10th and 13th. There's a $35 entry fee, which gives you membership and eligibility to put work up in their online gallery, which is coming soon. And you might win cash prizes or other stuff.

Here's the application, in pdf form. For more info, email susan[at]shelbycountyartscouncil.com, with subject: CALL FOR ART. Or call (205) 669-0044.

Ptooey and Loogie - The Mommy of All Hiccups

As I told y'all before, my college chum Cheese Hasselberger publishes House of Twelve comics. He said I could contribute something to their upcoming kids' anthology, so I started work on a 4-page Ptooey and Loogie story. And now I'm finally done!





I said before that I might change the gags in the first half of page 2, and now you can see that I did (just compare this to the rough pencil version).

So, what do y'all think? Constructive criticism is welcome.

I just did it again...

I thought I was posting to my blog jabberous...

Oh well, I'll leave them here. Chris, delete them if they are "hogging the blog"!

that's all, folks!

colorado's rugged beauty boasts 51 peaks over 14,000 feet high

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iowa, symbol of corn belt is richest farm state

just below the mason-dixon line, maryland blends north and south

Comic Lecture Recap, Anyone?

To those that went, how'd Stan's comics lecture go?

Comic Lecture next Monday!

Hey guys!

Just thought I'd make a post to let you all know that Stan from Kingdom Comics is going to be giving a presentation on how to get your comics published next Monday, July 20th at 6 pm! It will be held at the Hoover Library and is expected to be big!

I'm not sure if it's going to be held in the Plaza or the Auditorium, but you can get information at the Teen Desk. Josh and I will be there! I've been waiting 2 months for it!

I also would like to apologize for anyone who has come to the library the past 2 Thursdays. I've not been well enough the past few weeks, but am aiming to change that next week.

[Thanks, Alison. Chris G here, just adding that y'all can read more about Alison's Thursdays at the Library get-togethers HERE.]

Looky!

Garth Potts did this awesome caricature of me from a photo. Then he gave it to me at the first Salty 'Ham Slam.


I'm super-flattered, because it's so good. And also because he mainly caricatures Jewish celebrities, so I feel like I'm in very good company.

My Ptooey Font

I'm still inking the Ptooey hiccup story. To make it a little easier, I made a font at YourFonts.com. They have a pretty nifty thing going: You print out a template, fill it in with hand-written letters, scan it, and upload it back to them. In a matter of moments, it automatically turns it into a handwriting font, for $14.95. Cool!

I'm sure it's not the greatest quality, because you get what you pay for. I don't think this would hold up to enlarging it over about a half an inch high. But since it's almost always going to be pretty small, for use in comic dialogue bubbles, that's okay with me. Here it is:


If anybody wants to use this in their own Ptooey & Loogie comics, email me, and I'll send you the font. Of course you could also use your own favorite font, or hand letter them. Ptooey is totally up to interpretation by the individual artist.

(Ptooey & Loogie were invented for the use of all Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas. Maybe if we collectively do enough stuff with them, we could set up a web-comic or self-publish something.)

past Ptooey links:
Invention of Ptooey & Loogie
The Secret Sorcerer comic jam, starring Ptooey & Loogie
4 more Ptooey strips by Garrison
Halloween Ptooey strip by Garrison
The Mommy of All Hiccups, early pencil draft

me me me ME!

Hi folks. I just gave my website its first make-over in about a jillion years, so I'd like to toot my horn. Check it out, if you have a few minutes to waste.
I miss you all, even the ones I never met! Even Howard, who lives an hour away, but I never see him because we both stay busy - but I hope to see you in August, Howard! We're picking out a schmooze venue especially geared towards old geezers like us who can't hear well and who have to have freedom to move around (and pee every 30 minutes).

Mark Your Calendars

The second edition of the Salty 'Ham Slam is scheduled for Sunday, August 2nd, 2009, from 2 - 5pm. Like the first time, we'll have it at the Boardroom at the Levite Jewish Community Center of Birmingham. If you haven't been there, click HERE for a map. It's like the Y, except it's the J.

Levite Jewish Community Center
3960 Montclair Road
B'ham AL 35213

**note: Since it'll be a Sunday, the main front doors won't be open. They were only open last time because there was a lot of other stuff going on. So just use the doors at the right hand end, and ask somebody how to find the Boardroom.**

All members of the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas are invited to attend. Bring your sketchbook or some paper, and make sure you have some blank pages to draw on, if you want to sit around drawing with the rest of us. In the first slam, I noticed that y'all didn't really know much about each other beforehand. So prior to this meeting, please try to take a little time to read about your fellow Salty 'Hams. Especially those who came to the first slam, since they're the ones you're most likely to see this time. You can follow the links to their pages from HERE.

This second slam will be a little more organized than the first. Let's wear name tags and have this schedule:

2:00 - Schmooze Time. Bring your sketchbooks, recent drawings, favorite old pieces, etc., if you want to show off to your peers. Feel free to bring stuff you brought last time, because I'm sure not everyone got to see everything. We'll set all our stuff out on the table, and in the chairs around the wall, so we can all go around and gawk at it. You can tell your fellow SHC's how great they are, how much they suck, etc.

3:00 - Issues Discussed, followed by Announcements and Presentations. If you feel we have an important issue to discuss, or if you have an announcement or presentation you'd like to make, let me know, and I'll put it on the agenda: cgarrison[at]bham.rr.com ... or comment below.

After that - Fun and Games. We could do some comic jams, exquisite corpses, play Heath's 20-second game, draw in each other's sketchbooks, caricature each other, or whatever else we can come up with. Obviously there will be no pressure, for anyone who doesn't want to participate in one thing or another. If you have any suggestions for fun stuff, or want to help organize something, email me: cgarrison[at]bham.rr.com ... or comment below.

Snacks will be provided, in the form of cookies and sodas, and whatever you want to bring. The Boardroom is "kosher sensitive," so please, no ham 'n' cheese hors d'oeuvres, and no crawfish. If anybody wants to help me with this, please volunteer by emailing me: cgarrison[at]bham.rr.com ... or comment below.

Again, special thanks to our fellow SHC Garth Potts for providing us this groovy room.