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:

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.

Kirk Creel

Lorenzo Kirkpatrick

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:

Slam 1
Slam 2
Slam 3
Slam 4
Slam 5

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.

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

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.

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 . . .

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

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:

Virtual Opening - SHC Comic Book Gallery

Hello to all Salty 'Hams . . .

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME:

I've just opened the first of our Online Galleries, the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas Online Comic Book Gallery. It has big images from 27 pieces, with links to their online homes, and it has additional links at the bottom, to a whole bunch more. Go check it out, and let me know what you think!

This gallery is for online comics, not print-only comics. So any of you who have books in print, that can't be read online -- that stuff's not linked. I suppose I could do a separate gallery for those, but that would be less like a gallery and more like a book store. Hmm . . . maybe that IS an idea. But anyway . . .

To qualify as "comic book" work, I decided it has to be 2 pages or longer. So if you just draw strips or single panel gags, etc., I'll put you in the Comic Strip Gallery. Whenever I get around to setting that up.

The following cartooneestas have work on display in the SHC Online Comic Book Gallery: Jessica Campbell, Jamie Cottle, Aine Crabtree, Howard Cruse, Chris Garrison, James Hislope, Marcus Lusk, Mark Martin, Mega Comics/Mark Poe, Tim Rocks, Chris Rosko, Jason Shoemaker, Sio Williams, and Andrew Willmore.

* I know what you're thinking: Where's Hal Jones? His stuff actually isn't readable online right now, so I'm gonna wait until he has it up and running again before I include it.

* Chris Fason doesn't have anything readable online right now, either, I don't think. Do you, Fason? [edit: It turns out Hero Happy Hour IS available to read online, so I'll be trying to add it into the gallery in the next couple days. - G ]

Each artist has 3 pieces or less on prominent display, and some have more listed in the additional links at the bottom of the page.

Now's your chance to let me know what's wrong with this gallery:

* I tried to jumble up all the work in a pleasing way, but if you think I should've put your work in a different position (or positions) on the page, let me know and I'll consider moving it.

* If you think I should've chosen different pieces of yours to highlight, just tell me, and I can change them out.

* If you wish I hadn't put something of yours up, tell me and I'll take it down.

* If you have something online that I didn't include, but you wish I had, let me know. If that's the case, I probably didn't even know about it.

* If you wish I'd used a different image to represent your comic, send me something else to use in its place. To look nice with the rest, it should be 6" high at 72 dpi. For some of the images that I used, I blew them up a bit to fit. If they fuzzed out, I sharpened them in PhotoShop, which doesn't always look all that good. So if you want to send me a higher res version of the same image (or a different image), I fully understand, and I'll totally change it out.

This is a wonderful collection, so read these comics and enjoy the heck out of all this awesome Alabama talent! Also, if you're working on something or cooking up an idea, I hope this'll inspire you to make it a reality and hang it in this gallery. Viva SHC!!!

. . .

** Note to Howard Cruse: Hey, Howard, I put page numbers on everything in this gallery, so viewers might have some idea of the length of what they're about to get into. But since your comics are split up in that nifty way, with just one or two panels per page, I didn't know the real page counts. I estimated, based on the panel sizes and number of panels, as to how many pages the original comic might have had. So on yours, I put page numbers with question marks after them. If you want to tell me the real page counts, I'll change them out. Or, with your permission, I could just take the question marks out, figuring that my guesses are good enough to let the reader know if they're about to read something long or short. Thanks.

Cruse-mas

Holiday art from our fellow SHC Howard Cruse:


... and go HERE for the full family newsletter and all that stuff.

Added!

Check out our new fellow SHC, Beverly Toole.


Here's her Salty 'Ham page, and here's her deviantART page.

New Day for Slams?

I've scheduled most all of the Salty 'Ham Slams so far on Sunday afternoons, figuring that might be when the most people have free time. But I know of at least 3 of our fellow SHC's who can't make it on Sunday afternoons, because they have a regular thing going on then. I was thinking about moving it, next time, to a SATURDAY afternoon (providing I can book the time at the J).

How many of you regulars have an opinion? Is Saturday afternoon better for you, or worse? Please comment below, or shoot me an email. Thanks.

*** edit ***

That post was kind of a goof-up, because if I move it to Saturdays, we can't have it at the J. That's the Jewish sabbath, so of course they don't book meetings there on Saturdays!

Still, let me know about your availability anyway, in case we learn that more people could actually do Saturdays. In that case, maybe we'd find another venue. Although the LJCC has been VERY good to us.

It's THAT time again?!

Personally, I think Christmas is a humbug. So I drew this Merry Humbug card, a couple of years back.


Our fellow SHC Andrew Willmore, on the other hand, got in the real spirit of the season and just posted this on his blog:


Anybody else got any holiday cartoons to show off? New or old, feel free to post them here.

The Mommy of All Hiccups - Scrolly Comic

As an experiment, I just reformatted The Mommy of All Hiccups as a scrolly comic. I just posted it on my sketch blog, so please go visit it HERE . . .


. . . and let me know how you think it works.

New Categories on SHC page

Hey-hey, Peeps!

There's a new facet to the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas web site. Now, when you click on The Cartooneestas, instead of seeing a full list of ALL the artists at once, you see the following clickable options:

All the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas (52 Entries)

Comic book artists (23)
Comic strip artists (13)
Animators (14)
Caricaturists (9)
Writers (30)
Illustrators (23)
Superheroic artists (11)
Anime-influenced artists (8)
Cartoony fine artists (15)

My hope is that visitors to the site will be less burdened by looking at such a long list of mystery-people. They can just click the category they're interested in. Also, possible new recruits might look at the categories and, on seeing that we already have a certain number of like-minded cartooneestas, be encouraged to join.

Now, I have already put you all into various categories (often more than one), but it's hard for me to know your exact wishes. I may have left you off of a list that you'd like to be on. Maybe I forgot you were into a certain thing, or I didn't know. Or, I may have put you on a list that displeases you; maybe you don't want to be thought of in a certain way. Please don't be offended if I goofed up! There were a few instances where I just flipped a coin.

So, to make sure everybody's happy, please do me this favor: Check each list for your own name (they're alphabetical by last name). If you want to be added to any list that you're not already on, just email me or comment below. If you want to be taken OFF of any list that you ARE already on, again, just shoot me an email, or comment below.

What qualifies you for a certain list? You can be on a list because you have a ton of experience in that category, or just because you wish you did, and you're working on it.

Say, what do you think of these categories? Are there any you wish I hadn't created? Do you have any ideas for categories you think I SHOULD create? I mean, categories that would have at least 5 or 10 people.

Poof! You've got cancer.

Had a great time at Rojo the other night chillin out and drawin comics. I took the liberty of colorin this page just for fun.
- Derek

[edit -- This is from a comic jam done at Salty 'Ham Slam 5. Billy and the Magic T-shirt credits: panel 1 and first half of title by Derek Anderson; second half of title and panel 2 by Chris Garrison; panel 3 by Chris Fason; panel 4 by Tim Rocks. Color by Derek Anderson.

To read the full, 2-page comic jam, read the recap of Salty 'Ham Slam 5 HERE (one post below this one).
-Garrison]

Salty 'Ham Slam 5 - On Reflection

Our fifth official get-together went swimmingly. We had it at Rojo this time. Tim Rocks, Chris Fason, Ed Abernathy, Stephen Smith, Sam McDavid, Chris Rosko, and first-timer Derek Anderson were present. And me, Chris Garrison. Oh, and not-yet-signed-up gadabout Paul Godbey came, as usual, and brought two guests: his sorta-nephews, Jonathan and Christopher. Did I leave anybody out?

We got right down to business drawing a bunch of comic jams. Unfortunately, we were being dripped on. We were out under the awning, and there was a terrific storm going on, so the leaks were a hassle. It was kinda like camping.

Really, this was our own fault. We probably could've just gone inside and been fine, but for some reason we just stayed put, even through tornado watches and warnings, and the rather frighteningly violent shaking of the roof and windows around us. Haw! You REALLY should have been there!

Despite all that, here's what we drew --

A rare two-pager:



Bat Heartache credits: panel 1 by Chris Garrison; panel 2 by Tim Rocks; panel 3 by Chris Fason; panel 4 by Ed Abernathy, who drew me and added a blank thought balloon .. so I filled it in; panel 5 by Chris Garrison; panel 6 by Chris Rosko.

Some of these are on blue paper, because that's what Derek Anderson brought.


Spider-Granny credits: panel 1 by Derek Anderson; panel 2 by Chris Fason; panel 3 by Tim Rocks; panel 4 by Chris Rosko; panel 5 by Tim Rocks; panel 6 by Chris Garrison.

The rain drops are clearly apparent in this one:


The Cookie and the Carrot credits: panel 1 by Derek Anderson; panel 2 by Tim Rocks; panel 3 by Chris Fason; panel 4 by Chris Garrison; panel 5 by Derek Anderson; panel 6 by Chris Rosko.

Another two-pager:



Billy and the Magic T-shirt credits: panel 1 and first half of title by Derek Anderson; second half of title and panel 2 by Chris Garrison; panel 3 by Chris Fason; panel 4 by Tim Rocks; panel 5 by Chris Garrison; panel 6 by Chris Rosko; panels 7 & 8 by Derek Anderson; end titles by Chris Garrison.


Twilight of the Chairs credits: panel 1 by Chris Garrison; panel 2 by Derek Anderson; panel 3 by Chris Fason; panel 4 by Chris Garrison; panels 5 & 6 by Tim Rocks; panel 7 by Chris Rosko.

If I messed up on any of these credits, y'all tell me.

Now here are some wacky super-hero parody comics by Paul's guests (as with the rest, click to enlarge) --

Hero Guy: Attack of the Hippies, by Jonathan:


Justice Idiots!, by Christopher:

Paul had me blank out some of the words on that one, on account of he didn't approve of the language.

The Green Light Bulb and the Rise of the Homelessmes, by Jonathan:


With their jabs at hippies and the homeless, I think maybe Jonathan and Christopher are heavily influenced by South Park.

Boys, I'd advise you to check out some of the great super-hero parody comics that have come out in the past. It's always important to know what's already been done, so we don't cover the same ground again. So look into Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew, What the -?!, Fission Chicken, Flaming Carrot and the Mystery Men, The Tick, Hero Happy Hour . . . and I'm sure there are a bunch more I can't think of right now. These are sure to inspire you. And you need to read some of this stuff, so you can make sure you meet or IMPROVE ON the standard that they have set in the industry!

You might be able to find some of these at Bob's Comics in Centerpoint.

Unfortunately, the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas only signs up members who are 18 and over, so Christopher and Jonathan can't join just yet. Anyway, regarding the latest slam . . .

People ate mexican food and had a few beers, and fun was had. So -- to the 50-sum official members of the Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas -- join us, won't you, for the NEXT Salty 'Ham Slam! (as yet unscheduled)

You can look back at previous slams, here: Slam 1, Slam 2, Slam 3, Slam 4

Some Unlikely Album Covers

So, this is my first S'HJ post. I did these today, as a preliminary step of my final assignment in 2-d design class. Our assignment was to create a fictitious album cover or poster, and these are just a few ideas I made some thumbnails for. Feedback would be much appreciated, especially if you have a fun, or interesting idea for something unlikely to be on an album cover.

-Sorry I forced you to think about Ray Romano.

AstroBrain No More

I went to AstroBrain Comics in Alabaster yesterday, only to find that it was their last day of business!


Owner Steve Higginbotham says this on AstroBrain's web site:

"I'm sorry to announce that Astrobrain Comics is going out of business . . . The reason for the store closing is very simple: it's not bringing in enough money to pay the bills and has reached the point where it's impossible to stay open."

Oh well, it was a nice little store while it lasted.