possible cartoon map work?

Hey, all. I heard from our fellow SHC Joe Attaway yesterday that there may be a good deal of cartoon map work available. This is not through the group that I was doing so many maps for (see my map blog), but through somebody else.

I told Joe about a couple of cartooneestas who I thought might be interested, and I guess he'll contact them. But in case they're not available, perhaps you'd like to throw your hat into the ring. If so, contact Joe through his email address at the bottom of THIS PAGE!

To see a huge map Joe drew, which I then did the coloring and signs on, click HERE.

Tim Hollis on TV

As you may know, our fellow SHC Tim Hollis has a museum of vintage cartoon memorabilia attached to his house.

Last night, there was a story about it on WBRC, as part of Janet Hall's Every Now and Then series. For those of us who haven't visited yet, it seems to paint a good portrait of Tim and all his stuff. Watch the story HERE, (after a 15-second commercial).

More forgeries

This time I mined the rich field of chipiana.

favorite old comics moments

Ah, those were the days! Here's one of my favorite moments from the old Batman comic. There was just something about the "golden age" that we moderns lack. Well, what can you do. Anyway, I thought I'd share this since many people skip ahead directly to the Frank Miller/Jim Lee version, and forget all the history that came before...

productive week being non-productive

every week on brian bendis' jinxworld forums, there is a weekly art challenge. usually it's something like draw batman from the neck up or something simple...

this week: create a criterion collection dvd cover for a non-criterion movie. i have had an absolute blast making these things.

click for larger size:

SHC Newsletter 002 / ballot

I just emailed all SHC members with a newsletter / voting ballot. You vote by emailing back yeas or nays on 8 questions in that email. If anybody didn't receive the email, check your spam filter. If need be, email me, and I'll resend. cgarrison[at]bham.rr.com

New Don Stewart web site

A bit of news from our fellow SHC Don Stewart:

I wanted to let you know about my new & improved web site, still www.DSArt.com. It comes complete with a new Blog,
http://newdsart.blogspot.com.

Check frequently for fast-breaking news and human interest stories (hey, they interest me, and I’m often in a human mood) - not the least of which will be an announcement of my 50th birthday party near the end of the month. (Cheap cake, flat soda, and great deals on art.)

Salty 'Ham Slam 3 - planning stage

Hey all. I've booked the J for the next slam, on Sunday, September 13th, 2009, from 2 - 5. So mark your calendars now! More info HERE.

drawings added

I just went back and added some of the artwork that was created during the 2nd Salty 'Ham Slam to the post-slam post. So scroll down 2 posts and look at it!

Nincy

Salty 'Ham Slam 2 - On Reflection

Our second meeting had a lower turnout, perhaps because of scattered showers (?). Several people who I hoped to see did not show; hopefully they'll come to future meetings.

We had a great time, though. Present were Chris Fason, Garth Potts, Kirk Creel, Tim Rocks, Chris Rosko, Sam McDavid, and myself. (And guest Paul Godbey.)

The meeting benefitted, in my opinion, from some purposefully imposed structure. From 2:00 to 3:00, we put some art out on the table that we could all look at, and just talked about stuff in general.

At 3:00, I talked about issues facing the group, and everybody gave good input. We're going to let all members vote on what directions SHC will take, so watch for upcoming emails about that.

Next, we started drawing. (Here's what Brian Ratigan drew in my sketchbook, when I ran into him a few days before the slam -- )



I asked everybody to draw in my sketchbook. We'd been talking about Free Comic Book Day, so I guess that's what inspired the following sketch by Tim Rocks. Tim, does this refer to the free comics of our youth, like the ones that advertised Captain D's, or Radio Shack's Tandy TRS-80 computer?



Chris Fason drew this very Fasonesque bear in briefs:



Kirk Creel doodled this dog with delightfully human feet. This poor animal is definitely no longer enthused about life:



Chris Rosko drew this roller-skating alien (or is he a Lovecraftian ancient god? Could be Cthulhu's cousin Kevin.) I subsequently colored him in PhotoShop:



Here's an exquisite corpse we did. 4 artists each drew one quadrant, without the benefit of being able to see the other quadrants. All you have to go on is the ends of the lines sticking into your part of the page, so that the stuff will connect.


Chris Garrison (that's me) drew the snake section; Sam McDavid drew the tongue portion; Chris Rosko created the quarter with the Gnuh!; and Chris Fason did the bubble-blowing mice.


Here's an odd collaborative effort:


Errant head by Fason; dog by me; creature by Rosko; Twinkies by Rocks; pterodactyl (?) by McDavid, maybe?


Here's a wacky comic jam:


Panel one by Chris Garrison; panel 2 was drawn by Chris Fason, but he didn't have a caption, so Sam McDavid wrote one for him; Tim Rocks drew the shocking panel three, which we all had to admit, after panel 2, made perfect sense; Chris Rosko drew panel 4; Kirk Creel did panel 5; and I returned to finish the jam with the 6th panel.


And here's another delightful comic jam:

Chris Garrison started this one with panel 1; Kirk Creel drew out the suspense with panel 2; and Sam McDavid drew the hilarious third panel. The jam was then passed to Chris Rosko, who said that panel three should be the ending. Everyone agreed, so Rosko wrote "The End" on there.

People ate cookies and candy, and fun was had. I think Salty 'Ham Cartooneestas has transitioned from what I've been calling "an online list of / gallery for cartoonists" into "a cartoonists' club with a web site." That might sound like a subtle distinction, but I think it's a big deal.

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

grand canyon is top scenic lure of arizona's sunland

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