A collection of doodles with a bit of commentary by RICK GREEN - your cartooning friend

Monday, December 31, 2007

A Full Roster

This was a BIG project. When Larry, my good friend from school days, sent me an e-mail asking about an illustration of his ENTIRE family I thought, "This will never happen." Even with the friends and relatives discount I thought the number of caricatures would make the project too costly for him to actually commission me to draw. I guess Larry has got his wife, Lisa, working pretty hard because he went ahead and placed the order.

What he wanted was their family illustrated as the WHOLE, ding dong, Chicago Cubs Baseball team! The family makes up a full roster, and then some. That's Larry on the mound. He's a pastor and he's getting ready to make his pitch. (Knowing Larry it will probably be a sinker.) This is a gift for "Pappa Bear" (aka - Harry Carey on the mic), and "Momma Bear" on the organ. Note that even the opposing team members are Chicago Cubs - just wearing the blue uniforms.


This particular drawing took a lot of my Christmas illustrating time. I spent a lot of time studying each one of their faces. I had to do it on a larger than normal size of paper. It is so big that I couldn't do the usual scanning of the art on my personal scanner. It was even too big for the place where I normally get my color copies done. So, this is a photograph that I took - my only personal record of the piece.

I was very glad when I finished drawing it, but more than that I was very happy to hear that the drawing made it on time. It arrived there on Christmas Eve - just in time. Larry said he thought that it was "outstanding." I trust that the rest of the team liked it as well.

REALLY BIG GIVE-AWAY BEGINS TOMORROW!: Don't forget to drop by January 1,2,3 or 4 to post a comment. I am giving away two prizes to celebrate my one year anniversary of blogging. The rules are spelled out on my Dec. 27 post. I will be announcing the winners on January 5. It is my way of saying thank you to all you bloggers out there that have made this year the fun run that it has been.

Be kind and tell your friends and neighbors about the give-away. I know that it decreases your chances of winning, but wouldn't it be nice to spread the love around.

I must add one more rule: My family members are excluded from the contest. Sorry, but I must avoid the "appearance of evil."

27 comments:

Celticspirit said...

Looks good! As usual, you captured that family perfectly. I wish I could draw as half as good as you.

Lyndsay Almeida said...

thanks for commenting on my blog! your drawings are so much fun and imaginative. i enjoyed looking through all of them!

Casdok said...

Good work, well done!
Happy new year to you and yours!

Evelien said...

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment! I know you're right, but sometimes I'm just a bit scared I guess...

Love your drawings. They're real fun!

Happy New Year to you and your family!

Anonymous said...

This is so great! I love the pulpit on the pitcher's mound. What a riot. I clicked to enlarge and had fun looking at the details.

Great Job!!!

Anonymous said...

Can I be cheeky and ask how many pictures you have been asked to do via your blog? You seem to be knocking them out daily these days? Hope your family actually see you sometimes?

Happy New Year to all your blog readers.

Gail

MaBunny said...

I love that drawing, as I do most of yours. The one I really got a kick out of lately was the "Full House" drawing where you depicted the kids on the cards. Way Cute!!
Hope you had a good Christmas and will have a great New Year:))

Marcy aka Mabunny

Kim VanDerHoek said...

I love all the family portraits you've been doing during the holidays! Eggman must be working behind the scenes in them though because I couldn't spot him anywhere.

I wish your blog had a subscription option Rick. Then I could visit as soon as you post a new drawing.

Happy New Year!

BetteJo said...

That has got to be the hardest thing - doing all those faces in one drawing and trying to get every one just right. I'm guessing Larry was praying for you and that helped you along! :)

Elisabet said...

That drawing is awesome!!! I love the concept of them as a baseball team.

Anonymous said...

I am here just fulfilling my New Year's resolution to comment for your freebie!
I'm writing b4 checking out the new pic in detail, so I don't forget. It looks very interesting.
Love all the holiday ones you've posted.
Also, an aside: I love how the English sound when they say "well done".
Thanks for sharing - looking forward to watching for another year.
Later, I'll tell you about the caricature we received as a wedding gift.
All for now - KR

Laura ~Peach~ said...

THis is so cool! love the concept and as always excellent job!
~peach~
ps so far i have found egg man in ALL the drawings ... its extra fun searching for him!~

Anonymous said...

I'm leaving a comment just to see if I can win something.

Bill Schlichting

Unknown said...

oh how wonderful...great blog and Happy New Year!!! and nice to celebrate a whole year of blogging!

Cheers,
Diana

Michelle said...

Wow! You really are a talented artist! I like the result of what you did to Larry's family picture. It's awesome! Anyway, thanks for visiting my blog and for the nice comment you leave behind. Good luck on your career and more power!

Anonymous said...

Happy 1 year to you! Found your blog through Dawn's. LOVE your artwork. Keep up the great job!

Anonymous said...

Happy one year blog anniversary! I don't have a blog you can contact me at but I thought I'd enter your contest. We talked through e-mail about a week ago so you have my address if I'm the lucky winner :).

Lisa

Kay Dennison said...

Thanks for coming by my place, Rick and happy Blogoversary to you!!!! May you have many more! My second anniverary is coming up next week and I find it amazing how fast it here.

I really enjoy your cartoons -- you have a wonderful gift and I'd love to win your raffle!

I have bookmarked you and will add you to my blogroll if I ever get around to it. lol I truly hate messing with my template. sigh I want to see what wondrous things you'll be drawing next.

doodlebugmom said...

You are so creative and have such an AMAZING talent!

awesome!

Shellie said...

I love your picture and their picture with the names (nice to figure out who eveyone is...)

Jules said...

Interesting blog. Admittedly I hesitated thinking you were a bot. Clever concept...you do a LOT of giveaways.

peace,
jules

Anonymous said...

Nice art !! and it makes me smile too !




Mary

Jawan said...

Rick, your fingers must be hurting from all that fine detail work you did on the baseball team. A giveaway? I hope God's sovereign plan includes me receiving one of the prizes! HEE HE!

Anonymous said...

Hope your alright! It's been a while since we all heard from you last.

Anonymous said...

Did you blog-retire?

Rick said...

To Lisa: I'm not sure what you mean, but the blog is still going strong. There are several post after this one. But thanks for you concerns.

Anonymous said...

Hmm for some strange reason I can't see anything after this post! I was curious to see you latest drawings and who won your contest, very odd.