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

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Christmas Is Coming

Here I go again, being a little cynical when it comes to my artistic expression regarding Christmas. But, the other day I was wondering what Santa's reaction would be if Christmas snuck up on him like it has the rest of us. I think maybe he has the same reaction we do.

Maybe I'm a little early with this doodle, but then maybe not. I've been seeing the Christmas displays in stores for a couple of weeks now. Plus I wanted to get this posted early enough for you to Copy & Share If You Dare on your own blog - that is, if you wanted to.

Someone said that I should have put "November" on the calendar, but I think "oh crap" begins now for Old St. Nick, and for me when I saw the displays out already.

("Oh Crap" is about as potty mouth as I generally get - especially with the prospects of my dear mother reading this post. Hi Mom! Love ya!!)

I doodled this out a number of weeks ago, and have been hanging on to it for a while - waiting for the right time to post it. I'm still not as educated on the Photoshop program as I should be. All the black lines on this doodle is my pen work. Then I colored it in on my computer. For those of you who know what I'm talking about... I still don't quite know how to work with layers. To color this one I just went in an filled all the little spots on his suit with red - instead of just coloring in a background. If you zoom in on the piece you see that there are HUNDREDS of little places that I had to zoom in and fill in. In fact, some are not all done, but I think it made the illustration look more interesting with just a few white specks showing through.

Well, a very early, very merry Christmas to you all. If you decide to use this doodle - you know the rules - drop me a note so that I came come and check things out.

32 comments:

Mike - Crafty Dad said...

Holy Cow! Another creative guy that blogs! This is great! I've been a lame blogger for too long, but I truly DO have a blog site and actually do some creative stuff myself.

Love your doodles/drawings. Top-notch in my book.

I'd love to use your "Oh Crap" santa on my blog...

http://www.craftydad.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas to you too,
Mike
a/k/a CraftyDad

Anonymous said...

You can rest assured that this will appear at some time either on my blog or FB. I'll be sure to let you know.

Are you all rested up and recoverd. It's hard to say goodbye to those daughters, huh? Can't wait until Thanksgiving when we head to Duncanville for a few short days. I'll take anything I can get.

Anonymous said...

I think as a stitcher this sums it up, as it takes a while to get a gift project started and finished in time for christmas,
I think I need to start in January to get all the things I would love to stitch for gifts done in time..
So I think your doodle will come in handy Thank you!!!!

CG said...

I love this!! Back in August I spotted a display of Christmas decorations in a local store and I was horrified. You're very talented and funny too.

Thanks for dropping by my blog!

vjc said...

I saw this and absolutely howled with laughter! I've spent the last week in damage control for a Christmas production (a couple key people had to back out and I'm overseeing a few extra areas) and this sums it up exactly. It will be making its way to my blog - http://picturethewords.blogspot.com.

Thanks, Rick! And BTW, the photoshop effort turned out very well. Those layers can be bears!

Alyssa's Mom said...

I think I hate you!

I feel like Santa! I have no projects even started yet and Christmas is two months away!

Thanks for the (gentle) slap in the face.

Hobby Lobby - here I come!

I am posting santa on my blog. I think others need a reminder too!

Rick said...

To Alyssa: Please tell your mom that I'm just the messenger.

Cookie said...

Yeah, I know what you mean. I saw the Christmas stuff in the stores. I haven't figured out what we're doing for Halloween yet?! Crazy! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Christmas will be big for retailers this year. But hopefully that will be a good thing for families so they can focus on more important things than things :)

Reddirt Woman said...

Thanks Rick for summing it up so succinctly... Christmas always catches me off guard, in part, I think, because retailers start putting their displays out so early. It's not even Halloween and yesterday when I went to Lowe's and WalMart, they both had the Christmas displays going on and up. I did put Santa on my blog site and I think he will stay until Dec.24th, when, I'm sure, he'll be headed out to make his rounds. Your drawings delight me. Thank you so much for sharing.

Helen

Aleta said...

Loved the "Oh Crap" - expression is priceless and I know a few people who get that same look (myself included) when something sneaks up on you. Lol. I'm actually almost (other than 2 or 3) gifts finished for Christmas. I have the wrapping paper bought even and plan on starting to wrap, because what happens - I buy things throughout the year for family/friends... but the closer it gets to Christmas, the more I buy and forget that I had something for people - which ends up being stocked up for next year. Anyway - LOVED the cartoon! Thanks for stopping by my site and I plan to visit yours again!

Caffeine Court said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your pictures are really great.

I might want to give one to a friend for Christmas. I'll contact you regarding your fee!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by, and yes- you missed my rant. lol. I did remove it, though in case "she" saw it. It was nice, illustrated with a wicked witch of the west pic. lol.

You are a great artist! love the drawings!

Linda S said...

thanks for visiting my blog and for at least not honking in all caps...that is the polite way to do it! love your illustrations and your family is lovely!

Joanna said...

Well I think it looks good! We've had Christmas stuff up since August. August, people!! It's been shoved over thanks to the halloween stuff. Crazy.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

The Golf Widow said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. You do great work. I love the santa and had that same thought when I was greated by the Christmas decorations a few weeks ago!

Blessings From Above said...

As always, love the doodle. I can not get over how talented you are!

It is a pet peeve of mind how early stores start pushing Christmas stuff.

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

It's never to early....as demonstrated in the department stores.

Thanks for dropping into Bloggeritaville.

I adore your artwork! I will have to borrow your Santa for a future post...with props and linkage to you of course. Great work.

Betty F said...

THIS is GREAT! It's how I feel each and EVERY year. THIS year, I'm mulling.... and things may be different.. just like our finances are. Thanks for another wonderful laugh and fantastic doodle.

Marni's Organized Mess said...

Wow, that is amazing! Great drawing and I LOVE the oh crap!

Kim VanDerHoek said...

Too funny! I had the same reaction yesterday when I opened the statement from my IRA account.

Aileen said...

Hey Rick, good to hear from you thanks for stopping by! Looks like your still going strong too! I'm still loving my picture each and every day *smile*
Happy Creating!
Aileen~
http://www.outsidethemargins.com

Fire Hunt said...

I will post this on my blog at some time. This is how I feel every year.

GingerJar said...

That's a cute cartoon...the same way I feel when all the tinsel comes out a little too early in the stores. Seems everybody is just a little too worried about how much they can sell this year!

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Oh, and I couldn't color anything in except in a coloring book, then I would scan it in my puter and attach as a file..I'm not very *techie* like my hubby is.

Tonya Staab said...

This one will be making an appearance on my blog for sure. It's great.

I have the new header up. Yay! Let me know what you think.

http://currentlycrafting.blogspot.com/

Kristi said...

So this picture cracks me up! "Crap" is as bad as my language gets too...unless my mom is around and I then I say...Crappie...'cause...it's a fish! Blessings to you and your family. Thanks for stopping by my blog. My husband is a big manly hunter and his sister made him the "forest" blanket. It kind of goes along w/ his buzz saw snoring, don't you think?

Jadey said...

I haven't used it yet but I will be using it in the next blogpost I think. It definitely sums up how I'm feeling about Christmas. I've just moved to monthly pays and to think I opnly have 2 pay days before Christmas is SCARY!

Michelle said...

I love this Santa and I would love to use it! I'll come back and let you know when I do (since I probably won't use it until next month!).

Love your cartoons and I will be back to check in and see what new things you have created!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

mrana said...

Love your Oh Crap Santa ... I myself can't believe that I'm already selling X'mas and New Year products online eek.

I do hope you learn how to use layers soon, it will take tons of time off from hand-filling everything, it's a marvel and you'll never look back! Two cents worth from someone who used to do exactly as you did :)

Sharlyn said...

I appreciate non mouthy blogs, Rick. Prefer them actually, thought you would like to hear that. :)

Tonya Staab said...

It's on my blog. Love it and yes 'oh crap'

Justabeachkat said...

Thanks! I'm gonna use this on my blog soon. Perfect for how I'm feeling!

Hugs!
Kat

Fire Hunt said...

I just put this on my blog.