Dog Fight

Candi contacted me about creating an illustration of her husband for their 34th wedding anniversary on May 31st.


She wrote me and said... "I would like you to do a drawing for me if possible. I know you hate drawing machines, but this one would have to have an airplane in it—a 45 year old Beechcraft Bonanza P-35."

Well, yes, I don't like drawing machines, but I like helping a couple of love birds celebrate their special day. I suggested the idea of sitting her hubby up in a desperate dog fight with the infamous Red Baron. I had fun searching the internet for images of the plane of the famed Germany pilot. There were even a few Snoopy pics that came up in the search.

I found this illustration of a dog fight and I really liked the clouds, so I decided to try and mimic them in my illustration.

Here's what I put together. Candi liked it. She said, " I received the drawing today and it’s perfect. My daughters also think it’s great (I emailed them the copy you sent me), and I’m sure my husband will love it. I’m going to try to get it framed before Sunday, but if I don’t, I’ll give it to him as is and frame it later. You really did a fantastic job. Thank you so much."

That's the kind of report I love to read! Reading things like "Perfect", "fantastic job" help this poor tender ego of mine. Mark Twain once said, "I can live for two months on a good compliment." Unfortunately for me I can only make it to the next day on a good one. I'm constantly needing image support.

Thank you Candi for your kind words, and for trusting me to help celebrate your anniversary. Congratulations on 34 years of marriage. Call me again when you make 68, and in the mean time, keep an eye on the sky!

Pomp and Circumstance

This doodle is probably a little late for many of you that might have wanted to use it. I've seen a number of post which included photos and stories about graduating relatives.

We have one tossing the tassel very soon. Our youngest is graduating high school in a couple of weeks.

This is Miss Pomp & Circumstance modeling her prom dress. Ain't she purtty? She plans to head off to college in the fall.

So, maybe you're finally walking across the stage, or someone you love has has completed their egg-u-ca-sun. If so, go ahead and Copy & Share If You Dare.

Sully

I finally did some work the other day on the first page of the children's book that I have a dream of someday publishing.

I may be getting the "cart before the horse." Perhaps I should write the story before illustrating it, but I've actually told the story so many times to groups of children that I have it pretty well figured out in my head.

The story is about Sully, a skunk, that is not happy being a skunk (Would you be?). Instead, Sully wants to be a rabbit, and the rabbits help him do it.

I've drawn this little fellow a hundred different ways. I am pretty pleased with this version. What do you think?

(Not a Copy & Share illustration)

We Have Lift Off!!

This is the follow-up attempt at creating a caricature for Katrina's parents. I am pleased to report that this version met with their approval.

Please scroll down to May 8th to make a comparison between the two caricatures. I think that you can see that I took a more "comedic" approach with this one. I feel much better knowing that Mom was pleased with the results.

Each doodle ends up being just a bit different. I never know how they will turn out. I think I like my sunset better in this one.

I really don't know if this is suppose to be a surprise gift for Dad, or if they just wanted a doodle. Either way, I can now rest easy knowing that I have another happy customer.

I'm trying really hard to keep my reputation in tack. (No comments please about the possibility of that happening.)

I'm now on to yet another doodle. Stay "tooned" to see what these little fingers of mine conjure up.

Bird On Duty

This request was for something different. The California Pelican Bay State prison is not far from where I live. So, I know a number of the people that work there. One of the guards asked me about helping creating an image for them to be used on a commemorative coin that they wanted to create—something they could use to award personnel for a job well done.

(Considering my proximity to the prison, I am hoping that includes keeping the residents within their facilities.)

This is the first version. They liked it, but made a few request for changes. Hopefully I can make the changes and get paid.

This is the Photoshopped colored version of the artwork. Stay tooned for an update.

I Still Choose You

Happy Mother's Day to you all.

This is a little doodle I threw together the other night while watching a little bit of television. I kind of like how it turned out.

I'm dedicating this to the mother of my girls—my wife, Marylynn. After almost 30 years of marriage (June 9th) I would still choose her, if I had to do it all over again.

So, perhaps this little gentleman is me in another 30 years or so. I'll be saying the same thing, I choose you; plus... "Have you seen my hearing aids?"

Copy & Share If You Dare.

(My Mother's Day doodle is posted below on May 4th.)

Another Reject

It is very important to me that my customers are satisfied with the art that I create for them. I want them to be able to look at it and enjoy their doodle always.

As I have shared in the past, occasionally I do get a less than favorable response regarding a piece. Here is another example of that.

Earlier I created a cari- cature of Katrina and her husband. That one "passed the mustard." After showing this attempt to Katrina and her mom, this one "died in the ketchup."

The concept is a road trip with their camper trailer to Hawaii—a fairly impossible scenario that Katrina's parents would love to play out.

I am now working on a second attempt. I have prior approval on the pen work from mom and daughter. So, stay "tooned" to see how I redeem myself and pull this one off.

Bob the Principal

Here's the final results on the illustration of Bob the Principal that I've been giving you a sneak peek of.

(Take a look at some of the previous post to see this doodle in progress.)

Now you can also see Bob himself and make comparison to my version of the man. He looks to be a nice enough fellow. I think that I would trust him with my kids.

As I stated before, at one time Bob was going to retire this year, and this was going to be a retirement gift. But, apparently he's had a change of heart and decided to stick around a while.

I think that when it comes for my time to retire (when I can actually afford the life of luxury that I've now come to expect) I'll be happy to do so. How about you?

This doodle is now destined to be a birthday gift for Bob come May 26th. In the mean time you can check out some of Terri's excellent looking recipes on a blog that would make a man trying to lose weight cry. (snif, snif) She's a principal too, so no running in the hallways over there.

Thanks Terri for choosing (use to be) little 'o me to help celebrate your husband's (now not) retirement. I'll look forward to hearing about his response. Please send photos.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm still waiting for approval on the Sneak Peek illustra- tion that I've been posting. I'll post the final version after I receive payment.

In the mean time, here is a doodle that some of you might want to Copy & Share If You Dare. I wanted to get it out early enough because I know that some of you like to plan ahead.

God bless you mothers. My Mom and Dad brought six of us into the world. While I thought that perhaps they should have stopped at three (my sister reads this blog), I never felt ignored or unloved. So this little doodle is dedicated to my mom.

I love you Mom, and... um... sorry about that window.

Sneak Peek 4

Here is a look at more of the color work that I've com- pleted on the illustra- tion of Bob the Principle. I've actually finished it, but I need to make a decent copy of the finished product to send to Terri for her approval. If you've followed the comments on the previous sneak peek post you've perhaps saw that Terri was pleased with what she's seen so far. That's good—really good.

I was surprised to learn that this is no longer a retirement gift. Apparently Bob has decided to not retire. So, I guess this is almost retirement gift.

Stay tooned for more.

Sneak Peek 3

I started on the coloring last night (Thurs- day night). I always have to start in the top left corner and work my way across and down. That way I don't smear the ink and pencil marks as I work on it.

The face, of course, is the most important part and takes the greatest amount of time. I think I've gotten better at these faces since I've really got into doing these caricatures these past two years. My opinion is that this one is coming out pretty good.

This is a photograph of the illustration and so, after fiddling with it in my computer, the colors are still not quite right. It will look better when I actually get a scan done.