Lizard in Living Color

This is kind of a repeat of an earlier post, except that I took time to color it.  There was a young man that asked me to draw a lizard for him.  I think that he has some kind of science display about lizards that he was working on.  I remembered that I had this drawing of an iguana and told him that I would print it out for him.  That seem to make him happy enough, but I did decide to put on the splash of color on it just so that his report would have that extra "zing" to it. (I like "zing."  Don't you?) There is a bit of an interesting story as to why I drew this lizard in the first place.  Go here to read the rest of the story.

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In other news:  Our middle daughter, Andrea, became engaged last Sunday evening.  My now future son-in-law, Evan, surprised her as she arrived back from a mission trip to Haiti.  He was kind enough to have a talented friend put together a video of the event.  It's been getting a lot of attention on Facebook and the ladies especially have been giving reports about tearing up watching the thing.  I'm not telling you how many times I've teared up watching the thing—a dad likes seeing the smile of love on his daughter's face.

If you love a love story I invite you to click over here to watch.

The Math Wizard

Back in 2008, Kim requested that I make a doodle of her daughter's entire school class to be auctioned off as a fund raiser.  Two years later she's back with another request to create an end-of-the-year gift for her daughter's math teach—Mr. Hill.  He's also a baseball coach.  Kim wanted an illustration that might incorporate both of those aspects of his life.  After thinking about it, I requested that I be able to focus on just one of them.  Kim allowed that and said the math part would be best.  I was happy for that because she described him as a "math wiz," and the idea of drawing a wizard intrigued me.

I downed loaded a few images of wizards from the net and went to town—actually I just went to my drawing table, but you know what I mean.  So, here is Mr. Hill the Math Wizard.  He hasn't actually seen this yet.  Chances are he doesn't visit my blog, but if you know Mr. Hill, don't tell him that I just posted his face on my blog.

What do you think?

Chemistry

I just finished a caricature last night.  I have another one to do soon.  Then I have an illustration of a large family to put together.  I've been spending so much of my doodling time on getting these request done I haven't had any normal/fun doodling time.  Still, I wanted to have something to post so I threw this little tidbit on paper this morning—just for you.

I dedicate this doodle to my wife, Marylynn.  We have such chem-is-try!!

In the meantime... Copy & Share If You Dare.

Featured Photos

Webshots is a popular web site which host 1,000's of photos that both pro and amateur photographers post there.  I've been posting photos there over the past five years.  Recently I received a comment congratulating me on having one have one of my photos featured in their US Travel section.

It was this photo that I took down in Crescent City, CA of the Battery Point Lighthouse.  Naturally I looked to see where the photo was feature.  When I saw it  I also discovered that another one of my photos was featured as one of the most viewed in the US Travel section.  You can see it posted below the lighthouse pic.

This photo was taken at a state park on the north side of our town—Harris State Beach.

Now I've got to admit that I was pretty proud to see two of my photographs featured there. There has to be thousands posted on that web site, and two of my shots are featured. What do you think about that?

I've often told people that the secret of my photography is that digital camera has made it possible to take tons of photos in one setting.  One of them is bound to turn out.

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Overcoming Evil

Just do it.

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Not Quite a Dragon Slayer

My cousin Lily contacted me about creating something for her husband.  She saw my recent dragon doodle that I posted several updates on this blog about.  Apparent she liked what she saw and then wrote me saying..

"Here is a picture of my husband.  He tells a story to all little children he meets that ask him what he does for a living.  He says that he is a dragon slayer but he is not very good at it and he has a dragon friend named Sally and Sally lives in his backyard and she sneezed on him and that's how he got a small bald spot!  If the children look interested he keeps the story going, expounding on Sally's physique (she's gained a lot of weight and has itty bitty wings so it makes it hard for her to fly).  He says she is big, green, stomps on Tokyo, breathes fire...on and on he goes.  He is very funny and the kids love it."

Lily wanted something that she could frame and hang it in their pool table room.  This was fairly easy and an enjoyable one to draw.  Dragons, as far as I can tell, come in all shapes and sizes.  That makes room for a lot of creativity.  Lily liked the illustration.  I haven't head whether or no her dragon slayer has seen it yet.  I hope he doesn't quit his day job.


Update: Cousin Lily sent me this message after seeing this post...


Well, my dear cousin, the "not quite" dragon slayer checked the mail this Saturday and "lo and bebald" the doodle you created. I have not yet framed it but he loved it. My mom was over for Mom's day and she loved it as well. I am tempted to have t-shirts made, but I already gave out t-shirts that say "Sally Rocks" (the name of the dragon). If I find an extra, I'll send you one. THX again...hugs to all...cousin Lily

Sheriff of a No Horse Town

During all the excitement I had last Friday night while trying to up my vote totals I grabbed a spare piece of paper and starting doodling this guy. In my usual fashion I started without really knowing where the drawing was heading. The next thing I knew he turned into a cowboy, and the the cowboy was upgraded to sheriff.  After shading the feller in with my usual crosshatching I decided that I liked it so well I would add some color.  Next came the dog and more color. Finally, I figured the Sheriff needed a town. I only wished that I had added a horse so that I could say he was he sheriff of a "one horse town."

I really, really like how this doodle turned out. In fact it's up there as one of my favorites. I just like how the whole thing turned out. I wished that I could express this kind of freedom when I do my caricatures, but I feel bound down when I draw those. The one or two times that I've tried to add my own "flair" to a caricature I sensed that the client was less than enthused with my work.  Still, I try. What do you think?

Cute Megan

I can always tell when graduation season is upon us. There are some purple flowers that bloom whenever it's that time of year. Another hint is that I get graduation gift orders. Kathy wanted a high school graduation gift for her daughter, Megan. She wanted an illustration which depicted her daughter's love of nature and included the lake that the family enjoys water skiing on during the summer.  Also, she wanted Megan's high school mascot, the lightning blots (or something like that) included.

Megan is a cute looking young lady, don't you think? The cute ones are always harder to draw.  I always appreciate an ugly mug to draw.  This gift is yet to be opened, so I hope she's not a blogger.

This is a photo of the illustration, that's why the edge is kind of skewed.  I think the caricature turned out well, despite the cuteness factor.  What do you think?