Yet another attempt to unlock the secrets of Franklin Booth and Joseph Clement Coll. This is Camel Rock from the Santa Fe area.

Drawergeeks: Samurai is due this Friday. My first color cartoon since leaving Ohio. It was fun.

ponytail scribble.
broke out the baby scratchboards. tiny little. fun to play with and no repercussions. Just fun and practice.

Hair: couldn't sleep. Got excited going to a gallery last night. Dot Gallery in KC. Makes me want to do work for a show again. We shall see.

Tarzan is the topic for Drawergeeks this week. I decided that the Lords of the Jungle have been out celebrating a victory over some evil overlord. Now the morning comes and oooooh what a night it was.

With a friend expecting a new family member this summer, I thought this would be a cool onesy or perhaps an oversized shirt for this Mother to be. Maybe more for the Mother to be, especially after some spicy food?

Goat-Man of Prince Georges County. Not done yet with the color, still poking at it. But here is where it stands tonight.

*Reports of the Goatman began in 1957, with sightings occurring in Upper Marlboro and Forestville, Prince George's County, Maryland.^[4] From there, sightings spread to other states; with reports of the Goatman being made as far south as Texas in the 1960s, Washington and California during the 1980s, and as far north as Ontario, Canada and Cannelton,Indiana during the 1990s.

Alleged sightings have now been reported in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. The largest concentration of these sightings has been around Bowie, Maryland.

Recently it has been rumored that there has been a sighting of the goatman in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

*from wikipedia

Goat-Man of St. Georges County. This is the other piece I am trying to get finished for the Fantagraphic books contest for the Bestiary2. color will be hopefully added today or tomorrow.
Both Goat-Man and Fizzle Goblin are based off of local folklore.

Phizzel Goblin in color. For a Fanatagraphic Books competition. One place open on their beasts book 2. Hopefully I will be able to submit this piece and a yet to be finished piece on the Goat-Man of St. Georges Bay.

Drawergeeks: this week is Galactus, with all apologizes to Jack Kirby.

James 3: The start of a new drawing. Probably won't have much time for a while to work on this. But I would like to have it done fairly quickly. American Artist is having a self portrait competition due May First 2008. I haven't done a self portrait in such a long time... a finished piece. Hmmmm could be fun. My father (James) is always fun to render. Such a familiar subject. Just seeing him two weekends ago made me get out the pastel paper and work on a new piece. Makes me miss him a little less.

airport sketches: found the sketchbook and forgot that some of the time in the airport was not spent sleeping or listening to cartalk... I did do some sketching. Most kept moving, but this fellow just kept standing there and listening to this lady in a wheel chair and smiling. He never moved, He may have been asleep... listening to cartalk.

Phizzel Goblin Scratchboard: whew! I am calling this one done. Phizzel Goblin is done, reworked and completed. I believe that I have learned quite a bit on this one. Hopefully it will aid me in my next attempt whenever that is. . I am going to submit this and the clown scratchboard (see october 16th 2007 posting)
as entries into a couple of illustration competition annuals this season to see what comes about. If nothing else... it was good learning and a whole lot of fun to do.

brought the tan sketchbook to the GAA conference. Didn't use it until the last night or two when I saw an article on Depp and Sweeney Todd. Made me twist back to Jacob Marley and Eboneezer Scrooge. It is good to be home.

topic for the first Drawergeeks of 2008... Rednecks. Being in the Midwest... the topic was far too vast for an actual depiction, so I chose a subculture. A past time if you will. That "Hey fella's watch this" sport of all sports... Noodling. For those who have not been exposed to such a grand display of artistry... a person, "the Noodler" goes into a river, lake, channel, into the water and sticks their hand in a hole in order to pull out a catfish. Also hopefully avoiding any alligator snapping turtles that may have decided to make their homes in an abandon catfish den by default. Ah, the fun of summer.

This is the start of an illustration that IF I get it done in time I may submit for some annuals this year. It is based upon the legend of the Phizzel Goblin that I heard on Hometown Tales.com. A favorite podcast of mine. I have a Looooooooooooooong way to go on this before it is complete. We shall see what becomes of it. But so far, I am happy with the outcome.

playing with faux techniques. Only the head and the outline was completed and it was done with a brush marker. The image was scanned and the rest was drawn on a channel in photoshop. Add some dust and scratches to it to make it look printed. After that, it was a quick scan of some paper, adding the image, choose a color and woodcut. The reason for working on channels vs layers is that I can work black and white and hit the X key to instantly erase what I don't want. Verses a layer where I have to erase, delete, change opacity, it is just too time consuming. Channels are just like scratch board. Black and white. Ahhhh, somethings ARE still black and white if you just put tight enough blinders on. Happy Holidays.

Drawergeeks: last of 07'. Elves. What a year. Little sleep, some good work produced, some not so good. Some areas to explore in the scratchboard area, flesh out and see where that takes me. Yeah, I know... It ain't digital, well... poop on that. It makes me happy. That is what this was all supposed to be about way back when we started out as kids... right? To make US happy. Not to match somebody's sofa colors, not to jump through some Art Director's hoops of fire, but to make US happy. I need to remember that more often.

Friends, if I don't post any more this season, hug someone dear to you and tell them what they mean in your life. It makes a difference.

second option for star belly... this was the original concept that I saw in my head... some sort of mermaid like person. But the original concept drawings were far too stiff, lifeless, realistic... I don't do realistic fantasy stuff... never could. So this fell out of my head yesterday morning... much more satisfying. We shall see if either get done by friday.

option 1 for star belly: the only stipulation is that NO sneetches are allowed. All other boundaries are open. This is a redesign of a very very old drawing from the early 90s. Then, I had a fair concept but poor technique. Maybe this is my chance to set it right... the jury is still out.