Monday, February 28, 2011

"Smell No Tails"


Punning around with clichés again - this one in honor of a couple friends running in some big races this year. It also ostensibly (and hopefully, in the opinion of some editors) culminates the recent butt-sniffing theme run rampant. As with many panels, there's a second variation aside from the print version posted above, wherein I'm experimenting with washes on various papers. This one was on the comparatively smoother backside of some cold-press watercolor paper, using a Derwent water-soluble "Inktense" pencil - the "Ink Black" flavor, which was much richer than the usual Derwent Sketching wash pencils I use for black & white works. Also played around for the first time with some Winsor & Newton "Colourless Art Masking Fluid" which is brushed on and allowed to dry over the areas (like the caption box, fur ruff + snow ridge) before applying wash. Then after that dries, use an eraser to clean off the mask. Pretty spiffy!


An interesting development in the world of dog-powered sports with yesterday's disqualification of a top dog in the current Fur Rondy after an altercation between two mushers. Given the vehemence of public reaction on both sides of the controversy (as evidenced by comments on this thread), it's sure to be a speed bump for the sport. It's also a curious perspective on the issue to consider the reaction if the musher would have done the exact same thing to a dog as opposed to a person: immediate banning from the sport would have been the result. (On a side-note, as it's been pointed out by Louis C.K., "kids are the only people it's okay to hit.")
What with recent efforts at drug-testing the competitors to legitimize mushing as a professional sport, it should be on par with the civility, maturity and sophistication of, say, hockey, basketball or football (or even golf). Then again, it's behavior experienced virtually every single time one gets behind the wheel.

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