"Forgot The Shovel"

Such a big help - backseat driving at its best. This from the same guy who probably wasn't reading a map when he went off the road, and is still not likely to ask for anybody's help either. On a more sober note, there are lots of so-called "scenic views" that'll not only distract any unwary commuter but also make sure they never find your vehicle (or anyone in it) once it leaves the roadway. 

The panel got a slight rework so as to accommodate some additional verbage by one of my longest-running clients, the good folks down the road at Parks Highway Service & Towing. See links for previous years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

New Comics Poetry Demo Pages

 

The new spring semester in Beginning Drawing resulted in a couple new demo pages done largely on-site for the Comics Poetry unit we experiment with before heading into the Sequential Art critique piece project. They were largely done with basic ballpoint pen + Sharpies, and a touch of wash too.

These were created by culling samples from the annual Up With Art exhibit (and I also uploaded a couple from the previous semester's visit to the annual 64th Parallel show too), and I typically rent a van to transport my students down to the epicenter of arts in the Interior, the Fairbanks Arts Association's Bear Gallery. We hold the entire class there, and cram a couple activities into the couple hours. After a critique of the show with both a written component + discussion afterwards comparing & contrasting everybody's favorite and their least favorite works on display (and most importantly, why). 

On a side-note I was also incidentally tasked with being this year's juror for the JR High age group for 2-D works, which was another couple hours of intense analysis and interpretation in-between teaching - it had been over a decade since I last had the honor.

"VIP" Virgil Partch

Born on St. Paul Island, Alaska, Virgil "VIP" Partch (1916-1984) was one of the most successful cartoonists in American history. I suppose it's a technicality that he could be labeled an expat, but still pretty cool to claim him as an Alaskan. Jonathan Barli author of "VIP: The Mad World of Virgil Partch" (2013 Fantagraphics) attributes his work  as by a "mid-century cartoonist who revitalized the gag cartoon."

He starting his career in 1937 illustrating at Disney, then later with Walter Lantz on Woody Woodpecker, he then served as art director/cartoonist for the US Army’s “Panorama” magazine. Starting with a sale to Collier's in 1942, he began freelancing his single-panel gag panels to magazines like Playboy and The New Yorker, and “also published 19 books of cartoons and illustrated 12 others, including the two children's books, The Dog Who Snored Symphonies and The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snatcher” (UC Irvine archives).

From 1960-90 he created the popular syndicated feature “Big George” which appearing in around 300 newspapers, as well as the strip “The Captain’s Gig” in the 70’s. Partch is one of the historical giants whose stupendous output, insightful commentary and clean lines continue to be an artistic inspiration even today.

 

"Call of the Wild"

Regular readers are already familiar with the "Nuggets Sketchbook" series that intermittently appear in lieu of the regular full-color feature. These are typically scanned direct from the pages of the omnipresent sketchbook, when the rare doodle can stand on its own without the usual stages of production (penciling + inking out on Bristol, then colored in Photoshop on the my studio desktop). Also just for the record I haven't yet (nor probably never will) see the Indians Jones version or even any of the classic ones either - just nostalgia and memories of the original book.

Articles and interviews with cartoonists from the classic days of yore are filled with tales documenting the obsessive lengths old-school draftsman would employ using a veritable grab-bag of trickery (for example blue-lines or lighboxes) to try and retain the original freshness, gestural spontaneity and vitality of line present in so many a preparatory sketch. Re-creating the concept sketch onto a new piece of paper and integrating with other compositional elements can be a challenge, or in my opinion, an impediment (just redraw it and move on). But there are the rare instances when I open up the sketchbook and look at the initial doodle and say, nope, that's good enough. Another way to say it is that sometimes it's all about the simple sublime surprise at what serendipitously spills out the other end of the pen when I'm not even really paying attention to it, just letting the process happen. And without even trying it turns into what in all likelihood will be one of my favorite pieces of the entire year.

Ideas Are Everywhere

 

"Haircut"

Like most large mammals of the arctic, there comes a time each season to molt, and shed the hairshirt from another season. And for decades now, Charlette @ the Campus Barbershop has been behind the clippers, making me look good (no easy task over the years). Recently after undergoing the transformation I disguised myself as a middle-aged, liberal-arts college professor - fooled even some of my own students. 

Misc. Meta Mullings + Meme Dump

It seems all I’m good for is making stupid silly little pictures when war is raging, while the planet is being poisoned & plundered, I’m not helping, and everything can feel so helpless. Maybe it’s the buffer zone against reality as it continues to etch away at the edges of awareness, slowly dawning on the buried periphery of the subconscious. More nuggets below the fold.

"Limpet Pools"

Okay this one is probably just for me... maybe a few other folks will catch the obscure literary allusion. And the idea has been with me forever, so it's a simple misremembering carried over from childhood that started off as a personal pun then got stuck inside on repeat, so that now, many years later, whenever I come across the term or phrase, this is what I hear instead. That is, if you're the type that happens to be both familiar with such an anachronism, and also who would knows all about such snails... which is not exactly a sizable segment of the general population. My fan base and regular readers will already be well aware of the power + reach such content has amongst those demographics... these are my people.

NUGGETS

Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets 

Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets 

D.Krupa

Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  

Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets 

Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets  Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets!    

"Good Boy"

Rant: Sometimes I really miss having to wait for news. Like how 95% of breaking news don’t make any bit of difference to me right now today… plus I like letting reliable, trusted sources sort through everything. How trained we’ve become for instant gratification, and unfortunately the faster things travel the more they become distorted. And what with the underlying pandemic, war, politics, general toxicity etc. etc. it is steadily eroding - and spilling over into the studio - my sanity sometimes.

And for sure not a damn bit of news should ever be found out about on Facebook – this headline story being a perfect example. For hours as it happened in real time, I sat and watched my feed spin off the wheel with people posting about a mass casualty event/mass shooting/three people confirmed dead/no wait two people/okay only one/nobody hurt/ fifty emergency response vehicles + helicopters etc. etc. Here’s the thing: all these virtual interactions don’t actually have any connection with reality. As in, if it happens online it doesn’t actually mean anything really happened. Maybe it's because I'm entirely comfortable with not knowing everything all the damn time, nor have all the answers, that I'm also never in much of any hurry, for bad news in particular. Doesn't mean I revel in ignorance - that's how we collectively got into such a mess.

Putting it down on paper and having it printed though somehow begins establishing legitimacy, or realness. That would be one reason I run on down to the corner store every Sunday morning like a kid on his way to the Christmas tree on Xmas morning. I might have stared at the cartoon for hours, weeks, months on the computer, but it isn't actually birthed into existence until I open up the pages of the newspaper and see it, smell it, hold it in my hands with inky fingers. Kinda like words... this was the original caption before my internal editor (and with help of my actual one in meatspace) cleaned it up a bit for the purposes of wholesome family entertainment.