"Harborzilla"

Here's one of the two demo panels I did during the Cartoonist in Residence gig that was a hit with some of the kids - can't go wrong with dinosaurs. I stood corrected on the critical details for drawing a "dragger," which half the kids had intimate, first-hand experience with, and a few could even draw better boats than I ever could. The classes got to see the idea go from a sketchbook doodle to a penciled piece, then to the finished, inked panel. The evening before my last session I finished it up at home, and then brought in prints for everyone to have as a sort of memento.

Cartoonist in Residency

Okay, actually an Artist in Residency - this time at the Tremont Consolidated School, one of four elementary/middle schools on Mount Desert Island (after which everyone attends the one big highschool) for their annual "Arts Week." This is when local folks from the surrounding community temporarily take over the school and expose students to different mediums and techniques outside the regular roster of art classes. There was also a woman doing paper mâché projects, plus also a guy who taught them drumming, and then myself.

Squonk

December 2nd, 1983: as a geeky teenager who was a couple years away from running away to Alaska, I caught one of the most epic concerts/ stadium-rock experiences ever: Genesis' "Mama" tour (North American Leg #1) at Syracuse, New York's Carrier Dome. One of my favorite albums for many years had been their '76 release "A Trick of the Tail," which marked a stylistic transition from the earlier Peter Gabriel catalog into their later, more pop-oriented incarnation. Like most other prog-rock titans (Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush et al) the sound of the band gradually tightened into a more contemporary format, in no small part due to the changing, stripped-down lineup, which lost them many fans. Myself, I've always enjoyed it when artists experiment and evolve creatively, so I love listening to everything from Foxtrot all the way to Abacab. But one particular tune always held a special place for me: "Squonk."

"Old Xmas Tree"

Don't know about anyone else, but an unsung aspect of the holiday season for me as a child was always the introduction of an outside element into the domesticity of our household. As in what a trip it was to haul inside a real tree and set it up right in the freakin' living room. No ornaments on top or presents underneath could ever eclipse the primal presence of this reminder that our species - speaking as a city-dweller at the time - has lost touch with our animal roots. Oftentimes I would sneak out at night and just simply hang out with it, taking in the thick, rich sappy scent that infused the room. But it was always an inevitable bummer to put an end to the daily cascade of dead needles carpeting the floor by dragging the festive carcass out to the back yard, where it would live out a second life resurrected as a playground shelter for birds. It's an annual melancholic mulling that since moving away from home, and especially after my mom not being around anymore, I haven't yet ever set up a tree of my own. I suppose when I do, it'll be symbolic of finally settling down, and I can open up the boxes of carefully stored family ornaments, and spend a night threading cranberries, and cook up some ceremonial lentil soup as per my grandmother's traditional German custom. 
And leave the tree up as long as possible.

Santorum Sanitarium (The Master of Puppets)

A new Ester Republic editorial panel: inspired by watching the recent Republican debates, where yet another group of Privileged White Men try and outdo each other on their professed hatred of the very same government that they are trying to get a job with. Hypocrite and self-anointed scam artist and Official Jesus Candidate® Rick Santorum has draped himself in the patriotic hairshirt-flag, flaunted briefly by Bachmann and Perry, to spread his sanctimonious message of divinely inspired, heterosexual love across the electoral landscape.
The "Second Amendment" sweater-vest is a nice touch though. Doesn't help cover up what's inside. 

"Can't Get ANYwhere"

A counterpoint to an earlier panel ("Got There"). Reminds me of the formal job description of my former Ranger gig: "The work is performed in settings in which there is regular and recurring exposure to moderate discomforts and unpleasantness." Which, come to think of it, could actually include the bathroom too.
Here it is, almost the end of January, and we finally got a second round of precipitation that is sticking around in the near-zero temps. Relatively balmy, as I'm still cultivating an obsessive fixation on monitoring the unending weeks of -40's (or lower) in the Interior. 
But it sure is peaceful here in the morning, beautiful clear skies make for some absolutely gorgeous sunrises. I was contemplating this while laying on my back in the driveway yesterday morning, after slipping on the mini-glacier that currently coats the driveway while shoveling the snow from around the pickup. Very peaceful indeed.

Opera Fairbanks 2012

SOPA/PIPA Protest Day

More info on this legislation and what to do about it here.

3-Year Post (Vanity)

"Dam shortcuts!"

Virility: "Beat of a Different Drummer"

Interesting occurrence the other day: for some random, unknown reason this particular cartoons went viral on Facebook. Based on the 50+ shares it "e-treed" virtually all over the state of Alaska, many to folks living in some villages I've never even heard of, which is very cool. Except it was one of the older panels that I haven't yet gotten around to re-captioning with a current website address bug up in the header. Even this version posted above is off - the original copyright text line was from 2005, and this one was from a second-run in the Anchorage Press. Let that be a lesson in marketing, and one of the reasons it's pretty much a reflex for me these days to leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs on everything that gets posted. It was still pretty awesome to watch: so far well over 10,990 people read it (more than half the total circulation of my host newspaper). Another, more recent panel ("Baby, It's Cold Outside") posted on Facebook has so far been shared to over 5k folks.

 
I've found it better to have separate images posted in albums on Facebook to make the sharing of images easier, as opposed to merely reposting a link from the blog on my wall. Even so, just (re)posting a link alone will have a noticeable impact on driving traffic to the site, judiciously intermittent enough so that it doesn't over-saturate. Investing a little effort and time (initial outlay + in maintenance "massages") to establish a viable internet presence is as crucial a skill for contemporary artists as it is/was making the rounds of galleries at openings. That said I just this morning emailed and printed out some files of new work for another batch of sampler cartoon panels to hand out to everyone and anyone I come across. That'd be the "old-fashioned," real-world, physical equivalent to posting work on-line... as in "here, check this out."

 
Even while I've gotten work from both Facebook and Picasa/Blogspot galleries, the fact is at the core of creating visual art is an amalgamation of professionalism, profitability and pleasure of having it be seen: so for a cartoonist it's sharing a laugh amongst friends, family and folks... whatever, whenever and wherever you can. The "series of tubes" is good for that, and it works both ways, as I've been able to stay abreast of many new efforts by friends in the field and other artists.

 

"Bad Clams" - The Book

A collection featuring over fifty new panels (half in full-color), plus sketchbook doodles and illustrations, from the creator of Alaska’s longest-running cartoon “Nuggets.” “LowTide” documents the artist’s perspective on his adventures and experiences around Acadia and Down East after migrating to Maine. 

dun dun... dun dun... dun dun dun dun dun dun (etc.)

TEASER! This panel was actually drawn up specifically for the inside cover of an incubating book project. In theory one should kick off a collection with the very best image, or specifically the funniest cartoon of the lot, so as to set the proverbial hook, but oh well... At least it forewarns the reader not to expect much in the way of intelligent, nuanced artwork.

"Shacking Up"

"The Final Stages"

Oh snap: technically termed "paradoxical undressing," it's just an excuse to draw someone streaking across the tundra. Like you ever really need a reason.

"L'Absinthe du Beav"

Backstory beneath the fold...

Punctuation Post-Script

(missing images in this post courtesy of hosting social media platform)

 

A follow-up to the maledicta and cursive posts I was tipped off as to the existence of the "sarcastic font" - basically a backwards italicized Arial (as demonstrated above). After installing it, I noticed it completely replaced the normal font on my computer, which had unintended and rather funny consequences upon opening my resume.
There are some cryptic and novel symbols amongst the Omniglot ("Syllabaries" in particular), and via BuzzFeed comes a handful of "Punctuation Marks That You Never Knew Existed," including  the "interrobang," "exclamation comma," and the "snark."

Coffeecoffeecoffee

There's a strip over at Radio Free Babylon that's been making me laugh my heathen butt off over the morning grind: Coffee With Jesus. Normally clip-art comics lose me pretty quick after the initial schtick wears off, notwithstanding the deliberate stylistic monotony of a few other favorites, This Modern World, Red Meat and Basic Instructions. And while on the topic of caffeinated comics, let us not forget Too Much Coffee Man.

As of late I've been quaffing some good libations in this neck of the woods: Trailhead Cafe serves  Batdorf & Bronson (the signature "Dancing Goats" is a brew of choice while camping out and coaxing the creative juices), local roasters Crooked Porch do a seasonal elixir called "Jingleheimer" that is fabulous (scored at the Global Beverage Warehouse which is staffed with some knowledgeable folks), and The Maine Grind over in Ellsworth features Rock City made in Rockland. *Update: mmm... Katahdin Coffee...
Still miss the swill hearty, robust pot Adam would put on at work, and still loves me some LuLu's eggnog lattes! Cheers!

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

One for my friends up in the hinterland, who have been slogging through an epic cold snap this week with temperatures ranging from a balmy -25 to bottoming out in the "outlying areas" with -50's. Here in Maine the weatherman on the radio made a funny flummox in the forecast by mixing up sleet with freezing rain: "sleezing rain." Currently we're in the single digits, and the one factor usually absent from Interior conditions is wind chill - cuts right through the insulating layers of blubber, effectively putting a damper on any manly sourdough pooh-pooh of what a real winter's like.

The Big Secret

First piece posted for 2012: this one done just for me: a sort of a fist-pump at the universe, and my personal philosophy as of late. Listening to almost twelve straight hours of Brian Eno might also have something to do with it...

Also partly inspired by some paintings I looked at last week by a local dude who (re)creates abstracted Acadian landscapes from memory: his ambient impressions of the environment evoke more of an immediacy and meaningful connection than 99% of photographs could ever hope to (or for that matter, realistic images from photo-reference). 

So this panel has an amalgamation of perspectives from many of the hikes I've taken around the island, plus the sentiment is timely given the wrapping up of one full year away from home, and the launch of another.

New Year's Hike

Took a short & sweet little stroll into Acadia and out along the coastal Loop Road, which is gated off for the season (so we saw only a solitary jogger and a photographer over the 2.5 hour/3+ mile hike) and necessitated hoofing it along a trail before reaching the road. Another mile took us to a secluded, quiet gem of a spot tucked in-between Otter Cliffs/Otter Cove and Seal Cove. Little Hunters Beach is a small stretch of cobblestone which sounds like a billion marbles cascading over a scrub-board with every wave. Almost all the lingering patches of snow are gone what with the recent rainfall, and cool temperatures were hovering in the 40's. It also happened to be an absolutely gorgeous evening with perfect conditions right at the "magic hour" - so I climbed out on the promontory to catch the sunset. The light was coming in low over the Atlantic (and just under a looming front moving in fast) and it made for some truly amazing color off the granite. A beautiful kickoff to 2012 - here's hoping all of you are warm & well!

 (A few more pics are uploaded here.)

Woody's New Years 1942 Rulins'

(link)

To me what is really inspirational are the accompanying doodles, which suggest this list would make for a great comic... hmmm...