"Two Shticks"

Shtick (from the Yiddish) mashed up with the 1908 Jack London classic, then baked by your truly. Figured I'll start the new year off with probably the worst/best gag from 2024... gotta set the bar low so as to look like at least some progress is being made.

Not scanning anything anymore, at least the Nuggets panels – full pagers and poster art is done in the department on a tabloid scanner. You know, the "serious" stuff. Ever since my desktop one broke a couple years back, I’ve resorted to just using my phone camera, which necessitates decent lighting, and changing the resolution/image size to one better suited for editing and printing (for example from 72dpi to 300dpi + 50" to 8" usually preserves the size ratio). Here's a sample of what a line version looks like directly after snapping a picture of it with my iPhone, air dropping it to the iMac desktop (i-yay-yay), opening in Photoshop, and converting it with the threshold setting. Notice the abundance of artifacts left over from the pencil - a real pain to methodically erase in post, and a reminder to work cleaner!

"Ant-lers"

Long-time friends & fans are well aware of my weakness for the worst gags in the world, and I'll admit to only a relative handful of my own panels are so good/bad that they'll make me giggle to myself. Which is rather weird when sketching out alone in public, hence the reason I camp out at cafes in the early morning so as to not disturb fellow patrons. 

While the initial doodle - the ant with antlers - was amusing enough, flipping the concept on the second take was even better, and was refined a bit more in ballpoint with the revised, second sketch. Also uploaded here a process piece with the penciled panel + pre-inked verbage (more often than not the usual order, mostly so as to have a better, more clear idea of where to start and stop the inked-in lines), and then lastly a fully inked example before erasing the pencil lines that are still visible.

"Shrew Brain"

One of the best things about doing a single-panel is all the trivia that gets dredged up which trolling the depths of your subconscious. Like this one, for example, which recent research provided a variety of inspirational points of reference for inspiration.

Others included autobiographical experience an keenly honed observational skills that are crucial to the craft. You know, draw what you know.

Also a bonus session sitting right next to a table that had real, actual human brains on display as recruitment for the psychology department at a college major conference. Kind of a no-brainer... on could say it was rather shrewd.

"Half Calf" (aka Alaska Bearista)

This one was doodled out on site, but I neglected to take a reference photo, which, while on the one hand can severely limit your options when it comes to accurately depicting - or re-creating - a specific scenario, but on the other, can be creatively freeing, as you'll just have to make even more stuff up. And since it's a cartoon, that's obviously not anything to really worry about... excepting when it comes to maintaining that illusion of a three-dimensional xspace on a flat piece of paper.

And so when it came to rendering the haunch correctly, as in seating it properly upon the surface plane of the countertop and aligning the legs in a believable way, there was no end of frustration over getting them just right. This can be easily ascertained from just from the sheer number of attempts it took to dial in the damn drawing as evidenced by the dozen or so ghost images left behind by penciling & erasing of initial sketches over and over again.

I also took artistic liberties with enhancing pictorial depth by adding in the bagel case in the foreground. This was an example of my "visual sampling + remixing" approach of sketching in various items to arrange for a better (ie more effective depth) composition. 

Whew. Aside from all that, it's the best one of the year, in my humble opinion. It was actually drawn up at the end of 2023, and ran in print January of 2024. Which in turn means it'll lead off my next submission packet to the National Cartoonists Society's "Reuben" awards (note: Alaska's own Chad Carpenter won one in 2008). I've only done it twice now, the first back in 2011, and the entry process was cumbersome and confusing, but this past year was smooth and easy. But once again I didn't include what were the strongest (ie funniest + best drawn) panels because they were so hyper-regional, and wouldn't be understood by any non-resident. But this next year, I'm actually gonna lean into it, and stop the self-censoring, just be myself, I yam what I yam, and lead off the 2025 submission packet with this one.

PS/Update: I've mentioned it before elsewhere but I really mean it when I say yeah it's super cool to be in a gallery show (like this particular piece was for the 2024 UAF art department faculty exhibition) or a museum - but nothing beats seeing a funny out in the wild.

Cheers Mocha Dan's!

"Podcasting"

Though nowhere near as intricate and belabored an arrangement as "Orca-stra" from a few years back, this particular panel draws upon a similar scenario (bonus points for anyone remembering this classic as well). But again, behold the power of executive editorial decisioning during the process, mainly on account of (like the aforementioned "Orca-stra") I really, really didn't wanna draw a flotilla of damn dolphins, so instead opted for a much more complicated composition involving an entire herd of different marine mammals instead.

And just like a recent post about "Streaming," no, I haven't ever availed myself of any podcasts either. Like many a term bandied about contemporary discourse, hearing it eventually annoys me enough to pay enough attention to it to make fun of it.

"Non Sequitur" (w/bonus Meta)

The comedy writing technique (as opposed to the cartoon by the same name) of utilizing non sequiturs is a well known method in cartooning. It shares a lot with the closely related area of irony, and both are present in this particular panel.

As usual for a "process" post, I uploaded all the steps in creating this cartoon, from the initial doodle, which captured the initial idea, then reworking the concept into a more effective composition. The breakdown continues into penciling the panel, and then inking - including all the minute micro-tweaks (and mistakes) along the way. Finally it is scanned, edited, and digitally colored before appearing in the paper (subscription link here). Documenting these deconstructions are also useful when doing demonstrations to my drawing classes.

Speaking of which, there was an extra layer of unintended irony introduced into the piece personally when it appeared in print the very same day I just so happened to sign a contract that technically elevated me to the formal rank in academia as "professor," which was covered in more detail during yesterday's post on the subject.  But it was a brief moment of meta making the moment of insight a tad bit, well, ironic. Sometimes it's the little things, like a touch of tarragon to add another layer of appreciation and awareness of the humbling connections in life. All that being said I will still carry bear spray with me in the studio, just in case.

"Rush Hour"

Here’s another annual epic process post for the panel/poster that’ll be the centerpiece at this summer’s show @ Flossie & May’s (June). One-upping last year’s “The Lodge” that contained 250 beavers… this time with a herd of 500 350ish caribou (more on the re-calibrated numbers later). Like for that last show, I like having an oversized piece be a tentpole of sorts for the rest of the show to hang around, hence the theme “’Bou Thang” for 2024, and it will also be rolled into a faculty show + the annual Ursa gig. 

This particular panel also served somewhat as a proverbial carrot at the end of a stick for another gig: it was to be my reward for getting some freelance finished FIRST. Turned out this was not the case at all, in fact, as usual it provided the perfect escape hatch away from any and all responsibilities a mature adult would pay attention to first. Priorities!

Whenever I start something on this scale this is right around this time I always ask myself the question “what the hell were you thinking,” but usually by then I’m already thoroughly committed (or at least ready to be committed), and so for the sake of closure gotta see it through too its ridiculous conclusion. Not all that different from life I suppose, but more meta later on.

The finished size of the art was modeled directly on the dimensions of an earlier piece that used an oversized vertical panel (11.75” x 36”) - I actually still had a couple frames laying around with prints of “Scenic View,” so that made for a convenient template. As a postscript to this point, the digital version was cleaned up and a couple tweaks made to resize the overall composition so as to fit better within the frame. I really wish there was a way to print the panel in the newspaper so that it spans across two pages. More below the fold...

Spruce Moose

This year's Visual Art Academy students got a surprise show & tell

Happy Solstice! Special to regular readers I’m sneaking in a bonus midnight post about a recent project before it hits any other social media platforms. While I’m not gonna upload everything about the entire process here, as that would probably break a blogsite record on length, I do have some particular highlights I want to share along with some insights gained over the course of what was definitely the longest commission I’d ever had.
Join me below the fold for more...

"Overfed Starter"

This one has a bit of a convoluted evolution, all of which I set out to meticulously document so as to provide a complete process demo. Originally is was intended as part of a job interview, where I would be called upon to show a sample of my teaching technique to both a hiring committee and some random students in the drawing studio of our art department. It's somewhat akin to conducting a baking show on television before a live studio audience - with a similar setup of behind-the-scene prepwork of many versions of the "dish" primed and ready to grab at the appropriate time. It's also an opportunity to reach folks who learn by not just doing, but also by watching someone else do it first.
More below the fold...

"Caroling"

This was one of the comparatively few panels upon finishing I pushed back from the drawing table (and then again at the computer) and exclaimed to myself "that'll do." In other words at along every step of the creative process, I was pleased with the result, watching it flow from the end of the pen: from concept to doodle to pencil then ink and finally in print. Usually somewhere along the way I'll find something that I make a mental note about "well now that could have been done better" but just keep cranking the work out anyways - the flow of the production pipeline dictates moments of self-critiquing more often than not happens in retrospect, when one is looking at the printed page of the final version, not as it happens. Same stuff I say to my students: spend a little more time on your work... it shows!

As a side-note, when I was showing off the pencil of this particular piece, someone quipped about the stereotype of an alcoholic Native Alaskan  - apparently laying on the ground was enough to create an erroneous association. As that tripped a major red flag for me, I had the relatively newfound editorial power to utilize some color theory and make a definitive edit as to identity cue. I always appreciate input + commentary on works in progress, and that is reflected in the drilling I do in the studio classrroom when we frequently hold critiques, both formal and/or informal, scheduled and/or spontaneous, group and/or individual. All that being said a working artist eventually balances that with learning to trust yourself, with just enough self-doubt to keep a foot in both worlds, the private + the public.

Also to extrapolate the completed drawing from this scrap of hieroglyphic scribblings is sometimes a task beyond me. As in, looking at it in the morning and not have any freakin' idea, not a single clue as to what it's about. You can go through a lot in life that way. 

"Curling" (aka "Slick Roads")

 
For this particular panel I had to demonstrate to a Beginning Drawing class the process behind creating one of my panels, ostensibly for a pen + ink exercise, but as usual it illustrated the entire sequence of moving from an initial concept to the finished print version.

It was humbling to realize how ignorant I was - a common enough occurrence - on how to render the activity accurately (see a recent example of this breakdown behind another cartoon here) not to mention being woefully outdated in my mental image of the props involved. So students got to see firsthand the evolution of an idea that encompassed using reference photos... and a bonus model.

One example was the antiquated assumption that contemporary curling still employed actual brooms, along with discovering the newfangled rocks that are used nowadays. As it turned out someone was actually a member of the university team, and so was able to assume the position for a quick sketch: gold star!

Hopefully this will inspire me to take up a new winter activity, one which by all accounts involves copious libations, similar to bowling. Now all I gotta do is get around to learning how to draw cars. And dogs. And people. Ahh nevermind... I'll just be a cartoonist.

"Ichabod Crane" (WAW/Quick Draw 2022)

Besides the Sandhill Crane Festival, another annual event that's also a fundraiser for Friends of Creamer's Field (see 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) my "Wild Arts Walk/Quick Draw" piece for 2022 also went up for auction as a personalized published panel in the paper. Congratulations to the winning bidder Pam Brandt!

Also gotta give a really big thank-you display of proud plumage to all the volunteers who make this event happens. Hat-tip/tail-drum to the sponsor, and most of all to the flock of other participating artists.I unfortunately couldn't commit this year as events conspired to block out much of my calendar of community events this season.

In retrospect I put in a fair amount of preparatory work into the finished version of the panel. Probably the reason that I routinely finish up an hour before anybody else is done. Leaves time to heckle interact with the other contestants and whip up support from the crowd. But there's not only the initial idea to come up with but also a composition simple enough to knock out an a matter of minutes - and the handful of pre-selected watercolor wash pencils to have on hand for the finishing touch.

Well technically the final step is the framing, for which we are all allotted another extra set of time. And then it's up to the folks who have been wandering around looking over one's should while at work on each respective work.

So many good folks giving their time + resources in support of a real crown jewel in our creative community. As an added bonus I gave away free sketches to anyone who asked at my table - the way I look at it was an extra-special little thank you for folks paying the entrance fee/donation. Got to meet some rising talent and reconnect with old friends + fans alike... Thank to all again!

"The Lodge"

"The Lodge” (18x24”): Sneak peek at a new poster panel that’ll be tentpole/centerpiece for a few upcoming gigs + summer show. About once a year I’ll tackle a concept that requires sustained focus/multiple sessions to complete… comparatively rare to not be able to bang something out in one sitting (see "Yukon River Traffic Jam,""Hibernate With a Good Book," and also "The Many-storied Cabin" for example). Not to mention finally getting around to the, er, backlog of projects on the proverbial back burner after the first year of full-time teaching. The scale+ scope of this put many other things into proper perspective, as deadlines were missed for many competing interests, but it felt good to stick to my self-imposed priorities, even at the expense of a lot of missed activities – more of this in an extended rant/whine later, below the fold.

"Pileup"

Last year in 2022 I posted essentially a landing page ("Forgot the Shovel") with backlinks to the previous eight years of calendars made from my work. So this then makes a solid decade with this particular client: Parks Highway Service & Towing. What a genuine pleasure to have developed out own little tradition - only another year to tie my previous record of longevity with Opera Fairbanks.

Another homage for this three-panel strip was a similarly designed (though the direction is reversed) spread called "Breakup" back in 2011. Both probably owe a little inspiration to the Game of Thrones HBO series epic episode of the "Battle of the Bastards" scene with the armies of Jon Snow and Ramsey Bolton fighting outside of Winterfell.

The inspiration for this was whelped in a drive-through line at a local coffee hut, which at 6am is typically only one or two other commuters. It has been observed that there are folks who can develop road rage simply sitting in one's car while not even moving. Maybe. that's. the. issue: not. moving. Anyways, what with all the concern over texting + driving that's still nowhere near as dangerous as doodling + drawing (please leave it to professionals).

It's also a rare piece in that the production was actually timed, as opposed to averaged out estimates of - depending on degree of complexity - two to three hours total tops. I had noted this triptych took: penciling in 2 hours, inking was an hour, another hour to scan + edit, one last hour to color digitally = five hours total.

"Moose Drawing"

Not for the first time did I discover that I had already drawn the dang panel - fortunately the second version was an improvement. But I repeat myself.

Inspiration struck while upon a field trip to the local state office with a class in search of dead hairy animals (and scaly fish + feathered friends) to draw. 

It's probably been longer still since the last time I made a guest appearance in my own cartoon.