The Old Dark House

Aah, long time no see, reader(s?).
This started as the opening panel for a now defunct (or more accurately, hibernating) comic strip, but wound up being used as a Hallowe'en card instead. I loosely based it on the Hale house in Los Angeles, one of my favourite pieces of victorian architechture.

Mr. Rains Does Not Approve

He's shocked.

Random Girlies

Apologies, my faithful readers (I'm talking to you, Paty) for the lack of recent content. I've been a little too focused on matters photographic (no pun intended) along with activities pertraining to my private railroad line. So, here I present a couple of lovelies, based on an Enoch Bolles cover (above) and a Coke ad. These are a bit old, but I like them quite a bit, as it is incredibly rare for me to get a cute gal *right*, even if it's a copy.

Bert!

Bert Lahr had one of the funniest faces I've ever seen. Looks cartoonish even in a straight portrait!

Sepia Girlie

An abnormally cute dame, based on a vintage photo found on the ole "web". I just can't understand what is it that makes a girlie drawing appealing, but sometimes I seem to nail it... once in a blue moon, it seems.

Gene!

A companion to a previous post on Benny Goodman- his excellency, Gene Krupa.

Hare Rant...

Going through my files in search of something amusing, I dug up a pencil test from A Hare Grows In Manhattan I had saved from the Animation Archive (boy, I love that site!). Here's a few interesting poses I got from it. (They're aren't exactly slavish copies, I just wanted to get the gist of it).
Seeing these without the construction lines makes me think that maaaaybe I get a little too stiff when I copy these things. Thoughts anyone?

The King...

a.k.a. Benny Goodman!
I originally wanted to do a series showcasing caricatures of famous bandleaders coupled with a video of my portable phonograph playing an appropriate selection. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a proper phonograph, and grandma threw away her 78s (GAAAAAAH!), so I'll settle for a couple of film clips.





If you stand perfectly still with that last clip, you're as good as dead!

Ala-Bahma

Pics of a Chuck Jones style brute from The Case Of The Missing Hare (1942).
More studies to come during the week.

The Moth

Apologies for the lack of recent posts, as I had something of a storage crisis with my machine. The folllowing are a few studies from the Bob Clampett short Eatin' On The Cuff (1942).

Another Day In The Ole Campus

A record of an otherwise forgotten event. Details will be omitted to protect the parties involved.

Composition Study

The elements...


and the finished picture.

More Wabbit

A little "audition" for John K.'s Cartoon College. More to come during the week... I hope.

Sunday Night Extra

One of my many stylistic obsessions is using two colours, as it was done in movies before three-strip Technicolor came along. This basically means limiting the colour spectrum to hues of red and blue-green, which results in a rather surreal, yet oddly appealing palette. It also means there are no blues, yellows, purples, true reds, true greens, and true... everything else. (Here's a detailed explanation on the subject)
(I'd post close-ups but the drawing came out a bit too grainy.)

And in case anyone was wondering (assuming someone's reading this), that nurse is based on someone real. By now she must be either dead or well into her 80's...

The Post

Just like riding the 20th Century Limited, attending a Benny Goodman concert or going to the New York World's Fair, painting covers for the Saturday Evening Post is one of those dreams that'll never come true. Well, getting paid for it, that is... last time I checked they use photos or a classic cover (can you blame them for the last one?).

Life In Colour N° 2

Aaah yes! Good ole LZ-129 Hindenburg with the venerable Graf Zeppelin above. Shot in Germany early in 1936, shortly after the Hindenburg smashed it's lower fin during a really unnecesary trip. Full story over here.
Colour photos of Zeppelins are extremely rare (and often dark), so I had to leave a few things to the imagination on this one, especially the play of light on lower parts of the ship. After many an adjustment, I couldn't get it to look natural, so went for the greenish tint of a faded Kodachrome instead.
(Original over here)

One Of The Kids

This is Fye*, the alarmingly cute result from the encounter of a hyper-active beagle and an ancient cocker spaniel. More on these canines later on. Much later on.

*I have no idea where that came from, it's the sister's fault.

(finally, the fonts work!)

The Smooch

Here's another doodle that was too good to leave in pencil. This one's inspired by a picture on Life magazine showing an air corps officer's dream come true- a date with Georgia Carroll.

Stoogery

As much as I try I just can't get Larry right, so two of the boys will have to suffice... for now.

The Quartet

A set of amusing characters from a deliberately corny number from the 1930 musical King Of Jazz. Exaggeration was kept to a minimum....

Life In Colour N° 1

Many times I come across a picture that makes me wish it was in colour… and sometimes I do something about it. ‘Tis just the start of a series featuring tinted pictures from the Life magazine archives.

Here we see Southern Pacific no. 4453 being serviced at Yuma, Arizona in 1942. Original by Peter Stackpole.

Choosing the right colours for this one was a cinch, since sister no. 4449 is still alive and kicking.

Sundblom's Ruddy Cheeks

Many years ago I had doodled a Santa Claus from a Coca Cola ad on the back of a National Geographic magazine and I thought it could use some colour (also a long time ago). It was one of the first times I tried to paint in a more realistic style and being the novice I am, I was staggered at the many hues you could find in a cheek alone- reds, yellows, pink, a touch of light magenta, a dash of brown here and there. Makes me wonder where did all those tones come from... especially considering that Santa here is essentially a padded self portrait.

(PS- Like a previously posted fire chief, this was painted in Photoshop... will post some real-world paintings later on)

Sit On That Egg!

Construction studies from the Bob Clampett cartoon Baby Bottleneck. Once the animation switches to Rod Scribner it gets really hard to get the drawings right.

Attempt at Crowd Control

Here's an excerpt from a comic strip I drew as a tribute to a web design teacher; mostly it's about him murdering the class one by one. I'm posting this particular panel because I think it's one of the most interesting... and one of the most complex things I've done in recent times. Drawing crowds has never been my specialty(in fact I stumble with more than 3 or 4 characters in a frame) and here not only I had to show a small group of fellow students, they were supposed to run away horrified in all directions. I guess it turned out nicely... at least you can tell what's what.

The Wabbit

A couple of Bugs Bunny construction studies. More to come later on...much later on.

Karloff, The Uncanny!

A Rockwellian Prop

This scowling fire chief was meant to serve as part of a gag in a haunted house comedy I was doing with some friends. Being a major Norman Rockwell fan, I couldn’t resist having a little fun with one of his Saturday Evening Post covers, so I gave this fire chief a more menacing countenance and, most importantly, an axe. And since the short was to be finished in a two-tone Technicolor look, I gave the picture the same treatment. The gag was that the chief’s hand would stick out of the framed picture and swing the axe at the unsuspecting victim, narrowly missing his neck thanks to a well timed bow. And as in every good comedy/mystery, his eyes were meant to move in a close-up.
Alas, most of the cast/crew backed out for the heck of it (really, we didn’t even get an excuse) leaving me and another fella with a few measly shots. So there.

Well, here we go!

Well, this is it. After an alarmingly long period of deliberation, I thought it was about time I showed off a thing or two to the world. What will I show off, you may ask? It won't be another quickly doodled announcer with a mike, that's for sure!

Check back every now and then for all manner of musings and delights with a distinct- nay, blatant- mid-century flair. As Phil Harris once said, it's gonna be a looo-loo!