Character Design Assignment

Last week saw the beginning of the current semester of Stephen Silver's Character Design class at Schoolism.com. For the first assignment, we were given a list of elements that had to be included and were required to submit a final piece of this character named Jerry Loomy. I had fun with this guy.

Only one week down, but I'm already really enjoying the course and learning a lot. As with the Seiler course last year, it's tough to squeeze the time into an already very busy schedule, but as mentioned before, the skills I'll be learning are worth the longer work days and giving up some more free time on weekends for the time being. Fortunately I have a very supportive wife who agrees.

Here are some of the rough sketches that led to the final image.

Wacom Introduces Intuos4 Tablet

With twice the sensitivity of any tablet previously on the market, better handling, and a whole bunch of amazing new features, this is a major upgrade over anything Wacom has released before.

It just so happens that I'm about to replace my tablet. Believe it or not, I'm still using a serial connection Intuos 1. I bought this thing in 1997 and all I've had to replace is the nibs and the transparent overlay every so often. They really do build these things to last, and it never failed to perform. But, I'm ready to upgrade.

I was using a Nulooq Navigator peripheral and I really enjoyed it, but Logitech no longer supports the tool and didn't release any driver updates for Photoshop CS4, basically turning it into a paperweight. This new tablet has all of the functionality of the Nulooq and more. While I was toying with the idea of getting a Cintiq, I really enjoy the traditional tablet and this new model is just what I've been looking for.

Check out the links.
Wacom Intuos4 Photo Gallery
What's New On The Intuos4

Alberta Vulcans

I got to put Spock in an editorial cartoon, and it was actually in context.

There is a little town in Alberta, Canada called Vulcan. A few years ago, the tourism bureau decided to capitalize on the fact that they share the same name as the fictional home planet of Spock from Star Trek. They have a museum and regular conventions, and even went so far as to build a pretty big model of The USS Enterprise. I'm also guessing that this is the only town in Alberta where the Guns 'N' Ammo Emporium has a nice selection of phasers. Batteries not included, of course.

Recently the town spent 18 months lobbying Paramount Pictures to hold the world premiere of the forthcoming Star Trek movie in Vulcan, Alberta, even though they don't have a movie theater. Paramount said that was illogical and politely declined.

Enter Leonard Nimoy. For those of you actually born on another planet, he's the actor who played Spock for most of the character's lifespan on the big and small screens. Well, he starts lobbying Paramount on behalf of the town, phones local newspapers large and small, and says he believes his people in Vulcan, Alberta (honestly, you can't make this up) should have their movie.

Long story short (hey it could have been longer), Paramount agreed to give the town of Vulcan a sneak peek of Star Trek in advance of the wide release. The town will hold a lottery and 300 people will be taken by bus to Calgary at Paramount's expense for a special screening.

I'm guessing the dress code will specifically mention ear-wear.

Continuing Education

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.
~Eartha Kitt

More than a few times, I've mentioned on this blog that I have an insatiable appetite for information, most evident when it comes to improving my art skills. Frankly, I'll never be as good as I want to be because there is always room for any artist to improve.

Character Design Course
Regular readers will know that I got a lot out of Jason Seiler's Caricature Course last year. He's hinted that he'll have another course in the future and when he does, I intend to be in the first class offered. But until I can further improve my caricature work, I thought I'd work on my basic cartooning skills.

Beginning Monday, I'll be taking Stephen Silver's course from Schoolism. This course focuses on the art of drawing, character design and the business of art. I'm a regular visitor to Stephen's blog and met him last year at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Stephen has a very positive attitude and judging by his incredible success, it serves him well. While the course will be a lot of work, I'm really looking forward to learning from him.

Success in Comics Seminar
While perusing The Daily Cartoonist this week, I came across mention of a seminar in September in Las Vegas on self-syndication of comics.

According to one of the organizers, Bill Kellogg of Tundra Comics...

"The line-up of speakers we have is meant to cover how to make money in all areas of cartooning, from syndicates, self syndication, online syndication,web sites, magazines, books, calendars, newsletters, licensing, etc. I chose these speakers because they are all successful in their areas and they are all willing to talk about it which means we should all be able to benefit from their experience and what they have to say."

Being a good artist these days is not enough. Having a strong online presence and a firm grasp on the marketing, communication, and growth of one's product is essential to being successful in any business. Cartooning is no different, and I'm really looking forward to learning some new promotion methods.

If you'd like to find out more about this seminar, check out these entries from Alan Gardner's blog, The Daily Cartoonist, and visit the registration and information pages at Tundra Comics.

Self Syndication Seminar Set For September
Self Syndication Seminar Adds Daryl Cagle

Editorial cartooning is not a very stable profession right now, and has been in steady decline for years. I actually got into it on the downward slide, so I have no recollection of 'The Glory Days.' The recent economic nightmare has sped up the decline and I know that many editorial cartoonists are worried about the future of the profession, not to mention their own personal incomes. Newspapers are regularly laying off staff, and editorial cartoonists aren't any safer than anyone else. Anyone expecting to have many more years in the profession may end up being very disappointed.

But that's the nature of any profession these days. Things change pretty fast, and like it or not, we have to change as well, and that's where education comes in.

Things do look a little bleak right now for a lot of people. But whatever the future holds, it has been my experience that opportunity is always knocking. You just have to be listening for it. And of course, be prepared when you open the door.

Photoshop CS4 Update

You'll recall that I was quite excited about the release of the latest Photoshop evolution. Unfortunately, using it for the first few months was disappointing. Almost everything I tried to do seemed slower than it should have been. Painting, 3D, pretty much every operation requiring memory. The software was generally just twitchy. I tried everything to solve the situation. Changing performance settings, updating drivers, checking hardward compatability, nothing seemed to work. I was ready to go back to CS3 because it was getting quite frustrating.

But apparently I wasn't the only one having problems. Upon returning from my recent vacation, I found that Adobe had released an update, and the difference is night and day. Photoshop now runs incredibly fast and smooth, and I can paint with rapid brush strokes again without waiting for the software to catch up. Basically, it's now working the way it was supposed to in the first place. Hey, things happen and I don't hold a grudge against Adobe. They screwed up, but they fixed it, so all's well in the end.

If you're having Photoshop CS4 issues, click on the appropriate link to take you to the Adobe site download. You'll be happy you did.

Photoshop CS4 Update - Mac
Photoshop CS4 Update - Windows

Tina Fey Sketch

While other illustration and cartoon work has been my main focus lately, it makes no sense to push the work I love most off to the side. It'd be easy to say, "I don't have the time," but as we all know, if it's important enough, one makes the time, so I've decided to make the painted caricature work as much a priority as everything else. First, because I need to get more pieces into my portfolio, and most importantly, because it's when I have the most fun.

So here's the initial sketch of a caricature I've been wanting to do for awhile. Tina Fey, of SNL and 30 Rock fame. While this is a good starting point for the painting, I'm never really pleased with the quality of my sketches. There is a LOT of room for improvement in my pencil work. As in all things, progress with practice. On to the painting!

Hola Mexico!

As far as vacations go, this was the best one yet. I could write a very lengthy entry about the things we did, but instead, I'll just post the link to the extensive review I put on Trip Advisor for Edventures, the tour company we used. If you're headed to the Mayan Riviera, definitely check them out because they made our vacation and I can't recommend them enough.

While I won't bore you with a lengthy play by play of the trip, I will inflict some photos on you. Click on the photos to see a larger version.

Tulum! A small Mayan city, but a beautiful one.


Fly by wire cartoonist! Yes, I'm a silly tourist, and I'm OK with it.


The Pyramid at Coba. I borrowed this shot from Wikimedia, because we couldn't get this angle due to tree growth. This city has a history of 1400 years (300BC-1100AD), and was 80 square kilometers at the height of its history. We hired a private guide and spent two hours with him touring the city. One of the best parts of our trip.


Getting ready to climb the pyramid at Coba. Yes, it's THAT steep, and 42 meters tall. No railings.


My wife, Shonna and I at the top of the Coba Pyramid. And no, we didn't plan to dress like the cheesy married couple tourists, but a bird pooped on my wife's shirt as we were leaving the hotel and when she changed, this was the result. Next, we're gonna buy matching track suits!


Iguanas are like gophers in Mexico, at least they are in Puerto Morelos. They're everywhere, but they just want to be left alone. Tell that to the woman in the room next door who kept trying to feed it bread while whistling and making kissing noises at it saying things like, "Here, boy." This is why we nicknamed this big fella, 'Fido.' He lived under our patio stones.

And because this is a drawing blog, here are some sketches I did while relaxing on the beach, drinking Corona. Have you ever noticed how almost everybody is carrying a drink these days? Well they were at the airport and on the beach.

We learned a lot on this vacation, especially that we need to take more of them.