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Showing posts from April, 2015

B.B.Q.: Baby Boomer Quickie

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Here we see BB looking like a 'toff' [British term] or a 'swell' [American term] in this natty li'i ole character study: I am unashamedly anti-P.C. and so I like to slip in a wholly irresponsible image now and again, like the Babular One seen here enjoying a smokin' cigar.. I do not smoke myself but I think smoking looks cool in cartoons---shame this sort of thing is largely tabboo in most publications for the mass media nowadays.... This drawing also contains another 'first': BB has 'baby-blue' eyes here, which has turned out OK, after his years of 'black inkspot' eyes---ah, the march of progress! Plate One: the finished color toon Plate Two:    the color character and elements awaiting rearranging Plate Three:    the original ballpoint drawing, complete with tear in top-right side of paper---I use recycled paper to great effect.

THE FLY: Boozin' Buddies

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THE FLY cartoon imagery easily produces the most striking visuals from any of my various fantasy concepts: it's incredibly strange, very bizarre character stuff that provides seemingly endless scope for absurdist escapism and mayhem. I certainly needed something containing 'hard science-fiction' to provide an outlet for such material; BABY BOOMER   provides a very handy outlet for most of my fantasy-themed requirements, but trial-and-error experiments on that project never really worked out too well when I tried out sci-fi themes within that format. I have actually managed to get 'character' stuff into this very odd material [as is evident here] : the two mutants seem to be getting along just swell, going by the 'beer sharing' scenario seen here. This close-up view strikes me [after completing the cartoon] as being inspired by---of all people---the legendary Dudley D Watkins, in the effective  close-ups he often did of Tom Thumb in the 1960s BIMBO nursery co

New York Stories

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Just tonite recieved [thru a well-known social meeja site] this drawing-related item, which is very unusual inasmuch as it is only the second image on this archive that is not actually drawn by me------unknown to me, I was being secretly drawn by a clandestine artist during my stay in New York, at the Jazz Cafe near Central Park-----------in walking distance from the spot where John Lennon was shot. This is a fair likeness of me alongside  a budding young film-maker called David Zoel from Minneapolis , who furnished me with this image---it has a Crumb-like ambience and makes a nice change.  Drawn by an Oz artist called Dom. second picture:  me today, finishing a weekend bevvy between drawings,  for a  likeness-comparison

Tee-Zers [2]: another sneak-peek from my newest concept

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Here's the second instalment from my new concept aimed at the U.S. market: as yet, the imagery revealed here does not give a great deal away regarding the finished item, but all will be revealed on here before too long. The subject-matter here looks Earth-Bound and mundane by my usual standards, but rest assured, these components are but a mere backdrop to the usual outlandish events usually associated with my stuff.........little do these unsuspecting punters on this new forum I am pitching them to know what I have up my sleeve for them. Plate One: the altered artwork after I add GIMP-engendered embellishments. Plate Two: I need a basic drawing on paper for starting off; this rough drawing is all I require----just done on recycled paper.

New Series: AdulToons

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Here is yet another 'new' departure for my cartoon dabblings: stuff with a slightly more 'adult' outlook------I have been into this sort of thing for a fair while [I'm no prude!]  , it's a sort of 'homage' to my passion for collecting old-style British seaside postcards, what with their pneumatic women and bawdy subjectmatter. My bathroom at home is festooned with framed, vintage [read: 1950s-70s] Bamforth [and other publishers] saucy postcard output---very colorful they are too. This ' silicone chimplants' play-on-words entry  seen here has been inked by me before, as far back as 2000. The original version  is long lost amongst my considerable archives: if it ever turns up, I may well add that one on here too. There are more of these suckers in the can to be added at leisure later. Plate One:   the finished item Plate Two:     the colored characters, easier drawn and colored large before shrinking Plate Three:      the original rough sketch befo

Queasy Cuisine

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So----where are we at now, then?  That previous posting featuring the giant Veronica Robot   is the last of the basic rough cartoons from last Winter to be  added on here : these  were from 3 months back in January, 2015, which just goes to show how long it can sometimes take to get through a backlog of cartoon material. I still have a fair backlog of recent unseen cartoons---about 60 or so finished line drawings, running the gamut from fairly straightforward scenarios to very elaborate composites----building up since Jan 2015. These are more nicely-rendered and accomplished than the  winter roughs; these roughs are tops for belting out new ideas on paper, and since Dec 2014 [a scant 4 months ago at the time of writing] I have a couple of 'new' concepts well  under way, namely THE FLY   and MEDIEVEL WORLDES, as well as various odds-and sods including several  one-off cartoons------- and even a handful of caricatures. All of  this does not include the ongoing BABY BOOMER materia

Tee-Zers: Bits 'n' Bobs from my newest concept

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I have cast my eye on a USA site as a potential outlet for my Manic Toonery: I can reach a larger audience  for my fantasy imagery over  there ,  because, as a comparison I recently done shows,  the UK  cartoon sites get pitiful viewing figures in comparison.   I also deliberately draw in a very 'American' style as I am not too keen on contemporary UK cartooning in general---the old school stuff was great,---I have many hundreds of 60s/70s UK comics-------- but a recent shuftie through the  current  BEANO , or the weakly satire mags---which now feature mostly postage-stamp-sized cartoons ----   for example,  has left me less than wholly impressed. This blog is great for archiving stuff and showing new cartoons, but I need to gauge response on a Public Forum  with some interaction with other creative people---I had a false start regarding this elsewhere ,  but time to try again, perhaps. I have posted one or two items there [ on this new site I fancy]  in the past, but because t

Two-Way Block

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While I am busy getting new material together, here is a 'filler' post to help make up the numbers......it took a while to suss this one out, but I finally got this extra safeguard against unwanted sites, and after some teething problems it works fine----this only works on my main desktop however, and I still have to do this to my tablet, but I only really use that on Holidays so I will tackle that one later...... I am unable to access this site I used to be in, and I feel some relief at 'double-blocking' it from my end as well. This is the first non-cartoon related posting herein: there are no more planned, unless something relevant crops up. I never drew the wee cartoon man seen here, by the way! Normal Service [ie: cartoon drawings] will be resumed next posting, readers.

Winter Blitz: final unseen cartoon

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It is with some relief that I have finally got around to adding in the last \worthwhile' quicko 'toon that I zipped out in a mega-batch of unbridled creativity, during my trip to the USA over the winter of 2014/15. I think this last 'Robot' themed item was done in Boston, but I ain't 100 per cent sure: seeing this is the last of these unseen sketches, I have altered the scale to better proportions, and added in a new feline  fizzog, as I felt there was a decent idea in there, it just needed to be chivvied up a bit. Some 'pop-art' color has also been liberally applied to the altered sketch. There are two remaining unseen 'toons from this hyper-driven period,---also involving Robots---but they are not that good quality,  and I have deemed them unworthy of inclusion within this archive. The existing  early FLY sketches [seen elsewhere in lo-rez form, but not yet on here] -----also hatched during this high-yielding  Winter period--------will be cleaned up an

Easter Festivities: a Festoonery

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    Firstly, I am delighted to report that this blog has recieved it's  [ easily]   highest-ever viewing figures just recently: there is a dearth of comments, but to those of you who seem to be following this visual tapestry of my demented doodling:   muchos gracious! Your patience will be rewarded by some ambitious cartoon visuals, which are well under way...... --------The recent Boomer cartoon tattoo  design I turned out was a welcome discovery: these fairly simplistic designs have an inherent appeal, and crucially, they can be turned out fairly quickly, to boot.......so there will certainly be a fair few more of these. BABY BOOMER   ----the comic strip, not the character------is fairly-----and some would say, cynically------aimed at the United States Market, and in the name of research, I visited the East Coast of that massive nation over Nov 2014- Jan 2015, so in visual terms, I am better equipped to visualize what life really looks like in the States:    yes, there are water

Why LESS is often MORE.........

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In my 20s, my cartoon artwork was hyper-detailed, to the point where it was quite tiring just to look at it , let alone the pain and labor involved in me putting together such over-elaborate work---it was as 'busy' as Medievel Illuminated Bordering, and I just could not help myself, this was the Natural Way I drew back then. Happily, today I much prefer just belting stuff out much more quickly,---it's much more fun and relaxed------- although, clearly, I love the challenge of putting together some  fairly elaborate works amongst my stuff. Here you will see a couple of cartoons I belted out really quickly: just a few minutes each,   [ the pencil designs, that is: it is the compu-embellishments added later that is time-consuming]   I crave simplicity that is often more direct for the person looking at the drawing.........this BABY BOOMER design [s]  seen below  is for my nephew, Harry, who as a babe was and is the actual inspiration for B.B. himself, and it was he who reque