polarized double

TODAYS' pretties for you consists of various elements required to put together the recent HEIL HICKNER  piece, and is more than likely the last word on the subject of Mr Hickner------I have another devilish image of him lurking in my imagination, but it can wait...........I have other stuff of far more importance to put out first. These items are added here for reasons of  storage purpose/back-up jobs; I lost a lot of my very early cartoon works  [of the pre-computer, analog era] so naturally today I retain an 'archivist tenacity'. Great for revealing the core material, though! MORE ALL-NEW MATERIAL SOON.

SOMETIMES AN IDEA can be sitting right under your very nose and you don't even recognize it: there is an entry I done on here from March 2015, that features the Statue of Liberty and my Kong variant Koong King 'touching each others' tongues', shall we say........it actually dates from January of that year, and first appeared on a cartoon forum, the name of which I have long forgotten. ---Anyway, looking at that drawing again just recently, it dawned on me: H'mmm.....nobody else out there seems to be doing this sort of thing.....this is so easy to draw, why not do more of these? The best cartoons are often simple, direct, and hard-hitting: the reader should be able to get the basic gist of what the artist is putting accross within a split-second;------------ a cop-out that many artists use----and this includes me, I freely admit to this-----is to tart up a weak or routine idea and smother it with detail and technique: this can impress to be sure, but really, a good i

      Those Savage Young 'Toons [3]: HOLLYWOOD TRASH:   Or:  How we are all being Hoodwinked by the Uncaring Mass Media----me included............ My fairly recent posting on here dubbed Heil Hickner: a Cautionary Tale for 'Toonists has generated the largest number of hits, despite it being a very untypical entry, it's essence being a not-very-flattering view of my bad experience in working on a Hollywood-funded big-screen animated cartoon film, which hopefully sheds some light on the dubious practises that can be employed in the cut-throat, cynical movie-making world, which I discovered --at first hand------to reveal that the business of making films is often just as false, hypocritical and plain 'reeking of the Rat Race' that blights virtually every other form of paid employment out there in the rest of the World. Now, let me state quite categorically that I genuinely LOVE movies: I visit the local CINEWORLD three or four times a week, seeing all major new release

----Yet another low-key entry salvaged from my flash-drive, this one dates from around 2013, and it was my submission for a competition to find a new cartoonist for one of the British Satire Mags [I forget which one].........my 'record' in this branch of cartooning is next to non-existant: I did try this route for a few short weeks in 2000 but never really persevered like perhaps I should have; I discovered later that even top cartoonists can spend a year, --or even a few years------submitting works before finally being accepted. The rejection rate for unknowns is very high; however once an Editor recognizes you as being reliable and consistent, this is when the work can start to pour in, so it can be well worthwhile going this route---and the pay isn't bad, I reckon around 70 UK pounds for the example seen here. At one time, the UK gag market was healthy, vibrant and throbbing, with weekly magazines such as WEEKEND and TITBITS publishing scores of cartoons  every week; sad

Once again, here are the different steps I take in putting these cartoons together: until fairly recently, everything was drawn to the same scale on the same sheet of paper: today, of course, there is far more flexibility for the cartoonist through computer adjustments...after the initial frustrations of the first few weeks of doing this  digital tomfoolery when I started, it has proved to be well worthwhile. Plate One:   The Veronica cat-girl character without flame background: note rough pencil guidelines for the flame effects to be added later. Plate Two:    Veronica before scaling down the facial image: faces like this [attractive female] are amongst the trickiest of all cartoon subjects-----some very good artists are not that great at drawing nice faces, and in fact some cartoonists avoid them altogether if at all possible. I do remember struggling with this approach in my early 20s, and this subject took a long time to 'crack'. Attractive women are definitely amongst my f

Ha-Ha!  ----Fooled you, readers!:---------a fair few weeks back, I announced the preperation of my new HELLSCAPE concept, which has finally borne fruit: yes, the original plan was to embark upon yet another all-new project, however as seen here, it's really just an offshoot of the BABY BOOMER characters and scenarios: ---not only that, I have delved into this Devilish location of Hell/Hades with similar cartoons to this one in the past: not because I have ran out of ideas, but simply because I am aware I am in danger of sprawling my ideas too thinly, I really need to rein in this ideas stuff and stick to the characters I already have. The good news, though, is that I fully intend capatilizing upon the HELLtheme within BABY BOOMER , with much imaginitive visualization of this theme: more of these are already well underway. Here's Veronica, looking very alluring in her Devil catsuit:

I am archiving various stages from the MAGIC BUS e-book project I turned out around 2012: these were among my first successful attempts at compositing....before this, everything I drew was at the same scale on the same sheet of paper [usually A4 sized] which is certainly possible, but can sometimes be quite limiting. The use of compositing has changed the approach of my cartoon endeavors forever; yes sometimes it can take a great deal longer [mair 'scuttering aboot', as we say here in Jock-Land] but you are guaranteed a much more professional lustrous finish to the finished items. Great to have all this stuff cataloged together in one place at last: the characters and imagination here, of course, spring from author Tara Maloney, who very nicely gave a me a great deal of freedom to draw as I pleased......a great assignment, doing storybook material such as this. ALL CHARACTERS AND CONCEPT:  Copyright Tara Maloney 2015

If I am after an especially lush, polished look to any characters I draw, I always use composites, drawing the elements much larger, so I can zoom right in and get a photorealistic-looking effect.  It takes a good bit longer, but the results are always noticably better. However, often when the artwork is all shrunken down and assembled together, I am quite disappointed to see that a lot of the detail is lost......still, I can easily just add these on here. for the inspection of my Millions of Followers....     K.A.T.:   Korky Anecdote Time: Never revealed up until now! Around 1982, David Torrie took over Editorship of Dandy, and his most significant contribution, was more than likely his decision to halt the endless Watkins Desperate Dan repeat printings ---it was beyond the joke by this time-----and commission all-new Dan artwork, by the hyper-talented Ken Harrison. Charlie Grigg also went into semi-retirement at this time, meaning he was only contributing occassional Korky covers: in

Charles Grigg [1916-2014] Easily one of the most accomplished UK 'funnies'- comics artists of the 20th Century, Charlies' Legacy is as proud as anyone elses' in this very specialized field:  even when seen  over 50 years later, his work still looks terriffic, packs a mighty comic-punch, and hasn't dated in the slightest: even now-historic  1960s anachronisms like bulky TV sets and 'vintage' bicycles  and Dixon of Dock Green-like cops simply  take on a brilliant period charm when seen all this time later......so, how come so many 'vintage' strips from the exact same era show much less staying power when revisited today, in comparison to Charlies' sterling output? ---For me, it's the twin merits of QUALITY and QUIRKINESS:  like his near-  contemporary Dudley Watkins, Charlie, 'Chas' or--for our purposes------'Chazzas' ----artwork goes far beyond the 'identikit' -'culled-from-whatever-is-in-the-current-vogue'  app

.......No, this isn't a reference to the early second-string  Who tune, but is actually the title of the first-ever E-BOOK I illustrated, back in 2012 or thereabouts. In cases like these, there is sometimes a bit of to-and-fro-ing with the paying customer as regards specific details, but this is quite naturally to be expected and  was an enjoyable assignment for both parties, : and testimony that I can turn my back on my natural penchant for all-out cartoon anarchy, in favor of disciplining myself to turn out wholly commercial material.  As long as I get to control the look and design of the artwork, I am perfectly happy to undertake the majority of cartoon assignments: I will take this over having to slave over an already-established style, which I have done in the past but I never especially liked the idea of 'cloning' the work of others, for multiple reasons. I never read Tara Maloneys' manuscript before embarking upon the project: I was just given the required basic

I can't really delve a lot much FURTHER BACK when it comes to excavating my earliest, paid-work, acceptable-level-professional artwork, as the examples seen here account as part of my first-ever paid cartoon assignment, back in December 1982 [I was very young and innocent then]. This was a  mural I done for the GEORGE HOTEL, High Street, Dunbar, East Lothian-------it was a favorite watering-hole for young people, with a cramped, Cavern-like basement that used to blare out punk and new wave tunes over a few beers. The hotel is long gone---it was derelict for a few years, and today it is converted into modern flats so the drawings I done on the walls are long gone. I think my natural style is still evident even this early on in the game: yes I can draw a lot better today, but quite rightly so as I have a lot more experience since, what with having stuff published, joining a large film studio, and what-have-you........it was a great feeling to finally be  paid for my drawings, though-

........it's been a creative week, readers.......DAMNED creative. I've just this past day  added a whole roster of new SUPPORTING CHARACTERS to my 'stable of star characters'. This approach  is fine for a running gag but that is about as far as it goes.......this is just merely 'throwaway filler' material and the sort of thing that might appear in the sidelines of some of my upcoming drawings---it's all part and parcel of creating cartoons, though. MEET                                       HACK   OBNOX: HACK is already penciled in for further cameo appearences, as are another couple of similar-themed characters. When I get a spare minoota I will add a few more......dunno when, though. Ah.......so many different cartoon concepts, so little time. UPDATE:   I have been legally advised to tone down some of the worst excesses in these depictions , in the name of publc decency and so regretfully I have decided to substitute these covered-up versions of some of th

New Series! Spot the Rocketeer........ UPDATE:   I have been legally advised to tone down some of the worst excesses in these depictions , in the name of publc decency and so regretfully I have decided to substitute these covered-up versions of some of the worst offenders:  however the ORIGINAL UNCENSORED VERSION  of the unedited  work still exists within my archive-vaults and is avaialble for private viewing via an e-mail version ...please e-mail me if interested: details of my e-mail address here on my public profile page. The uncensored work is available on a PRIVATE VIEW basis only and is NOT for Pubic Circulation......

I SELDOM BOTHER with caricatures: I do  them now and again, but only about a couple a year. Part of the reason I avoid them is because 'bland' looking people are really hard to pinpoint in a cartoon drawing: obviously something instantly recognizable like Mr Spock or Oliver Hardy is a dawdle...but todays' media is saturated with featureless nobodies who are polluting the airwaves: the concept of fame has become so devalued that it is not really worth a great deal compared to how it used to be----well, that and I have no telly at home, and  I have long lost track with who is meant to be 'famous'. However here is a real caricature I done of JOEY RAMONE from my punk-era youth days. Thus far, I cannot locate the large version of the cartoon---it is on one of my storage discs somewhere------and I will upgrade it later if I find it. Here are some other bits and bobs from this cartoon, though:  must admit drawing women is one of my favorite aspects of this lark.