polarized double

THE FLY is back with a vengeance at the moment, readers, in this intruiging  [visually] cartoon tableaux:      this one illustrates the benefits of building up your own supply of original 'stock' characters.  Once your characters are nicely defined and instantly-recognizable [likes mines hopefully are] , the cartoonist can enjoy the freedom of putting together mix-and-match jobs of the various personalities/cliches/elements, which is far, far easier---and more natural---than having to keep thinking up strong new ideas and gags every waking day, which is what you have to do if you do not invest time in creating your own original  characters. Just look at the BEANO: a lot of their self-same characters have been running since the 50s, with variations/updates on essentially the same themes still going strong. Are my characters in the same sort of league, then?  Well, others can decide on that one. I am not claiming to be any sort of creative genius, I am just knocking out this stuf

A fairly striking close-up mode image of the tiny fly-man getting some fingertip stimulation: it is fairly early days as regards this tiny character---I do not even have an official name for him as yet---------but clearly there is great potential in this approach, as is evident here---I have to develop more close-up scenarios like this one. INSPIRATIONS:    yes, this image springs soley from my warped imagination, but as I myself maintain, very little is 'truly original' in the Cartooning Field. The young Scientist Woman HELLEYNE is perhaps modeled after a character seen in DANDYS' Cuddles and Dimples--a strip I admired greatly, especially in the early two-pagers, published from late 1986/ early 1987 ---the artist on this, Barrie Appleby, was really good at drawing young women, and there is a definite inspiration regarding the facial features as depicted here. I can never remember if it was Cuddles or Dimples' mum who was the blonde one.   The quaint goggles seen in mos

THIS PAST FEW WEEKS, the bulk of my drawings have been character-only, with plain white backgrounds, mainly to save on time and also to add emphasis to the characterization.  So! It's been nice to add in a 'decent' background once again, and I will be doing more of these soon........the technique I prefer for this  is drawing the backgrounds small like thumbnails, then blowing them up. The characters themselves are shrunken into the enlarged background plate---I just love the idea of playing around with scale like this. The drawing seen here represents the first time the Fly-Man Andre has left  the scientific laboratory to venture out into the wider world, which is why he is trying to hide his striking insect-features from the general public using his huge scarf. INSPIRATIONS:   Unlike some P.R.A.T.S. who act as if they are Gods' Gift to cartooning, [they're not: they would like to be, though......]  I myself rate cartooning in general  as a cannibalization of all t

SORRY FOR ADDING SUCH A basic rough as this example , readers: I am still busy doing paid artwork which is where my priorities have to lie I am afraid. However I intend keeping the site ongoing, so here is a quick EGGS outing, basic maybe, but quite a funny drawing, I think...... This drawing is a continuation of the BAD EGGS, under the sub-heading: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. There is a bit of Don Martin and Tex Avery in this one----happily. ROBBO

DUE TO INCOMING WORK which just sprang out of the blue this week, means I sadly only have time to add in a basic sketch of the Eggs [and a famous politician]. I drew this a fortnight ago or more, a mere one of hundreds of so far unseen sketches------------No time for color, I need that same time to do paid artwork, I'm afraid. The basic sketch here  is fine though----a visitor to my humble abode loved it----------I might come back in and add in a colored version of this one  eventually. As per usual, no photo-references were used in preparing this caricature. Have a great weekend----Robbo

HERE WE SEE  my first all-new FLY entry of this year 2016: so, why has it all gone so quiet on the FLY front, then? -----Bsically, the FLY is my fave-rave personal cartoon concept in purely visual terms: BOOMER is undoubtedly my most commercial proposition, but this insect-science fiction theme has real potential for some truly absurdist and striking imagery, as can be seen below. HOWEVER! Although I have every faith in the visual impact of this enterprize, there is that little matter of   COPYRIGHT regarding the FLY-MAN Andre in particular: just too literally close to the unfortunate central character seen in the 1958 film, owned in perpetuity by 20th Century Fox. '......... Ah, but you use a clear copy-clone of KING KONG in BABY BOOMER.'  -----------  I hear you counter. Yes, this is true, my KOONG KING variant of the famous film ape is merely my own interpretation of the RKO/UNIVERSAL PICTURES-owned movie monster, but that is no real problem as he is merely an occassional SU

HERE WE SEE a good example of how the cartoon medium constantly evolves, adding in totally diverse elements into the imaginitive mix, according to whatever grabs' the cartoonists' fancy: DONALD TRUMP has been omnipresent in the media in recent times ---there is just no escaping his looming presence. The most repellent and bully boy-like Major Politician of the 21st Century thus far, he looks set to clean up at the US Elections a scant two months in the future [at the time of writing]. As is customary, this cartoon of Trump was concocted by me soley from imagination and without visual aids of any sort---to be fair, he is very easy to draw: its that dominating rug of hair that does it: Hilary Clinton would surely be much tougher to draw. I done another few drawings of Trump, more on him later. ROBBO

THE DIGITAL AGE we reside in today has borne many wonders, and the biggest by far that has affected me personally has been the relatively recent rise of the availibility of  vintage comics on shiney disk; a highly controversial development that has revolutionized comics reading and collecting, although many purists rightly sidestep digital comics altogether, and stick to the traditional paper originals. Here I will try and be fair regarding the advantages and pitfalls regarding this phenomenon: I will attempt to be honest in laying out the pros and cons of obtaining comics as reading files. the BENEFITS of DIGITAL COMICS: IT'S CHEAP. It's possible to obtain thousands of comics very economically, in some cases for a couple of bucks a disc, or just a few cents per comic..compare that to the price of paper comics which has soared in real terms over the past few decades. The digital collection I have would have cost me several  thousands if I had to get them all on paper........thi

THIS SUBJECT-MATTER has proved to be one of the easiest-ever themes to write ideas for; more than I could ever draw, and they will appear on a weekly frequency. Great scope for much variety in these suckers......... Follow the Badd Eggs on their dessicated facebook page