polarized double

TERROR, MAYHEM and UNTOLD DESTRUCTION is released today in this highly-charged, apocalyptic scenario, in which we witness B.B. unleashing his own brand of demonic 'justice' onto the innocent 'Noo Yoik' citizens, who cower and flee below. What exactly has brought about this Biblical-like state of Affairs and Old Testament-like imagery?  Well, maybe it's a dream sequence [or more accurately, a nightmare scenario!] or fantasy outlet of some sort: it was just a spontaneous vision I recieved from somewhere [don't ask me where---it's just as much of a mystery to me!] that I simply had to put down on paper. This cartoon has 'the babe' the baddest he has ever been thus far admidst the chaos and anarchy: I like to think that indeed it is part of B.B.'S [or some character's ] bad dream, and all will be sorted out in following frames. I'm quite pleased with this concept though: maybe it's a demonic BOOMER newly erupted from Hell or something!! M...

The HORROR THEMES are comin' thick-and-fast at the moment, as we make a momentarily return to Frankenstein's gothic loboratory, replete with archaic electronic gadgetry and sci-fi paraphanalia. For some reason, slick cool-cat JET BLANC finds himself in the cameo role of the Baron's creation in this one, spelling out the error of his creator's [VIBES, as the demented scientist in this scene]  ways, with retribution to follow, by the looks of things. I wanted to put in BABY BOOMER [deliverer of the all-important replacement brain, in his Ygor-like appearence here] as a more cliched Hunchback character, but the advent of good ole Political Correctness has nailed that funnier concept on the head in this case at least. Where ideas come from: a somewhat unusual use of songtune-lyrics in this example, with Lou Reed's melancholic 'Perfect Day' providing the basis for the dialog.....I often have the radio on well into the night, and the tunes I hear whilst half-aslee...

WHILST we're waiting for new cartoon material to come in, here's a 'fill-in-the-blanks' job where I've redone the background to an existing drawing of Veronica, to more effective  results.  The original version was OK but too overdone: now that I've sussed out how layers are put together, I have been able to drop in a far more suitable, plainer background, where Hell is merely suggested by a glowing orange background. I feel as if I'm cheating a bit putting in 'recycled' artwork, but rest assured, much more Baby Boomer artwork is in the pipeline, penciled and awaiting to be inked up. I just don't like neglecting the blog for more than a couple of days: other blogs I have enjoyed myself have disappointed  when I return and nothing new has been added for a month or more. The Wonders of Digital Color means the cartoonist/artist gets an endless 'crack' at re-doing the color schemes an infinite number of times......here's another experimen...

The Horror-Themes are coming thick-and-fast at the moment, as Baby Boomer is confronted with yet another demon that stalks the character's skyscaper flat as dusk descends. Not that B.B. looks in the slightest bit worried as this new threat [in the shape of a vixen-like Vampire] approaches: he's well-equipped with his 'anti-vampire' 'steak gun', if not exactly 'stake-gun'. A first peek into the babe's customized sleeping quarters: a fair few gags are centered around the bizarre activities that spring up after the midnight hour strikes and darkness ushers in all manner of walking horrors... -----it's all handled in an overtly cartoony, stylized manner, however, with absolutely no aspirations to scare the living daylights out of the reader. Some gags feature some hapless 'sheet-like' ghosts who also stalk the flat to comical effect: hopefully these supporting players  will also feature within this sub-section at some point. [Another 'des...

Baby Boomer himself takes center-stage today, as he poses in this 'direct-to-camera' 'snap', in which he surrounds himself with his favorite toys: in his case, his preferance is for 'Horror-themed' soft toys,   which he is proud to be seen with. Looking at this finished drawing, the horror soft toys are are a bit too reminiscent of the similar type of toys seen in Barrie Appleby's work on CUDDLES and DIMPLES out of DANDY, and as my cartoon style is clearly influenced by the output of D.C.Thomson, this is probably not surprizing. I think it looks a bit too much of a 'steal' or direct lift [I never actually copy any other artist's work, I don't especially enjoy it---I actually think it's easier---and a lot more fun-----to think up original cartoons] and although I may do more ideas with the toys, their appearence has to be altered next time: it was only during the inking of these first examples that I discovered the distinct similarities to...

TODAY'S LOONEY SCENARIO is set high among  the skyscrapers of Noo Yoik, as those mega-scale backup characters KOONG KING and the Statue of Liberty relax by balancing precariouisly , teetering atop the highest building in the cityscape. Somewhat unusually, Baby Boomer is taking on a malevolent presence,as he prepares to bung a 'spanner in the works' with a mere snip of a pair of household garden shears. Another  in the long line of ' how the Hell did this situation arrive?' set-up, I'm afraid I can't explain exactly where this image actually sprang from: like most of the imagery on here, they originate from rapid 'flashes of inspiration' that stalk and haunt my imagination for most of my waking hours [ indeed, a lot of them occur when I'm halfway in Slumberland....quite literally DREAMED UP!] Definately the sort of high-up high-jinks I am seeking for inclusion within the strip, however.

A fairly controversial entry today, readers, with a cartoon that is deemed never likely ever to see print:  here it is revealed that 'cool cat Jet Blanc more than likely only owns one solitary cat-suit, which has to be washed and aired and dried when required.....nothing unusual in that set-up, you may ponder...but take a closer look: the feline one has literally shed his skin and hung his 'clothes' out to dry, while he casually sits and waits -----in the form of a living skeleton! A wilfully bizarre situation, and one that I had planned on doodling for a long time.......extra touches here include a look at the roof-level on the towerblock where most of the characters live, as well as the abundant bird-life that soar above the Noo Yoik skies. One detail that I will likely have to point out: the small icebox seen near the seated Jet is not only for his chilled fruit-drinks, but also where he  keeps his innards fresh while he waits to 're-assemble' back to normal! I h...

Meanwhile, back in the Jurassic period, it's clear that the regular foursome haven't been able to venture far from their time-travel destination, after materializing in the midst of a rampaging Tyrannosaurus Rex/Allosaur. Only the second completed frame of the mob's back-in-time excursions, this will likely end up as an ongoing sideline scenario, with more than enough absurdist story potential ripe for the milking in this richly-dynamic  and dangerous period in Earth's History , which offers up all sort of dramatic/comedic potential. B.B. doesn't appear to be too fazed or impressed by the Terrible Lizard's considerable set of dagger-like molars, however, and has has to be forcibly held back from trying to land a well-aimed right-hook onto the lumbering collossus' jaw....... What exactly will happen next in this parallel fantasy excursion I ain't written yet, but I'm sure I can come up with more mayhem within this given situation. Please excuse the la...

The Second 'full-color' B.B. image features glamor-puss Veronica once again, this time as a sassy Satanic helper in the Depths of Hades..........to say that my artwork has been transformed by Digital Color is something of an understatement! To be honest, this piece is a bit of a patchwork regarding random blocks of color, but regarding flames there is a lot you can bung in spontaneously-----to be on the safe side, I've saved a copy of the characters-only color, in case I am compelled to do this one again. [I've just finished this one 5 minutes ago, and really need to look at it again tomorrow in the cold light of day to assess it properly.] I've made a concious effort to make Veronica look slightly naughty, but not overtly evil, which would of course attract the wrong sort of readership and repel all you decent folks out there....... I do have a fair few gags set in heaven, but I ned to work out how to do digital clouds first! BEHIND-the-SCENES-stuff: Normally, I do...

A Back-to-Basics, Domestic farce scenario today, readers, with fantasy and surrealist trimmings as per usual. This one is sort of Tex Avery-inspired themery, with something totally unexpected and impossible appearing 'out of the blue', to strike surprize and hopefully silly comedy into the mix. I've chosen to stop putting in so much cross-hatching and other older techniques, as these drawings may well be converted to color before long...all new entries on the cartoon front are designed with full-color in mind, which has altered the approach to inking in general. Fear not, though, the core basics of the drawings will always be of the hand-drawn variety: I have no love for totally computerized imagery, which looks to false and artificial in my view, and secondly I couldn't be annoyed sitting doing drawings by computer screen all day...it's too exasperating and complicated, and it's a total relief to just draw with pencil, paper and ink, after the often frustrating...

THE FIRST 'PROPER' Theater of WAR scenario within this series, in which we see the four central characters of B.B., Jet Blanc, Vibes and even Veronica comandeering a heavy-duty tank, which they utilize in the midst of all-out carnage, including ovehead exploding shells. However, in another apt comment on the absurdity and insanity of War and combat conditions, the quartet have decided it makes a lot more sense to lob gigantic jellies into the middle of the mayhem, and who can argue with them? It's certainly no sillier  than 'civilizations' hell-bent on wiping each other out totally, with increasingly industrialized means. If nothing else, using sweet courses in actual Warzone conditions would probably result in less casualties, if you get my pythonesque drift------I doubt if the stiff-upper-lipped brigade would see the funny side of this, though! One of the most overtly silly ideas thus far within the BABY BOOMER 'comedy archives' yet witnessed, and if you t...

FINALLY!  Here's the first 'proper' result after a week or three of off/on experimentation on different works regarding appllying Digital Color onto my cartoons........as can be seen, I have worked out how to 'drop in' gradiated tone into the background, etc, which is basically what I was after. There are still a few elements to sort out obviously, but I'm on the right track, and I will definately be keen to apply color to a lot of my future drawings, as well as onto a fair few of the actual strips, which won't do me any harm. It took me a long time to get around to this, but I'm fairly pleased with the basic direction, especially since I'm using an absolutely FREE coloring program: it is probably more convoluted to navigate than Corel Painter or Photoshop, but it's the end result that counts, and it's clear that my cartoons can be radically altered using digi-color. Yes, this example here is a bit rough around the edges in the background esp...