Still a novice at this painting-by-hand thing, I whipped out the watercolors and doodled mindlessly in bed during the commercials while watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on cable television. Yes, I was playing with watercolors in bed, without paper towels no less. Never mind mask-taping the paper to a backboard of any kind; I was far too lazy for even that. I didn’t even sketch drafts first; I just set brush to paper and let the watercolors flow. Clearly I…
I’ve debated whether or not I should even write this Kodak Moment, as it’s not really one of my own. It rightfully belongs to a young man with whom I went to high school, a young man whom my friend Jenny once called the Filipino Tom Cruise. Filipino Tom Cruise has a name, but for his protection I won’t say what it is. All we ever need to know is that Filipino Tom Cruise was a veritable cutie, a popular…
So I had some Chinese take-out food for dinner, and I felt fat and happy with my belly filled. When I opened my fortune cookie, I felt even more content, for my fortune told me, “You will always be successful in your professional career,” and there I was, feeling really good about my art and myself and thinking, I should really iron the little folds out of this fortune paper and keep it someplace safe. So I pulled at the…
Since this time last year, my situation has improved somewhat from the near hand-to-mouth, disaster-every-month existence I used to live, and with that in mind, I’m so very thankful. Thanks go especially to those who have in some way monetarily funded my unfortunate art and web habits this year—people like Broch, for being the absolute best patron of the arts and for providing the inspiration that spawned Whimsytoons; Mark, for the challenging commission that inspired me to write this tutorial…
It feels so wrong to be getting out the Christmas card list when Thanksgiving hasn’t even rolled around yet, but already the temporary pumpkin patches have turned into temporary Christmas tree lots, all decorated in red and green and of all things advertising custom flocking. (It’s too flocking soon!) Anyway, I already hear the carols and the sleigh bells, which seem odd enough in a snowless region, and I find myself cutting out snowflakes from spare printer paper. It doesn’t…