Almost Live!

For the few of you NOT on Facebook, I am going to share with you something from my Guest Table at the Facebook Comic Con. No, the con hasn't happened yet, but I'm already loading lots of fun stuff at my Table for you to see, including real videos of me sketching to give it that 'appearing live at a convention' feel.

This is my first attempt at videoing while sketching, so there is a bit of the Blair Witch feel to it. And I was so nervous that I let the camera wander, I dropped my pencil, and forgot to draw eyes on a sheep. Good thing this isn't live, cause who knows how I'd embarrass myself.

You can see more at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52936480965, if you are a facebook member. The rest of you may now show your pity by clicking a link at the right there, and checking out more of my stuff, and maybe buying a book to support a starving artist. :0)

Cheers, JOHN :0)

PS I've uploaded a second, bigger, better, longer video at the Facebook Comic con page, and this one is with real sound! Yes, lame jokes to go with the the sketching... and this one is a tribute to The Haunted Mansion, as well!

Fun With Crayons

Choosing a career that you love is great. Choosing a career like Cartooning can be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys!

As an artist, it's important to keep learning and growing. Developing your own style is vital, but doing so requires a lot of play... er, um, work. Seriously, it's important, and a lot of work and time, but there's no reason you shouldn't enjoy it. For The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, featuring The Inquiring Minds, I wanted to have my character Bobby develop their Pirate Ride with Crayon sketches. That meant that I had to break out my crayons and learn how to put them to good use.

As an artist I've studied and trained with a variety of media, but it's been a while since I've done a pure crayon illustration, and I've wanted to since visiting the Crayola Factory in Pennsylvania. While there I noticed they had some crayon art hanging on the wall, so of course I wanted to create my own.

So, this was my chance. While at the Crayola Factory, I had bought a tin full of crayons that came in some snazzy colors like Wild Strawberry, Hot Magenta, and Laser Lemon. ( I know, they sound like some girls you might meet in New York City) For some reason, those colors didn't work well for Pirates, but luckily I had also picked up some Gold, Antique Brass, and Wild Blue Yonder, which all worked perfectly.



So here are the results, as featured on the next two cartoons for The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake. (These two work best as a two page spread, but you can still get the gist of things.) Please let me know how I did, and if anyone knows anybody at Crayola, please find out if they need any cool illustrations for their gallery!

Cheers, JOHN :0)