The Story in an Image

If you know me at all, you probably know me as either a cartoonist or as an illustrator... usually not both.  You either have an image in your mind of beautifully rendered ships on magazine covers, or of goofy looking people sharing those everyday moments of life that we all can chuckle at.  To me it's all the same... stories told with pictures.

With a cartoon, the pictures and words work together, as partners, to tell a story and to conjure up some emotion: usually a laugh.  With an illustration, the image tells the story alone, and I must use visual clues, symbols, and carefully chosen props to convey what I want to say.  Lighting and weather play a big part in this, since a lot of my illustration takes place outside, usually on large bodies of water.

I'm trying to reconcile the two worlds, or at least bring them closer together.  They need to be separate, though, and since both are important to me, I guess I'm trying to bridge the two so that you, my audience, can see and enjoy both sides with me.

I'm not sure where I'm going yet, so your comments, likes, shares, and commissions are important to me.  I must do what brings me income, but I work within that framework, so that I'm happy with the work.  I appreciate the challenges that come from clients, and I do love telling stories, and I do love sharing my work.

So with that in mind, I'll be sharing some online galleries with you, and adding some new artwork as time permits.  I've got a new line of comic art coming out, that takes a cartoon one step further, telling the story not with words but with more elaborate illustrations, with more time and detail put into them.  Of course, there will be more stories to come, if things go well, and hopefully much more of my fine illustration.

And some other stuff, of course... photos, and art outside the other two realms.  And I have a great idea for this year's Holiday card, which I hope to find time to illustrate.

Meanwhile, I'll be at the Ohio Comic Con in Columbus this Friday through Saturday, with the new comic book, a new art print, and some special workshops for kids on Sunday.  So come by and say Hi and let me know what you think, huh?

Cheers,    JOHN :0)

Mermaid's Cove: A Special Illustration

I am very proud to announce a new illustration that I hope will become part of a series. This began as my tribute to the California coast, and turned into a very special piece for a very special someone.  And yes, that is Flash the studio cat, sniffing at the bucket of fish. :0)

Mermaid's Cove is my own creation, but after leaving Comic-con in San Diego this year, I drove up the coast and visited many strange and beautiful places along the California shore.  I'd love to go back and explore some more, but for now I'm there in my imagination.


Mermaid's Cove is now available as a print at my DeviantArt Gallery, where you can see it in better detail.  The print will also be available soon in our shop and at conventions that we attend.

 Please let me know what you think of this illustration.    Thanks,    JOHN :0)

Cartooning 101: The Process

I do mostly Illustration work for a Client of mine, but I had started out doing cartoons for them, namely Safety Manuals in comic book form.  Now, I am an Artist, so love creating in different media, and really enjoy the fact that I get paid to do so.  However, as you may well know, I have a definite soft spot for cartooning.

Recently, in finishing the art for our bi-annual magazine, I was asked by the designers to come up with an illustration for dunnage.  Dunnage is basically packing material used for large scale shipping... as in cargo ships.  Technically, to those in the shipping business, dunnage may be interesting.  Realistically, it is not.  No one, as far as I know, has created fine art where the subject is dunnage. 

Now, Artists need to eat, and buy art supplies, so most of us do not turn down any opportunity.  However, on the subject of illustrating packing material, I told my Client honestly, that I saw no way to create art about dunnage, and make it interesting. I mean, the object of magazine art is to grab the Reader's attention as they're flipping through the pages, and make them stop long enough to appreciate the art and be inspired to read the article.  I did not see that happening in this case.

So, from the figures accompanying this post, you are guessing that I came up with the brilliant idea of using a cartoon for this subject?  Well, not right away.  I actually did a bad thing, and changed the subject, ignored the request, and knowing that the deadline was passing quickly, figured the idea would be dropped, or forgotten. I do not recommend this technique to you!  In my defense, we were past the deadline, and there were several other pieces to create.  I was up every night from 1 to 4 in the morning for a week past the initial deadline, trying to finish enough art for the magazine to be it's best.

The subject of dunnage, however, returned.  And returned.  I couldn't blow it off forever, so it haunted me until it hit me one night, tossing an turning, the above idea for a cartoon.  Many a creative person will tell you that a little alcohol and some tossing and turning in bed, mixed with the desperation of a deadline, can be inspiring.

Right.  Another Yes-it-can-work-but-there-are-no-guarantees idea.  Actually, a good night's sleep and a sober head should be great for ideas, but when the first deadline passes, and the second deadline passes, and you haven't slept for a week and you need a fine beer to relax, well.. sometimes you get lucky.  You also get ideas like The Statue of David, A Blowup Doll, and a Traffic Cone, which can make you shudder in horror in the golden light of daytime.

Then again... I would never have come up with the Statue of David being packaged for shipping over a cup of coffee.  And honestly, I like it.  David is recognizable to most people, not because of the fine workmanship, but for his nudity, unfortunately, but still, recognizable is good.  The blowup doll, and traffic cone are just funny, especially when mixed with a beach ball, a bucket, and some bags of garbage!

So, the process.  Normally I would come up with a few ideas, but the great fear that my Client was going to make me illustrate dunnage made me crank this out on paper (figure 1) in 5 seconds flat, scan it, and email it within 45 seconds of completion.  Lucky for me the Client liked it.

I then made a more detailed sketch (figure 2) which I then emailed to the Client.  He had already given the go ahead, but trust me.... Clients are busy people, and you want to make sure that they know there is a blow up doll in your cartoon BEFORE the issue goes to print.  Once you have the go ahead, you're safe.  If the subject comes up later, you can pray that the words "But you said it was okay!" will save your job.

Finally, I ink the piece, adding a few extras like the rat, and scan it in.  Color and cleanup on the computer, in Adobe Photoshop, and et voila!  A creative solution to illustrating dunnage.

Now, I consider myself blessed and fortunate that I was able to create a cartoon for a serious magazine. Honestly, I wasn't sure my Client would allow such a thing, but here is a very important lesson!

It doesn't hurt to ask.

Half of my Career has come about from me making suggestions or offering alternatives to the status quo.  And in this case I was able to come full circle, and revisit some beloved characters, by drawing a cartoon.

For me that was a thrill that you just can't pay for.

Thanks for reading,    JOHN :0)

PS on my iPod, The Who, Who's Next.  Why did it take me 29 years to buy this album?

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)