birds and zapatistas and artwork! oh my!

I spent Sunday drawing and watching the Broncos suck it yet again. The pictures below are the result. I'm still figuring out what exactly I was trying to convey with these - I've been thumbing through this old issue of Proceso that we brought back from Mexico on the Zapatistas, wanting to use the pictures in a project. So I cut up some cardboard, cut up some pictures, "highlighted" them with white-out, and then coated them in really diluted acrylic to tint them. And then I drew birds on them. Don't ask me what it means yet. It's just what needed to be done. The birds are, respectively, a cassowary, a purple swamphen, a marabou, and a grey heron.

inactive!

Haven't been around much the last month.

It's been kind of a long couple weeks. School has started again - which means I'm teaching regularly again, which eats up a lot more time than I had remembered - and I had a short period of complete and absolute hatred of children concurrent with the start of school, which is never a good confluence of events. This was followed by a extended bout of crippling self-doubt, and then my brother was shortly committed to an institution. All in all, a fantastic couple weeks.

Anyway. Here's some new stuff.

This is a picture I drew for my wife, who is currently in nursing school. I printed it out on sticker paper for her to decorate her copiously-filled notebooks with:

Also exciting is the possibility of doing regular (published!) cartooning again - I may be working on a series which documents various species of barfly - below is the first finished example, the Lonely Brow. Upcoming: The Midwestern Tufted Touchscreen Addict, The Ruffled Businessman, The Wild Secretary, and The Red-Cheeked False Bukowski. You will probably have to click on the drawing to read the monstrously small text if, in fact, you have any inclination to do so.

back to school.

I drew this in the blackbook of a kid who comes to our afterschool program - I thought "Grade" would be a hilarious tag name for a teacher.

things keep happening.

Things are a'brewing. Photo from a trip I took to Chicago with my lovely new Holga camera.

actual work?

My friend Brian is in the final weeks of editing his first novel, and he was kind enough to ask me to design the cover for it. These are a couple of drafts.

I totally screwed up the title, though. It's actually "Turning Failure Into Ideology". No "an".

we're about ready for vacation.

Somehow I doubt it's a coincidence that the closer I get to vacation, the more monsters and devils I draw - seeing escape just a day makes everything I hate about work that much worse. At least they're still cute monsters.

whatever. let's stop the pretense of numbering these, shall we?

Holy crap. You can't imagine how shitty the last couple weeks have been. Here are some drawing I should have been posting instead of bemoaning the state of my life.

In good news, I'm working on developing a regular comic for a local website. And I get a week of vacation soon.

drawing #44: discovery.

drawing #43: um. um. um.

I've just spent the last week fretting over the state of my mental health and generally getting my ass kicked by life. So I stopped drawing. That was a dumb decision. More soon.

drawing #42: nervous bird.

Holy crap! I thought I had published this. Guess I should learn how to use the interweb.

drawings #40 & #41: what i did over the weekend.

Hey. I spent the weekend experimenting with new styles/techniques. So here you go. In general, I try not to say things like this, for fear of sounding too snooty, but you should click on the image to see the full size versions. I'm pretty proud of them.

In case you can't tell, I've been a bit depressed lately.

drawing #39: backfill.

I'm in the midst of another drawing, so here's a sticker I made. The scan is kinda crappy - but it was the last one I had (the rest have been stuck on things or given to friends).

drawing #38: something from the bus ride to work.

drawing #37: something on my mind.

drawing #36: lion in the waiting room.

drawing #35: the mysterious powers of mary.

Just a doodle today. Is it too obvious that I was raised Catholic?

drawing #34: trip to the zoo.

I'm spending all my time drawing, leaving no time for writing. I think that's okay.

drawing #33: costume day.

WHEN: At the end of a stupid day. I had been grumpy (even churlish) all day, tired and baggy-eyed and sick of being asked to feign interest in things I didn't care about and kids I found unpleasant.

There, I said it.

Sometimes I hate kids.

WHAT IT MEANS: I'm really hoping this isn't some sublimated humiliation fantasy - making kids wear ridiculous costumes in retaliation for being a pain in the ass. It looks too cute for that. Maybe it's the non-depressive side of my brain attempting to lighten my day through a dose of adorable levity. Or maybe I was secretly hoping the costume would eat the kid.

drawing #32: field trip.

Holy crap! My friend was in town for the weekend and I got absolutely nothing done but eating a lot and catching up. This was drawn yesterday. I had a particularly grumpy day yesterday.

drawing #31: we've always been good friends.

drawing #30: now I'm doing this for real.

drawing #29: up against the wall.

WHEN: Last night, I was looking at this old loteria set, which had a "soldado" card, and I wanted to try to draw a soldier. So this is what I ended up with - and the soldier looks like he was in the Mexican Army, circa World War II. This was also my first attempt at shading with Illustrator - you can judge the results yrself.

WHAT IT MEANS: If I am ever captured by enemy forces (identity of enemy forces to be determined later), I will apparently take up smoking again - which, all in all, seems like a reasonable idea.

drawing #28: big head in reverse.

WHEN: during work, Ben showed me how to use masking tape to lay out a "stencil" - then you scribble over it and remove the tape & huzzah! An instant monotype-reverse-print-kind-of-thing!

WHAT IT MEANS: Ben is awesome.

drawing #27: kick ass!

Happy Father's Day? The character holding the leash was inspired by 3-year-old cousin, who drew a similar cartoon with me this weekend. I've been doodling the cat all week. At least no one's talking to birds in this one...

drawing #26: discuss amongst yrselves.

WHEN: Drawn at work while helping Ben draw a mummy wrapped with toliet paper. Colored while watching old episodes of ER with my wife.

WHAT IT MEANS: This whole "talking with birds" thing has been a reoccurring motif this week, and I have no idea where it came from. The birds have been singing earlier and earlier in my neighborhood, sometimes sounding like entire flocks or choruses - they're getting up with the sun, at least - but it's not like I've been harboring any particular love (or animosity) towards them. Maybe it means I'm trying to explain the inexplicable - to talk to people who I share no language with.

Hmm.

drawing #25: i read it in a book.

drawing #24: build a house.

WHEN: Last night, watching Mexico beat Panama in the Gold Cup. Talking to my sister on the phone about Father's Day and her crappy, crappy job.

drawing #23: color! okay!

WHEN: Yesterday and this morning. I was looking at some fine posts by Hiel, a fellow Blogger, and he got me stoked to try some color - though I fear his style is better than mine. I also mussed around with some text in Photoshop. All in all, a mixed bag.

WHAT IT MEANS: I ain't sleeping much. I feel like everything should be okay, and, objectively speaking, things are awesome. That, however, doesn't stop me from waking up in the middle of the night. In fact, here is a song I made about that very fact:

drawing #22: just think about it.

WHEN: Helping kids use RPG Maker, a program that makes customized Zelda-style roleplaying video games - a program which has become the new hotness at work. I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the drawing.

WHAT IT MEANS: I was looking through Flickr groups of cartoons and characters yesterday (I especially like this one and this one) and got inspired. Now, apparently, I have monsters on the brain. And I'm amazed at the amount of talent that's just floating around in the internet.

drawings #20 & #21: bang! bang!

Arrgh. My scanner broke, and I was thus forced to wait until today (availing myself of the scanner at work) to present you with these (representing Friday and Saturday last):

twenty!

twenty-one!

Thematically linked? Essentially the same picture with different costumes? YOU make the call!

drawing #19: speaking of the moon speaking of death.

WHEN: Right after work, waiting about for dinner and drinking a beer.

WHAT IT MEANS: Today was an amazing day - I got to work with a new kid who is adorably excited about everything AND who I got to practice my Spanish with, which was fun and magic like monsters and moonbeams. However, I may have to saw off my own thumb, which I injured while skating with another group of kids who came in today, thus reminding me of my own mortality and the creeping onset of death.

That, or I just like drawing skulls when I run out of things to draw. That's what punk rock will do to you.

drawing #18: write about what you know.

WHERE: at! the! bar!

drawing #17: top hat shag.

WHEN: Whilst ostensibly planning events for summer for work, I ran out of empty brainpan in which to store information. This is the result.

WHAT IT MEANS: As is well-established, the Victorian man awkwardly clutching his cane is an arcane symbol representing the fall of Western Civilization at the hands of bored, hormone-addled adolescents.

drawing #16: t.v. eye, no stooges.

WHEN: I just spent all day working on a grant report - I don't know if you've ever worked on a grant report (I'm not even sure who I'm rhetorically addressing with this "you", either, but let's not belabor the point), but it can be akin to lightly toasting one's eyeballs in a fruity sauté of nails and walnuts. But with graphs.

Anyway, I had been making willfully misleading charts all day and coming up with more reasons why people should pay me to do what I do, which is always hard, as I have difficulty making it past "because I am awesome and tired of working," but I finished, and we're on a new summer schedule at work, which means that no kids come in for the first hour or so, and I drew this.

So there you go.

drawing #15: speaking of pirates.

drawing #14: in space.

WHEN: Today. Playing Tank Wars with Alex.

drawing #13: bee-yoo-tee-full.

WHEN: This girl Tasha drew a rather unflattering portrait of me and demanded a drawing in exchange. When I asked her what she wanted a picture of she said, and I quote: "A fat, drooling cheerleader. Really, really fat."

WHAT IT MEANS: Tasha either wants this drawing to taunt someone with or she has some heretofore unnoticed weirdness going on. Also: I need to get over my fear of drawing liquids so I can get down with the drool. And, apparently, I need to actually look at some big-boned folks so I can draw them with properly proportioned limbs.

drawing #12: thumbs-up!

SCHOOL IS OUT! My mornings are now free for things like cleaning my desk and drawing! HUZZAH!

drawing #11: we will ride this ugly pig to victory.

WHEN: Just now, while attempting to install an internet filter on some new computers. Shortly after discussing what things are appropriate for kids to draw and write about with my boss - a discussion which is always awkward, because I was one of those kids writing about blowing up my school or setting things on fire when I was lil' wee tyke.

WHAT IT MEANS: Maybe - and this is just speculation, mind you - maybe I secretly want my boss to censor the kids' work, because if the kids are thinking about knives, then it's only a matter of time until they actually get knives, and then they will drive all of us into the sea at the head of their pointed hands.

drawing #10: monsters explaining the world of eye-rolling cats.

drawing #9: preaching to the masses.

WHEN: Trying to convert videos between formats to get a DVD ready for my students, who are ending their semester and would like to take their projects with them. This has been a painful process.

WHAT IT MEANS: I am a man small of body yet large of head, bringing my old-timey homespun wisdom to other people large of head. The warthog, though, is beyond my powers of interpretation for the moment.

drawing #8: the circle of life.

WHEN: Attempting to help a kid think of what to draw. And also attempting to recall if hippos have tails. (Answer: they do, but they're apparently impossible to draw without looking phallic and cracking the kids up)

WHAT IT MEANS: Drawing monkeys really, really small is really hard. The rest is too deep, man: is he a hippo dreaming about a banana dreaming about a sideways hot dog, or is he a sideways hot dog dreaming about a banana dreaming about a hippo? Or did I just blow your mind?