CLIMBING

SocMo bought himself some new threads so he can do some social CLIMBING.

For the last two years the New Yorker magazine has had a contest where people can create their version of Eustace Tilley, the iconic dandy of the magazine. I have never participated in the contest, but have wanted to do a SocMo version. This week's IF word gave me the perfect opportunity to try this.

For many years I have gone to a newstand and flipped throug the New Yorker to read the cartoons. They are very topical and usually reflect our culture. If you are curious... you can see the original Eustace Tilley and view all the entries in the contest by CLICKING HERE.

Wha?

Q. What do you get when you cross a frog and a cocout?
A. a croakanut

absolutely hi-larious... right?

hot diggity dog

Since I am a lazy bum, I usually ink my drawings with enclosed shapes so I can use the paint bucket on them and just drop in flat color. On this experimental piece, I decided to ink more like the way I used to... before I was seduced by the digital dark side. So instead of quickly dropping in color, I had to use my old Wacom tablet and "paint" the color on. I do like the way this looks, but doing a large complicated illustration would take me twice as long (or more) to color if I used this method. And the one thing I don't usually have is extra time.

So, what is the mistake in this picture? Well, one should roast a hot dog over glowing coals, not a blazing fire. But blazing fires are SO much more fun to draw... so sue me :0)

Tinman

Well, I worked way too hard on this sketch and it shows it... not as loose as I had wanted. Maybe next time I will get the loosey goosey drawing muse to assist me...

turtle story

There was this like, turtle... ya know? And he was all like, "Dood! I wish I could go South for the winter, cuz it's like all cozy and warm and stuff down there... fer shure."

So he like, talked these two geese into holding a stick in their beaks as they like, flew... and he held on to the middle with his mouth. Ya know? But there were these like, hunters who saw them? And they went, "Dood, what smart geese, flying with that turtle!" And the turtle couldn't resist going like, "Dood! it was MY ideaaaaaaaa..." as he fell to the earth.

Like there is some kind of lesson here, fer sure... but I like, don't remember what it is...

bye bye Peyton

It's the end of the season for the Colts...

low riders

I was in downtown Nashville early Saturday morning and saw this fellow shuffling along the sidewalk. His odd walk first caught my attention. Then I noticed... is that his pants around his ankles? As I passed him (in my car) I realized that yes, his pants are around his ankles. He had lots of layers on and I was happy to see that he did have on some kind of fleece wear like shorts under the various layers. He stopped to pick up something from the sidewalk and I thought... "OK, now he will realize his pants are down and pull them up while he is down there. Nope. He continued on his way... and stopped once again to pick up something that had fallen out of the pants (around his ankles) but he still did not pull them up.

If wearing your pants low so your underwear is showing makes you cool... then this guy is the ultimate in cool.

Go figure...

Birthday!

Happy Birthday to meeeeee.... Yep, today is my birthday. If you sawed me in half, there would be so many rings to count that you wouldn't even attempt it.

Life is guuuud....

RESOLVE

I resolve to draw more and post more things this year. So far I have posted every day this entire year! That would be two days... heh... How long will this streak last? If you want to follow along, there is a place you can click to "follow this blog" somewhere on the sidebar. If you are smart enough to find it and click on it, then you will join the most awesome, intelligent, beautiful people on the planet who have done the same.

All the best in the new year to you all!

What happened to the goldfish?

So, I was sitting here and realized that there is only an hour and a half left in the first day of the new year. The thought struck me that I should probably post something today for good luck in 2009. Fifteen minutes later... here it is. I'm feeling really lucky now...

newspapers

Q. What is black and white and red(read) all over?
A. A newspaper.

I remember first hearing this joke as a little kid. It rocked my small mind when I realized that the word I thought was red was actually read. The old switcheroo. This was probably the first joke I had heard that worked like this.

I have illustrated this joke several times for joke pages in kid magazines over the years... and the answer is never "a newspaper" anymore. It is always something like "an embarrassed zebra"... "a penguin holding its breath"... "a sunburned polar bear" or such. I had been thinking that since EVERYONE knows the old newspaper joke, this is just another switcheroo! You think the answer is "a newspaper" but then they trick you by saying it's something else.

But now I am not so sure.

Newspapers are disappearing off the American landscape like the mighty buffalo did many years ago. Now there are even more newspapers in financial trouble. Do kids even see a newspaper these days? Probably not. Maybe they wouldn't understand the original joke. "A newspaper? ...what's that?" Maybe the joke has to be retooled just so kids can understand it now.

I wonder how many newspapers will bite the dust in 2009? And just WHO will do the investigative reporting like Woodward and Bernstein then? Some news blogger sitting at his laptop in his pajamas?

I think not.

Merry Christmas!

...and the VOICES said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men"...

Wow... long time since the last post! I have been really busy for the last few weeks. After I got my deadlines met, I jumped into Christmas card mode and made this. Then, we all jumped into the car and drove to Missouri for an early family Christmas. Now I am back and regretting all the snacks I consumed during the last three days. (burp)

So... I would like to wish everyone who has stumbled by JONESAPALOOZA this year the best of the Holiday Season and a great new year in 2009!

SIMILAR

I think Socmo has some friends who are kiddos. So for all the kids out there, here is a puzzle for you. All of the SocMos here are identical to each other except for one. One SocMo is only SIMILAR to all the rest. Can you find it?

As you are looking you might sing to yourself... "One of these things is not like the others"... I watched way TOO much Sesame Street years ago...

*Remember... You can click on the image to see it in JUMBO size*

Balloon

I have been busy busy lately and didn't think I would get anything done for Ilustration Friday again this week. But I managed to come up with a drawing at the end of the day yesterday thanks to TV reruns.

In 1982 Larry Walters tied 42 helium weather balloons to his lawn chair and took a trip. He wanted to go up a bit and hover over his neighborhood for a while. Instead he shot up to 16,000 feet (three miles) ... where it is pretty cold. A couple of airline pilots reported seeing a man in a lawn chair holding a gun as they flew by him. He had planned on shooting out some balloons to come back down. When he did descend, he tangled in some power lines and blacked out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. The stunt got him a $1,500 fine from the FAA, and appearances on the Tonight Show and David Letterman.

Pixar's next movie is UP and looks like it may have been inspired by Larry. CLICK HERE to see the trailer. I can't wait!

PRETEND

When I was a wee lad, I had a stick horse that I rode all the time. I probably put thousands of miles on it. He was a broomstick with a head made out of a sock. This stick horse is well known among my family members because I named it after my most favorite thing in the world... Gravy. Yes, my stick horse was named Gravy. Gravy and I covered a lot of ground in the backyard. He was reliable transportation, and a good companion. I wonder if any one rides stick horses anymore. My guess is that kids today are all plugged into computers or playing electronic games. Too bad.

Jiffy Lube

So... I had a little time to kill at the dentist office and did this sketch of the Jiffy Lube across the street. I don't do this very often so I am a bit rusty. There is a new sketch blog that is very interesting... take a look at it here.

WISE

He who holds his tongue is WISE. ~Proverbs 10:19 NIV

OBUMMER!

The SocMo for President Campaign headquarters are now VACANT... but for one poor soul...

VACANT

I have been very busy lately, totally focused on meeting deadlines. This weekend was so beautiful, that I spent a lot of time outside. So... once again I have a week of deadlines facing me and no time for Illustration Friday... but I did manage to scratch out a quickie last night before bed.

REPAIR

SocMo has a plan to REPAIR our country. It is the only plan that will really FIX IT! But first you have to elect him president. So when you go to the polls, remember to write in SocMo! That Tiger Woods guy and Yosemite Sam both have plans, but they won't FIX IT like SocMo's plan will FIX IT. SocMo's plan will FIX IT and FIX IT good! And it will stay FIXED! So vote for the FIX IT guy... vote SocMo!