April 14, 2005 Header

Married, moved, and getting it together.

July 2005 Sixty-one posts

Snoopy the Red Baron, 1975

Snoopy the Red Baron, 1975

I’m 5 years old and I loved Snoopy.

My mother worked in an academic library when I was even younger than that, and when I would visit her library I would go find the Peanuts Treasury. And I would read and read. And Snoopy was my favorite.

I like very much the variation of the lettering here. I would call is “typography” there, but it sounds grandiose.

I _think_ it was done in 1975, but I’m not really sure, it may have been 1976 or 1974. I’m somewhere around 4 to 6 years old. It’s not like I was including copyright information on my drawings at that point.

Unlike the various Star Wars drawings I did, which I remember were done at the kitchen table in our apartment in Alhambra, I’m not sure where and when this one was done. Again, this makes it difficult for me to date the drawing.

Feeling better today than yesterday. It’s going to be a great day.

Take care, y’all.

And it’s been a while, so….

*Onward*

Polka Dot Big Hair Girl, 1987

Polka Dot Big Hair Girl, 1987

Quick and dirty. The texture is an experiment of ink dabs onto a wash of water.

Tinted in PhotoShop.

Alien Astronaut, 1988

Alien Astronaut, 1988

Nice design, not great in terms of color. This “Alien Astronaut” piece is kind of fun.

Demon Teen, 1986

Demon Teen, 1986

Made with the same marker as Girl With Flower Top, a nonetheless much darker image. Menacing, scary, aggressive.

I wonder what would have happened if I could have gotten the melancholy and the aggression to work together.

Then again, maybe I did.

I did a lot of drawings of vampires when I was in my teens. The myth of vampirism is yet another powerful myth to play with. Vampires definitely fall into the category of “melancholic aggression.”

Girl with Flower Top, 1986, 2005

Girl with Flower Top, 1986 Girl with Flower Top, 1986, 2005

I’ve always liked this drawing of mine, by my 16-year-old self. Just a marker on paper if I remember correctly.

It’s definitely a drawing that was made with the aesthetic of “do it fast and do it now” — I think I may have been sad at the time given the melancholy of the pose. I’m not sure what is going on with her arm though. I just had no concept of anatomy and I was not trying to be realistically physical.

Anyway, after scanning this morning I thought I’d try adding color using PhotoShop. It works. Very rough, but it gives a bit of depth lacking in the original.

I need to work on patience and flexibility this week. I’m feeling especially impatient and inflexible this week. Well, maybe just yesterday.

These are not my best qualities.

Noodling in PhotoShop is rather calming though.

The day begins soon. Good morning.

Winged and Saddled Creature, 1986

Winged and Saddled Creature, 1986

Another in a fantasy vein, but there’s a definite techno slant to the rider.

Interesting, “fuzzy lined” piece. It’s sort of the opposite of what I was saying about wanting that precise line. The shaggy line affords a rendering that builds up with individual lines. Is that pointillism? I suppose it is.

I hate Microsoft Word 2002 for Windows

It keeps telling me:

“There are too many edits in the document. This operation will be incomplete. Save your work.”

*I hate you*, Word.

Dragon, 1989

Dragon, 1989

This is a bit more polished. Notice the careful cross-hatching on the body of the dragon. There’s a literalness to this rendering that I quite like.

I mentioned before that I never was much for sword and sorcery stuff., but dragons are fun to draw.

The Wikipedia article for Dragon has some silly stuff in it, but amongst the dross are:

Chinese dragons (among others) are generally seen as benevolent, whereas European dragons are usually malevolent. However, malevolent dragons are not restricted to Europe, and also occur in Persian mythology (see Azhi Dahaka) and other cultures. The malevolent dragon is a prominent figure in Christian myth and iconography. Some Catholic Saints are depicted in the act of killing a dragon: for instance, Saint George, or, in Italy, Saint Mercurialis, who was the first bishop of the city of Forlì.

And also:

Dragons are often held to have major spiritual significance in various cultures around the world. One example of them in religion would be some biblical references that seem to hint that the dragon is a type of archangel, one of which by the name of Lucifer, rebelled against God to become known as the seven-headed red dragon called Satan. Some take this as a sign that dragons are an evil force, however other parts of the Christian Scriptures (depending on the version) seem to indicate that God created multiple dragons, not all of whom rebelled. In many oriental cultures, they were, and in some cultures still are, a being to be revered, and were representative of the primal forces of nature and the universe.

I like dragons. I’m reminded of the significance of the dragon in the film _Excalibur_. I really like that movie. I wish it were less violent and sexual than it is, but I suppose as a powerful myth, it does need such *substance* to “flesh out” its messages. Given that my middle name is “Arthur,” I was probably drawn a bit to Arthurian Legends. Mage, a comic series by Matt Wagner, was one such legend. I remember reading it (heh) religiously. Such beautiful work in that first series. I distinctly remember reading it during a break at my driver’s ed classes. The comics shop was just 2 blocks away and I devoured “Mage” for its’ contemporary and cryptic retelling of the Arthur saga.

Magic is green.

The Weekend, You Say Part II

Back in Oh, the Weekend You Say? I recounted going to Con with E.

After that, E and I waited for her ride for quite a while. Man! Total and complete chaos in front of the convention center for Con. But it worked out and we both got picked up.

Leah and I went north, to see an old roommate of hers. We had drinks and chatted and Leah paid an old debt. It was a good time we had in San Marcos. After that we stayed the night with another old friend. That was serious and wonderful and cool.

The next morning we went for a breakfasty lunch at the briefly named Ki’s, a restaurant in Cardiff by the sea. Excellent omelette. Very vegan and health conscious food, that.

After that we went and saw Confessions of a Mormon Boy, Leah tells the tale very well. The play was an amazing merging of two very American cultures, Mormonism and Gay culture. It was touching, fascinating, and all-too-real. If you get a chance, see it for a glimpse into both cultures.

After that we had dinner with my family. My Grandmother continues to improve, thankfully, and the crew got together for an impromptu “family dinner,” which was totally wonderful.

After that, we made our way back home to Simi. It was a long drive, but it had been a very good weekend.

So that was the weekend before last. Maybe I’ll catch you up on last weekend another time.

Hey you guys, love ya.

Larry “Bud” Melman IS Roy Orbison, 1987

Larry "Bud" Melman IS Roy Orbison, 1987

Along the same lines as Dave’s Alarmed Look, this is Calvert Deforest as Larry “Bud” Mellman (sic) as Roy Orbison.

Larry “Bud” is great. This is another quickie. So silly. Absurdist is absolutely the right word for the show that was Late Night with David Letterman.

Please remember that this blog is only an exhibition, it is not a competition. Please, no wagering.

←June 2005August 2005→