Monday Morning Marty -- The Lap of Luxury!

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Since the last two Monday Morning drawings were of Minnie, I figured Marty was due.

This was drawn with a Pigma Brush #1 pen. The drawing is based on a photo, though not traced. The photo was actually Marty luxuriating on my wife's lap while she was on her laptop, but I only wanted Marty in the image, so I used a little creative license. But normally he only looks this happy cuddled up to her.

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Mammalthon 2 Is Coming!

My amazing, talented wife Jennifer -- the force behind The Daily Mammal -- is launching Mammalthon 2 next week. Here's an excerpt from her post about it:


Last December, 36 beautiful, generous, animal-loving art aficionados participated in the first Daily Mammal 24-Hour Mammal Marathon. I stayed up for 24 hours straight and drew a mammal an hour (almost). People who donated to Defenders of Wildlife got to request a mammal, see it appear during the 24-hour mammalthon, and then receive the original drawing in the mail. It was unbelievably fun, and we raised more than $800 for Defenders.

It's time for Mammalthon 2! This time, the contributions will be going to The Wildlife Center, a wonderful wildlife rehabilitation hospital in northern New Mexico. Spring means baby season and hundreds of injured and orphaned baby animals that need a place to recuperate and some help getting back into the wild. Your participation in Mammalthon 2 will help make sure these babies, and all the other animals The Wildlife Center rehabilitates, get the care they need.

* * *

Go to her web site to learn how you can get a beautiful, original drawing of the mammal of your choosing and be part of a great cause all at the same time! If nothing else, stop by on the 19th and cheer her on! See you there!

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Monday Morning Marty & Jenny

(Click on image for larger version)

Last week I started a big storyboard job that will take up all my time for the next month or two, so I didn't have time to draw up a new Monday Morning drawing today.

So instead I took a really sweet photo of Marty and Jennifer and applied a few Photoshop filters, did some nudging and finagling, and came up with this portrait of the two of them. Hope you like it.

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Self-Promotion and the iPhone

Yes, I got an iPhone for Christmas. Both my wife and I got one. Wow, it's neat. For those of you who've heard how neat it is -- it really is that neat. And of course, it's ideal for freelance illustrators.

You can check and reply to email while away from your office. I really find it a great way to pass the time while waiting in line at the bank or supermarket checkout. (I know, I know -- who waits in lines at the bank anymore? I was opening a new account. Can't do that from an ATM machine -- yet!)

They're also great for surfing the Web while in said lines.

But they're not great for surfing this website, because the artwork sample pages are in Flash, and for some inexplicable reason the iPhone's Web browser can't view Flash. Sigh.

(Mental note to self: when you get the chance, make an iPhone version of your site without Flash. It'll be ready just as they launch the next upgrade to the iPhone system that allows Flash on its browser.)

But I found an even better way to show people my work when I'm networking and talking to people. I put the samples from my website into the photo library.

Jennifer and I visited some artists we know who have a studio near us, and after seeing their work, they were disappointed that we'd forgotten to bring samples of our work as we'd promised. Luckily I remembered my iPhone! The pictures are nice and big and bright, and you can just flip from one to another.

There are only two downsides to using the iPhone this way:

1) People may be more impressed with my iPhone than with my artwork, and

2) Now that the iPhone goes in the back pocket opposite my wallet, there's no room for my business card holder.

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Monday Morning Marty & Jenny!

This week the Monday Morning Mammals (ha ha) are Marty and my lovely wife Jennifer! (I'd originally described them as "my first dog and my first wife," but then thought better of it. Now if only I'd thought better than to include this parenthetical comment...!)

Jennifer is the artiste behind The Daily Mammal, which recently had its successful 24-Mammals-In-24-Hours Marathon (or as we like to call it, the Mammalthon.) So many people requested mammals for that, along with their donations, that she's still drawing them.

The drawing was done with markers, based on a photo I'd taken a couple of weeks ago. We all love to hang out on the couch together. Of course the dogs are only allowed up if we invite them, and are very good at waiting and staring until such an invitation comes.

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24 Mammals in 24 Hours!

On December 22, Storyteller's Workshop illustrator (and my wife) Jennifer Rae Atkins is having a unique event over at her site, The Daily Mammal: 24 Mammals in 24 Hours.

To quote from her site:

"On Saturday, December 22, I will be drawing a mammal every hour. That's right, I'll stay up all night, draw and scan like crazy, and post the mammals here for you to see.

"I'm not just doing this because it will be fun, though. It's for a special cause: Defenders of Wildlife, a 60-year-old nonprofit organization operating nationally, that works to protect wild animals and their habitats. For more information about what they do, visit their website. If you have questions about how and why I chose them, post 'em here.

"Now, here's where it gets fun for you, too. If you make a donation of at least $25 (using the DONATE button on the right-hand side of this website), you get to request a mammal. I'll draw it on December 22, then I'll send you the original art! Each mammal drawing is about 5" by 8". I draw on tracing paper (but I don't trace!) with markers, pens, and colored pencils. I'll send your original art along with a gray piece of cardstock, like the ones I use when I scan my drawings, to provide the perfect background for framing your mammal. I will send all the mammals out on Monday, December 24.

"Tell me your favorite mammal (or, if you don't have one, let me choose one for you) and donate at least $25. You'll help animals and get a lovely piece of original art. The button's just right over there! And please stop by throughout the day on Saturday, December 22, to give me some moral support!"

Jennifer is a talented artist and a real lover of animals. Your support, financial and otherwise, will mean a lot to her, and to me. Make a donation, request a mammal and watch the fun all day and night on December 22. I'll be supplying the coffee.

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WARNING: Have Fun OR ELSE...!

I've been having more fun drawing lately.

I don't know what it is. Perhaps it's being back in New Mexico, after two years in Philly, a city I like, but don't really feel at home in. Maybe it's feeling less pressure financially, now that Jennifer has started working again after getting her degree in the aforementioned City of Brotherly Love.

Or maybe it's just that I've made a conscious decision to have more fun.

Illustrators, like all freelancers, cannot forget to be responsible -- meet deadlines, be responsive to the clients' needs, solve problems, budget their time and their money, and market, market, market. But sometimes those responsibilities can overload your circuits, 'til you're blind to anything else. A new job becomes just another deadline, just another necessity, just another paycheck. Sure, there are times when the workload is so heavy I just don't have time to enjoy myself. I have to get the work done and out the door, just to I can breathe.

But then I have to remind myself that I can breathe again, and that I can go back to having fun -- even if it means a little loss in efficiency. Which it usually doesn't, even, by the way. But I'll get back to that in a moment.

Having fun is not only important because -- well, because it's fun. It's also vital to my abilities as an illustrator.

The simple, demonstrable fact is that when I'm having fun drawing, I'm drawing better. My work is more fluid and dynamic, my ideas are sharper and more interesting, and I have more of them.

Last week I needed to draw up some ideas for a project. I had one idea, which I just thought I'd draw up and send to the client. I often provide just one idea, especially when the client provides me with very specific parameters. This time, though, the client gave me lots of freedom to come up with a good layout. But all I had was one idea. I didn't really think I needed more than one, really.

But anyway, I got tired of sitting around the office all day again, so I went to a local coffee place to sketch -- you know, the kind of place with wireless Internet and free refills. I really enjoyed the energy there -- getting a cookie as well as coffee helped there -- and my first sketch was a stupid one, which I knew we'd never use, but which I thought my client would find funny. That got me having fun!

I then drew up the one idea I'd already had. But then a couple more ideas came to me. I ended up having several ideas to show the client, and the one we're going with wasn't that original one. It was much better.

Having fun also helps you maintain your style -- or develop it. When every job is a chore, when all you're doing is satisfying the client, and not yourself, there's the danger that you'll lose your own original style to the dictates of the assignment. Let that happen often enough and you may find the only work you're getting is work you really don't like, work you're not happy with, and work that isn't the best you can do.

Now, getting back to that efficiency argument. I sometimes rationalize not having fun with the argument that there isn't time to have fun, that the project has to be done quickly and efficiently. But having fun with a project doesn't have to slow you down; quite the opposite. Working in a dreary mindset will quickly slow me down because I'll lose all motivation to keep working! I'll find excuses to leave my drawing board, take frequent breaks, longer lunches, and develop a substance abuse problem.

And even if having fun does take longer -- so what? If I'm having fun with the project, why would I want it to be done in such a hurry? What am I rushing through work to get to that could be as much fun as my chosen profession? Right? Because there are times -- numerous times -- when drawing, creating, and solving problems is the most fun thing to do in the world. And with a little bit of reminding yourself, you can have those moments much more often. Don't wait 'til the project is too good not to have fun -- have fun with the projects you've got today!

Because if you can't find something fun about every project, you shouldn't be working on that project. Because having fun is the whole reason we freelancers give up the security of a steady paycheck and the simplicity of automatic withholding. And because having fun is FUN!

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Monday Morning Marty -- 8-13-07

Here's a Marty comic strip that I drew with my wife, Jennifer.

This was a fun game Jennifer came up with while we were waiting for our food at a restaurant somewhere. Jennifer took the page out of her Filofax, wrote down the title she made up and drew up the panels. I then had to come up with a story to match the title and draw it in the panels.

This is a fun exercise to pass the time, and it also helps sharpen your storytelling abilities. Trying to find a logical reason for each panel to be the size and the placement that it is helps you decide the pace of the story, and that may come before you think of a plot or even a subject.

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Inspiration: Joseph Lorusso

Yesterday I went up to Santa Fe -- about an hour or so's drive from Albuquerque -- to visit with some agencies there and show my work. While up there I sent some time with my lovely wife Jennifer. In addition to her Daily Mammal and Atkins Institute blogs, she also works full-time with a museum exhibit design firm up there.

While up there, Maggie -- our friend and Jennifer's coworker -- told us about her brother-in-law painter. His name is Joseph Lorusso, and he's having an opening this Friday in Santa Fe.

I was floored by his work. Here's a guy who can paint. His work really hearkens back to the Golden Age of illustrators -- few painters today have that style or, frankly, the ability. But Joseph Lorusso's got it!

Check out his work, and if you're in the Santa Fe area on Friday, come out to the opening. He's showing in other galleries across the country, for the rest of you.

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Red Panda

I drew this red panda for my Daily Mammal blog, but I like it so much I'm previewing it here. Choose to snooze!

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Multi-Tasking Hand

This is an odd thing to confess, and I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but -- I think my hand doesn't write as well when it's been drawing.

Let me explain.

On the best of days, my handwriting is pretty bad, as anyone who's seen it can confirm. My writing is usually a block lettering anyway -- yes, like the kind used in comics -- because my cursive, and even my upper-and-lower-case print writing, are rather -- unsophisticated, shall we say.

But when I'm in the middle of drawing, it's a lot worse.

I just came upon this thought now, as I'm drawing up the layouts for another week's worth of Annie strips. I have these pre-printed blanks I made up, with a rectangle representing the strip, some guidelines marking the 1/2, 1/3 and 2/3 spots, and lots of room on the sides for notations about the sketches, which aren't very elaborate. Jennifer has commented occasionally about how I never use those notes areas, and just now, as I was writing a little comment about what one of the characters was doing, I realized why.

I can't write worth crap while I'm sketching.

Maybe writing and drawing use different parts of the brain. That makes sense, since they're very different ways of seeing, and different ways of thinking. And since creating images and putting down letterforms are very different ways of using the same hand muscles, maybe transitioning quickly from the one to the other causes some stumbling -- like shifting gears in a car without properly using the clutch or something.

And maybe, since I'm an illustrator through and through, and since that's what I've always been, maybe that's why my handwriting has always been so bad. Maybe, as soon as I pick up the pencil or pen, my drawing instincts take over, and don't want to surrender control to the writing part of my brain.

I know this is an odd theory. I don't even know if it's true that I screw up my writing more often when I'm in the middle of sketching or not. It seems to be, but who knows? And I don't know what possible practical application this could have, other than to try pausing a moment when switching from one to the other -- like waiting for the clutch to engage in the car. Maybe just being aware of this brain change will be enough to improve the situation. I'll let you know what progress, if any, I see.

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Drawing of My Dog, Part 1

My wife Jennifer believes in drawing for fun.

Wow. What a concept.

She's started her own blog, The Daily Mammal, wherein she will draw a new mammal every day. If she keeps it up, she can draw every named mammal in just 14 years! Wow! But whether she does or not, she's having fun. And she's always telling me I should draw for fun. Not for an assignment, or for a deadline. But for fun.

Fun.

Fun?

Well, tonight I gave it a try, sketching our dog Marty. Here's the result.

Not bad for my first attempt at drawing him. And not bad for my first sketch from life in a long time. It even kind of looks like him. Okay, it looks a lot like him. Not perfect, but pretty good. I'm sure this won't be the last time I draw Marty, and I'm sure my next one will be even better.

But you know what? I had fun.

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Little Orphan Annie ALSO Back In New Mexico

Art, indeed, imitates life -- or vice versa.

The current Annie storyline takes our heroine back to New Mexico, where she visited three years ago and met the Broadcast Ranch boys and confronted a cross-dressing Satanist and his iguanas from Mars. No, really.

Now Annie, Santiago and boy inventor Tom Short take on the border security issue head-on—or perhaps sideways—as well as a crooked lawyer exploiting xenophobia.

Now, the irony is that by the time Jennifer and I get to New Mexico, Annie will probably have moved on, so I won't be able to use any firsthand reference in drawing the Land of Enchantment. Of course, I really don't need to -- wherever my memory might fail me, we have our own photos, the Internet has photos, and if needed, Jennifer's family could take photos.

When I say Annie will have moved on, I'm speaking about the strips I'm drawing. We're about five to six weeks ahead of publication, so Annie's New Mexico strips will certainly still be running when we get back.

Anyway, the storyline is good, and I'm happy with how it's going. You can check out the strip every day at www.comicspage.com!

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Old Pulp Covers -- Make Your Own!

If you haven't seen my previous post about the old N.C. Wyeth pulp cover, go take a quick look at it. In this post I'll briefly show how I took an old cover of my own -- the cover to Jazz Age Chronicles #1, which came out back in 1990 -- making it rather vintage in its own right.

What I wanted to do was make the cover look like it's 100 years old. I wanted it to look like a beat-up old book cover, so to do that I found a beat-up old book cover. (Specifically, it's an old book of Jennifer's about the Beatles. She wanted to make sure I included that.) It has a blank cover, which is essential here, so the only features on the cover are the wear and the tear:

Now, ideally an old pulp magazine cover would be best -- the wrinkles and tears in an old magazine cover are different from the ones in this hardback book -- but I couldn't find such an item, and pulp magazines with blank covers are a little hard to scare up. So this cover would have to do. And it did.

I sized the cover to fit the original cover perfectly. Then I started with the Photoshop hokus-pokus! My first step was put white in the foreground color palette and go to Select>Color Range, and make a selection of the white tears and peels in the surface of the cover. I played with the value until I was getting most of the white and none of the blue. Then I made a new layer and using Option-Delete, I filled in the selection with the white, making a nice opaque white layer of the tears and scraps over the cover art.

Then, going back to the layer with the book cover, I went to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation (or Apple-U -- get it? U? Hugh? Oh, that one cracks me up every time!) and played with the hugh, and the saturation, and the lightness, until the blue of the cover became a nice yellow-ochre of old, faded pulp paper:

This example shows the cover before I went into Image>Adjustments>Curves and played with the contrast until the outside edges were dark again. I don't have a picture of that, but you're visual people -- I'm sure you can see it in your mind.

Then I set that layer on Multiply, so the original cover art shows through underneath. I added a new layer over all of these others and filled it with more yellow-ochre color, and set it to multiply also. Then I just played with the opacity of all these layers, until I got the final look I wanted:

Ta-daah! Not bad, huh? Now, there are other effects I could have used on this, and have in previous work, such as adjusting the color saturation of the artwork, adding some noise texture to the top layer, "tearing" one of the corners by using the lasso to select it and turning it slightly, or even pushing one of the color layers -- cyan or magenta works best -- just a tad, to make it look like slightly out-of-register old-style printing. I never do the exact same effects every time, and that's the fun part -- improvising and finding different ways to make different effects. But these are some basic steps, one basic approach, and if nothing else, they should help you find your own way to go about it.

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Back to New Mexico!

My wife and I will be moving back to New Mexico in June!

Here's the backstory, for those of you who just joined us...

I was born and raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. Ten years ago, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after having visited there briefly with my girlfriend at the time. She moved back East after less than a year, but I knew I was home to stay!

And stay I did. I bought a beautiful pueblo-stlyed house, met and married my amazing wife Jennifer, and loved the fresh, dry air, the big, sunny skies and the majestic beauty of New Mexico.

Two years ago, my talented wife was picked for a prestigious graduate program at the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia. The two-year program was for museum exhibit design & development -- the only such program in the nation. Only nine students get in each year. And she was one of them!

So, off we move back to my old haunting grounds, determined to get back to New Mexico if we possibly could.

And now, with Jennifer's diploma and a wonderful body of work in her hand, we're heading back to that Land of Enchantment just as soon as we can manage it! We'll see you there real soon!

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