General
May 19th, 2008 | Posted in General
Mark Evanier posted a link to this short two part documentary on Will Elder, made by his son-in-law Gary VandenBergh some 8 years ago. It contains earlier footage of interviews with both Bill Gaines and Harvey Kurtzman, among others. It’s well worth the twenty minutes, and I thought I’d share it here as well with a tip of the hat to Mark: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2D0Y3riSd4[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXQNHI1Xn-0[/youtube] READ MORE
May 17th, 2008 | Posted in General
It’s been some time since I’ve written about working out. Actually weightlifting and bodybuilding have been a big part of my life for over 5 years now, every since I saw how fat and out of shape I was at age 36 and decided to do something about it. My trainer, Ryan Branson, left Lifetime Fitness a little less than two years ago and after a year or so of being part of an independent co-op sort of gym just opened his own studio in Eagan, MN. It’s a smallish space right now but there are plans to expand when another tenant next to him… READ MORE
May 15th, 2008 | Posted in Freelancing
Going through some old files the other day I came across these illustrations from an old job I did for Topps candy company: They are a good example of how odd product and advertising jobs can be, and how you can go all the way to final and yet never see the results get printed. Plus there are two funny stories related to my trying to get reference for the job that I thought would be worth sharing. These are three of a set of seven or eight (can’t remember and could not find any of the others) that were meant to be part of… READ MORE
May 12th, 2008 | Posted in General
Caricaturist Jan Ibelings, a fellow member of the National Caricaturists Network, posted a few pictures on the NCN forum of some live caricaturists he saw working on Piazza Navona on a recent visit to Rome. He snapped the following pictures to show how several of the street artists had samples on their display boards that were copies or rip offs of many NCN members or well known caricaturists (click the pics for a closer look): In the photo above there are two Sebastian Kr?¬?ger‘s that I recognize. The others are of varying styles as well. Kr?¬?ger’s Stallone, as well as Joe Bluhm‘s Tom Cruise. On… READ MORE
May 10th, 2008 | Posted in General
I’ve written a lot about the latest incarnation of the misguided Orphan Works Act, so rather than rehash any of it I’ll just point to this post for the facts and serious issues the bill raises to creative professionals. Briefly, my stand on the bill is that it has serious implications for those who make a living creating new creative works for publication and commercial use, and that the supposed purpose of the bill (to preserve work that is truly “orphaned” so it is not lost in time) would be better served with new definitions and laws for “fair use” of a copyrighted work. I… READ MORE
May 6th, 2008 | Posted in General
… things are getting a little piled up in the studio and with my Valleyfair operation opening this weekend the blog posts may be a little thin this week. For those who have inquired, the caricature tutorial series will continue later this month or in early June with another installment. Thanks for the interest and I’m sorry for the delays in getting to the next tutorial. In the meantime, here’s yet another CGI-Superhero video I found on YouTube: [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=RV9j5Yq4W9Q&feature=related[/youtube] Not nearly as good as the Iron Man / Spider-Man / Hulk one I linked to a week or so ago, but this one does have… READ MORE
May 1st, 2008 | Posted in General
… just watched tonight’s episode with some LOST obsessed neighbors. In the latest round of “flash forwards” Hurley is claiming that the “Oceanic Six” never made it off the island, and they are in fact dead. Meanwhile on the island in present time (maybe?) Julia has to do an emergency appendectomy on Jack, which is successful. During the operation something occured to me, so through the magic of TIVO I went back to the beginning of the episode during the first of the flash forwards. Jack is shown waking up and getting out of bed and parading around shirtless in a bath towel…. … no… READ MORE
April 29th, 2008 | Posted in General
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) is the term for any strategy intended to make a company’s customers insecure about future product plans with the purpose of discouraging them from adopting competitors’ products. FUD is also an internet term for rumors or emotional responses to issues that are passed off as facts. In the last week or so the term “FUD” has been bandied about over the reactions to the proposed and recently released Orphan Works Act of 2008, with many people accusing folks like me of emotional reactions to imaginary issues. While some of that has been going on, there is plenty about the actual… READ MORE
