Sunday, April 30, 2006

Estate Agents


I'm getting all Political now! Some people will do almost anything to get on the housing ladder. This country is heading towards the million pound brick. Maybe the bubble will burst - maybe it won't. People who look after the banks property - I mean own property, feel wealthy, a clever spin engineered by Gordon Brown. It's not real money. If prices continue to rise there will be no first time buyers. No first time buyers = no housing market!
OK, rant over.

Friday, April 28, 2006

The Dead Goldfish Mystery

Goldfish. Fred Whateverhisnameis likes them too. Here he comes home to find his fish dead. Whodunit? More experimenting with the cutout filter in Photoshop.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Sofaman ANIMATED GIF.





So you wanted to see how my Cartoons came to life. How about this? You can see a Cartoon being created in front of your eyes. This was done with multiple scans of the same drawing, as the drawing was constructed, in 19 stages. Shame I can't apply this technique to already drawn Cartoons. Noticed that no one has posted any comments. All you have to do to post a comment, is to click below this writing (or on any post) where it says Comment. You can do this anonymously if you like. Would be good to have feedback on which Cartoons are thumbs up from you lot.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

My Old Hobby was...

Collecting drawing paper! I used to buy all the drawing paper I could. I rarely drew anything on this paper, but the intention was always there. I have some 12 year old, acid free premium cartridge paper, 135gsm. This bizzarre behaviour is where my love of stationary comes from (so my inner armchair shrink tells me). This picture really should have been my first post on here. Enjoy the cartoons. I will update at a little slower pace, but expect to see something new every day from now on.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Snow Domes of the Future

Cutout filter in Photoshop does some very interesting things with my drawings. I will experiment some more with this technique.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

0 - 140mph in 16 years!


Here's Norman Skoda with his latest car. He's come a long way since 1990. And yes, it's a Skoda - Honest.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Camel Milk

My Company Vehicle was made in Italy

Another oldie here. This was drawn when I work at the Royal Mail. I think it used to be blue tacked onto the sorting stand I worked at (no internet then). The drawings are quite basic, and before I'd settled on a particular style. Most of my inspiration then came from the Viz Comic, including trying to emulate the style of drawing (badly). Some of the people I worked with had been working there for 40 years. I did about 4 years before I left, to live in the Beautiful South. Having a Royal Mail Bicycle was the only time in my employement history that I had a Company Vehicle. Even then, it was no a swish moutain type bike, you see these days. It had solid rod brakes!
Ok - enough oldies. The next post or two will be new stuff.

It's a Skoda, Honest.



This one is really old. Possibly the oldest Cartoon you'll see on here. In a former life my Cartoons were drawn by Fish. Norman Skoda was inspired by an English teacher, called Mr Grant, who drove a invalid car blue Estelle. How things change. Anyone who knows me now, knows that I drive a Dark Blue Felicia(very reliable - and cheap, which fits my northern stereotype perfectly). The irony is not lost.
Here's one of the Comic Strips I did back then. I have chosen the only one that seems remotely funny now from around 20 drawn.
These drawings were done around 1989 - 1990, so are at least 16 years old!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

The HitchHiker...


Another oldie. I remember drawing this at work (I was on a sleep in - so in my own time!) so can date this somewhere between 1998-1998. Rotring Isograph, and Derwent Studio Pencils.

Music


These are a couple of drawings from my first attempt at internet Cartoons. Left- a failed greatful dead style cartoon caricture, designed for someone who was setting up a web site and wanted the services of a cartoonist. Right- from the very bad seris of drawings of a fictional rock band. Guitars are very difficult to draw, as to look convincing, the neck of the guitar should be dead straight. It's all too easy to make them look like those inflatable guitars, or toys. I think I succeeded with this drawing.

Fear and Loathing in Bridlington



Another one from the past. I really couldn't say, or even guess when this was drawn. I can usually tell from which book they are in, but this was loose. This pre-dates computers or the internet. Notice there are no mobile phone masts on the beach, or wind turbines out at sea?
I've got hundreds of these things to scan. Loads and loads. If you want me to stop then send use notes to......

Antiques Cartoon Show

This is one from the archives. Drawn around the turn of the century, makes it sound really old - but I am not 135 years old! I can't remember when this was drawn, but I could guess and say 1998-2000. This was one of the first cartoons drawn in the new style of thick ink with fine cross hatching detail. I must have just got a new pen. Might have even drawn this at work. I will post some more oldies as I find them.

Holy Smoke!

This was suppose to be a smoking Scanner. Turned out quite differently. The rough looking colour picture was a mistake, but I liked the look of it. Reminds me of a battered old suitcase. Think the Chancellors red box. Must remember this technique, when I want that aged and battered effect. Of the three I think I like the original more then either of the coloured ones. Simple sometimes is good. I couldn't decide which to post - so you've been treated to all three.

Drawn original with Ink, scanned, and coloured in Photoshop. Must get some more interesting patterns. The Scanner is working hard today!

PIDNK

Here's another half decent drawing of someone I don't know! I've decided to call these drawings PIDNK (People I Do Not Know). If I did know this person, this Caricature would be very very good. Sadly I do not know them, but then maybe that's the point? I'm not even sure if this is supposed to be a man or a woman. Women wear trousers and long hair just as much as men these days. I'll let you make up your own mind.
If you know this person, please get in touch. If you are this person, I'm very very sorry.

OK, so now I need to find some people that look like this. Can you help? I'm sure once I do find these people, then a highly sucessful career in drawing Caricatures lays ahead.

Strippy or Stripy?


This caricature is based on Mr Egg. But which came first, and who does it look like? Paul, if you're out there - I'm sorry. Drawing Caricatures is really hard, but all the weird people I know provide inspiration. My plan is to draw some weird looking people, and then find the real life equivalents! Wish me luck...

Dribble, Blibble and Dross.




Here's a few images from my current sketch book. Nothing particular about these drawings, just some doodles. Who knows - these could become something else over time.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006



The computer took me away from Cartooning for too long. The solution? Put my Cartoons on the computer - brilliant. Best of both worlds. I will place a few doodles here now. More to come tomorrow, and hopefully every day from now on...

I've been experimenting with scans of my hand drawn Cartoons. Also expect a few computer generated images to appear from time to time, and mixes of hand drawn and computer coloured Cartoons. I never did like colouring by hand!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Time for Clampett !

Well, I want you to see how great was Bob Clampett as a director from the very beginning.
While great attention is given to the "Man from Wackyland" masterpieces, like " Coal Black", " Tin Pan Alley Cats", "Kitty Kornered", "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" et cetera, less or not attention at all is given to his b/w cartoons, with the single exception of "Porky in Wackyland".

I want to show you how Clampett was able to create funny and wacky characters and situations, even with his low budget of the Thirties.
I'll update this post very soon with more amazing images!
As for now, enjoy these ones...and try to guess from which cartoons they come from!

















Yours Truly,

Duck Dodgers

Blog Founder and Administrator

John K terrific post !


I want to redirect you all to this terrific post made by John K.
It is full of preview clips from his "Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoons" series.

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/04/lost-episodes-of-ren-and-stimpy-sneak.html


Yours Truly,

Duck Dodgers

Blog Founder and Administrator

(Still here? Go to John K's blog, men!)

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Clampett Celebration : "Draftee Daffy"



"Draftee Daffy" is another of Clampett's great cartoon.
And it is full of wild and wacky takes, a trademark of Clampett's best 40s shorts.
Here you have assorted shots from the cartoon.
We start with Daffy speaking at the phone. Do compare this scene with a similar one in THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY and see how wackier the same situation was animated after only one year!










Here you have some wild reactions of Daffy when he sees the terrible " little man from the draft board " !














What follows is my favorite sequence in the cartoon.












Yours Truly,

Duck Dodgers

Blog Founder and Administrator