DRAW! SKETCH! (a sketch for the cover of DRAW!)

This was my final sketch for the issue of Mike Manley's DRAW! Magazine that I was featured in, several years ago. While the drawing has its problems, most of which were beautifully fixed once BILL WRAY had painted it for publication, I still get a kick out of what I did here. Actually, there's a lot of good stuff going on, from the concept itself, on down to the drybrush technique I managed to pull off using a lousy, worn out Sharpie.

I don't always suck! Yay!

FOR MELISSA

Whose birthday party I couldn't get to last night.

PLUG!

You may have seen this image posted by our friend JERRY BECK on cartoonbrew.com. It's the cover to the upcoming Warner Video DVD release of Hanna-Barbera's POPEYE  cartoons from the 70's. 

Yatetta yatetta.

I'm posting it here because I think it looks kind of swell. I drew it, yes, but it was designed by JEFFREY SCHULZ, of Command Z Design. Jeffrey's also the guy who made my drawings on the Fleischer-Popeye DVD's look so darned slick. 

Thanks to Jerry for the plug, to Jeff for the opportunity to do good work with him, and to pal FRANK CARUSO at King Features for continuing to set me up with sweet Popeye gigs.

PUZZLE TIME

My goodness, children! Even though I know I drew this illustration (for religious publisher Guideposts), I did it so long ago--back in the 80's, in fact-- I've no idea HOW MANY MATCHES they requested I put into the final art.

CAN YOU HELP ME COUNT THE MATCHES?

...........

(blecch. look what a crummy job I did of eyeballing the ellipse on the bicycle's front wheel.)

WOODY WOODPECKER SKETCHES

Back in the late 90's, when Universal decided to revive Woody Woodpecker for television, show-runner and fellow Popeye maniac BOB JACQUES asked me to draw the series' model pack. It was an immense amount of fun. Bob supplied me with old Lantz cartoons (Bob has a famously encyclopedic brain for--as well as an excellent collection of--classic cartoons) , and I got to still-frame through some very beautiful Freddie Moore and Emery Hawkins animation, copying their poses to cobble together the exact right Woody we wanted. In the end, I'm not sure the final product reflected those efforts, but I do look back on that job with fond memories.

One of the more fun aspects of creating the series look was re-imagining lesser tier Woody-villains like "Ms. Meany" and "Dooley". 

VENTURE EPHEMERA

Two of my favorite Jackson Publick Post-It doodles.

THAT DAMNED KURTZMAN, II

I was wondering where this was---finally found my second Harvey Kurtzman LITTLE ANNIE FANNY sketch. Again, the organic composition on this drawing floors me. 

LAYOUTS

Occasionally, I get offers from friends and fellow comics professionals to do layouts for them. Jobs like these are always fun for me.

The first layout here is actually of an unused page for a JINGLE BELLE story SHANE GLINES had drawn for PAUL DINI. It was a short story, printed years ago, and Shane followed most of my layouts very closely, but opted to go much more simply on this page in the final art.

The next two pages were for a DEXTER'S LAB job by friends BILL WRAY (penciller and inker) and fellow INSTANT PIANIST and scripter, ROBBIE BUSCH.