a cold Friday...

by Mike Worley

Today has been very cold and blah. And it's been tough to get motivated. I've been writing some stuff, mostly a webstrip I have in the works. The focus is getting better, although the main character is an "everyman" in most senses. I did, however, give him a "challenge," one that fathers have struggled with through history...a teenaged daughter. Since the main character is a man in his fifties, I've given him, and his wife, the proverbial "ooops" baby...the one that comes along AFTER the decision has been made to stop spawning. Couple that with her being a bit of a "wild child," and hilarity and hijinx ensue(sheesh! did that sound trite!) Anyway, here's a sketch of her...


I started this sketch at Cripple Con a few weekends ago, but didn't finish it there. I based it on my old boss, Len Hernandez, even though it isn't really a caricature of him. Since today just wasn't coming together, I really just threw up my hands and chucked most of what I had planned. One bit of good news is that I'm severely Vitamin D deficient. Why that is good news is that at least I know, and can begin taking some pills to help rectify the problem. I think it is supposed to help with depression, too.

It's been a while since I just "played" in my sketchbook. Just drew for the fun of it. Haven't really done that in a long while, and it felt good. While it may not be one of my better efforts, I like that I'm not trying to impress anyone with it. It is what it is with all the meanderings of pencil and markers. Len, if you want the thing I'll send it too you. If not, no harm or foul.

To view it completely, you may have to click on it...


Erev Tov!

experimenting with some color...

by Mike Worley

I had to get this one out of my system. Not sure I like how it turned out...a bit over rendered maybe...but I haven't done any of the fancy "rendered" color stuff. I may end up doing a more simplified version. It ended up one of those things that once I started, I felt compelled to complete. Anyway, here it is. Some color on the "Faun Girl" drawing I did...


Back to the drawing board. And maybe find some kind of story to work this character in.

Lates!

An appreciation for handmade things, pt. 2...

by Mike Worley

Strange things have come in of late. For one thing, I've received 2 suspicious e-mails from folks' hotmail accounts. Got a confirmation on one that it wasn't sent from the addressee, and that the link sent had some viral potentials. Beware of something like these if they come your way. Sorry for the digression.

I've also had some potential gigs float in. If they solidify, I'll reveal more. BID.

My dad, years ago, got a "bug" to do some hobby-ish type of things in his workshop. We had been out to Colorado to visit family friends on a vacation, and my dad's friend was a shop teacher. It was a lot like a retro episode of "Home Improvement" with the tool oogling, grunting and scratching, but my dad came back with the idea he was going to make hanging lamps shaped like bunches of grapes. He would look for driftwood for the "stems" and assemble chicken wire around light fixtures he bought at the hardware store. At hobby stores, he found round glass ampules and would fill them with colored resin with a wire stem taped up with green. Eventually he would have to break the glass to release the hardened "grapes," and then bind them individually to the chicken wire.

He only made four--one for our house, one for my grandmother, and his two of his sisters got one for their homes. He did them in red, purple, yellow, and green. We had an old hanging lamp in our living room, and it was well past "expiration date," so I wondered how he made them, to wit I was informed that my folks had my grandmother's from her passing. Now it is mine and hanging in my living room...

Still may see about trying to make some for myself.

I posted about this earlier and retrieved my camera from my folk's, having left it there over the Christmas holidays. As I had written earlier--my great grandmother had crocheted the individual afghan squares way back in the '60's, and my mother assembled them this year for gifts to my brother and I. Here's how it looks...


Be well!

An appreciation for handmade things, pt. 1...

by Mike Worley

One resolution I made for this coming year was to refrain as much as possible from "buying" gifts for people. Instead, making something is a more pleasing avenue. I gave my wife a lot of grief for not getting me anything for Christmas. I went out and bought her some sweaters and tops she was wanting. According to her, we'd agreed to NOT buy each other anything for the holidays, something I have no recollection of.

But she has shamed me greatly, even though I didn't receive this gift from her on the actual day but last weekend, she MADE a gift for me. I don't know what to call it other than a "Hanukkah Book". And I'll give it to you page by page starting with the front cover...


To clarify...yes, I do understand how books are paginated, but let's not get into "inside front cover" and "inside back cover," and all that. I'll just open the book and give you each page as they come, as in page 1...

and so on...













...and finally...

Neat, eh!!!???

Guess if I'm going to make her something really nice, I'd better quickly learn either goldsmithing or how to weave cashmere.

Pansies, and other words that start with "p"...

by Mike Worley

I think our country is in real trouble. Most clergy have their views dealing with morality and such. But I wonder if a good indicator isn't the state of athletics in our country. To preface my remarks, normally I would find myself on the side of the athlete, student or otherwise, having taken my own share of abuse and crap from one of my high school coaches. But I find myself having to believe that Mark Mangino got hosed by the University of Kansas, and Mike Leach flat out got screwed by Texas Tech University. I drew this a long time ago, probably after the "60 Minutes" piece of Mike Leach...


I like Leach. He is the antithesis of a "big school" university football coach. And in reality, he doesn't even begin to fit into the "good ol' boy" mold that stinks up the coaching ranks. Leach looks like a slob. I can relate. He likes a wide open offensive attack to score points...(that's how you win the game, by outscoring your opponent! Duh!!!) He wanted compensated for his efforts, which probably didn't sit well with the "good ol' Texas boy" higher ups at TTU. Maybe Leach never quite understood where TTU is in the scheme of things in Texas football...TTU is the ugly, red-headed stepsister with the wooden leg compared to UT and A&M. Kinda win, but remember your place. Which brings me to Adam James.

UT football has a bright future. That Gilbert kid showed a lot of great promise. And it would be really great if he could have a "rematch" in 3 years with Alabama to extract some vengeance. One of the sport announcers made a comment to put it in perspective, that basically the caliber of player he is means he is going to be at a "Texas" type program. You could fill in there even "Ohio State," "Oklahoma," "Florida," "USC," or even "Alabama." Those programs have a lot of money, booster support, better facilities, and an expectation for winning. They get the high caliber of prospective candidates. With their resources, they don't stay down for long. There is a reason Adam James is at TTU. Simply put, if he were a higher ranked, more talented athlete, more coveted athletic talent, he'd be at UT. Coaches like Leach, Bill Snyder, Mangino, and even Spurrier at South Carolina, have to be more cunning, resourceful, and do all they can to get the most out of the athletes they have to compete on the same stage as their more money'd counterparts and competition.

No one has asked the question why Leach, the head coach, would be involved with any type of alleged discipline on a player? Why wasn't James being handled by his position coach? Or offensive coordinator? Or assistant head coach? Answer: they probably couldn't do anything with him IMHO. Couple in meddlin' from "daddy James," and it becomes a real headache. At worst, Leach took an attitude problem and put him "time out." Wow! A 19/20 yr. old in "time out???!!!" Then comes the claims that Leach yelled and "verbally abused" him at practice. A football coach chewing a player's ass...now there is a novel concept!(he said sarcastically) And the same university hired Bobby Knight? All in all, sounds more like they just didn't want to pay Leach his bonus money. And I used to think Tommy Tuberville had more sense after the weinie job he was under at Auburn. But, no. (Note to Tommy: Watch your back. They'll screw you, too)

I started this one of Mark Mangino, and have toyed with finishing it but may not. Kinda pointless. I like Mangino, but loathe KU. He, like Leach, ain't yer "good ol' boy" lookin' svelte with a button-down polo shirt and golf visor. Not a pretty boy like Stoops, Saban, or Meyer. He's more like a "Jabba the coach." Anyway, here's what I had sketched out...


"He yelled at me and poked me," according to the pampered player to the all-to-eager-to-fester-a-story media. Uhhh...he's a football coach. They yell. I guess no one informed the pansies coming out of high school that college coaches yell, and will chew your butt. So I should feel scarred by my high school coaches for the "bell ringer"(that's when you've done something really stupid and the purple faced coach has grabbed you by the facemask to pull your face closer to his, because you obviously couldn't hear him. And sometime he would shake your helmet like a bell to make sure you were paying attention while he is giving instruction on how you can remove your head from your anal orifice, or words to that effect.) "He would say really mean things" whined the wimpering girly-men. My jv coach, after we were putting in less than a stellar effort at practice and doing drills like completely uncoordinated candyasses got us together to scream at us that if he'd cut our heads open, little pussies would fly out. The worst from the media were the douchebags who played the "weight" card...since Mangino was dietitically challenged, he must have anger issues. What a crock!

I watched a You Tube clip of Mangino ripping a player after a touchdown. Why? Because instead of running the ball into the endzone, the "athlete" in question performed for the camera and got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, hampering the kickoff team's and defensive unit's chances of keeping the opponent on their heels. Instead of thinking of the team, this player wanted his "ESPN" highlight moment. Which is why our country is in trouble...too much "me, me, me,...look at me!"

More than likely, Mangino didn't understand that KU is a "basketball" school, and as such, he would never be as revered or on the same level as Bill "plays with" Self. Which is why over-rated KU basketball, instead of trouncing Tennessee who had kicked off a bunch of their starters for criminal acts, got embarrassed by losing. But, at least with basketball, they tourney for a winner of the "national championship," instead of football with the BSC and antiquated bowl system. And it's fun to watch KU basketball fans after KU chokes. The only thing more loathsome than KU basketball fans to me are Nebraska football fans. But that's another post.

Maybe I should do caricatures of all the coaches I DON'T like. Bo Pelini and Bob Stoops, BEWARE!!!

some stuff I put some finish to...

by Mike Worley

I think drawing women and girls is hard. It's something I work on because I'm never quite comfortable with the final outcome. Dan DeCarlo once told me, in his raspy voice, "...if you can draw a pretty girl you're never without work..." And Dan was one of the best. I did have a discussion one time with Allyson, a fellow caricature artist, out on the Worlds of Fun midway about this. It was a particularly slow day, so we had some time to talk about art and such. Her opinion was that she found guys to be hard to draw, the opposite of my plight. Trust me, though. Guys are easy to draw.

At ICON this past fall in Des Moines, IA, a fellow Shocktraumanaut and I discussed doing something a bit "Archie-ish," even a bit "Bob Oksner-ish"ala the Bob Hope/Jerry Lewis comics DC used to publish...a comic/webcomic...SOMETHING...but in that humorous vain. Initially we seem to be calling it "Horror High," but for some reason tonight, I like the idea of calling it "Karloff HIgh." And to preface this, these designs may not even be used, but at least I got the pencil and brush moving. Here's an initial concept of some of the cheerleaders at "Horror High"...


I found this sketch buried in my studio, having pencilled it months ago. It was of a very pretty girl who was dressed as a "Supergirl" at the 2009 Planet Comicon...


Monte May and I make a regular trek, at least once, to Hooter's when we are doing Comic Con International in San Diego. And it's become a running joke between us that we never get one of the knockout waitresses. All the waitresses at that particular Hooter's are attractive, but we've never been waited on by one of the "bombshells." And the last one we had barely even served us. She must've had a good "cheapskate" radar.

Earlier this year, Monte was getting married and invited me to his bachelor party, which was held...where else?...at Hooter's. But at the one in Independence, MO. That Hooter's is hard to describe without laughing. It seems more like a Denny's or Waffle House, except the waitresses are half dressed and DO have all their teeth. People bring their kids, and they even do the "birthday party" thing complete with balloons and songs. You'd think it was a "Chucky Cheese" with boobs! Monte and I have said it's the only Hooter's where you'll find 4 generations of women working there. BID...somewhat.

But the laugh at his bachelor party was that we didn't get an "ugly" waitress, but we got the pregnant one. Later on at his future "in-laws," I drew a rough cartoon of the "Teenage Pregnant Hooter's Waitress"(which by the way, that phrase can be sung to the old cartoon show theme for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) along with "mom," "grandma," and a little girl in a walker, all dressed in Hooter's attire and giving some poor patron fits. I think Monte kept it. He thought it was funny. Anyway, here's the finished piece. Monte will now have a piece of art from me. Guess I should finish the Betty and Veronica I started for him, too...


Enough mayhem for this evening. Tomorrow, I'll be ranting on the sad state of our country as evidence by recent developments in football coaching.

Lates!

"Modeh Ani"--Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, and more snow...UGH!...

by Mike Worley

2010 has done nothing more than dovetail with 2009. It hasn't been as "testy" as '09, but we've been deluged with more snow. And it's cold. Colder than it's been in previous years.

December 25, 2009, Christmas Day(according to the Roman Catholic Church), found my wife and I snowed in. It was an odd day. But I did get the dogs to pose. Here's our pups. Can't believe how much they've grown. Daisy(left), T'Ohwaii(middle) and Sally(right)...


The next day we managed to drive up to Atchison, KS to visit my folks, along with my daughter and her husband, and one of my sons and his wife. It was an enjoyable day, but this is what it looked like outside. And it was cold. This is the neighbor's house to my folk's...


New Year's Eve I was managing a gig at the Great Wolf Lodge, and it was(you got it!)...cold. We all got together after the gig at I-HOP and found that we'd all had a rotten day to end 2009. But we could still laugh about it.

Yesterday, January 7, 2010, Christmas Day(according to the Greek Orthodox Church), we had been snowed on again the previous day to begin to get...drumroll...more cold weather. I really do need to figure a way to get rich so I could have a beach condo in Hawaii.

But I've also been inventorying my blessings. First, I'm still on this side of the dirt nap, and the title of this post are the first words to a Jewish prayer to begin the day. It's a thankfulness that the King of All Creation has chosen to give life for another day. Puts it in perspective as I again try to sort out why I'm here. "Rabbah Emunatekha!"

Secondly, I'm thankful for my wife, who hasn't killed me, divorced me or deserted me. Thankful for my children. Thankful for my friends.

I'm thankful for my pastor, and worry about him. Without going into detail, he took some heavy "body blows" this past year. Nut shots. And I can tell it's taken a toll on him and his family.

I'm thankful for the kids I worked with this past season at Worlds of Fun. They made a difficult season more easy to digest. I wish they had a better manager. They probably do, too.

What amazed me this past holiday is how much I DIDN'T want. And I found that I plan on making most, if not all, of 2010's presents, and have asked that others do the same for me. One present I did get from my mother was an afghan. What makes it unique is that my great-grandmother had crocheted all the squares for it, and another one, back in the '60's when she would go to stay with my grandmother for part of the winter. My great-grandmother never got around to finishing them into afghans. My grandmother had kept all those squares for years, and after she passed away, my mother took them. This year my mother assembled them into afghans for my brother and I. When I touched it, I could see (in my mind's eye) that little old lady sitting in my grandmother's living room, the television blaring, and her yarn and needle deftly working on those squares with her gnarled, yet masterful hands. It was worth the 40+ year wait to get an afghan for Christmas.

I found this old drawing while cleaning up. My son said he wants it, so I'm framing it for him. It 's a caricature I did one afternoon of Dick Vermeil, back when the Chiefs had a team and weren't, again, the bargain basement of the NFL...


I hope your 2010 brings you much happiness and success!