"I once went to Philadelphia, but it was closed..."

by Mike Worley

One of my favorite W. C. Fields quotes. In this case, Becky and I went to Iowa, but it was closed. Or the misadventure that was our trip across the border.

One thing bad about "seasonal" work is that eventually the season is over. And now that I have some time to do some things, I now find that off-season really does suck. I-CON was held at the Adventureland Inn in Altoona, IA, and it is right next door to...(drum roll, please)...(wait for it)...Adventureland, Iowa's premier theme/amusement park! My own mental health is at question, because the first thing I wanted to do was to see I could get a tour of Adventureland. You'd think I'd had enough of amusement parks, having lived at Worlds of Fun, but nooooooooooooooooo. Needless to say, I got blank stares from the hotel staff and a lot of "...but it's closed..." remarks. Anyway, here is a pic of the outside of the Adventureland Inn. The "plum" colored PT Cruiser is my wife's car, nicknamed, "The Purple Nurple"...


In past trips "up north" we've been able to go through the Living History Farm, which my wife always enjoys, but as our fate would have it...it was closed for the year. This is as close as we got...


Further proof that Sunday was going to suck. Here's the museum/gift shop in all its abandoned and desolate glory...


Here's my blushing bride stomping out of the "Purple Nurple" with a "what the...?" kind of vibe going on...


We ended up going to the Machine Shed restaurant, which DID happen to be open, and had to endure countless regaling as to the death of the University of Iowa's football season now that their star QB is hurt. This is our last shot at the Living History Farm as we were wondering if we'd get into trouble if we just hopped the fence and did our own tour...


We came home with a new puppy! There was a place that had them to adopt and we got a good deal on a rare Asian breed. Our other dogs, Daisy and Sally, are still quite a hand full, but this pup had a gentle and sweet demeanor...


Instead of renaming her, we kept the oriental name she had. It's a bit hard to pronounce, but it's "T'Ohwhai." Here she is being playful...


We took her to the Turner's for the BBQ they had. She wasn't very good as she not only wet on their hardwood floors, but also humped Aaron's leg. Bad T'Ohwhai! Here she is wanting her tummy scratched...


I was hoping to take her to the Artists' Jam in Omaha this coming weekend, but I have too many other activities fouling that up. Here's T'Ohwhai being playful...

The other dogs don't seem to like her. Both Daisy and Sally bit at her. We may have to get rid of them.

Jim Woodyard and I did talk some business, as evidenced in a previous post and pic. Here's what kind of came out of that. Monsters and Archie are two of my favorite things, so here's a first draft of a cheerleading squad...


Got to go now. Have some more "super secret" stuff to work on, and some drawing. Also, T'Ohwhai is needing to go to bed.

'Bye now!

We are of peace...always...

by Mike Worley

As I continue the "weaning" process off of Worlds of Fun, I find myself feeling like Al Pacino in "Godfather III," ...as soon as I start to get away, I get pulled back in. Mostly it's just end of year reports, but like the big baby I am I have to throw a tantrum and pout for a while before realizing I DO have to finish them up. Oy Vey!

I really like the new "V" tv series. If I have one complaint it would be that I think they are moving too quickly. Here's a cartoony version of the hot, yet still sinister, alien leader, "Anna"...


One thing I rediscovered at I-CON is that some ideas may still work. I have loved a lot of the "New England Gothic" writers, such as Hawthorne, Poe, and Irving, and have toyed with doing my own adaptations of their classic stories. This is my first take on Young Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith...


That's all I have time for. I had a strange revelation of late. It's learning to recognize "second chances." Some payin' work came my way that I had worked on a long time ago, and I've been given a chance to do more freelance for them. The catch then as now is that I can't show any of it. One of those confidentiality things, which is rather strange since the stuff is kind of an "open secret." Sorry for being cryptic. Guess I haven't had my morning coffee/Diet Coke/tea fix.

Lates!

...you must un-learn what you have learned...

by Mike Worley

A quote from "The Empire Strikes Back," as Yoda is giving Luke a lesson on the force. It also has become a mantra of sorts as I look post-season at Worlds of Fun...and beyond.

I asked my assistant manager today as we did some piddling around the park, some catch-up stuff before calling it a "season," if he went through any "withdrawal" this past weekend. He admitted to have a case of the fidgets, and I felt strangely all weekend. But I was at I-Con, a comic book show in Des Moines, IA, and it seemed a good excuse to take the wife and get out of town. I had gotten to the point of NOT liking to sit behind a table at comics shows, but this time it felt "right." Maybe it's maturity, or maybe it's I just don't have and preconceived notions? Not sure. Any way, here I am behind a table doing some drawing...


It was good to see a lot of old friends, and do some "reconnecting." Here I am with Jim Woodyard talking some shop. He was giving me an idea he's had for a comic book/webcomic, and we're batting some ideas around...

I liked what he proposed. Now the trick is to not let it set and die. Sometime I'll have to some old sketches of other ideas I've had that have gone fallow and may just need some rethinking. We'll see. Oh, and the other 2 guys in the photo are Aaron Gillespie and Jason Caskey.

I was bored during the latter part of the show. It was only a one-day thing, and that was fine by me. Becky and I had hoped to do some sight seeing around Des Moines Sunday, but that's another post. The sketch I was working on was one of Marge Simpson "nekkid" in a giant martini glass(Don't worry. Nothing was showing and it was tastefully done) harkening back to early girlie mag covers and a wink at Marge's new found fame as the first cartoon woman featured on the cover of Playboy. A woman later bought the drawing, and I do apologize for not having any pics of other stuff I drew that day(forgot my camera). It seemed like she was wanting a bit more spirited dialogue when she was watching me sketch it. But my own take is that with publishing, in general, at death's door Playboy probably needed her more than she needed them. Here I am...


And at the end of the day, I was pretty well gone. Getting too old, I guess...


We went over to Brook and Linda Turner's for a late evening BBQ. As the night progressed, they had a Beatles game-thingy their kids like going, and we all got roped in a bit singing along with it. Here's the Turners...

And if you haven't checked out Phil's and Brook's work on the comic book, "Golly," SHAME ON YOU!!!

Aaron, another "Shocktraumanaut," did his thang warbling a Beatles tune...


I got roped into doing one, and as the resident old fart, was belting out "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Everyone there kept calling for me to dance it out. To clarify...I am not drunk in this picture. But if I was going to make a fool out of myself, I was going to give it my best effort...


Since this is supposed to be a "sketch blog," I did do some doodling in my sketchbook. Here's a pilgrim woman head shot. It's for a New England gothic thing I've had rolling around for a while.


Next up...the "puppy" we got in Des Moines, our Sunday misadventure, and relearning where my drawing table is.

Good night!

PS--all the photos used for this post are courtesy of either Mike Sullivan or Bruce McCorkindale...because I forgot bring my camera in from the car.

...no. It's Iowa...

by Mike Worley

Will have some pics and a post tomorrow. Just got back from taking a "road trip" to Iowa to attend I-CON. Took the wife with me. We had a good time. But I had to have her home tonight to watch the "Mad Men" season finale.

'Bye now!

All over, but the cryin'...and the counting, sorting, and puttin' stuff away...

by Mike Worley

I understand it is supposed to be a really good weekend, weather-wise, this upcoming weekend. And my wife and I will be traveling to Iowa. Kind of a "mini-vacation." I will spend Saturday doin' the "guest/professional" thang at I-Con, a comic book show put on by the Iowa Comic Book Club. It should be fun.

And it is ironic that the first weekend in November is to be mild as all the weekends in October sucked to a degree. Some more than others as it was downright cold, and killed business at the park for a greater part of that month. The last weekend came and went, and this post is to chronicle some of the shenanigans.

I'll guess I'll start at the Wood 'n' Leather shop. Jessica Duncan, the shop lead and my assistant manager's wife, did a really good job there this season. And she always comes up with some good stuff. Here's a Halloween decoration she designed...


We did one last caricature contest. There were a lot of good ones started, and I even started one too, but only three were finished. As it turned out, Marietta's "Marilyn" won...

...and Ryan's came in second...


I finished my hairbrained idea of putting "moons" in a "Twilight" type rice jewelry necklace. They really do glow in the dark, but I still chuckle at them being nothing more than mini-Sculpy boogers. This is the "werewolf essence" necklace with Jacob's name, and the moon, in a clear vial modeled by Maren...

...and I took some snapshots of the kids. I was out all day there figuring if they had to tough out the cold then so would I. They were a great bunch this season and I had a good time. I caught Maren when she saw I had my camera, and did the "don't take my picture" dodge to no avail...

...and that picture had her rather wild-eyed, so it just seemed natural to do some photoshopping for Halloween...

...just goes to show what an idiot with Photoshop can do.

I tried to think I was going down swinging instead of coasting. I cut another "celeb" stencil for the Airbrush shop. Thought it turned out well...

...and I'll see if anyone out there can name all the celeb designs in this one...

And I finally cracked, giving in to the hype and the movie. Sold some of these too. I cut the stencil, but one of my artists, Stacie, did the painting. It turned out really well, getting a compliment from "da boss lady," Barb. She's quite an airbrush jockey, so it was a great kudo. Anyhoo, here it is...

I figured if I was going to do one of those, I'd rather do one in commemoration of when Jackson was at his height of cool.

Sunday, we were going to come up with some sort of "end of the season" prank. I heard the security guards were going to toss the leftover pumpkins off the top of the Mamba. Don't think they did, but it would've been awesome to watch. At 7:30pm on that Sunday, though, we all tired and everyone just wanted to go home. I can't blame them. It was a grueling season. Here's some of the "last ones left standing"...


They weren't, by any means, the only ones. There were others who would've stayed, such as Taryn and Kim, if it had been busier. But it wasn't, and I needed to cut some payroll. A familiar drill everywhere nowadays. I shared an "end of season" cigar with one of my leads, Jessica Bloom, and my assistant manager, Jacob Duncan. I took one last picture. And while there will be those offended by the "vulgar gesture," it was given more out of a defiant sense of fun reflecting my own sense of warm, warped humor...

I wish I could say that I influenced some young lives, hopefully making them better and happier people. In truth, I got more from each of the employees I worked with than they ever got from me. Knowing them has made my life better. Richer.

And while I'm relieved and happy this most trying of seasons is finally over, there is also a sense of sadness that a wonderful time for me has come to an end. It can't be reclaimed or relived, only remembered. Maybe this quote sums it all up better...

"Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot"...

Happy Birthday to me, I'm no longer 53...

by Mike Worley

Depending on how you count time, and how blogspot marks time, 10/28 would actually mark my last day of my 54th year and my "54th birthday anniversary" would be the beginning of my 55th year on the planet. Either way, legally I can't take advantage of the senior discount at Denny's for another year. Don't know if I want to.

I'll be working at the park my birthday evening. Worlds of Fun wants to squeeze more out of their Halloween Haunts. Not looking forward to it.

And I've found myself really anxious this week--more crabby, bitchy and moody than usual. I've been haunted the past few years with the knowledge that my grandfather passed away at 55. Guess I feel like all my sins have come back to torment me. Kind of a feeling of morose futility. Jeez! I sound like an Emo kid!!!

My wife and I once played the "if you knew this was your last day on earth, what would you do?" game. She asked me what I'd eat. My answer was what ever she "scooped on a shingle," or what ever we would normally get from a drive thru. Probably a double hamburger from McDonald's. Maybe a taco salad from In-A-Tub-Tacos. At that point wouldn't eating something exotic, expensive, and grossly over priced be rather stupid?

I finished up the drawing for my niece, and did it in color. Like a dope, I framed it before making a scan of it, so I took a picture of it instead. I may need to do an electronic version later on, but I can do the color in Illustrator. Here it is...

...and yes, you can see my shadow with the camera.

Some sketching, and then to bed.

Anatomy of a stencil, with apologies to airbrush artistes...

by Mike Worley

Most airbrush artists I've run into, at least those doing airbrush t-shirts and such, have a bit of distain for stencils. The feeling seems to be that stencil useage takes away from the "skill" or artistry involved in painting with an airbrush. I guess like anything, they can be overused, or become too much of a crutch. But I also feel that, when used properly, some really good things can be accomplished.

I think like any good use of media, playing to the strengths of a particular medium is imperative. My opinion. But equally important is the drawing in the early steps. Finding a balance of black and white to achieve likeness, structure, and dynamics needs to be incorporated, too. Hey, it worked for Alex Toth!

Since it's "Halloween," and we've been highlighting monsters, I chose as the subject matter the delightful monster who kills killers, Dexter Morgan as portrayed by actor, Michael C. Hall. Here's my initial stencil tracing, which was refined more by comparing it to the original source and photo, before putting the knife to it...


Here's what the stencil looks like after refining the sketch and then doing all the finished cutting...


The way I was shown by another artist, to get the stencil to work on shirts and so that it won't fray, is to build up layers of paint gradually...

Eventually, the color is built up enough, and at that point the paint is heat pressed into the fabric. The material for this is Pellon...


After which, it is wise to do the same thing to the reverse side...



Here's my first attempt at using the stencil on a shirt. My original concept for this is to try and do "blood spatter" since "Dexter" is both a forensic blood analyst and a serial killer...

Add a name, and maybe the thing is sell-able. If not, I made it for my daughter, any way, because she's a big "Dexter" fan. Nothing like making cheap Christmas gifts, eh?


And I tried it on a display square. Will it sell? I don't know. It's the last weekend at the park, and if the weather holds up, we might sell a few. After all, the idea IS to make some money. I just want to give things a different look...


I never did show how the "Edward Cullen" stencil could be used differently. Strangely, this past weekend, it was the "Jacob" image that sold better. Fans can be fickle...


And here's a sketch I dusted off to finish. It's for one of the girls I work with, and she's getting married sometime next year. She also wants a "nicer" one, more wedding like. And I've thought about doing it, but adding some Springfield denizens to fill out her wedding party. Maybe Duff-Man and Disco Stu for groomsmen. Maybe Patty and Titania for brides' maids. We'll see...


'Bye now, all ten of you who read this!