...livin' in sin with a safety pin...

My cousin told me that I hadn't posted in about 6 weeks. Life been very topsy turvy of late.

Kaman's Art Shoppes...(have you found me yet, Rhonda?...)

Sorry for the interruption. Just had to sneak that in.

Coming soon will be my thoughts and memories on recent "new manager" orientation/training. And some of the things I saw on my way to the airport for my return flight. Met some really nice people at the home office. One was the HR rep, which explains my above "burping." (Hey, it would be nice to know these mad mutterings were viewed by a few more out of the 6 billion on this planet.

The sign was one I found at a place in Ohio. Couldn't pass up getting a pic.

Hope you all enjoy Free Comic Book Day.

Lates!

April...

April is here. Soon the park will be open, whether I'm ready for it or not.

I did spend the Saturday before Easter visiting my brother and his family. And this year they had his wife's family, too, for the weekend. Quite a house-full, but lots of fun.

The photo operation is still in flux. While the folks who do it for the company have told me not to worry, with assurances they know what they are doing, I still have this nagging bile in the back of my throat. There just doesn't seem to be much "margin." Or, not enough for me.

The one person who put a relaxed face on the thing was in town a while back, and while we were waiting on some official "sign-offs" from his boss, I sketched him as a "Simpsons" character. Here's how it turned out...


Gotta go!

Oy Vey!...

Well...March is about to an end and I really haven't done much. And the drawing has been non-existent. Just lots of stuff.

I did attend Planet Comicon this past Saturday and enjoyed it a lot. Did get to draw. Saw some old friends and hopefully made some new ones. The only bummer at the show was the news of former DC E-I-C, Dick Giordano, passing away. He was a good and kind man. I have a Batman sketch he did for me. If I get a chance, I'll get a pic of it and post it.

I've had some disappointments this month. Mostly staffing things. Some folks I thought were coming back, but after efforts to contact them haven't yielded(as my mother would put it) even a "Hi!," "Goodbye!," or "Go to Hell!", it seems prudent to move on and hire replacements. Puts a bit of a training strain but that's the biz, and it is constant and changing if anything. Nor do I begrudge those who have decided to "move on." I just wish they'd given me the common decency to let me know. It's real simple..."Hey, Mike. Things in my life have changed and I don't think I'll be coming back this season."...not hard to do.

And I made vows to myself regarding working at the park. 1) I wouldn't let it get in the way of my relationship with my wife. Last season did, and I spent a lot of the offseason trying to get back to knowing her and spending time with her. 2) It doesn't get in the way of honing my cartooning skills and working on projects I've envisioned. I'd like to achieve a few of my own dreams in the amount of life I have left. 3) I am not going to be pulled in many different directions by many different "higher ups." 4) It isn't going to take time from studying scripture and learning Hebrew. 5) Too much physical pain from the job isn't worth it.

Irony of ironies...all of these have already been broken. Plus my blood sugar has been spiked this past month, and I've been taking more and more insulin trying to get it down. It's from the stress. And I've had some twinges of tightness in my chest. There are other things, too, but a public forum like a blog isn't the place to air those things.

Suffice it to say, I feel like I may be coming to a crossroads if not already there. And it really kind of sucks to be almost 55 and still asking the question of what I would like to be "when I grow up?"

But tonight was a beautiful full moon, and I can only imagine what it was like those many years ago in Egypt when people were huddled in huts knowing the only thing keeping them from the Angel of Death was smeared blood on their doorposts. And that the next day would bring about a change in their lives. Or even the fear in those 2,000 years ago who had watched their Rabbi, their "King," their "Messiah,"...their "Hope" put to death, and wondering what would come next.

With that, I'll just sign off with Best Wishes to all for a Happy and Joyous Passover!

Good Holiday, and "L'Chaim!"

Good Holiday...

To everyone out there who are members of "The Tribe,"...I hope you have a Good Passover!

Um.....

Not sure what to think. Life has tossed a brick wall right at me. Not quite sure what to do.

Stay tuned???...

Bein' green...

by Mike Worley

I decided to revisit a previous group of shapes. The other evening I posted a rough and talked about using an image hose on it. But it hit me to rethink it and come up with another possibility. The author of a book I've been reading on cartooning made some comment on "shapes," and their relativity to character type, catagorizing triangular shapes to those of a sneaky-to-villainous proclivity. I disagree. Certainly Charles Laughton fell into the the "circular" category, being very round and "wooby." And while I'm sure he could've pulled off being kind and lovable, he was more adept at villainy. Ditto, that not all "hero" types are necessarily "blocky," as William Bendix could also pull off a bad boy turn, too.

But this exercise gave me the inspiration to draw a favorite character I enjoyed in my youth,...the Green Lantern. Ironically, I've never really drawn him! Not "realistically." I did a Disney-esque version about 2, maybe 3 years ago at Visioncon in Springfield, MO for someone who saw me noodling around in my sketchbook with that style. Here's a cartoony Hal Jordan. Technically, I've still never drawn the character. Guess I'll have to get around to that sometime. Any way, here it is...


A "tip of the hat" before I go to respective copyright holders. To DC, of course, for "Green Lantern," and to some unknown artist for the spacescape.

Good night!

more warm-ups...

by Mike Worley

I bought a new sketchbook, and have made a point to draw/sketch in it to warm up each day. Not that I think these are genius...they're just warm ups...but I have seen some renewed energy. And a fluctuation between doing some serious studies and drawing more cartoony.

In a cartoon book I found, I began to play with some simple shapes the author recommended to see what I could come up with.
A good effort, but it has me wondering about revisiting the exact same sets of shapes/design to see if I could come up with other alternatives. For some reason I could see doing the first one in Painter, taking the image hose to it and flooding it with the metallic effect. Sort of a "Silver Surfer" look...

... and this one gave me an initial "fish boy" thingy...

...or not.
Not enough mad scientists out there...


More play...


Later, Gator!