Collaboration.

So, I recently acquired a new nephew. He’s not an adorable toddler but he’ll do, I guess. He’s actually a college student and a musician. And my mom was concerned about making him feel welcome as part of our family this Christmas. She wanted to give him something to let him know that she was interested in his life, and was learning about him. All very nice for a step-grandmother, I think. But somehow I got mixed up in all this.

You see, she called me with a “job.” She wanted me to make a piece of art for him, depicting him doing some of his favorite things in his favorite places...you get the drift here, right? Except, if you know my mom, which you might because that woman knows everyone, then you also know that she has a very complicated way of describing things.

There was a lengthy phone call with many confusing directions and conflicting ideas. There was a lot of  “draw him in this place that neither one of us has ever seen but it won’t matter, ” kind of stuff. So I dug in, I knuckled down and I googled the heck out of everything I could find about this guy. And this is what came of it.

I think it came out kinda cute. But I don't have his permission to post it here, so I’ve allowed him to retain his anonymity. Sort of.

(Honestly, I wish I could show you the original notes for this thing. He was to be in a “convertible, wearing a cardinal, silver and black scarf, driving right to left down the beach in front of The Hangout. Maybe put a palm tree in it. Have him singing ‘The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.’”

Obviously, I took some liberties.)

Happy Christmas 2011.

For the past ten years or so, I’ve made a Christmas/winter music mix as a kind of Christmas card for friends. Every year I think I am out of new music or that people aren’t interested and then someone asks when it’s coming and I get all giddy. I love Christmas music, secular or religious, happy or sad, i like it all. Holiday music, or really just “winter” music. And I make a cd cover for the mix. Almost every year I draw a snowman (there was at least one year, an early one, where it was a tree...oh and a few years ago it was a cardinal) but this year i wanted something different. So here. Happy Christmas. I’d give you the music too, but I can’t quite figure out the best way to do it. Spotify is refusing to play nice and I’ve really got to go. Presents to wrap and all that. Hope you have a happy and safe whatever you chose to celebrate!

The Emotional Cupcake.

I was reading the other day about people who lack the ability to recognize emotions in others. Or, I guess, more specifically, lack the ability to recognize the expressions of emotion on the faces of others. Like, have you seen the test where you are asked to identify a smile as real or fake? Turns out that not everyone can do that. I sometimes think I have trouble with things like this, but I am pretty good at recognizing a real smile. And in thinking about such things, I wanted to try and break down emotions into simple shapes and thus we have the emotional cupcake:

Now, clearly there are more emotions to be considered. This is just a beginning. But once I saw all those little cupcake faces stacked up, I couldn't help myself. Also, Emotional Cupcake is the name of my new band.

Angry Birds and Adventure Times.

Last year I did a series of posts for Halloween. This year...I didn’t. And it wasn’t until Halloween day itself that I even felt moved to doodle. And this is what I doodled...

He was inspired by those cupcakes that use Oreos to make the owl faces but I have no idea why he’s so angry. Maybe because I didn’t post him on Halloween. Sorry, birdie, way too busy!

And just because, here’s a girl pretending to be a boy pretending to have an adventure with a dog who is pretending he cares.

When my friend Jason showed me the pilot for Adventure Time, about a year before it finally aired, we kind of got obsessed. The ringtone on my phone may have been Finn yelling “My hat is AWESOME!” for quite some time...it may have been. Maybe. Possibly. Most definitely.

Sad Mac.

I’m not the first to do this, I am sure. I am also sure I won’t be the last and I am really sure that I really don’t want to draw more tributes to those lost.  But I thought an acknowledgement was in order, since I work on a Mac every...single...day. Thanks for the good stuff, Mr. Jobs.

Marceline the Vampire Queen, she drinks shades of red.

If you watch Adventure Time, then you know Marceline. If you don’t, then all you really need to know is that she is an axe-bass playing vampire queen who drinks shades of red and really likes her french fries (as do I...like my fries, I’d never steal from Marceline).

What you may not know about Marceline is that she is voiced by one Olivia Olson. “Who?” you ask? Why, she was the little girl who sang, “All I Want for Christmas is You, ” in a little film called Love, Actually. Which is also notable for a role played by my one and only Alan Rickman. Know what else is notable about that film? Alan Rickman’s character is married to a woman named, of all things, Karen. Know what else? HER NEVER ONCE SAYS HER NAME IN THE WHOLE DAMN FILM! At least Liam Neeson does. But still...so not fair.

Winter is coming.

First off, let me apologize. I can think of maybe three people who will get this joke. Two of them might think it’s funny. As for the rest of you...I am so very sorry.

I’ve been taking a little break from drawing in Illustrator because I feel like I really need to learn how to sketch properly. But...well, that doesn't make me want to draw. I bought some books, I bought a stylus. I have tons of sketchbooks, but when you take my beloved Illustrator away I am a sad little bunny.

And then I started reading A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin.

And then I had this idea that I thought was funny, like stupid goofy funny:

But other people have had much better ideas of how to use those name tags.

So then, I thought this was funny.

And yeah, I know that it’s not skewed properly, I slapped it together while I still found it funny. And yeah, I know it’s totally stupid. But sometimes... I totally crack myself up.

Dork.