Happy First Mother's Day!

Here's to a wonderful wife and mother!

You wanna know just how wonderful the Lovely Wife is? We went on our first date since Skeezix was born, last night. And she was the one who suggested seeing Iron Man!

1988 meets 2008

Yup, there's another meme going around.

Bug

I'm doing a lot of bug research*, right now, for an upcoming project. You may see more of these.

By the way, you might notice that I've expanded the blogroll of my students to include former students, as well. It seemed like a good way to keep track of what people are up to. If you're not listed, but would like to be, drop me a line.

* Research here, of course, means drawing lots pictures with no particular regard to accuracy, or even so much as bothering to read the captions under the photographs. I'm just collecting shapes, really.

Nicknames

Beyond his nom de Internet, Skeezix, the Adorable Progeny has picked up a passel of nicknames, a selection of which are presented here:

Action-Baby
Action-Baby demands action!

Schnorfler

Mowgli
Lie still, little frog. O thou Mowgli–for Mowgli the Frog I will call thee...
—Mother Wolf in The Jungle Book

BabyLad
With one-tenth the power of ten ordinary infants!
So nicknamed by Chris and Curt.

Little Goat
I don't quite have the onomontopoeia right on this one, yet.

Thunderpants
The onomontopoeia on this one is very accurate, however.

Parade 11!

TinkleToes

This is the last of the first batch of Parade images. I hope to draw more, soon.

Parade 10!

BeatBot

Hey Kids! Join the parade! This is a meme intended to produce high-contrast imagery for parents and their infants. Parents can use these images in any way for their kids, but all other uses must be contracted for with the original artist. More information, including how to format your submission, can be found back at the beginning of The Parade!

Mid-Life Crisis Iron Man.

Project: Rooftop and Westfeild Comics are sponsoring Iron Man: Invincible Upgrade, for which I'm a commentator. This is my ineligible little contribution.

I'm not really an Iron Man fan, and it seems me that, on some secret level, you kinda hafta want to have sex with a Japanese motorcycle in order to design a really good suit of Iron Man armor. And, well, I do not want to have sex with a Japanese motorcycle. So, it was difficult to find a direction on this one. Then I read Michael Chabon's article in the New Yorker on superhero uniforms as "True Skin." From that thesis, the notion of Tony Stark choosing to wear the machine as his flesh is distinctly creepy. From there, I liked the idea of lumpy, hirsute, middle-aged Tony wearing lithe, young machineflesh, and not really getting why the other superheroes aren't comfortable with this latest upgrade.

Not my most inspired redesign, but they can't all be Ma Hunkel.

This is a different version than will appear when the Invincible Upgrade runs. Dashing Dean Trippe generously offered to color my entry, and who'd say no to that?

Spring!

Maybe it's because I'm currently experiencing the zenith of the ol' circle of life, but, dang, I'm into this Spring. Trees are a'bloomin'; buds are a'bornin'. The potted garden is back, and and a big crop of seedlings are moving towards having pots of their own.

A Good Day

We recently celebrated Skeezix's one-month birthday with some of his very favorite things.

Rest in Peace, Rocketeer!

Project: Rooftop is running a tribute to the recently departed Dave Stevens. Dave's most lasting legacy is probably the revival of Bettie Page as a cultural icon. But a little more in P:R's bailiwick is his high-flying retro-hero, The Rocketeer.

There's not much that can be done to improve the Rocketeer's design. It is so perfectly what it is supposed to be: the perfect leather jacket; the perfect jodhpurs; and, of course, the absolute perfect helmet. When I first saw The Rocketeer, I had a hard time comprehending that this was a new character. How could the Zeitgeist of the Thirties not have produced this character?*

So, I wasn't too sure what to do with this drawing, and I kept putting it off, hoping for inspiration to strike, until the very last minute. I like it okay as a drawing, but I don't think it makes much sense as a character design (where are the straps for the rocket? The wires for the hand-controls? Why is he wearing that particular jacket?). I'd like to take this design as a first sketch and develop it further, but given the other demands on my punch-clock, I think I'll just go enjoy some of those old Rocketeer comics, instead.

* Obviously, King of the Rocket Men only half counts.