2011 Advent Calendar...complete with CHIPMUNKS!!!!

So here's this thing I did in a few minutes...

...and by few minutes I mean like 2,500 minutes.  Maths.

Anyway, take a look and tell me how great I am at making cute things.  Hopes and desires to be a serious artist doing serious work?  NO.  I'll just draw some effing chipmunks.  Why can't I escape drawing sweet things?  Where are all those dragons and monsters...and dragon-monsters.  Sigh.  Oh well.  A wise man once told me not to fight drawing what you want to draw.  I think it was Joel.  There's a good chance I just made that up and only think I remember it.  Good times.  I should add that I've inserted the version that contains todays spot already in place.  You're welcome. 

If you want to see last year's calendar just click here:
http://www.theflyinglighthouse.com/2011/04/it-occurs-to-me.html

Without further ado...  (is that right?)

More Krampus sketches and some wolves.

Every day I'm strugglin...to draw wolves that don't suck.

2011 Holiday Comic stuff

Krampus sketches!  Well, Krampus HEAD sketches, anyway!

Back in the posting swing!

But probably not really. I wish I posted more frequently, but given that I have a full-time illustration job at a newspaper and I'm teaching two illustratino/comics classes this semester...I'll just have to accept my limits.  I feel old and tired these days.

I'm in the process of scanning lots of pages from one of my most recent sketchbooks so I'll probably make a HUGE post with that soon. In the meanwhile I offer a few old illustrations.

First is an illustration about setting boundaries. I don't know that it's as clear as it should be, but the girl has painted a line in her mind and she's not letting anyone get past that line. The story was about not letting people walk all over you. I hope it reads that way and not as if she's just not letting anyone in.

Second is an illustration about the wave of republicans that replaced all our favorite democrats a couple of years ago. I think this ran BEFORE the elections. At any rate...I really like my foaming wave crest of elephant heads and trunks. Didn't notice before? Now you do. And yes, I'm that awesome.

Thirds (I meant to put an s on thirds) is an old one from...(I'm going to check the date)...(I'm back from checking the date)...December of 2005! I was just a kid then! Not really, but it was my first year at the CA and I love Christmas-themed illustrations. Partially for sentimental reasons, but mostly because of the colors and the general feeling of being warm when it's cold outside. That has little to do with this illustration, but whatever. This was about being surprised by your gift on Christmas. I wanted the kid to look surprised, but not necessarily in a disappointed or pleasant way. Just surprised in general so the viewer could project their own feelings into it.

And that's it for now. More after the sketchbook scan.

Finally finished.

This has been a hard illustration of which to let go.  I'm still not completely happy with it, but I doubt I ever will be.  This one is very close to my heart because J.C. Leyendecker is my God.  He was an amazing illustrator.  Simply amazing.  My attempt at homage falls so short of what he deserves, but I can at least say that it is from the heart. 

I printed most of the posters tonight, but I have a few left to finish tomorrow.  There's a limited number and they'll be available for sale this Friday evening at the This Poster is Gay show held at Harvest downtown.  See previous posts for the link providing details.  50% of the proceeds go to the Memphis Gay and Lesibian Community Center!

Cheers.

Almost done...for real this time. Really.

I inked them

and I'm not that crazy about them.  I guess I'll stick with the digital Leyendecker-ish painting.  It just makes me feel like a poser, though...because he was the shit.

And yes, I know the hands are too big and in the wrong place.  I did lots of hands and then composited them in the right spot.

A love story

Hey kids, I thought I'd post some progress shots of my poster for the "This Poster is Gay" show on June 24th.  (I'm almost done, Michael, I swear!)  I just want to try an inked version with flat colors and then I'll put the type back on.  It'll totally be done today.  I swear. 

And now...a little back story.

I chose J.C. Leyendecker (my all time favorite illustrator) and his lifelong lover Charles Beach as the subjects for my poster.  Their story is a sweet, but sad one.  J.C. Leyendecker painted hundreds of Saturday Evening Post covers, created the concept of the New Year's Baby and he created the famous Arrow Collar Man.  Norman Rockwell admired Leyendecker so much that he moved into the same neighborhood and pretty much stalked Leyendecker until they became friends.  Many years later Rockwell would serve as a pallbearer in Leyendecker's funeral.

J.C. and Charles met when Charles modeled for one of his illustrations.  One illustration turned into many and before long the two were inseparable.  Eventually Charles moved into the Leyendecker mansion shared by J.C., his brother Frank (also an illustrator) and their sister(kinda crazy if I remember correctly). 

Leyendecker lived in the golden age of illustration when an illustrator could make GOBS of money and well...buy a mansion, expensive cars and lots of clothes.  Unfortunately, he also lived in a time when being gay simply was not accepted.  He and Charles spent the rest of their lives together, but did so in secret.  They enjoyed many happy years together, but the stock market crash of 1929 wrecked the economy and his commissions declined.  The already quiet illustrator became even more reclusive and his death at the age of 77 in 1951 went largely unnoticed.  A heartbroken Charles Beach died just one year later.  The saddest part is that while J.C. is buried with his family in New York, no one knows where Charles is buried.  Two men who devoted themselves to one another had to live and love in secret.  Two men; two HUMAN BEINGS who spent their lives together couldn't be laid to rest beside one another in death.  That's heartbreaking.  The info on J.C.'s wikipedia page is ok, but not as detailed as it is in J.C. Leyendecker by Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman Cutler.

This is my homage to Leyendecker's Arrow Collar Man who usually emerged from a black background and was accompanied by a girl in a colorful dress.  Since the Arrow Collar Man was actually modeled after Charles Beach I thought it'd be sweet to give J.C. the same tux and have them emerge from the darkness together.  The only moments that are visible are their quiet glances, the crisp white shirts with vests and their hands held proudly in the other's.  I've also posted the pencil sketch and some of the painting before I added the black.  Few pictures exist of the reclusive Leyendecker and almost non of Charles Beach.  I've posted a photo of J.C. and a few of the Arrow Collar Ads featuring Charles Beach.