December 31 - Well, here we are at the end of 2003, which seems like the perfect time for reflection and, apparently, "BEST OF" lists.  I've been watching several TV "BEST OF" shows, like "Top 100 Sports Stories of 2003," "Entertainers of the Year," and "2003's Deadliest Police Chases and TV Bloopers" (OK, maybe I made that last one up).  It prompted me to think to myself "JoJo; what is WOMP's 'Best Of' list gonna be?"  I tossed the idea around in my head for some time, finally coming to this conclusion: I don't have enough stuff to make even a single "Top Ten" list of any one topic, but I do have ten topics with just one "Best Of" for each!  So, without further ado, here are -

WOMP's 2003 Top Ten "Top Ten" Lists With Only One Thing On Each List (Instead of Ten) -

#10 - Top "Ten" Comic Book Conventions Attended by WOMP in 2003 - The Annual Minnesota Comic Book Association "FALLCON."  Seriously, these MCBA guys (and gals?  Hmm, I don't remember any gals there, but, of course, I was there with my wife, so I couldn't have seen any other women anyway, right?) always put on a great show, and they did so again this year, even going so far as to hire cool area bands to play to event!  I can't wait for 2004!

#9 - Top "Ten" John's Siblings to Have Twin Babies in 2003 - I'm an Uncle!  Twice over!  My sister, Kristin, and brother-in-law Michael, had Liam Michael and Aidan John earlier this year!  Cool, huh?

#8 - Top "Ten" Movies Seen By Entire WOMP Staff in 2003 - OK, when I say "Seen By Entire WOMP Staff," I mean "seen by Vickie and myself."  That's pretty much it for WOMP staff.  Anyhoo, we saw Lord of The Rings, The Return of The King just a short while ago, and we both enjoyed it.  When I thought back on the year, I realized that we didn't see a single other film together!  Oops!

#7 - Top "Ten" Movies Seen By John, But No-One Else From WOMP Staff, in 2003 - I saw, and absolutely loved,
The School of Rock!  I went with my Dad (wait...is Dad on the WOMP staff?  Hmmm...nah, he's more like "seasonal help").  Later, I found out that the interior school sets were constructed from remnants of my long-ago-demolished grade school alma mater!  Omigosh...I actually graduated from The School of Rock!  How cool is that?!

#6 - Top "Ten" Anime Series' That Blew My Mind in 2003 - Call it what you will; FLCL, Furi Kuri, or Fooly Cooly,
but, no matter what name you give it, this series is DA BOMB!!   There was a period this year where David Letterman was off the air for a couple of weeks (replaced by reruns), and I just can NOT bring myself to sit thorough Jay Leno, so I found myself watching Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming.  Yeah, Futurama and Family Guy are some of my favorites to begin with, but, eventully, I found myself watching Fooly Cooly just because I was too lazy to change the channel.  Even though I've been told that Monkey and his World have a Manga or Anime look to them, I really haven't read/seen much of either.  Frankly, they all seem to be just another culture's take on junk like He-Man or some such boring and bad garbage.  I tried to follow the generations of The Robotech Macross Saga, or the tortured characters of
Blue Gender, but they always fell flat of my expectations.  Then came FLCL, and it blew me away!  THIS is what I like in my storytelling; ambiguity, psychology, sly autobiography, universiality, innovation, and great characterizations, all wrapped up in a tasty "tongue-in-cheek" self-aware candy shell!  Gimme MORE, or I'll hit you with my electric guitar!

#5 - Top "Ten" 2003 Graphic Novels By Friend's of WOMP - Actually, WOMP friend Shannon Gretzon has been publishing the very cool and funny Disgruntled Avenger comic in graphic novel form for years, but, this year, there is a clear winner in this category, one-time WOMP contributor Craig Thompson's awesome Blankets!  I've been fortunate enough to know Craig for years now, and I've always thought of him as a true genius, but I did not forsee such a fantastic instant classic.  Even the masterful Good-Bye, Chunky Rice was based on characters that he'd first used in his mini-comics, so it seemed like a natural progression of that earlier work, but Blankets is to Chunky Rice as DaVinci is to Urkel!  It's a quantum leap into the future...a leap that I am proud to have been a small part of!

#4 - Top "Ten" 2003 "Marathons" On The TV at WOMP Central - Submitted for your approval, I believe that The Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi channel is the perfect way to spend the last day of 2003!

#3 - Top "Ten" 2003 Re-Vamps of The WOMP-Site - It's still a work in progress, but I just had to try to bring the antique WOMP Web-Site into the 21st Century, even just a little.  The greatest surprise to come from this re-vamp has been the attention that this WOMP-Blog has gotten! 

#2 - Top "Ten" New Cats at WOMP Central in 2003 - Yep, we've got a fourth cat now (and one rabbit!)!  Joining the previous standing army was new recruit Charlotte Paige.  Charlotte, or "Squeaks," as she is more often called, came to us this year after a rough start in life.  She had part of her neck and one ear eaten by a predator of some sort, and she had numerous scratches and puncture wounds (not to mention good old-fashioned worms).  She is healthy now (a little
too healthy on some days), and she fits in quite nicely...she even "helps" me draw by grabbing the pencil from my hand!

#1 - (Drumroll) Top "Ten" Coolest Things About Being Monkey's Cartoonist in 2003 - Well, even though I've always been Monkey's cartoonist, this year I can truly say that the coolest part of that peculiar "honor" is all of the great people it has allowed me to come to know!  So much of what a cartoonist does is done in private.  As I sit at my little desk drawing my little Monkey for my little comic book, it seldom crosses my mind that the end result will be new friends!  However, that is exactly what Monkey has done for me, and, for that, I am so very thankful.  I include you, WOMP-Blog reader, as a new friend, so thank you for following Monkey's adventures, as well as my own, throughout 2003.  I hope that you'll have many great adventures of your own over the next, and each subsequent, year!  See ya in '04!  Bye!

December 30-31 - Hey, kids!  It's 5:00am on the 31st, and I am calling it quits for the day!  I'm pretty whipped, but I got a lot of cool Oz artwork done, so it was worth it.  Later today, before the year ends, I will try to update the WOMP-Blog with something like a Year End Report, or maybe one of those ever popular Best of 2003 lists or something, but right now, I MUST SLEEP!  While I drift off to slumberland, I will have visions of contest entrants dancing in my head!  Won't you help make my dreams come true?  Just go HERE to sign into the WOMP Guest Book with your name and e-mail, and you will have an EXCELLENT chance of winning!  See ya!

December 29-30 - Another long (but productive) day of Oz artwork today.  I must admit that I'm having a lot of fun with this assignment.  The Land of Oz has been a great influence on many cartoonists, and I guess I'm no different.  Oz-like themes and designs long ago crept into The World of Monkey, and they are still there today, if you look for them.  In fact, in college, I even drew Dorothy, The Scarecrow, and The Tin Woodman for one of my final projects, and one of my best friends posed as a Munchkin for famous painter and illustrator Tim Hildebrandt for his version of The Wizard of Oz.  I also came this close (said while holding forefinger and thumb about a centimeter apart) to choosing and directing the musical stage version of T.W.O.O. for our local community theater (alas, too few people showed interest in auditioning, so we went with a smaller show instead).  Do me a favor as you are reading this; stop for a moment and think about a particularly wonderful and powerful book, movie, TV show, or comic that you saw when you were a kid.  Now reflect on how that work has influenced you over the subsequent course of your life.  I'll wait for ya while you do it. 

Did you do it?  Did you think about the issue of Amazing Spider-Man where Uncle Ben said "With great power comes great responsibility," or maybe it was the "sci-fi" of Star Wars or Star Trek, or perhaps it was The Wind in The Willows or The Hobbit.  Whatever it was, that special feeling that you just had is what I strive to create everyday.  It's not easy, but just trying can be very rewarding!  OK, I got a litle side-tracked there, but it's 4:45am right now, and I'm a little loopy.  Oh, and, speaking of loopy, I promised in yesterday's WOMP-Blog entry to tell you about the strange New Year's ritual that I've performed since 1980!  It sounds bizarre, and it's an indicator of how pathetic my life has been for more than twenty years, but I have a tradition of more-or-less "retiring" my current signature, and "initiating" a new one on each December 31st.  Keen observers of my signed art have noted that my signature includes the year.  This has been a very handy way for me to keep track of when I drew a certain project, etc..  So, New Year's Eve is "Signature Update Day" as well, wherein I try-out the new version a few times and in different ways until it seems natural.  This system has served me well for decades, although it did cause some consternation once when I got a new driver's license.  After I'd signed the card, the DMV officer went into fits because of the difference from the signature on the previous license!  I explained all of the stuff that I just explained to you, and, after a few more rounds, he finally relented to the magic and mystery that is my crazy, loopy autograph!  See ya tomorrow!  Oh, and sign up for the CONTEST!

December 28-29 - A good "gettin' it done" day today!  Besides work around the house, which included cleaning up the dread pit also known as my office, I got a lot of drawing done, AND I even listed some original art stuff on eBay!  Check it out!  Anyhoo, I'd really better get back to the slightly-less-dark lair to continue drawing while I've got the gumption!  Tomorrow, I will let you in on a bizarre annual tradition that I've performed every New Year since 1980!  Here's a hint; it once got me in trouble when I got my driver's license!  See ya!

December 27-28 - More Oz today!  I finished a second drawing for the Oziana publication, and I don't think that I'm spoiling anything by telling you that it features The Wizard of Oz himself!  This made me pretty nervous, I must say!  It's one thing to draw my own take on a seldom-heard-of comic book character like Northwind (see yesterday's WOMP-Blog entry), but its entirely another thing altogether to man-handle such a well-known character in a semi-official capacity!  Especially since the character has already been depicted in so many different ways, even by the same artists!  I think that it did turn out pretty well, though.  It's pretty awesome to think that I have just added my own tiny element to the character's history!  Wow!  Anyhoo, I'd better get back to it while I'm on a roll!  See ya!

December 26-27 - Howdy!  Well, it's been an interesting holiday season for us already.  Vickie has been pretty sick and my Grandma is in the hospital with breathing problems, but both seem to be on the road to recovery.  I've been the "legs" for both gals for a few days, which meant that I was too tired to draw much of anything, or even update the WOMP-Blog.  Sorry!  I did have time to load the new page that I was talking about.  Check that out by clicking HERE!  I also found time to "tighten up" a drawing of DC Comics character, Northwind (member of Infinity, Inc.) that I've been "working" on.  As I noted in the December 20th entry, I usually do a little "side-drawing" during a project as a sort of "warm up."  Northwind is the most recent side-drawing, and it turned out OK.  I'm probably going to offer it on eBay to see if anyone would like it.  I have just finished the first piece for the Oziana publication, too!  It turned out really nicely!  I'm also about half done with a second piece as well.  I'm starting another side-drawing, this one of DC character
Katana, member of The Outsiders.  It already looks pretty cool, but probably won't be done for some time because the main drawing always comes first.  The side-drawing usually only gets worked on a little bit each day.  Anyhoo, I'd better get back to it.  Before I head back to the drawing board, I  wanted to add two things.  First, I must say a special thank you to a certain Mr. Kringle, resident of an area somewhat North of Prairie du Chien, for sending me the second issue of the JLA/Avengers miniseries for Christmas!  It's nice to know that someone actually reads this Blog stuff (which is how Mr. Kringle found out that I had issues #1 and #3, but not #2)!  On an unrelated note, I don't own Action Comics #1, either (tee-hee)!  The second thing that I wanted to say is sign up for the contest to win original art!!  Click right
HERE to get into the WOMP Guest Book.  Sign in, leave a message, and be sure to include your e-mail, and you may WIN!  Go!  Hurry!  Do it now!  Time's running out!

December 22-23 - Hey, gang!  I didn't do a single artistic thing all day!  Hooray!(?)  Actually, it was another one of those awful "real job" days, so I'm too beat to do much of anything, nonetheless anything creative.  SIGH...  On a separate note, look for a brand new page here at the WOMP-Site!  It will show you, as promised, step-by-step, the process which I go through to create artwork!  The first subject will be the Teen Titan Kole character study that I recently produced.  That will start Tuesday night.  After that, this new page will have updates to projects as they go along, so that you can follow progress daily.  Oh, and speaking of "daily," the days to enter our "Win Free Original Art" Contest are dwindling down to just a few.  Right now, only THREE people have signed up!!!  If you sign up, you have an EXCELLENT chance of winning!  Click HERE to see the artwork that you might win, or click HERE to go directly to the Guest Book, where you need only sign in and leave an e-mail address to enter the contest!  Hurry!  Do it now!  GO!

December 21-22 - How cool is The Lord of The Rings, The Return of The King?  Vickie and I saw it on Saturday.  It was a bit of a stretch for Vickie because she hadn't seen the first two films, nor had she read the books.  I gave her a quick crash course in Middle Earth (although I forgot entirely to tell her about the whole "go invisible, but then he can see you" aspect of the ring!), and off we went to a matinee.  We got to the theater a little more than a half hour early, and there was already a small line!  By the time the actual film began (after endless commercials), the theater was nearly packed!  Both of us sat through the whole movie without a bathroom or refreshment break.  Vickie enjoyed it, even though she didn't know any of the characters beforehand.  She especially liked the performances of Vigo Mortensen (I know that I must have spelled that wrong) and Sean Astin.  I was a sucker for Golem (again).  If ever a special effect should be nominated for an acting Oscar, it is this character!  I will say this, though (and it may just be the "no bathroom breaks" talking), but the end of the movie did seem a little drawn out, but, as I mentioned to Vickie, it was more or less required for the conclusion of the entire nine hour epic.  I heard that someplace there's a theater  showing all three films in sequence twice a day...Madison, maybe?  THAT would be cool!  Anyhoo, everytime I see something like this, in my conceit I imagine what a The Adventures of Monkey movie would look like.  I see it as being similar to the "Rings" or "Harry Potter" films in that the cgi and live action elements would interact a LOT.  I'd think that the "Monkey" characters would ALL be cgi, while many other characters would have cgi elements.  The characters of Monkey's World that I would most like to see what they'd look like in a movie are The Phantom (I think he'd be a LOT of fun), TLMcFrHE, Ferrex, and Lif-El, Commander of The Blobs (he is supposed to look like living mucous, so that would be pretty cool).  What WOMP character would you most like to see on film?  Drop a line with your favorite and I'll share it with the WOMP-Blog readers.  Bye!

December 20 - Another big day of drawing yesterday (Friday), and hopefully continuing through today.  I'm sketching out the first of the Oziana pieces today.  A little odd quirk that I've picked up when I work on a big project is that I also start another drawing, unrelated, to "warm up" my hand on.  These are usually bad drawings, not planned or anything, but, sometimes, they can turn out OK.  It's sort of like stretching before a game.  It really helps me to keep a smooth line, especially when inking.  I have also found that I can tell right away whether or not I am warmed up.  Fortunately, this happens when I screw up something on the "practice" drawing, rather than the "real" drawing.  The nature of the "screw up" is generally a badly-flowing inverted curl line, sorta like one of these - ), or a face where the individual features are OK, but the sum is not (you know, good eyes, but they are crooked to the nose, or the mouth is perfect, but too big, etc.).  You, fellow cartoonist, may want to try a "practice" drawing, too.

December 18-19 - A great OZ day today!  I'm up to my armpits in thoroughly educated woggle bugs and pink kittens!  I have several books about Oz, and a couple of the original books themselves, but I still need a little extra reference for the Oziana pieces that I'm doing, so I turned to the Wonderful World of The Web!  You young whipper-snappers have no idea how lucky you are to be living in this time of the Internet.  If I want a picture of a parrot, BANG, there it is on my computer in 0.04 seconds!  In the "olden days of yore," cartoonists had to keep something called a "Morgue."  It sounds ghastly, but it was actually just the crazy name cartoonists had given to a huge file of photographs kept for reference.  One of the first things I did when I got out of college was to start my own Morgue.  I cut up National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines, newspapers, junk mail, and any other source of images that I thought I might need to refer to some day.  My Morgue is actually in two huge binders; "The World of Nature" and "The World of Man."  Comic strip cartoonists used to go so far as to write to one or another major car manufacturer to get images of that maker's vehicles, the idea being that if you were reading Mary Worth, every vehicle in the background could be a Ford, and Mary just couldn't wait to ride in her new Edsel!  In fact, I was told, by Green Lantern and Dondi cartoonist Irwin Hasen, to specifically ask Ford for images, because they would send special "all around" images of every vehicle they'd ever made, from Model Ts to tractors, AND they would send the newest models every year after that!  Can you imagine?  Somewhere about 1989, I gave up on my own Morgue.  Oh, I still use it on occasion, but I don't add to it any more.  Ah, I often have dreams of one day being at a rummage sale where I come across the vintage Morgue of some great old master, like Chester Gould, Mort Walker or Hal Foster.  Just to see what these artists thought they might need for reference would be a fantastic insight to their works.  I've often wondered whether non-artistic biographers, who go through a famous cartoonist's stuff, would even know how to "read" the Morgue for the secrets it could reveal.  The Morgue represents what the cartoonist feels least confident about, while also showing artistic ambition and that the cartoonist was always trying to grow and rise to challenges.  Kinda neat.  Yep, you young whipper-snappers have no idea how lucky you are...

December 17-18 - Busy day for WOMP Central today.  Besides drawing a little more, I spent a lot of time on the most boring aspect of the cartooning biz.....I wrote out and mailed bills!  Yes, I must admit that I charge people for my artwork.  I wish that I could say that I'd still draw stuff for free even if people didn't pay me, but the truth is that I'd never draw the weird stuff they want unless they did pay me.  Left to my own devices, I'd draw monsters, monkeys, and superheroes all day.  Wait...I just described my comic book!  Hmmm.  Anyhoo, I guess that's the subject of my "lecture" for the day: When People Ask You to Draw Something, Ask Them For Money!  A great piece of advice that I got from one of my college teachers, cartoonist Stan Kaye, was "Always charge for your artwork."  As he explained, even if it's for your Mom or your church or something, ask for at least a dollar so that people realize that what you do has a value.  Quite frankly, it often helps you remember the same thing.  There is nothing wrong with charity, and you will (and should) find many ways to give back to your community with your talents, but try to remember that cartooning is a business.  A strange business, but a business none-the-less.  Boy, that all sounds kinda gruff, but it comes from experience.  In the not too distant past, I spent literally YEARS of my life giving my work away, chalking it up to the "learning process," unsure whether what I did even had a value.  Because of that, people I dealt with also believed that my work was just worthless "training."  I don't regret the work itself that I did during that time, I just wish I'd found a way to be more professional about it.  So, lesson learned (sorta), I pass the suggestion on to you!  Gotta go!  Bye!

December 16-17 - HAPPY DECEMBER 16th!  OK, OK...I blew off drawing today!  So sue me!  I wanted to draw, really I did, but stuff kept coming up to take me away from it, until, suddenly, BAM, it's 1:00am on the 17th!  Oh, well.  Today I did finalize a March appearance at the Public Library in Peotone, Illinois!  Check the Appearance Schedule page for more info!  Bye!

December 15 - Lots of drawing on Sunday, including more sketches for the Oziana project.  I also got the proof of the Pete's Hamburgers postcard from the printer.  For those who don't know, a "proof" is a quick copy example of a final printed item, made before going ahead with printing thousands more.  For comic books, these proofs are also sometimes called "ashcans," because they were generally thrown away.  Originally, these rare preview versions were very hard to come by, especially because they often had features that were changed or even censored in the final versions.  Also, they were made in very small numbers (1 - 10).  Recently, beginning, I believe, with Flaming Carrot, comic book companies have produced many, MANY ashcans to use as promotional gifts and advertisements.  There is an ashcan version of The Adventures of Monkey  #4, which was limited to only seven copies.  Anyhoo, the Pete's card looks pretty cool, but it does need a little tweaking.  If you are planning to be a cartoonist someday, remember that your work is often (mostly) meant for reproduction, meaning that the drawing itself is not the final product.  You may have to help with the final usage of the artwork, even re-drawing elements on occassion.  Try making a preview proof for the people who hired you.  They are very handy, often producing good ideas, and it is a lot better to find mistakes on a preview proof than the final, printed and distributed version!  Gotta go!

December 13-14 - More sketching around today.  I drew a few character design tests for the Oziana project.  I must admit, though, that I was distracted by the new (third) issue of the JLA-Avengers comic book that George Perez drew.  More specifically, I was blown away by the cover!  Just when you think that there is absolutley NO WAY that Mr. Perez can top himself, he does something like this!  Unfortunately, I don't have the second issue (@#%&*@!!), so I didn't want to really read the comic, but I couldn't help looking through it anyway.  I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't read it, so skip to the red bold-letter word "DONE" below and read from that point on.  For those who have, I want to discuss my impressions (to see if you share them).  As I looked through the comic, I was struck by how much it was not only a story of super-characters, but a barely veiled reference to Mr. Perez's career, and the "modern" history of comic books themseleves.  It can't be a coincidence that the main characters of the JLA and Avengers in this series are the versions of the teams' memberships from Mr. Perez's classic work on their respective titles.  In scenes toward the end of this third issue, the characters are told that history and reality are out of whack, and that they must put things back in order.  When shown that "order," the 1980's Perez versions see what awful stuff was waiting for them after Mr. Perez no longer drew them.  Batman sees Bane and the death of Robin.  The Wasp sees Hank's descent into abuse and madness.  Wanda sees the horrible fate of her children.  Superman sees Doomsday.  GL sees his Zero Hour.  The characters are in shock, not wanting to believe what they'd seen, unsure that they must now risk their lives to restore these tragedies.  Someone suggests that they try to make things right this time.  Green Lantern, though, says "no" to that.  Even though he may have the most to lose, The Man Without Fear says, basically, that that is how things are.  They can't play gods.  Likewise, it must have been very tempting for the creators of such an important crossover event, ESPECIALLY for George Perez, to try to ignore or even change some of the recent stuff that long time fans be-moan (everything from stupid costume changes to deaths), but, wisely, they realized (even if they ever would have been allowed to mess with current "realities") that it wouldn't be right.  For better or worse, that's the history of the characters, and of the industry.  To see Mr. Perez's classic immortal heroes face what amounts to the comic book version of mortality, be appalled by it, and STILL decide to accept it, even fight for it, is an allegory for the spirit of the medium itself, and a reflection of Mr. Perez's impact upon it.  I will try to find out if this was intentional and report back about what I learn.  For now, though, I guess I'm DONE!  Anyhoo, based on this diversion, I started sketching some of the characters from the cover, like Moon Knight, Aquaman, Ms. Marvel, and Machine Man.  I liked the Machine Man sketch so much, that I turned it into a full-fledged inked portrait.  I'm going to touch it up a little bit and put it on eBay to see if anyone out there might want it.  I'm thinking of drawing a few more of these characters in my spare time, just for fun (and possible money, I suppose).  If you have any suggestions of characters that you would like to see my "take" on, drop me a line!  Oh, and enter our
FREE ORIGINAL ART CONTEST while you're at it!  See ya!

December 12-13 - Not much artwork done today.  Today was one of those dreaded "real job" days.  YUCK!  No fun!  Tomorrow (Saturday), I will be able to devote much of the day to nothing but drawing!  Mostly Oz stuff, I'd imagine, although I do have a deadline for the next installment of the DORKSTERS comic strip coming in January (and something else that I'm forgetting right now), so I might look at that, too.  Sunday, our family is having our "Christmas" a little early.  As my sister has recently had twin baby boys, finding a day where EVERYONE can get together is nearly impossible.  I can't wait!  This is the first Christmas where I am someone's UNCLE!!  I fully intend to be known as their "Favorite Uncle" at that, so I have to give them lots and lots of cool stuff!  Oh, and love, I suppose.  Which reminds me, why the heck haven't you entered our contest yet?  Click here, darn ya!

December 11-12 - I've spent the day in Oz!  Well, actually, I spent the day reading about the land of Oz, doing research for the Oziana project.  Fortunately, I have a lot of the Baum books and a few Oz reference books as well.  I don't want to spoil the story that I'm illustrating for the publication, but I can tell you that it will include some of the most popular Oz characters.  As a first step, I drew a few character and costume design sketches this evening.  By this time next week, I should be working on the final pieces.  If all goes well, I should have at least one of the major illustrations ready by New Year's Day...speaking of which, January 1st is the deadline for entering the contest to win free original art from
WOMP!  Click HERE to find the rules and the art!

December 10-11 - Ok, so many updates for ya after a couple of days "off."  I've sent the Kole art and the character studies of Teen Titans Argent, Changeling, Jericho, Risk, and Starfire, to their rightful owner, Marcus Mebes.  Once I know for sure that Marcus has the art in his hands, I will post a series of pictures that illustrate the process that I went through to draw them.  Until then, please enjoy the new drawing on the Recent Artwork page.  It is the "test" that I conducted with the new Sakura pens that I found.  It's a little bizarre because there is not much rhyme nor reason to it, just a bunch of textures and lines to see what the pens can do.  In a generous gesture, I am offering the original art for this pen test as a free prize to one of you lucky web-sters!  Click HERE to find details.  Also, I have been remunerated for the Pete's Hamburgers and "Welcome to Prairie du Chien" artwork (thank you!) this week, so I've invested in some more art materials, in preparation for the super-secret BIG COMMISSION that I've been hinting at for some time now.  I have heard back from everyone that I needed to, so I can now reveal that I will be one of the artists of the 2004 edition of the annual publication, Oziana, a book devoted to the Wonderful Land of Oz!  I'm very excited about it, and I've begun work on the project already.  In fact, one of the elements of the "pen test" artwork is a sketch of a character from the story that I've been asked to illustrate.  More later.  See ya!

December 7 - Hey there!  Just putting the finishing touches on Kole today.  I also have drawn a handful of sketches for elements of T.A.O.M. #5.  I promised to tell you more about what other new project I've begun work on, and I will fill you in, but I have to have one more discussion with the folks who have contracted me before I "reveal it to the world."  Suffice to say for now that it is VERY COOL!  See ya!

December 5-6 - It's DONE!  It's DONE!!  With the exception of some tiny touch-ups here and there, I have finally finished the Kole character study!  Marcus, if you are out there man, get ready to find a big envelope in the mail!  What a day!  I am still a little ill, but I ran all over town doing errands, saw my Mom and Dad (it's their 39th Wedding Anniversary), and even attended a "goodbye" party for my brother-in-law who has enlisted in the Air Force.  All of that, and I still got the drawing done!  Hooray!  More stuff later, including a scan of KOLE!

December 4-5 - Pretty worn-out and sick today.  I worked a little too late last night; went to bed at 6am (20 hour day).  At a certain point, I gave up on trying to do the most delicate elements of Kole's close-up features because I was beginning to wear down.  I added some elements to the background instead.  Today I did nothing on it.  I just couldn't, my friends.  It is very difficult to be this close to "done" and have to just leave it while your body refuses to help out.  I'm going to try to list some eBay stuff, then I'm going to call it a day.  Danny Boy says "meow" to you, too!

December 3-4 - I've nearly completed the Kole character study!  The artwork shows Kole in full figure and in a large close-up, as well as a logo and background and effects elements.  I have only the facial features of the close-up left to ink.  Then I will erase the underlying pencils, after which I will add the final inking touch-ups (fill-in large black areas, add texture to others, etc.).  Then it will be DONE!!!  I hope to accomplish most of that tonight, adding the last lines tomorrow!  Hooray!  When it is all done, and sent, and I'm sure that Marcus has it, I will add Kole's scanned artwork to my newly created Cartoonist at Work page so you can see it!  CLICK HERE now to see the Pete's Hamburgers
painting and the first episode of my Dorksters comic strip!  More tomorrow!

December 2 - OOPS!  I've been told that my Blog entry for yesterday didn't actually post!  Oh, well.  Danny is much better today.  In fact, unless he suffers some sort of relapse, I think he's well on his way to a full recovery.  I'll try not to bore you with any more updates.  I will tell you, however, that I've been working on the Kole artwork today for Titans expert and fan, Marcus Mebes.  I'm taking a break now to do the Blog (and watch Futurama and Family Guy on Cartoon Network).  Kole is one of the most complicated characters that I have ever drawn.  She has (had) an unusual "cape" and many small geometric designs on her costume.  Plus, since she "died" in the DC Comics Crisis, she has become sort of "cult figure," with many fans who idolize, in fact nearly deify, her.  I'm sorta freezing up, knowing that there is a pretty good chance that, if the drawing turns out half-way OK, some of these super-fans may actually see it.  And the worse part is that the drawing is looking great!  And I always HATE my own drawings!  Check out the Monkey News page to see the first character study from the Teen Titans series that I've produced for Marcus.  It's everyone's favorite daughter of Trigon, Raven!

December 1 - Our kitty, Danny Boy, is doing even better today.  I dropped into the vet's office to give an update, and she was very optimistic.  Although it has seemed slow to us, she said that Danny is actually recovering quite quickly, which is very positive.  Today was also a very long, hard day at the dreaded "Real Job."  I only got home a short while ago (about 10:30), and I don't think I'm going to be up to much artwork tonight.  I do have to print out the bills for the Pete's Hamburgers and the "Welcome to Prairie du Chien" artwork so that Ican put them in the mail tomorrow when I mail out some eBay stuff.  That, and this Blog, are enough for now...I'm WHIPPED!