Twyla at the Bank

February 15th, 2008

This little girl was wandering around the bank while her mom was waiting in line in front of me. The cuteness was almost unbearable, she kept walking around and examining everything with her hands quite intently, and her nose was runny the whole time. When she took her hat off, the crazy case of hat-hair caught me off guard, with bits of her scalp peeking through her fine hair. The mom, by the way, was really awesome with her. I overheard her calling her Twyla. Had to try to get her down when I got home.

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Mountain Lake Park

February 15th, 2008

This beautiful park is just two blocks away from where I live, and a wondrous oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of the Inner Richmond. It’s a wonder there’s a peaceful lake just a stone’s throw away, where you can go and just let your thoughts be for a while. Gulls were abound today, and a few children on the playground. I like the big tree with the sign that greets you when you walk through.

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Good Morning, Violetta

February 11th, 2008

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Violetta’s Wagon

February 9th, 2008

Violetta’s little traveling wagon. Her bear Blue, carts her around with the harness.

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Before and After

February 8th, 2008

A little bit of scribbly ballpoint covered with Photoshop later. Violetta is looking a bit on the “bad girl” side on the bottom. Probably needs to be toned down. She’s a trickster, but she’s not evil. More like a Puck character. And I kind of like the little Hindi woman that appeared.

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Bear…

February 7th, 2008

This is a continuation of the weird and random drawings of bears from before. I think I found him. Will be working on color, too.

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Random Scribbles

February 1st, 2008

The little gremlin on the left was drawn with my non-dominant left hand. Just to see what would happen.

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All Dressed Up

January 29th, 2008

I came across an old black and white photo on the internet while doing some research and pretty much stopped dead when I saw this gypsy girl showing off her dress. Here’s a quick sketch. She’s creepy but I can’t stop looking at the photo. She kind of has that quality of the twins from “The Shining” who themselves were based on a famous photo of twin girls by Diane Arbus. Kubrick and Arbus knew the inherent creepiness of little girls and symmetry.

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Sad Carlo

January 24th, 2008

On such a gloomy, wet day like today. He’s definitely part of Violetta’s world. Just a blip in the mind right now.

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Ann Telnaes

January 24th, 2008

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I’m an avid newspaper reader. Waking up early and perusing the articles and photographs every morning with a cup of coffee and a bowl of chunky oatmeal is bliss to me. I always go through the op/ed pages which include the editorial cartoons. And over time, I’ve discovered that the cartoons that stick out to me the most are those by Ann Telnaes.

What I love about her work is the perfect combination of her style that makes such great use of simple shapes and caricature, matched with her searing portrayal of issues that face our country. I think she’s pretty incredible. Her line quality and draftsmanship are inventive and superb, simple and precise. And her clever scenarios are full of bite, wit, and fiery satire. Indelibly, her cartoons leave a lasting impression on my mind.

Looking at her site, I discovered that I’m not alone. Ann has won the Pulitzer Prize for her work in editorial cartoons. Before cartooning, she worked at Disney as a designer, and is a graduate of Cal Arts.