Uncanny Manfrog:

Still fine tuning Man-frog’s look. This version is based on my Dad when he was a young man. He was in Italy in WW2 and saw the Colosseum, ( he also saw Vesuvius errupt). Hence, the background.

Illustration

Crayon sketch on the butcher paper table cloth. Here is “Gleep”, my little space man that I often find myself sketching on the tables of finer restaurants about Tulsa.

Sorry ’bout the mess.

Toy and Action Figure Museum

Why am I looking so astonished, or perhaps incredulous or probably just stupified?   Why you ask?
It’s because I’m blown away by the tons of toys and action figures at the Toy and Action Figure Museum.

Here it is, located on the brick streets of downtown Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.  Check out the attention to detail on the robotic figure: He’s battle damaged!

BSEvery nook and cranny is packed with almost every action figure you can imagine.

I was lucky enough to run into the Toyman of Pauls Valley, Kevin Stark.   Kevin donated his toy collection to form this museum.  He gave me a tour of his museum, and his studio, Stark Art.  Kevin is an accomplished toy designer, cartoonist and painter.  His favorite action figure:  The Composite Superman!

Thanks Kevin for the tours.

 

 

Character Design

The “Manic Pixie”  character is being created for famous Tulsa Illustrator,  Rosemary Daugherty.  Rosemary owns  Manic Pixie Studios, located in Tulsa’s uber cool Pearl District.  Here are the comps and final pencils, produced with creative input from Rosey, herself!  Check out Rosemary’s creative illustrations at Rosemarydaugherty.com.

Uncanny Man-frog

I’m starting to work on and off on the Uncanny Man-frog again. He was my first published comic book hero, way back when I was like 24.  I’ve re-magined him.   Showed the new design to a friend of mine.  He thinks the new Man-frog is SWELL!    No actually he thinks it stinks!     What do you think?  I mean, compared with the original.

Caricature

Working Method: Pomodoro Technique

Sometimes it’s tough to stay disciplined while working.  I’m self-employeed as an illustrator.  With no one to keep an eye on me, I’m apt to find myself laying on the couch watching tv, or stuffing my face in the kitchen. Hey, I’m not the only illustrator slacker.   This seems to be the bane of all illustrators and cartoonists I know.  Here’s one solution to wandering away from the drawing board, or nowadays, for me, the Intuos Tablet:     THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE!

Here’s how it works!   You get a kitchen timer, and I’d recommend getting the wind up kind that makes an audible ticking sound.  You set it for 25 minutes, this amount of time is called a Pomodoro,  For the length of the Pomodoro, you do nothing but work intensely.   If you get  a personal phone call, and you take it, well… that cancels out the Pomodoro and you have to start over.    This forces you to dedicate yourself to the work at hand.   As you become acclimated to the Pomodoro Method you start taking such personal calls on your break.  After all ,what can be so urgent you can’t wait 25 minutes to call them back.   After the 25 minutes is over the bell rings, you set the timer for five minutes and do what ever you want:  bathroom break, call you friends, watch tv,  it’s up to you.   Then when the dinger dings its back to your next Pomodoro.   Each time you finish a Pomodoro, mark it on a board or something.   The sound of the ticking timer and marking down Pomodoros gives me a sense of accomplishment.  After you rack up four straight Pomodoros take a thirty minute break or even an hour and go to lunch or take a nap.

Pomodoro is Italian for Tomato.   The guy that invented this method, used a kitchen timer that looked like a tomato.   You can get a Pomodoro app for your  smart phone ( as shown in the photo)  that will handle all the technical timer setting stuff for you.

Using the timer has really helped me get things done.  I recommend it!  Find out all about it here:  http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/