The Dungaree Beetle

Doodling with Sculpey

2008-08-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

My kids have unfortunately outgrown Play-Doh, so after getting them some Sculpey clay a while back and seeing some of the great things they've been making, I decided to give it a try. I've always wanted to mess around with the stuff, but never seemed to find the time. Here's some pics of my first venture into the medium. I decided to pull one of the characters out of my sketchbook and attempt to model him. I don't get to spend the time with it that I'd like to, but I find it to be a good stress reliever in between jobs and I'm hoping to do more. The plan is to do a whole series and then see what I can do with them; possibly have some molds done and then give them a proper unveiling at the Con's next year. He's still a work in progress - no arms and legs yet - but critiques are definitely welcome, so let me know what you think of the little guy.

I Found Waldo!

2008-08-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, finally something I didn't throw away turns out to be a good thing. Does anyone remember Where's Waldo? I worked as an illustrator for the U.S. branch of the company they opened in Glendale in the mid 90's. Other than the books, which you can now find in the bargain bins at Kmart, a fairly unsuccessful merchandising campaign, and the occasional leftover can of Where's Waldo Spaghetti-O's that mysteriously turns up on your grocery store shelf, the Waldo gimmick died pretty quickly. While most of the merchandise they licensed seemed fairly ill-conceived because they lost touch with the whole seek-and-find aspect of the Where's Waldo character, one of the products they produced that I thought was kind of fun and interesting was the Where's Waldo glitter wand; a clear plastic tube about twelve inches long. It was filled with liquid and sparkly stuff that also contained a mini Waldo measuring only about two-eighths of an inch tall. You could easily spend an hour trying to find him. They probably sold for about two dollars when they first came out, but now they're selling on Ebay for anywhere between fifty and one-hundred dollars. I found a box of them in my garage a couple of days ago.

I Really Need to Clean House

2008-08-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

Jinkies! While going through some clutter and looking for some reference materials, I came across this little painting; further proof that I never throw anything away. Circa '94 or '95, this was the very first BG painting I ever did for the WB. I think it was for Animaniacs, but not positive about that.

Feeling moldy

2008-08-13T17:28:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling (not smelling) a bit moldy lately. Other than my "work" work, I haven't been able to move forward on any of the half finished, three-quarters finished, or even the projects that are simply lurking in the dark and dusty corners of my mind. I've got a sculpture I need to finish, three or four paintings in various stages of completion, a novel that I've been tooling away with for over a year now that's approaching the four-hundred page mark, and a spot on the wall I've been meaning to paint over. And now, I have a new blog page to deal with as well. I think I'll go make a sandwich...or maybe some cookies. Yeah, cookies sound good. Or maybe brownies.