No Fair

Mar08
by on March 8, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Posted In: Comic

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I’m a bit late today. As you can see, I went a little crazy drawing up and coloring the fair backgrounds.

I don’t know about you, but I love fairs! At the Lake County Fair in Grayslake, IL, I used to judge art for the 4-H. I did that for about 10 years. Now that I live in Texas, I never miss the Texas State Fair. Though the ties to our agricultural roots grows slimmer, annual late-summer/early fall fairs are a tradition I hope will never die out. I mean, where else would you go to see pig races and a wide selection of tractors, eat roast corn and strange, new, fried foods, view award-winning preserves and giant butter sculptures, and get your yearly Tilt-O-Whirl fix (and then regret having eaten the new fried food)? Can’t get all this at a parking lot carnival or Six Flags.

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Novel Approach

Mar01
by on March 1, 2011 at 3:04 am
Posted In: Comic

I have to admit that this strip is pretty topical because I owe the library a few DVDs and will probably have to rummage through my son’s room to find the fossil book that is also past due. I really enjoy our local library, but I’ve been reading lately about how some towns are having problems affording them. They either cut hours of operation or sell the library to a private company to run. I also wonder if there will be a need for so many physical locations once everything is available digitally online. Will each town need it’s own library, let alone multiple branches? Watching what is happening to Blockbuster and Borders, can our local libraries be far behind? Just wondering.

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Clairvoyant Corn

Feb22
by on February 22, 2011 at 1:00 am
Posted In: Comic

One of the things I really enjoy about facebook is that it allows people to catch up with people they’ve lost track of over the years. This week I got to thank comic book artist, animator and designer Rick Hoberg. (www.rickhoberg.com)

While I was in college, I had hopes of being a comic book artist or animator. I met Rick at several Chicago Comicons. He was generous enough to review my art over the years and told me to look him up when I got to California. This was back in the 80s when he sported a Don Johnson look (pink blazer rolled up at the sleeves). Before graduating, I arranged for some interviews at animation studios and headed out to California. Rick was the first person I met with. He reviewed my giant, unruly stack of drawings and helped prep me for the interviews, including teaching me how to put together a proper portfolio to present my artwork in. Since I only took two art classes for non-majors in college, I had never heard of a portfolio. Most of my art training came from working at school newspapers. I bought a portfolio that evening and put it together in my motel room for interviews the following days.

Never did complete the Filmation test or pursue a job in animation. At the time it would have most-likely involved doing seasonal work and waiting tables in between. Instead, that portfolio landed me my first job as a newspaper artist (as well as my next few jobs). So it was nice to find Rick after all these years and thank him for his advice and encouragement when I was younger.

Hope you’ve had the chance to use facebook that way, too!

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