The Cuckoo County Fair

I like to try to make something out of even little ideas and doodles. Something like this only takes a couple of hours but it was fun and now it is out of my head so I can move on!
 

Character Monday #16: Olivia and Caleb Wagner

Here are some caricatures of the kids that I used for our Mother's Day card.

The Future of a Future Kindergartener

My daughter is starting to get excited for kindergarten next fall. She told me,

"School is fun, but you have to go to work."

There are so many things I want to teach my children. Obviously, I haven't painted the idea of "work" in a very positive light. A five year old should not already expect work to be a "but". Kids should be playing and learning and dreaming. I want my children to know how awesome it is to be a kid. I also want them to know how awesome it is to be a grown-up. The loves and interests of childhood can remain into adulthood, where they can become even more powerful and meaningful with an understanding and experienced eye.  Work can be the fulfillment of dreams. I pray for the time and the wisdom to communicate this bit of truth to my children (and with a little luck and a lot of hard work, I intend to be their example!)

Go get 'em, kids. (In 20 years!)

I recently listened to Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" .   He gave this inspiring speech titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" 10 months before he died from cancer.   He left behind a wife and three very young children.   Nobody should have time for "reality" television or a negative attitude.

Nien-nos and A-guhngh guhng guhngs

Living with a toddler requires a lot of investigation and translation.  My son's favorite animals are "nien-no"s and "a-guhngh guhng guhng"s.  A "nien-no" is easy enough to figure out...he means rhino. But without the picture above, you would probably never guess that an "a-guhngh guhng guhng" is a penguin. How did "penguin" become "a-guhngh guhng guhng"? My wife figured it out. A penguin waddles so we say "waddle, waddle, waddle" when we see one at the zoo or in a picture. So he is really trying to say "waddle, waddle, waddle" which is what he thinks a penguin is called.  He also rocks his head from side to side when he says it, looking very geeky and adorable.

Man-Eating Flowers

This is a 16" x 20" oil pastel piece that we hung on our daughter's wall when she was a baby.  I like to build layers with oil pastels and then scratch out areas.  This is a technique my mother taught me when I was probably five or six years old.  I still think it is as fun and cool as I did back then.  Also, my mom discovered this blog a couple months ago and she said it was "awesome".  So there!

A dinosaur can eat up to five twinkies a day!

Good!  The internet is still here.  I just got back from a week of family vacation in Florida.  We had a super time in the sun at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and SeaWorld.  I didn't get as much sketching and writing / problem-solving done as I had hoped, but the relaxation and time spent with my family was awesome.  It is difficult for me to concentrate on creative projects when I'm having fun and exciting experiences and watching the fascination and happiness on my children's faces.  I'm sure all of the awesome art and design work from inside the parks has been planted in my subconscious mind for later use.  The week helped refresh my noggin and I hope the plot problems I'm having will be resolved soon. 

At least half of my day job consists of no-brain, monotonous tasks.  This would probably drive most people crazy, but I've come to realize just how important this time is for developing personal projects .  I get my work done while being able to solve plot issues, develop stories and characters, fill in story details, and plan other aspects of my own projects.  Time for writing and artwork is hard to come by in a house with a growing family.  At least I have a day job that allows some time alone to work through project issues, so when I do find a few minutes or an hour at home, I can immediately "put pencil to paper".

And I've learned that the fossilized remains of an ultrasaur was found with a stomach full of Twinkies.  I just had one (a Twinkie not an ultrasaur) and they are not as good as I remembered.

Guess Where I Am

kangaroos? rabbits? dogs?

My daughter and I were playing Connect Four yesterday afternoon. She was about to drop one of her pieces when I told her that I saw a spot where she could win. She examined the board, but couldn't find the spot.

I said "Look closely."

She got right down on her hands and knees and put her face about two inches from the game. She didn't understand why I was laughing.

There's not a whole lot of edgy or sophisticated humor in our house, but there is plenty of genuine laughter.

My Lucky Life, Thanks to My Wife

Today is my wife's birthday. She doesn't love horror and cartoons as much as I do, but I love her anyway. Very, very much. Occasionally I try to make pieces for her that are not too monstrous or cartoony to show my appreciation for her love and support over the years.

I printed and framed the piece above for her Christmas present this year. It was created by finding parts from my abstract paintings that looked like the letters L,O,V, and E. I used it on her Christmas card as well.

Below are some designs that I came up with for our wedding (invites, programs, thank- you cards). We used the one in the lower right. That was almost six years ago! Time flies.

I have some big goals for this year. Lots of hard work (and frustration, I'm sure) ahead. I'm thankful to have my wife by my side. I know how lucky I am.

Princesses Everywhere

My Daughter likes Disney princesses. I'll take that over Bratz any day. Actually, I think I'm more excited about the upcoming The Princess and the Frog than she is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6DmEgtibOg
I made this canopy for her play set.

First, I found pictures of all the princesses and combined them into a composition that would fit the canopy. Then I traced the composition so I would have crisp closed lines. Scanned it in and vectorized it. Digitally filled in color and found matching vinyls. Cut the vinyl (over 15 colors) and applied each as a layer on the canopy. It turned out pretty cool, but it seemed to take forever!

The Birds and the Basement

We have a toy room in our basement. We also have every other room filled with toys. I use our snow shovel to clear some paths between rooms. We painted a wall in the basement toy room with magnetic paint. Then I painted a summer scene over the top. I made some animals, flowers, etc. out of vinyl and applied them to a sheet of soft magnetic material. Then I cut out the shapes and they stick to the wall. Now that the wall has a magnetic layer on it, we can update with a new scene and magnets sometime down the road.

Dad, watch this. Dad! Dad! Watch! Dad! Are you watching?!

"Hey! Wanna dance?"
"What?"
"Do you wanna dance?"

"What?"

"DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?!!"

"Oh, sure. After I'm done dancing."

My daughter loves to dance. She says she wants to be a dancing doctor/teacher/mom when she grows up. Well, that's what she said last night. She has also said she wants to be a zookeeper, an artist, a princess, a vet, a chef, and for Halloween this year - Dorothy. She thinks I should be the Scarecrow. Guess what movie has been playing over and over at our house.

Skinless Jim

Measles make you bumpy
And mumps'll make you lumpy
And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch
A common cold'll fool ya
And whooping cough can cool ya
But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!!
-The Coasters

Fun weekend on the Wisconsin River
Hell Rash on my arms and face...BOOO!
My right eye is swollen shut and my cheek and eyelids are puffy. My wife asked me if I'd ever seen the movie Mask. Here I am suffering with a big puffy head and she wants to talk about movies.

It did get me thinking of David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man. Heartbreaking and heartwarming:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye4YTZOq2fk

Teething in the Jungle

Here are two paintings I did for the Super Shrimp's room. He points at them and then laughs when I make the sound of that animal. (I've gotten pretty good at animal noises over the last few years.) He's having a massive invasion of incoming teeth. The pain is keeping him up at night. Poor little guy.

Chow with Stripes

It doesn't want a hug. It wants a bite. Of you.

I went to the park with my daughter last night. I was watching her run. She is really fast but she holds her arms straight down her side. It's kind of like her top half is just casually riding her legs. And I'm thinking, if I ever get into animation, that's how a character should look when it's running. Seriously, though, I hadn't realized how fast she's gotten! We are going to the State Fair tonight. Animal poop and sugar.

I added the link to my deviantArt page in the sidebar. I go by the name crustibian. I also spent some time filling in my profiles at deviantArt and Conceptart last night. I need to clean up my portfolio page at deviantArt. It's a nice feature for a beginner like myself. It has it's own address which can be given directly to clients (so they're not wading through all of the junk on my home page). It needs to be trimmed and the pieces need to be accurately labeled. I want to put together a nice physical portfolio (relatively) soon and look around locally for some work.

I need to look into some printing options:

1. For my digital work
2. For my larger pieces that won't fit in a portfolio
3. Possibly invest in some postcard mailers (need to research this a bit before I go ahead)

I am also debating the necessity of having a professional website. I know I'll definitely need one down the road. I think my blog and deviantArt gallery and portfolio are fine for now.

I've been looking at some contract samples online. This site has been very helpful: http://www.cegur.com/html/framesupport.html It has some pricing guidelines and also some really nice contract templates that can be used and altered for free.

The Call of Toothhead

Toothhead roars from the highest ridge he can find. He wakes up the wildlife of The Forgotten Forest. They have to stay alert. Toothhead is hungry.


Our very own Gumhead is becoming a Toothhead. One so far, several on the verge of breaking through. He was not a very happy chomper around 3:30 last night. Let's see how much coffee I can drink today.


I've been researching some ways artists are using the internet to display their artwork and promote themselves. I think I will use this blog as a record of the successes and failures in beginning freelance illustration. I'm starting with NO experience, NO connections, and little time (full time job, full time dad). Maybe down the road, someone with similar circumstances can learn from what does and doesn't work for me. Will I live the dream? Stay tuned for all the excitement you can stand.