Little Chuckie Cherub

Sorry…I’m shooting blanks from my “witty comment” gun right now. I’ll let you decide what should go here.

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Wait. His name WASN’T Trippy?

Remember when you saw your first “Draw Me” ad? Maybe it was in the back of a comic book. Or on a matchbook cover. Or in TV Guide.

You old-timers know what I’m talking about..the ones that promised you an exciting career in cartooning if your rendition of the supplied art was deemed worthy of a scholarship to the prestigious Art Instruction Schools. There was Cubby the bear, a pirate, a cowboy…and, of course, Tippy the Turtle. My main memory of those ads was that, even as a kid, I knew there was no real creativity involved in just copying someone else’s art.

Don’t get me wrong. As a child, I did my fair share of copying other people’s work, and even (gasp!) tracing it on occasion. But I was working on my technique, not my creativity, in those instances, and I knew it. I think that differentiation is lost on a LOT of people.

Anyway, before I get too soap-boxy, I present for your viewing pleasure my take on Tippy. Hope you enjoy it. And if you can draw it exactly as it looks…well….you have too much time on your hands.

And you need therapy.

A Sense of Direction… A Direction of Sense

This entire sketch sprang forth from the big guy’s nostril.

No, I’m not talking in the sense that Athena sprang forth from Zeus’ brow. I mean I started doodling his left nostril (an act which sounds much grosser than it really was) and it grew from there.

So, needless to say, I have no idea what the story is behind this scene. Once again, I must ask that you provide your own version of events. Where are they going? Why does the little furry fella get to ride in the backpack? And, is that little dog/centaur thingy wearing a hat or is his skull shaped like that?

An Elusive Tease, or Who’s Sam?

As a child, back in the pre-internet days (remember those?) and growing up in a small town, one of the most frustrating things I would encounter was what I’ll refer to as “comic book snippet syndrome” (CBSS). I’d catch a glimpse of some comic book, or even read the whole issue if there was time, as I wandered through a bookstore on one of our occasional visits to the “big city”. Then, being from the booming metropolis that I was, and having NO BOOKSTORES in said hometown, I’d never get to read the rest of the story or find out what happened after the cliffhanger ending that only made me want more.

Oh, the agonies such teasing, elusive comic book encounters can inflict on the tortured mind of a ten-year-old boy!

But I also feel like not knowing helped me. It forced me to create my own stories in my head, and to draw them out on paper. Those teases were the seeds of creativity, the impetus for all my future artistic endeavors.

So now I’m giving a little back to the great Swirl of the Unfinished. This doodle started out as the big pointy frog thingy. Then I realized he had to be talking to someone….hence the little man. The dialogue…well…heck, I don’t know where that came from. Or where it’s leading. Or who this Sam character is they’re talking about.

That’s up to you. And the curious, hungry-for-more ten-year-old I hope we all still have inside.

 

 

Merry Christmas, Tough Bob.

Sooooo…what was the best Christmas present you ever got?

What was the worst?

What was the gift you always wanted but never got?

What makes YOU feel invincible?

We all have something…or at least we did as kids….that made us feel like we were stronger than King Kong or prettier than Barbie (or both maybe).

My childhood “invincibility totem” was my first pair of real live hiking boots. I felt like I was ready to hike up Everest with those bad boys on! Yours might have been a certain pair of sneakers, or your first leather jacket, or a special dress.

Or maybe it wasn’t an item of clothing. Maybe it was a person.

That best friend that was dead set on y’all being a crime fighting team when you grew up. Or the sister you were going to form a world-famous rock band with.

Nowadays, mine is a beautiful woman named Kristi. Ten years ago tomorrow, she said she’d marry me. And ever since-with a huge heap of God’s help in the mix-we’ve climbed personal and emotional mountains together that make ol’ Everest look like a cake walk. And I’m ready to take on more every time I look at her.

(Thank you, Kristi. I love you.)

So….what about you? What makes, or made, you feel invincible?

When a doodle goes unfinished

What was I going to draw little googly-eyed dude here reaching for, you might ask?

I HAVE NO IDEA. That’s the way my doodles go, usually. Just kind of thrown together. So I started this one and never had time to finish.

He could be reaching for a fish that’s flying by on a pedal-powered helicopter, for all I know. I’ll let you decide.

What do you think he’s reaching for?