Illustration Friday: FOCUSED

'Company' cartoon

Playhouse Merced's production of 'Company' will feature some "New Yorker" - style cartoons by yours truly. They'll appear throughout the show as big posters. The show is set in the early 1970s, so the gags in the cartoons are meant to reflect that era and relationships. Here's a sample. (To see the rest, you have to go to the show. Support live theater! ; )

You Make The Call!

The 50 Snowman project was fun to do. I had no idea where it would go. It started off one way and made the turn into puns and that was that. What was fun was that it got folks thinking up snowman gags and ideas, too.

So, what should be next? I'm going to do something Halloween related for sure this fall, but it's a bit early in the year for that. I'm asking for your suggestions. It doesn't have to be 50 of something, by the way. It is fun to come up with a "complete set" of things, but I'm totally open to suggestions.

Think about it, and post a comment below or send me an e-mail (kar2oonman@gmail.com) and let's see what happens.

Tunes That Are Looney

I may have discovered the happiest little album ever in the history of earth. "The Music of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights." It's this whacked-out 1930's jazz music that was often borrowed for old Warner Bros. cartoons in that era.

You'd all recognize "Powerhouse" as that industrial/factory sounding tune -- you can imagine Daffy Duck pushing some poor sap into the cogs and gears of some automated assembly line when you hear this music. This is Toontown music at its tooniest.

Anyway, the whole thing is nuts. I think it's impossible not to smile when you listen to it. Fun, fun stuff!

Cabs

One of the images for Playhouse Merced's production of Stephen Sondheim's 'Company'. They're using cartoons and cartoon images as the sets for this production.

Yogi 2010

Next time...

Fred Flintstone

Way back when I was in elementary school, there was a kid who could draw Fred Flintstone really well. I was instantly impressed (and jealous) at how easily he could dash off a sketch of Fred or characters from The Wizard of Id or just about anything. No idea if he pursued a career in art, but to me his ability was already amazing in 4th grade.

Here's my take on Fred Flintstone. A pencil sketch and a more fully-rendered version. I made him a little more cartoony and goofy and chunky looking than the "official" Fred we all know today. What do you think?

Snowman Series #50 of 50

Snowman Series #49 of 50

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Snowman Series #47 of 50

Snowman Series #46 of 50

Scurvy Pirate

For an upcoming Kid Scoop page about vitamin C, I drew this pirate. (Pirates and other seafaring types were always battling scurvy due to a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables aboard their ships. Rum can only do so much.)

Under the Weather

Sorry for the delay in the last few of the snowman series. I've been really under the weather this week with a hideous cold. (Though "Under the Weather" isn't a bad idea for one of the remaining snowmen... we'll see.)

Company

This is a poster I did for Playhouse Merced's upcoming production of Company, Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical comedy about 35 year old Bobby's birthday midlife crisis.

My mom and dad played the original Broadway cast album all the time when I was a kid. So when Jim Kocher sent me the script and a CD of the music, it was like stepping into the Wayback Machine.

Snowman Series #45 of 50