New Year's Eve 2009: Out with the old...

2009. What a long, strange, wonderful trip it's been! I think this year ranks up there among the most pivotal and important years of my life. I got married to the woman of my dreams, conceived a child (due in the next few months), was embroiled in a highly emotional but completely necessary legal battle, and established a the next stage of my freelance career.

Last year at this time, I set some goals for 2009. You can view them here. Let's see how I did.

1.Post more on the blog: Granted, I was certain I would be in the triple digits, well over a hundred posts. I ended up with 91, pretty close.

2. Publish more: Black Cat Bone took a year sabbatical. In the meantime, I started Durkin's Dragons, which produced an art book and a calendar. I also partnered with Angela Larson of Fierce Fun Toys to illustrate Norman Phartephant Book 1.

3. Attend more cons: I was a guest artist at MegaCon in Orlando this year, I attended the Animation Supercon in Miami and the ISCA convention in Ohio.

4. Lose more weight/Get in shape: Okay, I started out the year great, but when my wife and I found out she was pregnant and I was going through some other issues, I gained back all the weight I had lost. I eat great; organic natural food, no high-fructose corn syrup, no palm oil, no white flour, for the most part, I've cut out soft drinks, alcohol and junk food. I just need to get ACTIVE!

5. Get a website: Also a miss, although I have updated the blog considerably with many more features and I've increased my presence on the web in other areas.

So, not bad I suppose. There are some things I'm doing right, and other's that are areas of opportunity. That's what life is all about: recognizing your accomplishments and always trying to grow and learn. Tomorrow I'll talk about my plans for 2010. Enjoy the celebrations tonight and I'll see you here tomorrow!

My pal Norman Phartephant on the web.

Norman Phartephant, whose book I illustrated, has been garnering a lot of attention lately on the web. Check out these links:

Wonderful article with a great review of the book.

In the November/December issue, page 58.

In The Toy Man Product Guide, Best of 2009 in the toys and specialties section.

There's a lot in store for Norman and his friends in 2010. Stay tuned!

Nooo! This doesn't happen to me!

Dragon Down!

The end (of the year) is nigh.

Do you have your 2010 calendar yet? Better hurry, the year is almost over! Stop by IndyPlanet and order your 2010 Durkin's Dragons calendar before it's too late!

Random Rockin' Rabbits for no Reason.

December 26th. 'Twas the day after Christmas.

I'll bet a lot of us are feeling like ol' Santa today. I had a wonderful Christmas, but I'm taking today off to recover from it.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Merry Christmas from Durkin's Dragons

Links Spotlight: Alex and Kathy

My son Alex is an aspiring artist. Actually, he wants to be a film-maker, but realizes he has to develop his artistic side, so he draws a lot. Below, is one of his more recent pictures, General Grievous from Star Wars.

He is co-author of a blog with my daughter Kathy, who's creative side has turned to music. Check out their blog at http://alexandkathysblog.blogspot.com/. They're going to try updating it on a more regular basis (right you two?!?)

Brrrrr....

Off to draw caricatures at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Current temperature: 44 degrees.

Christmas cookies: Let's start the insanity.

I love making Christmas cookies, especially when the kids do most of the work. This year we had some of the neighbor kids help out. That's my son Alex, Ashley, my daughter Kathy and Brittany. You can see the gingerbread house in progress, and the assorted bowls of cookie dough in various stages of completion. Tomorrow, the final result!

The I.T. Crowd: Final printed version

Remember the group caricature for the I.T. Crowd I posted a few days ago? The final piece was to be printed on canvas and presented to the group. I was surprised when I received a canvas copy of the piece, signed by all the subjected depicted in it. Boy is it intimidating to see your own artwork blown up in size! Thanks I.T. Crowd!

Xmas with the in-laws.

Heading to Tampa today to have Christmas with my wife's family. I will have to give special attention to the diva of the family, my niece Rotunda. Ain't she cute?

Links Spotlight: Robb Miller

I've been a member of The International Society of Caricature Artists for many years now. The organization has been an essential tool for networking, growing and learning as an artist and promoting my work. I've also had the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing artists from around the world, and even become good friends with many of them.

One such artist is Robb Miller. Robb has a great, cartoony style and can capture impeccable likenesses with his caricatures. In fact, of the many caricatures I've had drawn of myself, Robb's is one of my favorites. It's been hanging on the wall to the right of my computer monitor for years.
Check him out at http://robbmiller.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Babes!

Today is my amazing wife's birthday. For those who know us on a personal level, you all are aware of the positive impact we've had on each other's lives. Among all the photos of us, this is one of my favorites. This picture was taken during a walk we took while visiting Raleigh North Carolina. At this point in the hike we were passing under the Meredith/Wade Ave bridge. It's a particularly symbolic picture for me, because it shows us, side-by-side, hand in hand "two against the world."
Happy Birthday sweetie. I love you!

Scraps 3: Return of the Scraps

Including Charlie Brown as Doc Ock!

The DURKINtile is OPEN!

Get it? Durkintile? Like mercantile but with Durkin instead of...oh never mind!

Christmas is approaching, but it's not too late to order some last minute gifts (and line my pockets with cash.) Check them out.

Durkin's Dragon's 2010 Calendar.

Durkin's Dragons Book.

Durkin's Dragons gifts and apparel.

Black Cat Bone Chapter One: The Blues is Born. Written and Illustrated by Kenny Durkin.

Norman Phartephant. Illustrated by Kenny Durkin

Scraps 2: Electric Boogaloo

Found some more scraps... I'll share more scraps with you soon!

The I.T. Crowd

This is a recent commission I did for 14 members of an office group. I did each caricature individually, then another artist colored them and another artist laid them out and did the background.

Mozzi's caricatures

Below are some caricatures I drew last night at Mozzi's Italian Restaurant.He was a fan of ABC's LOST. I think I made him look a lot like Stephen Colbert.

He loves Big Daddy Roth's Rat Fink.

His daughter's friend calls him Rick the Grouch, although I found him to be a pretty happy guy. Any time I get a chance to draw Muppets, I'm thoroughly delighted.

I've never been threatened to draw someone at gunpoint. Sure, it was a paintball gun, but still...

She was a fan of Tony Stewart. She had a picture of him on her wallet, so I couldn't resist.

Non-Sketchbook Sketches

I don't know why, but I can never seem to maintain a sketchbook. It seems I'll get two or three pages into it, and then I'll lose it or forget about it. It's not that sketches aren't important to me, on the contrary, I think they're a vital tool for the creative person. It's just that some of my best sketches have been done in the margins of paper, on napkins, post-it notes or other bits of paper. I think if I were ever to release a sketchbook to the masses I would call it "Scraps" and it would look something like this:

Mozzi's Italian Restaurant

Last year I did a caricature gig at Mozzi's Italian Restaurant in Port St. Lucie, Fl. This Friday I'll be back. Stop by, have some pizza and get your caricature done by me. I'll see you there!

Red Carpet

Here is another recent commission I did. This client wanted a picture of their daughter walking down the red carpet, with a crowd behind her......AND her brother...AND her dog biting someone in the butt...AND although she was only 9, the client wanted me to draw what she MAY look like when she's 16.

But I'm definitely not complaining. The back and forth with the client was an essential dialogue in helping me exercise my creative muscles. I'm always looking for new ways to challenge myself artistically and creatively. This was a great project.

Bulldog mascot design.

This is a bulldog mascot design I did for http://www.theconservativemafia.com/ While the site doesn't necessarily reflect my personal political viewpoint, the client is great to work with, and in the end, isn't that all that matters?

Caricature Commissions

These are a few caricature commissions I've done recently. The first is for a woman who has a blog about eloping. http://elopology.typepad.com/

This is one of those "inside joke" type caricatures. Obviously they love their dogs, but what's with the viking and Indian costumes? None of my business if they're paying.

Another inside joke. I really don't want to know.

Wedding couple.

Durkin and Duck: Random Pinup Hotties

A few years ago, talented artist and good friend Mike "Locoduck" Duron and I collaborated on a book called "Durkin and Duck: Random Pinup Hotties." We designed the book to be sold at several of the comic book conventions we were attending that year. We each selected six female characters from comic books, animation, movies etc to portray in our own way. It was a really fun project, and gave me a chance to do things I normally wouldn't do. These are my images.

Catwoman.

Mike decided we should each draw a female character from a video game. I chose Ms. Pac Man. Still hot after all of these years.

Princess Leia as Jabba's slave. My favorite for obvious reasons.

She-Ra.

Harley Quinn.

Little Red Riding Hood.

Supergirl. I dig this one too.