Muppet Monday: Happy Halloween!

Toon Challenge: Halloween Costume- In Color

Here's my Toon Challenge entry for October, this time in color.I had Alex help me out with the coloring. Thanks for the help dude!

Toon Challenge: Halloween Costume

This month's Toon Challenge over on Facebook is "Halloween Costume" Here's my entry so far:

I'm in the process of coloring it right now. Look for the final piece right here soon!

Toughpigs reveiws: Mighty Fine T-shirt designs.

As they did with the Threadless t-shirt Muppet design contest, Muppet fan site Toughpigs is reviewing every single design entered in the Mighty Fine Muppet t-shirt design contest currently in the judging stage at welovefine.com.

Toughpigs has always been great to me and my two designs are in the next batch of entries they're reviewing. I've screencapped the reviews below.

You can also check it out by clicking here.
Thanks TOUGHPIGS!

Jett reading; Part two

Jett is making remarkable progress in his reading. He can identify 40-50 words. Here he is reading 9 words in succession.

I've also seen a marked improvement in my upside-down writing skills.

Great job Jett, keep up the good work!

Dark Mischief Kickstarter: Only a few hours left!

There are only a few hours left to contribute to Dark Mischief's Kickstarter campaign!

Dark Mischief will be released soon and it's a collection of short, spooky comic stories. "Dead Charlie and Zombie Bob", an original tale that I wrote and illustrated, is one of the stories featured in the book.

The Kickstarter campaign has been put into place in an effort to raise some funds to pay advances to the artists and writers who have contributed to this project. 100% of all proceeds from this campaign (after paying for the rewards themselves) go directly to the creators who contributed stories as advances on their royalties.

So as I said, there are only a few hours left, so if you have some extra change, go to the Dark Mischief Kickstarter page and donate, won't you?

Changing Minds Foundation Seminar

In just a few weeks, Orlando will be hosting the Changing Minds Foundation Seminar.

As you can see by the flyer (which features a photo of Jett), Andi will be one of the speakers. For those of you parents who have a child with DS, or even those who know a family that has a member with DS, I highly recommend attending. It's absolutely free, but you'll need to register. I'll be there as well with Jett. See you then!

Milwaukee Mitchell Airport Monday

Since I am traveling back to Florida today, let's pretend that yesterday's post was for Muppet Monday. There, that was easy, wasn't it?

I came up to Wisconsin for a few days to visit with family and attend my cousin's wedding. Now I'm sitting in my favorite airport, Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport, waiting to board my flight. Why is it my favorite?

There are ample Cheeseheads available in the gift shops,

there's ping pong,

there are pterodactyls

...and there is a very specific area set up after the security checkpoint in case you become "discombobulated"

I'm going to miss ol' Wisconsin, but I'm sure I'll be back soon.

Orlando Weekly: Puppet, Muppet and Marionette Art Show article.

The Orlando Weekly currently featuring an article about the Puppet, Muppet and Marionette Art Festival.

I've copied and pasted and excerpt from the article below, written by Skubersky:

Between the production of Avenue Q at Theatre Downtown (extended through October 29) and the upcoming Thanksgiving release of the new Muppet movie, I’ve had puppets on the brain lately. Which led me to wonder “what’s going on with the Orlando Puppet Festival this year?”The answer, it turns out, is quite a bit. The 7th annual event, created and supported by Heather Henson of IBEX Puppetry, returns this November in a new format. This year, the programming is being spearheaded by Sean Keohane of Pinocchio’s Marionette Theater in the Altamonte Mall, which will host the bulk of OPF’s performances on November 5 & 6. In addition, there will be more adult-oriented offerings, including a “puppet slam” and Muppet Movie singalong, held downtown at Urban Rethink and the Gallery at Avalon Island.As a festival kickoff/preview, the OPF-sponsored art show “Puppet, Muppet, & Marionette” premiered last night at the Gallery at Avalon Island, as part of the evening’s Third Thursday art crawl. The collection curated by Benjamin S. Sawinski features inagesof Jim Henson’s iconic characters reinterpreted by over a dozen artists including Rhandi, Kenny Durkin, Eric Johnson, Parker Sketch, Cassie Wojcik, and Jennifer Jacobson. My favorite element of the exhibit is the display of handmade creatures by Jack Fields in the adjoining Cafe; the richly textured junk-made monsters (along with stills from his work-in-progress surrealist short film) are each unique, but all carry a consistently off-kilter aesthetic that serves to imbue piles of detritus with personality.

The article also features pics of two of my pieces from the show.

Check it out here

Zombie Bob: Pop Star.

I'm up in Wisconsin right now, and I've locked myself in a room of my parent's house to finish my short story Dead Charlie and Zombie Bob.

Like the movie poster I blogged about a few days ago, this bit of artwork also appears at some point in the story. It's an album cover during Bob's short but significant career as a recording star.I've got a lot of work to do. See ya!

Congratulations Brandon and Dori!

I'm up on Wisconsin celebrating my cousin Dori's wedding.


It's a pretty sure bet that if you invite me to your wedding, your gift from me is going to be a caricature of you...


Congrats again you two, I had a great time!

The Puppet, Muppet and Marionette Art Show open!

Just got back from the opening night of the Puppet Muppet and Marionette Art Festival at the Avalon Gallery in Orlando. There was a HUGE turnout and I met a lot of enthusiastic and supportive gallery attendees. I'll be going back to take more pictures, but here are a few for now.This is the view from outside the gallery. I'll get a better shot next time, but I was so excited to get inside the gallery and look around. Here's the famous poster for the show. So cool to finally see one in person.This is two of my pieces, "Steppin' Out" and "Teeth". My artwork is in a gallery! My artwork is in a gallery! Here's me and "One man's trash is another man's Muppet". By the way, my shirt was designed my James Caroll, one of the contestants from the Threadless Muppet Design challenge that I also competed in. You can order one for yourself right here.

Jett, me and the "trash".

The festival runs through November 10th, so if you're in the Orlando area, be sure to stop by and check it out. It's FREE!
For those that are out of town, I will be returning to the gallery to take some more pics and show some of the other great artwork on display.

Tom Richmond's Mad Art of Caricature

Yesterday was an awesome day, because I took delivery of Tom Richmond's The Mad Art of Caricature.This is not only the most informative book of caricature I've ever seen, but the best instructional art book PERIOD. There is so much knowledge and experience packed into the book and I expect every single one of the 170 full-color pages pages of my copy to be highlighted, dog-eared and underlined. I highly recommend Tom's book for any artist or caricature enthusiast. Go to http://www.deadlinedemon.com/ and order yours today!

Zombie Bob: The movie

I'm still knee-deep in production on my short story Dead Charlie and Zombie Bob, but I thought I'd take a little break and show you a bit of artwork from it.This is a movie poster that appears at some point in the story. It's supposed to be a parody of the animated movie posters from the past few years. You know the ones, with the character looking straight forward, the saturated blue sky with white wispy clouds, the shock-green grass. You know, the movies that try to be all things to all people. Of course, it MUST be in 3-D. Ugh...

Muppet Monday: Art Show Pieces

This Thursday, October 20th is the Puppet, Muppet & Marionette Art Show in Orlando.

I have three pieces in the show:

My Dr. Teeth JAWS movie poster parody, "TEETH",

"Steppin' Out" with Jim and Kermit,

and "One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Muppets"

This is my first gallery show, and I'm SO excited!

My fort.

I need your votes (again).

"It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights..."

It's time to cast your vote in the WeLoveFine Shop Muppets Tee Design Contest!

This is the second Muppet t-shirt design contest I've entered. The last time it was through Threadless.com. This time it's from the site welovefine.com. I was able to submit two designs. The first is called "It's time."

This design was made exclusively for the WeLoveFine contest.Participants were allowed to enter up to 5 designs. I entered some artwork I had done previously just for fun. I call this one "Loud and Obnoxious"

To vote, you'll need to register on the site. The entries are presented in random order, so just scroll through until you see my designs. The higher the score, the better chance of winning, so be a pal and please give me a "5", won't you?

Toon Challenge: Not Exactly.

This is what was supposed to be my entry for this month's Toon Challenge over on Facebook.Unfortunately, I misread what the challenge was, and did a simple Halloween picture of a bunch of classic monsters. The challenge however, is actually supposed to be a character in a funny Halloween costume. Oh well, back to the ol' drawing board.

Snack time.

Toon Challenge: Halloween work in progress

I'm involved in a monthly character design competition over on Facebook called Toon Challenge. This month, the theme is "Halloween." here is a work-in-progress pic of my entry so far.


I wanted to redesign a few of the classic Universal Studios monsters. My next step is to crop and rearrange them and color them digitally. Stat tuned for the final result!

One man's trash is another man's Muppet: Finished Piece

This is the completed piece that I've been working on for the upcoming Puppet, Muppet and Marionette art show. This is one of three pieces of art I am submitting.

Can you recognize the five Muppets and what they are made out of?

Muppet Monday: one man's trash is another man's Muppet

I'm only a few days away from the deadline to submit my pieces for the Muppet, Puppet and Marionette Art Festival. I've completed two already. The third is almost finished.



I actually teased it the other day. This box of junk is going to be repurposed as art featuring several of the Muppet characters. The idea was to portray the characters while not necessarily hiding the object. I wanted the viewer to be able to clearly see what the Muppet was made from.
I turned the football into Kermit. I cut the football in half and painted it green. I used craft foam for the collar.




I ripped some eyes off of an old plush Kermit and stuck them to the face.


Here's the end result. There are four other Muppets joining Kermit on the final piece, which I will be posting here tomorrow!

Win a trip to Costa Rica with the Changing Minds Foundation

The Changing Minds Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the mental ability of persons with Down syndrome - NOW- with available medical treatments and proper education.

The CMF has been instrumental in the remarkable growth and development of Jett. It is, however, a non-profit organization, and relies on fundraising and donations to operate. Their current contest could win you a trip to Costa Rica!

You don't have to play golf to get involved...

Enter the Changing Minds Foundation Ball Drop Contest and purchase as many golf balls as you want for $25 each. Every ball will give you a chance at a trip to The Four Seasons Resort, Costa Rica at Papagayo. As well as to help support the Changing Minds Foundation's efforts for Down syndrome.

On Friday, October 28th, at Wildcat Golf Club, all balls will be dropped from a helicopter hovering over the driving range. The first ball to land in the hole (or closest to the pin) wins the trip. The ball drop is limited to 2000 balls.

Deadline to enter is October 27, 2011.
Feel free to buy as many golf balls as you want.

Trip includes: 4 nights at the Four Seasons Resort, Costa Rica at Papagayo, airfare and transfers for two people, golf for two, as well as $500 spending cash.

http://www.changingmindsfoundation.org/golf_tournament.html

Box o' stuff

What's up with this box of stuff? Is there some significance to it all?

Find out soon!

French horn fan

The debut of Alex and Kathy to the comic strip!

Little artist.

Dead Charlie and zombie bob: Sneak peek, Page 6

I'm almost finished with Dead Charlie and zombie bob. Here's a sneak peek at page 6.

Muppet News Flash...

I have so much going on in the Muppet world right now, I can't contain it to one post. Yesterday I showed the artwork I did for the welovefine.com Muppet t-shirt contest. Today I have even more news.

Steve Swanson runs the Muppet podcast Muppetcast. In the latest episode, he interviewed Joe Hennes, who runs toughpigs.com, the preeminent Muppets fan site. In the interview, Joe reviewed his recent trip to Walt Disney World and the state of the Muppet's presence in it. I met with Joe when he visited a few weeks ago, and you can imagine my surprise when he mentioned me as part of his visit.

You can listen to the interview here. The part where Joe mentions me is about two-thirds in to the podcast. It's actually at the 30:06 mark (good job Keelan). Thanks to Steve and Joe for the shout out!

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I am also an attending artist at Orlando's Puppet, Muppet and Marionette Art Show.

The art show is taking place during the 7th annual Orlando Puppet Festival. The Orlando Puppet Festival website has just been updated to include info on this year's gallery show and lists the artists (including me). You can check it out here.

Muppet Monday: WeLoveFine.com t-shirt designs.

A few months ago I participated in the Threadless.com Muppet t-shirt design challenge and although my design did not win, I had a great time, and vowed that I would enter another Muppet design contest should one come along.
Well, one DID come along, this time at welovefine.com. The call for entries just ended last night, and now the company is preparing for the voting process.
Contestants were allowed to submit up to five designs. I decided that I would design one exclusively for the competition, and enter another design that I had done previously just for fun.

This is the design I did just for the contest. I call it "It's time to get things started", taken from the lyrics from the Muppet Show. I pictured the gang in a mad dash to have some sort of adventure, or head out on stage for a show.Here's what it would look like on a shirt.

I also used one of my previous Muppet designs that I entered just for fun.
Stay tuned, I've got more Muppety news tomorrow!

Getting there...

Right. So I've been working NON-STOP on Dead Charlie and zombie bob for the past few days and I'm definitely making progress. I'm going to take a break and go do some retail caricaturing tonight and then pull another marathon tomorrow and finish the story.Okay Charlie, okay. Back to work. I get it.