Over the years I have forgotten the origin of this head. It's history is cloudy and unclear, like the origin of Alfred E Newman.
I know I drew the original head. Beyond that... I have a major senior moment mental block. I'm pretty sure I drew it in the upper left-corner of a cover I drew for Slam Bang back when it was just a little photocopied mini comic. I could walk across the room right now and dig into the mini comic archives and verify that.
But that would not answer what I have forgotten over the years - Did I draw this face out of thin air, or was I copying some pre-existing Fan-Atic logo thing? It seems like the latter to me, but I'm not sure.
Last week I got an urge to draw a new cleaned-up head. In our emails, I asked Allen Freeman (publisher) if he recalled the origin, and got a cryptic answer that I'm not sure was even an answer at all. I think he completely missed the question. He's old and easily distracted too.
Here's a picture he sent me. Mrs. Allen Freeman actually quilted that white-on-black head behind him. I didn't know that thing existed, that hand-sewn beauty! It kinda makes my head spin, to think some ugly little face I doodled 20 years ago exists now as a lovingly hand-crafted quilt. I get all sentimental and experience slight vertigo.
Now that I have drawn the new head, I'm not sure if I prefer it. What do you think? It's kinda like that old children's record "Chocolate Train". I LOVE the old scratchy surface-noise version I have on tape. The newer, cleaner version I found years later - eh, not as much.
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NEW MICHAEL HALL ART!!!
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An Open Letter to eeTeeD:
I hereby publicly grant you permission to create that zoetrope thing you want me to do. I just don't have time to do it. You do it and send it here. I'll post it so the world can have access to a Teeny Weeny zoetrope and angels will rejoice. If it's really good I'll show it to Nick Mag and if they print it I'll give you 80% of the money. I still own the character 100% but you can have the lion's share of the zoetrope money. This offer is strictly limited to eeTeeD and the zoetrope. I don't grant any other Teeny Weeny rights to anyone, beyond the publishing rights that I grant to Nickelodeon.
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5 comments:
i can't decide which head i like better, though i suspect the lettering on the original reads better when shrunk down to logo size.
i'm also swamped. can the zoetrope wait until after the publication of henbanes chapter 2? the publication date is still several months away (i'll guess 4 months).
Ha! You crack me up, eeTeeD!
I like the old head better.
The new head is good, but the old head has that "je ne se quois".
I can't wait for the zoetrope, but I wanna see part 2 of The Henbanes, too. ee, have you thought of taking Vivarin?
benny, vivarin doesn't work on me. i guess i am a natural born turtle.
what *might* work is a rich widow who could be my patron... or is that matron... ummm wutever.
chapter 2 of the henbanes is going to be a few pages longer than chapter one, which slows things even further. i think i am working on inking page 20 right now. i kinda lost count. chapter 2 has a lot more action and mystery than chapter 1. i hope you will like it.
Do I have to choose? Is this like deciding which MM I like? The old MM or the more recent old MM? I'm getting anxiety. I'm gonna sue!
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