the last idjit I'll post

This one looks odd and slightly off-kilter because it's a caricature of one of the guys who works at Playmates - an inside joke. That's the Playmates softball team logo on his uniform, and that's his head on his shoulders. Everything else is fantasy. I don't know if he can really fart green clouds.

I went ahead and finished this one after the job died. They were all looking forward to it so much and having so much fun with it - it just seemed like it had to exist.

So many others never got past flat color, inks, sketches. This one and the lunchroom lady are the only two that went all the way to finish. And that makes me think of all the Unfinished Symphonies I have hanging around. Here's a list. Let me know if you think of any I missed.

Idjits (which, by the way, I really should say is COPYRIGHT PLAYMATES TOYS INC.!)

Montgomery Wart in "Runaway Comic"

Blogopera (but you just wait! Someday...)

Crazy Boss

Quite a few things around here that you have barely seen, like the Wabbit comic strips, Illville, several children's books, Holy Mackerel...

What am I forgetting?

principal plopper

Dogboy did the flat color on this one. Then the hammer came down! Of all the dumb luck! But that's okay because we have other things to do now.

If this had ever gone to finish:

• The sign in the entry behind Principal Plopper would say "BOYS" and have an arrow pointing left.

• the stink cloud drifting from Ploppy back into the restroom would have been disgustingly psychedelic.

• The toilet paper on his shoe would be nasty and the floors and walls in general would look grungier

• The trophies and plaques in the trophy cabinet would be for stuff like "Stinkiest Hallways", "Fart Club", "Lowest Lunchroom Health Score" etc

I did not realize until after I inked it how much this looks like Fred Thompson.

R.I.P.

The TOP SECRET PROJECT revealed!

Let me get this straight right off the bat -

Playmates was GREAT! They are NOT the Corporate Fun Smasher. They were very fun to work with and beyond fair throughout this project. The Giant Retailer who cancelled their order killed the project. Or maybe somebody at Playmates thought they had more of a solid deal than they really had. I can't really play the blame game there, I don't know all that. All I know is the folks at Playmates were awesome. Look at this! They said it was cool if I show a little art on my blog! That's pretty cool, coming from a company that develops big multi-jillion $ toy lines and has trade secrets and stuff. I guess they're pretty sure this thing is deader'n hell.

ENOUGH POLITICS! What is this stuff?

answer: I'm not sure. The Steves over at Goblertoys are involved in this electronic board game. Because, you know, you can't just collect cards or play a board game anymore - it's gotta be ELECTRONIC and digital and shit. I never knew what all the bar codes and scores and stuff were all about. Not my department.

I'm not sure if the Steves invented it, or are/were developing it. But Steve C pulled me in for character design and illustration. There were 50 cards. Somebody else illustrated the first 10. I was doing 40. And the idea was that there would be future characters, so this coulda been a really sweet gig. BOO HOO!

Below is a rough sketch, an inked card, and a finished card. Click to embiggen.

WAYNO: I was not trying to channel VIP for the cop. It just happened. No kidding!

MR. DOBBS: Can you guess who the Giant Retailer is???

TOMORROW: THE ONE THE OTHER MARK M WORKED ON!