misc

Here's the very first time Fred (as a dog) ever materialized. For whatever that's worth.
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Here's a sketch for a gag that Nickelodeon turned down because it's similar to another gag they already have.
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Here's a tree in Prague. Can anybody explain to me and Brigham how that tree assumed that shape?

ah, much better

I still have to add some highlights to the toolbox and do some cleanup, but already it is a million times better. It's so easy to get lost in a painting when you're working on it! I gotta pay more attention.

And then there's this: It's so weird how your brain can lock up. I actually HATE green acrylics! The physical makeup of the pigment or something is so uncooperative. Dark greens are thin and runny or thick and shiny, light greens are chalky, and it's practically impossible to get a good large solid area. And all this time I've been dreading that green toolbox! My mind was locked onto that green toolbox because my grandfather had a green toolbox. Ergo, toolboxes are green! It never even occurred to me that it could possibly be anything but green - even though the TYPICAL toolbox that you see all around you every day is red!

Something about Jed's green vs red comment made the clouds part on that one. So this whole feedback experience has been a useful tool for a change, and not just a public fan dance.

Whew.

raw scan

It is my goal to make the actual painting be exactly what is seen in the book. To do otherwise is to cheat. But I'm going to have to fix that boneheaded misspelling of "KETCUP" and as long as I'm in that area I'll probably clean up the lettering. But not much! I promise!

I'll probably enhance the black outline of Fred's nose a bit. But that's it! No more!

Hmmmm - I wonder if that dark area at the top of the medallion on the wall of the yellow building is a scanner smudge. I bet it is. I might fix that.

This is the last Fred painting I'll blog, and Fred is most likely going back on the shelf for a few weeks. But not forever. It may help if you nag me. We're all in this together!

more techneeky geeky stuff

FRED IS DONE! The first painting anyway. Will the others ever get done? Let's just say I'm "motivated". No, seriously - I have some out-of-left-field ideas on how to actually get this thing actually finished and published.

I did not get by the office to scan a mid-way scan of the painting. I kinda wish I did because it looks a lot different today than it did yesterday. But I just did not have any other reason to drive all the way to the scanner. So screw it.

I'll post it tomorrow. Today I will post this sketch from one of the other Fred books, "Easter Egg Fred".


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Here's the more techneeky geeky stuff. I figured out how to download free mp3 editing software! So I can just record all of my old tape compilations as long mp3s, each 45 minute side of the tape being one big mp3. Then I can chop the songs apart with this Audacity program. Which is much easier than manually doing it on the tape deck. I'm sure this is old news to some folks, but it's a major breakthrough for me!

To celebrate, let's all dance to "How's Your Whole... Family?" by Red Peters!
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fred pencil stage

This was actually done about a week ago, but logistics prevented me posting it. I'll try to post a "halfway" pic of the painting, for the curious. But it may just be a finished pic. The logistics problem is I don't have a scanner at home.
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Here's a Prague pic. Brigham caught this one. He said it's actually a pretty swanky hotel.
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Here's yet another strange fetish site I stumbled across. I hit this one while doing an image search for "woman seated on ground".
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two more freds

These are the last two for now. This is all of the story I'll reveal here on the blog. I'll post the pencils and the paints for the first page later. Probably soon.

And here's that SHINS cd cover that Benny says looks Brighamy.

still no word

They still haven't blown the starting whistle at either Big Fat Job. So I got to mess around with Fred some more tonight. Here's the blueline mash-up for the first story page.

food and fred

Batman Export!
More Prague food.
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New Improved Fred!
Here's old unsatisfactory Fred.

I can't work on Buddy McNutty OR the wacky gross-out cards until I get the go-ahead, so over the weekend I dragged out my children's books re-formatted one and updated it and revised it and completely changed Fred and I hope to start cranking out paintings soon, if I can squeeze any in when the dam breaks. That's right, I said PAINTINGS! The Mighty Marvel Value Stamp Book helped me conquer my fear of painting! Thank you, House of Ideas! EXCELSIOR!