Wednesday, March 24, 2010

picture pages - four


when susen and i found out we were having a girl i got really scared and completely insecure because i grew up with two brothers and i'm into comic books and wrestling and video games. i was very worried that i wouldn't be able to relate to our daughter and she'd have a miserable childhood as a result. of course when she was born all that changed. when chlo was an infant and waking up in the middle of the night she was perfectly content watching two am wrestling matches on the couch with me. as chloe got older we played legend of zelda together on the nintendo and she even refers to magazines and catalogs as comic books. now, with chloe's fifth birthday a couple of months past, she sits on my lap while i read comic books and sounds out all the sound effects (BAM! WHIZZZ! etc.). i certainly can't complain about having a daughter. it's been a wonderful experience for me and she cracks me up every day. chloe even inspires me which is where this edition of picture pages comes from.

our daughter really likes super heroes and really wants to read so i'm developing a new character to write some fun stuff for her to read. these are some preliminary sketches i've made and i'm confident that i can create something good for her. my idea was to create a character that chlo could relate to and hopefully want to "be." chloe really loves cats so it had to be a girl cat with fashion sense that chlo would get excited about. the stories i write will need to be basic "popo can run" "popo can jump" lines that chloe can read to us, rather than have us read to her. it's important that the pages are simple line drawings that chloe can color because that's what kids do...they color. these sketches were done in my notebook with pencils. i recently procured a wacom tablet and a wicked cool art program more conducive to comic book creation than photoshop so finished product will be computer based from start to finish. i'm really excited about the possibilities and i'll post the pages here when i've finished.

about this drawing: the artwork here is a simple jpeg of scanned sketches fit together into a collage. for anyone interested i have posted a pdf that includes notes concerning the various aspects of the sketches.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

birthday haiku - nine

bonds formed instantly

tightened and strengthened through years

bonds never broken

haiku.

for Lori Rice and Jerome White

what stronger bond is there than family?

about the haiku: haiku is a japanese form of poetry that contains a metered verse in seventeen on (equivalent to an english syllable). generally, but not always, the english haiku consists of three lines with a five-seven-five syllable structure. the best examples of haiku paint a detailed picture using the fewest words possible, often only revealing a portion of the subject so as to give the reader something to ponder.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

birthday haiku - eight

rivers in my heart

with memories floating by

bringing me the past...

haiku.

for Kristina Hilaire

i remember the eighth grade like it was yesterday...

the seeds of not only who i am but who i want to be were laid in those class rooms. i remember listening to run dmc and watching "yo! mtv raps" before anyone in my little town knew what rap was, all the boys i grew up with were into acdc. i remember discovering ice hockey when no one in my little town had even seen a game, let alone understood why i was wearing a oilers jersey ("is that a football team in texas?"). mrs. jones, the librarian, would dig out old copies of sports illustrated and let me read the hockey articles. i always felt like i had plenty of friends but, although i have always been very comfortable with who i am, i never really felt like i fit in.

these days i'm still very much into "different" types of music and the recent olympic gold medal hockey game made me cry uncontrollably, even my feelings of isolation are still very real. i guess even time doesn't change who we are.

about the haiku: haiku is a japanese form of poetry that contains a metered verse in seventeen on (equivalent to an english syllable). generally, but not always, the english haiku consists of three lines with a five-seven-five syllable structure. the best examples of haiku paint a detailed picture using the fewest words possible, often only revealing a portion of the subject so as to give the reader something to ponder.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

birthday haiku - seven

freedom comes with time

years of knowledge now built up

choose your path in life.

haiku.

for Jim Landfried and Matthew Ellison

for quite a while now i have told my wife that i embrace each passing year with the feeling that i have gained more freedom through the past years experiences. each day we are alive we make choices based on the things that we have experienced in the past. those choices, while not all correct choices, are more informed and intelligent as we grow older making life that much easier and exciting and filled with hope. while the body may be breaking down we have a better understanding of how to make the best choices for that body. looking back on past mistakes only allows us to see what path we should best choose...and we always have a choice to change paths or not.

age. aging. aged. each stage increasingly invigorating!

about the haiku: haiku is a japanese form of poetry that contains a metered verse in seventeen on (equivalent to an english syllable). generally, but not always, the english haiku consists of three lines with a five-seven-five syllable structure. the best examples of haiku paint a detailed picture using the fewest words possible, often only revealing a portion of the subject so as to give the reader something to ponder.