Sketch drawn freehand from several photos found on Google Images, 2B pencil on tracing paper.
Tightened up with black Prismacolor 935 pencil on tracing paper, but eyes too close together.
Lasso-tool on Photoshop cut and move eyes farther apart. Gray background only to show former position of eye.
Pencil sketch drawn freehand on tracing paper with 2B pencil from various individual photos on Google Images. Note four eyeballs for Heather, not sure which way she should look, at Paul or away from him.
Deleted one set of eyeballs, then printed out in black by laser printer on 90 lb. Rives BFK print paper. Watercolor added to emphasize Paul's tinted hair and Heather's bosom, which I had drawn too small. Cut and paster my signature to lower right of art. This was not used in a publication so appeared only on my site and blog.And here are Paul's comments on drawing Michelle Obama:
Freehand sketch of Michelle Obama from various Google images, freehand with 2B pencil on tracing paper.
Tightened up drawing, Prismacolor 935 on tracing paper.
Final sent as .jpg attachment by email. Color added in Photoshop.
More here.
"Slowly, requests for his work thinned, and he closed the studio he built behind his house and took a regular job at the encouragement of his wife. At 50 years old, Hamilton worked a minimum-wage job at Wal-Mart, discouraged in his love of art and God.“'I was looking for somewhere to place the blame, and I blamed God,' Hamilton said. 'I said ‘Lord, I’ve trusted you with my life, and look where it got me.’'
"But several things happened that year that changed his life. He welcomed his first grandchild and suffered a major heart attack, but the biggest change happened by not even looking for it.
"While flipping through channels on the television, he paused long enough to watch an interview with Hank Ketcham, creator and illustrator of Dennis since 1951. He was asked what he wanted to do with the rest of his life after 40 years of drawing the comic.
"'I will never forget his answer. He said he could love to be able to paint and travel, but he always had that daily deadline,' Hamilton said. 'He said, ‘I would love to find someone to draw Dennis so I could retire.'"
The nice thing is that Charles Tuttle gives us the name of each artist. He didn't have to, but he does.
Above: just a lovely picture, isn't it?
Trekmovie has a series of links to unreleased, never before seen photos from the 2009 STAR TREK movie.
"He was found dead at his home in Lancashire on Tuesday.
"He contributed illustrations and cartoons to NME throughout the 1970s and 1980s as well as Punch, Private Eye and The Guardian, among others.
"Lowry accompanied The Clash on their 1979 tour of the US and later designed the artwork for London Calling."
I am working in the shadow of GIAMts -- er, giants --!
"It is likely the height of arrogance, not to mention utter foolishness, for me to attempt to writing a book such as this.Considering that all of human effort could perhaps be Ozymandian folly,the search for meaning, catharsis and dignity in the humble act of cartooning may seem an especially delusional quest. Perhaps this will end up as simply another 'blip' in a long line of misguided, ineffectual primers written by mediocre cartoonists -- a limp, halted spike in an already insipid graph of unworthiness.who, after all, wants to take lessons from losers?"from CARTOONING PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE by Ivan Brunetti, Buenaventura Press, Oakland, CA, © 2007 by Ivan Brunetti
"With the potential to utilize panels, characters, word balloons, captions and an unlimited special effects budget, the comic feature is a unique vehicle for humor and self-expression."
"The cartoon made something of a comeback in the 1970s after a decade or two of atrophy. Editorial cartoonists get more vigorous in their attacks on public officials, one of the good things to come out of Watergate; gag cartoonists tackled subjects that, a few years earlier, editors would not have touched with a ten foot pencil; comic strips became funny again; and advertising and public relations types seemed more willing to poke a little fun at their products or clients."
"Imagine an unlikely situation. You're sitting in a doctor's outer office, waiting for your appointment. The man or woman across the room -- a total stranger -- looks at you and says, 'Make me laugh. I'll give you seven seconds.'"from THE CARTOONIST'S MUSE A GUIDE TO GENERATING AND DEVELOPING CREATIVE IDEAS by Mischa Richter and Harald Bakken, Contemporary Books, Chicago, © 1992 by Mischa Richter and Harald Bakken
"Among the attractions of cartooning as a profession are low overhead and the absence of technology. The cartoonist needs no complicated tools nor engineering degrees. Some paper, pens, a brush and ink will do it. You can be outfitted for your career in an hour, for forty dollars."
"Each experienced writer and cartoonist has his individual way of producing visual humor. One will do extensive reading, culling germs of gags, usually of the cliche variety, from novels and mystery stories. Another will walk the streets hoping to get ideas out of the thin air. Some read the daily papers regularly and conceive ideas from current happenings. Still others attend gatherings with their ears cocked, hoping to get that funny line. There is the seeker of satire who locks himself in a sound-proof room and stares at a blank wall, while another will throw himself on a couch and project himself into a gag trance."
from CARTOONING FUNDAMENTALS by Al Ross, Stravon Educational Press, New York, NY, © 1977 by Al Ross
"The basic element behind good style in cartooning is proper training. Another prerequisite is complete dedication to the art form, In the pages that follow you will be exhorted to be constantly drawing -- drawing from the model, sketching and copying the masters, and doodling, a form of subconscious art that helps tap the imagination. These activities will help you achieve your desired goal: mastery of sound cartooning fundamentals."
My doodles are getting looser and looser. Any more looser and the lines will just fall off the page.
Above: word association: Art Gallery, Bart [Simpson] Gallery, Cart Gallery, Dart Gallery. Hmm. No gag here, but it is silly.
Above: the usual reaction! from left to right: "This is good stuff!" "I hate this!"
Although illustrator Christoph Neimann and his family have left Brooklyn for Berlin, he leaves behind a series of diagrams to show how he made his life easier in NYC in the NY Times' New York Cheat Sheets feature.
"Our building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn had no buzzer, and I would have to run downstairs to let friends in, accept deliveries, etc. After some training — and thanks to my 6’4” height — I perfected a maneuver I like to refer to as 'the Northside Eagle:' Place your left foot in the middle of the vestibule, lower your upper body to precisely 90 degrees until you reach the front door, while sticking out your right foot to keep the vestibule door from closing shut."
The free weekly newspaper THE HIPPO (available in the Manchester and Nashua areas of New Hampshire) spotlights the Orphan Works Bill and its effect on ... well, me, of all people.Local Color
Copyright blues
By Heidi Masek
• Whose work? While toiling over a bailout, the U.S. Senate also passed the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 (S 2913) Sept. 27. The House of Representatives had not passed a version Oct. 6. Michael Lynch of Milton, N.H., is the national representative for the National Cartoonists Society. He explained that the first few paragraphs of the legislation “sound friendly” but actually the bill makes it easier for corporations to use images as theirs if they can’t find the owners. Present copyright law is “basically fine,” but Orphan Works would set up a registry for artwork in addition, which is one of the most controversial aspects, Lynch said. It would require anyone from a painter to a graphic novel creator to most likely pay per image they register or risk work being classified as “orphaned.” “Instead of me producing cartoons, I would probably have to go into the drywall business, which is the standard joke around cartoonists,” Lynch said. Lynch’s illustrations have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Playboy, among other publications (www.heykidscomics.com). The Illustrators Partnership of America (www.illustratorspartnership.org) is organizing a fight against the legislation and lists more than 75 creators’ groups that oppose the bill.
Orphan Works: A Public Knowledge Postmortem 10.9.08 "Orphan works relief was vigorously opposed by visual artists... And while we have thought some of their concerns misguided, they did a fine job of organizing and getting their voices heard." That was the rueful conclusion Monday from the President of Public Knowledge. She was conducting a postmortem on her blog to explain why their last minute efforts to pass the Orphan Works Act failed last week. Public Knowledge is one of the key special interest groups driving orphan works legislation. And while interested parties around the country were being told all week that the bill was dead, she now confirms that there was a secret last minute push to pass it: "[W]ith the country's financial crisis raging [she writes] and Congress in the middle of deliberations over a bill to rescue our financial institutions, there was still an opportunity to get a bill done. But how? The best option was to get either House Courts, Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Berman or House Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers to take the Senate bill that passed and put it on the 'suspension calendar,' which is the place largely non-controversial legislation gets put so that it will get passed quickly. There can be no amendments to bills placed on the suspension calendar, but it needs a 2/3 majority to pass (italics added). "On Saturday, September 27," she continues, she and others "were on the phone imploring the members to move the bill...": "The negotiations went on for hours and hours on Thursday into Friday, but in the end, PK, working with the user community (libraries, documentary filmmakers, educational institutions and the College Art Association) could not agree with [sic] on language with the House staff. Late Friday afternoon, the House voted in favor of a bailout bill and everybody went home. Time had run out." http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1783 Public Knowledge has a "Six Point Program" to undo existing copyright law. "Orphan Works Reform" is Number 5. http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1245 And while they're "disappointed" they weren't able to pass the bill this session, she advises supporters to "focus on what positive things came out of the process, so [they] can move forward quickly next year." PK says artists have learned their lesson In her opinion, one of the "positive things" to "come out of the process" is that: "[V]isual artists, graphic designers and textile manufacturers who opposed orphan works relief now understand that they must change their business models." (Italics added.) Artists "must change their business models"? Is that a sound we hear from inside the Trojan Horse? Whatever happened to the claim that this bill was only a minor tweak to copyright law - to let libraries and museums digitize their collections of old work - or let families duplicate photos of grandma? That was the argument lawmakers heard last spring, when the bill was rolled out suddenly, scripted for quick and easy passage. But now that the anti-copyright lobby has had to fight for it, they've dropped their guard. Now it's time to openly lecture artists that the world is changing and we'd better get used to registering our work with privately owned "databases" -- at least if we want to ensure that our works won't become orphaned. But of course that was the agenda all along. PK says not all artists are misguided PK's President wants Congress to know that not all artists are "misguided" - only those that oppose the bill. Currently, 80 professional groups do. By contrast, she cites the Graphic Artists Guild as an example of artists who have learned their lesson. She praises GAG as "enlightened," because GAG supported the House version of the bill. She quotes a recent letter from GAG's President in which he admonished artists to "get real about this Orphan Works scare": "I don't think Orphan Works is going to have a dramatic influence on how we do business [he wrote], but I hope it has awakened us all to the importance of tending to business issues. If we as a community invested a fraction of the energy we've expended on an apocalyptic vision of Orphan Works into protecting our own creations, protesting unfair contracting practices or writing letters to low-paying publishers, we'd be in a far better market position than we are today. The fact is that we give away more in the every day practice of our businesses than the government could ever take from us." We replied to the GAG letter weeks ago, when it was first circulated to artists. We obviously disagree. Indeed, we'd point out that what the community of artists is doing by opposing this bill is "protecting our own creations":
A full response to the entire GAG letter is here: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/09/orphan-works-why-bet-against-ourselves.html The Orphan Works Act was based on a premise and a conclusion:
The Orphan Works Act was based on recommendations by the Copyright Office. But the Copyright Office studied the specific subject of orphaned work. They did not study the business models of artists who are alive, working and managing their copyrights. That means there can be no meaningful conclusions drawn from their study to dictate that such artists must change their business models. From the beginning, artists have said we'd support a true orphan works bill. We've submitted precise amendments that would make one out of this bill. http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hr-5889-amendments.html Our amendments have never been considered. Instead, as PK's President noted in her postmortem, their last minute strategy for passing the bill would have "put it on the 'suspension calendar.'" And "[t]here can be no amendments to bills placed on the suspension calendar..." The anti-copyright lobby is well funded. They have powerful backers. They've warned us they'll be back next year. We should take them at their word. - Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership ______________________________________________________________ Over 80 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ 2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world's artists. INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS please fax these 4 U.S. State Agencies and appeal to your home representatives for intervention. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator "I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act." The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker's office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you're put through tell your Representative the message again. If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Please post or forward this message to any interested party. |
| STOP THE U.S. ORPHAN WORKS ACT NOW. |
From the BBC: our debts are so big, the clock, first posted in Manhattan in 1989, will have to have another couple of digits added.
Orphan Works: The Big Internet Factor 10.7.08 On October 2, several professional organizations sent a letter to every member of Congress, calling attention to the role of big internet companies in orphan works legislation. Here's an excerpt: "We believe these bills mask an effort by Big Internet companies to profit by undermining existing global intellectual property rights protections... "The lobbying efforts to promote this legislation pit small entrepreneurs and artists of all kinds against some of the largest and most well-financed Internet powerhouses in America... "We find it deeply disturbing that the U.S. Copyright Office has so clearly and unambiguously advocated legislation that will privilege large commercial interests such as Google at the expense of creators and the countless small businesses that serve, and are dependent on the creative community. "We find this even more troubling in light of Google's substantial contribution to the Library of Congress at a time when the Copyright Office was preparing its Orphan Works recommendations -- and at a time when Google had acknowledged to the SEC that its financial well-being is dependent on a business model that has already engendered multiple lawsuits for copyright infringement totaling billions of dollars. "Google and other large database, advertising and search engine companies clearly have a major financial stake in the weakening of copyright law through new legislation. The Orphan Works Acts, if enacted in either of its current forms, would solve the problem that has vexed so many start-up internet companies: how to make money by giving away free content. By opening the door to potentially billions of "permitted" infringements of protected copyrights, this legislation would allow Big Internet to create an entirely new business model, by licensing content they don't have to pay for - through the digitizing, archiving and monetizing of the intellectual property of ordinary citizens." To read the full letter go to: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/10/orphan-works-big-internet-factor.html The letter is signed by representatives of: The Illustrators' Partnership of America The Advertising Photographers of America The Artists Foundation The National Writers Union pro-imaging.org The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists The National Cartoonists Society ______________________________________________________________ Over 79 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ 2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world's artists. INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS please fax these 4 U.S. State Agencies and appeal to your home representatives for intervention. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator "I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act." The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker's office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you're put through tell your Representative the message again. If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Please post or forward this message to any interested party. |
| STOP THE U.S. ORPHAN WORKS ACT NOW. |
An Unprecedented Grassroots Response 10.6.08 Thank you to everyone who wrote, phoned and faxed Congress during the last hectic weeks. Speaking virtually with one voice, artists have rejected the Orphan Works Act. Does that mean it's dead? No. Far from it. Lobbyists will continue to promote it, this Congress may yet find a way to pass it, and if not, it will be back when the next Congress convenes in January. So what happened last week and what does it mean? All week we'd been getting assurances from various sources that the Orphan Works bill was dead for this session. Experience suggested we not bank on that. Vigilance was the word last Thursday night. Then, as if following the previous week's script - with Congress struggling to pass the bailout package, with Congressional offices closed and a televised debate set to start - we suddenly got word from a reliable source that the House leadership had decided to try moving the bill that night. Minutes later we got a confirmation from our lobbyist on Capitol Hill. We put out our first Alert. All night Thursday and throughout the day Friday we and our colleagues continued to call the offices of key members of the House Judiciary Committee. Their legislative aides gave us conflicting reports. Some assured us the bill was not on the calendar. Others confirmed that House and Senate leaders were trying to reach a compromise. Others acknowledged that the bill could be added to the calendar once an agreement had been reached. By mid afternoon Friday the bill hadn't passed and we received word from our lobbyist: "No leadership decision on adjournment time yet . . . will be forthcoming . . . if they don't adjourn sine die today (and they won't), the Judiciary Committee Chairman, the Speaker and the Whip could, indeed, bring something like that back during a Lame Duck [session], if there is one [after the elections in November]." So once again, vigilance is the word. Catch 22 What many people don't realize is that true opponents to the Orphan Works Act have had to labor under a Catch 22. In 2006, when the bill was first introduced in the House, the then-Chairman warned that any group which opposed it would be "ignored" and "left behind." Accordingly, only interest groups that agree to support the bill without fundamental changes have been allowed a voice in its drafting. Catch 22. This is why the House bill has grown into a complicated piece of legislation. In addition to the databases where copyright owners would have to register their work, the House bill calls for the creation of a privately owned Infringers' archive, sanctioned by the Copyright Office, where infringers would file a Notice of Intent to infringe works. But a database where infringers can register their paperwork won't protect your work - it can still be infringed. In fact, as a for-profit enterprise, the Archive will be in business to promote infringements. Its inclusion in the bill will simply give middlemen a chance to create the Archive, cutting themselves in as additional beneficiaries of the legislation. As a result of this Catch 22, true opposition to the bill has had to come from the grassroots. We've had to fight against it from the outside. And as a cottage industry, we don't have the lobbying resources of Big Internet firms and others. Last spring we were warned not to oppose the bill at all because we'd be "rolled over" if we tried. But since then, more than 75 professional organizations have come together to oppose it. This represents more than half a million rights holders - and the number is growing daily as more people find out about it. This grassroots response has been unprecedented in the history of our field. Where do we go from here? The problem with this legislation remains its central premise: It creates the public's right to use your work as a default right, available to anyone whenever you fail to make yourself sufficiently available for them to find. This is a radical change to the way our government views private property. And we cannot see surrendering the exclusive right to the work we create to have a "seat at the table" of those dismantling that right. So, as we extend our most sincere thanks to all of you for your quick and heartfelt responses over the last weeks we hope to build on that momentum in the weeks ahead. For the next month, lawmakers will be home campaigning: every member of the House is up for reelection. This means it would be the time for artists in each district to schedule a personal appointment with their representative. Write them and fax them at their home offices. Meet with them if you can. We'll post talking points on our blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ Tell them that you'd support a true Orphan Works bill, and refer them to the Amendments submitted to the House Subcommittee on July 11 by the Illustrators' Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America. http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hr-5889-amendments.html If the real goal of this legislation is to benefit libraries and museums, our amendments suggest a precise way to do it. _______________________________________________________________ Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ 2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world's artists. INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS please fax these 4 U.S. State Agencies and appeal to your home representatives for intervention. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator "I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act." The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker's office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you're put through tell your Representative the message again. If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Please post or forward this message to any interested party. |
| STOP THE U.S. ORPHAN WORKS ACT NOW. |
Photo by Ben Bloker.
Above: Mike Lynch and Raina Telgemeier
"I guess I have a pretty unusual way of working -- at least that's what my illustrator friends are always telling me. I start by creating the most basic shapes and then refine with details as I go. To me the process feels completely normal. I look at that stark white space in front of me and can see the entire fully completed image in my head. Maybe I'm just lucky that way."
THE HOUSE ORPHAN WORKS BILL (H.R. 5889) IS MOVING IN THE HOUSE NOW 10.2.08 Phone, fax, email these Congressman immediately DELAHUNT Phone (202) 225 3111 Fax (202) 225-5658 Phone: (617) 770-3700 Fax: (617) 770-2984 CONYERS Phone: (202) 225-5126 Fax: (202) 225-0072 Phone: (313) 961-5670 Fax: (313) 226-2085 NADLER Phone: (202) 225-5635 Fax: (202) 225-6923 Phone: (212) 367-7350 Fax: (212) 367-7356 BERMAN Phone: (202) 225-4695 Fax: (202) 225-3196 Phone: (818) 994-7200 Fax: (818) 994-1050 EXPRESS YOUR OUTRAGE AT THE WAY THIS IS BEING DONE We've been getting assurances all day that the bill was "dead for this year." TELL THEM NOT TO PASS THIS ANTI-COPYRIGHT LAW * UNDER COVER OF NIGHT * UNDER COVER OF ECONOMIC CRISIS * UNDER COVER OF ANOTHER TELEVISED DEBATE TELL THEM THIS IS AN OUTRAGEOUS WAY TO RE-WRITE THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES - Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party. _______________________________________________________________ For news and information: Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ 2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world's artists. INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS please fax these 4 U.S. State Agencies and appeal to your home representatives for intervention. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator "I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act." The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker's office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you're put through tell your Representative the message again. If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. |
| STOP THE U.S. ORPHAN WORKS ACT NOW. |
"It's always a terrible sign of failure when your victims want to buy the artwork."Thanks for this, Paul!
tags: Desk Set, Katharine Hepburn, Mike Lynch, Spencer Tracy
"He usually works without dialogue, which saves on hiring actors and synching voices to drawn characters. He supports himself and his studio on his short films, which he sells to European and Asian television stations. There is also a market for Mr. Plympton's original drawings (www.plymptoons.com)."
"The waters of adult animation were tested last year by "Persepolis," the screen adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's best-selling graphic novel about a girl's coming-of-age in Iran. A critical success, the subtitled film did respectably in U.S. theaters (and much better in Europe), but it wasn't "Shrek" by a long shot."
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