Six Flag Caricatures 2011

Over my few years as a caricature artist, I have collected quite a few pictures of my work. This year I didn't really take very many photos, but I did manage to take a few. Here is a selection of those photos for your viewing pleasure. I must apologize for there quality. I use a very old camera (that way if it's stolen I don't really care) or my camera phone.


For as popular as Harry Potter is, I never draw bodies of Harry Potter. Since I don't do it often I laid it on thick with references.


Superhero bodies, I'm always drawing superhero bodies...not that I'm complaining.



This is a co-worker of mine as the Incredible Hulk. He signs his work Miggy so that is also his Hulk name.


Robot penguin? Yes, please.

A "Dan the Man" Christmas

This is from 4 or 5 years ago from a comic I used to do called "Dan the Man." It was my first attempt at doing a webcomic and I used to post it on Drunk Duck. I was always annoyed with that site because most of your readers were people who also had comics on Drunk Duck. If you wanted them to read your comic, you first had to read and comment on their comic. So it was really just a vicious cycle of reading other peoples work just to make sure that they would read yours.

It wasn't all bad. It was a good place to just learn how to make a comic on a regular basis. I have deleted that account so you can't find these comics anywhere on line. As the years have passed I find it hard to look at them, but I do realize that they have helped me get to where I am now. This is one of my favorite ones from that run. As it is Christmas time I thought it would be an appropriate time to share. May you have a Merry Christmas.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: My Little Duckaroo (1954)

Iphone doodles 3

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Rugged Bear (1953)

I love Humphrey the Bear. I remember as a kid we had a set of shorts starring him. They kind of remind me of Yogi Bear except that he is not smarter-than-the-average-bear. Enjoy

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

It is sad to say that we have lost a pioneer today. It amazes me to think of all Steve Jobs has accomplished in his life. The two main ones being Apple and Pixar. I drew this as a small token of my appreciation. My prayers go out to his family. May God give them comfort in this time of sorrow.

N: Narwhal, Nutria, and Newt

While trying to think of what animal to do for the letter "N" I began to realize that I could not think of many. At the time I could only think of newts and narwhals. That was it! Two animals that names start with the letter "N." I even quizzed other people and they couldn't think of any. I ended up looking it up online and there really aren't that many animals for the letter "N." In honor of this I decided to draw at least three of these creatures in one picture, the narwhal, nutria, and newt.

I was ashamed of myself when I realized that I forgot about the nutria. The nutria is a giant river rat, basically think of the beaver without the tail. The reason I was ashamed is because one summer I worked at a camp, LLYC. At this camp they had made a t-shirt making fun of the nearby town, population 150. The shirt was about a make believe community college were the mascot was the nutria. On the shirt was a picture of a nutria. The reason was that there was a river near by in which nutria were known to live. I loved that shirt and that is why I can't believe I forgot about it.

Self Caricature

I work at Six Flags Over Texas. Yesterday was a very slow day. I decided that instead of twiddling my thumbs I would draw a new self caricature. I did this one with no photo references. For those of you who don't know what I look like, let me just say that the likeness is dead on. For those of you who do know what I look like, I'm sorry, I'll do better next time.

P.S. That is Mr. Six crying over the picture I drew of him.

M: Manatee

I love Manatees. They are just such an unusual yet lovable creature. In my high school days manatees were used for many a punchline as it was always the go-to/0ut-of-left-field kind of thing to put into a joke. Now I work at an elementary school and one of our favorite songs/books is by the multi-talented John Lithgow, called I'm a Manatee. I highly recommend the book. It comes with a cd of Mr. Lithgow singing the song, which is a must while flipping through the pages.

I love manatees so much that I may just do a second "M" post so I can draw some more manatees.

Saturday Morning Cartoons:El Kabong Meets El Kazing

Of all the Hanna/Barbera cartoon characters, Quick Draw McGraw is my favorite, especially because of El Kabong. I wanted to show this cartoon because it has El Kabong in it and it's the first appearance of Snagglepuss. Not only is Snagglepuss in it, but he isn't pink even. They reworked his character so he could be apart of the Yogi Bear Show. So enjoy the toon while I exit stage left.

L: Lion

When thinking about lions I thought about how they are "the King of the Jungle." Then it got me thinking about "the King of Rock and Roll." So I put the two of them together. By the way who ever started the saying that lions are king of the jungle must of never really known anything about lions, because they don't live in the jungle. I'm just saying...

Below was my first lion drawing. I think I redrew it just to try a few things out. I figured this one was good enough to share without the color.

Iphone doodles 2

More doodles from my phone. I really like doing these. They don't take a lot of time and it's a nice creative exercise.

After doing the fish I caved in and bought the layers app to go with the program. It saves me a lot of time and is very helpful. I can really see doing something impressive with this program if I really wanted to put the time in.

Bucket Gnome Classic: The Pits

K: Kitten

The more I draw the more I can see patterns in what I draw. One thing I don't draw a lot of are people of the feminine persuasion. I don't really know why, it's just when I start drawing I tend not to think about it and they just get left out. I'm going to try and fix that. There are other things I need to draw more, but for now I'll just try to stick with more women.

On a side note, the kitten is actually what my cat looks like. The girl looks like no one in particular.

J: Jackrabbit

Saturday Morning Cartoons: the Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961)

Not once but twice this week Of Mice and Men was brought up in different conversations. Every time I am reminded of that book I think of this Bugs Bunny cartoon. One of my favorite parts of growing up was learning various things and then going back and understanding the parody that was going on in these cartoons.

Iphone doodles

I have an Iphone and it does many things. One of the things it does is let me draw on it with a program called Adobe Ideas. It's a very basic program but can be used to do simple little things. I realize that instead of checking Facebook 15 times in 15 minutes I could spend some of those minutes making little doodles. I drew all three of these yesterday doing various things (lunch break, waiting to get my haircut, watching tv). I plan to try and do this more often and maybe I'll post them here every now and then.

I: Iguana

H: Hog

I've been playing with more brushes in photoshop. I love seeing other digital work that has a textured look to it. I figured I should get on the ball and start learning how to do that kind of stuff.

Saturday Morning Cartoons:Quack-A-Doodle-Doo (1950)

Went to Half Price Books and got a collection of Baby Huey comics from Harvey Comics. It's been a long time since I've thought or seen Baby Huey. I always thought he was a great idea for a character. I mean babies are funny and when you double their size they must be twice as funny. The book looks really good too. Reading the intro I've discovered that a lot of the early comics were made by the actual animators of the shorts, who would moonlight as comic artist for extra money.

G: Grizzly Bear

F: Frog

Fun Frog Facts:

-There are over 4000 species of frogs in the world, though only 88 species in the US and Canada. They are all over the world, except for Antarctica and Iceland.

-The earliest known frog fossils to date were found in Arizona and are believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago.

-Frogs don't drink water but absorb it through their skin.

E: Eagle

10 years ago today, something happened that changed the world. It knocked buildings to the ground and knocked me off my high horse. I am reminded that in a blink of an eye the world can change and I have no control over it. But I will put my trust in God, who has control over all things. As it says in Isaiah:

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

On this day, may we all say a prayer for those who lost loved ones in the attack, for our armed forces, for our country, and our enemies, who would do us harm. May we all find our strength in the Lord.

Saturday Morning Cartoons:Deputy Droopy (1955)

Just got my Tex Avery's Droopy DVD collection. This is one of my personal favorites that I remember from my childhood.

D: Duck

When thinking of what would be funny for a duck to be doing all I could think about was duck a l'orange. Then I just thought it would be funny to have the duck juggling oranges.

Fun Duck Facts

-Most male ducks are silent and very few ducks actually "quack." Instead, their calls may include squeaks, grunts, groans, chirps, whistles, brays and growls.

-Ducks are omnivorous, opportunistic eaters and will eat grass, aquatic plants, insects, seeds, fruit, fish, crustaceans and other types of food.

-Ducks are comfortable walking on ice and swimming in icy water because their feet have no nerves or blood vessels making the duck unable to feel cold.

Bucket Gnome Classic: Sherlock

Originally posted on November 4, 2009

Ariel (1993-2011)

Our family cat passed away on Friday. She was 18 years old, which equals about 98 in cat years. She was our first cat. We were more accustom to dogs and as such we were not ready for the differences. For instance, dogs love you no matter what; cats love you when they feel like it. It took Ariel a few years to really open up to us, but I loved when she did. Heck, she even started to love the dog. Then she out lived him. So this drawing for you Ariel. You were a great cat and I love you.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1951)

C: Crow

The Crow and the Pitcher

An Aesop’s Fable

A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life. Moral of Aesop’s Fable: Little by little does the trick

Christopher Walken

This is a caricature of Christopher Walken performing one of my favorite monologues from the movie "Pulp Fiction." I think it's Walken's performance that really makes it shine. If you've never seen the movie, here is a link to the scene on youtube: The Watch

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)

I've been studying a lot of classic animation recently and thought I would share some goodies on Saturdays. This is a classic Looney Tunes cartoon starring the one and only Daffy Duck. I've always been a fan of the loonier/crazy Daffy than the newer angry duck. I liked that you never knew what he was going to do. With every new generation Daffy just keeps getting grumpier and grumpier. It's like his crazy side never existed.

This little gem is a hoot. Not only is it non stop hilarious, it is also just so visually spectacular. I think I could learn a lot from this just going frame by frame. Look at the mail man's hands when he delivers the mail (I never realize how creepy they were til now). They've also got Daffy making so many different kinds of expressions and poses. If I was half this creative I'd be happy.

B: Beaver

Beaver Fun Facts:

- Water downstream of North American beaver dams is cleaner.

- Beavers mate for life.

- A beaver can remain submerged in the water for up to 15 minutes.

- The beaver waterproofs its thick fur by coating it with castoreum, an oily secretion from its scent glands.

- Beavers can close both their ears and nose.

- Beavers were hunted to extinction in England in the 12th century.

On a side note, When starting a new sketchbook either make sure it fits your scanner or draw smaller to fit your scanner.

RIP Sketchbook: 2010-2011

I've done it. I've finished another sketch book. Every single page filled with doodles and sketches and everything in between. One of the greatest feeling for an artist is filling up a sketch book. You know that every page is something that you put together and that this book is a compilation of your time and effort. This sketch book took me a little over a year to complete. I started it on August 10, 2010 and finished it on August 22, 2011. My sketch book before this one took me two years to complete, so I really feel like I've accomplished something by doing it a year faster. I like that pace and I hope to do my next sketch book as fast or faster. For your viewing pleasure, here are the first and last pages of my sketchbook.

This was page one drawn on 08/10/2010. At the time I was interested in using brushes and india ink. I think I went to the Dallas Aquarium a little before I drew this and I was very interested in the sloths that they had there. They didn't look real, they looked like puppets.

In my last sketchbook I finished it off with a picture of Batman. I decided to go a similar route and draw one of his many villains, the Ventriloquist. I also decided to use brushes and india ink to tie it into the first page. This was drawn on 08/22/2011.

Rest in Peace sketchbook, it's time to make room for your replacement. Another exciting moment for an artist is the new sketchbook. Oh, the possibilities.

A: Alligator

Alligator Fun Facts:

-Spanish sailors visiting the New World called them el lagarto which means, "the lizard." English sailors took the name as "allagarter" and over time it became alligator.

-An alligator cannot move its tongue, and must raise its head to swallow.

-Alligators have a translucent third eyelid to protect their eyes so they can see underwater.

Back to School

As well as being a caricature artist, I am also a teacher's aide in a elementary school special ed. classroom. I love my job. There is something about these children that just warms my heart. Anyways, School is back in action starting on Monday. Last night this image popped into my head so I decided to put it on paper and share it with you. It's not a caricature so I won't mark it as such. It's more of a cartoon rendering of Doc Brown and Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

I've been studying Preston Blair's book, "Cartoon Animation" and as you can tell I drew this in that classic style. I've made it my mission to study the classic animation styles in hopes that their foundations will help me become a better artist. So far I've really enjoyed what I've learned and fell like I'm starting to understand some of the basics. What amazes me the most is that learning these basics actually helps me draw things easier and with a much better look.

Caricature Commission: the Akins

An old friend of mine commissioned me to draw caricatures of his family and I was more than happy to do it. These were done with marker and airbrushing for color. The most interesting thing about drawing people you know, as opposed to guest at an amusement park, is that you have a heightened sense as to whether or not you've gotten a likeness. It's not about getting the features right as much as it is getting the relationship of the features to capture an "attitude" of that particular person. I think this is what will keep me interested in the art of caricature for a very long time.

Here is the lovely Akins family. I actually didn't use this photo as a reference, but I put it up here so that you (the reader) can get an idea of what they look like.