Elves With An "A"

New Site!

2007-12-04T13:10:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! I've finally finished my actual site, check it out at www.joshalves.com (remember to update your bookmarks and feeds!)

Peter Parker Redux

2007-08-27T22:50:00.000-04:00

Gah! After posting the previous Parker pic fro critiques... that blaring mistake of a detached right leg was pointed out.. Here's the edited version (with added pumpkin bombs)

Experimenting: Spidey Doodles

2007-08-21T15:26:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been doodling a bit more... trying to experiment a little... here are the results:

And some color experiments (inspired by Javas):

Tribute to Ringo

2007-08-17T00:37:00.000-04:00

I think most of you know, but to those who don't... the comics industry lost a legend last Sunday. Mike Wieringo passed away, he was 44. A great artist and a great person, my only "contact" with Mr.Wieringo was through his blog and his posts on the Drawing Board. His stellar work and even more stellar encouragment (that he readily gave budding artist on that forum) resonated with me much more than I had realized. When I learned the news of his passing, what I felt inside wasn't what I would have expected (not that I ever thought about it). Mike influenced more artists than he was aware of... I'm one of them. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as they go through this time. We'll miss you Mike.

Over the last few days I've found myself sketching a character from a project that is said to be closest to his heart. Koj the tiger warrior from the "Thellos" series... here is one of the finished pieces:

TOMO: New Graphic Novels!

2007-07-30T13:57:00.000-04:00

I've been looking forward to checking them out ever since I first learned of the new graphic novels Zondervan was preparing to launch. "Z Graphic Novels" debuted this month and are avaiable at these fine retailers.

Last week I volunteered to review a couple books from their new line, and I was sent "TOMO" a story by Andrew Simmons and Rob Corley (I first learned of this series at Funny Pages Productions ) and eagerly went through both volumes last weekend.

"TOMO" follows thirteen-year-old Hana moving from Japan to America to live with her grandfather. There, she not only deals with trying to fit in, but she comes face to face with creatures from another world. These soldiers are after the "Sword of the Spirit" and it is up to Hana, equipped with her martial arts training, to make sure they don't get it.

The story offers unique twists and turns, particularly with the title character Tomo (the grandfather's "pet", a martial art raccoon... does it get any cooler than that). With a great mix of action, fun storytelling and valuable lessons, these are a great read. I look forward to rest of this series. Check it out!

The Kid is Coming!

2007-07-24T18:54:00.001-04:00

Image Removed while submission is being reviewed by Zuda
The Araknid Kid! I've been wanting to do something with this character for a while now, and recently I've revisited him. This quick, agile, clingy character who communicates only with pictures in his speech bubbles, is the hero of a series I'm beginning to put together. Currently I've flesh out the concept, pin-pointed the setting, begun the creation of the "Rogue Gallery", and am laying the initial groundwork for the first story...

Stay Tuned!

Tastes Like Chicken ON YOUR CELL PHONE

2007-07-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

That's right! You can now get Tastes Like Chicken toons... ON YOUR CELL PHONE! Through the magic of the internet and ROK Comics, if you have a phone that's able, you can download/subscribe to TLC and enjoy in the small screen format (it's been a fun challenge re-tweaking a few of my toons to fit the cell phone specs)! GO HERE AND CHECK IT OUT!

The first two comics are free (to download, you may be charged some sorta fee depending on your cell plan) and the rest are pay comics. If you try it out, let me know how it looks (ironically I don't own a cell phone)!

Tastes Like Chicken: Pool

2007-07-18T11:06:00.000-04:00

This week's theme was "Pool"... here's what I came up with:

Tastes Like Chicken: Ice Cream Truck

2007-07-11T12:13:00.000-04:00

Well, it hasn't been hot enough for something like this to happen... Not in Maine anyway...

Tastes Like Chicken: Hiking

2007-06-27T10:09:00.000-04:00

This week's toon inspired by last weekend's events:

Last Saturday, a few of us had planned a hike up Mt Katahdin, but cancelled due to potentially inclement weather (40% chance of rain. FORTY! Flip a coin ten times and 4 times it'll rain... I'm not bitter, I'm just sayin'). So... in lieu of the 12+ mile climb, we got together and made a HUGE breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, french toast, blueberry muffins, grits and strawberries.... yes I tried grits. Yes, I tried them willingly). Since it wasn't raining (just some clouds... and nice and cool... which would've been AWFUL climbing conditions) and blue sky was peeking out (again, who wants blue sky when they are climbing a mountain) we decided to do a smaller hike, so we headed out towards Gulf Hagas to see Screw Auger falls:

Long story short, we hiked. And just in case there were any bears, I'm glad Zach was the one who had spent the morning cooking the bacon. The end.

(we didn't see any bears... just a few chipmunks... and a deer)

Brainstorming this week's toon

2007-06-26T13:24:00.000-04:00

Wow a post! And so soon!

Kidding aside, thought you might like to see some sketches from last night's TLC brainstorming session. Coming up and creating a toon all in one night is fun(he says, exaggerating... usually I have my idea days in advance). The thing that got me last night was that every idea I came up with, I had that little feeling like "I've seen this somewherebefore!" (I know there isn't really a such thing as an original idea, but I like my toon to be as original as possible). I had it narrowed down to 3 ideas, one of them I didn't think was as strong (Raccoons holding up a bunch of hikers), and the other two I thought might've been done already.... but since I couldn't specifically nail down where I saw it (I have a decent memory) I went ahead with one of them... what did I do? Find out tomorrow. In the meantime, here are those sketches:

This post is gonna be big....

2007-06-22T08:59:00.000-04:00

Man! I have dropped the proverbial blogger ball big time! Sorry for the length between posts... things are busy (to be expected right?) First, here are the last three Tastes Like Chicken toons.

This one's inspired by one of my favorite comedians, Demetri Martin:

Here's one based on the theme "Summer Camps":

And this week's! How to guarantee rescue off a desert island:

Last week "Last Comic Standing" premiered. The bad news was I wasn't good enough to be on. The good news was I wasn't bad enough to be on (hopefully... watch me show up on some "Worst of the worst" episode ;) ) I did however recieve about a second of airtime. If you looked hard enough, you could've seen me freezing in line:

If you want to see it, head over to NBC's site and click on Video and watch Part Six of the first one.

Speaking of comedy, Abbracci: Bakery & Espresso Bar is hosting a comedy night on June 30th. I'm planning on trying out some more stuff there (more along the lines of my brewer performance) and I believe Chris Quimby (the guy waving in that LCS pic) will be there too.

On the "More art" side of things, here's a pin-up I've created for Mark Melton's Angeldreams comic. He's hosting a contest and the winner's pic will show up in issue 2! Here's my entry:

I've been experimenting with a different approach, going with a animation "Cel Style". While this image is far from perfect, I do feel like it's a definite improvement, so that's good.

That all for now. I'll try to post a bit more frequently... but I can't promise anything....

Tastes Like Chicken: Soap Box Derby

2007-05-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

This weekend, the area's annual Soap Box Derby will be taking place, and to celebrate; here this week's toon!

Also, there's a little nod to one of our friends (who is a dentist). Betcha you can figure out what his name is.

This friday I'll have the opportunity to go down the hill in one of the soapbox cars. I think it'll be part of the "Media Race"? Maybe? I'm not sure, all I know is I'm looking forward to it. Should be fun!

Tastes Like Chicken: MP3 Player

2007-05-29T12:59:00.000-04:00

Man! Just when you think you'll be having more time to post... WHAM! Time flies. Why? Probably cause the sun has been shining and it's been beautiful up here in the Northeast.

Figured is about time I posted, seeing as 1:)I've been nominated for a Blogger Choice Award (thanks "ALogicalIllation") and 2:) I've had an influx from Stumbleupon.com (thanks "stumblingupon") Without further ado, last week's toon:

Stop by tomorrow for this week's!

Last week's toon and Talent Show

2007-05-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

First, last week's comic:

Next, the Brewer Kiwanis "So You Think You've Got Talent Show":
I had the opportunity this past saturday, to take the stage with a bunch of other very talent people in the area to put on a fundraiser for Children's Charities. Needless to say, I had an absolute blast and was able to learn from my performance. This was the first time that I've performed juggling as part of my act, and learned than when doing an act where you toss objects into the air with the hopes of having them land in your hand... request lighting in addition to or instead of just the Spotlight! That thing was bright! Also, I learned that jugglers typically use brightly colored objects to juggle with for a reason... and the reason is noted in this video:

I apologize for the audio, camera mic + compression for upload= not so great... but I'll see if I can play with it and try to improve it.

I took a newer approach to the stand-up part, obviously greatly inspired by Demetri Martin (which is basically Mitch Hedburg + Guitar). I thought it worked and think I'll be pursuing this style.... we'll see!

Thanks for stopping by!

FINALLY!

2007-05-08T13:02:00.000-04:00

Almost a MONTH!?!?! Where does the time go? As you might have imagined, things have been a bit hectic lately, but before I go into what's been goin' on, thought I'd apologize by posting this week's TLC toon early (along with the toons from the last few weeks!)

First up, PARABLE:
I have finished our submission!!! Woo-hoo! I'll post a couple teaser pages once we have the publish date, right now things are still getting wrapped up and assembled for the book. You can check out the cover at the site now! Go!

Other things that have been keeping me busy:
A couple weeks ago I auditioned for a talent show that will be going on in Brewer on May 19th... I got the call last week letting me know I passed! So if you're in the area on that Saturday (May 19th), head over to the Brewer High School! Doors open at 6, show starts at 7! I'll be performing a talent medley... a mix of juggling, guitar playing and jokes... might be interesting.

Also! Spring has finally arrived here in the northeast... so we've been enjoying the warmer weather! I've been out rollerblading with our 2 siberian huskies... which has been a blast (yes... they pull me... but only when I let them. It's a very controlled activity).

Typing all this out makes it seem like less has been going on, maybe? But trust me... times been flying! Hopefully I'll be back posting a bit more regularly on here (that's the idea anyway!) All fer now!

Oh, and if you get a chance, check out my buddy's blog A Logical Illation, he's got some opinions, and he's posting them on the web (cause THAT'S why Al Gore designed the internet).

Tastes Like Chicken: Goldfish & WEATHER

2007-04-05T09:31:00.000-04:00

Today's toon:

And WOW! Woke up this morning to a little bit of snow... and when I say "little" I mean "2 feet". And we thought SPRING was on its way.

Oh well...

Tastes Like Chicken: Wind-Up

2007-03-29T14:28:00.000-04:00

YES! I am alive! I haven't (obviously) posted in a while... you can check out how the Montreal Last Comic Standing Audition went on QandAcomedy.com. Had a hectic week at work as we prepare for the largest section of the year (it's so big we've split it up into four sections), plus I'm on the last leg for the Parable submission.... so yes... staying very very busy. I'm hoping to post a bit more, but we'll see what happens, for now here's this week's toon!

QandAComedy.com

2007-03-13T11:18:00.000-04:00

Booyah! Go NOW!

Better late than never....

2007-03-13T11:17:00.000-04:00

Been SUPER busy... here's last week's toon:

Happy B-Day Beks!

2007-03-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

Posting a quick note, it's my sister's birthday today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEKAH!

Weekend Update & DOGSAINT

2007-03-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

That kinda rhymes... kinda.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, we did. I mentioned last Friday about the open mic I was planning to attend, I'm happy to say that I did! The best part of open mics in general is that it's a veritable "Russian Roulette" of talent... you never know what you're in for. I'm happy to say that it was, for the most part, great! A couple of older gentlemen (70s? maybe older) created a skit ala Abbott & Costello about Lou Costello ordering a computer from "Super Duper Computers" was extremely fun, and the highlight of the evening was a performace of original songs on an acoustic guitar (I wish I could remember his name... I think his last name was Cooke?) If he isn't already recording, he should be, it was great.

My bit went as well as I'm capable of doing right now... it was a GREAT learning experience, pin-pointing the areas that I need improving, and improving on areas that I've felt I've need to improve. I did a few old bits, and a couple of new ones. Everything went according to how it went in my head (the very supportive audience laughed when they were supposed to... so that's always nice).

I need to be working on crafting the bits a bit better. Currently I feel like I have decent material, but right now it's just a slab of meat on a plate... gotta add some potatoes and honeyed-carrots.... and gravy (mmmmm...gravy) to make it a more memorable meal. It was the type of performance that I feel folks didn't leave thinking "Wow, that Josh Alves, he's hilarious!", perhaps more of a "That belly-button guy was kinda humorous" (one of my newer bits use the ole "Belly button" as the subject). I also need to watch how long my set-up is versus the payoff of the punchline...I left very excited about what I learned.

And NOW!

My buddy Eric Merced has begun posting his comic DOGSAINT on his blog, go check it out!

BIG NEWS & open mic

2007-03-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, first off, if you find yourself bored, maybe a bit tired from shoveling the piles of snow currently being dropped on us... but you don't want to stay around the house. If you find yourself in Orono tomorrow (March 3rd) around 7PM, stop in at the Keith Anderson Community House for the Orono Arts Cafe open mic.

I'll be there (unless I'm not) trying out some new stand-up material. It might be absolutely awful, so if you enjoy train wrecks, stop by! If you don't like train wrecks... it could be the most amazing stand-up performance you've ever seen (that was performed by someone named Josh. Whose last name was Alves. And lived in Maine, and was Amy's husband, and drew a cartoon called Tastes Like Chicken, and....)

So yeah... they'll have pie available (to buy).

Now BIG NEWS:

Some of you may remember the NBC animation my brother and I created for It's Your Show TV (if you don't remember, click here)

Well, the folks at IYS have been preparing the pilot episode to show NBC for consideration for broadcast, and they want to use our clip! Yeah! So you could be seeing that little cartoon on TV! It was a little confusing at first, because due to an apparent email glitch, I recieved an email from them congratulating me and thanking me for my submission of "County Sherrif", after exchanging emails it was realized that it was indeed "For the Birds" that they were congratulating and thanking me for, and even went as far as calling my house... they "said" they loved it and watch it over and over (I put said in quotations because I'm a cautious person and rarely believe what TV people say...)

So yeah, that's the gist of it... so I'll letcha know when I hear anything else.

MORE EXCITING NEWS about something else NEXT WEEK!

Tastes Like Chicken: Forget

2007-03-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Gah! Another comic posted here on this blog late:

Rules of the Outback #86: ALWAYS hav... no.... NEVER forget your keys.

Tastes Like Chicken: Itchy

2007-02-23T09:05:00.000-05:00

AGH! The week just flies by! Here's this week's toon:

Also, in the coming week's I'll have some exciting things to share... going on an adventure.

For the love of cats!

2007-02-20T09:21:00.002-05:00

Yeah... more of them....
Another shot of a Ghost Rider kitty:

And a feline villian:

More painted cats

2007-02-16T11:22:00.001-05:00

More!

Another painted cat...

2007-02-15T11:46:00.001-05:00

I happened to do another one... thought it'd make another fun post...

Tastes Like Chicken: Cupid

2007-02-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

That's right! The day after the day we celebrate love! Here's this week's toon:

Hope everyone had a pleasant Valentine's Day. We did... among the piles and piles of SNOW!

We were hit with the biggest storm of the season, piled about 15 inches of snow, with a nice 3 inch layer of ice on top of that. Gah! Fun. Wasn't expecting the ice this morning, I knew I was in trouble when I let the dogs out back and they didn't sink down.

Shoveling was a blast, and when I say "blast" I mean I most likely ruptured a vertebrae or something. I didn't give myself enough time to shovel the entire driveway, so I shoveled out the giant plow mountain at the end, and the lower half (the side closest to the road), and then propelled my vehicle out of the garage (and got to work on time). Yee-HA!

We painted our cat....

2007-02-14T10:14:00.000-05:00

HA!

A co-worker forwarded the "Painted Cats" email to our deparment today, thought it was cool (which it is) and possibly real (which it's not). I whipped together this example (literally like 7 minutes). Thought it'd make a fun post. Who knows... maybe I've stumbled onto something and will start painting cats in superhero garb.

To see the inspiration for this click here

WOWIO: Free Books

2007-02-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

Including comics!!!

That's right comics. WOWIO is a great place to register and get free books via PDFs. And YES. FREE. The system is structured so that the ads found within the books support the site, and the creators.

Why am I telling you this now? Well, I've been a member for a few months now, and recently they offered rewards for referrals. If 10 of you register and let them know that I referred you (using my email address, which is joshalves (a t) gmail (d o t) com (replacing "(a t)" with "@" and "(d o t)" with "." )), I get an iPod shuffle. Which means my wife gets an iPod shuffle. (She's a runner, and it'd be awesome for her to use). So yeah! Sign-up today!

Tastes Like Chicken: Homework

2007-02-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

A little comedy from the country shaped like a boot!

I did a little research for this one, looked up Italian renaissance wardrobe... fashioned the interior of the house after "Olive Garden"... you know... the usual

Thistles: Page 4 panel

2007-02-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

And the madness continues! I wrapped up page 4 over the weekend, took yesterday off to do this week's Taste's Like Chiken, and will be starting page 5 (and possibly finishing? That might be a stretch) tonight! Thought you'd like to catch a sneak of one of the panels on page 4:

I'm still in the inking stages of page 2, it's been kinda a bear to ink as it's a lot of setting up the locations of everything... and art wise it's a slightly boring page (so I'm having a hard time really getting into... unlike the next few pages. you know... pages 3-16 :D )... but important... and packs some emotion too. It gives you a good feel of what's going on where this story takes place. How's that for being obscure ;)

Voting Open! And the Superbowl

2007-02-05T07:50:00.000-05:00

That's right! Voting is open! Click RIGHT HERE! Select "Desires by Lintboy", enter your email address, accept the rules (13 or older, US Citizen and one vote per person per challenge) and submit your vote!

Oh yeah... and a quick Superbowl commentary:

First: Rain?!?! I thought Superbowl games were only played in indoor stadiums, or in stadiums that had canopys??? People spent THOUSANDS of dollars to SIT in the RAIN? Ridiculous!

Second: Where were all the funny commercials?????? Are folks finally saying enough is enough and refusing to pay such RIDICULOUS costs to run an advertisement? I hope so. When companies reduce advertising costs, they save money... which theoretically means they can offer their products at a reduced rate, thereby saving YOU (and me) the consumer money, which means we have more extra money to spend on other things :D

Third: The BEST part of the Superbowl was actually the show that started afterwards. Criminal Minds had the BEST... THE BEST... game to show transisition I have EVER seen.... it was awesome.

More IYS: Soap Opera

2007-02-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

That's right, another It's Your Show TV submission, but this time it's my brother's! He and his friends got together to enter the Soap Opera challenge at IYS, and you can watch it all by clicking right here. Currently voting hasn't opened yet, but when it does I'll be posting the info right here.

Check it out... it's funny stuff.

Tastes Like Chicken: Snowmen

2007-02-01T10:42:00.000-05:00

That's right, those lovable people... made of snow!

And yes, those are two former snowmen TLC toons in the picture frames.

Hope everyone's week is going well. I've been keeping busy cranking out pages for Parable. Crunchtime has begun! Which is fine by me. I think the years in the newspaper industry has a side effect where I work well with, and under, pressure.

Because (obviously) I (and the other fine folks working on submissions for Parable) want to you order the book when it's ready. I won't be posting all the pages here, just a few. But you knew that.

Parable: Warm-Up Sketch

2007-01-31T08:20:00.000-05:00

Part of my new "post more" aspirations... thought you might like to see a warm-up sketch. I was working on Page 3 last night, and before I start penciling a page, I do a few warm-up doodles (just like stretching your legs before a run)... and this is one of them (Page 3 is all the Tempter character.... so here he is)

End of January and KIWI!

2007-01-29T10:37:00.000-05:00

So January is coming to a close, time to recap my new year's resolutions and see how I'm doing.

Since I didn't make any New Year's resolutions... it looks like I'm doing GREAT! Haven't broken a single one!

All kidding aside... I'm hoping 2007 will be a productive year. With Parable coming out and a couple of other projects in the works (most just in the idea stage... for example... seeing more cartoons from my brother and I... maybe even a series?), I'm hoping this'll be a great year! That being said... I need to start posting more. More doodles and such. More random thoughts.... I guess just more stuff in general.

So with that... I leave you with this... a hilariously tragic tale (it truely is quite sad... you'll see what I mean)

Thistles: Page 1

2007-01-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not so much as progress as it's "WHAM! A PAGE!"

This is the first page/title page of the story John and I are submitting to Parable. Currently I'm playing with different ideas for the treatment of the title, and will be adding two text boxes to start telling the story.

Like I said, deadline is approaching, so the idea is I'll be cranking these out! Woo!

Tastes Like Chicken: Glasses

2007-01-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

Is it just me... or is this year just flying by? :D

Another week and another TLC toon. Things have been a bit busy... the Parable deadline is fast approaching, so I've been working on pages for that... I'll post some progress art tomorrow!

Hope everyone's doing great! Until next time....

Tastes Like Chicken: Decisions

2007-01-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

This week's toon:

IYS Voting Open!

2007-01-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

That's right... voting is open! Please click here select our entry ("For the Birds by Josh Alves") enter your email, accept the rules (must be a US citizen and "Each person may vote only ONCE per Challenge from a particular e-mail address), and submit your vote!

Tell your friends. Vote for us.

IYS Challenge 45: NBC Logo

2007-01-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

So for another attempt at the cash prize awarded to challenge winners over at It's Your Show TV", I decided to team up with my brother Jake and enter Challenge 45 "Make the Peacock Proud". You can check out our entry by clicking here or at Jake's site.

This was done pretty last minute (Jake animated and didn't sleep the night before deadline) so there are a few things we'd tweak... but overall it was a great learning experience.

I thought it might be fun if I posted the initial sketch for the worm along with the storyboard I supplied (concept and art was me, compiling and animating was Jake)... so here it be:

So yeah... there you have it! A brief behind the scenes... OH! Before I forget... I thought it was cool that the worm's sound effect is Jake rubbing his finger on a glass.... fun stuff!

Tastes Like Chicken: Falling

2007-01-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

Wow... another week... time flies! Here's the new toon:

If you haven't already... make your way over to LittleGreenBall.com, check out the other submissions for "Falling" and then enter the photo caption contest for a chance to win a prize! More details at the site.

You'll notice I haven't done anything along the lines of re-designing my blog with the links and such... I'm hoping to make time to do that soon... it's been a hectic week.

And last... I'm entering another submission to another challenge at ItsYourShowTV.com... more on that... probably tomorrow!!!!

Tastes Like Chicken: Weather

2007-01-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

This week's toon:

Edit: Whoops... Things looking different? That's because they do. I updated the template and everything went bye-bye.... I'll have to fix it later....

Tastes Like Chicken: Vacation

2006-12-28T08:07:00.000-05:00

Here it is! The final TLC toon of the year!!!

I was thinking last night that it might be fun to see all the TLC toons together in a book format... so I'm thinking I'm gonna look into doing that! The question will be though... full color or b/w (in most cases full color is significantly more expensive to create and therefore to buy.... so we'll see what happens)

For those of you wondering whatever happened to the Zeek And Dent (which I just noticed was finally removed from online....) book I was putting together... well, I have a couple more bonus cartoons to add and a quick forward to write. My original plan was to have a button set featuring the trio as a gift for pre-ordering... I ordered those buttons in AUGUST!!! A few months later I find that the company I placed my order with was shutting down. I've emailed repeatedly, no money... and no buttons.... so we'll see what happens with that. More about it next year!

I just wanted to take the time to say a quick thanks to those that have been stopping by, checking out my toons, random art and sometimes even more random posts. The comments and encouragement have been great... so thanks. Here's to more fun in 2007!

Boxing Day!

2006-12-26T09:08:00.000-05:00

Merry Biggest-Return-Day of the year!!!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a Merry Christmas! We had a relaxing day, watching our 2-year old succumb to the "daze" of Christmas... eyes glazing over, unsure of what to make of all the new toys. Cute.

This week is Guest Artist week over at "Nobody Likes Tony Pony", and I'm one of the guest artists! So head over there and check it out along with the other guest toons, and if you haven't been reading the comic... go check it out!!!!

ALSO, I'm not sure how it works for you, but for me, when working on a project, sometimes it takes just one thing to "click" for the ball to be rolling... that happened this weekend as I thumbnailed layouts for John and I's (is that grammatically correct? crazy english language) submission for Parable (deadline is coming up, so it's full throttle time). After months of doodling pages, I finally am producing layouts that I LIKE! Which is very important to me. I've passed them on to John for suggestions... and will continue to do more! So, yeah... no art in this post... but perhaps I'll be posting more of my scribbles later this week :D

Tastes Like Chicken: Gift Cards

2006-12-21T15:03:00.000-05:00

Well, here we find ourselves in the craziness that is 4 days till Christmas!!!!!! Woo... with that, here's this week's toon:

In other news, we're having an actual prize over at littlegreenball. This week's caption contest has an ACTUAL PRIZE!!! A GIFT CARD to Walmart... and not just ANY gift card... a collector's edition, first of it's kind, LITTLE GREEN BALL GIFT CARD:

Also, listen to Chris Quimby tomorrow morning. He's co-hosting Mike & Mike in the Morning" (you can listen live via their website). That's all fer now! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tastes Like Chicken: Time

2006-12-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

This week's toon:

And I just wanted to take the "time" to thank everyone who took the time to check out our "It's Your Show TV" entry and voted.... thank you! I'm not sure when the results will be in.... so we'll see!

It's Your Show TV: VOTE!

2006-12-07T09:07:00.000-05:00

Voting for the workout challenge is now open!If you would like to vote for our "CRITI-CISE: with Betty Lyttle" please go to HERE scroll down, select "CRITI-CISE:with Betty Lyttle", scroll back up, enter your email address, click the box that you accept the rules, and SUBMIT! And please feel free to pass this info along! THANKS!

Tastes Like Chicken: Pizza

2006-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here's this week's toon:

CRITI-CISE

2006-12-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

And here it is!

Our entry for It's Your Show TV's workout challenge! There are a ton of self crits about this but overall we're pretty happy with it! This was a HUGE step out of my wife's comfort zone, and she did a great job, I'm proud of her. Hope you enjoy! I'll post when it's time to vote for it!

Remember! Don't be big! Belittle.

Dominiq: Pencils to Colors

2006-12-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

A little something I did last week during my time off from work (and yeah... posting it on Friday? a little late with the post ;) )

I've been meaning to draw one of Mark Melton's characters from his comic book "Angeldreams". Since I have a preference for fire characters, I took a stab at the angel Dominiq, so here he is, from rough pencils to colors:

Crits and comments are welcomed... on the self crit side, I've fallen into my common trap of creating a symmetrical pose, giving it a lifeless/static feel. On the inking, I feel like I'm heading in the right direction in that department... but looks like I could've spent more time detailing the legs and such. The colors are not bad, but not great either.... it could use some more tweaking and pushing of the rendering.

I'm constantly doodling for the submission John and I are doing for Parable, I have yet to stumble onto anything I feel is post worthy... I've got rough layouts of the first few pages... again, not quite where I want it to be... I've been referencing alot of landscapes and valley pics for this project.

And with that... that ends today's post! Don't forget to check out littlegreenball.com and my bits and posts at Daily Comedy. Hopefully Monday I'll have a post on my progress on my "It's Your Show TV" submission (preferably the finished product since it's due on TUESDAY!)

Tastes Like Chicken: Break-Up

2006-11-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

This week's topic was "Break-Up":

Gah! What a week! Hope everyone had great Thanksgiving! We were set on traveling during the holiday, but our plans changed when I brought my car to the garage to get what I thought was a sensor fixed... but the sensor wasn't the issue... it was a bunch of other stuff!!! Remember that PRINT SALE where I was trying to upgrade my computer to a new Macbook laptop? Well my new computer has become a new coolant system, front struts, brakes and rotors and three new tires (I had already had a new tire on... that's why only 3 ;) ) So yeah.... that print sale is still going on (HINT HINT). Other than that, I took some time off work last week and had a very relaxing time. Didn't get much drawing done, but I'll post what I did do tomorrow!

Also in an effort to drum up extra funds, I plan on submitting an entry to It's Your Show TV. I've got an idea for the Workout challenge that's due next week (December 5th)... so I'm gonna get crackin'... more on that next week... when it's posted I hope you vote... and then tell all you know to vote... again... more later.

ALSO (yeah... been busy) I just found out about ANOTHER contest where they're giving away a macbook to the winner. Due date is Friday, and the competition is fierce. The contest is over at iLounge and you can check out my submissions (EDIT: it came to my attention that the links I posted brought you to different submissions, i.e. not mine... the direct links aren't working... so I'll have to post the actual ads later)

That's all for today!

Tastes Like Chicken: Exercise/Sleep

2006-11-22T08:26:00.000-05:00

Ok... so one toon really late, another a day "early", I apologize for the delay, blogger was having issues last Thursday, then things got busy... wa-la, it's still today and I still haven't posted last week's toon yet, until now:

Not only am I posting last week's toon, but here's this week's as well:

Also, I was a guest this week on Chris Quimby's podcast... to hear a random conversation, check it out on Chris's site.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pod Monsters

2006-11-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

So here's that project I wanted to tell you about... Pod Monsters. Chad LaForce and I have teamed up with my brother Jake, to launch a new multi-player game for use on mobile devices that can display photos (mainly the iPod... hence the name). We're taking rocks/paper/scissors... and digitalizing it in the form of creatures that lurk in your iPod. For more info check out mypodmonster.com. The site is still in its infancy as there are a bunch of ideas we plan on implementing over time.

Also! For iPods that are capable to play video, you can subscribe to the vodcast and get animated digital cards for your player... here are a couple examples we've posted on YouTube (these are not optimized for YouTube, so they appear a bit pixely, they are clear on the iPod):
A Terre-Pod: GORMAK

A Hydro-Pod: RANGLER

Check it out!

Tastes Like Chicken: Traveling

2006-11-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

Only one cartoon this week (I know, I know... what a slacker ;) ) based on this week's littlegreenball.com theme. If you haven't been there for a bit, check it out, we've got a new caption contest for you to try out. Anyway, here's the toon:
Don't forget the print sale going on now!

In other news, If you haven't been reading Jamie Cosley's new comic, Nobody Likes Tony Pony... well you should... it's awesome!

Come back tomorrow for news about a project I've been working on... the monsters are coming...

Tastes Like Chicken: Puppets

2006-11-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

This week brings us not one... but TWO Tastes Like Chicken cartoons! That's right! I ended up doing the first thought that came to mind when I thought of this week's littlegreenball.com topic. The gag seemed a bit too obvious, something that's probably been done, but since I hadn't seen it... I went with itSo then, I'm sitting on the couch Monday night, and this idea popped in my mind:
I inked and colored this toon first.... and thought... ah... I'll go with my first one (which I had already inked). So Monday night was a late night completing these two....

In other news, we're welcoming a new addition to our family later this afternoon! Our husky Ty is gonna be a big brother for our new husky pup Maya!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tastes Like Chicken Print Sale

2006-10-30T09:40:00.000-05:00

That's right! As part of my "Extensive Car Repair" money-raising event... I'm offering Buy 1 Get 1 on all Tastes Like Chicken Cartoon 8X10 glossy Prints! $15 for 2 prints (and that includes shipping AND handling (woo!) for all prints sent to the Continental US, for International orders email for info)

For ease of use, and so you don't have to go through all the art on my blog, I've posted all published cartoons(I might've missed a couple though) over at www.tasteslikechicken.smackjeeves.com

This sale includes my only cartoon that wasn't published in The Weekly:
Also, All proceeds of the sale of the Steve Irwin cartoon will be donated to Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.

These make excellent gifts (and since, you know... it's basically November.... time to start Commercialmas shopping) as most of the country (and the WORLD) have never seen these... what a perfect way to tell your loved ones and close friends how much you care by giving them artwork by an obscure Maine cartoonist (and perhaps get a few prints for yourself, perfect for the home, the office AND the Home/Office!)

You can order through the paypal button in the right margin of my site or simply log into your paypal account, click the "Send Money" button, and send the appropriate amount (just in case you want more than two, I trust you can add) to: Please allow 4 weeks to get your prints (I say 4 but it most likely will be sooner.... can't guarantee that though)

ALSO! If interested in commission art (maybe you want one of your or your friend's characters drawn), I'm offering original sketches for $12 (also includes shipping etc.). These will be done on 9x12 bristol board and be sketched using my favorite blue pencil (looking similar to the spiderman sketches

When ordering sketches please provide as much reference as possible. Sketch is for one character, please add $5 for every additional character you want (on the same 9X12) with a max of 5 characters total.

Any questions, please feel free to PM or email me! This offer is valid until December 15, 2006.

Tastes Like Chicken: Spider

2006-10-26T08:38:00.000-04:00

Aaaaand it's Thursday! This week's Little Green Ball topic was SPIDERS, and coincidently (or not coincidently) that's the topic this week's toon is: Things are picking up (and not just because we've enter the Christmas season... can you believe that???? Not even the end of OCTOBER and businesses are getting ready for CHRISTMAS... if you ask me... it's more like COMMERCIALMAS... or MONEYMAS). I've got a few projects I'll be sharing more about in the coming weeks. I continue to thumbnail layouts for Parable (and re-thumbnail, been doing various versions of different pages), Am preparing for a contest where I could win cool art prizes from one of my favorite artists, am working on some freelance work for a company in Houston Texas, and you know.... still doing everything else. Thanks for stopping by!

Zombie Me

2006-10-20T08:55:00.000-04:00

A few of the art forums I frequent all have had a "Draw Yourself as a Zombie" type thread... so here was my stab it, not only my first zombie pic, but it's coincidentally my first zombie self-portrait. Yeah, so there it is.... not sure how much it actually looks like me... but whatever... Thanks for stopping by.

Tastes Like Chicken: Soda

2006-10-19T08:47:00.000-04:00

Well, this week's topic over at Little Green Ball is Soda! Celebrating the bubbly. This one is for the New Englander's (and possibly a few of you in parts of Pennsylvania)If you've never had the opportunity to try this particular beverage... this cartoon (in my opinion) pretty much sums it up! And if you don't know which soda I'm referring to... it's this one.

I've been staying pretty busy, started thumbnailing layouts for the Parable anthology... so that's been fun. Also, 'tis the season for zombie pics, and I've completed a zombie self-portrait, I'll post that tomorrow... it's kinda disgusting... so consider yourself warned.

Tastes Like Chicken: Diner

2006-10-12T08:07:00.000-04:00

I might be watching too much "24" (just caught up with the first 4 seasons, thanks to Amy's grandmother and Netflix)

Check out the other Diner related humor at littlegreenball.com.

Also, as some more silly exercising, I'm over at Daily Comedy where I think the plan will be that I try to write a few jokes a day? I dunno we'll see. The site itself isn't "clean", but my "Stage" is and will be. So if you want to check that out, my space there it's this right here. If you wanted to check out what I've done, and happen to rate them... I won't mind (as of now, I don't think I get anything for the votes, other than a sense of validation).

Spidey, Venom & more!

2006-10-06T11:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it's official. Winter's here.

I had frost on my windshield this morning.

Here are those doodles I said I would post yesterday. First, everyone's favorite web-head:Everyone's favorite web-head-hating symbiote:Some doodles from the Parable project:Aaand a pic experimenting with Dapper Dan's coloring style:Have a great weekend!

Tastes Like Chicken: Frogs

2006-10-05T08:55:00.000-04:00

This week's toon dedicated to those amphibious creatures we know as frogs!
If you haven't already, check out the other frog-related humor at littlegreenball.com. With much surprise to me, we didn't recieve ONE submission about dissecting frogs, or about "Frogger", or about who would win in a fight (Kermit vs. Dig 'Em the Sugar Smacks frog vs. The WB Frog vs. The Frog from "Frog and Toad are friends")!!! But we did recieve more toons than previous weeks! So check it out!

In other news, on the art front, I've been a bit more productive on that side (I'll post some sketches tomorrow). I've also allotted SPECIFIC time on the weekend to work on our Parable submission, I've got some sketches from that I'll post tomorrow too!

Tastes Like Chicken: Cell Phone

2006-09-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

*looks around* YUP! Still here! I'm still trying to figure out whether I'm coming or going (days are flying by!), one project ends (or gets going) another one gets prepared. But enough of that, if you didn't visit littlegreenball.com yesterday (if you haven't go check out who accepted the challenge and found the funny in this week's topic "Cell Phones"... GO!) and saw this toon, here it is:Hope you enjoy!

In other news, I've come across another artist that just absolutely rocks. I've been studying, dissecting, observing, and have been awed by his work over the last few weeks, thought you like to check out the artist known as Dapper Dan, check out his work by clicking here.

Tastes Like Chicken: Taxidermy & An Update

2006-09-21T08:24:00.000-04:00

Phew! First up, this week's cartoon: (if you haven't already checked it out at littlegreenball.com)

An update on the Mike & Mike Radio show Chris and I were on Tuesday morning, it was a blast! Mike & Mike are a couple of great guys, and we had fun talking about our latest endeavor.

I experienced my first time being on the recieving end of a RAOK (random act of kindness) yesterday! My brother and I were on our way back up to Maine after a quick visit to RI (my great grandmother passed away, and we were there for the funeral), we stopped at a toll booth to discover that the car ahead of us paid our toll! So thanks to the unidentified passengers of that blue car that took care of the toll for us, greatly appreciated!

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!

LittleGreenBall.com

2006-09-18T11:33:00.000-04:00

It's Live!

Yup! check it out now!

Edit: For those in the Bangor Area, tune in to KISS 94.5 tomorrow morning. Chris Quimby and I will be joining Mike & Mike on the morning show to talk about LittleGreenBall.com

Tastes Like Chicken: Hunger

2006-09-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

This week's toon is one of those rare gems.

Not that this is the best cartoon I've ever done... nothing like that... it's a personal rare gem. One of those where the first idea that came to my head was the one I used (generally it's a process to take ideas and flesh them out). Not only that, but as soon as my pen came off the page, I had it. The exact look, pose etc. of the character (that NEVER happens... well, can't say never... cause now it did...). And NOT only did those two things occur, one right after another, but I'm also happy with the end product (which is always a good thing). So without further ado... hope you enjoy it too:

Something Old: Araknid Kid

2006-09-12T09:38:00.000-04:00

Just when you think it's safe to relax... wham! Time to get busy!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, we had a blast taking part in a few of the "Brewer Days" activities Brewer had happening. From watching the fireworks on friday night to running in the 3k Family Fun Run, we had a blast (not to mention Amy came in first for the females, I was second for the males... it was only the 2nd year they've held the race, so there were only about 15-20 people there. It was a blast! Hope more people try it next year).

I'm working on a few things, but nothing I can show quite yet... but I thought I'd post something I doodled and colored a few years ago... more ARAKNID KID!

Image removed while submission is being reviewed by Zuda

Little Green Ball

2006-09-08T08:45:00.000-04:00

Just a little more of a tease...

littlegreenball.com is coming.

What is the "little green ball"?
Read about it here.

What is the "littlegreenball.com"?
You'll be finding out.

Tastes Like Chicken: Lawnmowing

2006-09-07T09:07:00.000-04:00

That's right!

The end of summer means trading in the lawnmower for a leafblower (or rake) which can then be traded in for a snowblower (or shovel.... if you have "seasons" where you are).

This week's cartoon pay homage to the task of vegetation maintenence and pokes fun at the current obsession with those navigational devices at the same time! Where else can you find that but here? (no need to answer that).

Here's a "What if?" for ya... What if Christopher Columbus had a GPS navigational device? Who would've "discovered" America? (you know... besides Amerigo Vespucci).

If you haven't seen it yet... Chris Quimby's column should be up soon. And another humorist is joining the fray, the very talented Doug Johnson! What's going on? Lemme leave you with these words... "Little Green Ball is coming".

Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-05T10:57:00.000-04:00

I'm sure if you're reading this, you've already heard the news. After being struck in the heart with the barb from a stingray, Steve Irwin died.

I wasn't a huge fan of his show, but his optimism and exuberance was infectous, and am more bummed about his demise than I thought I'd be (not that I've ever thought "How would I feel if Steve Irwin died?"). What a bummer.

........

Crocs rule.

Gotta love 3-Day Weekends!

2006-09-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend (or as they say in Canada... "Labour"). We spent the weekend in Rhode Island visiting family and celebrating my parents 25th Wedding Anniverary.

Big ole' Kudos to my sister who was a big part of the successful surprise party (my parents were indeed surprise). Having siblings out-of-state (or "Maine"), Bekah pulled off a bunch of the hands-on work and for that I thank her. My part was the creation of the invitations, and then stalling my parents (we "needed" to change our daughter's diaper, change our clothes, and "forgot" Amy's purse, containing extra diapers, and had to back inside and "find" it... Woo-hooo!)

The 5+ hour trek in the car went as well as it could be (traveling with a 2-year old). Thanks to the DVD playing capabilities of my brother's laptop! (I think I've finally convinced Amy that a portable DVD-playing device is an excellent traveling investment (either a DVD-player or laptop.... my vote is for the laptop. Preferably a maxed out Apple iBook. ha ha).

And now it's back to work! Um... yay....

Freak Accident

2006-09-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I was a guest host on this week's Freak Accident Podcast. Jeremy, the regular host, went on a camping trip so Travis Seitler and I took over the reigns to provide the latest in movies/entertainment/comics. This was my first attempt at anything like this, and think it came out ok. It's funny because if we both sound like we're trying to be quiet. It's because we are... we recorded each of our segments seperately, in front of our computers, late at night while our wives and children slept (didn't wanna wake them). Travis was up till 1 recording his. And for merging 2 seperate audio recordings, I thought it came out pretty decent.

Definitely learned a few things for the next time I do anything like that (for example, record when you're awake... and can talk using a normal volume)... check it out and have a great weekend!

Tastes Like Chicken: Back To School

2006-08-31T09:19:00.000-04:00

That's right kids, summer is over, back to the classrooms with ya!Read the related humor column here.

Thought you might get a kick out of this. My daughter (just turned 2 a couple sundays ago) has been obsessed/facinated/addicted of/by/to stickers. We have a few sheets of smiley face stickers, and for the last few days I have found one on her hand or arm. I live nearby to work and have the luxury of going home for lunch, the other day when I walked through the door I was greeted by her... and this:Apparently she has contracted some sort of "WalMart Virus".

I'm also very excited to say that you can look for an announcemnt concerning a Zeek And Dent collection very soon (finally! It's only been over a year since it ended). As of now it's gonna be 172+ pages with all 500 comics, each with a little comment/commentary, as well as bonus strips that were never published, alternate versions of strips, and more... stay tuned

Monday! Already?

2006-08-28T08:41:00.000-04:00

First up, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMIAH! My little brother turned another year older! See you this weekend buddy....

So did this weekend fly by for you guys like it did for me?

Hard to believe it's already monday, but alas it is. This summer has been a bit more busier that I thought it'd be, between family, work, things needed to be done around the house, etc. Time has been flying by! If you were in the Bangor area this weekend, hope you had a chance to visit the Folk Festival! Amy and I went for the first time (the past years have found us in Rhode Island while the Folk Festival took place up here). Got to see a great band from Zimbabwe and made sure I tried the "Fried Gator Nuggets" (yup... as in alligator... you just don't see that particular food 'round these parts). While I've heard alot of people say they think it Tastes Like Chicken... I thought it was pretty good, it had a certain taste to it that I can't describe, but I'm not sure if it was the gator meat or the oil they fried it in. Either way, throw on some tabasco sauce and them things had bite (ba-dum-dum.....ching).

Thought I'd toss a couple characters that I developed a few years ago, but I just came across them recently and thought to myself "Self, I'd love to do something with these....". Here they are, the silent-only-talks-with-pictures-in-his-speech-bubbles-agile-sticks-to-anything ARAKNID KID! And one of the villians, the crazy-bonkers-rubbery-as-in-bouncy-not-stretchy-acid-spitting-thief GORP!
Image removed while submission is reviewed by Zuda
I've got other commitements to complete (can anyone say "Parable"), but look for these characters in the near future...

Tastes Like Chicken: Whale Watching

2006-08-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

This week's topic was chosen after hearing the experience of a coworker and her mom on a whale watching trip. She was mentioning how she thought it was funny that everyone on the boat was silent until someone saw a whale. It was also mentioned that her mom was looking in one direction while the crowd looked in the other, her mom saw a whale, let out a sorta "wow-lookit-that" sound, but when everyone turned to look in the other direction the whale was gone!

I thought to myself "How fun would that be to go on a whale watching trip and constantly go "OOOOH! OVER THERE!" and then when everyone looks yell "PSYCHE!". Then I thought about how funny that would be if SOMEONE else did that, and the crowd couldn't stand the "crying wolf" anymore and tossed that someone overboard.

That was my original idea when I tackled this topic, but after a few unsuccessful attempts at depicting something like that, I went with this:

If you haven't seen it already. go here.

Tastes Like Chicken: Pickle

2006-08-17T08:39:00.000-04:00

I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but if you haven't checked out and/or subscribed to Chris Quimby's humor column... yer missing out! This week's topic "Pickle" came from Q himself, and his love for the delicate art of pickling (if you don't know what I'm talking about... READ HIS COLUMN). Without further ado (or plugs):
And if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, yes, "Vlasic" IS the name of a Croatian high jumper.

Moji Madness

2006-08-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

I feel like I always start the first post of the week like this.... so why change now...

Hope everyone had a great weekend. My family came up for a visit (from RI) and we made it out to the Treworgy Orchards and tried the maze out. We had a blast! Even though I designed the maze, I still got disoriented a few times... so that was fun.

I've recently been introduced to a "contemporary character design" site called Mojizu. Needless to say, it's brought back memories from grade school, coming up with all sorts of crazy wacky characters. Here's my current collection at the site, a few are ones I did real quick while others were already created:My moniker there is "Evitaerc", so if you wanted to register there, look me up and vote for my characters... I won't complain. Honest.

In other news, my whirlwind past few weeks are coming to a steady pace, so this means (hopefully) more time to work on the Parable submission. I'll be working on page layouts! Woo-woo!

Congrats! & D is for...

2006-08-11T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well today (until noon) was the last chance to enter the TLC B-Day Contest. And I'm happy to announce the winners have been chosen! After putting all the email addresses on individual slips of paper, they were then put into a hat and I picked one and Amy picked one. So CONGRATS to P.J. & Jorgen! Winners of an 8X10 TLC print! Winners have been sent an email and should recieve their prize soon. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Now for some art, here's this weeks sketch topic. "D" for "Dragon" as in "Savage Dragon" (created by Erik Larsen):
Thanks for stopping by!

Tastes Like Chicken: Repair

2006-08-10T08:39:00.000-04:00

Here we are in this whirlwind week... it's THURSDAY!

This week's idea (like all good ideas) came to me in the shower. We've got a little dent/crack thingy in our tub that needs to be fixed, and as I thought about how it might be fixed and what a repair guy might do to it, I thought about fixing it myself... with...Behold... the power of duct tape.

El Pollo Loco & More Than Sparrows!

2006-08-09T08:41:00.000-04:00

Ok, first up, as promised, an arial look at the maze I designed for Treworgy Orchards! EL POLLO LOCO (I know, I know... technically it should be called "El Gallo Loco", but most people know "Pollo" more than "Gallo")This maze features "3 Ways to Maze"!
Level One: Get in, Get Out. With a map- Extremely Easy. Without a Map- Pretty Easy (if the maze is too difficult, people get frustrated and walk through the corn, permanently damaging the maze. So we try to make level one relatively simple)

Level Two- Get in, find and punch your ticket at all 5 punch stations, Get out. The five stations are named as followed: 1.) Nuggets 2.) BBQ 3.)Wings 4.)Pie 5.)Fingers (yum!). Difficulty level on this one is Moderate. For added difficulty, try to do it in numerical order.

Level 3- Get in, find all 5 stations, located Station "X" in the "Unknown Comb Zone", get out. At each of the five stations there will be a little chicken factoid, try to remember them cause one (or more) will help you answer the question when you find Station "X". Difficulty is Hard. Not only is Station "X" located in an unmapped area, the location (and the question) changes frequently.

And there you have it! Not only can you go to Treworgy Orchards and pick apples (in the fall), they have a corn maze, petting zoo, and my favorite... a Dairy Bar! Every ticket to the maze includes a small soft serve ice cream cone.

More Than Sparrows

A week ago today, Jamie Cosley's graphic novel "More Than Sparrows" hit the shelves! I was the cover designer and colorist on this "unique love triangle wrougt with tragedy and consequence minus the Hollywood ending" book, as well as the one who prepared the book for print. I was a bit nervous how it would come out (my background and experience is in Newspaper publishing, this was my first time preparing something like this for another press), but I'm happy to say (and without any bias of course) the books came out great!
Get your copy today!

C is for Creeper

2006-08-08T11:19:00.000-04:00

Phew! What a whirlwind o' activity! First up, the "C" sketch topic, the Creeper:This topic kicked my butt. I had no idea who this character was, a quick google search revealed he's a wacked-out bonkers vigilante, so I tried to attempt to capture some of that. Eh... next is D.

So, say you're in Maine (which you very well may be) and you're thinking "Hmmmm... what should I (or we) do this weekend?" Well, the 2006 corn maze is opening at Treworgy Orchards this weekend!!!! El Pollo Loco. Try not to go crazy. I'll post some arial photos of it tomorrow!

Very Important Playground Tips

2006-08-07T08:36:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We did. My brother Jake and his girlfriend Jen came up for a visit. What happens when 2 brothers decided to randomly shoot some video and quickly edit it with iMovie? Well... something like this:

Hope you enjoy!

Don't forget to enter the TLC Contest! Big ole THANKS! to Aaron Uglum for this cool TLC Bday pic:Until next time!

Tastes Like Chicken: The Beach

2006-08-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

Ah... a topic perfect for this current heat wave! Fun in the sun, wind in your hair, sand in your eyes.....Today's toon goes on my "personal favorites" list (yup, just like you there are some toons I like better than others), I can't really come up with a specific reason but it makes me chuckle (and I hope it does that for you too). I think it helps that I was able to reproduce the image that I had in my head (which for me is a rare occurance), maybe it's the carton of milk on the cooler... I dunno. Hope you enjoy it!

(Today's the offical start of the TLC contest, it was announced in today's paper, so to the entries I've already recieved, thanks! To those who haven't entered yet... WHADDYA WAITING FOR?

Happy B-Day Tastes Like Chicken Contest!

2006-07-31T13:53:00.000-04:00

That's right! It's been a YEAR since Tastes Like Chicken first debuted in the Bangor area's weekly newspaper, appropriately named, "The Weekly"!!! August 4, 2005, the day before the last Zeek And Dent comic, Tastes Like Chicken began running (how's that for being redundant?). So since TLC is turning 1, you know what that means.... presents for YOU!

Here's how it's gonna work, just send a Happy B-Day email to: In that email tell me your favorite TLC comic ! Then after I recieve all the entries (by 12PM EST, Friday, August 11, 2006) I will randomly pick 2 email addresses. If I pick yours, you win a signed 8X10 print of that Tastes Like Chicken cartoon (no need to include your mailing address, unless you want to, I will contact the winners to find out where they want their print sent)!

But what if I have more than one favorite? you might ask. Well, if you want to, email me what your favorites are, and I'll pick one to send to you (it'll be a surprise!). If you still want a particular print, they are available (check out the button in the right hand menu!)

What if I don't like any of your cartoons? Well, that probably means you don't have an interest in entering the contest.

Have I seen all the TLC toons?
I don't know! But feel free to browse through the archives here on the site.

The contest is open to all inhabitants of the planet earth, including friends, family, acquaintances, enemies, people I've met, people I haven't met, etc. I guess the one requirement will be that you need to have a mailing address so I can send you your prize. Prizes will be sent via the Postal Service. Um... one email address per individual (emailing a bunch of times will NOT increase your chances of winning)

Um... I'm thinking that covers it! Any questions feel free to leave a comment!

Tastes Like Chicken: Fair

2006-07-27T10:38:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the tardiness of this week's post. Blogger was having technical difficulties resulting in this late post.

This week's cartoon topic is "Fair"!

As in "State" and not "That's Not".

Not sure what's going on in your area, but tomorrow is the start of the 157th Bangor State Fair (as in "how many years the fair has gone on" and not "how many fairs have gone on this year")

Without further ado:

B is for Baroness

2006-07-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

Is it Wednesday already?!?!?!

Time flies when you're staying busy!

Anyway, I did this the other day for this week's sketchbook topic starting with "B"... "Baroness". What's next week's? I dunno, but it starts with "C".... GO JOE!And I know you already know... but NEW TASTES LIKE CHICKEN COMIC TOMORROW!

A fun lil' experiment

2006-07-21T13:05:00.000-04:00

So, what do you get when you combine equal and/or/or-not opposite comedic forces? Newton's 7.5th law of course!

If you haven't already (which you really should've), check out Chris Quimby's latest humor column "Tool Fool".

Tastes Like Chicken: Ice Cream Truck

2006-07-20T09:24:00.000-04:00

Ah the staple of the American summer:Yes, the world revolves around ice cream.

It's a little known fact that there's an actual Genesis chapter 0 where God creates ice cream, needs a place to put it, so He creates the world and everything in it in chapter 1. Ah... I love ice cream.

Father & Son on a Beach

2006-07-19T10:05:00.000-04:00

Wednesday and more art!

Thought I'd share a commissioned piece I did over the weekend (I liked how it came out so I wanted to post it). The client was looking for a simple pencil sketch of a photo that they provided, and this was the result:It's a deviation from my usual style and look, but I like it, and more important, the client liked it too.

Tune in tomorrow for a "Ice Cream Truck" themed Tastes Like Chicken comic!

Until then!

Antman!

2006-07-18T08:44:00.000-04:00

Ah, a tuesday that feels like a monday, for me anyway, I took the day off yesterday.

Had some fun hanging out in Bar Harbor, spent some time at Acadia National Park, went to the top of Cadillac Mountain (we drove, didn't want to be out all day and hike, plus, with a two year old, I think we all can agree that driving is definitely easier). Fun stuff.

The sketch topic at one of the forums I frequent was "Antman", these are the ballpoint pen doodles (with splash o' color)!:Thanks for stopping by!

More Character Design Doodles

2006-07-14T08:37:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are, Friday! Day before the weekend! Last day of the work week! Only day that starts with the letter "F".

Enough of that. Today's the self-imposed deadline to have the character designs completed for our Parable story, and I'm happy to say I'm there. These are the doodles for the Tempter and Dad characters:The dad turned out to be easier than I thought. I didn't have anything in mind until I thought about the characteristics of the dad and how they're an "Echo of the King".

The Tempter however was a different story. I was aiming for a non-stereotypical look to this character. A bad-guy that some could consider "good-looking" (like Cillian Murphy, the scarecrow in Batman Begins and he was in Red Eye too). I wasn't finding the right combination until John suggested Bill Nighy's character in Underworld Viktor (Bill was also more recently Davy Jones... which I just found out was a COMPLETELY CGI CHARACTER!!!! I thought parts were Bill Nighy with prosthetics and CGI added!!!!! check out more facts here)

Anyway, you might notice a few faces with the Bill Nighy look, but it still wasn't what I was picturing (even though I didn't know exactly what I was imagining) THEN I combined Bill Nighy... with... well... Owen Wilson? Ha ha... yeah... gave the character the Owen hair and a touch of the Wilson nose and wala... I think it works.

That's all for today, thanks for stopping by!

Tastes Like Chicken: Tools

2006-07-13T09:14:00.000-04:00

Ah, another Thursday! No word from any syndicates yet, I'm thinking probably another month (I bet summer's busy with submissions and vacations). Anyway, here's this week's "Tools" themed toon:When preparing for this toon, I did learn that this particular screwdriver was indeed named after the guy who invented it (Henry Phillips, he died at 68.... why did you need to know that? you didn't, that was just one of the facts I learned) and NOT named after a guy with a mishaped head. Go figure.

Anyway, it's been a busy week and I should have more sketches for our submission to Parable... tomorrow!

Monday doodles: Return of the King

2006-07-10T08:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, so perhaps not the "Return" of the King, but a few new King sketches for our Parable submission. This is a page of King designs with added splash o' color (as you'll notice I can't seem to get away from the bearded look, I tried a few beardless versions, but nothing that I liked much) as well as a few more attempts at a bad guy character and a father character:
A couple of you might recognize that guy in the middle as David Crowder, he was in one of my Relevant issues that I used to do warm up sketches with. Someone suggested I email him and ask if I could use his likeness in a background character or something, but I have yet to drum up the courage (or the insanity?) to drop him an email.

We went and saw "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" this weekend (saturday). While I don't think any sequel would be able to beat the first one (it has a special place in my movie-watching-heart, that moonlight/skeleton effect was just... awesome), I did really enjoy this movie.

I'll keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but it helps to go into this movie realizing it's not self-contained, it's the first half (I believe the second part, or third movie, will be released this spring?), and also, I don't recommend the front rows (we had bought the tickets earlier in the day but we got to the theatre a little later than we should have and sat in the second row... ack, neck-ache!). Davy Jones' crew was fun and creative, and I was dissapointed they messed a bit with Elizabeth Swan's character. The movie was funny, fun, and definitely worth the ticket price with a total of 2.5 hours of showtime! I'm looking foward to the next one.

One of the highlights of going to the movie, wasn't just in the movie itself. One of the workers here at the Bangor Mall Cinemas (the ticket taker) dressed up as Jack Sparrow and did a great job of impersonating the character. (If any of you know who he is.... tell him to rock on! or something to that effect, he was awesome and definitely made going to the movies a fun time).

That's all for now!

Diving Pig

2006-07-07T11:46:00.000-04:00

Here's a little commissioned piece done for my neighbor. She's a school teacher and was looking for art for her bulletin board, so she hired me to do a diving pig wearing a green bathing suit with yellow polka dots:
In other news, our submission for the Parable Anthology is coming along. I'm currently working on the character designs (or rather "continueing" to work on the character designs) and will perhaps post some next week (whatta tease!).

You might remember this pic I colored of Randy Hayes's "Fire Shoulder Guy" (the character was nameless), well, if you haven't been to his site and art blog, I suggest you go check it out as he's posted more art of that character as well as some cool looking sequentials.
Check it out now!

Tastes Like Chicken: Strawberry Pickin'

2006-07-06T09:05:00.000-04:00

This week's toon was (probably most likely obviously) inspired by our strawberry picking a couple weekends ago.I think attempting to give yourself an australian accent while reading this cartoon makes it more amusing (if not the cartoon... at least hearing yourself attempt an australian accent). And for those of you with an actual Australian accent... try reading it with a Maine accent (Downunder/Downeast... it's practically the same but not)

Ah.... the 5th of July

2006-07-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a great holiday (4th of July for those of you in the US). Despite the morning rain showers and the cloudiness, we had a great day.

We took our daughter to her first fireworks last night and she LOVED it! Amy had been preparing her in the afternoon, telling her about fireworks and how the "go UP!" and go "BOOM!". Needless to say our 2-year old was quite excited as she waited on the grass for the pyrotechnics to start, and once they did, ha ha... that was fun. On the list of anticipated reactions... laughing was not on the list, but laugh she did. As well as pointing out the colors and letting us know when there was a "big one". We're thinking she thought that Amy had something to do with the fireworks due to the multiple "Thank you Mom!"s throughout the display. Kids make fireworks fun.

Sadly this morning on my way to work, I passed the field where we watched the fireworks, and man... there was trash EVERYWHERE! People just left their cups and etc. lying there!!! And there are/were trash cans to dispose their discardables in.. but nooooooo.... people are too lazy to do THAT! Man! So consider this a public service announcement.
DON'T BE DUMB.
DON'T LITTER.
GET UP AND THROW YOUR TRASH AWAY!
Thank you.

And just to include some art in this post... here's an evil doctor type character I did this weekend:

Tastes Like Chicken: Mini-Golf

2006-06-29T09:33:00.000-04:00

Ah... Mini Golf! The sport of kings! Wee kings!I did recycle the name of the golf course from this cartoon I had done, but I also learned that it's the name of a mini-golf course in Singapore! Go figure! Thanks for stopping by!