Expecto Patronum!

August 2007

Updating Books Read 2007

Myrtle's Tribute to Star Wars

As a final Tribute to 30 Years of Star Wars... Myrtle wanted to add her special little something....

Patches

Because I think she's so darn cute, I asked Helen if I could use her dog Patches in a few Myrtle cartoons... here's what happened.

Pretend

(That's my kinda dog!)

Indy & Me..

On Deck...

Escape

If you read a book about Dragons.. do they suddenly appear??

Read a Book.. it's a fun thing to do

Someday, I will get my book before Myrtle does............

Nap Time...

Mrytle and Sweetie... (Naomi's handsome kitty)

Dandelions..

Ahhhh, Spring!

Myrtle Meets The Dragon

My friend Kiyotoe (a.k.a. The Dragon050376) commented in the last Myrtle I did that he thought Myrtle should meet him. (a.k.a. the Dragon).

So I thought about this and decided, yeah, maybe she should meet him! So for the last 2 days this is what kept me busy.

I wondered how a meeting between a turtle and a dragon would go, and my instincts led me to this............

But knowing Myrtle, she wouldn't stay scared for long, so I needed to see how things would progress as they got to know each other a little better.

Hmmm, and I supposed he'd cough a fireball! hehehe.

Ok Kiyotoe.. you asked for it... you got it! (And yes, I know you are handsomer then this dragon... but it is a cartoon, so deal with it!)

'till next time...

Is That Really You?

Well, I hope everyone had a nice Easter Weekend. It was sunny most of the weekend here, but stayed quite cold. In fact, I think March was warmer then April has been so far!

By Saturday I finished my last book by Cornelia Funke, Dragon Rider. Although it was written for young adults, she did manage to write a really fine story. I would highly recommend her books to anyone with children under 12 and her Inkheart series for any age.

I will admit when you first begin to read her books you do find yourself wondering if this "kids book" can keep you interested. Well..she manages to have some very interesting characters, which is the one thing that captures me.

On another note: I finally saw the movie: 13 Going on 30, on television. I say this because: Andy Serkis is in the movie. (you knew I had a reason, right?) Wow, he cleans up nicely! lol.

Well... I began this post yesterday, but then got distracted by my brother and then by laundry.. but I guess, as I doodled in PSP later making a list of books I've read so far this year, my mind was still on Andy Serkis.

Why would I say that, you ask? (go ahead.. ask!)

Because I wound up spending waaaaay to much time doing the following cartoon...

I won't discuss how long it takes me to do them in the computer! I'll just say if I had made this the old way (felt tip pen) and mailed it from NJ to CA it would have been there before I finished the computer one!

Ok.. so that's a bit of an exaggeration.. but it FEELS that long! This one took about 3 and a 1/2 hrs. The vision of them meeting popped into my head while I was doing Myrtle for my book list. It's the way the cartoons of her used to come to me when I did the simple, pen drawings for De and Carolyn. If the thought made me chuckle, then I'd draw the cartoon for them. So.. since they are no longer with me.. YOU get to suffer! Just be glad this doesn't happen often anymore!

After so much time in PSP my eyes were watering so bad I knew I had to get off of the computer... but it was timed just right for Dancing With The Stars...

That Apolo Ohno is just too darn cute! And, he's turning into a pretty darn good dancer! I am guessing that it will whittle down to Ian, Apolo and Joey for the final 3. Last night was not a good night for Ratzenburger, although I'd like to see him do a few more dances before he leaves. Great, he's not.. but he's done surprisingly well at some of the other dances he's done. I guess I'll tune in tonight to see who gets booted. There was more then ONE possibility!

'Till next time..

Oh, I almost forgot.. he's my "what I've read so far this year" list...

I will post it every now and then (not after each and every book added to the list). I'm curious to see how many books I read in a year. Though I go in spurts, and even have gone more then a year without reading any!

Tired Eyes

This is how I spent my day yesterday..

making 19 frames to that I could have Myrtle "alive" for the first time...

I guess I couldn't get the idea out of my head about characters coming alive.

It's jerky but that's because I had to move her more then you would for a "real film". As it is someone on dialup may have trouble loading 19 frames. I did shrink it down from the size I worked with to help for loading purposes... plus 400 pixels is the limit on my blogspot journal and I will post it both there and aol.

Anyway.. working in pixels really puts a strain on these old eyes. By the time I finished all the frames my eyes were stinging and I could barely stay awake to watch "Enterprise" on the Sci Fi Station. (they show 3 shows every monday evening.. starting from the very beginning)

It took many hours to do this. I kept taking short breaks when the nerves in my mouse hand would shake from clicking so much. It would have been a whole lot easier if I had a WACOM pad.

I had the smallest (and cheapest) Wacom Pad once but it won't work with XP. Seeing as the cheapest one is 100.00 I haven't replaced it. It's a pretty great thing to have if you do alot of art work on the computer.

I'm glad all I had to do today was to put the frames together in Animation Shop because I think my eyes need a break lol.. they won't really get one though, I know I'll pick up Inkspell and do some reading before the day is over.

'Till the next time...

Oh Happy Day

Merry Christimas 2006 Everyone!!!

We Interrupt this Program for a Commercial

I don't know about you but for some dumb reason I thin the M&M's commercial with Santa Claus is just too cute. I know it's a "repeat" but I do love it...

So after seeing it about a dozen times so far this season, I decided to make Myrtle's version of the same commercial...

of course space is limited in our journals and to make it how I would like to would make the drawings so small you'd hardly see them so I had to do them in individual frames... See if you recognize the commercial..

I did all the drawings for this but have to admit that I sorta "copied" the stand up Santa from one I found on the web.. but I did copy it freehand and colored everything myself all in PSP 5 (yeah, the old one.. it's still the best!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, from Myrtle.

Sorry bud.. Myrtle already did your commercial!

Will the Real Myrtle Please Stand UP

A few posts back I talked about Myrtle, the Kelley's tortoise. I looked for a picture I knew I had that was a good one of her and didn't find it so I had posted "me and myrtle" pictures.

Well... I don't remember what i was looking for yesterday, but I found the picture of Myrtle I had wanted the first time! And here it is...

Isn't she cute? (well.. for a tortoise..) That's Carolyn's hand holding her little head up so that De could take the photo.

After I found the picture I once again, digressed to when I used to make the cartoons for the Kelley's. But since I can't do it for them.. I did one for my journal.

Remember, I had always drawn Myrtle as if she was their "child" (since they had no kids of their own). De was always drawn as legs with cowboy boots. Carolyn would be legs and high heels (though she never wore them). Anyway, here's a typical type of "running cartoon" I would draw for them. (only you get to see it in living color!)

Myrtle was always fun to do. I always knew she'd bring a smile or a giggle from the Kelley's.

But I had no idea that when I did a "ruff" sketch and scanned it into the computer to colorize that it would take me so long to do it! It took the better part (on and off) of a whole day! I don't think becoming a "computer cartoonist" is in my near future!