In difficult times, we’re always told that we’ll need to tighten our belts. If I tighten mine anymore, I’ll probably split in two. And it’s always a well-fed government official, with a salary and benefits, doing the telling. They should realise the PR coup they could achieve by joining Weight-watchers and taking the opportunity to loose a few pounds.
Tighten my belt? Has anyone actually seen my belt?
Spam used to be something you ate, at least, according to Monty Python. Now it’s constantly arriving in our mailboxes and, to anyone running a blog, it means checking the new users signing up. They’re coming from Poland, India, and my personal favorite, “scottsdaleazwindshieldrepair.com.” That comes out of Israel. An InformationWeek article states that spam costs the world $50 billion in lost productivity each year with about $17 billion (in 2005) of that in the U.S. alone.
Not spam, spam, spam, spam again!
This is one business where you need to be an eternal optimist. There are so many disappointments and rejections that you learn to deal with them quickly and move on to the next project. A great friend of mine, the late David Gantz, told me he would send a book idea out to the publishers and, if it didn’t sell, he’d wait six months and send it around again. Times and tastes change, to say nothing of art directors and editors. Often a book that was rejected would be picked up on it’s next pass.
The pessimist says,"The editor's a moron."
On the other hand, the optimistic cartoonist says,"Oh, well, the editor must be a moron."
Most of the sketches on the blog are drawn when I’m traveling. Usually, it’s in a plane or train but sometimes when I’m just sitting around. The ones on the go are generally a bit looser because of the motion. Sometimes there’s a fortuitous bump that makes just the right line. It’s one way to see how much of a difference the tiniest variation in line weight or direction can make to the expression of the character. There are parts of the ride into Manhattan where I switch to coloring because the train is bouncing a bit too much. Most of these come out of my head but some are influenced by the appearance of other passengers.
Here's a full page. Some will go on to be colored and appear here. Others may get colored and still not make the blog. Some get crumpled up and tossed in the recycle bin. The occasional one will go on to become a character in a finished piece of art.
I should be drawing in a sketch book and I do keep a few. I’ve been using tracing paper for this blog since it’s relatively inexpensive. It is the best quality tracing paper, the cheaper material yellows quickly because of the acid content. And, as single sheets, it is easier to scan. Plus it doesn’t hurt as much if it ends up being recycled.
Here's a close-up. The hair was inspired by a fellow passenger.
The Berndt Toast Gang joined other members of the Ink Well Foundation at St. Mary’s Children’s hospital to draw for the kids. St. Mary’s helps children with special needs and life-limiting conditions. The Ink Well Foundation is a group of animators and cartoonists that visit area children’s hospitals. In with the requests for super heros (ably drawn by Ray Alma), Elmo and Blues Clues rank high as the kid’s favorites. The Ink Well is a non-profit and 100% volunteer run so help them help the kids (visit the website for more information)!
The kids join the cartoonists from the Ink Well Foundation for a photo op. Standing: Sergey Aniskov (In the official Ink Well apparel), me, Inkwell founder Elizabeth Winter, Joe Vissichelli, Tim Savage, Ray Alma (Happy Birthday, Ray!), Ed Steckley (Ed always has to be the tallest) and Howard Beckerman.
Elmo came to visit . . .
. . . Eric, his biggest fan!
It’s trying to snow again.
I refuse to shovel another snowflake.
Ferrari has just announced it’s own hybrid. It’s green in more ways than one. The name is a bit lame (Hy-Kers, does this mean you have to drive wearing your Timberland boots?). Still it can do 0-60 m.p.h. in 3.5 seconds.
It's not for me, I only buy convertibles.
Cartoonists get to draw some impressive noses. Real life proboscis‘ of the famous, Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope spring to mind, don’t stand a chance when compared with the cartoon variety. Now a new technique has been developed to use the nose as an element of identification. So instead of scanning an iris or checking fingerprints, bad guys will be caught by the size of their “Schnozzola,” as Mr. Durante would have said.
No, no fingerprints but the cops have got his nose profile.
In the early days of the space program, the need arose for a ballpoint pen that could work in zero-gravity. There’s a rumor that NASA spent millions developing the pen while the Russians used a pencil. The Fisher Pen Company developed the pen independently and asked NASA to try it. It was also adopted by the Russians. You can still buy the pens and refills which can be used in most common refillable pens.
Yes, it writes upside down but what do we do with all the shavings?