I PROMISE ... THIS IS THE LAST TROLL POST ...

This year ...

I like the 4th and the 6th but fell the last two posts 

the characters are more goblinoid than troll-like .

<sigh!>

TROLLIN' ALONG

Here we go with even more trolls ...

The chamber pot was also known as a "thunder mug" 

and was the name for one of Grandpa Cappy's giants 

from the stories he told to entertain my Mom.

This one holds a chamber pot as a coffee cup. 

Guess he's not using a Keurig!

CIRCLING ... CIRCLING ...

More trolls ... more circling ...

NOTHING BUT COAL.

Gotta love it when you wake up on Christmas and find coal im your stockings. There is a story in my family about my Great Aunt Rose whose brothers did that as a joke. She threw the lump through a window on a cold Ohio winter morn. I am sick ... thanks Santa. I think Yoko got it from him kissing under the mistletoe and she in turn gave it to me. 

On top of that my Christmas post is posting below the earlier post ... attempting to fix it only puts it lower in the list ... go figure .. so you need to scroll down to find it.

Bah Humbug :)

Merry Christmas!!!

MAYBE THEY'RE ...?

So one of the perks I get from working at the Contemporary is that there are a steady stream of college kids. Nice shiny bright faces. Sometimes they notice I keep a drawing journal and ask to take a look. The one thing I can count on is them giving a unvarnished opinion. One lovely young lady was Rachel Reed. Her comment was ... "John, you have to do something with these."

Well Rachel ... I have. 

What I have been doing is circling. 

You see I have an idea for a cartoon. It seems appropriate for the time. Something special ... in what should be a terrifying form. 

The problem is my cancerian nature of circling is going full speed ahead ... Sort of. I'm trying to come up with trolls. These are the ones that Rachel saw.

The problem is I'm not sure if they aren't more ogre or giant than troll. (Notice the pale eyes ... that started when I started having problems with mine. Yoko would say that I'm courting trouble.)

OZ NEVER HAD NOTHIN' ON THE TIN MAN

My first relocation of "The Wizard of Oz" was a scene done from a local stage production on then our local CBS channel. I'm not ... sure ... I might have been 3. Presented far past my bedtime, it was not long before it was the land of Oz but Nod that I was in. Still I spent the night dreaming of cowardly lions, scarecrows, and of course tin men.  Somewhere down the line the technicolor Oz came like clockwork, came yearly to Kansas. Then the Wizard of Turner appeared on the scene. I have to wonder if this film wasn't the reason he bought the MGM library. The VHS tape started the digital revolution with all the weapons of mass distractions, that we all ... enjoy ... now. Sad to say ... it was past 30 before I borrowed Karl Hertel's book. But hey ... it was the annotated copy. 

If I visit occasionally Oz, my friend Walt lives there. I wish he would feel compelled to go back to his works of Ozzian landscapes. When I needed an avatar for the community pages of the dulcimer site it was under the moniker, Tin Ear with a tin man with a dulcimer. 

Below is a study from my sketch book.

 

WTF

As of today ... there are two weeks until the new year. And with this post I will have 6 posts to make goal. 

OY!

Perhaps my next blog should be in time management. 

It has not been good since the end of October. No excuses ... just the facts. I was suppose to have a week off before vacation. I was well on my way to catch up with the earlier lag. I had dreams of new content ... and then life happened. I got sick in Vegas and it took me a month to recover. Now we are in the whirlwind we know as the holidays.

Now the next I don't know whether to blame western astrology or Chinese. In the common astrology I am a Cancer the Crab. I am suppose to circle around and around. And I do. The Chinese however name me Monkey ... easily distracted. I had a couple of hours to do some work. I got some inspiration on working on a costume for a puppet. I got nothing finished and have yet another iron in the fire. 

Such is my life ... deadline after deadline ...

<sigh>

I guess that is the way I'll end. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

God bless us every one!

Each year I am charged with creating a limited Christmas card. And each year I pledge to get an early start to it. If fact this year I had my design and concept by January. Some how ... once again it fell victim to procrastination. Perhaps my greatest talent.

So for two years it's been a rush job. Yoko would say I am too critical. But that day I was tired and things did not flow. It's funny ... I always found it easy to draw the jolly old man. But not this year.

Funny thing is when it came time to draw on Yoko's St. Nicholas Day card. Easy peasie.

Go figure.

I think I'll start procrastinating next year's card now.

last year's card

this year's card

St. Nicholas Day card

and if this is before we open presents Yoko ... 
GO NO FURTHER!!!

Bah ... Humbug!!!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Maybe I'll work this into next year's card.

SUPERMAN LIVES

This is one of those posts I do not expect most of you to read. Don't get me wrong. It is not that I do not feel it is not interesting enough, it is with both videos ...  just overly long. 

But then ... it is a long story.

I remember, hearing this at the time. It was shortly after the Burton/Keaton Batman films ... talk of a Superman film ... starring of all people ... Nicholas Cage. I really couldn't see it. And as hope for the movie failed, it faded from my memory. 

That is until Kevin Smith came along. 

I found about Mr. Smith in a round about way. I was looking for a name for my first website. I had in my mind one that came from refuting a lecturer at work. If she learned anything from me, I hope it was do not ask for questions if you are not prepared for scrutiny. In it I told her that her view was at best askew. So I came up with the name, "The View Askewed" only to find it used by one Kevin Smith. I became a fan ... more of the man than his works. Don't get me wrong. His works are a little raw. Not something I would of sat down with Mom to watch. It was while watching one of his filmed lectures, that I heard his story of the part in Superman Lives. 

I always found it interesting. And it has been a subject I brought up in conversation on more than one occasion with my friend Walt. Now as Paul Harvey's tag use to "Here is the rest of the story." 

Earlier this month on the premium channel Showtime, was run the documentary, "The Death of Superman Lives." Not only does it have Smith, but Burton, Cage and producer, Jon Peters. The tales remind of the elephant and the blind men ... each with a different perspective. 

Mine is that I think it was a good thing the plug was pulled. That Burton was all wrong as the director. Superman is a theoretical premise of environment and genetics shaping the individual. He may be Kryptonian ... but he's from Kansas for gosh sake! Big Blue is nick named by Batman "Boy Scout." This is not a dark brooding man. This is not a story about a loner ... but a joiner ... an outsider that seeks a place in the community. Kevin Smith if had been given his lead could of come up with a good script ... one that reflected the character's nature.  I think Peters is a revisionist at best, but if truth be known ... a grade A bullshitter. However I have to say that his vision did see life in the last Superman film, "The Man of Steel." There are floating robot assistants. Superman goes at least half the film without his costume and not flying. And the tera-forming machines are likened to giant spiders. Peters' film finally saw fruition.  And of the MoS it is the better part of the film.

And with the continuation of the story with "BatmanVs Superman" it looks ... if rumors are true the final piece of "Superman Lives" comes into play.

Just my opinion.   

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

A BELATED R.I.P.

R.I.P David A. Trampier.  Born in April 22 1954, Trampier died in March 24 2014. I went back to his work when writing the post "Dunder Blunder." I never knew much about him when I was in my early days of gaming. He signed his work with both DAT and Tramp. He is best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons artwork and his illustrations for Dragon magazine. His "Wormy" comic was sheer genius. I loved his use of color that pushed the boundaries of the then comic art excepted standards. His work for my generation of gamers was the touchstone of imagination. He defined both monsters and the spirit of adventure. 

 It was in 1977, that TSR began to upgrade their game into a much slicker version. The first book was the "Monster Manuel." Among the artists that contributed to this book was Trampier. Dragon magazine gave it good reviews saying the illustrations were worth the price alone. But it was the "Player's Handbook" iconic cover that set David apart. It is a classic image that has been recreated over and over. As the adage goes," A picture is worth a thousand words" this image sums up the game. His comic, "Wormy," needs further

examination. The a fore named dragon first appeared in Dragon #9. It was filled with different monsters from D&D but shown from their point of view. 

Some where in the late 1980s, Trampier simply vanished. "Wormy" stopped midway through the story arch at Issue #138 (1988). Reportedly mail containing payments and royalty checks were returned unopened.  Phil Foglio, creator of the Dragon Magazine strip, "What's New?" is quoted as saying "When an artist's checks are returned uncashed, he is presumed dead."

And so it was presumed. That was until four years later when Southern Illinois college student, Arin Thompson did an article for the local university paper on night time taxi lifestyle and unknowingly interviewed Trampier, publishing both his name and picture. David was wooed once more for new work or the rights to old, but to no avail. 

In 2013, Trampier suffered a mild stroke, loss of employment and if that wasn't enough ... found out he had cancer. He sold eight pieces of his art ... including the 1977 Dungeon Master's Screen artwork ... to Scott Thorne, head of  Castle Perilous Games & Books. Thorne was hoping to arrange a resurgence of "Wormy" but Trampier died shortly before the meetings were to be. 

I have read of some talk about difficulties that David Trampier had with the business side of art and what is expected from the management side. Maybe this is the why of his turning away from his art. I don't know ... maybe driving a cab was a performance art for him. All I can say is, "Thank you, Dave." What he gave was a gift I treasure.

BEAUTY IS ...

... in the eye of the Beholder!

The Beholder is a favorite monster from the Dungeon and Dragons game. Well ... maybe for the DM. For the players it's quite a challenge. Basically a giant floating eyeball with eye tentacles sprouting out the top. Along with being resistant to magic each eye has a power. Some of the rays coming from the eyes can paralyze, charm, cause fear, petrify, and even disintegrate. And lets not even talk about it's death ray. It's only redeeming feature is that the beholder's drool cures the common cold. 

At least that's the rumor. 

DUNDER BLUNDER

Some 35 years ... <brushes away cobwebs> ... I was of the mind to try and crack the comic strip syndicate nut. This idea is something that only comes to the naive, the young or the crazy. You have a better chance to win the lottery than get syndicated and today it is almost is impossible. There is a certain feelings that there needs to be governmental protection as the newspaper cartoonist are placed on the endangered list. Check out the documentary Stripped on Netflix if you want to explore more. 

So the concept I wanted to explore  was a variation of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I had a false start and decided to try a throw away. At the time I was playing Dungeons and Dragons with my first group and was reading Dragon magazine. They were running a comics section with only two or three features of any worth. "What's New" and especially David Tampier"s "Wormy"were head and shoulders above the other content.  I tried to kill two birds with one stone. So I came up with Dunder's Dungeon and submitted it to Dragon magazine. 

Their response nearly crushed me. They just didn't say no ... they came up with 10 bullet points on why they didn't like it. Some had value and I took the comments to heart and tried to work it into the other strip. Other comments were pretty mean and made little sense when I compared them to what they were printing. I was confused and hurt. Thank God for having Dad in my life at that point. He calmly asked me to read note #10. 

"We are not presently in the market for a continuing feature. Please feel free to submit single panel cartoons."

The light bulb went off and then I was on a mission to prove myself. I did three single cartoons and sent them in. Same drawing level ... same level of humor. Out of the three, they excepted two, printing one. (Issue #50) I learned a couple of lessons about life and editors thanks to Pop.



Anyway ... I rarely throw anything away. Just ask Yoko. I am at this point interested in exploring motion comics and my mind went to redoing Dunder's Dungeon. As I already had 12 episodes, I figured I could just slap them together. You know, at little editing in Photoshop and it would be done. Easy peasy! But as in all things Morgan, this has turned out to be more involved than I originally thought. Besides figuring out the mechanics I am trying to correct mistakes. Hopefully in the 35 years I've learned something to better the strip.

Or maybe I'm just going to make a whole new set of mistakes. 

COREL PAINTER X3

So what the ... are they so superstitious that they can't just say 13. Lucky 13. X3 ... combining Roman and Arabic numerals ... sounds like a rocket ship from some old Flash Gordon serial ... The X3! Yoko's lucky number is 13 ... so by the laws of community property, that makes it my lucky number as well. In this case it proves true.

Painter X3 is ... I think ... two versions at this point behind the current issue. So the lucky thing is that they are practically giving them away. The price dropped in the last week $400. And still it is a usable program. HELL !!! If version 10 was Windows 8 compliant ... I'd still be using that. Now I know you are saying ... another art program! Why does he need this one, especially when he has Photoshop? Painter as it's name implies, is skewed to, by design mimic watercolors, chalk, inks, acrylics and oils. Photoshop is an image editor that one can paint with. Painter is also the last program  I lost in the crash. I feel the return of normalcy. 

The only thing is this color blinded artist is not very painterly. And while learning something new is the last thing I really need right now ... I have always loved this program. I don't know if I will ever get away from my linear vision but here is the first thing I ever did with this latest version. Am I happy with it? No. Will there be a lot of searching on YouTube for painting tutorials? Yes. I do, however, take pride in the fact that this was done completely within the computer. 

Not too bad ... for a starting point. 

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED

Sometimes something as small a a mouse can be the monster. What can I say??? 

EEEKKK!!!

DURIN'S DAY

"Then what is Durin's Day?" asked Elrond.

                                                                             Eric Fraser's "Durin"s Day 
"The first day of the dwarves' New Year," said Thorin, "is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin'sDay when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. But it will not help us much , I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again."
                                                       "The Hobbit" - J.R.R. Tolkien

Poor Thorin. No WiFi signal ... no Siri to ask in good olde Middle Earth. All he would of had to of done was click on this link:

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/d/durinsday.html

and he would of found out this year, Durin's Day is on October 13th. Except on other sites I've seen it listed at being on the 14th. That's a long time for a hobbit to be waiting for the thrush to knock. 

Anyway ... so in honor of Durin's Day I am enclosing the first picture from my new journal of a dwarf ... I'm not sure if it's Durin but he says it's his day.

I hope you enjoy. And have a great Durin's Day!!!

CHARACTER DESIGN

Kim Rivers is a deer soul to my heart. We met in my college days. A ringer to preform Bill Lorenzen's play, "Voo Doo" we were part of EPCOT's Prominade Players. A real talent. How often did I hear her say, Every joke contains a little truth."

As I saw this in the paper I, from a far I heard her mouth these words.

I am struggling now ... for months really. I have been working on character designs for what I hope to be a motion comic. It's been far too long and I am still circling. Still working. too cute ... too simple ... too complex. 


<sigh>

Well to continue is to live.

AVATAR

In a past post, I mentioned the gaming table top simulator, Fantasy Grounds. 

http://thegalleryonthefridgedoor.blogspot.com/2015/08/frank-would-of-loved-this.html

I have been experimenting with the system with the help of Kevin "The Boy" Wilson. We are trying to straighten out the learning curve and slowly achieving some sucess. We both are learning the innerfaces and I am even gingerly attempting to see how one to hack the form. I have so far figured how to change the background with the help of a Youtube video and a very supportive chat board. 

Here is the avatar I came up with for said chat boards. 

To all my former partners in adventure ... be forwarned. 

"My pardon. I give it to you. In fact I will go so far as to send you on this adventure. Very amusing for me, very good for you - and profitable too, very likely, if you ever get over it." 

MORE MONSTERS!!!

Here are two more monsters from the sketchbook. These are creatures of a process that I have been going through for far too long. I am working on a set of characters for a fantasy world piece that has been rattling around in my head. I have the concepts and the story ... Now I have to suffer with the search. Yoko says this is my favorite part. Maybe its true but the frustrating part is this time I am doing a lot of circling. 

What can I say ... it's an adventure.

WALT DISNEY BIO ON PBS

I try to post on every Wednesday, but obviously missed my own self imposed deadline. This is because I wanted to talk about the documentary that was done on Walt Disney on PBS' "American Experence." It played on Monday and Tuesday night. A whopping 4 hours of content. So I had the daunting task of watching both episodes back to back. I also had the good fortune to discuss this with my good friend, Walter Deanovich.

We both thought it was good ... if a bit simplefied. And while I know a lifetime is a lot to cover in even 4 hours there was a lot left out. Some only hinted at. It is forgotten or ingored that both people and events shape an indivigual. How can you tell the story of a man's lifetime without looking at those that influenced others?  And while it stresses that Walt held grudges ... it doesn't touch on the split that happened with Iwerks. This perhaps the biggest equalling the effects of his father and Mintz. And the fact that he set aside his feelings to let Ub come back to work for the company. 

The worst you can say is that Walt was a man ... a man with all the foils and follies that is inherant in us all. He is proof that a man ... an artist can have the vision but not the skill to carry it through. A man driven to create but has to depend on others to be his hands. This does not create an enviroment of understanding or self expression. But if you worked for Disney ... you had best not go into it with any other ideas. 

What this bio show is that Walt was a complex man and no matter what nay sayers might say ... accomplished a lot in his lifetime. And there is still pieces of of the story to be told. Hard to believe if you look at the thickness of the Gaibler book.

It will be playing in all probabilties to be playing again on this Sunday on your local PBS channel. It is worth a peak or a slot on your DVR. And for those so inclined here is a short articale on how Walter Lantz came to head Universal's animation department and take Oswald from Mintz. 

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walter-lantz-plays-it-lucky-1928/

Let's just say it was all in the cards.