Sunday, August 14, 2011

Summer boys—2011

Hello, summer!

Here to the left is Robert, with his big, bright, green eyes, and always-talking, always-laughing mouth.

I met Robert during Pride. Because MIT commencement/reunions typically falls on Boston Pride weekend, I can't usually go. But this year, they did not, and I went to Paradise's block party with Adam. There, met Robert.

It was just his birthday, so I colored this sketch I did of him a while back for the occasion.

HBD!















As for some other eye-candy, clockwise from the left:

Skinny indie boy with nicely muscled arms, wearing some lightweight green cut-off sweatshorts that left nothing to the imagination.

Kid at MIT campus, who, from a distance, looked fat. But closer up, it was all muscle. I've never seen anyone fill out every inch of cotton madras shorts. Seriously, every inch of fabric was accounted for.

Another kid I saw on my commute. He was wearing denim cutoffs, and biking shirtless, shoeless, helmetless. He had a cute hayseed look about him. But really, he needs to wear a helmet.

Dude talking to another dude at the Porter Sq Shaw's. His arms filled out his cotton plaid shirt sleeves nicely. Otherwise, he had the 30-going-on-40 look. Or, he was a youthful 40. Either way, very nice!






Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Summer gals—2011

Recently, I took a day off to do some writing for my WUTHERING HEIGHTS project, and I stopped by Diesel Cafe to see my friends Steve and Adam.

Nearby was one of those newfangled preggers gals who show off their preggers form. Definitely not the mod maternity wear I saw in photos of my mom.

In truth, the showing off of the belly wasn't nearly as bad as the showing off of her back fat rolls. AND, if she hadn't been loud and obnoxious, she wouldn't have caught my attention at all.


















By contrast, I saw this vision at Sherman Cafe, where I stop every Thursday morning before therapy.

I LOVE HER!

She has this moderninzed Mama Cass redux thing going on. Hippy head-band, flowy printed micro-dress, and sandals.

Well, I thought it was a micro-dress...turned out to be a shirt, because if she moved right, you could see her denim Daisy Dukes underneath.

The quote is somewhat accurate...they were out of whatever she had intended to order, though I don't think she was so daintily concerned about it.

Next next, Summer boys!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Le Menu

My parents' hobby is restoring big old houses. They do most of the work themselves, and they are good at it. But, 3 story homes are kind of a lot for 2 people, so they accumulate and store. Not like pack rats, per se, but they aren't so good at purging. Recently, my mom started the process, and stumbled upon a box of letters and postcards and stuff from me and my sister to her and my dad.

The letters I wrote while I was in college were pretty un-interesting to me, but the ones from Saint Louis were pretty good. Most of it, I had similarly captured in journal form, but still fun to read, a little. Weird to have such a detailed glimpse back at one's self from decades ago.















What really nabbed me were some of the personalizations on the greeting cards I gave them as a little boy and teenager:

"You don't look a day over 39! Happy 38th birthday, Mom."

"Happy late birthday/On-time Father's Day" (my dad's birthday is in February, Father's Day in June)

"Happy Mother's Day. Your present will be late, but you will still get one."

"Don't worry about getting old and all your wrinkles. Happy Birthday"

So, I haven't changed terribly much, forgetting birthdays and presents. Oops.

Among the items was this fake menu I had to make in Junior High French class. I recall the teacher being a bit annoyed at deliberate details such as charging 20 Francs for a cup of coffee against 22 Francs for an entire meal.

I laughed when I re-read this—and it's still making me laugh—was my pun, "Oo-la-lard." Lard not only means lard in French, but also bacon. Anyway, a bit more of vintage Tim Fish for ya.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Wuthering Heights Preview
























Some Heathcliff, with the cast for height comparison.


























Edgar and Isabella Linton. In the moment of drawing, Edgar looks more like a guy I work with, and Isabella looks more like a Barbie doll. Oh well.


























I didn't get much opp to draw Hindly and Hareton, but they look pretty similar to this in the final pages.



Ok, this was a tough assignment...14 page excerpt, preferably a self-contained portion. Thinking...thinking...whirr...whirr... I ended up doing a 2 page spread summarizing chapters 1-9 and then focused the next 11 pages on chapters 10-17, then added the ghost bit for the 14th page.

I started off from notes, then a tiny hand-written script, then 5"x8" thumbnails (pages 1-2 to the left), then 11"x17" pages.

Was a fierce debate whether to add some color, gray shadows, or keep it stark B&W. Excellent arguments were made all around. I added gray shadows but left it to the publisher to decide whether to go with them or the B&W.

I can't wait to see it in print! Though June 2012 is a long way off.