Muskrat Ramblings
Three-Minute Warm-Up Sketches…
posted by John

The idea for the morning warm-up sketches came from my pal, Stacy Curtis. He began posting his morning sketches on his Facebook page and I, frankly, had fallen out of the habit of sketching.

There’s little I emphasize more to kids who want to become cartoonists than “Sketch, sketch, SKETCH!” Well, that and learn to live on Ramen Noodles. Still, “Carry a sketchbook on you at all times” is what I’ll usually tell younglings. And yet, here I was, failing to follow my own very good, solid and sensible advice.

Warming up in the morning has also proven pretty important for the rest of the work I get done that day. It seems to shake the cobwebs out of the old noggin. Some sketches are more successful than others, and none of them are supposed to look GREAT (though I’m thankful when sometimes they look cool). I give myself three minutes to come up with anything: more sketching may follow, but that first one of the day needs to be done in less time than it takes to boil an egg. I doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, it just has to be DONE.

Anyway, here’s this morning’s Three-Minute Warm-Up Sketch (which actually took two minutes – leaving me a full minute to, say, boil an egg): CAP’THULHU AMERICA!

There’s probably a line somewhere about him being “the first IA-venger,” but I’m not touching it.

If you click on the image, you SHOULD see a larger version of the drawing.

John

NOTE: Dork Tower will only be running Tuesday and Thursday this week, again. My apologies – but getting back on track AFTER San Diego Comic Con is taking up an more time than I assumed.

Muskrat Ramblings
“l hit you on Youface. But you’ve got to promise to fingertag me back”…
posted by John

My Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/johnkovalic, recently hit 5,000 “friends.” And as facebook will readilly tell you, you can’t have more than 5,000 friends and be a real person. No, sir – you need to be a corporation, celebrity or monarch.

(I am not making the “monarch” thing up. It may be a Facebook joke. It probably is. But, frighteningly, IT MAY NOT! That’s just how Facebook is, anymore.)

Anyway, as a slew of other folks wanted to join the fun, so today, I took the plunge and turned my Personal Facebook Page into a Corporate/Celebrity/Monarch page.

If you were a “Friend” before, you’ve been automatically transported over to the new page…whether you like it or not!

(”Whether you like it or not,” by the way, would be my entry if Facebook ever had a “Create our new motto” competition).

If you weren’t my “Friend” before, well, now we can never apparently be friends ever again. Ever. At least according to Facebook.

But you CAN “Like” me.

So, “Like” me at http://www.facebook.com/johnkovalic. Why? Because we like you.

****

By the by, my very first post on the new Facebook page had a pretty awful typo in it. Which (a) is par for the course, and (b) what with Facebook being Facebook I can NEVER EDIT OUT, EVER means there’s no better time than now to plug my “TYPOS HAPPNE” t-shirts…in both Men’s and Ladies’ cuts.

****

No Origins or Gen Con for me, this year, I fear. With all the work to do, plus the generally feeling that I lost control of things these last eight or nine months, I’ve made the decision to just stay home and work.

And, you know, play with my daughter.

****

Possible new toy, in the My Little Cthulhu line: “My Little Geekthulhu.”

Each Little Victim would be its own geeky archetype. Though how I’m gonna covince Dreamland Toyworks to let me add bunny ears to the Fuzzy Victim, I’m not figured out, yet.

So. Basically. Imagine THIS guy…

With glasses and pocket protectors.

Like? Thoughts?

Fingertag me on Youface and let me know…

Muskrat out,

====== John

Muskrat Ramblings
You’re a Good God, Charlie Thulhu
posted by John

I’m NOT QUITE DONE YET….

The technique is a bit rusty, but I’m happy with how it’s looking. BUT…it’s my first new painting in over a year. Almost done. The line quality needs to be bumped up a bit, but overall, I’m happy with it. And I believe I shall call it: “You’re a Good God, Charlie Thulhu.”

Or something.

Also: it’s a large-ish piece, as you can see.

And here’s the good news: It’s for a charity auction that’s VERY near to my heart. IF IT MUST BE YOURS, well, soon, it sure could be!

This will be auctioned off online – how, I’m not entirely sure yet. Butr we’ll cross that bridge when we burn it. So anyone and everyone is welcome to bid on it.

Proceeds will go to help establish The James J. Forsmo Memorial Art Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin. Jim was my first graphics editor, and a HUGE help to my career. He was a deeply great guy, and I’ll post more about the silent auction in Phoenix, AZ, as well as how you can bid on Charlie Cthulhu, here, soon.

But for now, I hope you like the piece, even if it’s not quite done.

Oh, good god. I mean “grief!”

John

HEY, KIDS! I case you wanna use some of these icons, here are some larger versions for you to grab and abuse! Have fun! And let me know if ya come up with some of your own!

I’ve talked about these on Facebook, but not really here.

Dreamland Toyworks recently announced the release of Mythos Buddies a new line of 3″ tall vinyl toys I designed as a follow-up to My Little Cthulhu.

There will be 12 figures overall – 9 based on the basic “Buddy Cthulhu” mold, and three unique molds. Once again, Tom Meier did me the honor of sculpting them. Every Monday for the next few weeks, Dreamland will unveil two new colorforms. Here are the designs unveiled so far:

Buddy Cthulhu and Cthuhu for President

AngryThulhu and CoolThulhu

Think of them as a Cthulhu version of the Smurfs. Evil, evil Smurfs. Cthulhu for President is one of the uniques, giving a thumbs-up…

These should be soliciting in the next month or two. I’ll give a heads-up when I find out where these can be found, and how much they’ll be.

I have been hinting that I have three huge projects in the works. This is not one of them. this is, however, a very fun medium-sized project. It’s been a blast. To say nothing of more My Little Cthulhu colorforms coming down the road…

- John