Making Books For Dirty Looks

I made some books. It's fun.





Here are some small books. They are pretty good for notes or small sketches, so they're kind of ike a mini Moleskine. The one on the right I made for Krissy and gave to her yesterday.




This is the Guestbook I made for our wedding. It was the first book I made so parts of it bother me, but overall it came out well, and no one seemed to notice it was wonky, even the people who didn't know I made it. The endpaper is a cream color with blue bird feathers on it. The paper on the cover and the back is actually banana leaves laid flat and pasted together and backed with something like mull.  It doesn't fold well (especially against the grain) so I cut it to size and covered the whole book in book cloth underneath it.





A sampling of books made. The one underneath them all will likely turn into a scrapbook of sorts. It's covered in ivory book cloth with a blue fabric covering the remainder (as you can see). It's about 240 pages, so it's quite large compared to the others.




A view of the books from the side. Krissy likes this angle. You can see all the imperfections, but that's okay. If you want a perfect book, go to a book store and pay $1.95. Hand made has more character--and character comes at a price.



A text block in progress. The paper is from a thrift shoppe. It's old accounting ledger paper. I'm honestly not sure where this paper went or if it made it into a book or not.

The Tools

This is an awl. You poke holes into paper and binder's board with it. They are sharp and pointy.



This is thread. You might recognize it. This thread is coated in beeswax though and made of linen.



This is a bone folder. It make folding paper super easy. You can also score things with it too. Like free beer. Okay, maybe not. Maybe just paper and stuff.



This is binding tape. It's not really "tape" but it works in a similar fashion. Combined with the mull this holds the text block to the outer case (cover) and makes the book much sturdier. Otherwise you'd only have glue and paper holding it together.



PVA. This is the glue for making books. It dries fast and clear and holds extremely well. White glue or mod podge might work, but PVA is also acid-free which won't obliterate your book and turn your paper yellow over time.




I also made this sweet card (and ten others like it) from a linocut I made. It's basically a bird flying in the clouds over the ocean. One cloud looks like Italy. Or a dolphin. Another looks kinda like a shoe. One looks like a Salvador Dali-esque middle finger. I think he'd approve. What do you see?

Some Drawings

I feel like I haven't posted any drawings in some time, so I'm going to. I guess these are sketches, since none of them took much time, if you want to get into semantics.

First, is this fellow. I draw faces a lot, because they're the only thing I generally feel confident in. It's odd, because faces are, in my opinion, the most important part. You can get by with some features being off, but the face needs to be kind of perfect. If the face is off, the whole image suffers. It's like photographs: if the viewer doesn't connect with the person in the image, they don't connect with the image. That's why Tyra goes crazy for fierce eyes, and why people always say to smile with your eyes. If your eyes say "I'm happy" the picture does too.

But I draw faces, mainly because they turn out okay. I'm certainly not that great at drawing them by any means, but compared to anything else I draw, I think they are the best that I do. Obviously, that sentence is not the best that I do, because it sounds awful, but I am leaving it, because I like typing in stream of consciousness.



He kind of reminds me of Golem. Or is it Gollum? I think that's it. It's funny because that wasn't my intent. I think I drew the eyes first, and then the head. He has a weird mustache effect going on, which I'm not crazy about, and his lips look off. But that's okay, because he's off. And it was one of my earlier drawings of a face, so I can use inexperience along with ineptitude as an excuse.

His ears are awfully pointy. Normally I don't even draw ears, and you can see why. They aren't the right size, and they are at different heights. I don't know how to draw ears, so I usually leave them out, or try to see how others have done them, which I did not do here, obviously.

His nose is funny. It's acceptable, considering at this point I kind of did noses as an afterthought. By that I mean, I knew they were required, obviously, but my whole not knowing how to draw them thing tended to leave them being drawn quickly and poorly. In this case, it's funny looking, but at least you can tell it's a nose.

He has weird skin. I don't know what most of those lines are; they're not wrinkles.They make him look somewhat wooden. I think this was my was of showing topography early on. I didn't know what else to do or how else to do it, so I think I just drew lines, apparently at random.He looks like the Ultimate Warrior or something.

I like his liver spots on his head. I think that's what they are called, anyway.


This is a drawing of a fictitious beast of the ages. I modeled it off of several other fearsome animals throughout time. Can you guess what they all are?



First, I am horrible with perspective, and my landscapes suffer horribly from it. In this case, there is nothing in the background except for a tiny volcano shaped like a cupcake liner.

Second, I like the shadow underneath him. I'm really happy with it, then and now. It looks good, I am pleased.

Third, I can't really draw animals, so they are always in this same stance. It's the way I've drawn dogs for as long as I can remember, and I have not progressed much. Similarly, the way I draw cars has not progressed much either, but I don't have any examples I can share right now.

This is a combination of many creatures. First, you may notice the unicorn horn. He has healing powers from this, but can also use it for self defense. Unicorns never attack, never forget that. He also has a small rhinoceros horn underneath that. This can be used for ramming and attacking despite the fact that it is shorter than the unicorn horn. Don't try and bring up physics or math here, that's just how it works, okay?

he has a trunk, like an elephant for bathing and such (the ladies don't like 'em dirty). He can also use it like a turkey baster to soak up any type of fluid and spray it at his predators, or to get a fine looking ladies attention. He just has to remember that urine and toxins are for the predators and pretty, pleasant smelling liquids are for the ladies.

He has a triceratops-like shield around his head. This is rounded, though. This can collect water to and dissipate heat to keep his head cool in the summer and collect snow in the winter to make him look like a lion.

He has the body of an elephant, with some parts of him being covered in scale-like thingamabobs. These are for defense, I guess. Or maybe he just really likes dragons. His back plates are from a Stegosaurus. These have many purposes. First, they dissipate heat pretty well. They can also maybe be used for defense, although scientists are not quite sure about that just yet. They make handy perches for birds to sit on too, when he's not in motion. I think this may keep him cool in the summer because he will be shaded by the birds. Or maybe he just likes the company.

He's also got a spiky tail, like that dinosaur. It resembles an armadillo, but it's huge? I never liked them because they're ugly, but I liked their tails. This is an improved version of that. This can be used for defense or offense, or when courting a female. When competing with other males, he will flail his tail about much like giraffes do to gain favor with the females.


Finally, the last drawing. If memory serves, I drew this around Halloween. I like it. The drawing looks better in person than it does on the screen, though.



This is a scene with much tension in it, yet it contains a certain calmness to it. The man and cat are very calm, like they're on prescription medication (they're not, don't worry). Meanwhile, they are surrounded by all kinds of destruction. There are volcanoes oozing magma everywhere, there's a moon that looks like a comet going across the sky, like a giant ball of fiery hell. The clouds are rather ominous, like one of those bizarre storms that just looks photoshopped. But they are still.

The man is holding a broom, though I use the term "holding" with a grain of salt. You'll notice he is ensconced in a cloak, so he can't actually be holding it. Despite what you may think, that is definitely not a Snuggie.

So let's just say his broom is leaning against him. I like the broom though. It turned out well. The handle part looks pretty well detailed, which is impressive for me. I like his face. He has large, puffy cheeks and the most ridiculous mustache I've ever seen for someone in his situation. I also like his hat. I like drawing hats too, and this is probably the first to have some semblance of detail. I feel like I accomplished that in his hat.

The cat looks kind of pissed off, or constipated. Maybe both. Maybe the cat is pissed off because he's constipated. Then again, cats usually look pissed off. The tail looks like I knew what I was doing. I can see a few planes on it, and it has detail otherwise unheard of in my drawings. He looks silly though, and cartoonish. He is scraggly, but loyal to his master. Perhaps his demeanor is as a result of what he and his master do? Maybe that is why his fur is matted and dirty. What adventures these two must enjoy! Oh, I can just imagine.

Or maybe he just tried licking his balls and realized his master had them cut off when he was a kitten. It could really go either way.

Of Dwarves And Gnomes

I've long said I can't draw, but the truth is I never really tried. Yes, I've drawn before, and seen the same stick figures everyone can draw and just decided I couldn't draw, like most people. But the truth is, anybody can draw. Whether or not it's any good is relative and in the eye of the beholder, as they say.

It isn't until recently that I've tried applying myself to drawing, and drawing regularly. I've always liked art inside, and resented the fact that I wasn't artistic on paper. I've always dabbled in illustration and graphic design on the computer due to the fact that I resigned myself to being unable to draw on paper. I decided to prove myself wrong and, for once, actually try. My art didn't need to be great, it just needed to be better.

So I purchased a sketchbook (one made of recycled content, woo!) and applied myself. I even joined The Sketchbook Project so as to force myself to draw. Unfortunately I have slacked a bit on that front. My drawings started with ManCat who, by now, I hope you are familiar with. At some point I drew a dwarf. I don't know why; maybe because I love Scandinavian culture or something. Whatever the reason, it brought me to the first drawings I kind of liked. I felt that what I drew looked like what I'd wanted it to look like. I've always been able to see a drawing but I have never been able to translate that sight to paper, which has constantly antagonized me.

I surprised myself with drawing faces and eyes. I'd have figured drawing a face would be the most difficult as its the most important. I figure if the face is wrong the whole drawing doesn't work. Unfortunately, my faces still weren't there yet though. I had issues drawing noses, I didn't like ears, and mouths just never looked right. You should have seen how I drew hair too, that was downright atrocious.

I've always liked painting. By that I mean, I wanted to try painting since I'd never actually done it. I've always been amazed the way a painting comes together, and I wanted to try it. This is what I came up with:

It's not perfect, but I was really happy with it. Considering that I'd never painted anything before, I felt that it looked pretty good. Of course there are areas I don't love; the nose is a weird shape, his mouth looks like he got into a fight, and his shirt is ho-hum. But I was proud, and this fine gentleman now hangs above my bed as if protecting Krissy and me.

I mentioned The Sketchbook Project before. The project is actually pretty neat. You send them a small sum of money and they send you a sketchbook. You return the sketchbook completely filled and they take it on a nationwide tour, culminating in its inclusion in the Brooklyn Art Library. If anyone takes out my sketchbook, they inform me, too, which is cool. Here is one of my sketches:

The theme is I'm sorry I forgot about you. I am pretty happy with this sketch. I really like the eyes; he looks devastated that the bus passed him. Clearly, this is not the first time he's been left out, and no matter how tough his exterior is, his eyes can't hide his anguish. Or something. I like his lunch box.

Here is another sketch from the project:

I'm pretty happy with this sketch too. I am proud of my lamp; well, at least the shade. The lamp base is a tad wonky as is the table it's on, but that's okay; I like a bit of wonkiness. This one is a summer scene. And, yes, dwarfs always wear their full regalia no matter how hot it is, okay? I'll leave any dissection of this sketch to you, however.

Next is a painting I did, and it's probably one of my favorites, to be honest. I bought some 8x10 canvas boards to paint Jessie a picture for her birthday (seen here), and felt like painting one evening so I did. I started by drawing a dwarf and decided that rather than the typical portrait, I wanted it to be asymmetrical (?). I really liked the idea of him coming from the corner like a photo bomb. Behind him a sort of children's-book style forest. His beard is (maybe?) impressionist in style. His cheeks are rosy like apples. Dwarfs always have rosy cheeks, don't you know? I'm extremely happy with the eyes. You might have to go to flickr to see it bigger to see the detail, but it still looks good as a small JPEG, too. He's not perfect (but who is?) though; his suspenders have a lack of definition-- they look flat. His pants look a bit off. among other things. But as a whole I'm quite pleased with this. Truth be told it was originally going to go to Jessie but frankly we liked it too much. Sorry, Jessie.

Last, is a painting I painted for Chris, my brother, for his birthday. I'd been wanting to paint a painting for someone and I was trying to figure out who best to paint for. I figured Chris would like it the most. I thought it would be really funny for Mike and Jen to have to hang a dwarf up in their house, but ultimately I settled on Chris. Besides his birthday came at the right time. Also, my dwarfs tend to resemble him in ways; he looks like a dwarf (in a good way).

Yes, the head is floating and I wanted it that way. I really like the hat. The hat is what I painted first and it came out better than I could have imagined, frankly. Originally the face was more in the orange color range but, inexplicably, I decided to do the shady side of the face in purple. It took me awhile to be happy with it, and I kind of regretted it for a couple days, but in the end I feel it worked out. The eyes are okay; they are good enough but not my favorite. The nose is kind of okay, too, although it is sort of weirdly misshapen. His moustache is in the style of Jimmy Mcmillan.

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this. Feel free to comment. =)

Everything Is Always A Work In Progress

Another round of my Man Cat as art project is in store today. Today's drawings are not done yet, in fact, they've hardly been started. I decided to draw Man Cat inspired by Henry Darger. In case you don't know Henry Darger, he would draw cute, young, girls with penises instead of vaginas. I believe he got crap for that since it's kind of controversial, I guess, but I think it's cute and funny, and something I like to do anyway so once I saw In The Realm of the Unreal I knew I'd have to create a Man Cat drawing inspired by Darger. It's in the very beginning stages. Really, I just jotted an idea down in a couple minutes so I wouldn't forget. I hope to finish it sometime in the future, and make it colorful. And cuter.

Man Cat Inspired by Henry Darger (Click to Enlarge)

As for this drawing, the bottom is going to be Man Cat as chairman Mao, inspired by Andy Warhol's print of the infamous dictator. I think that suits Man Cat well. The top stamp-sized sketch is Man Cat inspired by Shepard Fairey's OBEY print of Andre the Giant.

Man Cat inspired by Warhol and Fairey (Click to Enlarge)

More to come on these drawings when they are finished.

Thanks for reading.

The Vitruvian Man Cat

Leonardo da Vinci—Meet Man Cat

The Vitruvian Man Cat
Photo by:Dennis

I drew this awhile ago, at the end of August. For some reason I never took a picture of it, so I never uploaded it. I finally got around to taking said photo the other day, so I thought I'd post it here.

I'd have to assume that anyone reading this would recognize the source of this image, but in the event that you don't I based this drawing on Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. My version by no means is perfectly proportioned as da Vinci's is, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I spent some time trying to get limbs lined up and various body parts more or less proportional. If I am unhappy with anything in this drawing it is most definitely the hands; I feel like they look weird. In a way, they are kind of cat-like, which, I suppose, is a good thing in this case (except that cats don't exactly have opposable thumbs). The feet are slightly wonky, too, but all-in-all they are not all that bad.

I admire da Vinci; he was most definitely a Renaissance Man. Da Vinci is a world-renowned artist, inventor, scientist, mathematician, engineer, writer, and so much more. Basically, anything da Vinci dabbled in, he mastered, and da Vinci dabbled in everything. He was also a notorious procrastinator and experimented in everything. I can respect that. I'm sure that his experimentation is largely a result of his being a driving force of the Renaissance. It's pretty amazing that for a period of time the world was so productive with ideas. It would be nice if we could one day return to that era of thinkery; alas, I feel that it will never happen. Not that there aren't great people doing great things, but the world is, unfortunately, a different place now. Who can spend time just thinking now? Thinking doesn't pay the mortgage. I've got to imagine that holds true even when you get a degree in it (except, obviously, a Doctorate of Philosophy, which is to say an advanced degree unrelated to philosophy).  I think the world should take a twenty year break encouraging people to think and do things that they might otherwise do if they didn't all have to worry about bills. Think of the mass enjoyment people would have following something they actually enjoy doing, studying what interests them. Think of the innovation companies could conduct. Of course this would never work, because money makes the world go round—now more than ever.

The Inaugural Comic: Sweet Beginnings

Click on the picture to see the rest of the comic

This is the first Man Cat comic.

To find out a bit more about me and Man Cat, check out the About page here

More to come!