BookLust

Two-Two Much Reading?

Ever experience patches in your life when for whatever reason, you simply aren't interested in reading? Every now and then this happens to me, and usually I dread these pockets of un-interest and un-enthusiasm. Nothing will inspire me. Not a short story, not a juicy news article. I won't even have the energy to read the back of a pill bottle. So this week I decided to try and embrace this literary vacuum, and immersed myself whole-heartedly into the boob tube. I watched Oprah. Some Brit-mystery about a nun-turned-killer-profiler. I watched a Nora Ephron movied I'd never seen, Heartburn, which apparently was based on her marriage to Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and). I didn't even know those two were married. Of course I had to get the husband to look up this info about the movie, because I couldn't even get the wherewithall to read a video and movie guide.

I also watched something I used to always enjoy, cartoons. But I'm a bit of an old grump when it comes to the animated cartoons I see on TV these days; nothing is as good as the classic Warner Bros cartoons I grew up on. But when I flicked the channel to YTV yesterday, and saw a cartoon character who looked remarkably like the oh-so-missed Mordecai Richler, I was intrigued.

Unbenknownst to me, Richler's classic children's story, Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang, has now morphed into an animated cartoon series, with Jacob Two-Two as the main character, and the rest of the Richler familias as the backdrop to this show. Mordecai's character ("Morty") is pure delight. He is short and chubby, always sporting a thick rumpled sweater, and is usually hidden away in the house, writing, or reading about his favourite team the Montreal Marvels. He will pop out from time to time to eat, chat to the family and give sagely advice to little Jacob Two-Two. Another character I enjoyed was the oldest son, the hip and cynical Daniel, who like the real Daniel Richler (whom I've always had a crush on) sports a wild and wacky hair-cut.

I've only actually seen one of the stories, but it was a great introduction to the entire cast. In the story Jacob finds a special mystery book which takes him and his friends on an adventure to find a great treasure (with a bit of help from Jacob's dad). I love the way the characters are drawn, and the painted backgrounds are very good for a TV series, and this specific story even had Library Ninjas in it! What more could one ask for? I'm hooked.

Oh yes, and I am gradually getting back into reading. This morning I started with some New Yorker cartoons, and have graduated to reading an article by Joan Acocella about writer's block. Which begs the question: has anyone every written about reader's block?

TrenDESIGN 3

Terribly sorry for the lack of posts lately. Under the weather and swamped with freelance. Enjoy the latest TrenDESIGN. More posts to come soon.

What's a CommuniCritter?

One of the great joys of doing freelance cartoon work is that sometimes you get to meet some very nice, talented people. Of course with freelancing, you also meet some real jackasses, but at least you have the choice of not wasting your time with these dolts. Unfortunately, when you work in an office environment, you don't have that luxury. If you work with people who drive you crazy, you have to find a way to tolerate them on a daily basis, or you can tell them to all go to hell, which will no doubt put a kickstart on your freelance career.

If you would prefer to not get fired for telling all you co-workers what you really think of them, perhaps a book that provides "real practical insights to improving harmony at work" could help. Rules of Engagement for Communicating at Work: 5 Strategies for Decreasing Conflict and Increasing Collaberation is a practical, no-nonsense book to help people communicate successfully in the workplace. Written by Kathleen Redmond, "a passionate advocate of maintaining healthy workplace communication strategies at all levels of the organization", Kathleen has spent "over 25 years in the workforce, surviving in the trenches as a line employee, managing employees for 12 years in both the tourism and education industries, and lecturing about management skills at the college and university levels."

Kathleen approached me last year, asking me illustrate her book with some light-hearted humorous cartoons. She wanted characters intersperced throughout the book that would commicate some of her key points, but she was reluctant to use people or animals, since we all tend to automatically associate certain characteristics to recognizable icons, and her wish was to have images that would instead be genderless, raceless, and imaginary. And so the "CommuniCritters" were created. Aren't they cute? I had a lot of fun creating these guys, and in a way, it was quite therapeutic for me, because it was a way for me to release some of my own frustrations from past working environments. I hope I get to draw more of these guys; I still need to work out some more past work environment issues.

So if you're on the verge of telling all your co-workers to go to hell, or if you want to be a more effective manager, do yourself a favour and check out Kathleen's book.

Creative Processed Cheeze

I would like to say a little bit more about my aversion to "creative inspirational" books. It's hard to explain, but I'd like to. I liken it to my revulsion towards any children's book whose prime directive is to teach a child "a lesson". If I ever encountered books like that as a child, I sure as hell stayed clear of them. I read books to be entertained and have fun. Not to learn life lessons from the goddamed Kabbalah, especially by a woman who not long before had published a book showing off her whoo-hoo for all the world to see. But I digress.

I have honestly tried to read some of these books in question. Some, like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain I just couldn't finish, others, like anything written by this woman, just made me want to gag. What is the fascination with this SARK chick? Aside from the fact that for someone teaching all about creativity she can't draw to save her life, and her selection of colours makes me want to hurl, she just strikes me as another wacko phony baloney, a softer version of Anthony Robbins, just taking advantage of insecure people who hope that reading a book will dramatically change their lives.

Perhaps I'm just a die-hard cynic. But I'm more inclined to enjoy a book like How to Change Your Entire Life by Doing Absolutely Nothing by Karen Salmansohn. Actually, all the books published by this gal are hilarious. Because they are witty, well-designed, cynical, and most importantly, they don't take themselves too seriously.

Keri Smith's Living Out Loud is a fun book; I love the design, the drawings, the colours and all the great stickers, and her writing style is warm and friendly and approachable, and a lot of her suggestions are worth reading. But more than likely I will never do any of the exercises in the book. It just ain't me.

If I want to get more creative, I do what works for ME. Coffee really helps. Hot baths. Lots of alcohol. And just plain hard work. Either you are creative or you are not. Either you are talented or you are not. And even if you are talented (and that is so subjective anyway), making it as an artist is such a crap shoot. It's hard work, talent and luck. No one can teach you how to be an artist. It's good to get mentors, support, money, money, and more money, and lots of practical business advice. Oh yeah, and money. But ultimately it's a hard and lonely path that you have to travel on by yourself.

What's Under the Covers 2

After I created that post a while back going into detail about how I created the designs for some of my e-book work, I figured it might be fun to every now and then tell "the story" behind the design of some of my e-book covers. So yes, another regular feature has been created.

Here's a little blurb about the book:
"MR. WRONG is a short, fast-paced romantic comedy. Kat Snow, a widow, decides its time to re-enter the meat market, but finds herself faced with two seemingly insurmountable problems: 1) finding Mr. Right; 2) She hasnt dated in 12 years and needs a brush-up course on current dating etiquette. The trouble begins
when she asks her best friend and boss, Rourke Hawthorne, a cynical divorce lawyer and a poster-boy for Mr. Wrong, for help - and worse, he agrees."

Apparently there is one scene in the book where the male character ends up in jail, and that was the image that the author wanted on the cover of the book. But how the heck to create such an image in a short period of time? And the author also wanted the male to be wearing a jacket and tie, slightly rumpled. Well, the only male model I had handy was the hubby, but would you believe the guy didn't have a jacket or a tie in his closet? Let's just say he's very low-key when it comes to fashion. So first it was a trip to the nearest second-hand store to find some cheap suitable clothing. That adventure alone was worth the payment for the job, just seeing the hubby struggle and grumble about trying on jackets. Never mind trying to remember how the hell to tie a tie. We actually had to do research on the internet for that. I guess I'm a lousy wife 'cuz that sort of skill just doesn't come naturally for me.

Then the real challenge was trying to create the scenario of being behind bars. Desperate situations call for desperate clamberings in the broom closet. I found two old brooms (for some strange reason we have quite a collection of brooms; it ain't like I use any of them; another area of wifely duties where I don't measure up). I got the hubby to stand still and hold the brooms close up to him, as if he was literally, "behind bars", and took quite a few shots. After finding the best shot, then it was Photoshop to the rescue, so with various colour filters the broom handles were made to look as much as possible like the same bars in a jail (the broom handles were originally two different colours; one red and the other blue). I'm not saying it's perfect, but I don't think it's that bad, considering my limitations and time constraints.

Finally, the title was hand-drawn, in Photoshop.

I am very grateful to the hubby, who I must say, is anything but Mr. Wrong for me.

Ephemeral Love

Oh joy! I saw this book yesterday, and snatched it up without hesitation. Who can resist a book written by Nick Bantock providing instruction in collecting ephemera and creating collage? Urgent 2nd Class was created just for me. On the back it reads:

"You are invited to take an art class with the master of aesthetic curiosity, Nick Bantock. Urgent 2nd Class is an inspirational handbook for making art by embellishing and tampering with old documents, maps, postcards, scraps, envelopes, and other ephemera. Written in Bantock's ebullient, intimate prose and featuring numerous visual samples, Urgent 2nd Class shows how to alchemically transform the unexpected into your own idiosyncratic art."

Now let me say straight up that I am not a big fan of "inspirational" how-to-be-creative books. They just don't fly with me. But I bought this book because, well, it's Nick Bantock, he writes well, he gives some good practical ideas for collecting and creating collage, and most importantly, the images inside are luscious.

Now if only Barbara Hodgson would write a similar book!

Re-Covered 4

I completely forgot that I have done a lot more "re-covers" than I realized. I design e-book covers for LTD Books on a freelance basis. A few times over the years I have been asked to re-design an older cover that will soon be going into paperback publication. This is the most recent "re-cover" that I have done for them. I'm not sure why the original design is such a bizarre shape. If you look closely you can see two baby carriages in the foreground. I guess it would help to know a bit about the story. Here's a blurb:

A reclusive pilot's seclusion in his wilderness cabin is interrupted by a novice mother and her adopted twin babies. Soon he finds seclusion isn't what its cracked up to be. The last thing Nick Hunter expected when he arrived at his remote cabin in the Adirondack Mountains was to be knocked out cold by a gorgeous, emerald-eyed woman. When he wakes to find out they are marooned there with one-year-old twins, he wishes he'd pass out again. Despite his desire to escape the civilized world, he finds himself an instant caretaker, an instant father. Lani Cabot knows the situation is only temporary, but she is drawn to the enigmatic Nick, who has secluded himself in this wilderness, obviously trying to escape from a secret in his past. For a wonderful, brief time, she has a makeshift family - a family she could otherwise never have.

So because of the story line, I was asked to put the two babies' heads in there. Had I the choice I wouldn't have put them in. I think the babies are overkill. But overall, I like the look. These images are all from old magazines that I bought at various paper shows in the past. Those mags sure do come in handy, I must say.

TrenDESIGN 2

Another bit of TrenDESIGN fun. Yup. I will never be a cool designer. You know the type I'm talking about; the Zoolanders of the art world.

Cartoon Buddies 2

This cartoon buddy is very special because he was my first. Many years ago Steven Toth was a cartoonist in Hamilton, Ontario, creating gags and magazine illustrations and comic strips and of all things drawing giant weasels to live symphony performances. He was also a cartoon instructor. I came to his class in my early 20's, feeling mighty low and not having many expectations. His enthusiasm for my work was jarring, to say the least. He did his best to build up my confidence, give me advice and even some freelance jobs. Without his help and encouragement, I really do not think I would have pursued cartooning in any way shape or form. Isn't it funny the words of others that stay with you for almost two decades? The one thing Steven said about my work that I have never forgotten is "It's got soul". It's the best compliment I've ever received about my work. It's also intriguing how we hang on to negative comments in our life, too. Like the nasty put-downs of an insecure, controlling ex-boyfriend who never did anything with his artistic talents. I prefer to replay to Steven's words, thank you very much.

All those years ago, Steven published a book of wonderful cartoons, entitled "The Weasel Symphony". He signed it, encouraging me to continue drawing, with the hopes that he would receive a signed book of my own cartoons one day. Well, I have yet to publish a book of cartoons, but I will be mailing him a signed copy of my first illustrated children's book. So what if he had to wait almost 20 years to get it? It just goes to show how powerful words can be, and how they can come back to you, in such wonderful ways.

Anyway, I'm gettin' all soft and sentimental, so I had better stop it, or I'll make myself sick. These days Steven is a very talented painter, working in various mediums, including digital works. Take some time to look at his lovely paintings.

Moments of Sweetness

No particular reason why I posted this cartoon; I just felt like it. It's not a bust-your-gut cartoon gag; more like a brief moment of sweetness, I think. I would imagine it would be very hard to be laugh-out-loud funny every single day, 365 days a year for years and years on end; I know I sure couldn't do it; sometimes I would just have to put in some moments of sweetness until the next wave of hilarity. Besides ain't life like that? You see, I'm defending myself here, 'cuz these comic strips I've been posting lately are from my latest submission to various syndicates; all rejected of course. Otherwise, I'd be in the papers, not here. I did get some good feedback, though. Who knows. I still may be Patricia The Stripper on day.

One little note about the cartoon. The overall tone was inspired by a recurring theme that Charles Schulz created in his strip Peanuts; every now and then he'd have all the characters on the baseball mound with Charlie Brown, just pontificating and philosophizing (is that a word?). I loved those strips. No gag was necessary. Instead of a good laugh, sometimes you just really needed some moments of sweetness. To see some really good moments of sweetness these days, check out Patrick McDonnell's Mutts, an incredibly beautiful, clever, adorable and just goddam good strip.