Day #67 - Predators??

Last night I went and watched Predators with Ed, Les and Bazz. Needless to say this was not the greatest film in the series and I think it came down to the casting.

Thinking of the leading man in an action flick such as this a you think of names like Arnie, Sly, The Rock, Vin Diesel etc not Adrien Brody??

okay so he's slight, you could remedy that right?

what did they do to make him look menacing?

Gave him a really oversized gun and an oversized knife.

and paired that up with him wearing slacks, a vest, a dress shirt and a scarf.......hmmm....

and worst of all, to try to "Macho" him up they made him talk like he was trying to impersonate Common. God they cast Topher Grace alongside him and Topher looked tougher!

The Yakuza was the coolest character in the movie and only got 2 lines, 1 which was the line of the movie.

Day #66 - the school of B Rod

as requested by Craig I have doodled Bender drinking a longneck of VB, I took this opportunity to teach Hawk how to draw Bender and once again he has outshone his dad.

As you can imagine I'm very proud.

Day #65 - Benny "the Ball"

One of Top Cat's right hand men, Benny was a short round blue cat that was pretty stupid but still wise enough to pull a swifty over Office Dibble.

Top Cat was one of the coolest cartoons the HB ever produced but I can't really remember the premise apart from the Officer Dibble trying to evict the cats from his alley and T.C. (what close friends got to call him) lived in the garbage bin directly beneath his Police phone.

I don't know anybody that could recite all the gang members, the only ones I can remember are T.C., Benny, Choo-Choo and Spook.

It had the coolest soundtrack.

for you parents out there, this is obviously where they got the inspiration for Benny the Bull in Dora the Explorer, he's even blue just like Benny!

Day #64 - Touché Turtle

Touché Turtle and Dum Dum were a pair of heroic fencers who battle villains and heroically saves kings, queens, maidens and others in distress. Touché was the brave and dashing leader, whereas Dum Dum was more of a simple minded follower. Brandishing his trusty sword and exclaiming his catchphrase "Touché and away!

Dum Dum was well and truly my favourite of the two, he had the cutest run of any animated dog to date.

In fairness though, Touché Turtle wasn't a complete cartoon but merely a segment of "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series" along with Wally Gator and Lippy the Lion.

So many memories flooding back drawing this it's so much fun, and it's not using anywhere as much lead as last week's doodles.

Day #63 - Penelope Pitstop

Wacky Races was another in a long line of Hanna-Barbera favourites, it centred around 11 different types of 'wacky' race cars along with their matching drivers, I think my favourite would have to be the number 2 car of the Gruesome Twosome, it was a haunted house car driven by a Frankenstein and a big Lurch type of character and there was also a dragon that used to pop out from time to time to help fly them over gaps.

Penelope Pitstop was always present and rarely picked upon (probably as she was the only female).

The inspiration for this cartoon came from the classic movie "The Great Race" but Tony Curtis' classic character had a poor copy with Peter Perfect but on the flipside, Jack Lemon's Professor Fate saw the introduction of Dick Dastardly and Muttley whom set out to booby-trap every other racer in the same fashion and would be remembered well beyond this cartoon.

Muttley's snickering laugh must be the thing everybody would remember from this cartoon.

Apologies for the shakiness of the drawing I've not been well.

Day #62 - Number One Super Guy

Continuing in the Hanna-Barbera theme I bring you Hong Kong Phooey.

I had to copy this from Wikipedia because it sums it up perfectly;

The series stars Hong Kong Phooey, the “number one super guy” who travels about the city in his “Phooeymobile”, fighting crime with the aid of his manual, The Hong Kong Book Of Kung Fu.^[2] The stories begin at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, works as a mild-mannered janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint ("Sarge"). Also at the police station is Rosemary, the telephone operator, who has a crush on Hong Kong Phooey. After Rosemary gets a call and explains the crime, Penry runs into a filing cabinet and (always getting stuck) transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey.

I think the thing I remember best about this cartoon is the theme song.

Day #61 - SLEEP LITTLE KIWI by Earle Taylor

SLEEP LITTLE KIWI

(LIBYAN OFFENSIVE 1941)

Sleep little Kiwi! The battles won

The enemy’s broke and on the run

The cold winds over the desert stir

So sleep little Kiwi and dream of her

Yes dream of her for theres much to think

When a man comes back from the very brink

Of the gaping jaws of a hellish death

And he still is whole and he still draws breath

Just think he can lay there and make his prayer

With the blessed knowledge that she’s still there

What of the tracers, The shot and shell

And the monster tanks at the gates of hell

What of the sights that you’re strained eyes saw?

Ten thousand guns and a million more

And the bombs that burst to you’re left and right

That were they’re by day, and still they’re by night

Your god was watchful and always he

Kept faith with those from across the sea

For what of the bullet that missed its track

And buried itself in your haversack

He must have guided its deadly flight

And turned its nose from your back that night

And then at the sunrise when on you pressed

And stumbled on that machine gun nest

You saw those eyes with their fatal glint

And the barrel, Shinning like polished flint

But your god reached down from his ringside view

And jammed it, E’er it could fire at you

And he held your nerves in that breathless game

While you raised your rifle and took your aim

And he draped around you a cloak of steel

That you couldn’t see and you couldn’t feel

So that when that mortar that got your mate

Just a yard away by a stroke of fate

The flash that blinded you for a while

Kept you there from a funeral pile

For where you were bound, For five minutes hence

Collected a bomb and the consequence

Yes little Kiwi the battles won

The enemy’s broke and on the run

And the winds that over the desert stir

Sing” Sleep little Kiwi and dream of her”

Day #60 - Tiro Loco McGraw

Today at lunch I was talking with my workmates and for some reason Quick Draw McGraw came up in the conversation, after he was mentioned most of us laughed about him except for Hacks, poor Ian had a childhood removed from the wonders of Hanna Barbera, so I thought that I'd enlighten him.

Well Hacks, for the next week or so I am exclusively (except for saturdays) going to bring wonder to your mind by 'doodling' as many HB characters that I can.

So tonight, just so you don't feel left out from today's conversation, here is Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick Bubba Looey (or Pepe Trueno for Jose).

Day #59 - the last leaf

I lost one page to Vicky and gave one to Mika to draw on, plus the Bootsy Collins one and the 60 page A5 Derwent Visual Art Diary is full, book 2 will start tomorrow night.

I have been thinking about how to end the book and I thought that this would be a cool way considering this is pretty much how all the trees are right now (barring the evergreen ones of course).

Anyway, first volume finished, I hope you've like them so far? there will be 6 more to come.

Day #58 - Jimi

I've been wanting to draw Jimi for a while but was a little afraid that I'd screw him up totally, I'm happy enough with this, I think I really nailed his nose, the rest? I guess it's okay.

I tell you what though, after the last 3 nights I should buy shares in Staedtler, tomorrow is definitely going to be a line drawing.

Day #57 - moonwalker

July 20 1969, was the day the man 'walked' on the moon, a lot of people believe that it was produced on a sound stage in the UK but as an avid Sci-fi fan I like to think that they went for real. Growing up I would look up in the night sky and think how high I could ollie on the moon.

Seems I cleaned my scanner to just cover it in graphite again :)

Also, I've seen Capricorn 1 and if they did fake it and were afraid that the astronauts would spill the beans then surely they'd be dead? it is the US government after all.

Day #56 - Igoo

As you can probably imagine, cartoons are and always have been a huge part of my life.

Growing up Mark and I would wake up around 5am every Saturday and sit in front of the TV with our Weet-bix waiting for the Thunderbirds and the cartoons that followed, we'd watch these right up until Hey Hey It's Saturday began (yes it used to be on on Saturday and in the morning).

Amongst my favourite cartoons was the Herculoids, it was about a prehistoric family lead by the father Zandor (the mother and son that I can't remember), Tundro the armoured dinosaur that fired rocks from its horn, the flying dragon with laser eyes, Gleep and Gloop the blobby characters that stretched like plasticine (whom was DEFINITELY copied for the Schmoo for the Flinstones) and Igoo the Rock Ape.

Okay, whomever created them was definitely on drugs but nonetheless I loved watching this silly show.

And Igoo was by far my favourite.

I forgot that he was mostly black and it would seem like I just coloured a big rectangle........

Day #55 - Afro Samurai

Up until about 9pm I was going to draw Kaboobie, or the Herculoids or Mighty Mightor.

I have no idea what I was thinking that made me want to draw Afro Samurai (one extremely cool show if you haven't seen it) but I can tell you that I was listening to Cut Chemist and Jurassic 5 at the time, man I didn't want to stop drawing but I do have to go to work tomorrow and I don't want to be too bleary eyed for a monday.

I hope Lester likes this one, I was thinking that he'd look pretty cool going to a cosplay event as Afro Samurai? *hint hint*

Day #54 - THE MASTER by Earle Taylor

THE MASTER by Earle Taylor

Man is master of his machines

And he masters all he can

But he can not change the course of fate

For fate is the master of man.

Fate is the master of happenings

And the master of things that wait

But it can not master the ways of god

For god is the master of fate.

God is the master of fate and man

And he masters the even and odd

But no one can ever change his plans

For no one is the master of god.

My old CSC & Wenty Leagues CC cohort Greg Taylor asked me if I would be interested in reading some of his grandfather's poems and drawing my interpretation of them, I am extremely honoured to be doing this and I have decided that I will do one each saturday for the next 3 weeks.

These poems were written by Earle Taylor whilst serving in El Alamein during World War II. The Allied victory at El Alamein turned the tide in the North African Campaign. It ended Axis hopes of occupying Egypt, taking control of the Suez Canal, and gaining access to the Middle Eastern oil fields.

None of us could begin to imagine how frightening it would have been to be in El Alamein but out of that horror came a thing of beauty, after reading this I am even more honoured to scratch out my interpretation. Thanks Greg, I hope that you like it.

Day #53 - Getting the monkey (Ross) off my back

Ross Evans, this is for you!

I got him with Welcome to the Jungle.

This stems from a little game I like to play at work, I get a real kick out of putting a song into people's heads which they can't get out :)

My latest achievement was just yesterday, I made a Senior Business Project Manager whistle Brittany Spears' "Oops I did it again..."

so are you singing it to yourself right now? :P

Day #52 - Neilsterchef

Lester challenged Neil to do a "Project 52" i.e. cook a new dish every week and post the results. I hope that he starts to do this because it would be cool.

Neil asked me to draw him a cover for his FB album but I think he should blog it instead and include the recipe, the inspiration, the ingredients and cover the end to end process.

Whaddya think Captain?

Day #51 - the Papoose

about 7 years ago Vic woke up one Sunday morning and in a half asleep daze asked me to help her because the Papoose was chasing her and trying to bite her.

Lester and I were laughing at her (it must have been a very realistic dream) and between chuckles asked her to describe it, well, the Papoose was a big animal about half a cow tall, with a a long neck and funny teeth sticking out the front and the skin was like the hairless cat from Austin Powers, but, it had big feathers on the back and it's legs were like a bird's.

Obviously we asked Vic to draw it for us, well she did.

Then I googled "Papoose" (her spelling of it) and the result we found was "papoose lake" and where is this lake? why Area 51 of course. And, here's the kicker, when holding Vic's picture that she drew up against the screen the outline of her "Papoose" perfectly matched the outline of "Papoose lake". It was kinda cool I thought but Vic is still freaked about it to this day.

did she get abducted by aliens by chance?

Hopefully drawing doesn't freak her out too much but it was the only thing I could think of that matched 51 :)

Day #50 - the body builder

I had this stupid idea come into my head yesterday and thought I'd draw it today.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

I wonder what a boat shaped like a man would float like.

I must stop taking those Panadol Osteo tablets.

Day #49 - copying Hawk again

Hawk drew an amazing skateboarder last night, out of nowhere, I found him asleep in bed with a pencil in his hand and this awesome picture beside him.

After asking him about it he confirmed that it's actually an electric skateboard (with plugs) going off a jump away from it's powerpoint.

I asked if I could copy it and he said yes.

Hawks doodles are so much more original than mine, the amazing part about this drawing is how he has perfectly got the position of the skateboard as well as the position of the skater's arms and he did this without a single reference picture!

He's already asked for his own computer to save his pictures on.

Day #48 - CFH Trophy inaugural round

Today the Captain, Fatboy and Hacker played the first of many of battles for the honour of taking home 'the Bronze Belter', it was a 2 horse race and after 18 holes Captain and Hacks were dead even, it went to a 'penalty putt out' which Hacks was victorious and will be the first man to have his name added to "Bronzer", Well done Hacks!

Anyway, here is a poor rendition of him kissing Bronzer post victory, I'm far too tired and sore to do any more detail into this drawing.

What a great day, maybe I'll get that X-Ray tomorrow?

Day #47 - know it like the back of my hand

this is the only picture (so far) that I'll literally take to my grave.

Back in the day there were 2 major animation houses Disney and Fleischer Studios, we all know Disney but not many people have heard of Fleischer although you most definitely know their work.

This is Bimbo, a little animated dog whom starred in his own show, until that is the Fleischer's introduced Bimbo's girlfriend, another little dog called Betty. Betty was a runaway hit and soon was converted to human form and given a surname.....Boop, from then on Bimbo along with Koko the clown were Betty's sidekicks, the rest is history although I'm not sure when Pudgy (Betty's pet dog) came in?

Apart from Betty Boop the Fleischer's also produced the animated Superman, Popeye, Gulliver's Travels and invented two things that remain in use today, the rotoscoping camera and "the bouncing ball"

What happened to this studio you ask? after the breakout success of Snow White (Disney's first) the Fleischer brothers decided to release their own feature length movie, Gulliver's Travels, which saw mild success, they then invested all of their capital as well as significant finance from Paramount Pictures into "Mr Bug Goes to Town", it's release was delayed and in May of 1941 Paramount called in their debts and assumed control, the film finally got released on Dec 5th 1941, 2 days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as a result the film didn't recoup its production costs and the studio was broken down and its pieces sold off.

Bimbo was always going to feature in this project and thanks to two children that refused to sleep he got an early introduction.

Day #46 - He thinks he's people

Back when I began this I drew a dragon and Asher asked me if I do dogz?

I replied not very well. Of course this is something that I plan to change so when completely lost for an idea this evening I thought I'd have a crack at a dog, not knowing how to fill the page I drew his proud rock-a-billy owner, then of course the rest of the page is blank, oh well, I guess some days I'll draw small and explain that the absence of content is artistic license?

Oh, I think this dog is very average but compared to his owner he looks good, haha!

Day #45 - Acka Lacka Dirk

Tonight's basketball game got a little heated toward the end, to the point where it was nearly called off, everybody cooled down and we went on to lose in style.

It made me think of a battle and then recently Ross Evans gave me Team America, so... I thought about what to draw and the gung ho guy with the huge from Team America cracks me up, if I really did have to go into battle he'd be my wingman.

Day #44 - Happy Birthday Mitch

around about 23 years ago I was sitting in Glenn Diggle's bedroom at Lalor Park with Mitch.

Sitting in the corner was the Hoover upright, well, the rest was history...

and she thought I'd forgotten!!! (I'm a bit hazy on the details but I remembered your cherry docs)

Happy Birthday babe! miss you so much!

When we meet next it'll be like we only saw each other yesterday.

Day #43 - Happy Birthday Dad

Probably my most difficult pic to date but worth it, Dad turned 65 today and so I decided to draw something for him.

Mum used to tell me how when dad was young (i think around 13) he used to have a Davy Crockett hat and he's always loved both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boon ever since.

Ironically the same actor played both characters in both TV series and both wore the famous raccoon hat.

Happy Birthday Dad, I love ya mate!

Day #42 - Behold the UNDERMINER!!!

I was chatting with my old team leader at work today and he said to me imagine what it would be like if he worked for me to which I replied "you would simply undermine everything I do"

Of course after that the only thing I could think about was "the Underminer" John Ratzenberger's cool little cameo villain at the end of "the Incredibles", fun trivia fact: John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin from Cheers) is the only person to voice a character in every single Pixar film ever made, he's the Pig in Toy Story, the Circus owner in a Bug's life, the Abominable snowman in Monsters Inc, Mack in Cars, Mustafa in Ratatouille, John in WALL-E and a construction worker in Up.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with this one :)

Day #41 - independence day

I have been wanting to draw Captain America for some time and today was too easy a date to do it. I still don't understand why they cast the guy that played the human torch to play Capt Am when the movie comes out next year but by all accounts it still looks pretty cool.

the Sam Jackson Nick Fury and the Green Hornet and or Kato will definitely appear on here in the future. ah, who am I kidding, I love all superheroes (with the exception of Batman) and will probably draw every one I can think of, hell I've still got 324 doodles to go.

Day #40 - Rudy, you're like school on Saturdays...

I was watching the live action version of Fat Albert today and as poor as it was it got me thinking about watching the original, Rudy was by far my favourite character, he had the threads and the strut, in fact he was the only stylish one of the lot.

For years I thought that Dumb Donald wore a bucket on his head till I discovered it was a balaclava, doh.

Anyway, I think I prefer the blue line sketch because of the simplicity, the ink hardens it but I've included to blue one because it feels 'better' to me.

Day #39 - back to basics

After the debacle of yesterday I decided to dumb it down a little and play the 'blob game'.

I got Vic to draw some random blobs on the pad and then I tried to make faces using the blob as the foundation, I'm not too unhappy with the result, except for the small one.

this exercise makes you think about the shapes that construct things, the rule is simply you cannot change the blob and it must be the main shape in use. It's a good fun exercise.

no doubt I will do more of these.

Day #38 - drawing failure #1

I'm guessing that this will happen from time to time but it's 11:30, I'm tired and aching from basketball so I couldn't be bothered trying to fix it, so here it is...

was supposed to be a cool picture of a dude heelflipping a set of stairs, to think that Bernie and I used to pull these with the boat-sized boards that we used to ride 20 years ago.

even Picasso would think this looks wrong. :(

Day #37 - when screensavers were cool

back when we burned electricity for fun, PCs were left on 24/7 and had intricate screensavers, my favourite by far was the flying toasters.

from memory it was on my little monochrome Mac and I used to sit there watching it for what seemed like an eternity. It's funny to imagine that nowadays.

I know this doesn't look anything like the originals but you get the idea.