The illustrationfriday.com word this week is “open”
According to government statistics, 80% percent of new restaurants fail within the first three years of opening. There is no real reason for this, but it may have to do with menu item choice, overall atmosphere of the restaurant or even choice of name for the establishment.
Or maybe the hundreds of rats.
Monday Artday: the zoo
The challenge this week on Monday Artday is “the zoo”
I thought of so many ideas for this topic, but none of them seemed like the right choice. Then, it hit me.
This is the punchline to one of my favorite jokes…
and here’s the joke…
(WARNING! CONTAINS QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE! NOT FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED! HAVE YOUR KIDS LEAVE THE ROOM!)
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IF: the blues
The challenge this week on illustration friday is “the blues”
Robert Johnson is one of the most famous Delta Blues musicians. He displayed a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians including Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, Warren Zevon and Eric Clapton, who called Johnson “the most important blues musician who ever lived.”
The most famous legend surrounding Robert Johnson is that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his unmatched guitar playing ability. Johnson sometimes played with his back to the audience in order to hide his technique.
His death occurred on August 16, 1938, at the age of 27 at a little country crossroads near Greenwood, Mississippi. He had been playing for a few weeks at a country dance in a town about 15 miles from Greenwood. There are a number of accounts and theories regarding the events preceding Johnson’s death. One of these is that one evening Johnson began flirting with a woman at a dance. One version of this rumor says she was the wife of the juke joint owner, while another suggests she was a married woman he had been secretly seeing. When Johnson was offered an open bottle of whiskey, his friend and fellow blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson knocked the bottle out of his hand, informing him that he should never drink from an offered bottle that has already been opened. Johnson allegedly said, “don’t ever knock a bottle out of my hand”. Soon after, he was offered another open bottle and accepted it. That bottle was laced with strychnine. Johnson survived the initial poisoning only to succumb to pneumonia three days later, in his weakened state. The fate of his soul is undetermined.
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SFG: rock legends
The challenge this week on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “rock legends“.
Two of the greatest and most prolific drummers in the history of rock and roll are also two of the biggest unsung heroes.
Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon played with some of the most famous performers in popular music and played on some of the most significant recordings in modern music history. Hal Blaine, a member of the famed LA session group The Wrecking Crew, holds a current Grammy record. He played on six consecutive Records of the Year: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in 1966, for A Taste of Honey, Frank Sinatra in 1967, for Strangers in the Night, 5th Dimension in 1968, for Up, Up and Away, Simon & Garfunkel in 1969, for Mrs. Robinson, 5th Dimension in 1970, for Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In and Simon & Garfunkel in 1971 for Bridge Over Troubled Water. In addition, he played on recordings by everyone from The Partridge Family, Elvis Presley, The Carpenters, The Mamas and Papas, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, The Byrds and Paul Revere & The Raiders. He was heard on the majority of The Beach Boys recordings (except for Pet Sounds, which was Jim Gordon. Dennis Wilson, the Beach Boys drummer, only drummed in concert). When Dennis Wilson recorded his only solo album, he hired Blaine to play drums. Blaine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He estimates that, in his career, he played on over 35,000 recordings.
Jim Gordon was one of the most sought-after session drummers throughout the 60s and 70s. He played alongside such artists as Donovan, Jackson Browne, Glen Campbell, Alice Cooper, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, George Harrison, The Monkees, Carly Simon, Steely Dan and Traffic. He played the famous drum break in the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache“, later sampled by The Sugarhill Gang in their hip-hop version of the song. Gordon was a member of Frank Zappa’s Grand Wazoo band and he was the drummer for Eric Clapton’s Derek and The Dominos. Gordon wrote and played the renowned piano outro on “Layla“.
In 1983, after years of complaining of voices in his head, Gordon beat his mother with a hammer and stabbed her to death with a butcher knife. Gordon currently resides in a state medical corrections facility in Vacaville, CA
Read the controversy this illustration generated HERE.
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Portrait Swap redux
Call me a glutton for punishment. I participated in another portrait swap. This time, my subject was Patrick, keeper of the fifty-two fridays blog. This was quick, easy, fun and it produced great results (on both sides, if I say so myself!) Four days from start to finish.
Patrick’s got a cool, if somewhat angry, sense of humor. This is Patrick’s take on me.
Here’s my view of Patrick.
Now, I’m satisfied and I think I’m really finished with portrait swaps.
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Monday Artday: cancer
The challenge this week on Monday Artday is “cancer“.
Hippocrates was born around the year 460 BC on the Greek island of Kos. He became a famous physician and is regarded as “the father of medicine.” Hippocrates described several kinds of cancers. He called benign tumors oncos, (Greek for swelling), and malignant tumors carcinos, (Greek for crab or crayfish). This name probably comes from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant tumor, with a roundish hard center surrounded by pointy projections, vaguely resembling the shape of a crab. He later added the suffix -oma, (a variation of Greek for swelling), giving the name carcinoma. Since it was against Greek tradition to open the body, Hippocrates only described and made drawings of outwardly visible tumors on the skin, nose, and breasts. Hippocrates believed that the body was composed of four fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. He believed that an excess of black bile in any given site in the body caused cancer. This was the general thought of the cause of cancer for the next 1400 years. However, he had a belief that still holds true today.
Cancer sucks.
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from my sketchbook: The Tortoise and the Hare
Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who is faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he’d stop to have a cigarette and relax before continuing the race.
He stood next to a big, impressionistically-drawn rock and fired one up. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare finished his cigarette, was diagnosed with emphysema, lived out his remaining days in an iron lung and died. Oh, and he lost the race.
The moral is stated at the end of the fable as: “Smoking will kill you”.
Or something like that.
NOTE: I did this drawing last night. This morning I saw a commercial for Chantix, a new drug to help people stop smoking. They use the tortoise and the hare in their commercial. I had not seen this commercial prior to my illustration. Hmmmm…
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IF: juggle
This week’s challenge on illustrationfriday.com is “juggle”
I believe this defies explanation.
Even from me.
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SFG: saturday morning cartoons
The challenge this week at sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “saturday morning cartoons”
Saturday morning cartoons currently suck. Childrens programming in general sucks. The hey-day of Saturday morning cartoons was the 1960s through the 1970s. They were the times of cartoon geniuses like Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, Jay Ward, Hal Seeger and W. Watts Biggers. They were the times of voice artists like Paul Frees, George S. Irving, Mel Blanc, Bill Scott, Daws Butler, Hal Smith, John Stephenson, Alan Reed, Paul Winchell, Don Messick, Allan Melvin, Howard Morris, Henry Corden and countless others. These were television cartoon pioneers, setting the standard that would last for decades.
Every September, the three major networks would roll out their new prime-time shows. They did the same thing for their new Saturday morning cartoons. They would have sneak preview prime-time specials on the Friday evening before the Saturday premieres. These specials, with hosts ranging from The Brady Bunch kids, Burns and Schreiber and Lee Majors, showed clips of the upcoming cartoons to kids squealing with anticipation. I was one of those anxious kids, waking up at 6:30 am on “Premiere Saturday”. I was firmly planted in front of my family’s TV until 1:00 in the afternoon, usually with an overflowing bowl of General Mills’ “Frosty-Os” (the box featuring Tennessee Tuxedo’s pal, Chumley).
I loved these cartoons so much, I had a difficult time deciding which to draw. I chose Milton the Monster, Wally Gator, Bat Fink, The Hooded Claw, The Impossibles’ Fluid Man, Atom Ant, Chilly Willy and Hoppity Hooper. They sure don’t make cartoons like these anymore. They, most likely, never will.
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Monday Artday: cartoon self-portrait
The second of two challenges this week on Monday Artday is “cartoon self-portrait”
I have been drawing me for years. This is just another in a long line of self portraits.
I only wish I had that much hair.