Another New Yorker Reject

Well sent out a LOT of cartoons to The New Yorker. Wow, tough nut to crack. I've been giving them my A material, too. Not my cheezy, banquet material, but the "good stuff". (note to self: get funnier)

This one in particular I felt captured the "blog craze". I still have hopes to sell these to other markets. We'll see.

More Tom Thumbs

I posted a color one below. Here are a few more black and white.

Tom Thumbs—Color

Some OLD cartoon Strips

I've decided I had better not post NEW cartoons since I'm trying to sell them to magazines...a legal thing.

So I've decided to post some OLD cartoons.

TOM THUMBS is a cartoon strip I tried to get syndicated a few years back. I wanted to create a "Ziggy" like character that had a tough time getting through life but kept on pluggin'. I wanted him to live in a world where anything could happen. Like in the cartoon shown above; he takes a "normal" elevator ride, but ends up on the bridge of the Enterprise.

I recieved a few postive comments from the syndicates, but alas, no takers.

Anyhoo, I've posted a few now and more later...in color even.

Remember all images are © Dave James. All rights reserved. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Lunch Lady

The sketch theme this week is Lunch Lady. She's like 60 years old tryin' to look 18.

Continental Guy

This is my result for the sketch theme "Continental Guy". Check the sites of Adrien, Jeremy and Katie for their versions soon!

Body Slam!

The latest drawing challenge is "Wrestler". I was trying to think of that wrestler from that great bugs bunny cartoon...The Crusher.

I'm still here!

Please excuse my lapse in posting lately. I'm re-thinking some of my "second" career plans.

I had some success in the '80's with magazine cartooning and I'm thinking about giving it another shot. I have a day job that I like and keeps me secure, but doesn't challange my artistic abilities as much as I would like sometimes.

So, magazine cartooning will help me by providing an additional creative outlet, and writing the gags will give me a voice and maybe keep me smiling.

I hope to post some of the cartoons soon.

Dave

Just one more pin!

This is my result for the latest drawing theme "Bowling" my friend Jeremy and I came up with. A VERY talented friend and colleague Leona Jaeger has joined the fray. Check out her BOWLING sketch and more at her new blog www.fancysquiggles.blogspot.com

Bank Manager

I was doodling the other day (and we all know how embarassing THAT is) and this guy popped out. He looks like a bank manager to me. His clothes would smell like musty money.

All That Jazz

I was in a restaurant Friday and there was this jazz trio. It felt awkward to sit and sketch right in front of them, so I drew from memory. These guys were a caricaturist's dream. Actually, the guitar player had this incredible explosion of hair draping all over him and his guitar. Definitely a Pat Metheny fan...or his twin brother. I was gonna draw him that way but I had a cramped piece of paper and I didn't want to cover his guitar.

Angry Young Man

I got out the acrylics and the color pencils. Working on some coloring techniques.

Hoo-hoo!

A quick owl illustration I did for work today. The color was done in Adobe Illustrator 10 using a Wacom tablet.

Emotions Practice

Did a quick emotions study. Going from left to right; bored, glee, guilt and embarrassed.

Random Dudes

I was messin' around with an Extra Fine Sharpie. I've been so inspired by the wonderful character sketches I've seen on so many talented artist's blogs. I love this blogging thing and it is SO cool to feel like I'm connecting to artists from all over the world.

Animal crackers...I mean characters.

Toddler Corrections

I moved her eyes closer together and made the mouth smaller with less teeth. The funny thing is they may go with a creature instead, like a Guinea Pig or Hamster which would be fun to sketch.

Character Sketches

These are for a project at work. They wanted a "toddler" and my first attempt was more like 7 to 10 years. I'm happy with the second try. She still looks a little old though. What can I do to make her a bit younger? Say about 3 to 4 years old.

Mad Boys

Here are a few sketches of some boys reacting to their tree fort being taken over by girls. I'm having fun drawing their expressions. It's tough, but fun.

Tree House

I finally started the Tree Fort drawing I've been wanting to do. The title will be called THE SIEGE. 3 Girls will have taken over the tree fort from the boys and even started to paint it PINK. Well the look on the boys faces is what I'm gonna work on next.

Shed Logo

I'm working on a logo for a friend of mine. He wanted me to draw a tool shed. I am so inspired my Hans Ranun's work that I studied how he gets that fun, animation look to his buildings. I think I came close but I'm no Hans. Check out his blog at: http://hansranum.blogspot.com/

Dave

Dragon

This is a dragon sketch for a freelance puzzle. The puzzles are very simple and for the very young so this drawing probably has too much detail...but I was having fun.

Cat in Color

...and here is the Cat in color from the sketch below.

Pig In Living Color

Donkey Colored

Colored the Donkey sketch using Adobe Illustrator and a Wacom tablet to get the thick and thin lines.

Some animal sketches from work!

I won Honarable Mention...Woo Hoo!

The Santa Dragster illustration won Honorable Mention at SCBWI. (Society For Children's Book Authors and Illustrators)

The monthly contest is available to members and non-members.

Check it out at: http://scbwi.org/

Santa Dragster Finished

Whew! Just made the deadline for the SCBWI contest. This month's them was Santa Who? Illustrate Santa as you have never seen him or her before. SCBWI is the Society For Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. The monthly illustration contests are open to members and non-members. It's fun and it helps keep me motivated to complete new illustrations.

Santa in Drag!

Now I just have to color it. (whew!)

Old Sketch I Want to Color

Couple of Characters

Not sure what I'm going to do with these.

More Santa Stuff

I'm working on a Santa Drawing for a SCBWI contest. Hope I finish it on time. Here are a couple of sketches working towards that.

Santa in his off days!

A couple of Santas!

Plush Alligators!

A couple of designs for a plush alligator toy.

Old People—New Technology

This is my take on this weeks topic.

Messin' 'round

Was messin' around with a scrap piece-o-paper and some colored pencil.

Stressed Out!-Finished Color

Well, I finally finished it. Feels good. Can't wait to start the next one.

Stressed Out! (in progress)

I've been trying out colored pencils and I really like them. I used to use them years ago. Wonder why I stopped? Anyway, no mixing of paints, you get the exact color you want. I'm gonna try a few illos using these suckers.

Dave

Bar Dudes

I was having a "quick sip" as they say with my friend Jeremy. There was no one at the bar that night very interesting so I invented these guys.

More kids!

Here are some more kids.

Mad!

This kid just realized his tree-fort was taken over by GIRLS!

Kids!

A few ball point pen sketches of kids. I like the pen to sketch with but I want to get back to the old pencil someday. For great pencil sketches check out http://john-nevarez.blogspot.com/

Odd Couple

The challenge here was to show two people you don't normally see together. So, I was thinking a librarian and a biker.

Mad Professor

The topic here was Mad Professor or Scientist. I was thinking "Doc" from Back to the Future for inspiration.

Stressed Out!

This was for the topic "Stressed-out Mom". I like this sketch and I think I will add color.