Sketch Journal Entry: Past sketch from Feb 5, 2011

This was a style development sketch I did, based it off of a photograph I saw in newspaper from a mug shot of a state legislator. Had fun.

Sketch Journal Entry: Past sketch from Feb. 10, 2011

This is a colored pencil sketch I did for the Obama high-speed rail cartoon I did. I wanted to share it so people could the original versus the finished product.

Sketch Journal Entry: Past sketch from Feb. 5, 2010

This is a cartoon sketch I did in pencil colored pencil about SB142 which requires school board officials, etc. to post contact information for official purposes.

The bill passed and requires those officials to provide the contact information for their official government contact e-mail and phone etc. This amends GRAMA but the law change was small and overshadowed by the HB477 debate.

I didn't feel like the concept was clear or one I wanted for production on my work site but it was good practice session for developing an idea.

Sketch Journal Entry: Past sketch from Feb. 17, 2011

Yesterday was my son's birthday. I thought of this sketch I did last month the day before my birth I was listening to some self-affirmation material on a CD and drawing during a lunch break. I drew this cartoon character head from out of my imagination.

Sketch Journal Entry: Unknown date in 2010

Sketch journal entry

Going through my papers, I found some sketch journal pages. I've been meaning to put my sketch journal on here. So here goes.

This one looks like some doodling, I was actually practicing my points of perspective and creating cubes, etc. Then I added the meandering line to test the depth and practice overlapping, etc. Ho-hum, but I felt the creative juices going while I was doing this exercise. I can still remember the sensation of the Ah-ha! moments in my brain as I fiddled with the different shapes and the shading. I'll add a page each night until I get caught up.

High-speed Oriental Express?

Thinking about the infrastructure proposals in President Obama's plans - such items as the high-speed rail. We already have a trade deficit and other types of debt with China. How's a train system going that is going to have many of its pieces manufactured in China going to help us be competitive with the dragon nation?

Drew this on Friday after I read Orrin Hatch's quote about the Mexican presidents comments about Arizona's immigration law.

Something fishy in Colorado City?

For the context of this cartoon check out the work my colleagues have been writing about at the Web site I work for, found below: www.thespectrum.com

From my head to my canvas

Earlier this month, I noticed several media organizations reporting on a poster showing members of the Desert Hills High School football team sitting on Humvees and holding military-grade firearms. Some people said it was insensitive, others said that parents were making an issue out of nothing.

I had another thought. As the United States works on determining its exit strategies in two different theaters of war, I wondered if any of these young men could be fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan or some other location for war.

I also thought about the thousands of men and women who have given their lives in these conflicts. My mother's grandfather fought in France in World War I when he was in his twenties. My grandfather left at 19 to serve in the Pacific theater in World War II on a transport ship. I've read or listened to their stories of how the conflict changed them. Mostly for the good. However, the thought still remains in my mind -- these soldiers are often just young men in their teens and twenties. Not that many years elapse between the time of being on the high school football team and the experience of serving in a combat theater during a time of war.

These are the thoughts that swelled in my head as I drew this editorial cartoon.

I don't consider myself a hawk. I don't revel in the bloodshed of our own troops or our enemies. I don't consider myself a dove, either. I don't feel that we should lay down and take it while enemy combatants make war on our people, our skylines or our symbols of America.

But the debate over the Desert Hills did get me thinking about the families of our soldiers -- and yes our future soldiers -- and contemplate over this question: "Could boys such as these be the next to fight and then live or die?"

Tennis Volley Time

Gil Almquist found himself stuck betwen some tennis pro friends of his and St. George city rec officials. One of the sports writers at The Spectrum did some digging and discovered the grumblings were from a few select tennis pros. I had a lot of fun drawing this one. My new blog format primarily calls for black and white on most toons. It's stylistic I think. I'll only add color on my best work. This is my best cartoon so far. Enjoy!

Friday the 13th (Revisited)

The title of this blog entry sounds like the title of a horror flick sequel. I think this photoillustration is the best work I've done in the past four months.

Fruit in a bottle

Choice of two Republicans

See this weekend's editorial toon and more past blog entries at http://www.thespectrum.com/. Use the direct link below to access this weekend's toon:

http://tinyurl.com/muhejf

Jon & Kate and Reality TV scare me!

My Sunday Cartoon preaches the evils of "Reality" TV, or should I say unreality: http://tinyurl.com/n8y29q.

DEA chases, cleans up marijuana grows and litter, too

On Friday, thespectrum.com, featured a news story about the increasing number of marijuana grows in the Pine Valley Wilderness area and Southern Utah. The DEA cited the following evidence collected at the scene: animal crackers, tortillas and Pepto-Bismol found in the camp. I'm assuming that the animal crackers were a Mexican import brand such as Gamesa. I'm still trying to figure out if Pepto-Bismol can be associated with only one race, but I'll take the DEA's word for it.

To quote from the story by Patrice St. Germain:

Barnes said because of the items found in the camps, primarily the food, it was evident the groups were Hispanic, even when no arrests were made.
"Some of the things we find at every camp are animal crackers, tortillas and Pepto Bismol," Barnes said.

Regardless of the racial aspect in the story, I find it a weird twist that the growers are not only are on the run from federal agents for the growing, but they also are becoming litter bugs as they flee these camps to escape capture. It seems that the growers got away this time, but the DEA is on to their eating habits so the suspects better beware.

Cheney

Cheney visits BYU

Our World Family