Blah.........

This is how I feel today... Well more accurately how I felt sometime in February of 2003. I was living in my apartment at school and partied every night. It was quite draining as you can see from the image. Everything became a long, faded blur... 

Foot in the Door

This was the sole item of my pre-publishing editorial cartooning portfolio that landed me the job at the Daily Vidette. The half circle looking thing is the northern hemisphere on a juicer. So GW is screwing the world for oil in this pic. The girl at the Vidette wanted to use this drawing, but it was too big for the scanner. 

Getting Down to Business

This may have been my first "real" colored pencil drawing. Notice how reluctant I was to abandon the two-toned style that I was comfortable with because of graphite. (note: I had used colored pencils before but they were either from the dollar store or crayola, which if you've used prismacolor or sanford, you know that the others aren't "real" colored pencils, they're just crayons in disguise) 

From Two Comes One

This is a lithograph my girlfriend made for an art class she took at ISU. She was going through a creative drought and had me draw the image to be embedded in the stone. I asked her what theme she wanted and she said "love" (she was and still is quite the sentimental romantic). So I drew her and I together. I tried to blend our likelinesses together. Her eyebrow leads into mine. My nose blends into her cheek. Only the her lock of hair seperates us. You also get the feeling that I'm whispering something into her ear... sweet nothings? words of influence? The hint of a smile leads me to believe the former. 

The Anonymous Mental Bust

Here is a mental bust that I drew with a regular number 2 pencil. I used graphite later on to darken the background. This was drawn during some class I took in college, most likely a philosophy class. Could it be Plato? Perhaps a young Socrates?  

The Minimalist Tramp

The Tramp 

He can be your long lost pal!

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Al Sharpton! 

Good Sweet Luck on Your Finals

This never made it to print, but it was intended for the Daily Vidette. It would've been my last editorial cartoon as a student of ISU. (note: that group down at the bottom included my girlfriend at the time and my roommate siging his signature finals song that had become a hit among those of south campus. It was played on the university radio station frequently during finals week) 

You're Fired!!!

This appeared in the Daily Vidette. At the time Trump was rumoured to have been considering bankruptcy, even while his hit show "The Apprentice" was increasing it's ratings. (Note: Trumps signature hand gesture, and the monopoly guys at the board table). 

Al Sadr the All Powerful

This was published in the Daily Vidette. This was a shot at Al Sadr. At the time he was very adament about instilling fear in the west. He was quoted as saying the caption, which is funny because in the Koran that is what Muhammad said of Allah. So it was as though Al Sadr considered himself on the same level as Allah. Makes sense though, these clerics play God all the time, making decisions that cost lives and all... Quite disrespectful to the man upstairs. 

Goddamned Goat

This was published in the Daily Vidette. Now no matter how hard we all prayed, nothing was able to ward off the curse of the goat! After that fatal catch by an eager fan to help the Cubs lose that delicate momentum they had, the ball was blown to pieces in a ceremony at Wrigley field to abolish this curse of the goat.

Bush Abortion Demogoguery

This was published in the Daily Vidette. The war in Iraq was being described as a quagmire, photos of rows and rows of military coffins were all over the news, but the Bush administration redirected the attention of the public to the abortion issue. As though he was trying to remind his conservative Christian constintuency why they should support him. Unfortunately it wouldn't be to the Republican's benefit to ever actually get rid of abortion. Abortion is a useful tool to keep pro-life voters as a reliable constituency. If they were to pass legislation to eliminate abortion, then the pro-lifer's would have no reason to vote for the republicans. 

We Remember - They Exploit

This is a photoshop job created for a competition that I never bothered to enter (the submission fee was $5).  

Uncle Sam's Dry Cleaning

This appeared in the Daily Vidette. This was published not long after I was advised by the editor to avoid any religious oriented topics. So I added the little guys' caption to piss the editor off. She didn't notice it... oh well. (Note: the detergent brand is Shout) 

Old Muse #2

This was originally a colored pencil drawing of that muse of mine. I lent it to a friend down at school to decorate an apartment and didn't get it back. I made a wax paper copy of the drawing so that I could easily redo it if I made an unfixable mistake. So this is the graphite on wax paper copy laid over a crayon colored plenum paper. The color itself has no details, that is created by the graphite copy. The picture of it doesn't truly capture the life of this work. 

GW's WMD BS

Appeared in the Courier. Kim Jong Il had recently admitted to possessing a nuclear arsonal. The Bush administration didn't even bother addressing the issue outside of their "multilateral talks" that were going no where. So North Korea, a closer and more eminent threat was not treated with the same enthusiasm for correction as is Iraq (or maybe later Iran). Makes the administration look like hypocrites since they obviously don't care about removing a dictator that possesses WMD's. (Note: the shirts of the little guys has the Yin Yang and picture of Shiva doing her dance of destruction) 

Martha - Living Behind Bars

This cartoon appeared in the Daily Vidette. It was published right after Martha was found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison. Poor Martha can't get away with what the good old boys can... 

Busting the Social Security Piggy Bank

This cartoon appeared in the Courier. It was drawn when GW was out pushing his mandate and telling the American elderly that we was going to save social security. His main reason was that he cleaned out the SS trust fund with his war and the tax cuts for the wealthy, then wanted to erase that debt. (Note: that image on the big little guy at the bottom right is not a cowboy hat, rather its a snake that swallowed an elephant.) 

My Grandfather's Cottage

This is an oil painting I've done of my grandfather's cottage. It's not finished (I couldn't stand painting outside with all the bugs and elements of nature). This is my first oil painting ever, but it's not finished... Did I mention its not finished... 

The Great Yellow Whale

This appeared in The Courier. This was about how China is threatening a take over of Taiwan despite the US' stance that it would defend Taiwan at all costs. Tibet is already in the mouth of the whale meditating, but prayer hasn't saved them yet. Taiwan on the other hand may be more appealing since it has more economic clout, and after all capitalism trumps freedom. (note: the two little guys have the same shirt. The thin guy has the word "OM" and the other has the same thing in Sanskrit... I was really into the Upanishads at the time). 

It's Important VS. It's On

This appeared in the Daily Vidette. This was drawn about a conversation I had with my girlfriend. She is a reality show and celebrity junkie and I am a news and documentary addict. Somehow we work. (note: my caption spells out "WANTS" and her's "IT'S ON") 

GOP Hammer-Time

This cartoon appeared in the Daily Vidette. It was drawn in response to Tom Delay having Joel Hefley (R-CO), the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, removed from his position on the committee after he wouldn't dismiss Delay's unethical activities. Now Delay has been indicted for money laundering. A good friend of his, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was charged with bribery where he sought political favors in exchange for casino money. Delay and the Bush Administration are part of the investigation into that case. Restoring honor and integrity my ass! 

Baby Boom VS. GenX

This cartoon, that appeared in The Courier, shows the baby boomers not ready to relinquish any power to gen X. Infinite growth demands constant change...

The Mystic Butterfly

This is an ink drawing that began as a butterfly.  

How Jim Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

This is a photoshop job of my brother Jim riding a nuclear bomb in the sky. The bomb he is riding is replica of the nuclear bomb "fat man" that detonated over Nagasaki. The last nuclear bomb to be used during war. Hopefully it will remain so.