Minions for my minions

Minions

Look at the Bones

I threw in a "Bone-us" on the back, thinking the kids might notice at lunch. Instead, they where chanting "Where's my bag" at breakfast, leading my wife to wonder what on earth they where going on about, since their bags where right in front of them. 

Phone Bone and Ted the Bug

Phoney Bone-us

The Mystery Cow

The kids really couldn't wait to finally see "The Mystery Cow" in our reading of Bone. So I gave them a sneak peak the morning before we got to that part in the book.

The Mystery Cow

Feeling the podcast love

Lunchbagdad was featured in this week's Universal Geek podcast (episode 132). So much positive reinforcement, I'm not sure what to do with it all. Thanks to my great friend Jeff for sharing me with his audience.

Go have a listen. If you're not that into geek-talk, I'm sure no one will mind if you skip to around the hour mark. Of course, then you'll miss an hour of other good stuff.

Next post will be more bag art. Promise.

Art vs Art - a plea for support

Welcome the blog entry #100!

Today, I have no hastily drawn lunch bag art. Today I have a hastily painted Art vs. Art competition entry. On which you can vote to help propel me to fame, glory, and a not insignificant amount of walking around money.

Go to vote.artvsart.net set up an account, vote for #20 (seen below), then come right back here so I can explain why you just did that.

#20, i.e., the one you should vote for.

Art vs. Art is an annual art competition extravaganza held in Indianapolis every year. Entrants are supplied with a 18" x 24" canvas, a packet of five brushes, acrylic paint (red, yellow, blue, white and black) and are given 4 hours to complete their paintings for competition. The top 32 are selected by the online voting public (that's you). Then, there is a big, revelry filled show featuring all the qualifying paintings, and spotlighting the top 32. At the show, attendees vote via ballot to narrow the top 32 down to 16. The final 16 are then eliminated, bracket style. Two paintings are brought on stage, the semi-sober audience cheers their vote, and the decision is made by decibel level. The winning painting in each bracket goes on to the next round.

The losing painting gets the "Wheel of Death". Which is more or less what it sounds like. They pull out a big Wheel of Fortune style wheel, with labels like "chainsaw" and "blowtorch". The wheel gets a spin, and... that's what happens to the painting. Unless someone from the audience chooses to buy it right then, saving it from destruction.

The winner gets $4,000. The losers get 70% of whatever their painting sold for, if it was purchased. And a great time.

It's just a really fun idea. You should support it by going to vote.artvsart.net and voting for painting #20 (see above). Then coming to The Vogue in Indianapolis on September 27 at 8:00pm and cheering #20 on some more.

I had fun at "paint day". But it could have gone better. As watchers of this blog know, I should be able to crank out something better given FOUR WHOLE HOURS. I mean, that's a week worth of bag drawing time. so what happened? Excuses galore:

1) Your game. Some days, you are just not on it. I think perhaps I just wasn't on my game. All other excuses are contributing factors to that.

2) Acrylic paint. I haven't even touched the stuff in over 15 years. And even then, I rarely used acrylics. Never took to it. I kept trying to paint by instinct, which for me is to paint like I'm working in oils (which, admittedly, I also haven't done much with in the last 15 years, but at when I have, I've known what I was doing). Oil painting is a completely different ball-game.

3) Distraction #1. I had all my reference photos bookmarked online from my iPad. On my drive in, it occurred to me that *gulp* they might not have wifi access. When I got there and asked, they said there was a "no iPads, laptops or other electronic devices" rule. They even had little signs printed out all over (also discounting stencils, tracing, and the like). The bit about electronic devices was kinds of a game changer for me. It turns out, after asking up the food chain, that it was an old rule, that was really no longer considered an issue.

4) WiFi. They had none. Some of my reference was still open in various tabs. Just so long as I didn't click get the full size ima---oops. So I ended up pulling a lot of my reference from my phone. So teeny refereence. And I hadn't charged my phone the night before. So extra pressure.

5) Dsitraction #2. We were welcome to paint inside or go outside. Outside, I (and about 20 others) chose a nice park pavilion about 50 yards away. Which was great. Until two hours in, a man came up and announced that the pavilion had been reserved for a party, and we'd all have to pack ourselves up and leave. So distraction and a vital 10 minutes lost.

6) But mostly, I think, reason #1.

Regardless, I'm sure it will continue to be a fun ride. Go check out artvsart.net for more details I may not have covered. And while you're there, don't forget to register and vote for #20 ! (Too much?)

Welcome to Boneville

I introduced my kids to Bone this week. If you are unfamiliar with Jeff Smith's charming,  multiple award-winning epic, you should fix that. If you prefer a color version, or don't want to bite it off all in one 1,300 page chunk, you might try the Scholastic printing. Personally, I think Jeff's artwork is so clean and masterfully done, the original black and white work is superior. But then, I'm a cartoonist snob.

Before reading the book, I introduced my kids to the cast, via a collection of action figures I knew I kept around for a reason. My daughter decided pretty quickly that Thorn (below, left) was her favorite. Not surprising, since Thorn more closely resembles the standard Disney-style princess than the other characters. My son, on the other had, instantly took to Gran'ma Ben (below, right). One can only assume because he loves his grandmothers, and he sometimes likes to throw me an unpredictable curveball. 

Surprisingly, I couldn't find a good "feature shot" of Thorn to reference. I'd have thought, with 1,300 pages of story, Jeff would have at some point drawn a of "definitive" Thorn image -- the type you'd plaster on posters or PR images or whatnot. But I was not able to find it. So I found a less than ideal reference, and ended up breaking from his style a bit (mostly in the face design) to make it work for me. I'm happy with the result, but would rather have captured the cartoony charm typical of the Bone series.

Thorn and Gran'ma Ben from Bone

Oh No, Power Rangers!

Thanks to peer influence and a the surprising longevity of the property, my daughter has discovered a thirst for Power Rangers. Much to my chagrin. But as I finished the previous superhero bag (Lego Batman), I was informed that she was also doing sack lunch the following morning. And I needed something that she would find cool, her brother would not, and I could pump out quickly.

The sharp observer and scholar of geek lore will notice that I have made an alteration from the photo reference. Although the actress playing the Yellow Ranger's secret ID is decidedly female, the actor in the yellow suit is decidedly not.

A sharp observer who has a giant hole in his geek knowledge would notice, halfway through drawing this, that the abstract design in the helmet is a tiger.

Yellow Power Ranger

BatLego

One more day of superhero bag week, and just my son. So what can I do that he's totally into that little sister won't freak with jealousy over? Nailed it (or rather, snapped it neatly together).

Lego Batman

Doggin' it with G'nort

Did not really have much time here. Did not feel like deviating from cartoony Justice League stuff, but this one was for my son, who gets less enthusiastic about standard super-heroey stuff than my daughter. But he loves him some dogs. And since I couldn't quickly find a reference of G'nort that I liked, and iIwas short of time, this is the result.

G'nort

Flash and gender identity

When my daughter saw this hastily drawn bag, her response saddened me. She announced, with whiney, pouty disappointment, "I want a girl Flash". Since she was old enough to express a preference, Flash has been one of her favorite comic super heroes (because she has good taste). Gender never factored into it. The days of gender specificity is apparently upon us. I'm sorry Batman and Robin, but you are now going to also have to start being girls, I'm afraid.

#flash #jlu #lunchbagdad #lunchbagart

Flash

She's a wonder.

The kids are opting for hot lunch on different days this week. So single bags for the next few posts.

My daughter was allowed a little cartoon binge this weekend, resulting in much cheering for WW. So I thought I'd borrow from a classic Dodson pin-up, but in the style of JL:TAS. If you understood that sentence, I have your complementary nerd badge waiting. And we should hang out more. 

#wonderwoman #jlu #lunchbagdad #lunchbagart

Wonder Woman

Strawberry Shortcake

Only one sack lunch on this day. And proof that my little girl has an undeniably girly streak in her.

Strawberry Shortcake

Teen Titans Go!

My kids refer to the new, more humor/cute animated iteration of Teen Titans as "Teeny Titans". Which is an unintentional (?) combo of Teen Titans and "Tiny Titans", the even cuter kids comic by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani (now cancelled, much to my disappointment).

If I wasn't a week behind posting these, I would say a bag with Starfire and Cyborg is coming next, to complete the team. But I know thats not how it panned out, so they aren't.

Teen Titans Go! Raven and Beast Boy

Woodstock

Like the Snoopy bag from last year, this was the ultimate phone-in. I think I may have taken 5 minutes for both bags. Also, I discovered that, while Snoopy is ubiquitous, other Peanuts cast members: not so much. My youngest had know idea who this was.

Woodstocks