Blue Moon Blog

Fiddling with faces, mummified, directly with a brush.

Weird Al’s still got it, with this clever palindromic Dylan music video parody.

Blog nod: The House Next Door, where one can also find sharp analyses of HBO TV and movies.

I did this one years ago on a whim, and always liked it. I think I sold it as a convention sketch. The figure was inked with a brush, the background crosshatching with a crow quill. I used to crosshatch a lot back then, but don’t find much interest in it now; I don’t want to take the time, and like a more simplified look.

Here’s that Willie Wonka poster I promised last week, my first for the St. Cloud’s Children’s Theater from a few years back when they presented Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This piece was used as an 11 x 17 promotional poster, as well as for a smaller promo card, and in the programs for the entire theater season.

The challenge for me was to use a different style, find my own slant for Wonka, as the character is so well known. Though the main character is front and center, I wanted to frame him and focus on that moment when Charlie opens the golden ticket, putting the viewer in his shoes. That sense of excitement and anticipation is what I remember most from the Roald Dahl book, and either movie (of which I prefer the former; Depp’s take is just to creepy, in a Michael Jackson kinda way).

The health of your back is crucial for any person sitting at work all day, so artists certainly qualify, as we spend long hours at the computer screen and/or drawing board hour after hour, day after day, year after year. This can be a concern particularly for those of us getting a little longer in the tooth, so I do a few things that help me prevent and alleviate back pain, and build up core muscles, which you might find of help.

Ergonomic Kneeling Chair

I must’ve felt some back pain in my early twenties at the start of my career, as I bought one of those Swedish kneeling chairs. That first kneeler was but a cheap fifty dollar model. There wasn’t much to it, just some wood slapped together with a couple pads on it, but I got a few years out of it. And when it broke, I invested in the more expensive model I use to this day. Spread out over more than twenty years, the $400.00 I spent in the mid-80s has ended up costing me about $20.00 a year.

A kneeling chair helps you keep your back straight and achieve better posture while sitting, a big plus during (and to lengthen) prolonged periods. The design of the chair transfers weight and pressure from the lower back to the knees, helping relieve stress. In the past when working on site at advertising agencies, stuck in a typical chair, I’ve experienced massive back pain by the mid-afternoon, forcing breaks to stand up, stretch and straighten. I really feel it when not using my kneeling chair.

This ergonomic kneeling chair is similar to the model I use, with the added bonus of newer Tempur® pressure-relieving material (memory foam) inside the seat and knee pads. Also available is the optional backrest for extra support. I recommend a strong steel model like this one with five rotating legs and nylon casters. Setting ones toes against the legs helps provide stability and movement. It comes with a height adjustable gas lift, so you can set it to your preferred height.

This is a chair I may be ordering soon while augmenting my studio, although this Swopper is intriguing and demands more looking into. Here’s a fine, expansive Swopper review.

Relieving Pain

I received as a gift this past Christmas a Homedics Shiatsu Cushion, about which I was initially skeptical. The first round or two seemed a bit harsh, but now I find it to be a godsend. A couple rollers within the cushion undulate up and down your back for a deep massage (with heat) that feels great. For those rough days when I need something extra to help get me through, beyond the more preventative chair and exercises, the massage cushion takes out the kinks so I can get back to work.

For an extra touch, some time in a hot tub never hurts and surely relaxes. Whether at home or at the fitness center or spa, those jets loosen things up after a long day.

Build the Core: Exercises

Far more important than siting in a hot tub, it’s essential to strengthen your core, meaning the muscles in your middle: the lower back and stomach muscles. I try to do both these exercises daily on my Bowflex: the low back row and resisted ab crunch. The latter comes in handy on those days when I’m feeling pain despite the kneeling chair; three quick sets usually clears it right up. Variations of these exercises can be done without a Bowflex, of course. Keep up regularly exercises like these and over time you’ll build up those muscles, sit straight more easily, improve posture and feel better in general.

Weight Loss

Extra weight puts pressure on and weakens your lower and back. I’m no one to preach on this subject, as I’ve work to do (a-hem), but if you’re carrying a few extra pounds, try to shed some and give your back a break.

In the middle of projects, artists sometimes need a break, but still need to draw. While working for someone else, it’s energizing to draw whatever you want for a couple minutes. Either beforehand to warm up, or in between tasks, just to get a quick change of pace or to keep loose. Most of these were done quickly and directly with a brush, one with a thin pen.

Continuing the animal theme from the weekend posts, here’s a cover I did some time back, featuring some unlikely hybrids. This was done with both brush and crow quill.

Say hello to our new rats, Jasmine and Poppy!

Once Laura decided it was time for new pets, and we’d all settled on rats again, she did even more research to help with her choices in regards to color and type. She opted for one solid Russian Silver (Jasmine), and the other a Champagne color (Poppy). Rats do better if they have company, and we don’t want to get into the rat breeding business (well, maybe Laura does, but….), so these two are female.

Laura had both names picked out in advance being Poppy and Jazz, and I suggested Jasmine for the latter, so with both rats we have a few options and nicknames. Whether suggesting flowers or musical genre, the names still seemed to fit when we got them home, especially as Poppy started hopping and popping over Jasmine and all over the cage. It’s quite a sight! Poppy’s a dumbo rat, and Jasmine is probably a fancy dumbo, both about 4-6 weeks old, on the tiny side…for now. And, yes, Poppy has red eyes.

For Patches’ last few weeks of life, Laura and I had augmented and expanded his cage to be three levels (and a loft) adding flooring, a running wheel, ladders, a hammock and other toys and activities. All the work was worth it as Patches last days were spent in style, and Poppy and Jazz have plenty of room for fun and exercise. Of course, before they entered their new home, Laura had given a thorough bleaching and cleaning.

When we started down this rat path, we felt different and weird in the area of pets, but with the success and popularity of the Pixar movie, Ratatouille, pet rats are more common now, enjoying something of a Rat Boom (Boom Town Rats?), and we don’t feel quite so peculiar. With all the new research Laura’s done, and with a few years experience, she’s learned even more about care and diet of rats, so these two new additions to the Blue Moon Crew should have a healthy and happy little life.

Not being a true-blue animal lover, I like other people’s pets. For years, it had been easy to avoid all that comes with pet ownership. But that changed since it became clear my two daughters are Animal Girls. We’ve had to discuss and compromise as a family to figure something that would work for everybody. First it was a gecko lizard, then fish, but Laura still wanted something cute and cuddly. I’m not a cat fan, and we don’t want to care for a dog, so we settled on the next obvious choice: a rat.

We had the opportunity to do a beta test with different animals Laura brought home from school that we’d watch over the weekend. I found guinea pigs weird and smelly, rabbits the same, and had bad experiences with gerbils and hamsters when I was younger. But when Laura brought home a white albino rat with red eyes named Icebreaker, we were surprised how easy and clean rats were. Icebreaker visited us 3-4 weekends, and it became clear to us a pet rat was in our future.

Patches joined us in the Summer of 2005. The girls had him cuddling, rolling inside a ball all around the house, and Laura trained him to go from the living room all the way upstairs to her room and his cage. He was dressed as a CowRat, walked around the neighborhood for Halloween as Ratula (Laura was a cat that year), and Mary made for him his own Santa hat, which he wore in his most famous appearance on our Christmas card that year. He really became a part of the family, even though Mary and I were still sometimes creeped out by his long tail, which would get us thinking “sewer.”

Laura and Emily had grown quite attached to Patches, and kids in the neighborhood loved him, too. One day Emily and her friend Ashley came running in the house telling me Patches was lost. We ran out to the woods and found Laura standing there bawling in the middle of the woods behind our house. He’d apparently crawled out her pocket. I figured he was gone for good. Somehow, I calmed her down and all the noisy commotion that everyone was making in desperate and frantic searches for poor Patches. And in the quiet Laura heard him sneeze. She found him tucked in a crevice under a tiny hill. Needless to say, whenever she took him outside again, she made sure it was under strict and controlled circumstances.

Early last Fall, Patches caught an infection out of nowhere, was knocked on his side wheezing and looked to be checking out. He was over two years old, so that’s about right for a rat, but they can live as long as 3 1/2 years in some cases (longer, like 5-7, but that’s an extreme exception). With the girls just having left for their second day of the new school year, Mary took Patches to the doctor, and I didn’t think he was going to make it before they returned from school. But with tender loving care, Laura and Mary nursed him back to health. He had antibiotics, whatever food and water he would take from an eyedropper. That first night when he was sick, I fashioned for him a Tinker Toy steam tent, and neighborhood kids visited him for a rat vigil. The next day, Laura came home from school to find he had just stopped breathing, but somehow Mary massaged him back, and he was over the hurdle.

The same infection returned about a month later, and Patches was too weak to hold it off again and died. That night we held a funeral in the backyard. Patches was obviously loved as his service was well-attended. About ten kids and five adults were there to see him off. Mary fashioned for him a little gold pillow, and we nestled his little rat body in a customized wooden, decorated casket (rat-sket) built by some boys down the block, in a very thoughtful gesture. We closed it up, and all the kids said a few words remembering Patches, each tossing a shovelful of dirt to help bury him.

Laura was really torn up during and after for some time. It hit her really hard, and she took what time she needed to grieve. Several months later now, she’s decided it’s time to fill the hole in her heart.

Next: Meet the New Rats, not the same as the Old Rat.

Another shot from the Blue Moon Illustration Archive, I call this one and more like her Husks, reminded of them as I felt run down and sleepy again yesterday. Haven’t drawn them in years. I always liked how these rambling, shuffling beasts looked, but a story never developed around them. I’ve more, so if anyone likes them, I’ll post additional Husks. Done with a combination of Hunt Crow Quill and brush on bristol board.