Are you aware of the auction going on for Team Cul de Sac?

Team Cul de Sac is the brainchild of Chris Sparks, who has worked tirelessly to organize this fundraising program for Parkinson's research.

The Team Cul de Sac book is a collection of art from cartoonists and illustrators honoring the comic strip, Cul de Sac, and its creator, Richard Thompson, who has Parkinson's disease. The purpose of the book is to raise money for Parkinson's disease research.

The Cul de Sac Auction:

The auction ends in only 5 days and the prices on the artwork from the Team Cul de Sac book are incredibly reasonable.
This is a rare chance to own artwork from some of the best cartoonists and illustrators in the business.
Artists such as Bill Watterson, Sergio Aragones, Bill Amend, Cathy Guisewite, Lynn Johnston, Rick Kirkman, Tom Richmond, Jan Elliot, Mort Walker, Mo Willems .... and the list goes on.

Check out the Team Cul de Sac Auction!

Links:
Buy the Team Cul de Sac book from Chris Sparks.
Buy the Team Cul de Sac book from Amazon.
Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac comic strip.
Richard Thompson's blog.

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If you've been waiting for a cartoonist gathering in the Midwest, now is the time to visit this link:
The Kenosha Festival of Cartooning's Kickstarter Project
and contribute whatever you can to get them to their funding goal.
They are offering up some great incentives for each of the donor levels.

There's only 3 days left to contribute, so HURRY!

The line-up for this year's festival is awesome: Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Greg Cravens (The Buckets), Michael Jantze (The Norm and Jantze Animation Studios), Norm Feuti (Retail and Gil) and David Coverly (Speed Bump).

That is a great line-up and this 3-day cartooning festival deserves your support.

So please, visit the link and contribute whatever you can to keep this festival going.

I plan on going to this festival and I hope I get the chance to meet you there!

I thank you.

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Ink, watercolor on cold-pressed watercolor paper.

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Glenn Fleishman over at Boing Boing.net did a fantastic article about cartoonist Richard Thompson, creator of the comic strip Cul de Sac.
The article speaks of Richard's fight against Parkinson's disease, the help Richard has received from his cartooning colleagues to keep his strip going strong and a book that Richard's pal, Chris Sparks, has put together as a way to fund a cure for Parkinson's.

Buy the Team Cul de Sac book by Chris Sparks.

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A little painting I did to hang in our home for Easter.

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Link: Dueling Banjo Pigs

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Today, I picked up three newspapers that run Cul de Sac on their comics pages.
There are interesting comparisons of sizes, color and, uh, stretching.

The first example is run in the correct proportion, but it's the smallest of the examples because the newspaper is tabloid size.

In the second example, notice how the person who lays out the comics page stretched the comic vertically to fit the space provided for the strip.
Cul de Sac wasn't the only comic strip stretched, which makes the solution simple: print the comics in the proportion in which they were intended and that leaves enough room to, yes you're reading this right, ADD a strip to the comics page.

The third example is run in the correct proportion, it's the largest of the examples and it's run in color daily, something that is not new to the comics pages, but also not common.

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Written and sketched by Richard Thompson and inked by me.

It was exciting to see the strip in the paper.
It reprinted well, despite being printed so small in the paper.
This newspaper is tabloid size, so naturally there's not a lot of room for the comics.

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Today I begin a new adventure as the assistant to NCS Cartoonist of the Year, Richard Thompson. I will be helping out with art duties on his comic strip, Cul de Sac.

As some of you may know, in 2009 Richard announced he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
Earlier this year, he took a hiatus from Cul de Sac to focus on treatment for his Parkinson's and he allowed some guest cartoonists to take over the strip while he was away.

During his hiatus, I got an e-mail from Richard asking if I'd like to help out on the strip.

I grew up wanting to draw a comic strip.
As a kid, I would read the comics in the newspaper every single day.
In elementary school, I drew Snoopy, Garfield, Popeye and other comic strip characters on classmates' folders for money.
That's how much I wanted to do it.

So of course, the opportunity to work on one of the best comic strips of all time was a no-brainer.
It's my childhood dream come true.

But it's more than that.

For me, first and foremost, it's about helping out a friend.
It's no secret that Parkinson's sucks.
If you know anyone who has it, you know how much more difficult it makes even the simplest of tasks.
Imagine trying to draw, ink or letter a comic strip that's printed about four inches wide in a newspaper.
And imagine doing that every day, week after week.
Those deadlines for a healthy person are hell, for someone dealing with something like Parkinson's, the deadlines are damn near impossible.

Lending Richard a hand, a drawing hand, is an honor.
Many people repeat this sentiment, Richard is one of the nicest, kindest people on the planet.
He really is. And I'm not just saying that because he's my boss.

Have no doubt, this change in Cul de Sac is a little blip to the dedicated CdS fan. Richard is manning the ship, writing every strip in the way only Richard can. I'm here to lend a hand with the art when and where he needs it.

Now if you will excuse me, Richard's coffee cup needs to be refilled and it's a 700 mile trip to get there.

Cul de Sac is back.


Link: Help fund the fight against Parkinson's disease by purchasing Chris Sparks' book, "Team Cul de Sac."

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If you're visiting for the first time (or not), please become a follower of my blog, by clicking that little doohickey at the right.
I promise to keep you well fed with my drawerings.

Ya'll come back, ya hear?

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Follow my blog. If you want. You know you do.

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(Cul de Sac comic strip ©2012 Richard Thompson.)

The Washington Post recently reported guest cartoonists pinch-hitting for "Cul de Sac" cartoonist, Richard Thompson, while he gets treatment for Parkinson's disease.

This week's guest cartoonist is the Magnificent Mo Willems!
Mo sketched his 'Cul de Sac' guest strips and bravely asked me to ink them for him while he jetted across the globe to visit schools in Dubai.

It was an honor.

Check them out all this week by clicking here.

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A few sketches made yesterday at the zoo.

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Ink, watercolor on 140 lb. cold-pressed paper.

My blog followers are deemed awesome. What are you waiting for?

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Become a follower of my blog.

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Always moving forward.

As always, I'd love to have you as a follower of my blog.

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Ink and watercolor on 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.

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During our recent school visit to promote our "Raymond and Graham" book series, Mike Knudson and I were surprised by a third grade class who dressed up as dancing dudes (and dudettes).

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Author Mike Knudson and I recently did a school visit promoting our 'Raymond and Graham' book series.

One of the presentations we were supposed to give was to a group of 7th and 8th graders.

If you've ever talked to a 7th or 8th grader, you know they think they know everything about everything. It's that time in their little lives when everything is so perfect, you know, right before they're taken off their high horse by occupying the lowest point on the totem pole in high school, where everyone, but freshmen, knows everything about everything.

Anyway, we realized immediately giving a presentation about a book about 4th graders to a group of
Know-It-All's was NOT going to work. We didn't stand a chance.

So we adjusted our presentation on the fly and chummed the waters. For a while it went well, but then then the feeding frenzy began.
It went something like this:

8th grader: "What's your favorite book?"

Me: "To Kill a Mockingbird."

8th grader's cohort: "Did you write 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?"

Me: "No."

8th grader: "What is your favorite book?"

Mike: "On the Far Side of the Mountain."

8th grader's cohort: "Did you write 'On the Far Side of the Mountain'?"

Mike: "No."

8th grader: "Where do you live?"

Mike: "Utah."

8th grader's cohort: "Are you Utah?"

Mike: "No."

8th grader: "Can you draw something?"

Me: "No."

I then pointed to a girl who asked, "Can you draw me a bunny?"

I said, "Sure," and I drew the girl in a bunny suit, signed it and handed the original to the girl.

The sharks seemed pleased.

We took a couple more questions ...

8th grader: "Will you draw Justin Bieber?"

Me: "No."

8th grade girl: "Will you draw ME as Justin Bieber?"

Me: "No."

8th grader: "Will you draw Justin Bieber?"

Me: "Fine. Okay."

I started drawing ....



The 7th and 8th grade girls started screaming.

Then I added:



They screamed even louder.

Then I added:

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I finally got around to listing some of things I made in my very own Etsy store!

Check it out and if you feel so inclined, crack open that wallet and buy something!
I don't normally sell my original art, so this is something new for me.

Heads up: The Halloween Heads and birds found in my Etsy store are the last ones I'm making this year, so when they're gone, they are gone.

Cheers!

Link: Stacy Curtis' Etsy Shop.

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A few more Halloween Heads that I made.....




Paper mache, dowel rod, wire, button and lots of paint.

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Acrylic on 140lb cold-pressed watercolor paper

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