bodner015

I had been out yesterday doing some consignment shop hunting  -found some unique items. But, today, I had to get back to doing something creative -just get'er done. However, I was in the mood to have a laugh.  And so I created a cartoon (marshtoon) that I want to add to the collection for a cottage country calendar. I have seen the pictures of the fisherman in the river or rapids who has caught that prize winning fish and holds it up to display the prize.  I have also seen the pictures of bears fishing at rapids and in rivers.  I thought it might be amusing to meld the two. Step one:  Draw preliminary cartoon characters and then the rough and final drawing Step two:  Use the Tracer light table to draw an ink drawing of the cartoon. Step three:  Scan the inked picture into the computer and use Seashore to colour in the drawing. Step four:  Bring the Seashore cartoon into the Comic 3 program to add dialogue, frame and heading. At sometime I will nee...

Up at our northern cottage lake residents have moved snow and created skating rinks. What if...    My granddaughter was helping me put out bird food.  At one point she was standing on the deck with a handful of seeds.  i asked her how long was she going to wait for the birds.  "Til' they come," she said. Even the birds found time to make a snowman.

Yet another northern cottage country cartoon.  Construction is an ongoing activity throughout cottage country.  Contracted or DYI construction makes for a noise well recognized throughout the countryside.  However, for a few times throughout the year construction ceases and thus the cartoon. Again, after preliminary sketches, I use the Light Tracer table to ink the cartoon with my Noodler Ahab flex fountain pen.  Values are added in Seashore, my free drawing application.  Once the value work has been done I put it into a Comic Life box and add the dialogue bubbles. I am in the process of making a series of these cartoons that can be used in a calendar.   I may need to go back and redo each Seashore cartoon in colour.  But first I want to get a cache of cartoons together so there are a number of choices that can be made into a full calendar. Although I like the Manga cartooning (http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Manga) I have a hard time adjusting to the styl...

After preliminary drawing I use my Light Tracer to ink the cartoon (marshtoon). Some irregularities showed up and were to be dealt with in "Seashore", my free drawing program. In Seashore I filled and drew and brushed in the values I wanted. Then I loaded the photo into Comic Life 2 or 3, once I had opened a blank and added a box.  Once the image had been arranged within the Comic Life box I added the dialogue bubbles and the name of the comic.  The image was named, saved and exported to iPhoto to be emailed or kept. Up at the cottage there is quite the snowmobiling life.  The trail goes by our cottage when the lake is completely frozen over.  There have been some years with little snow.  Apparently, so far, this has not been one of those years.

I have just had to make and send off some cartoons (marshtoons) to the Lake Cecebe newsletter for its winter edition. (https://www.cecebewaterways.ca/index.htm ) Apparently the Marina has put up a webcam to take pictures of the bay for the internet. (A webcam picture is on the homepage of the CWA website.)  The deer roam about everywhere, and so the cartoon. My granddaughter thought the idea of the deer having a Facebook page very funny.😁😉 I have tried out my new Noodler's Ahab flex fountain pen on these drawings and was delighted with the ease of use and the lines made.  Wonder Pens has quite a selection, reasonably priced. Noodler's Ahab Flex Fountain Pen - Copernican Pearl Our Price:  $29.50 CN https://www.wonderpens.ca/Noodler_s_Flex_Pens_s/1880.htm?searching=Y&sort=7&cat=1880&show=15&page=1

The deadline is fast approaching for the next cottage cartoon for the Lake Cecebe Waterways Association newsletter.  https://www.cecebewaterways.ca   And so to work I went.  Ideas are my biggest issue and so I go through the cottage magazines about the house and websites about cottages.  Something often catches my curiosity and the idea is allowed to percolate awhile. Not too long -I have a deadline. In the studio, and once I have an idea, I make some rough sketches of the main character.  I use the reference books I have to determine the shape of the animal and then work to create a cartoon character from the sketches.  I will do a number of these. Then I add another character if necessary to complement the first and reinforce some attitude or look that I want.  Once the drawing is on its way  I use a table light to trace the drawing.  I check the line flow and spacing, keeping in mind the dialogue bubble that comes later.My lines must all c...

Up at the cottage the weather has been as "weird" as it has been at Heron's Way.  Here we have had days of 13  degrees celsius and then -17.  Rain and then snow.  Sunshine then dark days.  3 days in a row I have had to snow blow the driveway to get out.  3 days before I dealt with the rain runoff. Up at the cottage someone had been water skiing -in a Santa costume; other kayaked wearing elf hats.  I spoke to a man that wore a tee shirt and shorts to bbq on Christmas day. This winter, so far, has been "weird." I hope I have captured that sense of weird.  My marshtoons are the type that make you go hmmmm!

Life just seems to get in the way of getting to my art.  I'll show some of the experiences from this past summer in further posts.  But, while at the cottage, Mannie and I went to the cottage association's corn roast and met a number of the cottagers we had never met before.  And, later, when the family was up, we had gone to the regatta day to see swimming races, etc, --including a boat race where the boats were made of cardboard (and a lot of duct tape).  Thus the two marshtoons for the Lake Cecebe Association's newsletter that just came out.  (I'm not so sure why bears show up in a lot of my Marsh Hall Tales -but they do.)

As usual there are at least two sides to every perception.  In cottage country the snow can fall with a vengeance.  But, that snow fall can be an economic blessing when the snowmobilers are able to don their suits and head out onto the terrain.  On the other hand, the snow that piles up on the roof and in the lanes can be daunting to remove.  And just where do you put it.  Thus, this cartoon. And, at home in Waldemar, with a driveway 40 feet wide and 125 feet long, the snow can be a real issue -and it takes a long time to snowblow.