Deer to Door

Cartoon of deer to man: "Good evening, Sir. Did you know crashes are on the rise?"

I drew this in Adobe Illustrator CS3.

Illustration Friday-Pretend

Cartoon of adult to child: “Let’s pretend you don’t think I’m an idiot when I ask you a computer question.”

I drew this in Adobe Illustrator with the pen tool and live trace.

Cartoon: More of the Same

"Don't complain about school lunches. Their punishment is just more of the same."

Cartoon of two boys in a school cafeteria. This cartoon may not be factual. All I know is it seemed to happen to me.

Spear Cartoon 3474

Spear Cartoon 3474, originally uploaded by speartoons.

Schoolboy coming out of rain to dad, "It's cold, rainy and yech out there... a perfect day to be in school."

The weather inspired me today. It's just a good day to stay inside!

Portrait: step one

I've been busy with a few assignments. This is one of them. I have a family portrait I am working on. This shows the first steps in digitizing it.

I drew the sketch earlier and got approval from the client. I scanned that sketch and placed it in Adobe Illustrator. The scan is on a template layer. The default for a template layer in Illustrator is a 50% gray. I grayed it out an additional 50% using the transparency palette and setting the blend mode to multiply.

The above figure shows how I'm starting out. I'm using the pen tool to trace my sketch. The lines are magenta so they stand out from the scan. These are all on a layer I'm calling outlines. I will use this layer to create my fills and strokes later.


Here is a detail of how I'm outlining. I'm not worried about the color or weight of the stroke. That will all change later. I use the pen tool because it gives me a much smoother outline with the fewest points.

Next time, I'll show you how to fill the areas with color.

Election Day 2008

Election Day 2008, originally uploaded by speartoons.

This morning did live up to the hype where I voted. I never saw lines that big in my town for Election Day.

I'm glad people are taking their responsibility seriously this year. That is a silver lining to the financial mess and all the mudslinging we've endured.

I drew this in my sketchbook with a ballpoint pen. I added the color in Photoshop.