Illustration Friday: Phoenix

My nephew is in town this week. He wanted to "play something." He's such the sports guy, I assumed he wanted to play catch. Since I have a bad cold, I wasn't all that excited about that. I was relieved when he said he wanted to color. While he colored his book, I made a sketch of him.

Did I mention he is from Phoenix? We killed two birds with one stone!

Illustration Friday: Peace

When this theme came up this week, I pondered what is the most peaceful time of this year. Last night, we had a candlelight service. It was serene seeing all the candles across the sanctuary. Amazing how something as dangerous as fire can seem so peaceful when it is a tiny flame.
I hope in the frenzy of this holiday season, you will find some peace. It's late on Christmas day, and I'm feeling it. It's either peace or fatigue. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference!
Kevin

Silent Night

Anybody who thought it was a silent night has never been in a barn.

We gloss over the nativity story so many times and have romantic notions of what it may have been like. But if it was like any of the barns I've been in, there was nothing romantic about it.

What a way to enter the world. What a sacrifice to make!

Five Things People Don't Know About Me

In the comments for "IF: Help," Katie tagged me and asked me for five things people don't know about me. So here it goes...

1. The April before I was born, my mother and father narrowly escaped the 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak. They were at home when it occurred. Neighbors on each side of them were killed.
2. My great-great-great grandmother was an Iroquois Native American-Mohawk tribe.
3. I have yet to meet a food I don't like. Even though I'm from Indiana, I'm not a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I'll try anything once.
4. As a teen, I wrote a letter to Charles Schulz. I secretly hoped he would need an assistant and would see through my feeble attempt at hero worship and hire me. Alas, twasn't meant to be!
5. Last year, I ran the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon. I plan to run it again this year and train for a full marathon this autumn.

That's all the news that isn't about me.

Kevin

Stinky, Lowly Shepherds

God works in mysterious ways. I have found it funny He would use shepherds to begin the birth announcements. But He always has a way of making things interesting. Merry Christmas.

Illustration Friday: Help

This time of year has been a little crazy. Surely you can understand, right? I've been wanting to do an illustration for this week's Illustration Friday theme. I've settled for something right out of my sketchbook. Here it is in its unedited form. Well, okay, I did erase the acne from Santa's forehead. Other than that, this is right out of the sketchbook.

I was thinking what poor Santa would do if he had mechanical trouble on Christmas Eve. What if that old sleigh has seen one Christmas Eve too many?

Everybody's gettin' nuttin' for Christmas?

I was at a work luncheon and Santa Claus showed up. He was roasting some key employees because they've been naughty this year.

I started thinking, "Wow! nobody has been nice this year." So Santa gave me gift in the form of this cartoon. Thanks, Santa!

Never as easy as it sounds

Why is the "love your neighbor" thing so hard to do? Why is it whenever I try to love my neighbor, everyone else is on their worst behavior? I can't do it without help, that's for sure!

Christmas Lights

It has been warm for an Indiana Christmas. I was able to put the Christmas lights on the house and wear a short-sleeve shirt. This time, my kids didn't have to wait for me. You know how impatient they get!

Caption reads: "Get Dad! Tell him I'm sorry I started putting up Christmas lights without him and I could really use his help!"

Illustration Friday: Masks

The word for this week at Illustration Friday is "mask." I was thinking about all the masking that goes on during the holidays. This is straight out of the old sketchbook.

Monster Christmas

Monsters says, "The great thing about being a monster around Christmas is it's the one day I can wear a red outfit with my green skin."

I did this cartoon a few years ago. I'm pretty sure "The Nightmare Before Christmas," had something to do with this cartoon. It's either that or one particularly moving episode of "Sesame Street."

Kevin

Complete the caption: Santa Jam

This week, I saw a traffic jam on our local freeway. I thought about how this affects the Christmas spirit.

The next thing you know, this image popped into my strange, little mind.

I am using it for the Christian Humor Writers' "Complete the Caption" exercise this week.

You're invited to try your own caption in the comments as well.

Merry Christmas,
Kevin

Snowman Convertible

It's getting cold here. I was thinking about the poor souls with convertibles. It's a shame you can't use them in an Indiana winter... unless you're a snowman.

Low Overhead

"We prefer a low overhead."

It's that lovely time of year where budgets are squeezed, tested and pushed. What are some good ways to cut expenses? I know! Cut that overhead.

I thought of the ideal for this cartoon when I was in the middle of a lengthy, boring, budget meeting. Thank heavens you can doodle and make it look like note-taking!

IF: Might Digital

Here is my version of "might", in a digital style. I still waffle over what is better: organic color pencils or the digitized twenty-first century!

Illustration Fri: Might

I'm trying a few things with color pencil. Strange, but when I think of might, I think of the anxiety that comes with it. This kid may be strong but he holds the world ( or at least he thinks he does.)

Might doesn't make right. It only gives you something else to worry about.

Jonah Boards a ship

This is a sketch based a project I was doing at Warner Press. It is from the story of Jonah.

"But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD."
Jonah 1:3 (niv)

Man! this guy thought the story ended there. Jonah is about to be rudely awaken!