Following the precedent set by TJ’s Feeding Milk to Chickens, it’s time to commemorate my blog’s one year-iversary (which was actually on October 21st)! This is the (official) 68th post of The Scott Collection, which collects all the previous ones into one extensive directory/list, to make your perusing all that easier. If you see a title/description you like, go ahead and click on it! I certainly won’t hunt you down and stop you. My personal favorites are in bold. Here’s what the first 67 posts have covered:

1. New-ish Blog (10/21/08) – An introduction, and already an apology for not having updated this blog since I got it the previous June. Links to the now mostly-inactive Dreams of People You Will Never Meet, and to TJ’s blog (see above).

2. T-Shirt Design: Lenny Dee Spring ‘08 (10/22/08) – A repeat of a post from The Scott Collection’s predecessor blog (no link included; seek it out yourself… hint: it’s on WordPress). Links to the old Lenny Dee website (worth a laugh), the IMDB page for No Country for Old Men, and a photo from Lenny Dee’s Spring ‘08 softball game.

3. Photo Every Day – In Progress (10/23/08) – Now irrelevant, after a post from this July (read on). Includes a now-broken link, since the update.

4. Foamcore “Cube” (10/24/08) – Some low-quality images of a project from Career Discovery Summer ‘08. A post that I probably worked on that summer, but didn’t get around to until last October. Also poor organization of the images. I got better.

5. Marcel Dzama (10/26/08) – A profile of artist Marcel Dzama, based on a short research project I did for my Painting and Drawing class. Includes links to a few galleries, and to David Lefkowitz’s website, with whom I worked this summer. This post also ends my consecutive four-day streak. Sticking to a posting schedule, as you may have gleaned, is not my strong suit.

6. Welcome to Lenny Dee Town (10/27/08) – Links to the Lenny Dee’s YouTube channel, and to the individual videos from the Fall ‘08 show. Image of the poster (ironically Photoshopped, I assure you), designed by me and Lisa (the blog of whom has now not been updated for several months). Fun fact: this fall’s Lenny Dee show was last weekend!

7. Inside Lenny Dee Town, Pt. 1 (10/28/08) – Oodles of links and insider goodness. First links to the Lenny Dee blog/website. A map of Lenny Dee Town.

8. Inside Lenny Dee Town, Pt. 2 (11/6/08) – The first full week without a post! A continuation of the previous post, wrapping up the commentary on Welcome to Lenny Dee Town. Our fall show last year (and in most years) was, in my opinion, our strongest. That should get you excited for the upcoming post linking to videos of this fall’s sketches!

9. An American Orgy (11/21/08) – An in-progress preview of my Painting and Drawing class final project. Images here and here.

10. Painting Final Project (11/23/08) – And then I finished it! This was my biggest (physically and creatively) project of last fall. Links to details thereof. The painting in its entirety:

11. Van Dyck Reproduction (11/24/08) – Another project from the Painting and Drawing class. A little anti-climactic. Link to the painting, and to some other works by Van Dyck (link not included since they’re a bit boring).

12. Diary: 1994 (11/26/08) – I found this when I got home for Thanksgiving last fall. It’s the text from a page (the only existing one, in fact) of a diary I tried to keep when I was just under 7 years old. It’s cute, and a little prescient. Excerpt: “i FORGOT TO TELL YOU i’M A REAL ARTiST. i DREW LOTS/OF PiCTURES.”

13. Winter Break Preview (11/28/08) – Written just before I left for my two-week study program in Vienna. One of my many undescriptive travel paragraphs.

14. Arrival in Vienna (12/6/08) – My only post, thus far, written overseas. Includes a few photos from the initial few days in Vienna, and my thoughts on whipped cream in Europe.

15. Vienna: The Sketches (12/17/08) – A gallery of the drawings that I did while in Vienna. Includes sketches of architectural spaces, other students on the trip, and studies from Viennese works of art. To date, my watercolor sketchbook from Vienna is the most complete, coherent one I have, and has a special place on my bookshelf.

16. Vienna: Other Sketches (12/19/08) – I also lent my sketchbook to the other students on the trip a couple of times, to allow them to express themselves creatively. The results were largely ambiguous.

17. Back in Minnesota (1/04/09) – Happy new year! I wrote this shortly after returning to Minnesota from New Zealand, which I unfortunately never got around to writing about. Lisa has some great pictures on her blog, though, which you can find here.

18. Leslie David Baker Sighting (1/8/09) – In O’Hare International Airport, waiting to fly to New Zealand via LAX, I saw Leslie David Baker (who plays Stanley on the American version of The Office) exiting the plane. It was exciting enough to blog about a few weeks later!

19. The Hits of 1996 (1/22/09) – The first three months of this year were a very productive time for me. Trying to stick to a 24-hour-per-week drawing schedule, I made a lot of miscellaneous, uncategorizable work this winter. This is one of those (although I have to admit, they are all great songs).

20. You Know, From The Shawshank Redemption (1/25/09) – And a lot of other movies, too! This drawing was also featured in the second issue of the Carleton Comics Journal.

21. Scott Donaldson(s) (1/28/09) – Another group of line drawings of people’s faces. This post raises some issues about drawing from indirect observation, with the Internet as a dividing medium. With Google Street View, I can make a detailed perspective drawing of a city I’ve never been to. Pretty pretty cool!

22. Little Four Eyes (2/9/09) – An illustration for a banner of a website I did. The site is run by one of the reference librarians at Carleton, and continues to be updated regularly. Includes an initial draft of the banner.

23. Boy With a Toad (2/18/09) – Title references the Iron & Wine song Boy With a Coin (I think). This post tells the story of Bartleby, Lisa’s and my first toad. Includes a watercolor painting from the previous fall, and a photo of Bartleby. As of June, we have another, named Horatio, who’s also special but in a somewhat different way.

24. Jameson vs. Scott: #1 (2/25/09) – The first in a series that has yet to expanded upon. Includes mine and Jameson’s variations on the Hancock movie poster. Someday we’ll Photoshop competitively again. Until then…

25. Mayfair Mall, Wauwatosa, WI (2/28/09) – A watercolor painting/drawing of a tower in the mall complex near my home, and a preview of things to come. I included the work here in Carleton’s Junior Show of last year, and Milwaukee is still very relevant to my current comics work, and Comps.

26. Lenny Dee Goes There (3/2/09) – Links to the winter show. The program from said show. I had gotten a haircut the day before I posted this.

27 and 28. How Lenny Dee Went There, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 (3/3/09 and 3/6/09) – You know the drill!

29. Summer Break 2009 Preview (3/9/09) – Big news about my summer plans, and getting ready for the end of winter term.

30. Life Drawing: Sketch for Final (3/10/09) – Similar to the “American Orgy” post, this is a preview of my final project for Life Drawing. Interestingly, the preview here really is just a sketch (conceptually), in that it was not used physically in the actual final project.

31. Alone In Canada (3/14/09) – My Life Drawing final project, and the first post for which I advertised via Twitter. These are still some of my favorite works from this calendar year, and almost certainly the three that best showcase my watercolor skills (until, perhaps, the end of this term). The paintings themselves:

32. The Table (3/16/09) – In this post is a collection of photos from the Woodworking class’s end-of-term show tables. A photo of my table, which now resides in the Senior Studio in Boliou, is below:

33. Ben Folds at The Eagles Club (3/21/09) – A review and setlist from a Ben Folds concert I attended in Milwaukee over spring break. Some analysis over the setlist, not all positive. My brother was there too!

34. Airstream Driver (3/25/09) – Another music-related post, this one including a painting I did while bored during spring break. It’s a theoretical single cover for the Gomez song Airstream Driver. Also a picture of a regretful man.

35. Spring Term ‘09 (3/27/09) – Two paragraphs about my intended plan for Spring Term. It became the least regularly updated months for this blog, for several personal reasons. Fortunately, around the beginning of this summer, I got back on track with blogging and with my life.

36. A Drawing: 1 (4/13/09) – The first of a short series.

37. A Drawing: 2 (5/20/09) – The second of a short series.

38. Lenny Dee: You’re Outta Line! (5/22/09) – Links to the videos from Lenny Dee’s spring show (the longest but also most hit-or-miss). Check out the program.

39. Los Politicos (5/30/09) – Tim (of Lenny Dee fame) directed a play entitled Los Politicos. I made the poster for it.

40. The Lens: Senior Portraits (5/31/09) – In the style of “Hits of 1996″ and “Scott Donaldson(s),” I drew portraits for each of the graduating seniors who worked on Carleton’s Politics and Culture magazine, The Lens.

41. Power Outage (6/11/09) – An apology and excuse for not updating more.

42 and 43. Lenny Dee Is Outta Line, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 (6/18/09 and 6/26/09) – More exciting Dee-rector commentary!

44. Alcott Park (7/5/09) – Reflecting on past summer jobs, and two drawings that I did the summer before entering Carleton at one of the parks I worked in.

45. Best of 2009, Pt. 1 (7/6/09) – I wouldn’t have bolded this, had it not been for the incredible amount of views this post generated for my blog. I rarely review music (see “Ben Folds at The Eagles Club” or “Airstream Driver”), but apparently, discussing new music is one of the most effective things you can do to be popular (thanks, Pitchfork!).

46. Some Dudes (7/8/09) – An odd gem of a drawing/painting from earlier this summer. My style of portrait drawing with a watercolor twist.

47. Sunflower Smoking Cigarette (7/10/09) – Another odd and/or end that’s now the background of my Twitter page. This kicks off the start of a bunch of digitally-based work.

48. Transitioning (7/14/09) – An introduction to www.scottdonaldson.net (still under construction guys, be patient). I was, and remain, excited about having my own website.

49. “Vectour” Contoured Portraits (7/15/09) – I’m not sure if these works can actually be classified as vector art, which is why I included quotation marks in the title. In any case, it’s digital portraits of myself and Lisa.

50. CarToonJ (7/24/09) – TJ gets the Photoshop treatment!

51. Sketchbook Bonanza! (7/27/09) For a few days, I walked around Northfield and did a lot of line drawings. They are collected in this post.

52. Photo Every Day – 1 Year In (7/29/09) – Link to a video of myself aging at the speed of ten days per second. Despite growing skepticism, I’m still taking these pictures, even as of today.

53. Saw vs. Se7en (8/3/09) – My first, and thus far, only movie review. I noticed the similarities between two films made almost a decade apart.

54. A Dog, A Monarch Butterfly, Metaphor (8/5/09) – This post is important to me because of the new directions it took this blog, and my work in. Cataloguing little events from my life became a way to force myself to draw comics, and the more I did it (even in half-hour or hour works like the first two here), the easier and more natural it became to write stories and draw pictures. These are still some of the favorite comics I’ve done, and I’d like to revisit the first two to refine the art more someday.

55. Turtle Stadium (8/7/09) – A fun random drawing I did one afternoon in Goodbye Blue Monday, Northfield’s premiere coffee house and place to be seen around town.

56. Protagonist: Fish (8/22/09) – Drawn and posted after my August travel to Toronto, New York, and Cape Cod. School was fast approaching, and rather than working on my Comps, I drew this comic, complete with tongue-in-cheek references to my actual Comps in the post.

57. Funky, Sexy Jazzmen (8/24/09) – These three drawings have a somewhat-developed backstory that I want to flesh out more fully over Winter Break. I am working on a one-page origin story for “Swingin’” Sid O’Malley that I hope to put in this week’s issue of the Carleton Comics Journal.

58. Crossing the Border (8/27/09) – Two drawings from my August vacation, the former of which later appeared in the second issue of the CCJ.

59. The Meaning of Numbers (8/31/09) – A two-page True Story, the first that wasn’t about a specific event in my life. My girlfriend finds my drawing of my childhood self adorable. I think it looks a little like Joe Dobrow, a guy I worked with at Hogan Brothers’ this summer. These pages also appeared in the first issue of the CCJ.

60. DoPYWNM… It’s Back! (9/8/09) – In which I claim that Dreams of People You Will Never Meet is back, and will be updated regularly, complete with illustrations. Yeah… my bad.

61. Other Positioning Systems (9/9/09) – An advertisement for David Lefkowitz’s exhibition at the Rochester Art Center. It’s still on display! Get yourself there sometime before January 10!

62. First Day of School! (9/15/09) – I realized not long after this post that it wasn’t fair to myself or to you, my readers, to update thrice weekly if it meant posts like this.

63. Pronunciation Guide (9/22/09) – This one’s funny, and is worth linking to again. Just don’t get my name wrong.

64. Carleton Comics Journal: Premiere Issue (9/30/09) – If you’ve actually read up to this point, you’ve probably checked out the premiere issue already. Am I right? If not, click on that link.

65. Hugo and Grandmama (10/1/09) – A bizarre gem of a comic. Appeared in the second issue of the CCJ.

66. T-Shirt Design: Lenny Dee Fall ‘09 (10/7/09) – A new Lenny Dee T-shirt! Fun fact: I still have to get over to the printers’ to order these. Oops.

67. Carleton Comics Journal: Issue the Second (10/16/09) – And so we arrive at the most recent post, which by this point has established itself as a sophomore effort in an ongoing series that will hopefully number fifteen throughout the course of this school year. If all goes according to schedule, a third, possibly Halloween-related issue should be released this Friday. Expect a follow-up post soon thereafter!

If you’ve actually read this far, I owe you a lot of thanks, and probably an apology or two for some of the posts. But I hope I keep you stimulated, and that you enjoy my work. The next year will be even more productive and fulfilling than the last. Thank you again.

This summer, I realized that although several campus publications feature comics as diversions, there’s nothing produced specifically to showcase comics. This is where I come in. Jacob Canfield, a sophomore, and I got together in the early days of this school year to discuss the possibility of such a thing. With limited resources, time, and energy, we put out a twelve-page premiere issue. Also featured are students Kailyn Kent and Jia-Li Tan. You might remember some of my work from a previous post, but rest assured that I have some material in this issue that has not previously been blogged about. Here is the cover, followed by links to each of the pages:

• Page 1 (The Editors:)
• Page 2 (Bill Jenkins, The Truth)
• Pages 3 and 4 (The Meaning of Numbers) (see above)
• Page 5 (The Fall of the Truth / One Wish)
• Page 6 (The Adventures of a Boy Who Is Easily Pleased)
• Page 7 (Poison People [Excerpt], Pt. 1)
• Page 8 (Poison People [Excerpt], Pt. 2)
• Page 9 (The Wound-Up Bird Chronicles)
• Page 10 (Gerald Winkler, Pt. 1) (the novelization of this)
• The Back Cover

Well, it’s getting pretty late, cats and kittens. Jacob and I (and Nathan and Kailyn, thank you very much) just spent the better part of two hours printing and folding an astounding 100 copies of this issue. Not bad for a first run? I hope so. They hit the mean streets of Carleton tomorrow, and time will only tell what the reviews are like. We hope to put out an issue every two weeks, so expect big things… from the Carleton Comics Journal.

And, as proof that this is “for real”:

That was yesterday, actually. I titled this as a True Story, but I won’t archive it as such. It’s just not juicy enough!

As hinted at yesterday, today’s post is a genuine advertisement for artist David Lefkowitz’s solo show, Other Positioning Systems. The show will open at the Rochester Art Center on Friday, September 11. This summer I’ve been helping David prepare for the show, and from a first-hand, totally non-biased (not true) stance, I can tell you that it’s going to be an incredible show (true). Feel free to peruse the RAC’s page for the show, or find more details at the event’s Facebook page. While the opening is from 5:30 to 8:30 PM on Friday, the exhibit will remain up at the RAC until January 10, so there is ample time for you to get down to Rochester to view David’s art. Here’s a preview of what you may find:

And I leave you with an excerpt, no, an imperative from the Rochester Art Center’s description of the show: “Put away your GPS and let yourself get lost in a mazelike smorgasbord of visual and spatial curiosities.”

Hope to see you there!

Oh hey guys. Remember how I was going to Toronto, and New York, and other places also kind of? That happened. I’ll be back in Northfield this evening, and will tell you things about my trip eventually, but today I drew a little something something that is an indicator of great things to come. Unless you’re David Lefkowitz, my girlfriend Lisa, or one of a few other privileged souls, chances are you don’t know much about my novelle graphique (comix book). Well, forget everything you (don’t even) know! Forget coming-of-age stories set in Milwaukee in the early 2000’s, and forget a convoluted 10-chapter structure in which each chapter focuses on a specific relationship in the narrator’s life, with each relationship paralleling another in unique ways*. Just forget it!

This fall, my NEW and IMPROVED graphic novel will be about a bunch of wacky denizens of a mini-golf course: the pond fish!!! Don’t believe me? JUST CHECK IT OUT:

The overall story will focus on how a bunch of these fish fight back against the unruly teenagers who threaten their very existence in the mini-golf pool/pond/whatever. It is basically Finding Nemo but way, way, way better. I’m thinking Eddie Murphy for the voice of “Fish” (in the inevitable film realization of this masterpiece). So yeah! Fish all the way.

*And now you actually have an idea of what my graphic novel will be about.

Apologies for the late post, everyone. I promise there’ll be another (albeit somewhat less momentous) tomorrow. The reason for the delay should justify your wait. The reason, and I hope you’re ready for it, is that I’m in the process of creating a real website for myself. It’s not to say that WordPress isn’t fabulous, nor that it doesn’t serve many of my needs. But, in a year’s time, I’ll be considered by the world-at-large, and perhaps more importantly, the art world, an adult. A professional adult. And professional adults have professional websites. The site to which I refer, and on which I will over the course of the next several weeks and months raise through its infancy, adolescence, and eventual adulthood (to match my own), is:

http://www.scottdonaldson.net/

Scott Donaldson dot net

Catchy, yes? Easy to remember, I hope. Both links take you to the same (very unfinished) home page. Feel free to explore, but the site as a whole is pretty sparse as of yet. I’ll move some of the works I have here on my blog to the portfolio soon enough, and make it more graphically pleasing. The “blog” link currently sends you back to this site, but eventually I hope to run this blog from my own website (sorry, WordPress).

Until the site is fully functional, I’ll continue to blog and update you of my various doings hereabouts. You, in turn, should feel free to contact me either through a comment (below), or a friendly email at scott@scottdonaldson.net (nifty, yes, it’s true).

Ciao!

An explanation for the lack of recent updates: my laptop charger and/or charger plug-in area has been acting very funny in recent days. Not funny like Robin Williams or Colin Mochrie funny, but funny like it isn’t working. I’m on a computer in Sayles right now, and hopefully I’ll have a working charger by Monday, at which time you can look forward to more Lenny Dee commentary!

Out.

Two weeks ago, the final Lenny Dee performance of the year was staged, 10 PM each night from the 7th to the 9th. This spring’s show brought two sketches written by Dee outsiders (one a Dee-lumnus), and tons and tons of animal costumes. There weren’t any goat-rabbits in the show, but once our T-shirts get printed, you’ll get to meet the horrid beast that spawned our show’s title: Lenny Dee: You’re Outta Line! As always, Dee member (but currently not Carleton student) Nathan Riemer put our sketches all on YouTube, plus a special feature Dee-rectors’ intro (it took kind of a while, as you’ll see). Watch them now:

1. (but actually 0.) Dee-Rectors’ Intro (Vote for Chase Kimball!)
2. Dee-rotica
3. Raised by Animals
4. Where’s… Surgery?
5. Room or No Room
6. That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 1
7. Monitoring the Recession
8. Where’s… Chariots of Fire?
9. That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 2
10. Twitter
11. You’re Beautiful
12. A Bunch of Sketches
13. Apocalypse, Version Y2K(9)
14. Surprise in the Dark (Tribute to Hal Edmonson)
15. Marco, the Sly Hitman from Houston
16. Where’s… An Off Day?
17. She’s Flying High
18. Lincoln vs. Darwin
19. That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 3
20. A Complexx Rap Group
21. Apocalypse, Version Z

Here’s our program, which highlights Lizzie’s formidable Photoshop skills (she could perhaps compete with Jameson and I someday… someday):

As always, I’ll be returning shortly for insider information, including information about the two mystery non-Dee writers and which sketches they wrote. Keep coming back for more!

I’ll be driving back up to Carleton tomorrow during the day, narrowly missing about 7 inches of snow that’s supposed to hit Milwaukee. The classes I’m taking this Spring Term are the Junior Seminar in Studio Art, Teaching Mathematics, and an independent study focusing on illustration. I also just found out that I probably have another job lined up for the spring and summer, one that I’ll hopefully be able to continue through next school year.

Updating has been spotty during Spring Break, but I’ll try to stick to a strict MWF posting schedule, with some sort of visual stimulus to accompany each post. In the meantime, I’ve been working on a short comic series about a park ranger and a bear, one that I should have up here soon, and will also submit to some of our campus publications. Remember, kids: bears are an endless source of narrative and comedic inspiration.

People don’t think it gets hot in Minnesota. Those people are dead wrong. However, I haven’t had the chance to experience a lot of Minnesota’s summer firsthand… until now. It’s going to be a Northfield Summer, ladies and gentlemen. It will be hot. And it will be in Minnesota. But why am I talking about this in March, when there’s still three months of school left before then?

Well!

I just found out on Friday that my Independent Research Fellowship proposal was accepted. This is very good news! It means that I’ll be getting real money in exchange for acting as an apprentice to my professor David Lefkowitz and working on some significant illustration (hint: maybe a graphic novel?). As always, come back here for the latest updates on my work.

Speaking of other work, it’s 10th week at Carleton. That’s the last week of classes, and it’s not even a full week. I’ll probably post pictures from my Life Drawing final project on Friday, and next Monday you’ll be able to see the table I’ve been working on this winter. If you’re in Northfield on Friday, you should come to the opening of the woodworking show. Details here. So that’s 7 PM on Friday the 13th (it will be a spooky opening). I hope to see you there.

A couple months ago, you were welcomed to Lenny Dee Town. It’s a beautiful place, no? I hope you watched all those videos on the edge of your seat, because only then will you be ready for the show Lenny Dee put on last weekend (February 19-21). Our alternate show title in the fall, and our actual show title this winter: Lenny Dee Goes There. I encourage you to watch all of the following videos (over and over again):

1. The Man with the Golden Mullet
2. Emogene Cop/Bad Cop
3. Dex
4. Gerald Winkler Pt. 3 (you read that right)
   
5. NorDiCorTiSol
6. DeuSexMachina
7. That’s Wolf Andy! Pt. 1
8. To Kill a…?
9. Jimmy (here titled “Jimmy the Bad Asker Outer”)
   
10. A Rough Deal
11. Gerald Winkler Pt. 2
12. That’s Wolf Andy! Pt. 2
13. Bro-in’ Out
14. Wake Up in Moloch!
15. A Wii Bit
16. That’s Wolf Andy! Pt. 3
17. F.A.S. P.S.A.
18. Gerald Winkler Pt. 1
19. Dusk
20. The Magic Bathtub

Here’s the Valentine-themed program from the show:

It’s a long show, to be sure. But it’s also well worth your time. In keeping with tradition, I will be bringing you all the inside director’s information that you could ever possibly want. OR COULD YOU?

Also, I got a haircut today. It is a bi-yearly tradition. Also, I think I will be updating Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from now on. I guess this is pretty big news? Keep reading!

Growing up in Wauwatosa, a close Milwaukee suburb, one of the biggest local attractions was Mayfair Mall. For about 17 years, I lived in a small neighborhood sandwiched between the Mall and a golf course. As it took less than 10 minutes to walk from my front door to that of the mall, I spent a lot of time there as a kid. It started expanding in the mid-90s to include a Barnes & Noble and an 18-screen movie theater. So I also spent a lot of money at Mayfair.

Lately I’ve been trying to focus my art on what’s relevant to me, and specifically my childhood. The new banner, a pen drawing of the skyline of Milwaukee, is an example of this. The view of the Mayfair Mall North Tower (above) is another. I passed that tower nearly every day on my way to and from school, or when walking to the Mall.

A graphic novel is in the works, I think. I recently read Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (some wonderful images here and here). This summer, I want some of my own illustrative work to come together to tell a story. So I’ve been working from photographs and memory, trying to capture the feel of 1990s Milwaukee and near suburbs. It may be a while before I update about this again, since I’m beginning to wrap up Winter term at Carleton. In the spring I’ll be independently studying illustration, and hope to get some more serious groundwork done toward this. Then, hopefully, by the summer, I will have something substantial completed.

Until next time.

On a whim last night, in lieu of creating a semblance of a DVDFest movie for Lenny Dee, my friend Jameson (whose blog you will soon be able to find at http://jamesonsiegert.wordpress.com), decided to have a small Photoshop competition. We had been discussing a certain photo that advertises for an upcoming dance, the purported popularity surrounding it, and the fact that both Jameson and I could easily outstrip its creator’s Photoshop skills without breaking a sweat. We did, and finished up not too late last night with the following works (Jameson’s, followed by mine):

So I guess the theme for this one was Will Smith, in the poster for the 2008 film Hancock, in a rave setting. The theme for the next Jameson vs. Scott? I have no idea. If you like, you can submit your questions and suggestions in the comments box.

Oh, and vote for who you think should be the winner of this Photoshop competition, the first in the series of Jameson vs. Scott.

I recently responded to a want ad in Carleton’s NNB (Noon News Bulletin) looking for an illustrator for a website. Little Four Eyes is run by Ann Zawistoski, the Science Librarian, and mother of a glasses-wearing child. Having gotten my first pair of glasses when I was five years old, I was intrigued (though I wear contacts now). One of the driving forces of Ann’s website is the fact that children with glasses are underrepresented in children’s books, television shows, magazines, and other media. I started working on a banner for the site, featuring three bespectacled children. Here is the first draft:

Having been in a Figure Drawing class for the last several weeks, I was more used to working in a realistic style. The revised banner, which you can find at Little Four Eyes draws more on traditional children’s illustrative styles. I spent a lot of my youth cartooning, and it was fun to return to a way of drawing that I hadn’t visited in several years, and combining it with skills that I’ve picked up since creating art more seriously.

I will probably be doing more illustrations for Little Four Eyes. I also plan on soon creating a gallery page that will host a selection of my work, for better organization.

Only five more weeks of winter!

This is somewhat old news and probably not very exciting for most people, unless you watch the American sitcom The Office avidly. While in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago a few weeks ago, preparing to leave for New Zealand (via L.A.), my plane was a little delayed coming in. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, as it had started snowing in Chicago that afternoon. I was flying with United, and my flight was coming in from L.A. It landed, and as the passengers were coming out of the gate, I saw for one brief moment, a familiar face. It was this man:

Ok. I clearly didn’t take this picture, but it’s true. I saw Stanley from The Office in O’Hare that day. I even checked Leslie out on Wikipedia and found out that he’s from Chicago, so it’s not that unlikely, seeing as The Office is filmed in L.A. In conclusion, it was magical. It was everything a boy could wish for. I think I can die happy.

In other news, I decided to start writing only posts about celebrity gossip.

After a long, busy winter break, I’m back at school for the next couple of months. Classes start tomorrow. I’ll be drawing from life on Mondays and Wednesdays and making a table on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’m also starting work on my paper and talk on Adolf Loos, which I’ll probably give sometime around late February. Lenny Dee goes up in mid-February. What else?

In Minnesota’s weather-related news, it’s much, much colder here than in New Zealand (which I’ll write about soon). And apparently I have another reason to hate the cold this winter: I’m allergic to it? Cold urticaria is a very real, very annoying condition which I won’t talk too much about (utilizing the ‘ignore it and it will leave’ philosophy of health), suffice to say that I’ve never had it before and I wish it would go away.

I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers over the break (twice). It’s decent, although Gladwell writes a little too much like a self-improvement author when one of the main messages of his book is that some people are just more lucky than others. In any case, it did inspire me to make the most of the opportunities I’ve been given. To start off with, I’m going to try to adhere to a 24-hour per week drawing schedule. I’ve thought about this, and it will take five 3-hour days, and two 4.5-hour days (the days I have drawing class). I suppose I’ll update about that later? If I’m not drawing too much…

Also, it’s 2009.

I’m leaving in a little over an hour for Chicago, where I’ll spend most of the day with my Dad and brother before I fly to Frankfurt tonight, and after a short layover, Vienna. I’ll be studying Adolf Loos, an influential architect and architectural/social critic of the early 20th century. I also hope to be putting pictures up pretty regularly, but I’m not sure what access to the Internet I’ll have over in Europe. If there isn’t much, expect a plethora of material once I return on the 15th.

Bis bald (see you soon)!