Another Caricature Of Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet
Anyone else gets Warren Buffet confused with Jimmy Buffet?
After I drew this one, and liked how the hair turned out,
I drew this second one, which is more caricaturey.

Emoticons, East And West

Above: Emoticons from Puck magazine, from way back in 1881 — yes, the 19th Century! :o

Emoticons are a way of using letters, numbers, and punctuation to show your mood or expression. Otherwise, with email and texting, it can be difficult to tell just by words alone. I found these in this month’s issue of National Geographic. The emoticons used in Asia are cuter and more visually rich (get a load of “blushing”), but ours are quicker to type. Which do you use?

Emotion	East	West
Happy	(^_^)	:-)
Sad	(;_;)	:-(
Surprised	(*O*)	:O
Winking	(^_~)	;-)
Laughing	(^O^)	:D
Blushing	(#^.^#)
Embarrassed	(^^;)
Apologizing	m(_ _)m

Here are more Western emoticons and Eastern emoticons. They’s great fun to read through.

Caricature Of Leo Buscaglia

Leo F. Buscaglia
That science-of-love guy

Caricature Of Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron
Director, producer, journalist, novelist, etc.
I like how this turned out, the simplicity of her face framed by hair details.

Looking For Cash, Periods, Commas, Anything

Car ad found on Craigslist:

brand new toyota corolla - $11000 (taunton ma)
i am selling my toyota mint conidition inside and out is has 26k miles which is nothin and its a 2006 nothin wrong with the car at all needs nothing done to it i am selling it cuz i am moving back to portugal if u want to know more give me a call at 774-xxx-xxxx thanks

26000 miles means 306000 miles and corolla means aries k-car and portugal means moms place but i am calling because fast talking confuses me

The Spectacularly Bad Art Of MOBA

Sunday on the Pot With George
Acrylic on canvas by Unknown

Can the swirling steam melt away the huge weight of George’s corporate responsibilities? This pointillist piece is curious for meticulous attention to fine detail, such as the stitching around the edge of the towel, in contrast to the almost careless disregard for the subject’s feet.

If you do but one thing today, make it a visit to MOBA, the Museum Of Bad Art, at museumofbadart.org. Here’s the direct route straight to the collection. Whew. Tummy sore from laughing.

And here are their two spectacular books. I’ve got the white-and-yellow one. It’s really good.

   

Scooby Doo And You

Scott had two years of mechanical drawing in high school. He didn’t go to art college, not even to a two-year community college. Yet today Scott is a successful cartoonist, teacher, and caricaturist. He draws Scooby-Doo, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n’ Eddy, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Winnie the Pooh, Pokemon, Strawberry Shortcake, Shrek, and others. Obviously he has skill galore. But he also has something inside that led him onward, that lifted him during the times when others didn’t notice his skill: inner drive. He says:

No one was really on my side when I set out to do it. Once I made it, then everyone was on the Scott Neely Train... but there was like seven or eight years that I alienated everyone just chasing the dream. At a point it was like being in a rock band and you knew that you were going to hit it big. You just knew it and I can't explain it anymore than that. I felt strong about it and just stuck it out and worked a part time job to sustain me. Most don't make it unless they are driven to then make a point of it. I wanted to prove people wrong and I did.

The quote’s from a great interview of Scott Neely and others — over at David Wasting Paper. It gave me the “You can do it!” good-feelin’ vibe. Maybe it will you too.

This reminds me of the “Outliers: The Story of Success” book by Malcolm Gladwell. How do successful people become successful? The main way, according to Gladwell, is being helped by others: by a parent, a teacher, a coach, a mentor, etc. Basically, someone gave them a break.

Until then, there’s always inner strength. If you love what you do — have determination and keep at it. Face towards your joy and move towards it. That break will come. A nice one.

Scott’s website/blog at scottneelyart.blogspot.com (Scott Neely's Scribbles and Sketches).

OMG, We Missed Roz Chast Day

We at Small & Big are gosh-darn embarrassed, given that last year we invented Roz Chast Day, remember? And by we I mean me and by invented I mean made up. This year all I did on June 18th was this, a big double-oh-zero. And now there’s a mosquito in here, a mosquito on my arm, neck, noggin. Ack.

So in conclusion: Happy Belated Roz Chast Day! I suspect she expected as much.

Beach Your Vacation On The Gulf Coast (Mind The Scattered Tar Balls)

In my cartoon class I was assigned to create a full-color cartoon that could accompany a Salon.com article (excerpted below) called Meet the oil spill tourism queen. Here’s my solution.

Meet the oil spill tourism queen

By Mary Elizabeth Williams (Extracted from Salon.com)

It's no easy job putting a happy face on one of the worst environmental disasters in history, but somebody's got to do it. And so, Alabama Gulf Coast tourism rep Rebecca Wilson, we salute you. ...Wilson has been diligently rah-rahing for her home turf in a series of surreal YouTube clips.

Doing her best to downplay the crisis, Wilson cheerily announces, "Our weather has been perfect, and oil impact has been less this weekend! We are still seeing some scattered tar balls wash ashore"...

Click here to read the entire article and see the video on Salon.com. Rebecca Wilson is doing all she can to help businesses in the area. I salute her. But still, it’s weird.

...Then They Lick Your Face

My cartoon for the July issue of the Pet Gazette. My dog Godzilla is looking forward to sampling Lost Hearing Aids. The garBADGE is new-to-market, and she’s also looking forward to it, especially since she’s featured on the badge.

Last month’s goldfish cartoon got the best feedback so far. Thanks to all for taking the time to comment on this blog and Facebook. Now that I know, I would have liked to have drawn this in last month’s goldfish style, but it had already been completed. Authentic Dog Treats uses the same outline border though.

No animals were harmed in the making of this cartoon. But if you think about it you might get sick.

The Barker Cartoon Museum

I am beside myself. (I’m standing next to a mirror.) About the Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum in Cheshire, CT. My pal over at David Wasting Paper said it’s “the country’s largest collection of comic strip, cartoon, TV, western and advertising collectibles.”

At first I was like, “Uh, okay. Sure. It’s probably all right.” Then I saw... this:



Just one little itty bitty Popeye display case at the Barker. Jeepers. And admission is only $5. What a deal!

See more photos and read about David’s visit to the museum.

Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum (BarkerMuseum.com)
1188 Highland Avenue (Route 10)
Cheshire, CT 06410

Here’s a Google map for you.


View Larger Map

Summer Comes To Boston, By Way Of Aaron Meshon

I love, love, love this June 13th cover for Boston Globe Magazine, by illustrator Aaron Meshon. It’s so vibrantly colorful I can almost taste it. (Colors do that to me. Yum.) Look how he put in the little people, on the dock there, they’re but color blots; and the heat, flowing Bob Dylan flame-style, outta the hot-dog stand; and the whale nibbling marshmallow sails. Why, it’s downright summery.

Except, I wonder — the guy driving, he sure is paying a lot of attention to something out the window (giant cooked-but-still-living lobster claw?) and not watching where he’s driving that blue Paul Bunyon-sized automobile. Will he mow down the little pointy trees, the ice cream ferris wheel, the living flowers?

Nah. He must be parked. Nobody messes with pink log slug. Go pink log slug, go!

Check out more of Meshon’s work at www.aaronmeshon.com.

Caricature Of Warren Buffet (And A Book Recommendation)

Warning: book recommendation coming up. I read Warren Buffet’s Management Secrets, by Marry Buffet and David Clark, and it’s awesome. Awesome. Proof that you can be nice on the inside and get nice stuff on the outside. I got the book because Small and Big’s shareholders are all like, “Dividends! Results! Guillotine!” And because of the subtitle: Proven Tools for Personal and Business Success. Among the morsels from the booky book:

• The best companies to work for and invest in have a competitive edge: they either sell a unique product that doesn’t change much from year-to-year (Coca-cola), sell a unique service (H&R Block tax service), or are a low-cost buyer/seller a product/service that everybody’s continually in need of (Walmart).
• Work at a job you love. The people who are most successful love what they do. There’s no point in suffering over bucks — if you’re working only for the money isn’t that a form of greed?
• “Praise by name, criticize the category.” Give others credit for the success, small and big, and do it publicly; but if you’re going to criticize, criticize the bigger picture instead, like an entire job profession (bankers). If you must criticize a specific person, praise them first.
• Win arguments Ben Franklin style. Instead of arguing with someone, agree with them. When you’re on the same side the person is more likely to listen to your ideas. This is huge and not about lying and, well, too big to explain here. Read the book.

Best Of Twitter Witter

My favorite tweets. Also, your crystal ball and fortune cookie told me to relay this message: Joy will be enhanced by following plfrederick on Twitter. When in doubt listen to your inner cookie.

Caricature Of Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton
With apologies to Ms. Parton, her fans, her family, and her descendants

Caricature Of Stan "The Man" Smith

Stan The Man Smith
And his little eyes.

Caricature Of John F Kennedy, JFK

John F Kennedy
For the love of God I don’t know where this came from.
It was supposed to be a caricature of Sean Connery (like this one) but somehow JFK squeezed himself in there. Or maybe it’s Robert Kennedy?

No Head Trips

Another Caricature Of Sean Connery

Sir Sean Connery
I like this caricature of him in later life.
More than the younger one.

Caricature Of Sean Connery

Sean Connery
When he was a young buck.
More of an illustration really, but who’s counting.