Severe Severus

A little HP never hurt anyone.

Here's my illo of Severus Snape, my favorite HP character.

"Sectumsempra!"

I can't really think of much else to say. I saw relatively little Harry Potter cosplay or displays at the San Diego Comic-Con last week, but I did recently see some sweet artwork that inspired my own round of HP fan-art. I have YET to go see the new movie. Hopefully that will be remedied this weekend, eh?

Bigheads are Better Than None, Con-clusion

Sorry for the absence in posting, guys. I've been away on vaycay! Yes, that's right. I went to the San Diego Comic-Con, 2009. Or, SDCC09, if you are in-the-know and stuff.

But I am back! And I just finished posting all photographs of the craziness on my Facebook page. That was quite a task. The trip itself was the most exhausting "vacation" ever! But well worth it. You don't get to see Spock in person everyday, do you?

Anyway, here's how Bighead turned out:



Quite the spectacle, he is! Since I was in San Diego during the actual costume party that Bighead was built for, I arranged for him to attend in my stead. It was reported that he behaved himself, which is a pleasant surprise!

Those are pipe cleaner "hairs." For the pupils, I actually cut open Googly Eyes and taped the black plastic pupil disks to the eye whites. They are movable, so I can make him look in different directions if I wanted!

Thanks again to Meg for helping bring this cranky cartoon character to fruition!

Bigheads are Better Than None, Pt. 2

Continuing the creation of an animated legend, I bought some spray gesso and went to town on Ed Bighead.

Here's some gesso action for you:



Now, at this point Ed was being extra grumpy, so I made him some spaghetti and meatballs:



You can tell that he wasn't pleased. I had even diced up onions and bellpeppers to put in the meat. With my own special mix of spices. AND sauteed mushrooms!

Well, determined to take Ed's crankiness down a notch, I whipped out some carrot soufflé!



Sheesh! What does it take to appease this guy? Well, I obviously wasn't doing the trick with my cooking, despite my best efforts. Then I realized that he probably just wanted to be painted.

So, I began the painting! Phase 1: Green In The Face



Phase 2: Sinking Ships



At the moment he's drying. But I need to apply the pipe cleaners and purchase some more google-eyes! Updates to come.

Illustration Friday - Hollow

This is why you should be wary upon entering strange hollows that lie between crooked mountains:

Ruff Furstew wasn't your conventional ogre. Nah, he was a bit more special.

You see, when he was a wee 'gre, a swab (that's the term I'll used to describe a group of rabbits) of rabid rabbits swarmed his village. Ruff, situated safely in his high-chair during his daily midnight feeding, was the sole ogre survivor.

From then on (well not exactly at that time, since he was still a baby 'gre), Ruff swore to rid his hollow of any bouncy, fluffy creatures. Tales of Ruff Furstew soon traveled far into lands beyond his own. Apparently those rabbits had earned quite a reputation. Should they crave another encounter, Furstew will be ready.

It's safe to say that Easter never comes to this hallowed hollow.

Gimme a T! (REX!)

Cheera the Cheerasaur
One wouldn't think of dinosaurs as sulky, depressed animals, right? Well, come to find out, a good chunk of the dino population actually lived their lives moping and wallowing around, looking forlorn and sighing a whole lot. Suprising? Well, you would too if you didn't have air conditioning.

One dinosaur, however, took it upon herself to instill cheer into the large hearts of all fellow dinosaurs. She donned a pep-squad uniform and ran about hooting and hollering for cheer's sake. Not satisfied with mere smiles, Cheera the Cheerasaur demanded that the dino-crowd chant along with her:

"We are the dinos,
Chompa-doozy hidy-ho's!
Smile if you saurus,
Wakka-floozy piggy-toes!

When you see us coming 'round:
Don't stomp,
Don't shake,
Don't run us down.
Or we'll stomp-shake-run you out of town!

Make-ya wanna do-uh CHEER!
Skippy flippy happy CHEER!
Slippy slidey never FEAR,
Cheerasaurus ever NEAR!"

The Death of Ivan Ilyichstration

For anyone wondering "Where is Burt's weekly Illustration Friday post?", it is over at my other site, Booksketch.

Which, if you haven't been there yet, is a site where anyone is welcome to post their own illustrations based off of literature they have read. So, if you have a favorite book and picture your favorite character a certain way, you can illustrate and post and write your own thoughts.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Bigheads are Better Than None

I was recently invited to an upcoming themed birthday party. It shall be monumentally epic. I'm told there shall even be "B"-themed snacks!

All attendees have to dress as something that starts with the letter "B."

So, this morning, my friend Meg and I put our normal-sized heads together and brainstormed that I should go as Ed Bighead, a la the amazing old-school Nickelodeon show Rocko's Modern Life.

So I did some very quick fashion/costume design sketches:



The costume will require chicken wire, paper mache, paint and vast amounts of nerdiness. The paper mache head will have sections carved out so that it can rest on my shoulders. This is going to be nuts.

Illustration Friday - Worn

"Home, Feet, Home"

I figured there would be a lot of entries this week that featured shoes and old people. So I figured I'd double-up and combine the too.

Remember the Little Old Lady that lived in a shoe? She had so much debt that she didn't know what to do. And once all of her kids moved out into their own shoes (with their own financial and arch support), our LOL (Little Old Lady) was left pretty much on her own. To tack on some more brutal sadness, her expenses eventually overtook her meager income, which led to the bank foreclosing on her Shoe. Her soul as worn as her sole, she threw up her hands and gave up.

Walking away barefooted, she vowed to start a new chapter in her life. She'd try to put her best foot forward, and to not step in any of life's droppings. She would tread where she wished and wouldn't be heel to anyone.

Possessions packed partially in shoe boxes, and partially in her oversized purse, LOL moved to Kalamazoo and became Mayor.