More Photoshop Mouse, Mouses, Moose, Moosen?

Don't worry folks, I know that the plural of "mouse" is "meese."

I spent my day off doodling out another cute mouse (and a fat lady wearing a peacock on her head.)  But in a totally different style than the last one.  I was going for "cute."

I like how it turned out, but then I turned off the layer with the black line work.  And that's when it got interesting.

I almost like the second one better.  It doesn't read as well as the first but I think it is more visually interesting.  I wonder if I can figure out a way to combine the textures of this one with the flat color chapes of the last mouse.  Must get to experimenting.

What do you folks think?  Is there something interesting going on here?  Should I pursue it?

Photohop Mouse

I've been messing around in Photoshop today.  And I came up with this:

It's a bit of a departure for me and I'm mostly pleased with it.  I must remember to have my characters do something more than just stand there.

What do you folks think, should I do more like this?

Folio Academy

Will Terry, a buddy of mine, and Wayne Andreason, a guy I don't actually know, just launched a pretty cool website: folioacademy.com

It's an instructional site with art tutorials on a wide variety of subjects.  There are already a bunch of cool videos up on the site and they add more all the time.

Cool stuff.

Maximus Cloud: Amateur Adventurer

For a job I've been working on lately.  Really fun job.  I dig this one.

He's kind of the stock adventurer character (akin to Link and others.)  Only, he sucks at it.  I could write dozens of these stories.  I just might (eventually.)

Robot Name Tags

It's that time of year again and my wife is setting up her 5th grade classroom.  My contribution every year is the student name tags on the outside of the door.  This year's theme: robots.

They make pretty good coloring pages and they're all yours folks if you want 'em.  Enjoy.

Cecil Is On the Move

Chloe and Sophie are in Boston and they took Cecil along with them to see the sights.

Cecil at the Boston Harbor:

Cecil in front of the USS Constitution showing off his new pants:

Sometimes Cecil wants to go where everybody knows his name:

I have to say I'm a bit jealous.  I've never been to Boston.  Someday I will have to see more of this great big country.

A huge thanks to Chloe and Sophie for the update.

Lost Monster #3 - Cecil

I decided to take another Lost Monster with me to Chautauqua last week while I was there for the Highlights Foundation Writer's Workshop.  I decided to call him Cecil.

And then I picked out a hiding spot in the square at Chautauqua.

Two days later I got this great email:


Hi Will my name is Chloe and I have found your monster. I live in Dallas, TX and I am 10 years old.  My sister's name is Sophie and the sign that said take me home is her monster!  Sophie is 6. After the summer we are going to tour the Nation in a RV for a year and my sister and I will be home schooled. Every place that we go I am going to take pictures of Cecil and I.

               Thank you for doing this !!

These kids are awesome.  And I'm kind of jealous of their upcoming tour of the country.  It sounds like Cecil couldn't have ended up with a better home.

Fatherhood Slows Blogging

This here blog has been pretty light on updates this last month.  That's because I'm a dad now.  Babies take a lot of time just before and just after they are born.  Many of you already know this.

So here's the kid, Maxwell McLean Strong.  (He is 2 weeks old today.)

These photos were taken by Hannah Gibson, a family friend.  She's got a great blog.

Here's my rendition of Maxwell:

I think I pretty much nailed the likeness.