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The New Vampire’s Handbook

Posted in art, literature & other distractions, in the wringer on Monday, May. 25, 2009


I spent February packing for my move and doing these illustrations for a book called “The New Vampire’s Handbook: A Guide for the Recently Turned Creature of the Night” by Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Pauls, Anita Serwacki, and Scott Sherman. You may already know Joe Garden’s other work (done with the same or pretty much the same team, and another brilliant illustrator, Emily Flake), The Devious Book for Cats, and The Dangerous Book for Dogs, and The Dastardly Book for Dogs.
 
Here are a few of my favorite illustrations, based on how much fun I had drawing them, or how much better they looked when they were done than I expected!

 

Below is the classic vampire stance: arms thrown up in the air, fangs bared, pure intimidation meant to freeze you in your tracks. Used mostly to buy time when pursued by vampire slayers.

Below is a sequence, in which the small, dainty vampire bides her time, taking advantage of a lunar eclipse in order to get herself a little werewolf blood. The werewolf is wondering, “Me no feel so good! Did me eat something bad?”


(I liked basing my characters on people I know. The idea was that anybody could be a vampire, not just surprisingly goodlooking teenagers, or scary, Bela Lugosi types.)

 

 

 

Below is a very happy, bloodthirsty vampire who really believed in vampirism as a lifestyle.

And here is why you should be super careful in the subway, ladies!

To see more, here’s a public link to a folder on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80636&id=726599530&l=8d819c5c58

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How time flies! (and some cartoons!)

Posted in CAJ in TNY, TNY, in the wringer, politics, gossip, other nonsense on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008

Above is how time flies for me. I did this doodle this morning while drinking my coffee. Suddenly I realized it was time to run to my day job! Thus, “time” and “carrots.”

As far as cartoons go, here’s my latest in The New Yorker:

And here’s my debut on 23/6, the Huffington Post’s comic relief site, with a musing on President Bush and the Shoe Incident.

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Reject du jour: champagne delivery images

Posted in CAJ in TNY, TNY, in the wringer, rejected cartoons on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008

When I sell a cartoon, or see one published, I like to put up my rejects for good measure! So, first, here’s a link to my latest cartoons to appear in The New Yorker, this week a Halloween-themed one, and earlier, a childhood/artist-themed one. If that’s not enough, here’s a IQ-test game called “I don’t get it” from the Cartoon Issue, in which one of my old cartoons makes an appearance!

Now to the rejects!

I tried to come up with some images for The Bubble Lounge, one of my illustration clients, because I didn’t like the photo they asked me to use for a champagne delivery promo I was working on for them, but both my ideas were rejected!

Oh well! Here they are:

This one was inspired by a Japanese delivery truck logo I once saw in Tokyo.

And this one just popped into my head, inspired by a Le Monde graphic  for newspaper delivery used in their subscription ads:

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Reject du jour: this goes out to McCain feminists

Posted in in the wringer, politics, gossip, other nonsense, rejected cartoons on Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008

This was rejected, but  not abandoned! I decided to practice my colorizing with Photoshop.  Still have no idea if I’m doing it right, just trying this or that.  Seems like it should be easier, somehow!

And I don’t want to hear any crap about comparing Palin to a poodle being sexist!  She’s the one who started comparing herself to domestic animals! She made her dog-bed and she can lie in it now!

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More PS layers: Marnie

Posted in in the wringer on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007


Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, in “Marnie.”

Here is the B & W version:

Home sick, watching DVD’s, I always liked this scene from Hitchcock’s “Marnie,” when she’s got the safe open but can’t get her hand to steal the money in the safe and Sean Connery looms up behind her and says, “Go ahead and take it! It’s not stealing! What’s mine is yours!”

One thing I always noticed about the movie (besides Sean Connery’s overly plucked eyebrows) is all the beige’s and browns and yellows. If you look carefully, you’ll notice an uncanny, bright yellow theme going from the yellow getaway handbag, to the yellow fridge in Marnie’s mom’s house, to the yellow leather vest on Sean Connery’s father.

(I’d provide reference photos, but I simply paused the DVD and worked from the TV screen.)

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More layering practice: Trouble in Paradise

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007

Well, I had already done my fun drawings from Trouble in Paradise, but had not figured out how to color them in. So here’s my second try at inking with layers.

Here’s what it looked like before inking and a little repositioning, just india ink on paper, then scanned:

I’m not sure which I prefer. I had thought the B&W one was too rough looking, and quite liked adding in grays with the layering. They I got into coloring the rest in, probably inspired by DIVYA SRINIVASAN’s illo last week.

See my previous Trouble in Paradise attempts (of Miriam Hopkins), a few posts down.

These are the reference photos besides the actual movie that I used to guide me. For the Miriam Hopkins, in my previous post, I drew directly from the screen. (On pause, of course!):

1- for her body
2- for her face
3- for his pose

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Eddie Constantine in color

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007


(Lemmy Caution keeping an eye on the assassin next door. Later, he asks: “Et Dick Tracy? Il est mort, aussi?”)

More practice in layers and colors. This is Eddie Constantine, in Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville.

For the black and white version, see a previous post, here.

Eddie has a face that’s interestingly bloated and wrinkled at the same time. He’s got that redheaded complexion, which shows in the eyes mostly. Sometimes he looks like a burn victim, his face is so distressed. And when he wants to, he can turn to the side or three quarter profile and make his eye look like the eye of a whale, like in the moment before he kills the guy in the telephone booth next to him (as in my illo). I drew him from the television screen, but here’s a photo of the moment just before he turns, realizing he has a neighbor.

Here’s two more images of Eddie, which show what he looks like, here, and here.

And I love this one, from Alphaville.

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Cary in layers!

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007

Well, thanks to Dave James’ benevolent kibbitzing (via email, now that I have closed comments in order to enjoy a respite from deleting the constant flow of incoming spam), I now know how to do layers! Thank you Dave James!
This is my very first attempt/romp in layers, with Cary. I like the idea of romping with Cary Grant! Indeed!

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Cary in color

Posted in in the wringer on Friday, Nov. 30, 2007

Just playing around with the Wacom Tablet. Still haven’t figured out how to use my Adobe CS3! :(

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Cary Grant

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007

WOOPS!
For anyone who saw the other post and wonders why this is a double, I accidentally deleted it! Here he is again.

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Benito’s angels

Posted in in the wringer on Friday, Nov. 2, 2007


(click on the image for a larger version on flickr)

A friend asked me to do this from a photo of his family back in Mexico. I kept it pretty conventional, because I didn’t think I needed to get clever with someone’s family. I did it in pencil, because it would have had to be quite a lot bigger for me to use the ink and brush. The bottom is missing because my scanner is small, and I didn’t want to risk smudging the drawing with another scan. My signature is at the bottom of the long strand of hair in the middle.

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In the wringer: still breaking in my new brush

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007

The brush is beginning to do what it’s supposed ‘ta. Basically, it needs to be a little roughed up.

Did a double feature with a buddy last night, “Design for Living” and “Trouble in Paradise.” Miriam Hopkins and Edward Everett Horton, above, are favorites of Lubitsch, and favorites of mine. Gary Cooper and Frederic March used to be the attraction, but I gradually began to appreciate these two as the real soul of the films.

Hopkins and Horton are experts of the double-take. This one below is from Trouble in Paradise:

All these images are done by ink and brush, scanned, and then retouched digitally.

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In the wringer: a new brush

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007


(Click on Eddie’s face for a larger image.)

Watching Alphaville while breaking in a new brush. The new brush is way too smooth, driving me a little nuts. I was getting worried that my old, prickly, scratchy one (perfect!) was going to expire, so I bought six more to break in. Above, that’s Eddie Constantine. I love how he looks like some old craggy tough guy who’s been crying his eyes out all night. Look at that eye!

Here’s another Eddie. He has a million faces. Particularly when he takes his hat off.

Here are some great lines from Alphaville:
“Why don’t you hurry up and commit suicide already? We need your room for our cousin from the south.”
“And Dick Tracy? Is he dead?”
“Professors Eckel and Jeckel.” (Talk about bad translation by some subtitler with no cultural references! Heckle and Jeckle, s/he means!)

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In the wringer: lightbulbs

Posted in in the wringer on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

I don’t know. When I woke up, I just felt like drawing lightbulbs. Why not? Maybe they’re symbols of leftover ideas from the Monday night cartoon drawing extravaganza? (As you know, we TNY cartoonists often stay up all night Mondays, getting our “batches” ready for Tuesday morning’s deadline. I faxed my batch in at around midnight, because I had a couple of jobs to go preventing me from dropping them off in person).

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Silly nonsense while I should be working

Posted in in the wringer on Monday, Oct. 8, 2007

I’m working on my batch. But sometimes distractions actually help. I drew this while eating my lunch. Now, back to work.

UPDATE: by popular demand, the photo of my largemouth bass catch yesterday, here.

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Spanish doodle

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007


(In the wringer, but long, long ago!)

I was searching my “archives” for something and found this drawing I did years ago. Or as my friend Juanny would say, “ears ago.” I did this while I lived in Spain, that much I remember. And I lived in Spain sometime around 1991. This drawing is interesting because it reflects the bipolar life I lived. One minute I would have gladly buried myself alive, and another minute found me drawing elated, naked Virgins on top of the world, the devilish snake carousing freely amongst swishing missiles. Often there would be Doris Day singing in the background.

I certainly don’t miss those days!

But I do like this drawing. It was part of a series, the best of which was an oil pastel on wood, which is probably in the storage room of one Madame de Betak, in Paris. She was the kind of lady who would take stuff out of storage when the artist was visiting, and put it on display till they left. Which is kind of polite, really. I used to fantasize about stealing it back from her. I still do!

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In the wringer: note to self

Posted in in the wringer on Tuesday, Sep. 25, 2007

Next time you get busy with all your wildly ambitious projects, remember one little thing: water all your plants or they will die!

This drawing was executed for a change from watercolors, and in the spirit of “note to self.”
More later.

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In the wringer: portrait of the artist as a young model

Posted in I'm Thursday., in the wringer on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007


(The delicate creature known as “the model.” Illustration by Carolita Johnson.)

(This is what models do a lot. Sit around and wait. Get paranoid. Begin having (mostly justified) feelings of inadequacy. Begin thinking that listening to Aerosmith’s “Dream on” should be limited to the minimum. No need to learn all the words. Same goes for Twisted Sister’s “We’re not gonna take it,” particularly in the morning before work. Take it easy, girl. Stick with lighter fare, like Peggy Lee, Hank Williams, and Nat King Cole.

Maybe get a real job, throw away all those flesh-colored thongs, get some respect. Yeah.

(The flesh-colored thong would become a symbol of oppression.)

The above illustrations are from a chapter of “I’m Thursday” (working title, remember) to be called, “The delicate creature,” and it’s about being a model. That, up there, would be me, about twenty years ago. I’m afraid I may have made myself look better than I did, but I can’t really remember what I looked like anymore! Anyone who knew me is free to point out where I went wrong. One friend said I look rather “empty” in this illo, which means I probably got pretty close. Being empty was my job!

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Rejected women’s humor & a couple a’ nudes

Posted in in the wringer, rejected cartoons on Tuesday, Jun. 26, 2007


(“female humor” cartoon by carolita johnson)

The Author has been exhorting me to recommence activities on newyorkette, so here we go. Today’s reject du jour is what would be called “women’s humor,” mainly because you really have to be a women (or a creepy guy) to understand it. Which must be why it was rejected!

Many of us dames know very well that perplexing moment when a male of the species decides to give us his gratuitous appraisal and benediction. It begins with, “Hey, beautiful! Nice (insert body part/s here)!” which appraisal is bizarrely capped with a “God Bless You!” upon your refusal to acknowledge it.

It makes you wonder what the perceived-as-ugly girls have to hear. (“Hey, you’re ugly! God damn you!” ??) Every time I hear this “God bless you,” I wonder who the outspoken little man thinks he is! Blessing me? Is he the pope or something? Is it translatable to “So, not interested? That’s okay! Vaya con Dios!” I guess it’s better than the alternative, which goes something like, “Hey, say thank you! Hey, you bitch! Say thank you, bitch!”

And I like men, that’s what’s kind of ironic!

Anyway, for you men who want nothing to do with the discourse above, here’s a couple of nice, naked ladies! (Actually the same lady, below!) I went to a figure drawing meet-up, and got to do some figure drawing from a live naked model for the first time in… 20 years? More! Not since foundation year at Parson’s! It was a pleasure. More to come. (Both are 6B or 8B pencil on 11×17 sketchpad).


(This was a 20 minute pose. I didn’t really get to spend much time on her face, because I got caught up in working her lone sandal—which I’m pretty happy with.)


(And this was a 15 minute pose.)

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In the wringer: portraits

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Jun. 9, 2007


(Self-portrait, detail, by Carolita Johnson.)

So, last spring, someone, and she knows who she is, proposed to sell me as a portrait artist. I was all for it, but the only problem was I hadn’t ever done any portraits in the “serious” way. Meaning, in oils, rather than magic marker. So I thought I better get on the ball, and here’s my first oil portrait of a real person: me.

It’s not done yet, but I’d say it’s nearly done. I kind of like the unfinished quality of it, even if I’m not sure I could get away with that on someone else’s portrait. In any case, this is a first. It’s the first try, first day, and first time I ever got my mouth right. Other former art students will probably remember having to do their self-portraits for school applications—I’ll never forget mine for Parson’s, and all the subsequent attempts: all too long in the nose, with weird lips. Say what you will, but this is progress!

It’s not the way most people see me, mind you: no makeup, hair not coiffed, in my paintsuit. But that’s the real me, how I look when I won’t be seeing anyone.

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