Between Friends Blog

A peek inside my brainstorming notebook

I pulled a page out of my brainstorming notebook.  I was fiddling with a timeline/graph idea (I've seen my kids do lots of "timeline" projects for school) and the affects of caffeine.  I read somewhere that you're body revs up with about two cups of coffee but after another two, it starts to drag you down.  A fine line to walk, eh?  Somehow the gag didn't gel. 

The biggest reason I dumped the whole idea was because of another strip I did a few years ago about the affects of caffeine that I felt worked very well... 

I just wasn't able to put a different spin on the idea.  You gotta know when to fold 'em...

Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's

Chris Sparks, a professional web designer, is leading the Team Cul de Sac (TCDS) fundraising effort in honor of his friend Richard Thompson, the cartoonist behind the Cul de Saccomic strip. Richard was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. With Richard's support, TCDS asked cartoonists across the country to draw his characters so the artwork can be compiled into a fundraising book and the artwork auctioned to raise additional money.

What you see above is the dust-jacket for the completed book which will be released in June 2012.  You can pre-order here.

This book features 150 well-known cartoonists and their take on Richard Thompson's quirky and delightful Cul de Sac world.  You can see a list of all contributors here.  I am very pleased to be a part of this project which will raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support research for Parkinson's disease.

This is an exceptional collection of the cartooning industry's professionals and a must-have for anyone interested in this field...and all the more-so for its support for Parkinson's research.

Blaine MacDonald

My friend Leif Peng has posted a thoughtful and detailed post about Canadian cartoonist, Blaine MacDonald who passed away on February 5.  I met Blaine only once many years ago at an NCS (National Cartoonists Society) get-together in Toronto.  I remember he was animated and friendly.  Unfortunately, our paths never crossed again.

The above cartoon shows Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and refers to his famous assertion that he did not use a four letter word in Parliament...and that he had only said the words "fuddle duddle".  This happened about the time I was in grade 7 or 8...and as politically unaware as I was at the time, I was aware of "Fuddle Duddle".

Good bye to Blaine, a very talented cartoonist.  I wish we had had more opportunity to know each other.

 

 

Choices

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I've often mentioned that the ideas for my cartoons are not written verbatim from my life.  (there are influences here and there, of course but...)  To prove my point, I have posted the above cartoon.  I would NEVER choose washing the floor over watching Lord of the Rings...or having a mani-pedi...or having lunch with a friend. 

...or just about anything else for that matter.   

Wardrobe Camoflage

 

Where to find "Between Friends"!

You can read Between Friends daily by clicking here!

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Timeline go home

I never got around to figuring out the last "improvements" Facebook made...now I'm going to be forced to figure out this Timeline thing.  Does skipping over the last "improvement" put me ahead or behind?

To tell the truth, I don't really get the Timeline pages of friends that I've looked at...it all seems like a big mash of STUFF all over the page.  What do we read first?  How do we add, delete, ignore?  It looks like controlled chaos.

Sigh...serenity now...

A Cartoonist and her coffee

.

When I read a cartoon that I find funny, I usually smile.  Sometimes it's an inside smile and sometimes it's a visible grin.  My cartooning girlfriend, Stephanie Piro, made me laugh out loud...three times...when I read this strip.  I love the way she used an actual nib pen within the strip...even though neither the cartoonist or the cartoon spoke directly to the audience, it still adds that dimension of breaking the fourth wall. The faces of the cartoon woman are incredibly expressive...you can just feel the shock in the first image and see (and hear) the pique in the second image.  I think I got an extra little kick out of this because there's also an element of the inside joke for me.  Not that there's actually another gag that only people who are cartoonists will get but that I can identify with that unique relationship a strip cartoonist has with the inky world they create.  It struck me as funny to see that world talk back, exasperated at the control we have over their lives.

Stephanie has a very loose style.  I've seen her draw her cartoons...a drawing board on her lap and a pen in her hand and away she goes.  No pencils.  I was agog.  Simple, flowing, minimalist lines that demonstrate expression, feeling, movement and nuance.  That's a real talent.

Stephanie Piro is the Saturday cartoonist for the syndicated comic strip "Six Chix".  She also creates the panel "Fair Game" and has illustrated and written so many cartoons books, I can't even begin to mention them all here. 

Between Friends makes Comic Strip of the Day :)

Between Friends got a little shout-out over at one of my favourite morning coffee stops, Comic Strip of the Day.  Check it out.  (Thanks, Mike!)

You can read Between Friends daily right here.

I didn't, shoulda, was going to but...

I decided I should be blogging on a regular schedule.  Like every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Today is Wednesday.  I don't know what happened to Monday...

A Weekend Thought, a day late

(Posted on Saturday instead of Friday because I ran out of time...)

I waste a lot of time wishing I had more time.

-Gina Barreca, Ph.D.  in Snow White Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Doodling with a new Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pen

Just bought myself a Faber-Castell Pitt brush pen and was trying it out on some scrap paper.  It's not bad...I find it a bit easier to control than my Pentel brush pen.  I miss my C-5 speedball...the paper I've been using doesn't take the nib very well.  The ink bleeds.  I've been using the Canson XL recycled bristol...mainly because it's the only paper I can find around here that's somewhat suitable to my needs.  All the art supply shops that I manage to find keep closing so I've been shopping at a large craft store chain.  They seem to have mainly watercolor and sketch pad paper and I want a very white, smooth bristol for ink.  I just bought another four pads to tide me over (14x17 inch pads with 25 sheets per pad...I get three daily strips out of a page) but I'm going to look around for a supplier that I can order from online.  I've given up on the personal shopping experience for art supplies.  I used to have a Canson paper that I LOVED...clean, bright white, smooth, smooth bristol surface, EXCELLENT for my speedball nib...but the last supplier I had told me Canson had discontinued that line.  (I guess that's why he gave me a deal to buy out what he had in the store...he wanted to get rid of the last of the inventory...he let me fall in love and THEN told me there was no more)

Oh well.  The search continues.

I am woman, hear me roar...

Well...yes.  I agree that the phrase may be a bit overused.  But for the next few days, I've used "I am woman, hear me roar" as the opening line in a series of short poems in my Between Friends strips.  I've been feeling for a while that it's time to move my characters along in age a bit and these strips reflect that. 

These poems are written from a life perspective rather than a political one.  The series is a departure from my regular Between Friends comics.  Whenever I do something a little out of the norm, I wonder how they'll be received...if people will enjoy them, hate them or just glance over them with one big yawn.  For myself, I had fun writing them.  I made a list of as many words as I could that rhymed with "roar" and went from there.  The content is influenced by the fact that my son will be attending university out of town next year and my daughter will be in her senior year at high school.  Their growing independence affects my own. 

I've always loved my cartooning career.  It's been a wonderful method of creative self-expression and aside from relentless and demanding deadlines, the flexibility of my working hours has been a godsend as a mom.  On the threshold of the empty nest, I'm grateful I have something that will engage and interest me when I eventually begin to notice that no one in the house is calling for me to come and make them something to eat.

Sigh.

You can read today's strip by clicking here.  

Jean, this strip's for you

...except for comic strip cartoonists...this is their secret identity all week long.

Spilling the beans about Helen

Today, at the King Features Daily Ink Blog, I give the inside scoop on Helen.  Helen is a supporting character in my strip.  She is Maeve's assistant at the office and of all the characters in Between Friends, I think I'd enjoy hanging with her the most if she were a real person.  You can find out why and get a few other insider details at the Daily Ink Blog!

Read Between Friends daily by clicking here.

Order the Between Friends 2012 Wall Calendar by clicking here.

Estrogen Anomaly

 

If you can't laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?  Happy New Year!

Between Friends: The 2012 Calendar

You can order online by going here!

Here's a peek at January:

 

Merry Christmas!

Are you ready?  I'm about to run out to the grocery store for a few extra things...and then I'll come home and wrap presents.  Tonight, we're driving to Niagara Falls to see the annual Christmas lights extravaganza and then take Newman for a nice long walk.  Tomorrow we spend the day with my parents and my brothers and on Boxing Day we're having Tim's family for dinner.  A very nice Christmas itinerary and I'm looking forward to it.

I hope you all have special plans and are spending them with the ones who matter most to you!

Merry, merry Christmas!

Talk to you soon. :)

NO. 3371 @ 11 seconds

That's one of my buddies...(#3371 @ 11 seconds) 

 

I don't feel too bad about my neck...but I'm getting there.

In last week's Between Friends, I did a little series about necks. 

I'm not big on jewelry...for me personally, I mean.  Aside from my wedding ring, earrings are usually the extent of my baubly.  So when it comes to neck camoflage, big chunky necklaces aren't going to part of my plan of attack.  Likewise with scarves.  While I think they look very chic on other women...I just can't seem to get the hang of the whole casually draped hip look.  My scarf-wearing is limited to my late evening walks with the dog...and believe me, it's all about warmth not fashion.  And turtle necks? I used to love wearing turtle necks...but sometime into my thirties they started to make me feel choked. I don't know why.  For lack of any other explanation,  I'm going to blame it on my catch-all excuse:  hormones.

Anyway, a friend sent me this youtube video on tying scarves and I thought I'd share it with you here.  Just because I can't swing the hip look, doesn't mean I can't pass along a little tip or two.  After all, we gals have to stick together.