Illustration Friday: Snazzy! I'm just curious, how much time do people spend on these? And what size do you print/scan? (As in, able to print, or just for web?) I take about 4-5 hours (over several nights, while the kids are asleep) and my process includes character/idea thumbnails, final pencil drawing (that's usually one night), painting (that's usually another), and then scanning and Photoshop stuff, and posting (the third night). And I usually scan at 300 dpi and save down from there, so that I can print them if I ever want to use these for something in print.

Imagination Cubed. Remember the site where you could draw a picture and send it - and people could watch you draw in real time? Well, GE's done it again - you can now collaborate and draw with your friends. Check out the pic that I made with Allyson and Cindy. And then make one and post the link here so I can see it! Click here to launch imagination³

Peapods. Yup, that's right! For Halloween, the muffins will be, well, peas. To see how my highly talented Mom and I figured out how to make their costumes, and to see how you too can make costumes for three kids under $20, click here (warning, big illustration). Enjoy! (yeah, I switched pics because I like the black and white one better. But you can still see the color one here if you wish.)

Boy, do I love PBS - they consistently have fantastic programming (not to mention Sesame Street). Now that they've done the history of Broadway, make sure you don't miss this great PBS special: The Political Dr. Seuss, broadcasting this week. You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. --The Lorax

Illustration Friday: Fiesta! Interested in a print? Drop me a line.

Worth mentioning. 10 years ago, Paul told me he loved me for the first time. We smooched a lot. The rest is history.

Why I don't have an Electric Company T-Shirt. A couple of months ago, I saw an awesome tshirt with the Electric Company logo on it. I thought, this is so going on my birthday wish list, when I saw the price tag - $24. In my world, tshirts cost at most, $12, and no matter how much I loved to yell "Hey, you guys!" in the 70's I was not spending that much money on a shirt. So I thought, how hard can this be to make? Find the logo online (or scan it from the record cover - yes, we had it), clean it up on the computer, print it out on transfer paper, and iron it onto whatever shirt I wanted. I told a couple of other people and they wanted one too. Cool! But then I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, about copyright, and what's stealing, and what's not. I thought, how would I like it if I was selling shirts of my artwork and saw someone walking down the street with a knockoff? I'd be pretty upset. In fact, I would be upset even if I had no shirts of my artwork and someone made one - however flattering to me that's meant to be, I still would have had no say in the quality and no compensation (monetary or otherwise) for my work. I've spoken to other artists about this, who agree that when you break it down like that, it's really not a good thing. And one of the things I feel worst about was that I didn't make some great fan shirt all on my own as a tribute; I saw something and tried to copy it to save the cash. Okay, so I still like the shirt. So I looked it up online to see if I could get a bargain somewhere, and found that proceeds go to Sesame Workshop, an organization I respect highly. (They are non-profit and one of their main goals is getting quality children's programming, like Sesame Street, worldwide.) So now I may actually buy one, knowing that the money is going to a good cause. And that's why the only place you'll see me in an Electric Company tshirt - unless I break down and buy one - is in the sketch above.

Illustration Friday This week's subject: illustrate the word "smelly." Mine's based on personal experience.

Still undecided. I have been religiously watching the debates and polling people around me, and I'm still undecided. But then I found this today: the Presidential Candidate Quiz. According to this quiz, my #2 choice would be Kerry, and Bush would come in at #6. Color me surprised - I figured those two would be switched. I took another quiz (read this article at Wired) that again has me agreeing more with Kerry. I have some more reading to do. UPDATE: Please, no more comments. Right-wing, left-wing, non-voters, undecideds, you've all weighed in. My site is not a forum to push political agenda down anyone's throat. Call me crazy, when I started this post I thought, "Hey, this is an interesting and thought-provoking quiz that made an undecided voter like me think twice," and I thought I'd share the link with others who might also be undecided. Thanks, everyone for making your thoughts known, but we're done now. I promise the next post will have something to do with art, kids, pumpkins, or all three, and if I can get an illustration in there too, even better.

Halloween! Okay everyone, I need you to put on your thinking caps. What should the muffins be for Halloween? Please keep in mind: - There are three of them. - I will make them three little kittens only as a last resort. - I already have a ladybug costume that was Sophie's last year. - I have limited $$ and time to go shopping/making costumes. - They will be going to the Halloween parade/costume contest/trick or treating in their triple stroller, so costumes that look good from the waist up are good. - I will decorate the stroller to match. - Paul and I will possibly dress up with them. We have good medieval costumes. Anything including Indiana Jones is a plus. Thoughts? UPDATE 10/12: It's now down to peas or flowers, depending on which works better with the time/supplies/energy I have on hand. We will be marching in the Halloween parade, which is part of the celebrations for Addams Family Month - yes, not only was my town the centerpiece for Ed, it's also where Charles Addams made his home. I consider the latter fact to be way cooler. And of course we'll post pictures!