Dracula, the Mummy, and some Working Wizards
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Paul grew up wanting to be Dracula, and I was to be his Renfield. Here’s Renfield bringing Dracula his morning bottle of tomato juice. He wanted slugs in the picture, so that’s them crawling on Renfield.
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I told Paul about all the versions of The Mummy I had seen, from Boris Karloff through Hammer Films. So he wanted Indiana Jones, an ancient tomb, giant statuary, lots of scorpions, and a mummy his size with a hole blown through it. There was also a modern Egyptian boy who guided tourists though the supernatural. Both of us were ready for the 21st Century CG version!
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This is me, showing Paul the proper way to summon, and protect himself against, a demon. It takes a lot of book learning, I told him. And never, never read out loud in the occult section of the school library. The wizard’s cape is a shower curtain we had in our bathroom.
A Surprise in the Desert
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A fantasy I drew while sitting in a tedious meeting: Wandering in some American desert, I come across a fossil deposit. It’s all mine! I used a refillable brush-pen and Conte chalk pencils. I don’t seem to be able to get away from ‘coloring between the lines.’
The Sea Lion and the Kayak
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Cartooning has always been daydreaming on paper for me. Now that I’m older and can’t get out as much as I like, it’s a kind of wish-fulfillment. This cartoon, however is a somewhat fictionalized version of something that actually happened to me in 2008. I quietly paddled up to a buoy where there was a female sea lion sleeping. I got too close to her (in front, not from behind as I show here) I was foolishly within touching distance of her when she woke up. I thought she was going to jump into my kayak! I beat a hasty retreat. I forgot to take any photos, except the one below, which I took as she was seeing me off. She nervously grooms her rear flipper. The blue suit I have on is a Gore-Tex dry suit, essential for safety in the cold Northwestern sea water.
