Zoo Trip

This morning while laying in bed

My wife rolled right over and said

“We’ve got things to do,

But let’s go to the zoo!”

So we drove to Toledo instead

At the zoo we saw critters galore

Like a croc who was ready to roar

A hippo who swam

And a polar bear clan

And I’ll stop here although there were more

Frankenstein Day

Today’s the day we celebrate

A person who wrote books so fine

It’s Mary Shelley, author of

That modern classic Frankenstein

Today’s her birthday! Celebrate!

Two hundred sixteen years at last

So come on now and resurrect

Some long dead aspect of the past

Call a flame from long ago

A high school sweetheart, someone who

Despite their life and family

I’m sure would love to hear from you

Or maybe find that casserole

That’s lurking in the freezer bin

Scrape the green stuff off and then

Heat it up and dig right in

Is there someone you despise

But you let the grudge go cold?

Fan those flames! Release the hate!

Let your rage run uncontrolled

Perhaps one time addiction held

Your spirit face down in the dirt

But now you’ve kicked it - have some fun

One more sip or snort can’t hurt

So go and dig up something old

Something buried, dead and gone

I’ve never read the book, but still

What’s the worst that could go wrong?

Back to Basics

As much fun as it is to play with the animations and other goodies available through the digital art, nothing beats just sitting back with a pen and paper and just doodling. Here's an aardvark.

Addition, 2 hours later: While what I said above is still true, sometimes you just have to take your nice, simple drawings and just go all Andy Warhol on 'em...

Sushi Dance Party!

It's Wednesday night, and you know what that means? Sushi Dance Party!!

Shrimp Preview

Nope, still not done yet with the whole scene. However, here's a shrimp that couldn't wait to get started dancing. His friends will arrive eventually, I promise!

I got the music in me!

A Minor Setback

I was well underway

On the dance party scene

Everything looked okay

When not moving, serene

But I wanted to test it

To see how it ran

Would I love or detest it

When movement began

I was still far from finished

Despite that I tried

My joy - undiminished

When movement I spied

But when I went back

To add colors and such

Felt my happiness crack

I had messed up so much

It was like a big wave

Scrubbed my work with sea foam

I forgot to hit “save"

So you're getting this poem

(The party promised yesterday is coming... eventually... if I don't get sick of it first... and if I remember to save my changes in the right format... ugh!)

Party Invitation

Consider this a teaser for an upcoming animated drawing. It's a request and I'm stylizing it after one of the most epic dance parties I know (and you're all invited!) So here's the poem, stay tuned for the rest...

There once was a party for fish

Who were sliced thin and raw in a dish

With vinegar rice

And wasabi for spice

And a dance beat that made the skirts swish

Going Stargazing

Tonight the family went stargazing with the local astronomy club. The Milky Way was big and pretty bright and there were about 10 or so telescopes showing different things. We got to see galaxies, clusters, nebulae, the moon (big and orange on the horizon), Saturn and even Neptune. It was a lovely evening.

Click for better seeing

The Upside of Having a Cold

The upside of having a cold

Is how it allows me to feel

And experience things as I heal

Like for now as the virus keeps hold

I learn of the difference ‘tween Puffs

And Kleenex and TP and such

While some have that soft, gentle touch

Paper towels are just eight kinds of rough

Then when I’m at work for the day

And I suffer a bad coughing fit

In the stillness when finished, I get

Things accomplished cause folks stay away

With this pressure of stuff in my head

And my sinuses thoroughly sealed

All my internal chambers revealed

It’s not faith, it’s all data instead

But, oh, when that brief moment comes

And I’m clear for a minute or so

The air’s like a flurry of snow

Blasting pure and raw deep in my lungs

So take cheer if you do get a cold

And you feel like a shriveling lump

Just remember, you will clear that hump

And the world will be shiny like gold

Drawing

I wish it was this easy...

Back to School Night

Tonight was Back to School Night at my daughters' school. Plus, my youngest was kind enough to share her cold with me, so now I'm just kind of tired and sniffly and I just want to go to bed. So here are some (very poor quality - sorry!) photos of the little note cards I drew to hide in their lockers. They'll find them tomorrow morning, and now I'll get some rest.

An Epic Voyage

In ’77, when dreaming of space

George Lucas excited the whole human race

But cruising to planets was fiction, I fear

The real thing began late in August that year

On this day the Voyager 2 probe set out

On a grand tour, taking a perilous route

Through the inky black sky that was darker than coal

It took it two years just to reach it’s first goal

But oh, what a view as it quickly sped by

Past Jupiter, staring, with one great red eye

The storms below raging, the moons made of ice

The volcanoes on Io were not very nice

Then back to the black for another two years

Till Saturn in all of it’s glory appears

Those magnificent rings capture everyone’s gaze

While the smoggy moon Titan huddles in its own haze

Five years to Uranus, spinning round on its side

A pretty pale blue like an egg that’s been dyed

Three more years to Neptune, so windy and cold

The fastest winds anywhere, so I’ve been told

And then that small probe kept on going, and how!

It’s been 36 years and it’s still going now

Pushing out through the edge of the heliosphere
Take our dreams to the stars as you yet persevere

Special Delivery

Little Known Fact: Although a good idea in theory, Pongo’s Airborne Cupcake Delivery Service never really panned out. The cupcakes survived the drops just fine, but it turns out that orangutans are not natural pilots.

"I got a bad attitude!"

(Happy Cupcake Day, National Aviation Day and World Orangutan Day!)

Bonus Poem!

From my sister! It's in response to my Bad Poetry Day post, but I think it's pretty good...

My poetry is never bad

A fact for which I'm sure you're glad

I'll celebrate this day with style

And hope this poem brings you a smile :)

(Anybody else want their pictures or poems immortalized on the web? Send 'em to me and I'll put 'em up!)

National Bad Poetry Day

Today is National Bad Poetry Day

At least that’s what the list on checkiday.com does say

So I will do my best to write my worst today

I will try to find cliched and tortured rhyme

I’ll do it all the time

And it will be fine

The imagery will be majestic like a mountain

And metaphor will spew out like something coming out of a fountain

And when it comes to the meter

Tripping all over themselves will be the feet, or

Maybe not cause thinking about that stuff gives me a fever

In fact, the best thing to be said for this amazing piece of poetical art

Is that its short

(Can you make up your own bad poetry? Put it in the comments or send it to me using the spiffy new "Contact Me!" area on the right and I'll post them here, unless you tell me not to.)

A New Look

If you haven't figured it out already, I've been playing with the design of this page. The biggest change is the addition of this new title image (which I will also count as my sketch of the day). If you have any feelings or suggestions about the new look, let me know in the comments or by email.

Badgers Dig Archaeology

True story - (click here for all the details)

A badger went digging one night

What he found could cause some folks a fright

At first they thought “crime”

But it turned out in time

As an archaeological site

Eight old Slavic bodies were found

After 900 years in the ground

Two of them were warlords

With their jewelry and swords
It’s a site that is sure to astound

Balloon

Today is National Failures Day. As someone who has failed (and succeeded) on many occasions, I encourage everyone to embrace their failures, learn from them and then keep going. I'm also trying out a new animation program called Pencil. I figured today was the perfect day to try something new. If I messed up, oh well! So I did this quick little animation of a guy who never quite reaches his balloon, but he never gives up (probably because I have the animation looping forever...)

(In an extremely appropriate coincidence, the first version of this animation that I posted looked like this, because of an issue with the transparency of the frames.)

Independence Day

Oh, Hip Hip Hooray

Let’s give a big cheer

Today is the very best

Day of the year

A day marked by freedom

A day free of strife

Where my girls can’t consume

Every second of life

A day to sleep in

Time to get some stuff done

Some jobs round the house

And some reading for fun

I do love my daughters

Don’t make that mistake

But they’re back in school

And I’m still on break!

Card Kitty

Tonight, a pink kitty cat playing cards.

Hyperloop

Today Elon Musk, founder of visionary companies SpaceX and Tesla Motors, unveiled his plans for a new high-speed commuter transportation service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It's called the Hyperloop (click here for more info). For about $20 (one way) you'd get in a 28-person capsule, be propelled through a tube at 760 mph and reach the other end in about 35 minutes! Here's how I feel about taking such a trip...

I want to ride the Hyperloop

I want to ride today

To speed from San Francisco

To the beaches in L.A.

I’ll climb aboard a Hyper-pod

And hear the engines whine

Suspended like a hovercraft

While speeding down the line

Careening through a Hyper-tube

Propelled by solar power

I’ll reach my destination in

About a half an hour

Yes, I want to ride the Hyperloop

The future’s here today

Elon’s got the master plan

Let’s get this underway!

Monkey Ball

Today my nephew requested a monkey, sitting in a tree, bouncing a blue ball. Then my daughter said the ball should have a white star on it. I decided to add the vest and fez to make him look a little more dapper.

Now, quit watching a monkey bounce a ball and go out and watch the Perseid meteor shower!

Flying Hippo

Tonight as we were out driving around, I was giving my oldest daughter a lot of grief about a pink hippo statue she saw by the side of the road. To make up for my behavior, here's a pink flying hippo, just for her.

"I think I got a bug in my mouth!"

Choir Concert

The choir camp has reached it’s end

They’ve closed the doors, turned out the light

Just one thing’s left, we get to spend

An evening of sublime delight

As all the children sing their tunes

We soar on sweet melodic wings

In fact my daughter’s choir croons

Of Super-kooka-expi-things

Or was it Sound-of-alidocious?

All the songs have merged as one

Cali-burra, quite precocious?

Kooka-mountain climbing’s done?

The hills alive with fragi-bliss?

An endless tune... or two... or eight

And if my daughter’s reading this

I’m joking honey, you did great!

(Actually, the Fort Wayne Children's Choir did a fantastic job at their first concert tonight. It's amazing how much the directors were able to accomplish in only a week of camp. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season!)

Cebu

Little Known Fact: One of the fiercest and most bitter rivalries in the animal kingdom is between the elusive but deadly Ninja Manatee and the powerful and cunning Samurai Cebu.

Samurai Cebu
Grazing on injustice like
Grasses in the field

Noodle Poodle

Another day, another request! (Keep 'em coming!) Today's request is for "a doodle of a poodle eating a noodle :)" When asked that politely, and all rhyme-y, too, how can I refuse?

Sluurrrrpp!

A Garden Plan

There’s a plague in our garden, I fear

We’ve got beetles and slugs there, oh dear!

My wife’s got a plan

And it comes in a can

But she won’t get her hands on my beer!

(Apparently slugs like beer - she wants to use my tasty stuff, but I told her we'd go out and get something cheap and nasty tomorrow. The beans will just have to survive another day.)

What's That Under There?

Today is a day that we all can embrace

Supported in style, surrounded by grace

Perhaps with some satin or maybe some lace

It’s National Underwear Day!

A day for the boxers, a day for the briefs

Whether gaudy or plain, based upon your beliefs

Going all the way back to those little fig leafs

It’s National Underwear Day!

So wear something special beneath all your clothes

But be careful so nothing embarrassing shows

It’s fun being fancy when no one else knows

On National Underwear Day!

Dancing Pie

I love getting requests. Instead of spending time thinking "What should I draw tonight?" I can instead think "How am I going to do that?", which is a much more entertaining question. Anyway, this is what you get when you request a dancing pie...

Temple of the Golden Potato

By request, a golden potato on a stand, like in the first Indiana Jones movie...

Click to super-spud-size

Ice Cream Sandwich

Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day! If you missed it today, you'll just have to have 2 tomorrow to make up for it, right? Anyway, here's a short poem. I was going to draw a picture to go with it, but instead I think I'll get working on a request involving a potato...

Every day young Bobby Bray

Would eat an ice cream sandwich

Vanilla in the middle

And the chocolate layers so rich

He’d eat them high up in a tree

Or deep inside an old ditch

He ate them ‘til the day he died

And never once did he switch

Old and New

It's a mix of old and new. Here's my version of a 20,000-year-old cave painting done on one of the most modern digital tablets. It was fun. Maybe I'll do more.

Field Museum Photos

Bonus post! A few 3D wiggle pair photos from our trip to the Field Museum!

Sue, the T Rex

"This is what happens when I don't get my grapes!"

Behold, the platypus!

Oh, deer!

65 million years of attitude

My pal, the pangolin