Get an Eye-Full

Happy 125th Birthday, Eiffel Tower!

Panda Box

At dinner tonight, my daughter requested a panda in a box, holding some bamboo with a big bow on it's head. This is what she got (the original is about an inch square, so don't expect too much detail!)

Seahostrich

I just found a wonderful little webapp called "The Fantastic Random Animal Generator for Listless Artists". I just have to click the Originate button and it randomly selects two animals, which I would then mash together into something new and original. Here's my first attempt - a seahorse and an ostrich. I give you the Seahostrich!

"You think I look uncomfortable? You should see Daddy laying the eggs!"

Vacation Stay

We’ve been working and cleaning all day

For my mom-in-law’s vacation stay

And now that she’s here

I can be of good cheer

Cause the jobs are done, now we can play!

Cleaning Up

Not a lot of time to draw tonight - tomorrow evening my mother-in-law arrives to stay with us for Spring Break. That means we spent most of this evening cleaning up her room, scrubbing toilets and showers, vacuuming and generally getting everything ready.

Manatee Day

Happy Manatee Appreciation Day, everyone! Here's a little poem to help you enjoy the day.

Today’s the day we’ll shout with glee

And celebrate the manatee

We’ll celebrate from east to west

Cause sea cows really are the best

They swim aside our boats so calm

And gum our knuckles, om nom nom!

So here’s to you, my dear dugong

To me, you can’t do any wrong!

For the Birds

Tonight, nothing fancy. Just doodling some quick bird pictures while watching TV.

Ye Olde Pangolin

Yesterday, I had so much fun drawing in the old-timey style, I thought I'd try it again with a more familiar subject. It didn't turn out quite the way I expected, but it's late and I didn't get much sleep last night, so this is the way he's staying for now.

Stupid Sea Monsters

Today I was looking through a book I picked up from the library called "Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps" by Chet Van Duzer. It inspired me to draw this. I apologize in advance...

J. W. Riley

Today we took a trip to Indianapolis. We had some excellent ribs at a place called Squealers, stocked up on all kinds of goodies at Trader Joe's and even saw some Tesla electric cars at a dealership in a mall. The cultural highlight of the day, however, was a tour of the home of famous Hoosier author and poet James Whitcomb Riley. It was a very nice Victorian-era house, perfectly preserved with most of the original furnishings still there. Here's my attempt at a quick picture of the man himself:

Making the 'Grade

Tardigrades are awesome. They might only be half a millimeter long, but they can survive almost anything, like extreme temperatures (absolute zero to well above boiling), radiation, the vacuum of space and going without food or water for more than 10 years! Plus, they're also known as "moss piglets", which is just adorable!

They deserve better than this quick sketch, but this is all I've got tonight. Expect to see more of these guys in the future, though.

Spring!

As the seasons continue their swing

Well, it (almost) makes me want to sing

The snow’s melting away

Saw a bunny today

Hallelujah! It’s finally Spring!

Paper Giraffe

Once again I had one of those "no idea what to draw" nights, so I figured you can't go wrong with a giraffe...

Ode to a Narwhal

Tonight, an ode to that most magnificent of creatures, the narwhal! (Note: due to the late hour of this post, I have not had time to thoroughly research everything in it, so there might be one or two minor factual inaccuracies.)

Oh narwhal, with your tusk so tusky

And your skin so dark and dusky

Won’t you please come share the tale

Of all the things you might impale

In all the places you have been

And all the sights you must have seen

I’m sure your stories are so grand

In the sea or on the land

Or flying high up in the air

You are so graceful, you don’t care

What others think or do or say

You’ll simply poke them anyway

Perhaps you’ve fenced a pirate chief

With matted beard and missing teeth

Or maybe a whole ninja clan

You’re mightier than beast or man

Or could it be that horn of yours

Is used for peace instead of wars

Perhaps you play it for a ball

Or solo in Prince Albert Hall

And people say, “There goes a gent

Who truly knows his instrument!”

So carry on, you noble creature

Display with pride your grandest feature

And greet the world with stately grace

With that big thing stuck in your face

Rainbow's End

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Goddard

Tonight, just a quick little poem commemorating another big day in aerospace history...

On this day, eighty eight years ago

Robert Goddard stood out in the snow

He was thrilled by the sight

Of his rocket’s first flight

Borne aloft by a liquid fuel’s flow

Space Bat

It was five years ago today that a brave little bat took his own giant leap (i.e. - was spotted clinging to the side of the Space Shuttle when it blasted off). I like to think he's still out there, having the adventure of a lifetime!

My Pi Day

Today as the math geeks all celebrate Pi day,

A guy with an ego might celebrate I day,

And those using towels might enjoy a nice Dry day,

While those leaving home have a touching Goodbye day

The pilots, of course, have their Fly in the Sky day

While pig secret agents have Spy in the Sty day

Perhaps at a deli it’s Reuben on Rye day

Reporters will always have Who, When and Why day

But none of these days hold a candle to my day

You see, I’m just happy it’s finally Friday

Half-y Birthday!

Today is my half-birthday! Although I didn't get half a cake in real life, I did get a sweet treat after dinner when I ate an entire Eiffel Tower! (It's remarkably satisfying to just chomp into the thing like a giant Godzilla terrorizing Paris!)

18-Cookie Eiffel Tower

My wife (the French teacher) is planning to do a fun activity with her French club. She decided on building model Eiffel Towers out of those rectangular wafer cookies with vanilla frosting as the cement to hold them together. However, being a French teacher and not an engineer, her first prototype model fell a little flat (literally!) Tonight, after dinner, she challenged us to do better. Here's mine:

And here's a page of instructions I drew for her to use with her class (this should print out full side on a normal 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper):

(This blog won't let me post a PDF, but if you'd like the plans in that format, just send me a message with your email address in the "Contact Me!" area to the right.)

Love Your Children

Today I went in for Jury Duty. I'm very glad I wasn't selected to be on the jury - it was a criminal trial and the defendant was charged with some awful things. So, instead of thinking about that, I tried to come up with something a bit happier...

Love your children, hold them tight

Keep them safe throughout the night

You can be their guiding light

So love your children, hold them tight

Love your children, teach them well

How to read and add and spell

And how to bathe so they won’t smell

Yes, teach your children, teach them well

Love your children, heart and mind

Show them how to be refined

Demonstrate how to be kind

As you love them, heart and mind

Love your children, through and through

It’s the best thing you can do

If you do it right then you

Have children who will love you, too!

Hippo Toothbrush

Tonight, while tucking in my younger daughter, she hit me with this undeniable bit of wisdom:

"Never put your toothbrush on a hippo's butt."

I don't know what's more disturbing - that she would come up with something like that, or that I would have no problem instantly coming up with a picture and drawing it without any sort of reference.

Yuri's Day

Happy Birthday, Yuri Gagarin! The first man in space would have been 80 today (he died in an unfortunate plane crash in 1968). He flew in Vostok 1 - basically an ejection seat wrapped in a pressurized ball. As I sit here tonight, watching the premier of the new Cosmos series, I think that I still want to go see it all, but not in that!

Man Card

Tonight I'm feeling a little proud of myself again - I added another check to my Man Card! This one was for "Disassemble and Rebuild in Working Order a Major Appliance." I was able to take apart our dishwasher, scrub off years of accumulated slimy, crusty filth from the drain and filters, and then put it all back together. We just finished running a test load, and the dishes look better than ever!

Day of Unplugging

From 6:00 tonight until 6:00 tomorrow night, people are supposed to unplug from their digital entertainments and actually interact with the real people around them. Here are my thoughts...

Tonight is the night to break free

Of your iPad or big screen TV

Spend some time at your home

With your friends, not your phone

And leave all the bandwidth to me!

Robo Sign

Tonight, a work in progress. More details will be coming soon (probably).

Check It Out!

Check out my GIANT BRAIN!!!

At least that's the way I was feeling as I was driving home from work today. We've had this annoying little problem with a program in our computer lab for nearly a year now. It wasn't bad enough to bring everything to a halt, but it did make it hard to use the latest and greatest version of our 3D CAD software with the students. So today I spent most of the day online with our tech support representative, trying everything he could think of to fix it, and it still didn't work the way I wanted it to. Eventually, he logged off and I had one more idea to try. As you can probably guess, it worked perfectly! Of course tomorrow I'm going to have to try it with a room full of kids, but for tonight I'm feeling pretty good about myself!

F-16 Speed Sketch

Today we learned that when the A-10s at the base where I work are retired, we'll be getting a bunch of F-16s instead of drones or something like that. This is very good news for the base. So tonight I did a very quick (about 20 minutes), very rough sketch of an F-16. I like this plane - they always look like they're smiling.

I'm All Thumbs

In the spirit of today's holiday - "What If Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day" - I offer this:

Today is the day that we ponder a puzzle

That’s heard throughout mansions and slums

What would happen if all of our doggies and kitties

Were born with opposable thumbs?

Would kittens be knittin’ instead of unwindin’

The yarn from your neatly wrapped ball?

Perhaps they’d parade in new fashions from Paris

With zippers and snaps, big and small?

And our puppies, would they use a fork or some chopsticks

While searching for scraps round our feet

Or they might find a method of holding their leashes

While walking themselves down the street

But the one thing about this that really concerns me

Is this - what if they drew a line

Or painted a picture or sketched a nice scene

And their art turns out better than mine!

Happy Birthday

It's the birthday of a famous illustrator and poetical author - can you guess who?

Lion and Lamb

Happy March, everyone! Just a quick sketch tonight - I'm busy working on updating something else, so I don't have a lot of time for drawing.