Obnoxious Boners

For Tammy Borrero

2011-11-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

For Jon Richeson

2010-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

For My W.O.W. Students

2010-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

On July 25th, I taught a cartooning workshop to a group of about 35 Long Beach youngsters aged 7-10 for LB Grace's "Way Out Weekend" program (or W.O.W.). We worked on a few basics of drawing, exaggeration and character design. I produced the comic below as an example for the kids (click any of the images to enlarge):

I also gave them a peek behind the curtain on how I do what I do. I showed them some rough sketches that helped me define (or in this particular case, re-define) what I wanted Johnny and Manuel to be.

I didn't really feel like I had a good grip on who the characters were until I did this sketch, though. This one helped me figure out what their personalities were and the sorts of stories I could tell with them:

"When you're trying to work out your own characters," I told them, "remember to stay loose! Loose as a goose!"

Finally, I felt good enough to do something a little tighter and defined, so I showed them a full-color shot of Johnny, from pencil concept to final art (this was also the piece of art I used to advertise my class).

It was time to do a quick story with my characters, so, loose as a goose, I roughed out my basic idea for the comic strip.

From there, I redrew the art using micron pens and markers.

Then some Photoshop color to finish it off!

We had a really great time together and I hope to do it again next year. The kids drew rough sketches of themselves, then exaggerated versions of themselves. Then, they created their own characters (and, in a few cases, settings and storylines) from scratch. Some really surprising young artists emerged in the group and I truly hope they stick with it.

For Duy Nguyen

2010-05-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Almost For Rich Stahnke

2010-01-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

More comics from the junk drawer.

I found this unfinished comic recently and remembered that it was intended for my friend Rich Stahnke. Looking back, I think I abandoned it because the setup felt way too similar to the comic I'd done a month or two earlier for Ashley and, anyway, a funnier idea for Rich hit me so I chucked this and drew Monkey Cop instead.

On re-read, though, this made me laugh, so I finished up the pencils for it and took a chance you might like to see one of my comics that didn't quite make the cut. Mark this under "Obnoxiously Flaccid".

For Daniel Dyba

2009-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Nostalgia's Sake

2009-05-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Spring cleaning in the Bear household: the time of year to go through old notebooks and sketchbooks and decide what's too old and crippled to keep and what gets shoved back into the nostalgia file for another year.

As a student, my favorite pastime was doodling little comics in the back of my notebook instead of taking notes, much to the chagrin of my GPA. Most of them are too horrific to share with anyone other than my wife, but there was an awkward sweetness to these, a couple of goofy gags from my junior year in college, that I thought deserved a public resurrection.

And anyway, it's been too long since I've updated.

Click 'em to big 'em and remember to be kind. You're only 20 once.

For Paul Searles

2009-03-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Terry Julien

2008-04-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Kent Currie

2008-03-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Ashlee Tuttleman

2008-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Brad Keller

2007-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Mosaic

2007-11-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

A Very Important Message From A Robot

2007-09-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

For Katie Diaz

2007-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Josh Olson

2007-08-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Alyssa Mitchell

2007-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Dave Reinke

2007-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Suzette Wolfe

2007-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Joe Wolfe

2007-07-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Danny Wright

2007-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Teddy Babcock

2007-07-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Gregg Nagel

2007-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Heather Duncan

2007-06-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Welmer Ramirez

2007-06-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Steve Groff

2007-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Renee Reinke

2007-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Buddy Bray

2007-04-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Pat Bear

2007-04-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Heather Chandler

2007-03-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Sue Anthony

2007-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Danielle Nadzan

2007-01-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Gary Underwood

2007-01-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Phil Penn

2007-01-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Kris Fowler

2006-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Bob Waltz

2006-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Josh Smith

2006-12-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Charity Wright

2006-12-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Carlos Calderón

2006-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Becky Spellman

2006-11-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Chad Meshek

2006-11-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Lauren Martin

2006-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Tom Burns

2006-10-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Carey Bear

2006-10-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Danny Evans

2006-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Randy Bear

2006-10-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

For Rich Stahnke

2006-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Erin Burtoft

2006-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Dave Matheny

2006-09-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

For April Schweitzer

2006-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Charlie Hickman

2006-09-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Ben Bays

2006-09-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Elizabeth Hickman

2006-09-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Leah Biechler

2006-08-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Jason Williams

2006-08-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Tim McMahan

2006-08-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Vanessa Duquette

2006-08-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

For Dirk Voetberg

2006-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

For Josh Williams

2006-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Andy Jewett

2006-08-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

For Mike Thielvoldt

2006-08-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

For Elizabeth Earhart

2006-08-19T12:00:00.001-07:00

For Walter Clark

2006-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Rebecca Taylor

2006-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Ashley Allen

2006-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Jon Greer

2006-08-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Allison Dabbs

2006-08-03T12:00:00.001-07:00

For Joe Taylor

2006-07-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Scott Godfrey

2006-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Stephanie Wells

2006-07-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Christy Teglo

2006-07-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Aaron Rodriguez

2006-07-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Kirsten Andersen

2006-07-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Matthew Schwartz

2006-07-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

For Karim Virani

2006-07-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Adam Mercado

2006-07-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Tim Howell

2006-07-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

For Suzi Tuttleman

2006-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Cara Ferguson

2006-07-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

For Chris Clark

2006-07-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Leon Bao

2006-07-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Kirk Millett

2006-07-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

For Vlad Pinker

2006-07-02T12:00:00.001-07:00

For Kyland Johnston

2006-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Jerry Liu

2006-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Nicole Ruiz

2006-06-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

For Catherine Slatic

2006-06-28T12:00:00.000-07:00