My friends at DrawerGeeks decided we should each do an emergency turkey drawing! Draw a turkey–fast! Quick sketches only, no more than a few minutes. No masterpieces allowed. This was my submission, conceived, sketched, colored and posted in less than ten minutes.
I’m not sure if it reads well. “Carl” is supposed to be doing that thing where you pull your shirt over your head and act like somebody chopped it off.
I usually post about art-related topics, but I really feel a need to share this so please indulge me.
This weekend my wife and I attended a marriage conference sponsored by Focus on the Family. Jennie and I have only been married 7 weeks, but with the divorce rate at 50% we want to avoid becoming one of the statistics.
The “Love and Respect” conference was led by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and his wife Sarah. It was a real eye-opener for both of us. Their basic philosophy, drawn from the Bible, is simple but insightful: Men are not motivated by the same things as women. Just as a woman is motivated by unconditional love from her husband, a husband is motivated by unconditional respect from his wife. If either spouse is denied this basic need, disaster can result. They called it “the crazy cycle”, a cycle that will spin towards divorce.
Suppose a husband fails to show love to his wife. She will react by treating him disrespectfully. Then as she fails to show him respect, he will react by treating her unlovingly. This cycle repeats over and over until the marriage disintegrates. Breaking the cycle is hard work because often women don’t feel their husbands are worthy of respect, and often husbands don’t feel their wives are worthy of their affection.
In addition, men and women interpret words and actions differently. Women see the world through pink sunglasses and men see the world through blue, resulting in repeated misunderstandings and conflicts. But if each spouse will do the hard work to understand, or “decode”, what the other is feeling, and then respond with what the other needs (love or respect), the marriage will grow stronger and more wonderful.
I don’t know if I’m explaing this well. But if you are married, I strongly encourage you to visit the Love and Respect website and watch or listen to some of their multimedia clips. Or order one of their CDs. You won’t regret it.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled art blog…
One of my mom’s favorite hobbies is singing “barbershop” music. This evening my Dad and I watched her perform in a concert with her friends. I couldn’t resist doinig a few sketches of some of the men when it was their turn to sing.
I often sketch with a pen because I can’t erase. The plus side is that it forces me to think before I draw and make more confident choices. The downside is that my drawings often don’t look as good because I can’t tweak them. These are far from my best sketches, but they turned out ok.
Cover art by Randy Green, colors by Rob Schwager
If you haven’t been able to donate yet to the hurricane relief effort (or even if you have), maybe this will spark your interest. Community Comics has created TEMPEST, a comic book about the recent hurricane tragedies. All proceeds will go to the Salvation Army for victims of Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. Because of contractual obligations TEMPEST won’t go on sale until February, but the Salvation Army would like to give away 50,000 copies during their Christmas kettle drive. If you are so inclined, please conisder a donation to help pay for the printing.
TEMPEST is written by Ben Avery (ArmorQuest, Lullaby, The Hedge Knight)
Artists involved in TEMPEST include:
Randy Green (Witchblade, Emma Frost, Dollz)
Javier Saltares (David’s Mighty Men, Wolverine, G I Joe)
Sherwin Schwartzrock (ArmorQuest, Deal with the Devil)
Sergio Cariello (Batman, Sojourn, Spider-Man)
Mike Worley (The Simpsons, Archie Comics)
Tom Bancroft (Big Idea, Disney, Opposite Forces)
Phil Hester (Nightwing, Green Arrow, The Wretch)
Mario Ruiz (Samson, Testament)
Gary Shipman (Pakkin’s Land, Amazing True Life Stories)
Darren Brady (Handel’s Messiah, HeroTV)
Jesse Hamm (Bitten Apple, Savage Daisies)
Tim Kane (Wildgaurd, Super Crazy TNT Blast!!)
Gary Martin (The Moth, Nexus)
Every two weeks some artist friends and I pick a topic to sketch in our free time. This time it was “King Kong”. Here’s my sketch, inspired by an old Bob Newhart comedy routine about the night janitor at the Empire State Building.
There’s some new Christian comic books hitting the shelves. Must be cheezy stuff, right? Nope. Not if you’re talking about Community Comics. Together with VDA Entertainment, Community Comics has released three graphic novels available for purchase online or in Christian bookstores. Far from being cheezy, these comics have captured the attention of CBS News and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Click on each image below to view a few sample pages and get more info. Whether you consider yourself religious or not, they are definitely worth a read. You can order your copies here.
