My Annual Good Friday Post

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Today is Good Friday. As a Christian this is one of the most important days of the year for me, the day we pause to commemorate the torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ. Some of you my wonder, why on earth would a day like that be called “good?”

Because even though it was a terrible day for Jesus it was a very good day for you and me. Over the course of my career I’ve been able to work on several projects that help explain that message, and every Good Friday I like to take a moment to share them:

Are You A Good Person? Cartoon

Here’s an 8-page cartoon Gospel tract I illustrated several years ago for the ministry of Living Waters. To date over five million copies have been printed in English and it has been translated into over twenty languages. You can download it for free in multiple languages at www.FreeCartoonTract.com, or you can purchase printed copies from the ministry of Living Waters.

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Based on the tract’s success, Living Waters also hired me to produce an animated version, which I supervised with the help of two terrific animators (Michael Foster and Chance Dodd). To date it has received over 450,000 views on YouTube and has been subtitled into 19 other languages. If you like the video you can download a free HD version to use however you’d like.

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Finally, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer has been releasing a series of videos called “What’s In The Bible?”. I’ve had the privilege of working on a few of them. Here’s the trailer for Volume 10, which covers the life and ministry of Jesus including his death and resurrection. In this episode I designed a few of the characters and did a smidgen of animation.

EDIT: Here’s a full-length clip from the episode explaining the meaning of Easter:

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You can order DVDs or digital downloads from the series at www.whatsinthebible.com. Also, if you subscribe to JellyTelly.com you can stream all episodes of “What’s In The Bible?” to any computer or mobile device.

I don’t make any money or royalties off of these items, I just believe in them and want to share. Thanks for indulging me. Here’s wishing you a very happy Easter filled with peeps and jelly beans!

Sketchbook Update: Duck Dynasty

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Duck Dynstay "Si Robertson" sketch by Cedric Hohnstadt

Lately I’ve been enjoying A&E’s hit show Duck Dynasty. We “cut the cord” and dropped cable a couple of years ago but I recently caught some episodes in a hotel room and watched a few more on the show’s website. I think I’m hooked, and might have to pick up a season on DVD.

Normally I’m not much of a fan of “reality” TV shows but this one is different. I recently read an article that described Duck Dynasty as a reality show that feels almost like a sitcom, and I have to agree. There are colorful characters, sitcom-y storylines, and lots of funny zingers, all wrapped up in a wholesome family-friendly package. The main difference is that the characters appear to be real people more or less playing themselves. Despite their scruffy beards and redneck ways, for the most part you laugh with them rather than at them.

I know that “reality” TV is often an illusion, with lots of writers and producers orchestrating things behind the scenes. This is the first time, at least that I’ve noticed, that the two formulas of “reality TV” and “sitcom” have been blended so successfully.

The most popular character seems to be the eccentric, cranky-but-loveable Uncle Si. He never goes anywhere without his plastic tea glass, which was given to him by his mother when he left to serve in Vietnam. He is constantly saying “Hey!” and calling everybody Jack. How can you resist drawing a guy like that?

I’ve noticed Si is one of those people who “talks with his hands”, but often while keeping his elbows in. So I tried to incorporate that into the pose.

I’m On Instagram

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instagram iconA few weeks ago I decided to join the cool kids and get an instagram account. I’m not sure how to share the link outside of the Instagram website (if that’s even possible) but all you Instagramers can look me up by my username, “cedrichohnstadt“. If you follow my studio on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cedricstudio) you can also see my Instagram activity there – although it seems a bit buggy. Sometimes things show up in the feed, other times not.

I plan to primarily post sketches, doodles, and other artwork, and occasionally other items of interest. For instance, I posted a few pics from the CTN Expo a couple of weeks ago. But mostly it will be artwork. Look for me on a smart phone near you.

EDIT: I guess Instagram recently made some changes to their still-very-minimalist website (either that or I just didn’t know how to navigate it correctly) and you can now view my page on your web browser. Here you go.

This and That 6/11/12

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A few tidbits from around the webisphere:

• VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer is coming to a pair of headphones near you with The Phil Vischer Podcast. He discusses pop culture, theology, and Christian living with equal parts insight and silliness. I listened to Episode 2 today at the gym. It took a couple of minutes to get going but there was some really great stuff. Highly recommended.

• If anyone has a handle on storytelling it’s the folks at Pixar. Here’s a list of 22 Rules of Storytelling from Pixar artist Emma Coats.

• Illustrator and all-around-nice-guy Bob Ostrom is looking for artists, writers, publisher, art directors, designers and anyone else involved in children’s publishing to feature on his blog. If that’s you, let him know. I don’t know what his selection criteria is but you never know unless you try. While you’re there, check out Bob’s recent blog post, “How To Illustrate Children’s Books – A Backstage Pass”.

• FreelanceSwitch.com has a list of 12 Breeds Of Clients And How To Work With Them. An oldie but a goodie, full of great advice for the creative professional.

• Recently I updated my list of Recommended Resources on Amazon.com. (Full disclosure: If you click and then buy, Amazon will drop a few coins into my piggy bank).

• Finally, a short montage of characters created by the great Orson Welles. Good inspiration for character design sketching:

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Why I’m (Sniff!) Deleting My Pinterest Inspiration Boards

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Well, that didn’t last long.

Yesterday I gleefully announced that I was jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon and had begun pinning all kinds of amazing artwork onto my shiny new inspiration boards. I was also making a few connections with other pinners and enjoying the giddy goodness of seeing so much amazing artwork being shared.

Then I read this blog post by Kristen Kowalski: “Why I Tearfully Deleted My Pinterest Inspiration Boards”.

Kowalski is both a professional photographer and a practicing lawyer (I’m guessing there aren’t too many people out there who can put that on their resume), so it seems she would be doubly-qualified to write about issues related to copyright and the sharing of another artist’s work. I don’t have the time to get into it here (you’ll have to read the article yourself) but after hearing her out I had to grudgingly agree that Kowalski raises some very valid concerns. I hate to admit it but she’s right, on several counts. And frankly as an experienced illustrator I should have known better.

So I’ve made the gut-wrenching decision of (*deep sigh*) deleting all the inspiration boards I had so much fun building and sharing.

I’ll still keep my Pinterest page open, though how much I’ll actually use it remains to be seen. As a commercial illustrator I’m in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand, Pinterest’s rules state I shouldn’t really pin anything unless I made the image myself. On the other hand, their rules also discourage using a Pinterest page for marketing or self-promotion purposes. So that really limits its usefulness for me. (EDIT: I’ve decided to pin a few personal projects on a board called “Sketchbook”, which seems like a good compromise.)

By the way, I have no problem with you pinning and re-pinning my artwork from my website, as long as it’s not one of the few images on my site to which a client owns the copyright (which should be clearly marked). Soon I hope to have a “Pin This” type of button next to my blog posts to help make that easier.

In the mean time, if anyone ever finds an easy way to share other people’s artwork while still respecting their copyright please let me know.