March 31, 2014

Cartoon family!

My friend Stephanie Bonds, artist and owner of Boo Monkey Glassworks & Quilts, asked me to portrait her family, since they have a new baby. I thought it would be fun to do them as if they were an animated TV series.

I'll bet you're wondering why giraffe legs.

Do you think your family would make a fun animated TV series? What interesting character elements would you have? What would be your 'story driver'?

Cartoon family portraits start at $150. All prices are listed here. Contact me JC@littleanimation.com.


March 27, 2014

Nina.

Nina is thoughtful, funny and fierce.


She's got eyes you could get lost in...


...and long, inky locks.


Upshots are hard; I don't think I completely succeeded with this one. But that's the nature of sketching - you have to embrace imperfection.

Nina and I have never met in person, but we've been following on Twitter since forever.


I was going to toonswag her, but was inpsired to go with sketches on my iPad, using Paper by 53. I used photographs as reference.

Nina blogs at Mommy Memoirs.


March 25, 2014

@LittleAnimation is now The @AnimatedWoman.

When I got on Twitter back in 2010 I was tweeting under my company name, @LittleAnimation. But now the situation has changed: my blog has evolved and I'm The Animated Woman and stuff. So it's time to change my Twitter handle and embrace the branding a little bit.

I wanted  to be @JCLittle, but that name is already taken by a chap in the UK. I asked begged pleaded offered actual money for the handle...


... but he just laughed, dammit.


Onward!

The next best thing is to become The @AnimatedWoman on Twitter and since I keep that handle in case of Twitter Jail I simply swapped the names. If you followed me as @LittleAnimation nothing will have changed - you'll still be following me under my new handle and I'll still be following you.

I drew a fresh Twitter background just for this new handle dealio. I hope you like it.


Thanks to everyone on Facebook who voted overwhelmingly in favour of my new handle. It was practically unanimous with all but 4 out of 100. I'm keeping @LittleAnimation as an alternate account for a while, to redirect anyone who gets lost. And in case of Twitter Jail.

Please help me spread the word and "Click To Tweet" HERE. I wonder if there'll be any previously unforeseen fallout from this change...?


March 14, 2014

Bossy.

I've been called bossy my whole life. I usually shrugged it off as just another word used by my brothers to try to belittle me. Which it never did. I knew what I wanted and was saying it out loud. Being bossy was a good thing when I was a kid.

Only once did this word bring me down, when I was in my early twenties. One of my girlfriends told me I was "bossy". She hurled the word at me in an argument and it stopped me in my tracks. Afterwards, thoughtful, I went out with a male friend, who happened to be in the military.

"Steve...do you think I'm bossy?" I asked him.


"JC," he said, looking right at me, "You have leadership qualities."

"Ok. So then I am bossy."

*     *     *     *     *

I've been reading some chatter on the Innerwebs around this word lately. Last night, I was putting my son to bed, and we snuggled (yes, he's fourteen and still wants to snuggle sometimes) and mused about life. I decided to ask his opinion.

"Boy....do you think I'm bossy?" I asked him.

He said, "YEAH MOM. You are SO bossy!!"

"What do I say or do that's bossy?"

"Mawwwm! You say, (high-pitched lady voice) "Start your homework, come help with the dishes, clean up your room, eat properly!" GEEZ it's so annoying!"

"Okay. So then I am bossy."

I smiled. I'm alright with this.

What do you think of the word "bossy"?



March 13, 2014

Heart to heart.

They say that Love is blind.


Because the heart does not see what colour skin you have.



It knows nothing of your religion.



The heart cares naught for your political sway, or what language you speak.



It is unfettered by gender.



It is undeterred by age.



The heart is unhindered by riches or hardship...



And it is unburdened by the webs and ladders of society.


Love always finds its way in the dark...


...when the heart seeks the beat of another heart.


They say that Love is blind.



But I say Love has perfect sight.

A version of this story originally appeared on Toy With Me.


March 7, 2014

Bruise Pride.

What is it about teenagers and their injuries? They show off their bruises like trophies, a testimonial to their survival, thus far, of life's hurlings...


Do not run out of Arnicare gel; especially if you have kids. Or if you're accident-proned.


Arnicare helps bruises heal quickly. So the bruise-pride soon turns into "look how fast this went away" pride.


Lately, The Huz has been wading into MineCraft with the 14 year old boy. Sometimes I can hear them shouting to each other...

"AAAGH! Help! There's zombies!! What do I do??!?"

"TP to me Dad! Teepee to me now!!"

"AAAAAAAGH I'M GOING TO DIE! HELP ME HELP ME HEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEE!!"

"Sorry Dad, I can't help you. You're just going to have to die."




I'm not sure Arnicare works on egos.

Heads up! Boiron Canada and Boiron USA  sponsored the blog-tour for my book, The LAST Snowman, and that was super nice of them. 

What are your "miraculous healing" stories?

PS. The Huz says he's not actually worried about getting eaten by zombies in MineCraft.


March 6, 2014

Hot Chocolate Swirl.

Hot Chocolate Swirl...sound delicious right? Well, don't eat it, because it's soap!

Photo courtesy of Dot & Lil.

Dot & Lil came on board The LAST Snowman blog tour as a "featured sponsor". They create luxurious bath & beauty and skincare products with a fresh, young feel, handmade in their Montreal studio. This custom soap was designed just for the book giveaways - it's chocolate scented and has chocolate sprinkles on top.


Fun right?

Anne from Dot & Lil took some photos of the soap being made so I popped them into a timeline with one of The Huz's tunes.



"Hot Chocolate Swirl" soap is limited edition, meaning you can't buy it. So if you won it in one of the giveaways, consider yourself lucky*. Perfect for relaxing in a hot bath with a book. It's almost better than real hot chocolate.

Dot & Lil just launched their spring line - and it smells gorgeous and Mothers Day is coming.


March 5, 2014

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

WARNING: Political cartooning. Also... nudity.

So....this was awkward.


It doesn't matter how loudly the Ford brothers proclaim that this shame-terview on the Jimmy Kimmel Show was a success; Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was as naked as the day that he was born.

Especially the ending.