DOG Daze.

Here's my dog doing some more funny stuff.

She's very clever. But she doesn't like to show off by doing tricks.

If you think this is 'submissive' posture you are wrong. And if you'd like your fingers to remain attached to your hands, you should not interpret this as an invitation.

Multi-tasking? My dog can sing and do the bum-drag at the same time.

I love my dog.

I drew these on my iPad, using Paper and a Wacom Bamboo stylus.

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My Funny DOG.

Here's some funny things my dog does.

You can set your clock by her.

She knows how to get what she wants.

She's a tad delusional.

I love my dog.

I drew these in a bar, on my iPad, using Paper and a Wacom Bamboo stylus.

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Sketchy.

After checking out a few drawing apps on my mom's iPad, I went down and picked up my own one last night. I chose 3rd generation, white and silver, 64 gig with wifi. Still checking out different apps; this one is called Procreate.

Haven't yet found a drawing app that comes close to my blog's enhanced-stick-figure style, so I'll continue to use my desktop/Flash/Wacom setup for my work here.  But the iPad is an absolutely fab tool for drawing anywhere - as an artist, I hafta say it's setting me free. And yes, I did lick it when I took it out of the box. Didn't stop the 12 year old boy from trying to lick it too though.

For those who are wondering, the new iPad is slightly warm, but it's not hot or uncomfortable and I was drawing on it for hours. I have yet to explore it's other uses. Everyone keeps asking me to play Draw Something on it, but I hear it's super addictive, no?

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To iPad or not to iPad...that is the Question.

I've been toying with the idea of getting an iPad. I mainly want to use it as a portable digital sketch book to create rough drawings for my blog, on the fly. Before I dish out the money the Board of Directors in my head want to know what the drawing apps can do. So I borrowed my mom's iPad, got myself a Wacom stylus and loaded up on apps. As far as duplicating my blog style, which is drawn in Adobe Flash, this is how it panned out so far.

I started with Sketchbook Pro - it felt good, though it's not a vector program. I don't mind it too much as a sketchy version of my blog drawings. What do you think? It does have a lot of 'feel'... and I did eventually discover the all-important-purple ha ha.

And then I tried a vector program called iDraw. The pencil tool only gives a line with uniform thickness.

So I gave the brush tool a shot - it can do thick and thin, but only calligraphy style. I don't like it. I found it difficult to control the select tool in iDraw.

Adobe Ideas was actually cool. It's super simple to use and the brush feels amazing. I think it came closest to the look of my blog style. But it's a little too simple for my needs. There's not nearly enough layers, there's no way to merge layers and there's no way to grab the whole image and move it around.

Then I went back to Sketchbook Pro and did this drawing of my dog. Holy crap this thing is fun!!!

So what's the verdict - should I spring for an iPad or what? Do you guys think you can handle the occasional post done in a sketchy style?

Questions that need answers!

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Get INSPIRED!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Yeah, this is what I've been squirming about for the past month.

Remember my quest to get Wacom's attention? Well, it worked! I've been featured on their new "Get Inspired" site.  They sent a team to film me right here in my home studio. Check out their video of me while I was drawing my new film "Inspiration". You even get to see some of the junk on my desk!

It's hard to talk about yourself when you're terrified shy. I was filling up my shorts brave. 

If you don't know what a Wacom is - it's a pen tablet. I use one to draw straight into the computer. You'll often see it in my drawings of myself drawing.

There's some cool artists up there with me; it's worth checking out just for that. Plus there's a "One Thousand Forests" contest you can enter (whether you use a Wacom or not). For every person who participates, they'll donate $5 to the International Child Art Foundation. It's all very, very cool and right on.

Go get inspired!

A note of thanks to the person behind the @Wacom on Twitter. Also @TheGoToMom, @MarcyMassura and especially the lovely @DotandLil; she kicked my butt and started all this.

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Inspiration.

This is what it's like to be me.



Where do ideas come from? Are some people more likely to get them than others? Do you agree there's a difference between inspiration and creativity? I wonder what motivates someone to turn an idea into reality...questions that need answers!

I'm struck by new ideas all the time. I want to do them ALL. And I'm determined to try!

What inspires you?

Share. This film was featured on Wacom's Get Inspired site.

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Beware... THE BLOG!

The most horrifying monster menace ever conceived....

...will soon be invading your life.

A mass that keeps getting bigger...

...and BIGGER.

It crawls!

It creeps!

It eats you alive!

Run - don't walk - from...

There's no stopping The BLOG as it spreads from town to town.

It's indestructible!

How can it be stopped?!?

Nothing* can stop it.
*Except maybe this.

Mob hysteria sweeps one city, and before long, the nation.

And then the world could fall before the blood curdling threat of...

....THE BLOG!!!

Don't forget to feed The BLOG. RSS is its fave snack. But it also loves StumbleUpon, Twitter and FaceBook.

Is your blog taking over your life? Check out the awesome 1958 "The Blob" trailer. The comparison was totally begging to be drawn.

Feed The BLOG.

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Drawing FITNESS.

WARNING: Never stand on a chair with wheels.

Here's another FREE drawing lesson from me, your old pal JC. Today we're going to talk about Drawing FITNESS!

Your drawing ability will benefit from regular exercise, just like any other extreme sport. You hafta stay in shape, you know? Here's one I like to do - practice drawing something from memory whilst blind-folded with one arm tied behind your back.

Make sure to crouch with your feet shoulder distance apart; and if you stick your tongue out it really helps a lot. If it's your first time, consider wearing a helmet and elbow guards.

Challenge yourself! Don't be concerned with what your drawing looks like - it's the process that counts here. Trust me, Leonardo did this exercise all the time.

Drawing is fun, right? You're welcome!

You can make someone else smile by sharing.

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Chipmunk CHEEKS.

The sixteen year old daughter has had her wisdom teeth extracted. She was actually born with a very small mouth...and very big teeth. All in all, this kid has had EIGHT adult teeth removed just to make room. That's a quarter of her teeth!! The mind boggles.

She's been very brave. Normally she looks like a manga character; huge eyes, small mouth (like I said), heart shaped face. But today, she looks like a ChipMUNK. I drew this to make her smile, cuz I'm her mom.

Will the kind and generous ToothFAIRY leave her some money? Yes.

Will it be enough to pay for all these extractions and braces and retainers?  Uh....no.

Oh WACOM....can you hear me?

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Why @WACOM Should SPONSOR This BLOG.

So there I was, minding my own business when suddenly, someone sent me a 'mention' on Twitter! It was @dadgineer asking what I use to draw my comics. Believe it or not, I get asked this question at least once a day. Of course, I answered that I use a WACOM! I could go on and on about how great it is, and how I like the tablet even more than my Cintiq, too. But I won't.

Instead I'll tell you what happened next. I started thinking.

And then, out of the blue, an idea hit me! WACOM should totally sponsor my blog, right?
What a great idea!

But how do get WACOM to notice me...? I decided to shoutout to @wacom on Twitter.

Gotta tellya, @wacom were on the ball and they responded two hours later, with this:

Very complimentary, but not exactly throwing money at me, are they?
Plus, they spelled "huge" wrong.

So then I get a another Twitter 'mention' and this time it's from @dotandlil. Some of you may know Anne from her fantastic Dot & Lil luxury soap blog and shop, and some of you may know her from the SOAPER Hero. I know her in real life and she's sweet, loving, clever, beautiful ...and a real hardass businesswoman!! Yeesh.

She's always telling me I hafta get on the blower and phone people up and sell my wares. But I'm scared. I'm scared of the phone! Just the thought of calling WACOM turns me into a babbling three year old.

I start talking like Principle Krupp from Captain Underpants* when he unwittingly proposed marriage to one of the teachers.
*If you don't know Captain Underpants, you should immediately genuflect before the great Dav Pilkey and beg for forgiveness. Then click here and get your credit card out.Trust me, you'll want the whole set.

I decided to draw instead of phoning. Let's make a list of all the reasons why WACOM should sponsor my blog.

• I can make my own ad. And it would fit perfectly into my website. See?
• I draw with the WACOM every day, posting drawings AND animation several times a week to this humour blog.
• Product placement! The WACOM has already been featured on this blog several times! I often draw myself drawing with one; it could happen more often, right? 
• My stats prove that I have a loyal and growing fan base.  
• The folks who visit my blog are regular family people, some of whom may consider buying a WACOM for themselves or their aspiring artistic offspring instead of, say, a puppy.
• Some of my blog appreciators want to know how I do what I do; having an ad on the blog would save me the trouble of explaining!
• OK, so I'm not a digital artist like Bert Monroy who uses a million layers in his jawdropping work and draws with a WACOM. But that's precisely why I'm so sponsorable. I'm accessible. 
• I could use the money. I mean, I'm not starving or anything but, you know, three kids, braces, college fees, dog food, wine. The ZOMBIE Fridge. It all adds up.

• The WACOM I draw with is very affordable and super easy!
  
• Imagine if they donated a WACOM for one of my contest prizes - my followers would go bananas!
• If WACOM doesn't sponsor me, I can do this ---->

Perhaps Anne is right.
I should prolly bite the bullet and phone WACOM up. What's the worst that could happen...?

PLEEZE comment below so I can show this to WACOM, giving them yet another reason to sponsor my blog. You could also tweet @wacom with the link to this post. And then go and tell @dotandlil to make the phone call for me.

UPDATE: July 1st 2011.
In case you're wondering, I did finally call WACOM. I sent them a proposal and I guess they'll respond at some point. But yesterday @wacom tweeted me this:

Will anything come of it? Who knows! The Quest for Sponsorship is almost as much fun as the drawing series in my proposal. I love drawing with my WACOM and I'm not about to stop. I'm like the Ultimate Brand Advocate. Woo!

What happened next?

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How YOUR KID Can Be AWESOME On April 22nd.

Here's a story that starts with drawings and ends with animation.

This is me a few years ago. Pretty bad, huh? I was down cuz I had a fantastic animation idea for kids but no matter how many grants I wrote, I couldn't find the money to produce it. Anyone who has ever written a grant knows how the Paper Monster tries to blow you away.


But I didn't give up!

I eventually found some money and kicked in a healthy chunk from our savings. Everyone helped with the production - my co-creator @RosieEmery, my husband, and even our kids provided the voices. We had fun working on it because we truly believed in the idea. We knew that young children learn best when they're having fun and this series of eight little films would have them smiling and learning earth friendly stuff.

We called it "The Little Earth Charter".

April 22nd is EARTH DAY. If your kid is in primary school, chances are their class is doing something for Earth Day. If your son or daughter brings this DVD to their class anytime around Earth Day, they'll be sharing the Earth friendly energy with all their classmates.

Behold the Awesome!

How much does the Awesome cost? Only $12.99.
Where can I buy this Awesome? CLICK!
What age group is this for? Preschool to 8 year olds.
Here's the first of eight videos.



So go and get your kid's Awesome. And I'll include a free "Earth2Rosie" postcard, while quantities last! Remember, this animation is for the kids.

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SELF Portrait To INFINITY!

I was drawing my self drawing, and I thought, why not draw my self drawing my self...?

I think I just blew my own mind....as we discovered when I made this little cartoon about the inner workings of ME, it's dangerous in there!

Someone said there was a name for this kind of infinity image. Does anyone know what it is?


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The SnowFLAKE & The Chimney.

Here's some more Christmas funny. I get a big kick out of making my kids laugh with my animation. Maybe it's cuz they're my kids, but it's not so easy to get a belly laugh and they never fake it just to be nice.



My thirteen year old daughter is especially tough. If I can make her laugh? It's a WIN.

She never saw the surprise ending coming. How do you make your kids laugh?

There's three more!
The SnowFLAKE & The Carrot.
The SnowFLAKE & The Christmas Tree.
The SnowFLAKE & The FAKE Santa.

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