Young Adventurer's Alphabet - C is for Cannibal

B is for Boomerang

The coolest boomerang was used by the feral kid in The Road Warrior, but I don't think it really exists. The second coolest is Link's from the legend of Zelda games because it picks things up and brings them to you. Those aren't real either.

Real boomerangs are thrown above tall grasses to flush out game. I was disappointed to discover that the ones used for actual hunting were just big sticks. They didn't return at all.

Next up, Cannibals.

B is for Busy

Obviously, B is for Boomerang didn't happen today. Let's all pretend that you'll see it on Monday and I'll try and finish it off this weekend. The good news is that the art for C is for Cannibal has been done for a while, I'll just need to drop the poem in.

Have a great Good Friday and a wonderful Easter Weekend.

Check back Monday for B and more news on the novel.

That Damn Book I Keep Talking About

The second draft is complete. The cover is in progress. This long weekend will be spent proofing and, hopefully, preparing formatting. I still plan to post B is for Boomerang tomorrow, but may take some time this evening to do a little happy dance, with booze.

B is for Boomerang - work in progress

Ask Cobain, Hemingway, or Thompson - there are few things more frightening than your own weapon turned against you. And, with a boomerang you risk just that. Here is a quick sketch of how the letter B will play out in the Young Adventurer's Alphabet. It's very quick and I imagine it will evolve a lot by Friday but it's a good start to the "OH, CRAP!" moment that an inexperienced thrower may feel.

Young Adventurer's Alphabet - A is for Amazon

Here it is, the first letter in the Young Adventurer's Alphabet. I've had this idea for a long time. And, while I'm not quite done playing with the type and some of the shading, I'm happy to finally make some progress with it and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.


That being said, I hope you enjoy it and share it with your kids. And, if you do like it I ask that you share it with friends through Facebook and leave a comment. I'll have a link to it on A Father's Blog FB page so you can just share it from there.


Next week I'll be playing with B, for boomerang. Make sure and follow us on Facebook or in your blog reader to get the latest on the stick that comes back.

Thanks for taking a look at this. I'd love to know what you think.

A is for Amazon - Monkey

I love drawing monkeys. Not sure why. Maybe because monkeys are awesome. I'm a little torn that the monkey in the Amazon piece is so far in the background. But, I console myself with the fact that G will probably be for gorilla. Anyway I needed a better monkey for the page. Here is what I've got. Sketched, inked and scanned.

A is for Amazon - Pirahna

What greater nightmare fuel is there than the piranha? Scary like the shark, but so small you can't see them coming. And there's none of this "there more afraid of you than you are than them" crap to hide behind. They can't quite strip an animal like they do in the Bond films. But, I'm not about to put that myth to the test. 

For those following the progress of A is for Amazon -  I had some time before the kid's soccer game to work on some piranha concepts. Here is what I landed on.

A is for Amazon - The Sketch

Coming this Friday, I hope, you will see the completed "A is for Amazon" entry in the Young Adventurer's Alphabet series. This is the rough sketch for the page.

I'm trying to do more and more right on the computer so I can do my part to save the trees.

Kidding. I'm just just trying to do more sketching on the computer. So this rough sketch was done in Sketchbook pro.

I'm not quite sure how the kid got out on the vine, but it was probably because he didn't listen to his parents.

I'll try to have the final done Friday, so check back then.

 

 

A is for Amazon

This Friday I will post the first letter in the Young Adventurer's Alphabet. That letter will be A.

A is going to be for Amazon. Here are some interesting facts to share with your kid about the Amazon River.

It is the second longest river in the world.

At is narrowest point it is a mile wide - in the dry season.
During the wet season - it can be up to 30 miles wide.

There is not a single bridge that crosses the river at any point.

Freshwater from the Amazon's drainage point can be found 250 miles out into the Atlantic.

And, piranhas.

Young Adventurer's Alphabet

My parents kept some cool books around when I was growing up. They had a "book of science" series that I found really cool. It had an entire section dedicated to the idea that we may one day travel to the moon!

I think it's obvious that we have progressed since these books were printed--going to the moon is almost a certainty now. In one of these books there was an entry that gave instruction on how to trap a raccoon and keep it as a pet.

Not too long ago I read in a kid's science book to stay away from squirrels. Dangerous critters, those squirrels.

Combine this with helmets and all of the other padded corners we put around our kids and I think that we've denied them a sense of adventure. I'm trying to give a little of that back with the Young Adventurer's Alphabet--a series of educational poems that features locales, tools, vehicles and other elements of adventure, all delivered letter by letter.

We'll see the Amazon, boomerangs, cannibals, quicksand, zeppelins and more. All the things that make for a grand adventure.

I'll post one every now and then, and over time you'll have an alphabet book that kicks A is for Apple's ass.

I'm going to try and have A done next week.

Less is More

If less is more get ready for a whole lot more because there's going to be less. 

Rather than giving my faithful viewing audience - hi, mom - a bunch of crappy pictures and ventings each week, you'll now receive one colorful crappy picture and a story that goes with it.

My intent is to now share a finished piece of kid focused art each week instead of the quick sketches I've been peppering in here. 

A few of the things you might see:

More poems - I've put a couple on here before and want to get more drawn

Pages from alphabet books - my version of alphabet books

Illustrated warnings to new parents - prettier pictures, same sucky advice

and more, much more! Maybe if less truly counts as more.

Nemesis

We all have a nemesis. For some shyness may be our nemesis. For others a lack of education may be our nemesis. In the most rare cases, a person’s nemesis may be a big dangerous guy named El Guapo that wants to kill them.

A nemesis isn’t always a bad thing. The struggle makes you stronger and there are fewer moments of excitement and relief when a nemesis is finally overcome.

My daughter’s nemesis is the light switch. Her twin brother has been able to turn lights on, but not off, for a month or so. She is a couple of inches shorter and cannot quite make the distance. It’s made her quite sad.

She kept asking, “When I’m older can I reach the light switch?”  Yes.  But, somewhere, between a hectic tea party schedule and day dreams of palaces, she got the idea that on her birthday she would be older and therefore able to turn on the lights.

On her birthday, she came out of her room upset and found me. The first thing she said was, “Daddy, it’s my birthday and I still can’t reach the lights.”

It was sad. And, very funny.

One day she’ll reach the lights. And, when she can, she will beam and scream and tell everyone she knows that she can turn on the lights. The house will never be dark again, because she won’t be able to turn them off. It will be a great day for all of us.

In the meantime she stills turns the light on and off, despite not being tall enough. How? Magic. Someone gave her a star-shaped wand. The center of the star is hollow. She places the star over the light switch and turns it on. And, off. Even her brother can’t do that.

It may upset her now, but the day her nemesis falls to her superior height growing tactics will be the most exciting ever, so far, of all time.