jsw + agw sketchcards, a mommy & son collaboration

"green ranger, go!" 2.5 x 3.5

"bats" 2.5 x 3.5

"akuma" & "ryu" battle set, each card 2.5 x 3.5

a great way to bond w/ your children is to do something messy w/ them. like finger painting or cooking.

in our house, we have art day. days where we watch old cartoons on netflix & draw. my son (4yrs old) would get upset & frustrated that his drawings would never look like ours. my husband & i are comic book artists.  how do you explain patience to a 4yr old? how do you explain years & years of practice?

i wanted to show my son that art is never perfect. that you can have fun in art. that you learn through doing. that sometimes, as bob ross said, “happy accidents” can happen. i thought the best way to keep him interested in art (& circumvent any frustrations) was to have him help me work on stuff.

so we did a few sketchcards together. sketchcards were perfect! they’re small & don’t require a lot of time (do you know the attention span of a 4yr old?). i drew & inked & he threw crazy watercolors all over them. he enjoys watercolors, mixing the paints together, dabbing the excess, & then slapping on a new color.

i may be a bit biased, but i think these are some of the most beautiful pieces i’ve ever been lucky enough to collaborate in. :)

& he’s already got me on a list of MORE characters he wants to do. can’t wait!

robins to the rescue!

a girl named robin needs a new wheelchair.  so me & a few guys from the mid-south cartoonists association did this comp piece to add to the team robin campaign.  please take a moment to visit their page & donate.

artists, clockwise, starting top left:andrew chandler, charles ettinger, moi!, martheus wade, antonio johnson

all of these characters started as a robin, batman's sidekick.  kind of cool, eh?  yeah, i think so too.

letter to thai

i friend posted the following on her facebook this morning...

"So sick and tired of kids saying something to Thai because she wears superhero shirts to school! Teacher getting a call! She cried about it this morning."

>:( 

this is not acceptable.  this is downright rage-inducing.  messing w/ this girl?  because of SUPERHERO TSHIRTS???  this is like messing w/ my own child.  we go to cons w/ her & her family.  we hang out at kickboxing class.  shoot, we have more pix of her on our fridge than we do of our own son.

i know kids can be stupid & use a strange logic that we grown people just don't get, but this needs to be nipped in the bud.  i remember once upon a time when self esteem wasn't an issue for me.   i mean, every kid coming into the world has unlimited potential to do great things...until they are told by someone else they can't/don't/shouldn't.  i use to be the fastest runner in school & queen of the monkey bars (i had the blisters on my palms to prove it).  then 6th grade hit & i was made fun of because i didn't play quiet games during recess.

& it didn't quit there.  i withdrew further into myself when in 8th grade was told i was suppose to draw flowers instead of dragons.  & then in high school i was 'weird' because i read (for fun, not for homework) at lunch instead of gossip, didn't wear make up, didn't go on dates.  &, oh yeah, i didn't care for new kids on the block.  i know, ole weirdo janet.

it wasn't until i hit my mid-20s before i realized i was tired & unhappy of trying to fit in & hiding the things i liked, all for people who i never saw again & did not matter whatsoever in my life anyways.

a girl doesn't have to wear pink or draw only flowers & unicorns or wear hannah montana shirts or like princesses to be a girl.  

she can dress up as her favorite superhero.

best black canary EVER!

she can be in ballet.

graceful.

she can whoop some tail in kickboxing class.

she's smiling because you think she's cute & can't hit hard.

she can learn to play violin. 

country fiddlin' or classical.

she can have taekwondo family fun time, too.

choke him out!!!

 

oh yeah, & she can read a comic book whilst wearing a SUPERHERO tshirt.


in yo faces, haters.

so here's my words of encouragment to this multifaceted young lady.

dear thai:

i know sometimes it's hard being 10, trying to figure out who you are & where you fit into this world that can be full of people who, at times, are rather stupid & slow to realize that not everyone's a cookie cutter clone. 

you are an individual.  you are ok to like the things you like and enjoy the things you do because those things make you happy.  and too bad if it bothers someone else so much that they feel they need to make fun of you.  those people need to find a hobby, like knitting, if they really don't have anything else going for them.

keep wearing batman tees.  keep playing w/ star wars legos.  keep reading comic books.  one day you'll understand that you are an AWESOME kid.  everyone who love you already know your awesome-osity is boundless.  :)

love <3<3<3,
~~me
 

that's right.  wear that superhero tshirt, miss thai.

i got everything that i need! boo boo pee pee pee!

this is definitely a magical time for my husband & i.  the boy is coming into his own, developing his own quirky personality (which mirrors our own, surprise surprise).  lately he's gotten into busting out random songs he makes up all on his own.   like he'll play w/ 2 action figures as if they were fighting, but they'll sing opera-esque their fighting moves.

[lex luthor/ryu]: i will do my haduken now!
[batman/ken]: aaarrrgh! & now i will do my sure-you-can!
--[ominous music]:  dun duuun dun dun dun DUUUUNNN!!!

 & sometimes he'll take a familiar song & replace key words.  like this for instance, from "the muppet movie":  

"i got everything that i need! boo boo pee pee pee!"

see what he did there? how golden is that, ya'll?

"the light side or the dark side?  decisions, decisions..."

i <3 this goofy boy so much.