Toon Club: Frog Prince

Inspired by the works of Bryan Beach (who is also a member of Toon Club) whose amazing illustrations are created in a program known (oddly enough) as Illustrator, I decided to do a little experiment (something I'm utterly opposed to doing normally). The topic at Toon Club is Frog Prince, and I figured I'd take a stab at creating a frog in Illustrator. This is the result.

I confess I've had enough experience using the program not to hurt myself in the attempt, but not enough to make a living at it. I've got a long way to go before I'm 'good' at it, but I thought the only way to get better is to try. So here's my attempt. Enjoy!

Toon Club: 80's Video Games

As a kid one of my favorite arcade games was Joust. I spent way too many quaters in that game and got pretty good at it. I never quite got the score that's illustrated, but I was better than most of my friends.

Somehow flying around on an ostrich jousting with guys riding vultures seemed cool-- probably since ostrich's are flightless. Go figure.

Toon Club: Imaginary Friend

Over at Toon Club, the topic this past week was Imaginary Friend. I admit I didn't have an imaginary friend growing up, but always drew funny critters and characters that I though would make good friends if they took on a life of their own. Confronted with the topic I though what my Imaginary Friend would look like if I'd had one. After a few sketches Stillson emerged. He gets startled easily, one of his defining and endearing qualities.

Mr. Prickles was one of the "imaginary" sketches I drew prior to Stillson. I liked the head & mouth shape, and went another direction with the body-- and put clothes on him. Cheryl Spears (from my high school days) would be proud of me. She was always telling me to put clothes on my characters. Nobody tells me to do that anymore. What does that say about our society? Probably nothing... just posing the question.

Cordelia's Corner

On Friday Cordelia's Corner will be featured at the WTHRA toy trade show. The trade show will be held March 10-13 at the Fairplex in Pomona, California. The hope is that this will give them lots of opportunities to show off their line of products and make contacts. As part of their advertising campaign they've hired me to make a logo and clean up some photographs of girls wearing their dresses. Below is a sampling of what I've been doing for them. In each of these images, I had to do some serious work in Photoshop to get them where they are. Some of the many things I've been doing to these photos includes tearing up sidewalks and planting sod, planting and watering flowers to brighten up the photos, and tearing out the sides of houses and putting up brick where windows used to be. It's hard work being an artist. I should have been a doctor like my mother wanted.

My wife, Deborah, and her sister Rebecca Blake are in the business of designing and making dress up clothes for young girls ages 4-8. The idea to make dress ups originated when the two sisters would get dress up clothes for their girls only to have the dress-ups fall apart in the washing machine after only a few uses. Cordelia's Corner dress ups are mostly machine washable, and are durable enough that most of the dress ups will be worn by their sisters, or cousins after they're through with them. This is why the companies slogan is "Quality products for enthusiastic play". The fact that they're gorgeous, and that the girls love dressing up in them is just a perk.

For more information you can look them up at their website at www.cordeliascorner.com.

Cordelia's Corner. (Click on "Cordelia's Corner" to go to their website and see their amazing line of girls dress-ups.)

Good luck in California ladies. Wow 'em!

Toon Club: Cartoon Villains

Over at Toon Club the topic is Cartoon Villains. I chose Mojo Jojo for my villain-- though my first choice would have been Mad Madam Mim from The Sword and the Stone-- she makes me laugh hard. But Mojo Jojo is my favorite angry green monkey with a turban-- so I went with him.

Mojo Jojo is a character created by the artists at Cartoon Network and is property of the Cartoon Network. TM & © 2007 Cartoon Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

Toon Club: Tortoise vs. Hare

Could this be the real reason the rabbit 'slept' long enough for the Tortoise to cross the finish line? Kids don't try this at home.

I'd also like to tell my wife thank you for her years of devotion, trust, and tender loving support. I love you more than words can express. You're my best friend, and for that I'll thank you every day for the rest of my life.
Happy Anniversary Sweetheart.

Toon Club: Love

When I think about love I instantly think, God, Family, and Country. But since there are standards to be kept, I went with my next set of favorites-- drawing critters (an alien in this case) and eating junk food (ice cream represented here-- though in retrospect maybe I should have drawn a Nestle Tollhouse Cookie... Yummmmm).

More Aliens

Still more sketches.
They live on a planet where the only vegetable is brussle sprouts. Thus the expression, or lack thereof.

Scroll down to see more critters simular to these. Thanks for stopping by.

Toon Club: Duck

Why is it Mad Scientists have unnattractive servants? Perhaps they're more trustworthy. Maybe it's a work ethic thing. At any rate, over at Toon Club, the topic is Duck. Here's my post... for what it's worth.

Aliens

I'm in one of my
"sketching aliens" modes. Hope you don't mind too much, cause I'm having a blast.

Happy New Year everyone!

Drop the Cookie!

I always get sentimental around the holidays, but most especially at Christmas time. So without further distraction I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This is a piece I made back in 2004, but thought it was appropriate since I hadn't posted it before now, and it's Christmas. 'Nuff said.

I hope your holidays are warm and bright and full of the happiness of the season. And... God bless us everyone!

Action Stickmen™

Hey guys, I need to bounce this off you, pick your brains.

These characters are called "Action Stickmen™" and I'm in the process of creating a marketable product line; including, but not limited to: A graphic novel, t-shirts (one's already available on my Zazzle site), greeting cards, and a feature-length movie (Tom Hanks will be doing the voice of Chrome-Man). I'm kidding about the movie.

The Trademark for the Action Stickmen, and the copy rights to the characters, were just recently purchased, and now that I legally own them, I need to DO something with them.

Feedback is desireable. Any advice? Thoughts on who should my Target Market be?

I thought that my most likely target market would be a younger-teen audience, and possibly a slightly older audience as well (up to 40 year old men who live in their mother's basements). Your thoughts please...

(The link to my Zazzle Gallery is just there in the right-hand column.)

Mer-accountant

The Toon Club topic this week is Mermaid. Okay technically this is a Merman, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go against the grain, and do something unexpected, and I hope, on some level, amusing.

This is the side of the legendary creatures you don't often see, the brains that make Mermish society run smoothly.

Thanks for coming 'round!

Tiki

The new topic over at Toon Club is "Tiki". This 'sketch' is a bit non-traditional, but it was fun working it out. Thanks for stopping by!

Gronk Discovers Irony

Gronk, tired of nearly being eaten by the large predators he's been hunting decides to try smaller less intimidating animal life, and discovers irony.

Over at Toon Club the topic is "A Day in the Life of a Caveman". We've been kind've slacking lately as far as contributing to the weekly sketch, and Adrian threatened to kill a baby seal if we didn't get our sketches done this week. So, in order to save a baby seal from an untimely death, I've done this sketch. I wanted to color it, and still hope to get around to it, but here's my sketch at any rate. Things have been sort've crazy lately. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my stuff.

Toon Club: The Living Dead

Philip the young fashion-conscious zombie cut down in his prime.

The topic over at Toon Club is The Living Dead. Not sure why Philip came into being but after I drew his nails and considered what color he was going to be, I thought if he was a fashion-conscious zombie he'd be having fits at the condition he'd gotten into since the 'accident'.

More Critters

Sorry for not posting in a while. Hope all's well for everyone.

These are some critters I made a few years back and never got around to coloring them.

Thanks to everyone for visiting.

Un-paid Advertizing

It's true... I've jumped on the bandwagon.
A few of my friends over at Toon Club have started on-line stores through Zazzle. Of course I was so impressed by the stuff the guys came up with, I decided to start my own line of T-shirts and Mugs.

You can find me at:
http://www.zazzle.com/ken_chandler

The ideas, thoughts, and opinions expressed on my t-shirts and mugs may or may not be my own... but I'll never admit it.

New Golem Hunter Banner

Wanted to extend a heartfelt thanks to my good friend Adrian Ropp for his blogging prowess. It was his genius that enabled me to post my blog banner. Thanks Adrian! And thanks to Shane Lewis for recommending Adrian for the assist. You guys are the best!

If you haven't seen their blogs you only have to click on their names (above) to link to their sites.

Special thanks also go out to Mayang's Free Textures for their free high-res textures. I used one in my banner. Check them out, their textures are amazing!

Toon Club: What if Monkeys Ruled the World?

If monkeys ruled the world, they'd still have Monkey Wrenches, but they'd use them to bash stuff.

So much for the Theory of Evolution.

Digger McMudd

Did some sketching on Sunday, playing around with face shapes, and came up with this guy. I call him Digger McMudd. He may look sinister, but he's pretty harmless, just diggin' nightcrawlers.

Toon Club: Freaks

Over at Toon Club the topic is Circus Freaks. While brainstorming what to draw I thought about the 1958 movie, "The Fly". Then I thought about Edgar Bergen, his ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy, and their comedy act, and married the two ideas.
Kinda freaky!

Toon Club: Swamp Critter

Tis the mighty & affectionate Boa Constrictor.

Wasn't sure if I should put in more time on this one, but in retrospect, I'm glad I did.

Toon Club: Space Pirate

Avast! Tis a Space Pirate off the port bow! He's nothin' pretty to look at, and he wears the traditional garb, so he must be a scurvy dog!
Now walk the plank ye Earthlubbers!

Here are both my original pencil sketch, and my colorized versions. I posted the pencil sketch last night thinking perhaps I was done, but then woke up around 5:20 this morning and got an itch to put some color to it.

Illustration Friday: STICKY

The topic over at Illustration Friday is 'Sticky'; I couldn't pass up such a great topic! Sticky is a funny word to begin with and, at least in my mind, conjures up many funny images. Hope you all had a great 4th of July! I did.

Toon Club: Patriotism

The new topic over at Toon Club is Patriotism. The way I see it, why should Earthlings be the only ones to enjoy the freedom of Liberty and Independence.

Happy 4th of July everyone!
Happy Independence Day!

Avatar

This is an Avatar I made for my sister-in-law, Rebecca Blake. She's an Entrepreneur, so I wanted to make an avatar that was both professional and personable.

Rebecca Blake Avatar_ Ken Chandler/Copyright © 2006

WELCOME! Guy

I've started a blog for my family. Where I can post pictures of my kids, their drawings, stories, etc. and wanted a fun way to Welcome family & friends to the site. Here's the guy that greets you on the first page.

(P.S.) This is not a self-caricature.

Toon Club Entry: The Grump

Meet the Grump! He's the guy who complains constantly, can find no silver-lining in any cloud, and even when things couldn't get any better, he'll still find a reason to complain bitterly. He's got an opinion, and by golly you're going to hear about it!
Did I mention he's always right?

Any resemblance to persons living or dead is mere coincidence.

Black Mage

Just finished this for my Brother-in-Law, er... for his blog: this is his avatar. The character is the Black Mage from the Final Fantasy, a video game of yesteryear. The 'light' you see in the background is from a detonation spell of Black Mages that essentially leveled an entire forest, and killed a giant. 'nuff said.

Toon Club2: Aliens

The topic over at Toon Club is 'Alien Life Forms'. I'd already posted a full-color image, and had a few minutes of sketching time this morning. I had fun with it, so I'm posting these sketches too.

Happy Father's Day, June 18th!

New Avatar

Trying out a new Avatar. The other one looses readability, so this is another attempt. Let me know if it's working or not.

Toon Club: Alien Life Forms

The newest installment of the Toon Club: the topic is Alien Life Forms. I originally was going to go with a semi-realistic pencil sketch of an alien, but when this idea crept into my head, I had to go with it.

Illustration Friday: Jungle

LAND SHARK!

Little known fact: Land sharks were hunted into extinction in 1934.