The "Acts of God" Theme Park

THE ACTS OF GOD THEME PARK All of us have been stunned by the frequency and ferocity of the recent storms and catastrophes that seem to be plaguing our fragile planet. A few days ago I did a piece about Sandy and to me it was more than just that. It was like a metaphor for all of the serious problems facing our world today. I sent that piece around to a few art directors to try and find a home for it and while it didn't find a place yet, it did generate a few new jobs like this one from The New York Times. This is really Mihn’s idea, to have the planet coming apart at the seams... " THE DISASTERS, (EARTH QUAKE, TORNADO, HURRICANE, TSUNAMI, SNOW BLIZZARD, THUNDER STORM, FLOOD, VOLCANO ERUPTING, ETC.) TRY TO VARY THEM IN SIZES. SOME CAN BE CLOSER AND LARGER IN THE FOREGROUND. OTHERS ARE HAPPENING IN FORE GROUND AND BACKGROUND. . Literally everything you could think of thrown at our little fragile world. This was Wednesday late after noon and the art is due Friday 5:00 no later so I tried to steer him to a more conceptual direction. Just because of the short time. I showed him a few ideas maybe a frightened face or a skull superimposed, but he was insistent on the planet with the storms and stuff larger than life. I told him I thought it would have to be scary to keep from looking like an “Acts of God Theme Park” and we laughed. Maybe there is one of those near Dayton, Tennessee ( home of the Scopes Monkey Trial) just off the “William Jennings Bryan Memorial Highway." (And incidentally close to some of the best fodder you will ever find at “Waycrazy's Bar-B-Que" in Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) I am thinking as I write this I definitely should have included the Plague of Locusts and the Zombie Apocalypse…But what the Hell… There can always be a sequel. So rules? Cold Calls Work… I emailed three folks and, got two jobs and a “been meaning to use you, be back in touch later in the year…” And there’s always a good Bar-B-Que Restaurant just a little drive up the highway…. Uh, let’s see things I was thinking of when I did this Illustration. John Hendrix/King of Disaster could probably do it better…Those Disney books on the early life on our planet Earth…. When the Death Star blew up….and How am I going to make this funny? I guess nothing funny about this problem.... Big Thanks to Mihn Uong, always fun working with you, again... Here's the way I did it originally, with a faint little spider web in the white areas. I thought it added something conceptual because of the nature of the article and subject matter, profiteering. Mihn had me take that out because he felt it made the world look smaller.

Thorny Process

A little spot illustration for PlanAdvisor. A story about getting rid of a pension plan can be a prickly indevor. Much thnks to SooJin for giving me a chance to do one of these little spots. Always such a strong group of creative folks she gets to work articles on in the magazine. Somehow it almost seems like a bit of a compition to try to at least ciome up to her standards for these illutrations. Thumbnails pretty straight forward, lot's of prickly choices... Always a pleasure working with SooJin, and this time was no different. LIttle prickly friend seemed a perfect match. I was thinking of one of those Victorian portrIaits so a few spectators would also help stage it and make the prickly little guy look bigger. All Images © Bill Mayer 2012.

Mother Jones' Frankencorn

A great little drawing for Mother Jones, art director Carolyn Perot had seen some of the new stuff on Drawger and thought it was a great direction for a Frankencorn illustration about the pending legislation in California, Proposition 37. "The Politization of GMO's"

" Wondering if you have time to illustrate the opening story to our Outfront section on genetically modified foods?Story focuses on the politicization of GMO's (vote for me the scary mutant corn thing!) Also saw your latest stuff on Drawger and LOVE it. Could be perfect for this."

Have time? I can always make time....how much fun could this be. Only one hiccup putting a long vertical thing like corn in a horizontal spot, but He's a mutant so that would help solve that.

A great little drawing for Mother Jones, art director Carolyn Perot had seen some of the new stuff on Drawger and thought it was a great direction for a Frankencorn illustration about the pending legislation in California, Proposition 37. "The Politization of GMO's" " Wondering if you have time to illustrate the opening story to our Outfront section on genetically modified foods?Story focuses on the politicization of GMO's (vote for me the scary mutant corn thing!) Also saw your latest stuff on Drawger and LOVE it. Could be perfect for this." Have time? I can always make time....how much fun could this be. Only one hiccup putting a long vertical thing like corn in a horizontal spot, but He's a mutant so that would help solve that.

"If you’re wondering whether your cereal, can of soup, or muffin was made with genetically modified ingredients, you’re out of luck—at least for now. Unlike the European Union, the US government doesn’t require food manufacturers to proclaim use of GMOs on packaging. But that may be about to change—first for Californians, and then, potentially, for people across the country. That’s because of a little-noticed California ballot initiative called Proposition 37, to be decided this November, which would require the labeling of all food containing genetically modified ingredients.

It’s almost impossible to avoid GMOs, since they lurk in 70 percent of non-organic processed food in the US. Upwards of 80 percent of all US corn and soy is genetically modified. Sweets are almost guaranteed to contain these ingredients, either in the form of corn syrup or beet sugar. Canola and cottonseed oils, too, commonly come from GM crops.

Californians appear ready to train a flashlight on this stealthy GMO."
I sent Forest out to buy some corn at the local farmers market, I thought this was better than searching the internet for Google images. This was a great idea and certainly helped with some of the subtleties of color and texture. did a bunch of little thumbnails She like #2 and the eyes from #1 .So I jumped into a sketch version, Frankensteined appropriately into a mutant "Frankencorn."
My thinking was to do the sleazy southern politico, like in "Brother, Where Art Thou?," rural Sear sucker suited pig shaped mugwump. But of course mutant. In the end she wanted more corn than politician. I miss the little shirt and suspenders but I think It still worked pretty well....Probably could have made the corn do a little more stomping around on the crowd. but all in all I am thinking it worked out pretty cool. Thank you Carolyn for letting me have so much fun with this one.

The Creative Carnival (Hot Foot)

It's Carnival time again, the cottage is put away for the winter and there's something in the air. The chill of the wind and the houses all decorated for Halloween. Carny stuff always brings back those great memories. This years poster I wanted to keep some of that creepiness from last year but since we didn't use the huge clown head last year I thought that was a good pace to start.

Only one thumbnails this time, one sketch. I had a pretty clear idea where this one was going. So let's put the energy into the final not so much wasted time on preliminary stuff. I liked the idea. It's modeled after a little match holder and a clown egg cup from the kitchen. Makes me laugh when I see it.

I was having so much fun with "The Demented Little Beasties" (posted in early July) I thought I would just continue the look into a few other projects. Anyway, much fun. still a combination of traditional and digital but the airbrush seems to add a textural element that the digital stuff was missing.
In a working version I had rides and more scary stuff but it was just getting a bit too crowded so left them out and I think the balance worked well.

We had so many type changes last year, so I decided early that I would keep the type virtually the same and only change the font up a bit to make it fit the art better. And the final poster looked like this...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation...

What I did on my summer Vacation...

Day one. Long drive, good friends, cocktails by the bay, Mosquitoes the size of Humming Birds; all fat with my blood. I swat them and they ooze with deep red. The moon is setting and we fall asleep to the sound of Bullfrogs. Missed sunrise, docks in, batteries charging. Lee Lee is busy evicting the mice...
Day two. Pizza by the river, nice long swim, cocktails on deck three, boats in. Water’s still high. Drop in on Twin Rocks for a nice chat. Boot camp starts today but not now... later...after coffee.... after fishing...okay, OKAY...before.

Day three...We pile the old life in a dumpster, nothing lasts forever. Once treasures, now rusted and rotting... worms helping it back into the earth. Feels wrong to not set them all adrift and torch them like a Viking funeral...but we crush them down and pile more old memories on top.
King Fisher, Loons, a pair with offspring, we sit quietly and listen and watch. Soft rain, surf board, the water is like glass. Another long bike ride along the lake shore down to Owens’s Point, Camp Store, Butterscotch ice cream, flat turtle next to Flat frog, maybe deep in a conversation about Casey Anthony...don't notice the car approaching...
Frog- " WTF Dude that slut was so-ooo guilty. Like totally guilty..." Turtle- "Man that DA missed his chance. They'll never__UHGHGHG----" Thump thump....
Day four (Tuesday). Beat sunrise by an hour, long bike ride, watched waves rolling in on the lake shore... kicking boot camp's ass.... coffee brewing. Waiting for the sun... I am smiling. Here comes the sun...Stuff more old stuff in the dumpster...Another long bike ride, a swim in the bay, finally check e-mail. Mr. Pickle drops by for a chat but his Scottish accent is so strong I can't understand a word. We head for sanctuary at Vito's.... Poutine...ah it's like Heaven.

Day Five ...Heavy discussions on carbon dating, Lesa's Birthday today, two more days and everyone arrives. Lee Lee finished Zak and Dash's room. Forest working on "Better living with chemistry." Layed in bed and watched sunrise. Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, Mosquitoes have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. Religious leaders and government officials around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small Canadian town of Brighton, the jury is still out.....

Fish and chips, soft rain, cool breeze, afternoon nap with a blanket. North wind blows me down. Cocktails on deck two. All hats off to Forest as head chemist ...Last night "Gulf Oil Spill," tonight "Better Living Through Chemistry." BBQ Chicken...little cute potatoes...sweet corn. Jen and Adrian's baby boy coming soon (next week). Greta and Jason's in October? Oh boy more babies...
The light at sunset is clear and yellow...long bike ride trying to catch moonrise but it's already up and huge. No deer but three skinny red foxes curiously approach me check me out...There is no one outside the cottages, it's like a Zombie apocalypse...
The misquotes humming sounds distinctly like Darth Vader's breathing as they hover near by. They have seen me. I beat it for the house, slam the door and lock it behind me.

Day six...Wind out of the north, no clouds in sight, I stare out at the bay watching lines of Cormorants in formation stream by. Gold Finces, Marsh Swallows, Swans, Today Lee will call and have the old memories taken away...long bike ride, clear blue sky, water flat and so clear.... I paddle the Peterborough up the bay, a great way to meet the neighbors. Who all come out with knife and fork, licking their lips, drooling? They don't make canoes like that anymore.

What day is it?
paddle, row, ride, hike , swim, paint ,ZUMBA....
repeat, paddle, row ,ride, hike, swim, paint, ZUMBA....
paddle ,row ,ride, hike, swim, paint, ZUMBA...
Charlie Maxwell here today...little Max is now Middle Max...
Ice cream, happy hour, woke up to storm, batten down the hatches...storm is a big blow. caves in the tent, spreads everything all around the yard, swimming raft is in. canoe painted, tent is up and dry.... we rescue a another vintage bike...
Calm before, water is like glass, another storm in the distance approaching, black clouds, huge thunder heads, hit the cool lake air and winds twist and swirl. We watch them approach for hours in the distance. The lightning twisting through the clouds, then hits full force. You can feel the windows pulse with the force of the winds. Then huge green flash on the hill above Brighton and all of the lights across the bay go black. Seconds later, power is out for us too. We scramble for candles, headlamps and ice-cold bottles of tequila. Kind of nice to unplug. We play cards by candlelight and watch the lightning blast Brighton across the bay.... In the morning we cook breakfast on the grill, apple wood bacon, cheese omelets, toast and coffee.... still no power no cell phones...no Internet ...Today we dove on the old wreck at Salt Point. Scuba dudes, Skip and Forest bring up pirate booty.... I just snorkel along the ribs of the old boat; hard to believe it's in such good shape after so much time...

Day seven,...Forest and I stay up late and watch Young Frankenstein, repeating every line before it's said. All of them...
the water like glass again, so dig out the oars and the little rowboat. A long row down to Calf Pasture, and a brisk row home only to find the bathroom door closed. I knock and a growl GGRRRRR...Echoes back from behind the door. I knock again.... GGRRRR.... I knock again...I go get coffee and wait patiently.
We head off to Trenton hospital with Forest and a sore throat. $325 for triage, plus Dr. plus meds the lady at the info desk estimates $500.... Canadian healthcare works for Canadians...We head off to find a clinic in Belleville; $50...

Set the tree on fire, a little panic but everything is fine, Jeanie no need to worry...Surfs up Presquille Bay, Skip and Kyle rock the boat. Jamie the giant returns with all of our good friends, cocktails. Kids arrive today.

Everyone is finally Jonesing For fast food, so we're off to Belleville.... Lee Lee wants a Diet Coke, nothing will fill this void...even cleaning up mouse poo. (Kidding, we know nothing beats mouse poo...).
We hit the A&W in force; Lee and I order "Teen Burger Combos”. A large single bypass burger, large fry and ice-cold mug of A&W Rootbeer, Lee gets a Diet Coke. The kids order various other family member burgers, Mamma Burger, Papa Burger, Grumpy Burger...onion rings, Root beer floats...We stuff ourselves until we're bloated.
Everyone returns tonight for a big party weekend. Finally we unleash The Kraken (rum), Dark and Stormy sunset, Increases the chance of conception.... Happy Birthday Caley Venn...

According to local Brighton Council Person D.B Cornwall, we are officially melting today...Finally the heat is here, 91f and the breeze off the bay is like a warm tropical wind. Hottest day since 1948...think we'll be sleeping with the fishes in the bay. We build a pirate ship out of a fruit crate and launch it. It sails straight and true until a large wave shifts her ballast and Davy Jones takes her down...Dinner at Twin Rocks, white hots, Coney’s and Catching up with Uncle Bill and Aunt Marion.
Finally the wind shifts, cool north wind blows the sky clean. We sit by the fire and watch shooting stars zip across the sky. Tiny satellites gliding effortlessly. We all pull our chairs from the circle around the fire and randomly spread ourselves so we can sit in the dark and we tell tales of great Lunker-heads and Banshees that steel children away in the night.... The night is so perfect none of us want to go to sleep.

So we don't.

Recipe for getting Fifteen people on 4x8 swimming rafts: Start with generous amounts of Gin, Vodka, and Rum...add ice...shake vigorously.
Morning so still, Jason and I take a long paddle through the marsh, I bike to the Light house and back, Lee and I take a ride down through the campsites and trails we have not been yet this year. I have been riding along the cottages for a couple weeks now, and this is what I noticed.
Observations along the way; if you ride along the cottages between 7:30 and 8:00 you will notice every dog owner going for a Poo-walk. The difference is they will not be carrying the Poo in a bag. If it is a lady walking, the dog will be big. If it is a man walking, the dog will be tiny. In fact the bigger the man, the smaller the dog. If you are a man walking a big dog, you are required to wear a "silly" women's hat. Though I have not tested my theory, I am thinking this phenomenon is not limited to the cottagers here on Presquille or Ontario for that matter.

Today so calm and warm even Lee Lee and Wendy are in swimming, tubing, laughing, not cleaning up mouse poo...Zak and I have taken to turning the canoe over on top if them (with a little help) and scream loud from underneath, we roll it over and sink it like a mighty pirate ship...Skip lands a delicious big bass, tube, boat, canoe, bike, picnic on lake shore...low country boil, old friends. Mojitoes, Mexican Train, Croqanole, Speed, Chess...Dash finally falls asleep. long bike ride, three deer, rode through the campsites. Campers just waking, a few fires crackling, a few half asleep campers stumble toward the latrines in a zombie like walk. I head for a sprint to the cottage for a nice swim, shampoo and a shave, coffee’s brewing...

What day is it? The Land of Ont, painted sky's, and days that never end...OKAY...back on point, push ups, crunches, pull ups...but after coffee...Mount Madoriama watch out...here we come. But after coffee...

Calathumpian Parade returns to Lilac Lane and all the crew is scrounging up make shift costumes. We’re all supposed to gather at 6:00 for big parade, then cocktails. I am thinking cocktail, and then parade, then cocktails...I never laughed (or squawked) so hard in my life...too funny. You guys are crazy...pictures to come I am sure....Lee Lee is dressed like her mom, walking like she just got off a cruise boat. Lesa in hot pink, hot pants and tight midriff, dressed like Jean too. Too many funny costumes to list...Potluck dinner and BBQ in-between the Shire's and Venn's cottages.
Bonfire in the meadow, (no Jean we didn't set the point on fire. Cottages should still be here when you guys come up) late after bug: 30.My throat is sore from Screeching Loudly.... RROBERRRRT.... AAWWWKK.... ROBERT.... AAAWWWKK...AAWWWKK....

In the morning the wind has switched back to the north, so I flip the boat to the other side of the dock. Everyone is asleep. Long ride the opposite way around the point. The wind is chilly so I race back along a new path, back toward Calf Pasture. Near the campgrounds I see a man and a lady walking three dogs. The man is walking a large dog; he does not have on a ladies hat. The woman has two large dogs and a mans hat....
I arrive home to find everyone asleep but the coffee I left brewing is hot and ready. I fry a pound of bacon. I love bacon.
Skip is up and heads off to town in search of eggs.
Many warm hugs and stories. Like the marsh walk we took Zak on. With tall tree fort in the middle of the marsh and 100-year-old Horse Cedars bent like horse saddles you could sit on and ride. We hid behind trees and jumped out to scare Lee.... Near the end I asked him how he liked the marsh and he said, "Bill, you know I am a video game guy."
It is sad to leave all of our old friends, we will miss them.... but we've been gone a long time...Met a bunch of new family and new friends, thrown some old stuff away... Zak's first day of school is a week off and we missed all of our good friends back home. Sure would be great to have them all up to the cottage, if it wasn't for the "one bathroom..."

New York Times; MFQ Review

I got an email from Minh while we were out on the country... A little piece for The New York Times. My first stab at the thumbnails, I was trying to force it into another little beastie direction but he just wasn't buying it. so back to the drawing board; Actually, even before he had contacted me. We were in Candada closing up the cottage for the winter. So the second bunch I did on the plane home, Scanned them in the next morning and waited for feedback.

probably did way too many thumbnails but seemed like a few ideas with the ups and downs in the market. Minh picked a rather simple direction; a little floating guy looking apprehensive. Can't be too high, "It's only a Quarterly report." So did a quick sketch and some adjustments to fit the layout and we're off. It was Mihn's Idea to fade the drawing out at the top. I think this worked pretty well. Again the personal little pieces (Beasties) have influenced the look of the final but I think it gave the whole illustration a nice neutral pallet. Here is the layout showing how nice the fade works ito the desisg of the page .Great job Mihn.

Old Tricks For New Dogs

Two in a series I am working on. Just one thumbnail, one sketch, one final.... Just for fun. I had a character development project drag out for way too many sketches and way to many color variations and as a way of exorcizing the demon I wanted to do a little series just for me. Only one thumbnail. then blow it up and paint the finish....I think the demon is gone, but I like the series and think I will do a few more.... All Material © Bill Mayer 2012 EDIT: Here's three more.. couldnt just leave it at two..thinking a grim backstory to tie these guys all together.. stay tuned

Dellas Graphics Calendar 2012-2013

Always such a treat when this Dellas Graphics calendar rolls around. A chance to draw frogs( which I love) and a chance to bounce some fun Ideas off Jim Burke. Always such fun .This year was no different. Started the same as always with the normal batch of thumbnails, some subjects I am sure I have hit on before...some new ones. I always hope to find my way to something compelling and downright fun to illustrate. There are always so many ideas that it is hard to make up my mind, so I tightened up a few of Jim's favorites and threw in a few of mine. Always hoping to flush out just the right one. This year I I fell in love with this little Devil character and hoped to add an Hieronymus Bosch scene of a battle between the hoards of bugs and helpless frogs being slaughtered and tortured. However all of this seemed just a bit too dark so I added some little dancing figures to add to the pagan romp. Rendering all of this seemed daunting so I almost shelved the whole thing. Then I thought if I kept the figures simplified like silhouetted little embers, that might just work...so I did some thumbnail scenes of battling bugs and dancing devil frogs. I scanned them in and built a little Bosch environment to embellish the large figure.I added a simple fortress in the same silhouetted way, keeping the whole illustration dark in tone...not exactly what I had originally thought about doing, but I am lazy so it was as good as it was going to get. details of painting... There is always plenty of time on these guys ,so it sat around for a month or so while I worked on other stuff. I figured at this point I had not heard from Jim in a while, so maybe time to check in and see when he needed the art .I still had a couple of the thumbnails I had really liked in the beginning, before we we went off in this direction of the devil. Monday morning I dug out the old thumbnails and inked in the main characters, then started on the crowd. Actually, the crowd took longer than the main characters. By the end of the day I had them all scanned in and put together. Ready to start on color. Tuesday , I played around with color. I really liked the black and white, so at first color was very limited and cautiously added.The very first thing I tried was a red carpet. I love black, red and white. The limited color can look so sophistcated. It just kind of grew in this direction , I guess that's the way it always happens. I still like the heavy strong black and white drawing without color alot and it took a while to stumble on something I liked more. I finished it, or at least thought I had finished it enough to fire it off to Jim to see if he liked it... I think Jim had already made up his mind before even seeing it... i think I liked the "Devil" too, so this one was just not going to make the cut. I had one last thought, and a few more frog drawings rolling around in my head . I added a little "fly boutonniere" on the HIp-Hop-ster's lapel. Silly I know, Lee laughed but said know one will ever see that... Anyway, always such a treat to do one of these frog drawings. Jim is such a delight to bounce ideas off of and the results always leave me with a really great feeling about work. Thanks a ton Jim, can't wait to see what all of the other folks do... Naturally, © Bill Mayer 2012