January 15, 2010
Just got back from a lunch at Flo's Asian Kitchen down in Scottsdale ($27 biz account). Met with a local TV producer who just won an Emmy. Pitched him on a new crop of bumpers I want to create, utilizing all of our talking head experts like Marshall Trimble, Jana Bommersbach, Paul Andrew Hutton and Sherry Monahan, to name but a few. Has potential. Next step: budget and sizzle reel.

As I mentioned I will be teaching an art class at Orme School next month. It's going to be five days of classes with an art show thrown in. Rather excited about it since I feel like giving back, or at least passing on some of the knowledge I have gained (mostly about what not to do!). To my credit, I do remember when I was at New Times in the seventies and eighties I would sometimes get budding cartoonists asking me for advice. I always took the time to look at their stuff and offer suggestions. One tall, geeky kid, I'll always remember. His name was Hap, and he was deaf. Good kid. He even bought one of my books and I signed it for him. I could tell that it meant a lot to him and that he would probably treasure that book forever.

Since I have a $50 gift certificate from my family I went on Amazon and bought several Tintin books. When I posted my sketches based on the books, I got contacted by one Ge in the Netherlands. I asked him how he found out about me, and he told me a fellow Tintin fanatic from Brussells got a Google tickle alert that some yahoo in the States was yacking about Herge and Tintin. After a couple email exchanges, Ge sent me their Tintin magazine and I got it in the mail yesterday:

Really a spectacular product. Very clean design, and, although I can't read a word of it (it's in Dutch) I really enjoy the graphics. Here's a taste:

And speaking of old comics, when I ordered the books on Amazon, I had some leftover credit and one of the books they recommended was Low Blows:

Since I've only got one left in my entire stash, I thought I'd restock, so I ordered it. The book came yesterday and I wondered if per chance it was signed, and, sure enough, on the first page it says:

"To Hap, you are a very talented cartoonist who just needs to be heard, uh, I mean seen!"
—Love Boze

“Enjoy yourself—it’s later than you think.”
—Old Vaquero Saying