Cowboys I Have Grown Up With

 November 30, 2024

   I grew up with some major cowboys. And, by major, I mean the No-Nonsense-Ropin'-Smokin'-Ka-Boys who walked the walk, but only if they couldn't ride a horse kind of cowboys.

Daily Whip Out: 

"My cousin Billy Hamilton at a Kingman Rodeo"

(from a photo)

   You see that stoved-up cowboy walking in the background? That's how all the cowboys I grew up with walked when they were off a horse.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Kingman Cowboys I Knew"

   Two of them did jail time and one of them was killed by his pet bull.

   On the other hand. . .

Wikieup Cowboys In Their Natural Habitat

   Yes, this is a pretty good cross section of the Wikieup Cowboys I knew growing up, and if you are from around those parts, you can easily spot the Shorts and the Banegas boys. Yes, and one Fancher.

Daily Whip Out:

"Into The Valley of The Sugarloafs"

   There's a relatively new cowboy hat style that is making waves 'round these parts.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Cowboys With Shovel-fronts"

Others call this hat style the Flying Taco.

"You draw the things that won't leave you alone."

—A Well Known Drugstore Cowboy

Putting The Quest to Rest

 November 29, 2024

   I'm about halfway thru my inventory of the 94 sketchbooks I have filled in the past four decades. It is overwhelming in some aspects—so much effort expended for what, exactly?

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"The Cacti Prisoner"

   Here are random notes from this blog during the quest, from November 21, 2005 to August 31, 2009:

   Harvey Mackay had a thought provoking column today (he's syndicated but I read him in the Arizona Republic). It was on the concept that it takes about "10,000 hours of practice to attain true mastery." This is so amazing, since I am in the process of doing 10,000 bad drawings (I just finished my 7,610th sketch this afternoon). This is from Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Outliers," which I have some problems with, but nonetheless, the concept of 10,000 applying to all forms of mastery is a nice touch in terms of what I'm practicing. Gee, I wonder what else he has to say about this?

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."

—Malcolm Gladwell

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Honkytonk Sue Rearing Up"

"I have little interest in teaching you what I know. I wish to stimulate you to tell me what you know."

—Robert Henri, master art instructor and artist

Daily Whip Outs:

"Real McCoy Sequence"

  Since I've started my quest, and, in an odd serendipity, I've read that Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, has postulated that the magic number of hours needed for mastering a particular field is "10,000 hours." He reckons Bill Gates had that much computer time logged when he launched Microsoft and the Beatles had that much playing time together before they conquered America.

Daily Whip Outs: "Tom Horn Studies"

   During my quest I have tried to do my daily sketches no matter where I have been, so I have sketches done in New York City, Georgia, Wichita, and New Mexico, and also sketches done in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru. (some of those pretty amazing sketches later)

    The only significant time I missed sketching was when I had a heart attack, playing Wipeout at a band reunion in Kingman in March of 2008. I missed about five days, but got right back on it, and was soon up to speed again.

Daily Whip Outs: "Crazy Legs Crazy Dog"

   I had several thoughts and concerns: would my drawing skills improve? How much? Would there be a breakthrough moment?

   In terms of learning anything on the quest, for my money, no one has said it better than Cassius Clay.

“Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

—Mohammed Ali

Mexican Surfers & Cerocahui Wowies!

 November 28, 2024

   Lots to be thankful for today.

Daily Whip Out: "Mexican Surfer"

(January 7, 2021)

   Yes, it's the shirt, or, the hint of a surfer shirt that dictated the title to me, and you have to admit those big sugarloafs would definitely make for fine flotation devices.

Daily Whip Out:

"Electronic Magnetic Field No. 16"

   I always take my sketchbook on family vacations, and so, this sequence on the Copper Canyon Railway is especially sweet because I not only sketched the people along the way, I kept track of our expenses and what we spent our money on.

Daily Whip Outs: Cerocahui Sketches"

(December 20, 2006)

Horseback ride for four: $60

Cafe Daniela @ Bauchivo (red chile): $20

Train tickets to Chihuahua: $50

Two serapes at Divisadero: $40

Margaritas at Divisadero Hotel: $40

Daily Whip Out:

"Sue Laughing Demonically"

"Success is resting on a rotisserie"

—Old Vaquero Saying

More Best of The Bad From 94 sketchbooks

 November 27, 2024

   I found the 2,000th drawing on my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings and it's an ambitious doozy.

Daily Whip Outs:

"He Rode Past The Village of 300 Widows"

(September 4, 2006)

   Meanwhile. . .

More Best of the Bad from 94 sketchbooks

   Four years ago today, November 27, 2020

Daily Whip Out:

"Red State-Blue State Cowboy"

(done during the pandemic)

   Then there was that time I went to Traffic School with O.J.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Traffic School Classmates"

(August 13, 2006)

   No, I don't think that is actually O.J. Simpson, but it's a dead ringer caricature of the guy. Also, the class was so long and so boring I actually did a second page of sketches.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Traffic School Classmates II"

   Recognize any lawbreakers you know? The bigger question is, do they even do Traffic School anymore when you get a ticket? I assume it moved online, but. . .

Daily Whip Outs:

"Tracy & Christina On The Colorado River"

(September 4, 2005)

   There's a ton more, but that's enough Whip-out-reflection for one day.

"One must always search for the desire of the line, where it wishes to enter, where to die away."

—Matisse

The Release of The Old Vaqueros Book Is Finally Here But You Need to Act Fast

 November 26, 2024

   Just in time for the holidays, our OVS book is finally ready for you to order. In fact two of them have already been delivered.

Barb Zimet's 1/100 has landed

and she is very happy

"Love everything in the packet you sent: the book, the badge, the coasters and the extra badge on the envelope. Wow!"

—Barbara Zimet, New York, New York

   And, here is the person who received copy number two:

"What can I say?  I have tears of joy in my eyes.  This is amazing and even exceeds my expectations.  Every single detail of this book is perfect, the amazing artwork,  the calligraphy, the content, the on-spot translations, the print job, the cover that almost feels like 3-D,  even the paper and the binding.   This is your legacy book.  I can't thank you enough for letting me have #2.   I will keep it forever and when I'm gone it will go to a special person in my life.  Thanks also to your amazing team that worked on this labor of love."

—Carol Caldwell, Cave Creek, Arizona 

An Old School Hand-u-factured Work of Art

    They were produced in the old school ways of scratchboard and letterpress and made possible by high tech scanners and photopolymer plates printed on vintage equipment. The cover was digitally printed on a 130 pound cougar digital natural white paper and the pages were letterpress printed on 100 pound Mohawk Superfine. The binding was done by hand. It has been hand-u-factured in a limited edition of 100 hand numbered and signed copies. In addition 10 artist proofs, 10 printer proofs and one BAT and 1 archival impression were made. These Old Vaquero Sayings books are $100 each.

 Get yours before they are all gone: Here's where to order your copy: 

The Old Vaquero Sayings Limited Edition

   Yes, a dozen have already been pre-sold so you need to act now.

"It should be funky and look like it was printed on an ancient printing press found in the back of an abandoned cantina in Sonora, Old Mexico."

—Mark McDowell

A Half Century of BBB Sketchbooks By The Numbers

 November 25, 2024

One of the surprising insights into going back through all my sketchbooks is how many different story ideas I had which I have never really paid off, like this one.

Daily Whip Outs:

"The 47 First Loves of A Soiled Dove"

Here are the top five story ideas I found in my sketchbooks that I'd still like to pursue:

• The Night Man

• Pepe From Opodepe

• The Mexicali Stud

Daily Whip Out: "The Mexicali Stud"

• El Pendejo

• El Divisadaro

And, you might be surprised to know, not all the sketches are by me.

Deena Bean's Portrait of her father

This was done on Mission Beach in San Diego when Deena was nine years old. She saw me sketching and said, "Can I try one?" Well, of course!

BBB Sketchbooks By The Numbers

• Number of sketchbooks, so far: 94

• Number of original characters created: 38

• Number of pages with no drawings, just words: 85

• Number of landscapes: 139

Daily Whip Out: "Yellow Storm"

• Number of truly awful drawings: 4,326

• Number of decent drawings: 2,087

• Number of exceptional, or, at least, inspired drawings per sketchbook: 2 to 4 on average, like this:

Daily Whip Outs: "Bull By The Horns"

(May 18, 2007)

• Number of Whip Outs that made it into publication: 772

• Number of educated guesstimates on this list: about half of the above.

"If you want to write a good book, write about the things you don't want people to know about you. If you want to write a great book, write about the things you don't want to know about yourself."

—David Perell

Lessons Learned On The Quest to 10,000 Bad Drawings

 November 24, 2024

   What exactly have I learned on my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings? If you want to know the truth, three things stand out:

1. Hand-eye coordination is a muscle that needs exercise and the daily repetition builds a more solid foundation towards creating accurate renditions.

2. If you just start scribbling lines you will be surprised at how accurate your doodles are if you build on them and just "let it flow" and you don't start with a preconceived idea of how it should look.

3. Draw what you see, not what you think you see.

   Like most wannabe artists I have a hard time getting past my own foolishness. When you peel away the artifice and get to the motivation, what comes out in high relief is the desire to be admired and respected. Well, for starters, that's a damn foolish motivation for an avowed cartoonist! So, getting past the "hopeful admiration" part is difficult but the sheer volume of the task helps dissipate that desire.

Daily Whip Out: "Beyond The Artifice"

Context

   I was on a Southwest flight from Las Vegas (December 4, 2005) back to Phoenix and I had just had my eyeballs filled with Vegas showgirls and Siegfried & Roy (the mauling had taken place in 2003) and I was doing some prep drawings for a Classic Gunfight on the assassination of Ben Thompson in the Vaudeville Theater in San Antonio, Texas on March 11, 1884, which we were featuring in the next issue of True West magazine. So, all of those different topics ended up in this page of sketches done on the airplane ride.

Vaudeville Theater Shooting

   Drinking heavily most of the day, Ben Thompson strikes a porter on the train. When blood splatters on his silk hat, Thompson cuts away the crown and sticks a knife in the brim. Wearing his new, bizarre headgear, he steps off the train with John King Fisher to take in the sights of San Antonio, Texas. Ben buys a new hat before he arrives at the Vaudeville Theatre.

Daily Whip Outs:

"Study for Ben Thompson's Bizarre Top Hat"

   When I get on an assignment jag, I often spend numerous pages of my sketchbook noodling out scenes, like these which continued from December 9 until December 12th, 2005. 

   For the actual shooting, I combined two views on one page of the Vaudeville Theatre POV from the stage.

Daily Whip Outs: "Two Views to A Kill"

   Here is how the story played out in the magazine.

Forewarned & Forearmed

   So, down the rabbit hole I go, but does it translate into respect as an Artist?

"BBB's not an artist, he's an 'illustrator'."

—Billy Schenck