Andertoons Cartoon Blog

Andertoons 2.0

Yes, the new Andertoons.com is live and working!

Ahhhh...

After about six months of planning and design, and several weeks of expert coding from my web team, we seem to sailing mostly smoothly.

I know of a few little problems I'm working on ironing out, but, for the most part, you probably won't notice them.

Tomorrow I'm beginning a month long look at new features that I think you'll really find interesting. There's so much new stuff under the hood you just won't believe it.

Anyway, go check out the new site, rate some cartoons, add some to your faves, etc... Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, websites

Wanna Know Why I Haven't Been Blogging?

There's a new Andertoons.com in town...

Enjoy!

(And lemme know if you find any problems...)

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, websites

Congratulations!

A quick congrats here to my brother-in-law for landing a great economics teaching gig at the University of Kentucky!

Turns out that when you're interested in microeconomic theory, industrial organization, and applied microeconomics, work your ass off, get a PhD, and generally impress the hell out of everyone in your field, people really want to hire you!

Seriously, the guy is smarter than three of me put together, and that's even if you dress all of me in lab coats.

Again, a HUGE congratulations! No one deserves it more!

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Brain... Hurting... Must... Sleep...

Hooboy, the past week or so I've been buried in IM, PostgreSQL, XML, CSS, CSVs, and various other techie acronyms.

The new site is over the hump construction-wise, and there's a lot to consider, reconsider and refine. My programmer and I are IMing back and forth a lot, and while it's invaluable to be looking over each others' shoulders from a few states away, it does eat a lot of time.

I'm also pretty sure I'm driving my wife insane. I'm obsessive anyway, and you get me in the middle of a web build, and.... KAPLOOEY! I'm a handful.

Anyway, it's really gonna be exciting to launch the beta in a few days – you won't believe what we've cooked up!

More... later...

Coffee... running... out...

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, websites

Tablature

I ordered myself a nice new Intuos3 today.

My Intuos2 has served me well for a long looooong time, and I'd had great hopes for my NuLooq controller, but, sadly, twas not to be.

I'm a big guy with big hands and the NuLooq just wouldn't stay put. Every time I twisted to zoom, or moved to pan, the damn thing slid around on my desk. So a one-hand time saver quickly became a two-handed time burglar.

I've got a fair amount of coloring to do for some greeting cards, and, frankly, coloring's not my favorite thing in the world (there's something about revisiting an older cartoon that just leaves me flat somehow) and, well, I just snapped. And after watching the movies over at DaniDraws (albeit quite sped up) I bit the budgetary bullet.

Kyle Miller commented at our last CCC meeting that he was using the Intuos3 in Illustrator to do his Working Daze and Game Creature stuff, so the seed was planted I guess.

Looks like the Intuos3 has all sorts of fun buttons and sliders to help me optimize my Photoshop time. I'm really looking forward to trying it out!

It does make me wonder, though, if I'll ever make the jump to all digital. I haven't really played with any custom brushes in Photoshop (anyone know any good ones?), and I'm kinda in love with my brush pens and markers, but I think someday I'm gonna have to do it. If for no other reason than my pens' manufacturer stops making them or something.

I'm gonna be a pen and paper guy for a good while, but I think the new tablet is inching me ever closer to the all digital line in the sand.

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, computer, tech

I'm Walkin', Yes Indeed

Well, kinda...

I mentioned lately that I've been getting into Lego robotics, and true to form, I've been ignoring the directions and venturing off on my own.

Here's my first attempt at a bot sans wheels:

And here's another angle...

OK, so the "legs" are technically pretty much wheels, but it's also a step in the right direction. Also, this was pretty much just a proof of concept sort of thing, hence why the control brick was off to the side and not built in.

And, yes, I know that there's about a million 8-year-olds out there who could out-Lego me in their sleep, but it's nice to have such an engrossing new hobby.

Spudey

Ran across this over at SuperHero Hype – it's from the Toy Fair in New York.

I'm not sure who wants a Spider-Man Potato Head more, me, or my three-year-old son.

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Business Cartoon in February Harvard Business Review

Hey, I've got a cartoon in the latest HBR!

Check it out!

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Chicagoland Cartoonists Cabal's First Meeting

Despite really crummy weather and poor driving conditions, the Chicagoland Cartoonists Cabal officially had its first meeting last night.

Kyle Miller of Working Daze, and Worth Gowell of Small Wonder braved the elements and the unknown to hang out, drink coffee, and share cartoons with yours truly last night.

Topics discussed include taking over the art on a strip, being a stay-at-home-dad, things we can't draw, Lego Star Wars, Google image search, our kids, and the hazards of drawing a dog going to the bathroom.

I'd actually gotten my camera out and put it next to my pack of stuff, but I'm manic enough in person and I didn't want to scare anyone off the first meeting, so you'll have to wait until March for pics.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for coming and making our first meetup a success!

Visit Kyle here, here & here

Visit Worth here, here, & here

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, Chicago

Things I Find Inherently Funny

• Leprechauns
• The word 'binky'
• Fake Scottish accents
• Any 10 consecutive words from The Big Lebowski
• Impending doom
• Sales graphs (odd, I know, but the number of cartoons I've done about them bear me out)
• Mimes
• Anthropomorphic food
• The phrase "tri-state killing spree"
• Animated characters throwing up
• Star Trek fights
• The word "poo"

Technorati Tags: andertoons, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, humor