31 Days Of Santa: 7th Day- David Wisniewski

YAWWWWNNNNnnnnnnnn-nuh!

Artist: David Wisniewski
Born: Baltimore. 
Children's book illustrator: The Golem, and oh so many other cool cut paper illustrated books.
Originally trained to be a clown. Found a better way to entertain kids than scaring the poop outta the ones who have phobias of such wretched, vile creatures of the big top. Unfortunately passed away at too early of an age of I dunno (49 yrs old), in... sometime after Jesus' death (2002). Remind me to update that. P.S.- he was Jewish.

(UPDATE: Oh crap- maybe he wasn't Jewish. I thought I had read some time ago that his decision to take on the traditional tale had something to do with his Judaic roots, but I can't find anything now, so I must recant. I won't delete it, for it's an error on my part, and I feel I should keep it out in the open, both as a reminder that what I say over the internet can be in fact influential negatively by false reporting, and because I didn't want to 'dupe' anyone into thinking I simply pretended I never wrote it. My bad. Nothing wrong with Jewish people, mind you. Just something wrong with my memory)

Hey, it's 1:24am! I'm going the **** to bed.

31 DAYS OF SANTA: 6th DAY- John Held, Jr

I've moved half my workstation (mostly my dyes and paintbrushes, really), in front of my computer to shave off some unnecessary time for all the blog art. This... may not end well.

On a stupidly related note, my cats have discovered this, and have begun the whole 'collective species stand outside of window staring in at the protagonist of a horror film' game.


Today's Santa is inspired by the man whose art represented a decade and a personality. John Held, Jr- The Jazz Era, The Roarin' Twenties. He influenced the times and fashion about as much as the times influenced him. He was THE guy back then, and his art was all over magazines, notably Life. Many of his popular cover illustrations were of characters on a flat red background, but Santa would've gotten lost on red obviously. Thankfully, he placed elements on other flat colors, too. His flat colors were much flatter than what I did, but, well... still trying to figure that one out.

MEDIUM: dyes, ink.

Notes of interest- the Roarin' Twenties probably contrasted from the previous generation more than any other since, so today's parents should be thankful as they look forward to their kids growing into awkward adults... awkwardly. Held Jr, was raised around Mormons... and... still became the artist of jazz, fashion...some may say, sin (oooohh- MUFASA!). Held also worked in woodcuts, but didn't carry so much the same style. In the military he did some neat secret cartography too.

31 Days Of Santa: 5th Day- Mike Mignola

I had a dream last night that I was running away from zombies through corridors under a huge hangar with a small group of people. I love when I dream of zombies; I typically get to knock the head off one or two and ker-pow another in the nethers...


So here we go- Mr. Mignola. Should be nary a surprise I respect his art so much- name me a comic nerd who isn't a fan of his neo-German Expressionist noir style, and I'll turn lead into a Lovecraftian demigod. I liked the black and white original drawing as much as I did the digitally colored final, so I posted them both. Two-fer!!!

Media: Pen & Ink, digital color.

I myself laughed my buns off for 15 seconds while sketching this concept, and if I'm the only one to have done so, I'm fine with that. That being said, I think we should all request to Mike that he do a one-shot Santa story the next time we see him at a con. And tell him that scratchboard artist who owes him the Lobster Johnson piece sends his love.

31 Days Of Santa: 4th Day- Ub Iwerks

Ha, sorta been losing at least an extra hour of sleep doing these, so last night after work, I decided to take an hour nap before I tackled today's Santa.

That hour lasted 10. Hours.

Had skating practice today, then went and helped some of the derby members wrap gifts in the mall, and by the time I got home and comfortable, it was 5pm- NICE.


Without further stalling, here is Day 4's Santa, done in the style of Walt Disney's right hand man for many years, Ub Iwerks. (Note: the coloring's more stylized after published Mickey Mouse illustrated stories, rather than the b&w or fully colored cartoons). IF you didn't know, Ub and Walt worked at the same design studio together in Kansas City and were tight like bros for a number of years. Walt, displaying his savvy entrepeneurial skills early, designated Iwerks as his main man with the magic hand.

Together they went on the road from Kansas City to California. They worked for an animation studio and created Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to that familiar, cute, black rodent. Walt basically gave a friendly metaphorical gesture involving a middle finger to 'working for the man', and went off on his own. Ub joined Walt shortly after, when Ub, on some free time, created a new, copyright-free rodent that Disney apparently ha-zaa'ed at and proudly pronounced, 'This character will make me, er, US, kings of the WORLD!' So Walt creates a new company, and employs Ub Iwerks as the main animator, probably the ONLY animator.

Employed with a fist of steel, that is. Apparently Walt worked Ub's pencil down to a stub, and after creating Mickey Mouse and some episodes, Ub quit. Friendship ruined. Ub started his own company, created a couple new characters that amounted to not half the popularity that MM had, walked around Hollywood with his hands in his pockets for some years, until finally coming back to the man with the master plan. Disney I assume asked for his feet to be kissed, and after loyalty had been once again established, allowed Ub to come back and work for him.

There's a lot more, but I prefer to move onto the next Santa then go on babbling with knowledge I picked up from Wikipedia and distant memories from my History Of Comics And Cartoons class at school.

Medium- ink, with dyes, digital for old paper texture.

31 Days Of Santa: 3rd Day- Dr. Seuss

Pen & Ink plus dyes. Having not worked with dyes in quite a spell, I got a lil' dark in my 'aged paper' effect. My inks seem a little thicker as well, but overall, at least it doesn't look more like a Grandma Moses.

Tidbit of information- Mr. Geisel, as his friends call 'im, was a devout Lutheran. I thought he was Jewish. Oh well- at least he liked Jewish people. Unlike Luther... who so happened to be the father of Lutheranism. But Seuss wasn't too fond of the Japanese. Until after the war... then he felt bad for what he said about them during WWII, and made up for it.

Ahem.

31 Days Of Santa: 2nd Day- Sanrio

I can tell already that Wednesdays will be that one day to squeeze art in the best of my ability. Roller Derby practice is on Wednesdays and Sundays; Wednesdays after work will most assuredly be reserved for the easier styles.

SUCH AS THIS ONE! Sanrio (Hello Kitty brand)! OK, you got me- it may not necessarily represent one particular artist, but the branding is iconic enough that I felt I could run with it. Plus it's my blog- I do what I want. Because it's my blog, (nyehh!).

Is it Hello Kitty in a Santa outfit? I don't know, but by golly, he (or she?) sure does prefer you stare at that candy cane instead of wondering what's inside the bag.

31 Days Of Santa: 1st Day- Me/ Barry Moser

FOR THE MERRY MONTH OF DECEMBER, I decided to take a stab at showing you guys a Santa I've created every day, each in a different artist's style, technique, etc. Mind you, it was not even a full day after posting my holiday cheer-filled idea for everyone to see, when 1). I decided to join the local ROLLER DERBY league, thus committing myself to AT LEAST 2 practices a week, (which would alone place a sweat bead on this brow), and 2). a couple freelance gigs decided to surface for added entertainment. Oh, top that with the day jarb. That being said, I will not puss out......... probably not.


We're starting this blog off the self-centered promotional way...

Santa, MY way. Odd, eccentric, makes you wonder how your alcoholic Uncle Wilhelm from Maine is doing on that crabbing boat he purchased this year with his tax return.

Done in scratchboard, which is essentially a board, be it masonite, cardboard, paper, illustration board, etc, with a thin layer of white clay, and topped off with a layer of black ink. Scratch away the black to show the white- sort of like working a negative, but don't be fooled and make a black line into a white line; instead, scratch the white around the black- (get it? Ooh, you're clever!). Scratchboard came about once printing methods became more advanced, and replaced wood/ metal engravings, which were types of block printing. Photographic reproduction was used for scratchboards, expending the issue of a block's shelf life after so many print runs.