MIKE & MINDY PUMPED FOR THE CRAZYVERSARY, PT. 3

We've come to it at last...  The end...  Of February 2022.  What?  You thought I was ending the blog?  Come on now, you know nobody's THAT lucky!  Besides, we're only halfway through the CRAZYVERSARY!!!  There's still plenty of bloated goodness to feast on!  Like more Mike & Mindy fan art!

For those not following along, I posted this panel on Twitter and challenged other artist pals to draw it in their own styles.  Much to my surprise, it got a LOT responses!  So many so that I had to split it up into multiple parts!  Here's our equivalent of Return Of The Jedi!  Enjoy...

Sorry to start this off on a sad note as the artist behind this was my dear pal Torben Christensen, who passed away not long after drawing this.  I, like so many others who knew and loved "Torbs," had no idea that he'd been ill, so it caught a lot of us off guard.  He was a fun, encouraging and insanely talented soul, always happy to jump in on these wacky art collectives on Twitter.  He was posting art on social media up to the end and even had a final piece ready, a true pro to the end.  The above piece was among the last few sketches he posted, which makes this even more bittersweet.  That he deemed me and my cartoon kids worthy of time that was growing more precious by the second is very humbling.  Thanks again Torbs.  You were an inspiration, but more than that, you were a pal too.

Jean Okada

Howard Stacy

Dave McTaggart

Kalon Anne Sardin

Ian Bossons

Ric Lumb

Will Flitcroft

DF Morrill

Ryan Klassen

Although it is a Wrap on February, it's not a wrap on the CRAZYVERSARY!!!  We still got ten more takes on bloated Mike and Mindy to showcase, not to mention a couple a special pieces honoring the puffed pals!  So be sure to come back next week so we can kick March off on the same high note we ended February on!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!
 

MIKE & MINDY PUMPED FOR THE CRAZYVERSARY, PT. 2!!!

 

We are back and believe it or not still early on in the CRAZYVERSARY celebration!  Mike and Mindy are 12 years old now, but don't look a day past eight!  I keep asking them what their secret to staying young is, but they just won't talk!  Maybe someday...

For those just tuning in, last year I launched a "Draw This In Your Style" challenge on Twitter to see how many folks, if any, would draw the above panel in their style.  Amazingly enough, quite a few pals responded!  So many in fact, I've had to split it up into multiple weeks!  So scroll on down and see what the second wave of artists had in store for these "Balloonatics!"  Enjoy...

  

Sheri Palmer

Anthony Moorin

Monica Rondino

Esa Holopainen

Andrew Fraser

Lisa Poggioli

Kim Belding

Richard Lowke

Sarah Owen

Gotta give another special mention here as Guy Olivieri also took the time to animate Mike and Mindy's puffed posteriors for the occasion!  It is still a dream to see these two on the small screen, possibly in animated bumpers on an upstart cable network.  The future is bright!

Week 3 of the CRAZYVERSARY is done!  But never fear!  Next week's post is already overinflated with even more fan art goodness!  Had to wrap up February on a high note after after all!  And Mike and Mindy have definitely been reaching new heights as of late!  So be sure to come back for more!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

MIKE & MINDY PUMPED FOR THE CRAZYVERSARY, PT. 1!!!

We are back my CRAZIES!!!  One of the more popular art trends happening on social media these days is the "Draw This In Your Style" challenge.  Basic premise is an artist posts a drawing they did and encourage others to draw said art in their own unique style.  I've taken part in quite a few of them as they are fun to do and are a great way to sharpen our skills as artists.  They're also a really great way to get some fan art circulating around the interwebs, so I decided I'd try and get a few themes going myself, the first of which saw many artists giving their takes on the classic exploding bloomers gag from the August 2012 M&M comic.  For my second go around, I decided the ante must be upped, and there was no CRAZIER moment from the series than the comic below... 

For those new to the blog or simply don't remember, Mike and Mindy took part in an epic storyline in the spring of 2013 where they miss the school bus and attempt to get to school quickly using a whole method of Wile E. Coyote-type devices, each of which fails miserably.  Their last ditch effort involves them inflating themselves with compressed air and then using deflation as a means to propel themselves to school, which does actually work, but only ends with more misery as they realize that they'd had the day off the whole time!  Talk about a whole lotta effort for nothing?!?  Well, the comic to this day is still considered by M&M fans to be among their five funniest with the puffed panel in particular getting the biggest laughs.  Fast forward eight years later.  "Draw This In Your Style' is a thing and I got a little curious.  Would anyone WANT to draw the panel below in they own distinct styles?

Turns out that quite a few pals were more than happy to draw these pumped pals!  So much so, that it's gonna take four weeks to cover them all!  So put on some stretchy clothes, sit back, relax and scroll down to get your fill of fan art goodness!  Enjoy...

Robert Moore

Shaylee Robson

Joaquin Orellana

Traci Van Wagoner

Kirsten Sneath

Sheree Boyd

Suzanne Tamberrino

Marlene Jorgenses

Warren Frantz

Special mention is warranted for my dear pal Haruka, who not only animated this, but added Bubble Fox to the mix and insisted that she and her cat's cartoon likenesses substitute for Mike and Mindy in the piece!  I absolutely loved this!

And that's all for the first part of this MASSIVE fan art extravaganza!  Ten more wild takes of this classic M&M moment are coming next week, so stay "Tooned!"  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

HAPPY CRAZYVERSARY MIKE & MINDY!!! CELEBRATING 12 YEARS OF EXPLOSIVE FUN!!!

 

My goodness how time flies...  Has it really been 12 years since I launched what is now the CRAZYVERSE blog so I could have a way to showcase my comics and art after being rejected by MAD Magazine, twice?  It would appear so, and we're going BIG with this year's celebration!  How big you ask?  So big, we're going into March even with the biggest collection of Mike & Mindy fan art ever assembled!  From February of 2010 through December of 2014, these pugnacious tykes ran wild over the blog with monthly mayhem that saw them cause all sorts of trouble and fun along the way.  Despite having ended just over seven years ago, more people seem to be discovering and in some cases even rediscovering them, so I'll always devote February to celebrating my original comic stars.  It was a great ride while their series lasted and continues to get better as they still drop in every now and then!

The above art was particularly fun to draw and color.  Despite having always used markers for colors, I've traditionally always done flat colors by and large because I just plain didn't know any better (There's a reason I'm not at Marvel or DC folks!).  Over the last couple of years though, I've actively tried to get a little more dimensional with my colors while also learning new coloring techniques thanks to the treasure trove of art tutorials that YouTube provides!  It's fun to apply some of these new techniques to my art and I think it's a big plus!  It's also fun to pay homage to the things that inspire me and Dragonball is among my many inspirations.  It's why all my characters have spiky hair!

That's all for this first week of the expanded CRAZYVERSARY!!!  And expanded is a particularly good keyword here as for the next four weeks, we'll be getting an expanded look at one of Mike and Mindy's most memorable comics as interpreted by 40 different pals from the world of comics and illustration!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!