BLAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!

Halfway through August CRAZIES!!!  I know it sounds like a bummer, but summer vacation's kinda pointless when you don't go to school and have a job with flexible hours, but enough about that!  Time to BLAART!!!  Excuse me, there seems to be some interference.  It's time to BLAAAAAAAART!!!  What the?!?  Who or what keeps taking over my keyboard?!?  Scroll down and find out!  Enjoy...

Uh oh!  It would seem that one of the Goblins from Dana Simpson's Phoebe And Her Unicorn has escaped and is jumping comics pages again!  One of the sweetest and funniest comics in the funny pages today,  Phoebe is the brainchild of cartoonist and illustrator Dana Simpson.  A silly tale about a little girl who happens upon a unicorn after a rock skipping accident, Phoebe and her unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, go on all sorts of fun adventures and encounter a whole host of wacky characters, from a candy-barfing dragon to a sphinx that decides to guard Phoebe's door to selfish unicorns that inflate themselves with helium in an effort to rise up to the sky and hog the sun for themselves!  Phoebe and Marigold meet all types, including goblins, who in this universe are depicted as impish, gremlin-like creatures that cause all sorts of mischief and are only capable of speaking in BLAARTS!!!  I'm not fluent in it myself, but BLAART is now a part of the comics lexicon, and that truly is a great gift that Dana's given to us, among many others!

That's all for this week.  We'll be back next time to end August on a high note with a possible kazoo solo or two!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later! 

YETI, YETI, YE-TAAAAAAY!!!

Well, here are at last, the end of July.  Whether things are improving right now is anyone's guess, but hope must always remain.  All I know is, I got some art to share, and hopefully y'all will get a kick out of it.  Features a few special guests even!  Enjoy...

Where to begin with this one?  If you know web comics and wrestling, this one will make a LOT more sense, especially 90's wrestling.  We all know Bigfoot, Yeti and Evan Yeti, as they're all web comic benchmarks and I've done fan art of those characters in the past.  The guy on the far right however is also called the Yeti, or Ye-tay as longtime WCW announcer Tony Schiavone called him.  In 1995, WCW put together a group of monster heel wrestlers and called them the Dungeon of Doom.  Their lone purpose was to rid WCW of Hulk Hogan.  It was a plan similar to how the WWF had booked Hogan, putting unstoppable monsters before him that made the fans believe they might actually pose a threat to the Hulkster.  WCW, however, largely concerned themselves with stroking Hogan's ego and just had him absolutely demolish every member of what became a rather large revolving door of the stable.  In the weeks prior to Halloween Havoc '95, the Dungeon's Taskmaster, Kevin Sullivan, wheeled out a giant block of ice to shows and claimed that the Yeti was coming for Hulk Hogan.  On the night of the show, the ice broke and indeed, someone was there to attack.  But instead of a large, hairy creature of Himalayan myth coming out to attack, a large mummy lead the charge and proceeded to have his way with Hulkamania.  I'd go into further detail, but words really do this post no justice.  Just look it up on YouTube folks.  There's bound to be at least one uncut video that WWE's lawyers haven't ordered off yet!  This was another entry for Animal Alphabets and one of my favorites to work on.  Vince Dorse, Jeff Crowther and Mat Washburn are all very good friends and I'm always happy to draw up some fan art for them and should do it more often quite frankly.  Bad wrestling, or Wrestlecrap, is also another fun subject, especially the goofier stuff from the past.  This art got a good response on Twitter.  I was pretty surprised to see how many people knew of this infamous wrestling angle that even Hulk Hogan himself expressed embarrassment over.  We can all look back and have a laugh at it now at least.

And that's a wrap for the month of July.  We'll be back next time with more CRAZY fun and hopefully maybe even some good news.  Please take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Until next time, I'll catch y'all later.

XIXI ZHI YU... TRY SAYING THAT ONE FIVE TIMES FAST!!!

Well, today is a somber day for me.  Tonight, I would've been enjoying Preview Night at Comic Con.  We all know the state of things and I only hope by next summer we can all see some semblance of normalcy.  For now, I offer whatever relief or escape my art can give, so I hope y'all will still scroll down and see what's swimming up.  Enjoy...

Today folks, we explore the Xixi Zhi Yu, a creature originally of Chinese mythology.  Usually depicted as a fish with ten wing-like fins and spines, it was said that they could cure jaundice.  Given that fish with that many spines and fins on them are typically very highly toxic, I would imagine the Xixi Zhi Yu could cure quite a few things in an unintended way!  This fish would definitely fall under the Look-Don't-Touch department when coming across one.  Another Animal Alphabets entry, this one was another rather simple effort.  Some entires are more elaborate than others as more astute readers have likely noticed.  A large part of that depends heavily on how much time I have to work on things.  If I'm super busy with the day job or comics, I tend to just jot something down very quickly.  It's not particularly fair to the theme, but time for the most part is often at a premium.  Not so much now, but those days will return again I'm sure.

And that's it for this week.  We'll be back next time to wrap up the month of July with a quadruple dose of CRAZY antics!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

RAINBOW ROAD TO THE RAINBOW SERPENT!!!

Welcome to July CRAZIES!!!  Hopefully, you all are staying safe and healthy and seeing some kind of improvement in your towns.  Obviously, things are gonna be quite different this weekend, compared to past 4th of July celebrations, but I'm confident we'll all find a way to have some kind of fun.  We may not have fireworks right now (well, legal ones at least), but I still got some loud, explosive colors for you, so scroll down and take a gander at some analog color by way of digital distribution!  Enjoy...

TheRainbow Serpent!  More than just a brightly colored snake, this colorful reptile is a deity in Australian Aboriginal cultures.  Believed to be a bringer of life, it's been said that when rainbows appear, it's the serpent himself leaving one watering hole for the next.  Being a lover of all things reptilian, it didn't take much coaxing to get me to draw this one when Animal Alphabets picked this subject.  Not much of a gag, but I was okay with it.  It got a great response on Twitter and now, dear CRAZIES, the polished version is here for all to enjoy!

That's a wrap for today.  Be sure to come back next week for more silly shenanigans from the House of CRAZY!  Also, DO be careful this weekend.  Even without a pandemic, the 4th of July has a bad habit of leading to serious injury due to some people having a little too much fun.  Fireworks are illegal in many states for good reason, so please use caution, especially when alcohol is involved! Until then, take care, stay safe and happy 4th of July!  Catch y'all later!

THE QUEST FOR THE QUESTING BEAST...

Well, we've come to the end of June.  Not sure what the state of the world is at the moment, but hopefully, it's on the upswing.  What I can tell you though is that I got some wild art today that'll hopefully bring y'all a smile or two.  So sit back, relax and take a look at some CRAZY art for these CRAZY times!  Enjoy...

The Questing Beast.  A creature with the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the legs of a deer and tail of a lion, it's a VERY old creature of English folklore.  It's been said during King Arthur's early years, before he was king even, he encountered the Questing Beast as another king hunted it.  Arthur came across this beast and king several more times throughout his life and at no time did his royal counterpart ever come close to catching the creature, nor did anybody else, hence its title of a Questing Beast: Just going after it was a quest in its own right!  I'm sure there's more to this legend than that, but even Professor Wikipedia doesn't always fill in all the details!  Another Animal Alphabets entry, this one was fun to draw, despite not having much more to it than its pose.  His quip certainly got a rise out of the folks on Twitter, so I'll call it a win still!

Well, that's a wrap on June 2020.  Since there's no Comic Con next month, or County Fair to gorge myself on, I'm just gonna keep on posting mythical animals if that's alright with you fine folks?  It is?  Good!  I'll just keep at it!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

DON'T MAKE HIM ANGRY... YOU WOULDN'T LIKE THIS BIRD WHEN HE'S ANGRY!!!

And we're back!  Halfway through June and hopefully things are improving around the world.  If there's been any silver lining to all this time off, it's that it has given me a chance to really spread my wings artistically.  As of this writing, I'm working on a small clay figure, a mask and a kitbashed spaceship, in addition to the regular comics and art.  Depending on how some of these art projects go, I might be doing blog posts on them down the road!  But that's in the future, right now, we are in the present, though I'm typing this in the past!  Time paradoxes aside, let's jump into today's art, shall we?  Enjoy...

The Phoenix, the legendary fire bird.  Beautiful, powerful and immortal, this colorful creature of myth never dies.  When its time comes, this bird bursts into flames and is then born again from its own ashes, stronger than ever and ready for another lifetime.  Think of it as Groundhog Day, only an entire life keeps repeating itself even after a lesson is learned!  Another entry from Animal Alphabets, this one wasn't my most spectacular piece, as there isn't really a gag and the dialogue only hints at what might come.  Still, I loved coloring this one as it has a really cool rainbow look to it and sometimes, simple is best.

Well, that's all for now.  We'll be back next week to send June off into the sunset with a beast that is even more elusive than the fabled barking spider!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

HOLY FRITTATA!!! IT'S A NEKOMATA!!!

Welcome back followers of the House of CRAZY!!!  HALLOWEEN IS NEXT WEEK!!!  WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  Sorry, gotta compose myself here.  But how can I not be excited?  I love Halloween!  I love the fall season!  And so many wonderful things are now on the horizon!  It's hard not to go nuts!  But, I have a job to do.  Well, not really.  I don't get paid for any of this but it does keep me grounded, so I'll count it as work!  Anyway, enough yammering, it's art time!  Enjoy...

The Nekomata.  A creature of Japanese folklore, its roots can actually be traced back as far back as ancient China even.  There are several variations on its origins and nature, but almost all seem to agree that they are cats capable of producing fire and have two tails.  That was more than enough for me to run with it when Animal Alphabets made this one of their creatures for their mythical themes!  This piece is another one I'm fairly proud of color-wise.  I know my style is far from amazing, but I do feel I've always had a skill at matching colors.  It's probably the part of cartooning I enjoy the most.

Another week down CRAZIES!  We'll be back next time with a revealing look at some old pals who've come back to help us send October off on a high note.  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

BRING OUT THE IMP!!!

We are back and smack dab in the middle of October!  Things are moving along rather rapidly as they often do here.  With any luck, I have all my Halloween decorations up by this point and was able to get a few more trips to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm in while getting a few good days in at the day job.  But now is not the time to discuss such things.  Now is the time for art!  So let's dive in and look at some!  Enjoy...

Imps.  Mischievous little gremlins that love to cause trouble when you're least expecting it, for many years they were believed to be responsible for the awful pranks that plagued many communities.  Come to learn later on that it was just a bunch of teenagers who lacked discipline.  *Cough* No matter the source, they have existed in folklore for millennia, and when Animal Alphabets put out this theme, I knew I was gonna join in!  I'm pretty proud of the colors on this one.  Seems like a good fit for Halloween!

That's all for today folks.  We'll be back next time with some more mythical art that'll have us all a little hot under the collar, so be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

HYDRA?!? WHERE'S CAPTAIN AMERICA WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!?

Welcome back CRAZIES!  After a brief interlude we are back with some art!  Since it's October, I felt some creatures often associated with the scary side of things would be more appropriate for this month's posts.  And what could be scarier than a Hydra?  Your mother busting out baby pics in front of your prom date?  Well, I suppose that can be pretty terrifying.  I went to prom stag, so I wouldn't know!  Anyway, I think y'all came here for art, so let's get to it!  Enjoy...

The Hydra.  A creature of Greek and Roman mythology, somewhat dragon-like, that sprouted two new heads for every head that was lost.  A straight shot to the heart was pretty much the only way to kill it, unless you were willing to wait out old age!  Hercules and Jason both fought one through myth and movies and today, it gets the CRAZY treatment!  This was originally part of Animal Alphabets' mythology run, which has been seen quite a lot in recent months.  Times have been a bit busy lately and these scary creatures are fortuitously convenient!  Plus, it's always nice to go back and clean things up a bit!

That's all for today.  We'll be back next time with a creature known for its small stature but mischievous nature that rivals any tall enough to ride a roller coaster!  So be sure to come back and check it out.  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

THE HIPPO AND THE HIPPOCAMPUS!!!

Well, it's the final week of September and excitement's at an all time high!  Rather than drag this on, I'm gonna cue up some Earth Wind And Fire (September of course!) get straight to the art.  Sound good?  Great!  Let's do this!  Enjoy...

The Hippocampus.  Pretty much the horse equivalent of a mermaid, they don't get too many appearances in fantasy films.  Thankfully, Animal Alphabets respects them and gave them an entire day to be loved and admired by all!  Given that "Hippo" is part of their name, I thought it would be funny for it to encounter an actual hippo as the full name of "Hippopotamus" means "River Horse!"  See?  We learn something new everyday!  Hopefully the hippo is mindful of the little snail by the rock!

And that's a wrap on September 2019!  Hopefully y'all enjoyed more of these mythical creatures.  I plan to rustle up something spooky for October, so be sure to come back, especially next week as we kick things off with pictures from Long Beach Comic Con 2019!  Should be a blast!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

POTOO GRIFFIN FLOATS TO THE TOP WITH A BLOATED FAT RAT!!!

We are halfway past September CRAZIES!!!  I love this time of year so much!  Fall just has a magical way with me and I hope the season's been good to you all as well!  But hey!  It's art time!  So let's get to it, shall we?  Enjoy...

Those darn Potoo Griffins!  Or gryphons.  Gryffins?  Look, these creatures have like ten different spellings.  I can't keep track of them all!  Guess it depends on the cultural origin since many speak of them.  Today's theme again comes from Animal Alphabets.  Since Griffins were the mythical beast they chose, I thought I'd toss in a nod to my pal Cyndi Foster, the wonderful artist behind Oops, the tale of a boy and his rat, his big FAT rat, and the adventures they get into in a medieval world where griffins frequent the land!  The rat in question is Plague, a scoundrel in every sense who usually gets poor mute Oops in trouble.  Potoo Griffin, who's more or less Cyndi's mascot, is a young, silly griffin who's still discovering the world.  And because he's young, his wings don't quite work yet, so he puffed up Plague and road him to snacks galore!  Hopefully, Plague won't let his swollen pride get the better of him this time around!

And that's another week down.  We got one more then its October!  But we still gotta finish off September, so be sure to come back and we'll send the ninth month of the year off in proper fashion.  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

DON'T FAWN OVER A FAUN!!!

And we're back!  Moving along here, we are now into week two of September and with any luck, I'm already putting the final touches on my Halloween builds and getting ready to set up my yard, though given past history, I'm probably way the hell behind on things and now trying to juggle 15 tasks at once.  Maybe this'll be the year it's only ten tasks?  We shall see.  Anyway, you came for some arts, and I happen to have some!  Enjoy...

Hey hey!  It's Mr. Tumnus!  Narnia's nicest albeit somewhat creepiest resident!  Animal Alphabets strikes again here.  The theme was a faun, so I went with the one most people are familiar with.  Not sure if James McAvoy looks back on this role with fondness, but I'd like to think he does.  He's done many big things since.  Narnia was a stepping stone of sorts.  Now that Disney inadvertently has the film rights to Narnia again, part of me wonders if they'll continue the series or just start again from scratch.  The original films weren't bad, but there was room for improvement.  I will always be of the opinion that the rhino should've mashed more fools than he did when he charged into the White Witch's army!  Only time will tell I suppose.

And that's that!  But fear not!  Another post is coming next week!  And I think you all will find it quite uplifting!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later! 

TODAY'S POST IS A "BOAR"... AN ERYMANTHIAN BOAR!!!

Welcome to September CRAZIES!!!  Fall has finally come and with it, all the things I love the most, like pie!  Cooler weather!  Pie!  Turning leaves!  Pie!  Halloween!  Pie!  Thanksgiving!  And of course, pie!  Did I mention that pie season is here?  Not sure if I got that point across.  Anyway, there will be plenty of time for that stuff in the coming weeks.  You're here for art!  At least I hope you are. It's kind of the reason I do this ya know!  Anyway, we're delving deep into the world of mythological creatures again and we're starting with a biggie!  So let's get to it!  Enjoy...

The Erymanthian Boar was not the kind of pig to mess with.  These beasts were massive and quite the terrors in Ancient Greece.  As one of his acts of penance, Hercules was tasked with defeating one and did!  The Ancient Greeks ate for weeks off of this boar's tender meat!  Being a carnitas junky myself, this porker would make me pretty happy if I owned a taco shop!  This art, along with all of the art coming this month, was originally part of Animal Alphabets' mythology theme.  Earlier this year, I explored a few of these themes and people liked them so much, I decided to do it again!  Trust me, it has nothing to do with me being pressed for time and the art already being done and needing few corrections!

That's all for today.  We'll be back next week with a familiar friend from the land of Narnia, so be sure to come back and give it a look!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

RAR WITH TODD, THE CANDY DRAGON!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  No I'm not doing my Ric Flair impression, though I think we all gotta salute the "Nature Boy" every now and again, I'm celebrating the end of February!  Now before any tears are shed, let it be known I have no issues at all with the second month of the year.  In fact, I've had a lot of fun days in February over the years.  But if y'all know me well enough, you'd know some VERY good times are rapidly approaching, so yeah, I'm pretty excited for the coming month!  But we gotta finish this month first, so lets do this with a candy-coated cameo!  Enjoy...

This is Todd.  He is a dragon.  In fact, he is a Candy Dragon!  What sets him a part from other dragons?  Aside from looking like he may reside at Santa's Workshop in the off season, he also spews candy instead of fire, making him a safer dragon, though he still has sharp teeth and claws.  A dragon's still gotta dragon yo!  This colorful little fella comes from the wonderful comic series Phoebe And Her Unicorn, the tale of a spunky little girl named Phoebe and her Unicorn pal, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils.  Together, Phoebe and Marigold have all sorts of fun encountering fantasy critters like goblins and dragons while exploring a real world that sometimes proves even stranger than any fantasy realm!  Dana Simpson is the creator of this delightful, all-ages tale and a pal on Twitter.  She's also very kind and very supportive of other creators, knowing the ins and outs of web comics all too well.  When Animal Alphabets picked Dragons as their mythical creature for the letter D, I knew I had to draw Todd!  It should be noted that his eyes are actually red.  GoComics doesn't really do any archive feature without actually looking through ever last strip of the comic you're looking up.  So, I made a judgement call and thankfully, Dana liked it!  Kinda gives his eyes an M&M's, hard candy vibe!  Be sure to give Dana's comics a look.  They are fun reads for everyone!

And that's a wrap on February!  I hope y'all enjoyed the creatures of ancient mythology.  I had a lot of fun drawing them and once again wanna thank the team at Animal Alphabets for creating such a fun theme!  I promise there's even more waiting to be posted in the future!  Speaking of the future, the art will be going on hiatus for the next few weeks, but fear not!  I got a pretty good substitute waiting in the wings!  What could it be you ask?  Well, remember when I said some good times were coming in March at the beginning of the post?  Well, one of those is WonderCon!  And it just so happens, I got some more con pics to share from the past!  So be sure to come back and get in the WonderCon spirit with me!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all in March!

THE SAUCY CENTAUR!!!

We are back!  This mythical beast theme has been a lot of fun to post so far!  Outside of Hogwarts, Narnia and Middle Earth, these critters don't get much attention, so I'm happy to shine a spotlight on them and even happier that Animal Alphabets gave so many artists a forum to share them on!  Hopefully, other creators out there will be inspired to put these creature to page or even in more dimensional forms!  But hey, we still need to get to today's art, so saddle up and give it a gander!  Enjoy...

The Centaur.  Half man, half horse.  Ain't much more to it than that.  Clearly, this is going to be a very interesting "Birds & Bees" speech when Mama Centaur comes home!  Centaurs play a big role in many fantasy realms, most notably those of Narnian origin, but they've appeared in other mediums as well.  The Centaur I tend to remember best is the cyclopian one that the great Ray Harryhausen did for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.  He was a true master of not only special effects but creature design as well.  His creatures were amazing and looked as if they could work in the real world.  I'm honored to say I met him way back when and cherish the brief moment I spent with him.

And we're done for this week.  Next week, we'll wrap things up for February with a scaly tribute to a sweet comic!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

A BASILISK!!! TIME TO BAIL!!!

Here we are again!  At the midway point of February already!  Well, I can't really chalk this one up to any kind of weird speed up in time.  It's a short month.  The middle comes quicker in February!  But hey, you're not here to debate quantum physics.  You wanna see another mythical beast!  At least I hope you do.  It's okay to lie and say you do even if you stumbled on here accidentally while looking up cat vids, I'll totally be cool with it!  Anyway, here's the next beastie!  Enjoy...

The dreaded Basilisk!  A terrifying snake-like creature with a poisonous bite and deadly stare!  In some mythologies,  the Basilisk has short legs while others depict it as a straight snake.  The stare also has differences among the myths as some claim its stare can turn a victim to stone, much like a Gorgon, while others claim it merely paralyses a victim.  Either way, I think we can all be thankful this critter doesn't currently exist.  People have a hard enough time leaving regular snakes be, let alone giant ones that can kill you by merely making eye contact!

And that's all for this particular week!  Be sure to come back next time to see a figurative horse of another color!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

TONGUE-TIED IN MYTHICAL MAYHEM!!!

Welcome to February CRAZIES!!!  We made it through another dreary January and I'd say the wait was worth it!  Know why?  Because now we know the fun of Spring and is that much closer!  Boysenberry Fest!  WonderCon!  Easter!  Shamrock Shake Season!  Do I really need to go on?  But first, we do have to get through February which has its own fun to be had if we're gonna be fair about things.  So let's dive in with some fun art kicking off a fun month with creatures of legendary proportion!  Enjoy...

The mighty Alphyn. The body of a lion with the arms of an eagle (which is weird as an eagle's arms are actually wings, thus making the alphyn a four-legged animal), an exceptionally long tongue and a knot tied in its tail.  Okay, I'm gonna be honest folks.  This isn't a very practical creature.  Its front legs would stymie any kind of fast movement and its long tongue would probably hinder chewing.  Don't even want to know how the tail got knotted!  But hey!  It's mythical!  That's still cool, right?  Today's art came about from the great Twitter art collective Animal Alphabets, which picks a new theme every round of letters.  This particular round revolved around creatures of ancient mythology, which happens to be among my favorite subjects to read up on!  The Alphyn is a creature I often mixed up with a Gryphon, so it was nice to get things cleared up!

And that's all for today!  The whole month's gonna be mythical creatures, so I hope y'all are ready for some fantasy!  Be sure to "slither" back next week for more mythical fun!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!