The Merry Month of May

The original column that this illustration was done for was about irritating things. Specifically, things that irritated the author of this column. I am really proud of the original sketch because it includes ALL of the irritating things that she (the author) mentioned in the column. Unfortunately, I had to take out some of the jokes or visual gags, because the illustration felt too busy. I think the original drawing would have worked if it had been printed in a larger format. Here's a list of the irritating things that are included in the original drawing:

1. The month of May

2. Pot holes

3. Starbucks coffee

4. Subscription cards in magazines

5. Dirty cars

6. Spring cleaning

7. Bumper stickers

8. Vanity plates

9. Litter

10. Billboards

11. Hard to open medicine tablet packaging

12. Pollen

13. Shopping bags blowing in the wind

Sketch Week: Cave Drawing

Here's a caveman that I drew on my Wacom tablet.

Sketch Week: Mad Dog

Here's a part dog/part human who's really angry.

Sketch Week: Weird Wednesdays

And now, an astronaut rowing a canoe.

Sketch Week: Tuesday - Random Stuff

Here's a fun sketch page from one of my sketchbooks. This page has a lot going on. At the top of the page, there's a some Boswald T. Bass sketches and a redneck fisherman. At the bottom, there's Albert Einstein & son with a crazy lab rat.

Sketch Week: Monday - Roofus & Marty

This week I'm gonna share some of my sketches from my both my Sketchbooks and my Wacom tablet. Today's sketch is a Wacom sketch of Roofus and Marty. I LOVE the line quality on this drawing. Roofus and Marty look great.

Bubble Rap Up

Last night, I attended the Bubble Rap 3 exhibition at coolspace at artspace at downtown Shreveport at whatever. It was a very cool show. There were lots of new faces in the crowd and a few familiar ones. It wasn't just the Bubble Rap show, but two other art shows as well. Let me attempt to explain for those not in the know.

Artspace is a art gallery in downtown Shreveport. The building has two levels: the lower level is artspace and the upper level is coolspace. Occupying the artspace area was an exhibit called Pop! It was a very neat idea for an exhibit and I was very much looking forward to checking it out. However, the band Mudfoot, I mean, Dirtfoot was playing EXTREMELY LOUD ANNOYING MUSIC the entire time, so I didn't spend much time in the POP exhibit. (Not a Dirtfoot fan, just wanted to make that abundantly clear). Also, Mudfoot's stage took up almost 50 percent of the exhibit room and their annoying groupies were dancing their pretentious asses off. I felt embarrassed to be there. If they wanted a band to play at POP!, they should have called these guys: Click me.

In an attempt to reclaim some dignity, I retreated upstairs for some peace and quiet. The coolspace vibe was  much cooler. There was a laid-back, artistic atmosphere in the air. I like hobnobbing with fellow artists, but I always feel so out of place at these functions. Everyone looked so hip and trendy or bohemian. I was by far the biggest square there. But I'm fine with that. I gotta be me. So the coolspace area was divided into two sections: one section was devoted to the Tony Reans exhibit and the other was Bubble Rap 3. I enjoyed Tony Reans' artwork. My favorite piece was the Ray Gun. You can see his work: Click me.

Finally, last but not least, Bubble Rap 3. I had a great time talking with veteran Bubble Rap artist Micah Harold. He was exhibiting a great cartoony depiction of 9-11. You can see some of his other art here. I spoke briefly with Michael Phillips, creator of Adequate Man. He also was showing a fantastic oil painting. I had a great conversation with Chris Jay of the Robinson Film Center. He really loved my Roofus strip and he is now a fan.

Artwork by Micah Harold. The title of the 9-11 piece is Smile, Darn Ya Smile. 

Michael Phillips with Adequate Man art.

So that's pretty much it. It was great opening reception. Remember, all the exhibits I mentioned open today. If you're in the Shreveport-Bossier area, get cultured and check out some cool art by some very cool people. All the info you need is right HERE.

One Last Thing: When I was talking with Michael Phillips, I was approached by an inquiring gentleman. He asked me, "Are you Brad Campbell?" I replied, "Yes." He then introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Brad Campbell." His name was actually Brad Campbell. It was very humorous to me to meet another person with my exact same name. I found that it was very appropriate to experience such a surreal moment at an art show.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

 Tangerine Girl by Brandon Jenkins

 Calling Card by Brandon Jenkins

Update: Here are some pics from the POP! art exhibit that was being held on the main floor of artspace. It was a cool exhibit featuring artwork created with bubble wrap.

My Bubble Rap Artwork

As I mentioned yesterday, I, along with 14 other artists,  am being featured in a local art show called Bubble Rap. Technically, I'm not being featured...my artwork is (pardon my awkward sentence structure). This is a small exhibit, so each artist is only allowed two pieces in the show. Today, I present to you, my contribution to the arts:

Self Portrait (Apologies to Roy). 

Acrylic on Canvas. 36" x 48"

This is a piece I did in college, but I am still very proud of it. It is done in the style of 60s pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (hence the title). Lichtenstein is well-known for this comic book portraits, and they ARE great. Personally, I liked his abstract, Pablo Picasso-style artwork better. This is what I attempted to emulate with this piece. This is supposed to be a abstract painting of myself, but there are elements of Roofus present. The round nose in the middle is a combination of my nose and Roofus' nose. Also, if you look at the tag on the shirt, you'll see the Roofus logo banner with the letter 'R' for Roofus.

Beverly Hills Roofus 

Pen and Ink. 20" x 30"

Since my first piece is older, I wanted to include a new piece. This is one of the most recent Roofus comic strips that I've done. It is a Sunday format strip, meaning if it were published in newspapers, this particular strip would appear in the Sunday paper. I like the Netflix "logobox" gag and it loosely ties into the whole DVD theme of this strip. It looks very cool printed at a larger size.

Remember, if you are in the Shreveport-Bossier area, come check out some cool artwork at Bubble Rap. Hope to see you there. Well, I might not be there when you are. But my art will be. You get the picture (pun intended and regretted).

Bubble Rap 3

If you're in the Shreveport-Bossier area and looking for a cool art show, Bubble Rap is the show for you. This is the third Bubble Rap exhibition, curated by Michael G. Moore of the Northwest Louisiana Art Gallery artist collective. The show is a collection of cartoon/comic book/graphic artwork by 15 Shreveport-Bossier artists. Featured artists include: Michah Harold, Robert Trudeau, Rachel Stuart-Haas, Dan Garner, Michael Phillips, Tony Reams and more!


Where: coolspace @ artspace
710 Texas Street Shreveport, LA 71101 — (318) 673-6535


When: May 22 - July 10

Open Monday: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm / Tuesday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm / Wednesday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm / Thursday: 10:00 am - 7:00 pm / Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm / Saturday: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Weird Sketch Wednesdays

Here's a Wacom sketch I did of the fat kid from yesterday's comic. I did this sketch on my Wacom even though I hand drew yesterday's comic in my sketchbook.

Effed-Up Comix

This is new. I felt like drawing something edgier and slightly topical. This is me experimenting here. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. Here's the original pencil artwork.

The Last Boy Scout

Final Illustration

Magazine Layout

Here's a recent magazine illustration I did. The article was about the Boy Scouts. The article was fairly serious in nature, so it didn't lend itself to a humorous illustration. Therefore, I decided to try a more realistic illustration. This is one of my first professional illustrations that I did entirely using my Wacom tablet. I did use photo reference of a boy scout to get the details of the uniform just right (patches, neckerchief, hat).

Woof Brand Dog Food

Since it's Sunday, here's a full-color version of Slick Funnies. Originally when I drew Slick, I was in junior high school. Back then, I drew my comics in notebook. I would pass the notebooks around to my friends and they would read my comics. When I saw other people laugh at my drawings, it gave me an overwhelming sense of pride and I knew that I would be drawing cartoons for the rest of my life. I remember this particular cartoon was very popular. I think it was one of my Dad's favorites. It's one of the rare strips that you see Slick acting like a dog (barking, on all fours).

Nightmare on Blog Street

I've always had nightmares. I've never had one about diets, but I have been so scared that I woke myself up. I have a recurring nightmare about fire. It's always a variation on that theme. I've had nightmares where the house is on fire, my bed is on fire, my car is on fire...it's pretty scary. One night when I was younger, I was sleeping with my ceiling fan on. I dreamt that the ceiling fan began sparking and caught fire. I thought I heard the fire alarm and I bolted out of bed screaming, "FIRE! FIRE!" Everyone in the house got up to see what the commotion was about. That's when I finally woke up and realized I had dreamt the whole thing. I felt like an idiot, but I SWEAR, it felt SO REAL.

Son of Slick

Slick Jr. was influenced by two things. One was Nermal the cat from Garfield. Nermal was the world's cutest kitty cat that would annoy Garfield. The second (and bigger) influence was Sylvester Jr. from the Looney Tunes cartoons. I loved the dysfunctional relationship that Sylvester the cat & Sylvester Jr. had and I tried to capture that with Slick & Slick Jr.

Slick Jr. created continuity problems. One problem was that Slick Jr. didn't live with Slick. He would only occasionally visit. I never explained this. The way I see it, Slick Jr. was owned by someone else (maybe an unseen friend or relative of Jake) which would explain his occasional appearances. Also, who is Slick Jr.'s mother? I never made any references to Slick having a "wife." Wouldn't his girlfriend, Baby, want to know who Slick Jr.'s mom is? Wouldn't Slick Jr. want to know? It never came up. Maybe one day I'll solve this mystery.

Note: This comic is bizarre. A father crushing his son to death is just a little twisted. I was a weird kid.

Horror Movies are Dumb

I'm with Jake. I hate horror movies. As a kid, I was never allowed to watch them. When I was old enough to watch them, I thought they were dumb. Plus, I'm a big wimp when it comes to blood and gore.

Cat and Mouse

Trembley doesn't pose much of a threat to Eek. Trembley's too scared to know what the heck is going on.

Mouse Sitting

Sometimes, Slick would act real cool. Other times, he was just a jerk. This is an example of the latter.

Doggie Diet

Slick is basically the same formula as Garfield. I was a huge fan of the fat tabby, and I didn't have much life experience. Therefore, I aped my favorite comics. Even though, I used the Garfield formula, all the jokes were original (for the most part). I hate these diet gags only because they are SO similar to Garfield. To be fair, I related to diet gags, because I was a hefty kid. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't done them. Again, forgive the spelling errors.

Jump Scare

Trembley is very easily scared. When I created Trembley, I used the concept of a typical high-strung cat and took it the extreme. He's a fun character. Also, he doesn't talk. You'd think it would be easier to write for a character that doesn't say a work, but it's actually much harder.

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave ... with a box of scraps!"

Today I'm going to see Iron Man 2. I'm especially excited because I'm going to Dallas to watch it in IMAX. To get in the mood for Iron Man 2, I watched the first Iron Man movie again. I absolutely love the all the Iron Man scenes and the final battle between Iron Man and Ironmonger is fucking cool. My favorite "non-Iron Man" scene features Jeff Bridges as Obidiah Stane. I felt inspired, so I drew a quick sketch of that specific scene. I'm posting here on my blog, hoping it will inspire everyone to run out and watch Iron Man 2. Watch the scene that inspired this drawing here.

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 opens today in theaters today and I am really excited. I can't wait to see this movie. I loved the first one and I'm positive this one will not disappoint. Here's the classic Iron Man costume drawn in my cartoon style. I love this old-style armor and I had fun drawing it. The color scheme is the classic red and gold Iron Man colors. Hope you Iron Man fans enjoy it. More importantly, why are you still reading this? GO WATCH IRON MAN 2! If you can't watch Iron Man 2, watch this.

Happy Birthday, Charles

Note: Slick Funnies will return Sunday.

Today is Charles' birthday so I made him this card. Charles is my oldest brother and he's pretty badass. I just wanted to take a moment and wish him the fondest of birthday wishes. Have a great day, bro!

Creator Commentary: For Charles' card, I used one of the jam comics from our cartoonist club meetings. I splashed some color on the black and white art using Illustrator. Then, I included a personalized message on the inside. And of course, I gave all of the artists credit. Thanks to Travis Eck, Jeremy Johnson and Jeff Welborn for contributing to my brother's birthday greeting.

Super Slick to the Rescue

In 1986, I did Slick n' Pals. A year later, I relaunched it as Slick Funnies. In Slick n' Pals, I did these Super Slick gags and I carried it over to Slick Funnies.

The Most Disappointing Meal of the Day

Slick lets his stomach get the best of him. Forgive my bad spelling. I'm a much better speller now. Also, this punchline is awkwardly written. But hey, cut my 12-year-old self some slack.

Slick Funnies #1

In celebration of Smooth Move, Slick, this week I'm posting some of the Slick Funnies comics that are in the book. This the original artwork. I didn't do any clean-up or post-production work here. Remember, I was twelve, so there are a lot of mistakes. One of these days, I plan to redraw these strips with my Wacom and re-do the lettering using my personalized font. Until then, enjoy Slick in his unedited glory.

Bat Jam

Final Version

Original Version

Here's the newest jam comic from our cartooning group. This time we did things a little different. We threw out a theme and each one of us individually drew a panel. The theme was "The Day in the Life of Batman." I drew the first and last panel. Travis Eck drew the second panel. Jeremy Johnson drew the third panel. Jeff Welborn drew the forth panel. Jeremy and Travis drew a similar joke, so Jeremy did an alternate panel for the final version. Check out his alternate panel in the original version. I think they're both pretty funny.

Bonus Sketch: This is a Batman drawing that Travis did in his college days. He e-mailed it to me and I thought it would be appropriate to post it here.

Counting Calories by Travis Eck