Making of the Roofus Doll

Because one person requested this, I present the step-by-step details of the creation of the one-and-only Roofus doll. I have always wanted a stuffed version of my comic strip character, Roofus. A couple of years ago, I asked a friend of mine if she could sew a doll. She referred me to her mother: a nice lady by the name of Jo Fountain. I called Jo up and she said she'd love to take on the challenge.

At our initial meeting, Jo and I discussed details of the doll: size, color, fabric. I gave Jo some sample of my Roofus artwork. I also made a rough sketch of how I envisioned the doll with detailed notes.

 

I also made a doll pattern. I'd never done this before, but I Googled doll patterns and did my best. She was impressed with the detailed directions and was eager to begin.

After our initial meeting, we met once again and decided on fabric types and colors. I ended up choosing a felt material because it reminded me of the Muppets. The color was perfect.

After a shaky start (due to my bad direction), Jo and I finally were on the same page and the doll started to take shape. We met once more and Jo showed me the basic construction of the doll: the size, the shape of the body and head. She also showed me what the eyes and nose would look like.

The final doll looks amazing. The most amazing part was that Jo did it for FREE! It was such a kind gesture and a priceless gift for me. Thanks again, Jo! Below are some festive shots of Roofus from Halloween and Christmas.

So you might ask, why only make one? Well, I can't really afford to mass produce Roofus dolls right now. Plus, there's not really a demand for them either. Professionally speaking, I see the doll as a promotional device. Whenever I have a personal appearance or a book signing, I display the Roofus doll with my Roofus books in an attempt to entice potential customers to buy my crap.

Personally speaking, it's just cool.

Sketchbook Project Part 2

I recently participated in The Art House Co-Op Limited Edition Sketchbook Project. The project is a collaborative series of art books created by 5000 artists from around the world. 

This is part two of my Limited Edition Sketchbook Project. The topics of these journal comics are very basic and ordinary. I thought it might be interesting to be straight forward with the material and not make it "jokey." Basically, these strips are very much an illustrated journal of recent events from my life.

You can see actual photos of my Roofus Halloween decor here and here.

Roofus, the World War I Flying Ace

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I dressed as Charlie Brown. As you can see here, Roofus was decked out in his World War I Flying Ace costume in tribute to everyone's favorite beagle, Snoopy.

Halloween Roofus Decorations

This Halloween, I decided to throw a big Halloween party at my house. I decked out my pad with all sorts of cool cartoony Halloween decor. When I was shopping for decorations, I found these at my local Target.

I thought it might be cool to create some Halloween Roofus figures for my party. So I bought these Halloween Themed Color Blanks figures. I purchased a frankenstein, a pumpkin head and a ghost figure. Then, I painted the figures with acrylic paint and applied the details with a Sharpie pen. Finally, I made some Roofus ears out of flexible foam paper and glued them each figure. Here is the final result.

Franken-Roof

Roof-O-Lantern

Ghost Roofus

I'm not normally good at arts and crafts, but I was pleasantly pleased at how these little figures turned out. I especially like how the Ghost Roofus looks. He looks exactly like he did as he appeared in his Halloween adventure.

Happy Howl-O-Ween

Happy Halloween, folks. Today's blog post was digitally painted by artist extraordinaire Jeff Welborn. The art and words are by little ol' me.

Tune in tomorrow for the next page of my 24 hour comic.

Slick's Halloween Funnies

It's ironic that I decided to post this specific comic on Halloween. I almost always get sick/catch a cold on or around Halloween. This year was no exception. I spent Halloween weekend sniffling, sneezing and blowing my nose (much like Slick here). Regardless, Happy Halloween Everybody!

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Slick's Halloween Funnies

Well, it's that time of year again when ghosts and goblins by the score, ring the bell on your front door. To celebrate, all week long I'll be posting some Slick Halloween Funnies. I drew these for my 2009 24 Hour Comic. Enjoy these Halloween comics and Happy Halloween!