Custom Cartoons for Businesses

For the last several years this financial planner has asked me to create a custom cartoon for his email he sends to his clients on their birthdays.  This is for 2015.  Must be working.

How Much Stuff Do You Need?

Well I'm Pretty Much At the Bottom

One Girl Walking 2185 Miles in 111 Days, ALONE

hiker alone accept the sounds of the dark woods.
Boon, Cartoons, cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle,
doodles, One Guy Drawing

It is without a doubt my long held aspiration to thru hike the AT (Appalachian Trail).  I wanted to share this one Thru Hiker's Blog.

This young lady, trail name Wired, just finished her 2185 mile hike yesterday after 111 days on the trail.  She updated a blog daily with wit, candor, and pictures sharing her day to day trials, tribulations (like her monthly periods) and triumphs along with the characters and players that make an AT thru hike an unique experience.    

Yesterday's completion of the AT makes her a triple crown long hiker having previously completed the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) and PCT (Pacific Coast Trail). 

I encourage you to start at Day One and make reading her blog the daily start to your day for the next 111 days.

Walking With Wired: Day 111: Katahdin Baby!: The Birches Campsite(2180.1)-Mt Katahdin(2185.3) Maine Aug 5th 5.2mi + 4.3 Knife Edge=9.5mi Elevation chart courtesy of Guthook's AT...

Psychologist and Therapist - Analyze Me For A Good Laugh

I don't know where I came across this but thought it might be an interesting exercise to share.

What did you dream of becoming when you were a kid? - Cartoonist, really ever since 4th grade that would fall under the category of dream.  Late teens it was about being rich.

What are your strengths and values? - I hate questions like this...I don't know if I really know.  I guess one core thing I can think of is honest.  Other than that I really don't know.  I think "strength" is a relative term and as such it depends on the circumstance.  Values?  Really, what the hell even is a value?  It depends on the circumstances at hand.  Yea, I could say "Don't kill someone." but if you threaten my ass, I might just kill you before you kill me.  So the value is also relative.

If money weren’t a problem, what would you spend your every day doing? - Any thing that struck my fancy at the time.  I like exploring and experiencing things.  I'm willing to try anything, and I'm not too keen on doing over and over the things I've done.

What would you be doing if you knew you couldn’t fail? - Fear of failure has never really held me back as an adult.  As a kid, yes.  I can't point to one or two specific things, but I know I didn't try things for fear of failure or embarassment.  I don't fear failure as much as fear mis-allocation of my resources or uncertainty of the best attack.

What’s your favorite way to spend your free time? - exploring, seeing or doing new things.

What have you done in your life that you are especially proud of? -I feel like I've been a good dad.  I guess I'm not the ultimate judge of that though.

What activity are you doing when it feels like time just flies by? - learning, researching some subject I've decided to look into.

When do you feel the most alive? - I guess to answer that I'd have to have compare it to a time I feel most dead, and I can't think of any of those. 

What kind of impact do you want to have? - why must I have an impact on anyone or thing?  I don't understand this concept.  I want to enjoy my life, for me.  I've done what every living thing is suppose to do...I multiplied, pro-created, perpetuated my genes, isn't the rest of my time for me, since I'm not expected to continue to have offspring.

What kind of professional and personal breakthroughs do you want to experience? - I want to be unburdened.

What are things (a language, a sport) you want to learn? - If I didn't have to balance this with limited funds or time....fly.

How do you envision you will leave your goal or legacy on people’s lives? - my day job impacts a lot of people.  I would like to think maybe there is some sort of legacy effect of that, but as far as leaving my goal on peoples lives...what the hell does that mean?

What are you excited, happy, and enjoying most in your liferight now? - continuing to be able to survive.  If I can survive today, maybe tomorrow will be better.

Best Steak Grilling Techniques - Test Strip 21

Grilling a steak, best way, the dork way, Boon, cartoons, cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle, one guy drawing, doodles

Test Strip 20 - Tofu and BBQ Sauce

Test Strip 19

Damn! Its like that movie Matrix, how the hell is Earl not getting the reality that the world he perceives is not the real.
Boon, cartoon, cartoonist for hire, Boondawgoggle, One Guy Drawing, doodles. working from home

Test Strip 18

Still evolving an idea and direction.

I Love the Look of Traditional Dip Pen Inking

I was messing around with the settings on a new printer the other day and printed out this rough from my TEST STRIP series in non-photo blue.  It sat on my desk for weeks until I just couldn't help but pull out the bottle of  INDIA ink and dip pen and ink it in part way.  I just thought I'd share.  Might only be of interest to those that have ever done any inking.

Inking with a dip pen for the fun.   Obviously there are globs and smudges as I didn't intend to publish this.

Test Strip 17

I have an idea of where I'm headed with this, but right now it is just as it flowed from my head, through my pen to this sketch pad.  Life is random remember, and not alway summed up in neat little packages.  It takes time to see the big picture.

Setting The Record Straight

I feel it is time to re-iterate, or explain the realities of my world and how they intersect with your world.

Why the need to make this explanation?  Well because there seems to be some misconception, or misunderstanding of what you should expect from this blog.  As I spell out in my masthead, what you will get here is, "doodles and thoughts".   The art will not always, and rarely will match the article, they are doodles and the blog post are random thoughts and ideas.  I don't promise finished, print quality, art work.  I don't promise entire completed ready for the printing press articles.   The reason?  Well, quite frankly, I reserve such for people that pay.  That's right pay.  If you want to see finished, colored cartoons or fully edited and spelling/grammar checked articles, it will cost you.  Unless I post something that someone else paid for when my rights allow it.

You see a couple of doodles of that REDDIT mascot.  I
thinking that day about doing something that show him
being killed to post on REDDIT.  I've tried that website and
I might be posting wrong but I've gotten "ZERO" up votes
or comments.  Boon, Cartoons, Cartoonist for Hire

Time is money and if I'm going to spend my time sprucing up a cartoon idea or article idea it will be because I'm being paid to do it.  "But why Boon? Don't you think you'd have better chance to sell more if you showed finished pieces?"  No, not really.  I pretty much believe if someone has any amount of skill as an editor or consumer they will be able to see the potential.  I'm sorry but I don't feel the need to spoon feed.  Also, I really can't afford to give away my time.  See I have four assets in life, TIME, INFORMATION, TALENT and HONESTY, and I'm not about to give them away.  I give away or spec enough of my assets doing what could be considered my "day job".

How does this intersect with your world?  Well much of what I stated is true for your world also.  No denying we share that reality.  You can allocate the use of your TIME anyway you choose.  If you don't want to allocate it to anything but completed, polished and ready for prime time art and articles, then fine.  If you think about that just for a second you'll realize you make that decision when you pay for cable/satellite TV, or buy a magazine or newspaper, or subject yourself to the advertisements on most websites.

I was jotting down ideas for a name for the Test Strip, comic
strip, I've been posting.  Then made one boring doodle that
decided to cuss me out for not showing more creativity.
Boon cartoons, cartoonist for hire.

So I understand when you allocate your TIME to reading and looking at my blog you are giving of yourself, and I thank you.  But remember I'm not asking for anything more than your TIME,what I'm giving you is SOME of my TIME, INFORMATION and TALENT, not ALL of it, just SOME of it, so I consider this an equitable exchange.

Why the need to for this explanation?  Well on occasion I get someone that points out that a drawing isn't just right in some manner, or they can't read the sketchy writing on my sketch pad.  Well duh, it is all just "doodles and thoughts"....not organized, and fussed over.  You are getting a peek into my unwashed world.  Truth without sugar or spit shine.

 

Drunk Selfie Prompts Cartoonist To Change Logo

When you find yourself taking selfies with empty beer boxes on your head, there might be a problem.

I was looking through my camera memory and found this picture.  Then I made this doodle.

Maybe I should change my logo.

What do you think?

Bio-Rhythm Cycles, Yes I Have One

All day today I've been saying to myself, "I've lost my passion", "I've lost my imagination", "Damn I really feel depressed."  Then just a minute or two ago I thought maybe I'll post something here, spread the depression and misery around.  Oh, lucky you.  Then it crossed my mind that I seem to do that a lot here, and remembered having similar thoughts and posting similar boring depressing thoughts about monitoring my bio-rhythm.  So I searched my blog post for "bio-rhythm".  Sure enough there are four post where I specifically talk about bio-rhythm and wondering what if I have a pattern or cycle.

Well, I'll be damn if I don't have what seems to be a cycle.  Of the four post three are about feeling low, unmotivated, no passion, depressed, etc...two are early August time period and one in April, each from different years.  So assuming that I've actually posted, or at least mentioned the words "bio-rhythm" in all my up or down mood post I seem to be on some annual super cycle.  I looked up depressed also and there are a lot of post where that is mentioned.  I guess I'm just not happy very much anymore.

I really don't know what I'm talking about, and becoming more disenchanted with every word.  How the hell can I continue to cycle so low like this for so many years?  Is this normal?  Or do I really need to seek help or break my pattern and just do something else. Am I on the fast track to suicide?

Will I ever be the envy of anyone?  I seem to come across people that I do envy.  Mostly those free spirits  that are doing their own thing because that is what they want to do, not because they have to do, like a homeless person.  Speaking of homeless people I rode Greyhound the other day.   It was a fine ride, not bad experience but the worse part of it is waiting at the station.  Both stations, start and end, are located smack dab in the middle of a city.  Each with its own population of hovering, down trodden people who make it their business to bother you.  It is just plain uncomfortable and highly irritating.  Yea, the average, or majority of Greyhound patrons are pretty sketchy, at least from my perspective, and sitting around the station waiting to board seems a bit dicey and quickly made me realize I am so suburban.  My city antenna are rusty and in need of a tune up.

Well thanks for reading.  Sorry for the lack of sketches or drawings.  I'll get back to that soon.  If I can ever regain my imagination.  

A Week's Worth of Doodles

Pages From My Sketch Pad - A Quick Catch Up

I've been otherwise distracted or busy lately.  I was out of my office for an entire month doing onsite work, which was just a huge waste of my time and completely unappreciated as best I can tell.  I did some doodling, but very little and on random scrap paper as it was very difficult to focus on the task at hand and draw.

I had two computers crash.  Both had hard drive failure.  I swear it is a plot by Microsoft to force me to get off of Windows XP operating system as they both crashed after one of those overnight updates.  So to say the least I've not been motivated or able to scan and update.

I've started testing out Imgur.com to see what kind of feed back I get.  Check it out http://booncartoonist.imgur.com.

Here's all the pages from my sketch pad since my last update

Test Strip 15 and 16

Test Strip 14

Recycling - Isn't Everything Able To Be Recycled?

worm, worm hole, time travel, fruits, apple sauce, Boon,
cartoons, cartoonist for hire, one guy drawing,doodles

Recycling is something I do and believe in.   We have so much to recycle that we had to upgrade from the tiny bin provided by the garbage company to a full blown roll away garbage can.  I think I can do more.

I pay attention to what I'm throwing away and began to notice just about everything I put in the trash could be recycled.  How is that? Well, you can recycle paper, glass, metal, and plastic, so think about it, other than food, what isn't made of one of those four things.  Yea I know there are some specific things recycling doesn't want, which baffles me if it isn't good enough to recycle why the hell do we want it buried in a land fill, that's a topic for another day, but in general most everyday things are one of those four materials.  So why don't I just recycle everything?  Mainly it is because I keep my small recycling bin outside my back kitchen door, fill it up and dump into the roll away can and I'm only comfortable tossing in the bin the things that won't attract varmints.  Yet we had a opossum in it the other night.  So I don't put in those papers, plastic and some open cans that I don't feel like taking the time to clean before I throw them away.

Boon, cartoons, cartoonist for hire,
boondawgoggle, sketches, character study

Then it got me thinking of how much more motivated I'd be or how you could motivate people to recycle if you had to store or bury all your own garbage in your yard, except that which you gave to recycling?  How much more recycling would you do?  In my case everything.

Here is a good question for anyone in the recycling business.  Why does it request on the recycling bin to only put clean things?  Or even broader, how is it that there is not a big machine that could shake out the trash that is not desired, which I contend is very little, and the organic stuff, food waste, wouldn't it just burn off when the plastic, paper, wood, glass or metal are processed?  So in general why doesn't all of our garbage just get labeled recycling?

Test Strip 13

Working from home, commute,  commuting, weekends, sunday, waking up,
Boon, cartoons, cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle, one guy drawing

After Having Kids, The Rest Of My Life Is Just For Show

For some reason a series of thoughts went through my head the other day in sequential order of what is the worst thing that someone could do to me or happen to me.   I'm sure I was stressing over some late bill.

Doodles, random, Boon, Cartoons, cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle,

I could be bankrupt, not so bad many people have been bankrupt and come back.  A little embarrassing, maybe not the thing you want your kids to see, but again, there are a lot of now successful well know businesses that were the second, third or umpteenth try.

Take everything I own away, either by theft, foreclosure, fire, basically just think you've got nothing.  Yea a pain in the ass, but really would I miss any of it.  Probably not.  Think minimalist...see earlier post http://boondawgoggle.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-is-destination-im-i-on-right-path.html. I just don't think it is that big a deal having a bunch of shit.

Let me fast forward some.  Prison.  Throw me in prison.  Now that gets me concerned.  I think I could survive, but man I'd have to really get that thousand yard stare and become psycho.  The solitude, separation, being caged and such doesn't really bother me.  It is all the other crazy shit and crazy ass bastards in there.  I just imagine it to be like being in a jungle fire fight 24/7.  I could just die or kill myself.

Take responsibility for yourself, basement dweller, manga, is crap,
Easter bunny, egg, Boon, Cartoons, cartoonist for hire, One Guy Drawing

Death. I'm not particularly afraid of death.  We all get to do it, we just don't know when.  Yea I've often been known to say I want to live just beyond July 2076, but really who gives a crap.  My thought here is I've done what I'm supposed to do.  There's really only one reason for any living thing to be, that is to make more more living things.  You don't get grand kids without a generation of kids.  Each generation begets the next and so on.    So for all practical purposes once you've created more living copies of yourself you are done.  All the rest is just for show.

So this is how I came to the conclusion, there really isn't anything bad that you can do to me that really matters.  Equally, there really isn't anything I should be doing other than enjoying myself and doing what the fuck I want, and not be too concerned about others.  I don't mean in a way that I want to kill or purposely hurt anyone. Just that why the hell does me doing anything more than what I want to do matter?  Why stress over anything.  What is the worse you can do to me?  Nothing asshole.

We are just recycled matter to be recycled again.

Test Strip 12

Test Strip 11

Test Strip 10

Test Strip 9

Peeping Toms in Public Bathroom, Are There A Lot?

Prom dress, model, translation, dick head, Boon, cartoons,
cartoonist for hire, one guy drawing, doodles, boondawgoggle

On occasion I've seen, well enough times that I can't really remember how long ago I first saw it, but I'm certain the sightings go way back and I saw it again the other day and had to shake my head.  It is the use of toilet paper to create a curtain in a public restroom stall.  

See some guys will pull off a six foot long section of toilet paper and drape it in way that it covers the crack that exist on either side of the bathroom stall door, structure and the wall.  This creates a curtain or visual shield.  I have only been able to surmise the purpose of these streaming toilet paper curtains is prevent someone from peeping through the crack. 

Now you have to wonder a few things.   Do women do the same thing, has this individual been the victim of a public bathroom peeping Tom, are they doing something illegal in the stall, are they really that bashful, how do you become that shy,  what do they think of all the other guys in the world.  

Only women readers of this blog can shed light on the first as I've not been in too many women's bathrooms.  So women please chime in.  

Regarding looking up and seeing someone purposely peering back at you through the crack of the stall, once is unnerving, but how many times does that have to happen before you get completely paranoid?  I've been shitting in public bathrooms for years all over the country and world and have yet had this occur.  If peeping Toms are the reason then it must be happening a lot judging by the toilet paper curtains I've seen.  

Bashful?  I'm sorry if this is the reason get over yourself.  Normal guys are not sneaking a peek at you while you coup a squat.  Most guys do everything they can to overt their eyes to the extent that making eye contact in the bathroom is rare.  It's like looking at someone in the elevator...just not comfortable.  

To think other guys are cutting their eyes to look into the crack just doesn't say a lot about what you think of other guys, and actually says volumes about the person who has hung the curtain.  As in most people believe other people do the same as they do, and hence by default the curtain hanger is most likely a sneaky stall snooper. 

witch, naked, flirty, one little mistake, pens goop,
Boon, cartoons, cartoonist for hire, one guy drawing,
doodles, boondawgoggle

Doing something illegal behind those curtains makes sense but it doesn't.  I contend these curtains draw more attention then not having them.  Most public restrooms aren't so busy all the time that you could not find a moment in time long enough to do whatever illegal activity you'd consider doing in a 4x6 box.  But criminal types aren't known for their brilliant use of reasoning, logic and forethought.

One final note on this "phenomenon", well two.  First, if you are going to create a toilet paper curtain have the decency to remove it.  Second, are these individuals the same ones that use reams of toilet paper to create a  barrier between their sensitive tush and the toilet seat.  Again stop being such a dweeb.

Test Strip 8

Test Strip 7

Test Strip 6

Test Strip 5

Test Strip 4

Test Strip 3

Test Strip 2

Test Strip 1

Bed Wetting - Feel The Sensation

life insurance, sales, closing tactic,worse, beaver, machine gun
boon, cartoons, cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle, one  guy
drawing, doodles

Now on the surface this is going to seem like the most warped thought.  Even as I write this I'm not certain what my train of thought was, but for sure that train has left the tracks.  To paraphrase my internal conversation, "wouldn't it feel good to just wet the bed?"  Yuk!

Idea,  relaxed, kids, reflection, Boon, Cartoons, cartoonist
for hire, boondawgoggle, one guy drawing, doodles

Why on earth would I want to wet the bed?  In order to understand this you are going to have to dig really deep into your childhood mind and recall the pleasurable, relaxing, easy sensation of not having to wake up, drag yourself to the bathroom to pee. It is this memory that somehow popped to the forefront of my mind the other day.   Just a peaceful, ahhhh feeling.

I'm not even going to attempt to psychoanalyze this. I'm just going to leave it to you.  See if you can relax your mind, your anxieties, stress, desire to conform and do the socially acceptable things in life and access just fora  moment that peaceful, ahh feeling that is associated with wetting the bed.

Life Insurance gag ideas, grim reaper,  death, boon, cartoons,
cartoonist for hire, boondawgoggle, one guy drawing, doodles

Think of it as a higher form of yoga.  AHHHHHHHH!