The Inkwell Awards is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and promotion of the art of inking. Inking is a much over-looked but crucial element to the comic book process. Everyone is encouraged to vote, whether you’re a fan or professional. The only difference this year is that the public is not allowed to vote in the The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement category. The winners will be announced live at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC June 7-9 2013. For more information, please click on the above Inkwell Awards link.
Last weekend I did the Mocca Fest 2013. Might’ve mentioned this before, but originally I wasn’t planning to do the weekend event. Due to school and doing projects for other people, I hadn’t done any of my own stuff. In other words I didn’t have any new self-published comics of my own. Then a month before Mocca happened, someone offered me table space.
Overall I’m glad I took up on the offer. It had been over a year since I did any sort of comic book convention, so there was some rustiness. Through trial and error I discovered some facts. Also to my surprise I learned that people were still interested in my self-published comic Psycho Bunny. It’s this little zine/comic that I’ve been doing on and off for about ten years now.
What also took me by surprise was people were most interested in Psycho Bunny than my esoteric pin-up sketch book Babalon Babes. In the past, the interest in both comics/zines were sort of equal. This year, readers went more or less for Psycho Bunny, an ongoing tale about an alcoholic rabbit who dwells in urban chaos. It was also interesting because I had been thinking of dropping Psycho Bunny altogether. I’ve wondering about heading in a different direction. After all, I’ve been meaning to do this cat webcomic. Then came the Mocca show, and was proven contrary.
It also felt good to be back. Again, despite no new material of my own, there was still some interest in my work. I was trying to downgrade so I didn’t bring everything I had done within the past year/two years and a half. That would’ve been impossible to lug back and forth to the show. So this time around it was back to the basics. Besides, I kinda wanted to sell off some old material before setting forth on the new. A spring cleaning of sorts.
As for the weekend itself, the convention was packed. In the age of Nooks, Kindles and webcomics, people were still into buying indie hard copies. So in the end maybe it’s better to have a balance of everything. Perhaps readers are more interested in paper for the indie work, and digital for the more established. Time will tell.
Speaking of the more established, one of the guests of honor was none other than Ziggy the Pinhead creator Bill Griffith. Bob Fingerman was also there. Fingerman is known for various work, especially Minimum Wage and Skinheads In Love comic series. I was a huge fan of the one off comic book he did with Lydia Lunch. Too bad my copy is not only tattered, but it seems to be m.i.a. Here’s a link: http://mediachrist.blogspot.com/2011/09/lydia-lunch-bloodsucker-comic.html?zx=a37d470fcdbcac3a
One of the original Punk rock cartoonists was also there, John Holmstrom. Alas, I didn’t go meet neither Fingerman or Holmstrom. There was my own table to tend to, and not a lot of room to move around if you wanted to leave your space for a bit. Holmstrom was there promoting his new book The Best of Punk Magazine.
The vibe was completely different at Mocca since merging with The Society of Illustrators. For starters, the fest was a lot more organized. I remember Mocca when it used to be at the Puck building, but the fest outgrew that venue a long time ago. For now Mocca still calls The 69th Regiment Armory its annual home.
Now I don’t know if it was me, but the crowd itself seemed to be a bit more conservative…? Not sure how to put it quite in words. Again, maybe it’s a sign of the times. Who knows. With Mocca there were always parents bringing their children, but this year there seemed to be more families there. I could be wrong but that was just my observation. Again, I think it’s a reflection of what’s been happening in New York City itself, as it slowly develops into a more suburban mindset. Much to my chagrin.
The highlight of the event was when someone asked me for a quick commission. I’ve grown to love these sort of commissions because it presents a challenge. It’s a combination of executing a replica of a someone else’s character, but throwing in your own interpretation as well. So this guy asks for a sketch of this comic book character called Beauty Blaze. I hadn’t heard of Beauty Blaze until that show. She’s a DC character from Legion of Superheroes. Initially I wasn’t too thrilled with the results due to nervousness, but he was. Here’s a link to the sketch:
Maybe I’ll do another post about Mocca Fest 2013. I’m still processing the event somewhat. In the meantime, here’s some photos courtesy of Paul Curtis, one of the publishers who complied the book on cartoonist Luisa Felix.
To be continued…?
Photo taken by Paul Curtis. Mocca Fest 2013.
Photo taken by Paul Curtis. Mocca Fest 2013.
Photo taken by Paul Curtis. Mocca Fest 2013.
Photo taken by Paul Curtis. Mocca Fest 2013.
Photo taken by Paul Curtis. Mocca Fest 2013.
Photos by Paul Curtis, who was nice enough to let me use his pics for this blog post.
Hi everyone. Just a brief mention about this upcoming weekend. Yes, that’s right. Promotion, promotion, promotion.
You can find both this Saturday and Sunday at the 2013 annual Mocca Fest, table C91. I’ll be sharing the table with two other cartoonists. So come by and buy some stuff from me. My comics will be available. Maybe some prints of my artwork. So come by and say hello. Unless you hate me. If that’s the case, fine by me. I don’t need to see your face.
Two weeks ago I had plans to do this Bowie sketch. Then came news of his new album going to number one in the UK. (http://www.nme.com/news/david-bowie/69250) So perhaps after being subjected to auto tune pop music crap, there might be hope for the human race. Perhaps not. We’ll see.
I really haven’t sat down and listened to the new Bowie release. Don’t matter. I will always be a fan of his seminar work such as Ziggy Stardust, his Heroes era, and right up to Scary Monsters. While I’m not that much of a Bowie fanatic, no one can deny his influence.
Here’s a quick watercolor piece done this morning. Basic glitter watercolor. It’s not my best, but it’s not my worse either. This painting looks a lot better in person. The scan didn’t do it justice. Now I’ll quietly curse myself for not being a teen or a young adult during the Glam Rock era. Meanwhile the song “Panic In Detroit” runs through my head.
David Bowie from his Aladdin Sane era. Glitter watercolor. Painting done by Michele Witchipoo March 2013.
“On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”
I grew up watching reruns of “The Odd Couple.” Really didn’t pay too much attention at the time. Although I do remember the chemistry of putting opposed personalities together. In real life, combining roommates who are polar opposites would spell disaster. Yet for television it was comedy gold.
Actor Jack Klugman, who portrayed the proto-type slob Oscar Madison, passed away recently. He died Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2012. Hearing about his death made me curious about watching The Odd Couple again. So on New Year’s Day I watched the marathon on TV. Finally I got my money’s worth subscribing to basic cable. It was then I realized what a great show The Odd Couple actually was. Based on the play and film written by playwright Neil Simon, it showed the drastic difference between classic programing and today’s reality show fare.
Along with Klugman was actor Tony Randall. Randall portrayed Felix Unger, the personification of O.C.D. During it’s original broadcast supposedly the show never cracked the top ten in the ratings. Yet years later The Odd Couple is now considered classic television. One of the best Odd Couple episodes was “My Strife in Court.” Originally broadcast on February 16, 1973, Felix ends up in court when he gets falsely accused of scalping Broadway theater tickets. ‘Cause after all…when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.
Sadly Tony Randall is also no longer with us. He passed away May 17, 2004. So while maybe Klugman and Randall are performing skits in the sitcom afterlife, I did this pen and ink sketch.
Enjoy my fan art of The Odd Couple.
The Odd Couple. Pen and ink sketch. Done January 2013. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo
I’ve always been a cat person. Never understood why others didn’t like cats so much. Nowadays I use that as a people filter of sorts. If you don’t like or trust cats, well then you ain’t no friend of mine.
Anyway…here’s my forte into the whole silly internet meme craze. The same craze that’s been clogging up Facebook for sometime.
Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Queen Grumpy. She is not amused. Meme by Michele Witchipoo, late 2012.
Since I did a portrait of ‘Grumpy Cat’ a.k.a Tartar Sauce…maybe I should also do one for Colonel Meow.
Colonel Meow. January 2013. Watercolor. Illustration by Michele Witchipoo.
Colonel Meow is another of those LOLcats that’s become an internet sensation. On his popular Facebook page he has 131,681 ‘likes’ alone. Loyal fans are referred by the Colonel as ‘minions.’ He spends his days sipping scotch and disliking birds. Hopefully the Colonel would approve of this watercolor illustration.
Well okay. My last blog post was somewhat of a purge. If you managed to completely read through the entire rant, I applaud you. Seriously. Thank you.
For the record, I’m not really an angry person. On the plus side, now that’s been posted, time to move on. Well…I had already moved on, but I felt it needed to be addressed nonetheless. Since it was a new year, time to get rid of the garbage.
Anyway…some good news. The ‘Grumpy Cat’ portrait I did last month has now been posted to another website. You can check it out here:
As urban legend would have it, it’s assumed that back in the 1970′s rock bands had all the best drugs and booze. Some of you might have heard stories about Led Zepplin’s backstage shenanigans.
I concur.
I don’t think it’s true that all the mega superstar rock bands had the best nose candy and liquid courage. No. That ‘honor’ goes to many 1970s game shows.
Ah those wacky hazy ’70s. Only in the 1970s would you have such programs like The Match Game and The Gong Show. The stuff of televised legend.
Cause really, who needs cable when all you have to do is search on YouTube. There you will discover gloriously grainy gems, badly transferred from VHS onto the digital age. Why there’s already many clips from “The Gong Show” to choose from. Who can ever forget the Unknown Comic, The Worms, and of course, Gene Gene The Dancing Machine! Just in time for New Year’s Eve, here’s a clip of Gene doing his thing:
That’s right everybody! Party like its a tacky ’77 game show! You go Gene! Check out his swagger with his trademark green jogging jacket! Have everyone throw crappola at you in wild abandon! That’s how you celebrate.
I’m leaning towards Gene nowadays. Back in my childhood, The Unknown Comic was my favorite. In fact, back in 2008, I kinda-sorta did a tribute to him. A parody of a parody. The one where The Unknown Comic posed for a publicity photo sending up the famous Burt Reynolds shot published in Cosmopolitan magazine:
Actor Burt Reynolds. In his heyday, he did a centerfold for Cosmopolitan magazine. April 1972 (Vol. 172, No. 4)
Parody of the famous Burt pic by The Unknown Comic.
A parody of a parody. My character Psycho Bunny in a similar pose. Created in 2008. Cartoon by Michele Witchipoo.
For those who never heard of the Unknown Comic, here’s a clip via YouTube. If you thought your jokes were bad, try this:
Ah, those wacky 1970s. The jokes were corny as hell. Still, it was a bit of magic captured on the small screen. Dropping F-bombs without hostility in a drug-induced haze. Drinking and smoking as if nothing. This TV party was silliness personified. Yet it’s nowhere as mind-numbing as today’s reality shows.
Another thing that The Gong Show had over today’s so-called ‘talent shows’ such as American Idol or The Voice. Despite half of the Gong Show’s antics being staged, there was an organic realness to the freakishness. Whenever the talented, the not-so talented or just plain bizarre walked on stage, it was all in good fun. If an act was just outright odd, their inner freak was embraced. In no way were they weren’t trying to conform to a manufactured Hollywood fantasy. They were proud of being odd. They owned their inner freak. That was the beauty of The Gong Show.
The real star of course, was the host himself Chuck Barris. Personally I think he’s a genius. On his resume he lists American game show creator, producer, songwriter, and of course the emcee of The Gong Show. Although claims about working for the C.I.A. can be seriously doubted.
As a producer he was responsible for such tacky treasures like The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game and The $1.98 Beauty Show.
The $1.98 Beauty Show logo. Only in the drugged included 1970s could such a show exist.
Back to The Gong Show. To this very day this program remains a cult classic. In fact, there’s a very rare film, created after the first cancellation. In the tradition of The Monkee’s Head movie. It’s not available on VHS, DVD or BluRay. If you’re lucky, you just might catch it on cable or grab scenes from – of course – YouTube.
Oh yeah, the gong itself. Usually the judging panel usually consisted of three b-list celebrities. Jamie Farr and Jaye P. Morgan were regulars. Comedians like Soupy Sales and Joan Rivers also judged.
The studio audience could also be rowdy at times. When I was a kid, I caught a few episodes of The Gong Show here and there. That is, if my mother allowed it. My favorite was usually when the audience would start booing. Meanwhile the judges fought among themselves as to who was gonging first.
Yet strangely, or maybe not strangely enough, many entertainers got their first break being on that show. Many actors appeared under an alias. That was a backup plan because one bad appearance could actually ruin a career. Among the Gong alumni were PeeWee Herman, ’70s Disco singer Cheryl Lynn, musical theater actress Andrea McArdle and a very early incarnation of Oingo Bongo.
No report on The Gong Show would be complete without talking about The Popsicle Twins – a.k.a. “Have You Got A Nickel?” Not only did this segment get Barris and company in trouble with the censors – Phyllis Diller could not comprehend what the hell was going on. She gave the twins a score of zero. Guess she didn’t see Deep Throat.
Since Chuck Barris was a producer, sometimes contestants from his other shows occasionally crossed over to The Gong Show. If you read my blog post from yesterday, you might recognize the name of Cheryl Bradshaw. She was a “bachelorette” from ‘The Dating Game’ – the same one who narrowly missed a date with death. She had won a date with serial killer Rodney James Alcala. (http://witchesbrewpress.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/a-date-with-death/)
Besides another dark incident, (death of a dancer who had won on The Gong Show just hours before) The Gong Show was fun. Over the years The Gong Show has been revived. Yet somehow it always failed to capture the magic that the very original program had. The Gong Show itself is nothing without Chuck Barris as host. Sure, “The Dating Game” could always have a revolving host door. Ditto for “The Newlywed Game.” Come to think of it, the time might be ripe to bring back “The $1.98 Beauty Show.” In this day and age of instant gratification and entitlement this show could work. But “The Gong Show” itself? Nah. In my humble opinion, it could only work with the charms of Chuck. ‘Cause even with all the mayhem surrounding him, he was the glue that kept all the chaos together. He grasped it. He understood it. Like the freaks on stage, he owned it. “The Gong Show” was his show.
I could go on, but the blogging curtains are about to close. Before getting gonged myself, I’ll leave you with one final clip. One of a ‘Punk Rock’ band. Never heard of them until now. They were called Static Cling. And yes, they were gonged.
Starting from April 15 to April 30th, 2013 you can vote in the Inkwell Awards.
The Odd Couple
Posted in art, comics and illustrations, Illustration, life, pop culture, television, Uncategorized, tagged art, black and white sketch, classic television, comedy, fan art, felix unger, illustration, illustrations, jack klugman, michele witchipoo, michele witchipoo artwork, michele witchipoo illustration, My Strife in Court, My Strife in Court odd couple episode, odd couple, odd couple fan art, oscar madison, pen and ink, pop culture, pop culture commentary, sitcom, sitcom television, sketch, television, the odd couple, the odd couple fan art, tony randall on January 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
“On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”
I grew up watching reruns of “The Odd Couple.” Really didn’t pay too much attention at the time. Although I do remember the chemistry of putting opposed personalities together. In real life, combining roommates who are polar opposites would spell disaster. Yet for television it was comedy gold.
Actor Jack Klugman, who portrayed the proto-type slob Oscar Madison, passed away recently. He died Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2012. Hearing about his death made me curious about watching The Odd Couple again. So on New Year’s Day I watched the marathon on TV. Finally I got my money’s worth subscribing to basic cable. It was then I realized what a great show The Odd Couple actually was. Based on the play and film written by playwright Neil Simon, it showed the drastic difference between classic programing and today’s reality show fare.
Along with Klugman was actor Tony Randall. Randall portrayed Felix Unger, the personification of O.C.D. During it’s original broadcast supposedly the show never cracked the top ten in the ratings. Yet years later The Odd Couple is now considered classic television. One of the best Odd Couple episodes was “My Strife in Court.” Originally broadcast on February 16, 1973, Felix ends up in court when he gets falsely accused of scalping Broadway theater tickets. ‘Cause after all…when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.
Sadly Tony Randall is also no longer with us. He passed away May 17, 2004. So while maybe Klugman and Randall are performing skits in the sitcom afterlife, I did this pen and ink sketch.
Enjoy my fan art of The Odd Couple.
The Odd Couple.
Pen and ink sketch. Done January 2013.
Drawn by Michele Witchipoo
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