The title pretty much says it all. Last week was very busy. This past weekend, although good, was especially busy. Barely enough time for sleep! This morning I just finished doing a brief talk at my former school. Second time they’ve asked me to speak.
So stayed tuned. The weekly sketch will resume sometime this week. In the meantime, here’s a previously posted sketch.
My two art assistants will make sure everything’s back on track next week:
Starting from June 1st to August 31st, Sketch Lottery is having a free-for-all. Basically for summer 2018, draw any of the past Sketch Lottery subjects. Which meant I finally had a chance to sketch Alf.
Alf had this thing where he ate cats. So it’s only fitting that Alf met his match with Grumpy Cat.
I met Grumpy Cat once. During the summer of 2014. A Barnes and Noble book signing, located in the Union Square area of downtown Manhattan, NYC. Tartar Sauce (Grumpy Cat’s real name) was asleep. Tartar Sauce’s human liked my shirt. Here’s a photo of me when I was platinum blond. Before I went with my signature blue hair.
Anyway, back to the sketch. Originally I was going to ink the piece, but liked how the pencil work was coming along. So I kept it just the way it was. Really like this one a lot. Besides. Grumpy Cat is sort of like my spirit animal.
You can see my sketch, along with other sketches on Sketch Lottery.
Nothing much to blog about this week. Not complaining, however. For those who hate summer and hot weather, this Psycho Bunny sketch is for you.
You guessed it. My social media links. Also included them on the side of this blog.
Facebook: pages for Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress. Just put new widgets for both FB pages on this blog.
Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.
Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo
Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt.
Get yourself some cool stuff on RedBubble, featuring my designs. There’s dresses, tee shirts, notebooks, etc. The notebooks, and the Quentin Crisp tees seems to be one of the best selling items.
One of my hobbies is documenting what goes riding the NYC subway lines: My WildlifeOnTheMTA Instagram is active once again.
Come back next week for a new Psycho Bunny sketch.
Ten years ago, in addition to self-publishing Psycho Bunny, I did a sketchbook/pinup zine titled Babalon Babes. It was a mixture of occult, esoteric and symbolism mixed in with erotica. At least I was able to give Lon Milo DuQuette a copy of issue four back in 2011.
Issue One was printed in late 2003. Very Thelemic overtones. In fact, the title itself came from Crowley’s interpretation of Babalon. Not so much into the 93 current these days, but that might change.
Issue two was released in 2005, which debuted at the Big Apple Comic Con. It continued on the 93 subject, but with more mixture from other spiritual paths. Chaos magick started to creep in. The cover was my first rendition of The Star tarot card.
As much as I liked the cover, not too thrilled about the content inside. Might’ve mentioned the cut-up method in this issue. Don’t think this will be in print again.
Issue three was released against all odd. The year 2007 was a very rough year due to personal circumstances and adversaries. Despite everything, I managed to make it to MoCCA Art Fest 2007. Even managed to quickly put together The Psycho Bunny Scrapbook.
Issue three had much more content. Definitely more of the Chaos current by this point, which I truly believed might’ve saved my ass during that year. Again, other spiritual paths crept in. Such as my sketch of Freya in her chariot driven by her two cats. Looking back the tone was a bit all over the place. Reflecting on issues two and three now has a sad element. It’s best having these two being out of print.
Issue four had a nice cover though.
Issue 4 was the last of the Babalon Babe series. It was printed in 2009, debuted at some NYC comic con where for a brief time, Big Apple Con and Wizard World merged together, aka Wizard World Big Apple Comic Con. I did an hour at the CAG table with this in hand. The last issue had much better art, and more of a focus. It had an official theme of astrology. The hardcore sex aspect was toned down, but it was still erotic. Each of the zodiac signs had it’s own pin-up. There’s still copies available of this issue.
Issue 4 of Babalon Babes, fall 2009. The final issue in the series. It’s theme was Astrology. Zine/sketchbook by Michele Witchipoo on WitchesBrewPress.
After 2009, I stopped doing Babalon Babes completely. In 2010 I went back to college. My focus went towards school, so something had to give. I was working on a webcomic, as well as my own Psycho Bunny character. Psycho Bunny was more accessible, so I continued with that. In 2012 I had a Psycho Bunny story in the monthly comic book anthology IF-X printed by Hamtramck Idea Men. I blogged about other IF-X issues in previous blog posts: IF-X Vol. 2 issue 5, IF-X Vol. 2 issue 9, and a news item back in 2010. (The news article has since disappeared. Should’ve done a screenshot)
The last sketchbook I self-published had nothing to do with Babalon Babes, but a slight offshoot. Pin-Ups was quickly put together in 2015, and debuted at Big Apple Con. The miracle of Adobe InDesign.
If you want a copy of Babalon Babes issue four or Pin-ups, both titles are available for purchase. It’s four dollars each issue ($3.00 plus $1.00 for S&H). You can send payment through PayPal: Psychobunnycomix@aol.com. Please specify which issue you want. Also available for commissions, email for details, etc.
On Sunday, July 15th 2018, the Bowie Is exhibit wrapped up it’s five year tour at the Brooklyn Museum. Since the V&A traveling exhibit began in 2013, it has visited four continents, twelve museums, and attracted 1.8 million viewers. It was Bowie’s personal request that the touring exhibit end in New York City, where he spent the last twenty years of his life.
I was lucky to have caught this exhibit during its last week at the Brooklyn Museum. Advanced tickets were completely sold out. The alternative was to wake up at the crack of dawn, just to get in line before the doors open. Right before 11 am, the line was starting to feel like general admission to a concert rather than an exhibit.
Luck was on my side last Wednesday. I was able to get in for the 12 afternoon showing.
First of all, the exhibit itself is far from any form of hero worship. It showed almost every era of Bowie’s career. While the initial attraction was seeing his stage outfits up close, it was the breakdown of his creative process that stood out. Handwritten lyrics, rough sketches of stage design, storyboards, scripts, all documents showing behind the scenes.
One example was the “cut-up technique“, originally created by Tristan Tzara, and brought into the public consciousness by Brion Gysin. Bowie, being a William S. Burroughs fan, used the cut-up method on and off in various stages of his recording career. In 1995, Bowie took this a step further when creating lyrics for his Outsider album. He used a custom program called the Verbasizer on his Mac computer, shown during the Bowie Is exhibit.
That’s only one clue what the exhibit had to offer. Entering the exhibit, it was a bit overwhelming at first. There’s a helluva lot to take in. In all, the entire exhibit took three hours to complete.
Apparently Bowie was a huge literature fan. He took a trunk of his favorite books on tour with him, since he was an avid reader. Bowie was huge into German Expressionism at one point, which showed up in his own paintings, also on display. Bowie was more of a polymath than the public realized. At one point Bowie tried creating his own tarot deck. It was for his own private use, inserted into film slide frames. The personal project was never completed, only going as far as most of the major arcana. Unless if that was what Bowie had intended.
Bowie was also an actor, art collector, collaborator, world traveler, well, perhaps just an overall innovator. But we all knew that last part.
After spending three hours in the Bowie Is exhibit, I was literally too exhausted to check out the rest of the Brooklyn Museum. A few days later, I drew something from Bowie’s Thin White Duke era. (A few years back, I had already did something from his Ziggy/Aladdin Sane era)
So which leads us to…yes, you guessed it. The Psycho Bunny sketch of the week. Psycho Bunny as The Thin White Duke.
Here we go. The usual promotional hints:
Facebook: pages for Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress. Just put new widgets for both FB pages on this blog.
Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.
Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo
Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt.
Get yourself some cool stuff on RedBubble, featuring my designs. There’s dresses, tee shirts, notebooks, etc. The notebooks, and the Quentin Crisp tees seems to be one of the best selling items.
One of my hobbies is documenting what goes riding the NYC subway lines: My WildlifeOnTheMTA Instagram is active once again.
Come back next week for a new Psycho Bunny sketch.
Additional Links:
Special thanks to Natasha Michalina, who let me use her photos. Cellphone pics weren’t allowed, but she was brave enough to sneak a few.
As promised, I delivered this week’s Psycho Bunny sketch on a Tuesday, instead of the usual Monday. Did an awesome commission a few days ago, which will be posted another day on this blog. Have to finish some other commissions as well.
Anyway, for comic book fans you might’ve heard the news. Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko passed away over the weekend. He was also the artist responsible for bringing the world Doctor Strange, The Question and countless others. Spider-Man turned out to be his magnum opus.
Of course to Ditko fans, you can’t mention the artist without bringing in Objectivism and Ayn Rand. At some point he embraced Rand’s philosophy. Personally I feel that Objectivism might’ve ruined Ditko’s life. Hell, he was more of an Objectivist than Ayn Rand herself. Rand supposedly collected social security in her twilight years. Collecting social security within the context of Objectivism is open to debate. While I have some Ayn Rand books in my library, I don’t subscribe to her philosophy. There has to be a better way being an individual. Laveyan Satanism sounds more fun, plus it gets straight to the point. If one wants to be an individual, then why bother joining any collective in the first place?
I digress. You want to read about Steve Ditko, not my own opinions. To put it lightly, Steve Ditko was a brilliant sequential artist. In his personal life, he was a complicated man. Comic book veteran Tony Isabella explains this better with his blog post.
Perhaps it’s better to honor the man by retracing Spider-Man’s steps. Peter Parker after all, from Forest Hills, Queens. A local boy. He wants to help Aunt May right after Uncle Ben was killed. Even though Peter was kinda nerdy, her had Gwen and Mary Jane as girlfriends. He worked for a newspaper company, dealing with John Jonah Jameson, Jr. as his boss. Who knows if Peter was a Mets fan. After that, you can check out other Ditko titles, like his self-published work.
In Steve Ditko‘s honor, who passed away at age 90, here’s the Psycho Bunny sketch of the week for July 10th, 2018.
And now, time for those lovely social media hints:
Facebook: pages for Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress.
Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.
Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo
Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt.
Get yourself some cool stuff on RedBubble, featuring my designs. There’s dresses, tee shirts, notebooks, etc. The notebooks, and the Quentin Crisp tees seems to be one of the best selling items.
One of my hobbies is documenting what goes riding the NYC subway lines: Wildlife On The MTA. Cause if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry. MTA passengers know what I’m talking about. Even better: My WildlifeOnTheMTA Instagram is active once again.
Come back next week for a new Psycho Bunny sketch.
This week looks pretty busy. My weekly Psycho Bunny sketch might be delayed until the latest, Tuesday evening
In the meantime, check out my rendition of Cap n’ Crunch on Sketch Lottery. Alas, because my scanner isn’t doing too well, the colors aren’t coming out so crisp. The sketch was done in colored pencil. Not my usual brand either. Prang colored pencils don’t blend in as well as Prismacolors. The scan has the colors come out a lot lighter.
Regardless – I always knew that Cap n’ Crunch was always a player!
Don’t forget to check out the other artists as well on Sketch Lottery.
Psst…Never eat sugary crap like Cap n’ Crunch. God awful cereal.
Good day. My weekly sketch might be a day late, due to a busy schedule. So I’m reblogging this other link instead. Cheers.
One of the things I hate are fireworks on the Fourth of July. Always thought they were kind of stupid. Okay, I get the significance of such. However, every July 4th, lots of people get idiotic. Just don’t see the point in blowing up stuff.
In the U.S., especially once you drive out of the major cities, you’ll come across lots of those fireworks superstores. You’ll especially come across them in the South and Midwest. It’s amusing to find them in trucker stops. It used to be a slight novelty to me because fireworks are illegal in New York City. Once you hit an area like rural Pennsylvania, buying fireworks is as easy as apple pie.
No thank you.
What really impresses me are those who do historical reenactments, such as the American Civil War, or The American Revolution. That to me, takes dedication, intelligence, and skill. A bit of imagination never hurt anyone. Personally, I never took part in a real life reenactment, but love the period outfits.
One drawback though is people tend to romanticize history. For starters, people often forget about Native Americans. Second, in reality, those who fought on the colonial side against England, went into battle despite everything. Many on the American side were so destitute, they fought barefoot. When wintertime came, those without proper footwear wrapped rags around their feet. You could see the bloody footprints in the snow. Another interesting fact was during the American Revolution, England had spread it’s military so thin. Remember, at one time, Great Britain was actually a genuine empire. As in ‘the empire on which the sun never sets.’ It applied first to the Spanish Empire, then the British. Due to this, the British brought in German Hessians. In other words, paid professional soldiers to do the dirty work on England’s behalf. Yet some Hessians decided to stay in the States after the war. Of course, if it wasn’t for France’s help, we still might be pledging allegiance to the U.K.
There’s a whole lot more to the American Revolutionary war, which leads us to what we now call Independence Day, or simply known as the 4th of July. The United States is still a relatively new country compared to the rest of the world. Some, including myself, feel that right now, the U.S. is in a very dark period. You may not even feel like celebrating July 4th. Therefore it’s important to reflect on this country’s roots, both good and bad. July 4th isn’t all about fireworks while barbecuing in the backyard with time off from work.
Not going to get too political here. Politics never brought people together. Music, art, education, science and love; that’s what brings people together. So here’s the Psycho Bunny sketch of the week for July 4th, 2018.
Social media time:
Facebook: pages for Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress.
Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.
Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo
Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt.
Get yourself some cool stuff on RedBubble, featuring my designs. There’s dresses, tee shirts, notebooks, etc. The notebooks, and the Quentin Crisp tees seems to be one of the best selling items. Just in time for Pride.
One of my hobbies is documenting what goes riding the NYC subway lines: Wildlife On The MTA. Cause if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry. MTA passengers know what I’m talking about. Even better: My WildlifeOnTheMTA Instagram is active once again.
Come back next week for a new Psycho Bunny sketch.
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