Moss Piglet (December 2025): Inventions

Moss Piglet (December 2025):
Invention

Hey, hey, it's another cartoon/comic strip-based post about a submission I made a little bit ago to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past few years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication and this time it was "Invention", and what better Invention than a Time Machine?

I figured, since I had this cartoon taking place on December 31, 2025, it would be a good one to use for the last day of the year.  Also, if I was visited by my future self, it would probably happen in about that way.

Since it is the end of the 2025, I do want to take a few moments to sincerely thank everyone who has stopped by to gawk and rubber-neck at my modest Blog.  It is much appreciated!

I'm not sure what happened this year, but the numbers on my Blog really took off by a factor of 10x-20x.  Not that anything else seems to have changed--just a case of "Line go up" on a graph--but it is still interesting and somewhat flattering, if real.  Although, for all I know, it's probably just AI Bots scraping all the Internetz for art to steal.  Who knows?  I'll be posting regardless and Generative AI can go to H-E-Double Hockeysticks, as can the rich dickheads trying to push it down our throats ala foie gras.

Speaking of posts, this year I've done the most posts--69 (Nice!).  And, for next year, hopefully there will be more.  I did sort of like running with a theme a couple times, and will probably do that again.

Anyhoo, THANK YOU to all my friends, enemies, and everyone else who has stopped by to gawk.  Out with the old year and in with the New Year!  Here's to hoping everyone has a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!  There isn't a discount with it or anything, but it will give the illusion that I have friends and know people and such. 😉 

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (October 2025): Hidden

 Moss Piglet (October 2025):
Hidden

Hey, hey, it's another cartoon/comic strip-based post about a submission I made a little bit ago to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past few years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication and this time it was "Hidden".  And who is more hidden than Waldo?

I kind of wanted to keep the Song Title Theme going with the name of each strip, but the closest I got figure on using for the last one was "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"... which probably still would have worked now that I think about it.  Ah, well, I went with the literary pun, instead.  Live and learn!  Well, live, anyways.  Something about Waldo being cast out of Eden amused me at that moment--not that it takes much.

As usual, I managed not to save any work-in-progress steps for "Moss Piglet", which, at this point, seems to be part of the process for my "Moss Piglet" submissions.  Typically 'cuz I'm scrambling at the last minute to come up with an idea and then get it finished...

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!  There isn't a discount with it or anything, but it will give the illusion that I have friends and know people and such. 😉 

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (July 2025): Alice in Wonderland (Part 2)

Moss Piglet (July 2025):
Alice in Wonderland

Once again, it's a submission to "Moss Piglet" is a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin which I've been contributing to for the past few years (tell 'em John says "Hi").  This time, it was a mash-up of "Alice in Wonderland" and Rosie the Riveter, which seems appropriate given it's Labor Day, today.  I'm not entirely sure why I went with making Alice a tattooed punker--aside from being able to use the tattoos to get to illustrate other "Alice in Wonderland" characters.  Also, being a child of the 70's and 80's, I always liked the Punk aesthetic.

I dunno, I may also enlarge this one as a print if there is interest, as well.  I guess we shall see...

Here's a copy of the J. Howard "We Can Do It!" Poster featuring Rosie the Riveter, a symbol of the Labor Movement, used as the template for this "Alice in Wonderland" digital painting.

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STEP ONE:  Here's the quickly scrawled digital pencils done on a 5.5" x 8.5" canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle.

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STEP TWO:  Well, I once again had forgotten to do much in the way of a work-in-progress, so here's the finished digital painting.

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Done digitally in Rebelle 7.

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Moss Piglet (July 2025): Alice in Wonderland

Moss Piglet (July 2025):
Alice in Wonderland

Hey, hey, it's time for another set of submissions I made a few months ago to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin which I've been contributing to for the past few years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication and this time it was "Alice in Wonderland".   A little bit of a stretch from my usual fare on the Blog, but it still sort of works.  Kinda.

This one was a bit of a cheat, as it was originally a 12" x 16" Acrylic Painting, "Alice, Illuminated", I did for a friend, as she was a HUGE fan of the books.  She was gifted the original, but I had scanned it in full size and went back in Rebelle 7 and digitally fixed some of the things that bothered me and other assorted digital chicanery.

I have a soft spot (both in my heart and my head) for "Alice in Wonderland".  When I was a child, I used to pore over the madcap drawings of Sir John Tenniel and read random passages here and there.  I wanted to do up a half-dozen or so submissions to "Moss Piglet", but I was absolutely swamped with other projects at the time.  Ah, well, I can still work on some of those ideas at a later time.  In fact, I have an appropriately insane project using "Alice in Wonderland" that I am planning on doing later this year/early next year.  We'll see how that goes.

I will also be posting the second submission from the "Alice in Wonderland" issue tomorrow, as it coincidentally works for the celebration of Labor Day (no pun intended for "works" and Labor Day in the same sentence, but I'll pretend I did).

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STEP ONE:  As it just so happens, I have some of the "Work in Progress" from a while back as I was making this painting and figure I'd give a behind the scenes as to how this came together.  I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to think of something that my friend would appreciate and fell upon the idea of "Alice, Illuminated", done up in a saintly, beatific manner.  This was among the first, very rough layout sketch that I did in ArtStudio Pro on my iPad.  You can see that I had an idea of other items swirling around, but jettisoned those for the most part as it was just too busy.  As I said, it was a first go at translating the idea into an actuality, so it a bit crude and quickly scrawled.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the drawing I did in Clip Studio Paint.  I believe I printed it out and used carbon paper to transfer the image to a gessoed, 100% cotton watercolor paper (#140) I had glued to the 12" x 16" masonite. 

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished Acrylic painting.  The scanner was a bit harsh with some of the colors not showing as blended as they were, but that happens when comparing the original with the scan, of course.

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STEP FOUR:  And here is the digitally sweetened version I did for "Moss Piglet".  I was able to fix some of the minor things that didn't work out in the painting.  I did have to change the aspect ratio a little bit to fit the format of the "Moss Piglet" magazine, hence the extra space above her head.  I think I'll also have to add the clouds back in on the finished print.

I am mostly done digitally updating the painting in Rebelle and hope to release it as a print if people are interested.  Updates toward the end of September.

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Done traditionally in Acrylic, then worked over digitally in Rebelle.  So, I dunno, Tra-Digital, since it's both Traditional and Digital?

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Moss Piglet (April 2025): Westerns

 Moss Piglet (April 2025):
Westerns

Hey, hey, it's yet another post about a submission I made a few months ago to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past few years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication and this time it was "Westerns".  I have to admit that I was not all that much of a fan of Westerns until Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" (1992) (a great movie about how revenge destroys you, IMHO).  Sure, there were some other Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns that were entertaining, but most of the time it was a "Skip!" from myself, in search of something which had Robots, or Aliens, or Monsters.

Anyhoo, I was trying to think of something to do with "Draw!" as a shootout comic page, but could only think of the most obvious easel in the street and the two "gunfighters" draw pictures.  Eh, very obvious and has been done a ka-jillion times.  So, I kept thinking on it and drawing a blank for the longest time... Of course, the entire thing popped in my head fully-formed the day before it was due (my stupid brain just has to wait until the last minute, I swear).  In this case, I pictured  the panels steering toward the obvious "yeah, yeah, he's gonna draw a picture...", but when "Draw!" is yelled out, the easel spins up a gun shoots down the outlaw on the street while everyone celebrates.

It was an idea so dumb, I will admit that I laughed at the absurdity of it (that's right, I laugh at my own dumb jokes, sometimes; I have to do it since no one else will).  Anyhoo, I did it up as a comic page (which is why I figured it would also have a home here on my Comic Book and Assorted Nerdery Blog).  And here we are.

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And here is an alternate one that I submitted to "Moss Piglet", which is more Arty-Farty, based on Magritte's "The Treachery of Images" (best known as the painting of a pipe saying "This is not a pipe").  Since "Moss Piglet" is more of an Art magazine, I figured I'd reference the Magritte with the "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ("This is not a Pipe") and then, after a pause, I thought I should have the canvas also say "Ceci est un pistolet" ("This is my gun"), and then the drawing/painting of the gun do the shooting.

It amused me; not that it takes much, of course.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  This one was on the back cover for those interested.

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (March 2025): Ordinary Adventures

 Moss Piglet (March 2025):
Ordinary Adventures

Hey, hey, it's another post about a submission I made a few months ago to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Kenosha, Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past few years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication.  This time it was "Ordinary Adventures" (no excitement allowed!) and I figured the result would work just fine for my Nerdy/Geeky Blog as it is a faux comic book cover in a mock "Tales From the Crypt" and Daniel Clowes-style mash-up.  Except really, really boring.  Like most of my life, now that I think about it... 😳

Once again, I managed not to save any work-in-progress steps for the "Moss Piglet".  Something I seem to forget to do with my "Moss Piglet" submissions.  Usually 'cuz I'm scrambling at the last minute to get an idea and then get it finished...

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  This one was on the back cover for those interested.

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (October 2024): Moby Dick - Part 2

Moss Piglet (October 2024):
Moby Dick - Part 2

Here's my second submissions for the October 2024 issue "Moss Piglet" for "Moby Dick" (it's at the presses now, so will be coming out soon).  This time I was thinking it would be amusing to have a page of Comic Strips using "Moby Dick" as the through line, with parodies of "Peanuts", "Calvin and Hobbes", "Popeye", and "The Far Side" (although, "Popeye" was a last moment idea).

Another considered title for the "Moby Strip" was "Moby-ius Strips", which amused me.  Also, the title for "Moby Dickhead" was an obvious pun--too obvious for me to ignore, of course.  As a brief aside, the line (I dunno if you wanna call it a "joke" or not), "Ishmael?  More like FISHMEAL!", was based on a misspelling I did of "Call me Ishmeal", which I noticed if I put an "F" in front of it, it was "Fishmeal", and then retrofitted it to back into the "joke" panel.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quickly scribbled digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" @ 300dpi digital canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here is the Ink Layer.

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STEP THREE:  Finally, I just added color and an overlay of a paper texture to give it a vague, comic strip feel to it.  Also, I was able to erase the paper texture make the white for Moby Dick stand out even more.   Also, originally I didn't have the beards for Ahab stand-ins colored for some reason and when I looked at it, they resembled some sort of Lovecraftian leftovers from Innsmouth.  Just weird and creepy.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  This one was on the back cover for those interested.

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (October 2024): Moby Dick - Part 1

Moss Piglet (October 2024):
Moby Dick - Part 1

Hey, hey!  With October planning on being full-up with my dumb, self-aggrandizing "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween", I figured I'd post my October 2024 submissions to "Moss Piglet" (it's at the presses now, so will be coming out soon).  In this case, the monthly prompt was for "Moby Dick", which I decided to do as a comic page involving Bartleby the Scrivener showing up on the Pequod with obvious results.

The idea for the comic page was blisteringly easy: I was wracking my brain trying to think of something semi-clever for "Moby Dick", when, by some sort of Jungian Synchronicity, someone on a podcast I was listening to said "I would prefer not to".  Tada!  It was just that easy!  The entirety of the strip was crystalized in my mind.  The only difficult part was trying to figure out which speech by Ahab that Bartleby could interrupt with his catchphrase and not have it go on for several pages (as it is, the speech took up a sizable chunk of the page).

I vaguely used Gregory Peck as the model of Ahab from the John Huston's 1956 movie, "Moby Dick" (screenplay by Ray Bradbury, no less!), and for Bartleby it was Crispin Glover from a modern retelling of "Bartleby the Scrivener" called, appropriately enough, "Bartleby" (2001).

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quickly scribbled digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" @ 300dpi digital canvas.

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STEP TWO:  And here is the Ink Layer.

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STEP THREE:  Finally, I just added some gray tones, figuring that black-and-white would be more in keeping with the "Moby Dick" movie.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  This one was on the back cover for those interested.

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (September 2024): 1970's

Moss Piglet (September 2024):
1970's

For the next few posts, I'll be posting my submissions to to "Moss Piglet", a small art magazine out of Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past couple years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication and this time it was the "1970's".  I did have a bad pun off of Robert Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" featuring some of the actors in Watergate, so I figured the result would (vaguely) work for my Nerdy/Geeky Blog.

I wish I had been able to think of something more "Star Wars" related, as it was far more fundamental to my growing up in the 70's, in which every stick or pole I found was a lightsaber in my mind's eye.  Heck, it still is, now that I think about it.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html  This one was on the back cover for those interested.

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (April 2024): Green

Moss Piglet (April 2024):
Green

OK, this is probably the dumbest submission I made to "Moss Piglet" (and that's saying something), a small art magazine out of Wisconsin I've been contributing to the past couple years.  They use a monthly theme for it's publication.  This time it was "Green" and I figured the result would work just fine for my Nerdy/Geeky Blog.

The first thought for "Green" was Kermit the Frog, which was the obvious answer.  Next I thought about Godzilla... Then, hey, why not both?  So Kermit-Zilla as a giant Kaiju destroying Japan it is.  Of course, I realized just as I submitted it that I had used almost the same setup for almost the same joke involving the Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles in Japan:

Ah, well.  It's a joke good enough to be told twice!  (That's the lie I'm gonna keep tellin' 'til people believe me!)

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done as 1650px ×  2550px @ 300dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.

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STEP THREE:  Finally, here are the colors, done on a Multiply Layer.

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html

Oh, hey, now that I think of it, I did the Cover and Back-Cover for the March 2024 (Self-Portrait), which is fitting for an egomaniac such as myself.  

If you're able, subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (March 2023): Every Dog Has Its Day

Moss Piglet (March 2023):
Every Dog Has Its Day

(Click on the Pics to Embiggen)

I believe I mentioned I send work to a small art magazine out of Wisconsin, "Moss Piglet" (I did the covers to the July 2022 and September 2022 issues).  They do monthly prompts as a theme for the magazine and the prompt for March 2023 was "Man's Best Friend".  As usual, a lot of thought about the topic went absolutely nowhere.  Then, at the last minute (again, as usual), I got an idea for a story about the secret life of a dog saving people's lives, preventing an alien invasion, fighting monsters, etc., while the owner thinks it is the laziest dog in the world.

Unfortunately, the idea came a few days before the deadline, so I had to rush things along and didn't even have time to color it, etc.  But, as it is a two-page comic, I figured it could go on this Blog and thought a few of you may find it amusing.  Don't worry, March M.O.D.O.K. Madness starts tomorrow... 😉

Yeah, I know, I can't draw animals for sour apples.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Moss Piglet (September 2022): Comic Stips

Moss Piglet (September 2022):
Comic Stips

This year, I've been contributing to a small art magazine out of Wisconsin, "Moss Piglet".  It's a round-about tale involving my High School Art Teacher getting in contact with me to see if I was interested in doing an Art Show of former students (I was and did participate in the Art Show back in July), and he suggested sending work to "Moss Piglet", as he was friends with the publisher and he contributed to regularly.  It seemed like fun and I've been contributing ever since (although, through a mistake on my part involving a deadline, I did miss the Cryptid issue in March 2022, which I was looking forward to participating.  D'oh!). 

Each month they have a prompt/theme and the various artists and poets work around it.  September's was "Comic Strips", so that was something right up my alley--and fits with the Blog here a little bit.  In this case, I thought it would be fun to do a series of self-referential comic strips based on various comic strips throughout history ("The Yellow Kid", "Little Nemo in Slumberland", "The Far Side", "Zippy the Pinhead", and "Peanuts").  And, of course, egomaniac that I am, inserted myself into the story, as well.

I used Clip Studio Paint to create the strips and added a series of newsprint-style textures from Retro Supply Company over top to give it a Sunday Paper feeling to the cartoons.  I will admit that the idea behind the cover was better than the carry through.  I mean, it's OK, but it was so much better in my head, of course, with comic characters coming out of their strips to look at a Sunday Paper, etc.  Also, the "Zippy the Pinhead" pilfered a bit of Grant Morrison's "Animal Man" with the "I see you!", and I did use the same joke twice with characters pointing to themselves on the page.  And the self-portrait on the last page/panel... eh, it could be a lot better, but ran out of time, alas.  Ah, well.  I had "The Yellow Kid" joke of "I was in 'Moss Piglet' and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt" done before the self-referential comics idea and it looked a little plain all by itself, so I added other older comic strip characters in the background to fill it out a bit.  And, yes, I actually have used "Hully Gee!" as an interjection every once in a while throughout most of my life because of "The Yellow Kid".

[Aside: While getting together some research for the comic strips of yore, I read some "The Yellow Kid" strips and was fully expecting it to have some racist content from the time period it was written... but, Holy Smokes, while the strip was amusing and imaginative at times, anytime there was a black character... YIKES!]

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For those of you interested, here's the link to the Homepage for "Moss Piglet": https://www.krazines.com/

You can also view previous issues online at: https://www.krazines.com/archives.html

Feel free to subscribe and tell 'em John D. sent you.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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