The Honky Tonk Man

December 21st, 2013

Roy Wayne Farris, a.k.a The Honky Tonk Man, had one of the silliest professional wrestling gimmicks during the golden age of silly wrestling gimmicks. He was a heal Elvis Impersonator that pretended to be unaware of his heal status. Fans loved to hate him and he was a master at pissing them off. He also happens to be my friend Jeff’s second favorite wrestler of all time. Last year for X-mas I painted Jeff’s first favorite, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, and I figured I’d continue the tradition this year. Here’s how it came out:

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Garbage Truck

December 12th, 2013

My two nephews like trucks, so I decided I would make them a t-shirt featuring a garbage truck. I also threw in Bubba, the eldest’s stuffed bulldog, and Bean, his younger brother’s stuffed orangutan. I hope they like the shirts…

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If you know of some other people the size of children or toddlers who would like to wear a t-shirt featuring a bulldog, an orangutan or a garbage truck, you can buy they at Donkeyshines Jr.

Dino Erotica

November 19th, 2013

Recently, I was introduced to a certain sub-genre of literature known as Dinosaur Erotica. Not being much of a reader, I confess I tend to judge books by their covers. After seeing some examples online, I have to say, I wasn’t too impressed with the effort made by these designers and illustrators. The people and the animals aren’t interacting and there doesn’t seem to have been much thought given to composition. I’m not sure exactly who the target audience is for this type of fiction, but I got the idea that a stylized illustration parodying old romance novel covers could add a sense of irony that might draw readers who wouldn’t otherwise have any interest in this type of thing. Here is my first crack at it:

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I decided to go with a classic dinosaur style with dragon scales instead of the more bird-like appearance of modern dinosaur depictions. I thought this gave the illustration a sense of romance that might have been missing in a more realistic approach. I have to admit, that I secretly hope this will lead to some freelance work. I will be contacting some of these Dino Erotica authors soon…

Gorilla Hot Tub

October 22nd, 2013

Here’s my latest digital painting, created for my wife’s birthday. I admit I did not finish in time, but that’s because of the ellipses…

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Prior to actually beginning this piece I spent hours and hours watching tutorials on Lynda.com in attempt to learn how to draw in perspective using Photoshop. I am a slow learner, and in the end, I am not positive I actually got those ellipses drawn accurately. There’s lots of measuring and tiny lines and dots that are hard to keep track of. Sometimes you have to zoom out to 10% of your image size because the vanishing points are so far apart. From that distance, all the tiny dots and lines blend together and you can’t really see anything. Anyway, I did my best, and have come terms with the fact that, while “close enough” could lead to crooked houses and law suits if I were an architect, it’s just fine for an illustrator.

As always, drawing the gorilla was the easiest and most satisfying part. Drawing all those bananas, on the other hand, was quite mind-numbing. My wife counted about 75 bananas in the foreground alone, and each was individually drawn. I suppose I should watch some more digital painting tutorials to see how other illustrators do things like that, as I have a feeling my methods aren’t the most efficient. Anyway, here’s a detail:

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September Caption Contest

September 1st, 2013

Congrats to Ryan Sawyer for winning the August Caption contest! Now, here’s the drawing for September’s contest:

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I wanted to do one more summer-ish drawing before my favorite season ends. What says summer more than a dad risking his life to get his son’s baseball back from a hungry lion? Write a caption in the comments section of this post to win a free Donkeyshines T-shirt. Remember to get your friends to “Like” your caption, because the caption with the most “likes” by the end of the month is the winner. While they’re at it, make sure your friends “like” the Donkeyshine Facebook Page as well. Best of luck to all the caption contest participants. Like always, I look forward to reading the wacky shit you come up with. Reminder to past winners- You are welcome to participate and try to win again! Like always, I cut and pasted the last few sentences from the previous month because it is tedious to type out the rules each month.

Indiegogo Backer Reward: Ben and Hadley Portraits

August 2nd, 2013

I’m still finishing up backer rewards for the Dodo Phoenix Indiegogo project. The latest is a watercolor portrait of Ben and Hadley, the twin children of my good friends Shelley and Ben.

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August Caption Contest

August 1st, 2013

Congratulations to Jeff Small for winning the July Caption contest! You will be receiving your free Donkeyshines T-Shirt soon. Here’s the drawing for August:

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This one is gunna be fun to write captions for. You guys are so lucky, I wish I was illegible to participate in the contest. I can’t afford to give myself free t-shirts, though. Reminder to past winners- You are welcome to participate and try to win again! Remember to get your friends to “Like” your caption, because the caption with the most “likes” by the end of the month is the winner. While they’re at it, make sure your friends “like” the Donkeyshine Facebook Page as well. Best of luck to all the caption contest participants. Like always, I look forward to reading the wacky shit you come up with. Like always, I cut and pasted the last few sentences from the previous month because it is tedious to type out the rules each month.

July Caption Contest

July 1st, 2013

The June Caption contest is now in the books. Congrats to Melinda Lee for coming up with the most popular sentence for my drawing. Here’s the drawing July’s Caption Contest. I hope you have as much fun writing a caption as I did making the drawing.

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Remember to get your friends to “Like” your caption, because the caption with the most “likes” by the end of the month will win a free Donkeyshines T-shirt. While they’re at it, make sure your friends “like” the Donkeyshine Facebook Page as well. Best of luck to all the caption contest participants. Like always, I look forward to reading the wacky shit you come up with.

Indiegogo Backer Perk: Fatima Portrait.

June 20th, 2013

Here is another portrait I painted for a generous Indiegogo backer. It is fun to be doing real paintings again.

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Indiegogo Backer Perk: Olive, Yogi and Maggie

June 16th, 2013

Here is another portrait I painted for one of my generous Dodo Phoenix Indiegogo Backers. These cute doggies are Olive, Yogi, and Maggie.

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