Monday, March 02, 2009

Bear in the Wood!

It was ruddy cold this weekend! We Torontonians (and most of Southern Ontario) had a little taste of some warmer weather last week. The sun shone bright and hot lifting us out of the February blahs! But Dame March roared in with snow and below freezing temperatures. Not really a blizzard or anything dastardly. Just COLD! I wonder if that counts as a Lion or have we got something more ferocious to look forward to come end of month.

James F. asked about some bears. I thought 'What better way to keep warm than sipping hot chocolate with a cuddly bear!' As long as this chilly weather persists I'll be drawing more bears. The week of loin cloths will have to wait a little longer. My guys will catch their death of cold if they go out in loin cloths today.

Stay warm, my friends.
j.

13 comments:

Andrew W said...

Ah, the woods. For a weird moment there I thought you were drawing hot homeless guys! That would be a strange kink. (Yes, it's bloody cold out there. But so sunny! It keeps catching me by surprise!)

James Figueiredo said...

AAAAAAAAAAAW, they look SO. CUTE.
Thanks, J, this is a lovely picture!

And, since you're doing requests AND has set up a Cafe Press shop, how about a nice "J. Bone's Man's Adventures Sketchbook", huh? I bet I'm not the only one who'd be al over a J. Bone sketchbook!

Best,
J.

j. said...

Andrew W - Funny! You're right, though. If I'd added a brick wall as the bg it'd be homeless guys. I was going to throw in a log cabin-ish with fireplace style interior but settled on just drawing the guys.

Hot homeless guys...that's a great idea...

James Figueiredo - As requested. I've got another one roughed out (or is it "roughed UP") that I'll post on Thursday.
I, too, am all over the Man's Adventure sketchbook. I've got a buddy gonna be helping me put it together this Spring. I know nothing about creating PDF's. I'm also giving my friend the odious taks of going through my stacks and stacks of loose artwork to search out unseen doodles from years past to include in the book. What fun!

I'm hoping by Summer there'll be something through print-on-demand...unless some wonderful publisher comes along in the meantime :)

best,
j.

James Figueiredo said...

Hey, man, I'm TRHILLED to know you're already putting a sketchbook together - Can't wait for it!

I've recently bought a few sketchbooks from the guys at processjunkie.blogspot.com, and the books look beautiful, so it might be worth taking a look there.

In any case, I'd buy a Men's Adventure book if it was printed on wrapping paper held together by a single staple at the top left of the pages, so whenever and in whichever way you decide to make it available, I'll be there!

Best,
J.

Ger said...

Dude, this is really great. Love the clean graphical style you've got going on here, and love the depiction of the closeness of these two guys. Would love to be a fly on the wall in that cabin!

Jeff said...

A perfect picture for such a cold and snowy March day. I wish this was the way I spent yesterday with my man instead of out slogging around in the snow and cold (and today is apparently going to be even colder).

Well done, as always, J.

j. said...

James - Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look. I'll certainly try for better production values than wrapping paper :)

Ger - Thanks. I just have a feeling that they might end up spilling their yummy hot chocolate. I hate to see hot chocolate go to waste.

Jeff - Cuddling under the blankets is what you do AFTER a day of slogging through the snow and cold. Afterall, if your fella can't help you warm your extremities than who can?

best,
j.

François said...

That is seriously cute.
And Yay for the upcoming sketchbook, by the way.

j. said...

Francois - I always feel guilty typing your name without the proper accent on the "c". I just have no idea how to achieve it with my keyboard.

That said, thanks! As I start building that sketchbook I'll most likely turn to you guys for input on what you'd like to see most of all. Surprisingly, yes, there might be full frontal!

best,
j.

François said...

Thanks for the accent-minded comment. In fact, without the cedilla, the "ss"-pronounced "c" in my name is pronounced "k". You can always copy it from my name in the comments, since it's true there's no easy way to produce it with an American keyboard. Blasted English language that has no accents :)

And I know what I'd like to see in the sketchbook: everything you've drawn. Barring that, well, a selection over the years and themes would be cool. Have you decided how long you want it to be?

j. said...

François - By gum, it worked!

Everything? Surely you don't want the cotton ball snowman I made for my grandma when I was seven. :)
Length-wise; I'm not exactly sure. I thought I'd gather the artwork first and see just how much I've got. I've also got to plan the layout of the book...do I want big images on each page, lots of small stuff and a few choice larger? I look at the terrific Shane Glines' book as a guide. His book is huge, though and cost over a hundred dollars. I'm not looking at doing anything quite so tremendous.

I'll most likely post the progress here as I start the work.

Thanks for the input.
j.

François said...

I don't know about the other readers, but I hate it when we get lots of small-sized images, it's very frustrating. I'd rather get less images, but better sized. And after all, you can always publish more than one sktechbook, if you're happy with the first one.

grapestain said...

Another suggestion for your sketchbook: 3-D. And I don't mean 3-D glasses.