Tommy, The Tomato Plant Must Stay Inside.

 

I drew this after buying a tomato plant when it was still too cold to put in the ground. (I must report that Tommy is doing fine and is now in the ground, breathing the fresh air and soaking up the sunshine).

  Oh, yeah, that is me and my cat, Chloe wondering why I am talking to a plant instead of to cats, like normal people do. Her face is not white but it was easier to leave it white to get her facial expression.

Mick and Hoppa Discover a Goldilocks Planet

                                           This is a page from my comic zine, Space Crusade.'

The Evolution of Hoppa & a VERY Early Drawing.

 I am the kind of person who does not easily get rid of stuff. 'Springy and Nosey' lay dormant, from 1970, a long time but at some point, in the 1980s they morphed into Mick and Hoppa. 

 Below is my recent cartoon from Space Crusade and Hoppa has become more human in shape, just like a Disney anthropomorphic character. I am unsure if I'll continue drawing him that way.

Below is the Springy and Nosy drawing by 11 year old me in 1970. I didn't really go anywhere with it until I was in my 20s and it became Mick and Hoppa.

Since then the characters have gone through different phases of depiction and adventures. 

I never really wanted Hoppa to look like a real kangaroo but more like Mickey mouse, as I liked the light bulb shaped black nose and big ears! I also made him yellow rather than brown-grey.

   

Below is a cartoon based on my cycling, hitching adventures in America in the 90s. I took a sketch book along with my backpack. Mick and Hoppa filled in for me and went where I did. Basically, they were my alter-ego. (Note, I didn't volunteer for the bowling ball and chainsaw show but someone did!)

)

This one is from 2018. I extended the strip to more social commentary.

Back cover of my Politically Incorrect Adventures of Mick and Hoppa, 2016

One of the cartoons in the comic. Whilst people like to rib President Trump I made a gentle reminder about other leaders but, no, I took artistic license with Lincoln's 'divided nation' comment at Gettysburg. But I did have a cat called Sheena.

A 2013 cartoon inspired by my stop in Hawaii.

Cover of my 2016 comic

A zine from a few years back. Mick became less child-like and more impish, with distorted facial expressions.

Portrait group in Yellow

 

Liz Sketching

 A 25 minute sketch at our portrait group...

                                                   Mick and Hoppa always were iconoclasts...

Anyhow, I am trying a looser finish for this cartoon with colored pencil rather than digital color. I'll be selling this zine in black and white, color and black and white with color covers. The rest of the story is still under wraps.

Lake Guthridge Monster

 The city of Sale has a very nice man-made lake frequented by walkers, joggers and picnic makers. Unfortunately, the man-eating geese have frightened certain female joggers who thought they might be woman-eaters.

  Fortunately, CSIRO, ever helpful, provided the Wellington council with the solution. A plesiosaur with intact DNA enabled cloning. Although fish make up most of the plesiosaur diet it is an opportunist and is making short work of the pesky and nastily defecating water birds.

  Strangely enough, the female joggers are no longer in evidence.

Zine Days Healsville 31 October to 1 November

 I had a stall at a Melbourne zine day some years ago. The zine scene had a big setback with Covid lockdowns and moved on-line. It is good to see that cartoonist, Danny Zemp, is organizing, with the help of a government grant, a free two day event at the end of this month. There will be over 70 stall-holders.

  It is worth keeping in mid tat the famous Healseville Sanctuary is close at hand.

  

  For those who don't know, zines are small, usually A5 booklets, sometimes made on a single folded and cut piece of paper, other times stapled about any theme. They can consist of poems, thoughts, experiences or/and art work.

  I'll be there with framed prints of my art and also the odd original framed work. I'll also have my sketchbooks for perusal and the various zines I have made. I expect to find plenty of material there for my next art work and I'll be drawing on the spot.

  My own zines have been mini stapled comics or collections of my art work. I am currently producing zines on various themes such as my cat, comic strips, Sunday market, places I have visited, and so on.

Promotional poster:

Examples of my zines and framed work:

Memories of 'What's On'

  In January 2020 I got together with two other blokes, Mark and Travis, to nut out a booklet to distribute at Gippsland supermarket and cafes. Mark was tom be the distributor and travis the printer.

  My job was mainly illustrating adds and contributing cartoons and articles. I had a fair amount of liberty in the ideas for my cartoons but kept out the violence and sex!

  Below is the page of notes and drawings I did of Mark and Travis. Not all the ideas were implemented and we hadn't come up with a name yet.

  We finally brought it all together and the booklets promoted local businesses and events. I found it a big boost to my art as I had to nut out new ideas every month. We kept it going a number of years and even through the Covid lockdowns.

  

   

Our designated nickname was The Three Amigos.

 

  

Sale Market Caricature

 Some people are very suitable for caricature, although I didn't exaggerate that much. I did the line drawing on site and colored it this morning. Spence hasn't seen the color version although he photographed the black and white one. Since then, I jazzed it up with snake dreadlocks and the colors are just out of my head.

Trees Holding Up Their Pants

 I got this idea when I was camping today. The lower parts of the gum trees had thick bark. but the rest of the trees were smooth.

  

Portrait Group, October, Olga and Rod.

 This is my favorite picture I did of Olga. The colors on the face were more subtle but I decided to enhance them on the computer.

                                                I was very happy with this profile of Rod.

Russian, Australian, Olga, posed for our group. The three drawings I did of her vary in style and appearance. The light tint was added from the computer, as I drew on white paper. Rod, was sitting next to me and I decided to draw him also, as he drew Olga.

Chloe, the Cat, in Colored Pencil and Paint.

 I have several projects happening at once, with some illustrated zines on the horizon. Meanwhile I attend my monthly portrait group. Then, of course, there is Chloe, the cat.
  Chloe was sitting on my lap when I did a color pencil and gel pen sketch. As you can see, I like playing around with color. I also used black acrylic paint and ink to darken her up; she is after all, a black cat, well black with dark brown highlights. I also added her white 'bib', which is not always visible in my pictures of her. I used the color enhancements in the computer program, so the shades here are not identical to the original.

Clocktower Medical Waiting Room October 2025

 

Pakenham to Bairnsdale Train October 2025

 I recently added to my stock of train sketches. This one has a little extra imagination in 'interpreting' the interior!

 

Space Crusade with Mick and Hoppa

 

Riding on the train, the other day, I drew, in my sketch book, this picture. My sketch book contains numerous portraits, scenes and cartoon ideas. I had begun, a while back, drawing a woman called Angelique, who modelled for the portrait group, but I left the nose and eyes and begun anew. This time I went back to the unfinished drawing and made the nose and eyes into a male angel. The gender of Biblical angels is not set but suggests males, more than anything, but with a hint of androgyny. Other angels are a 'Hellish' mess of wings and eyes.

  This is a possible cover for a zine I am working on. Mick and Hoppa get a job from the pope who needs astronauts for his Vatican space program, designed to find, not only Goldilocks planets but God's planet. Things don't go entirely to plan and Mick, in particular, causes chaos.