Thanks to Rachel Pan for the photo!

I gave a ‘How-To-Cartoon’ talk and class at the Orlando Public Library Wednesday. I did a very different event, actually producing a short comic story with my drawing and the audience coming up with the story. The crowd was mostly made up of teens who were interested in manga (Asian influenced or produced cartoon material), comic books and animation. So, I crafted the talk to cover visual storytelling: How to create a character, a story and think it out in graphic form. It was a bit tough. I was to keep it at an hour and added an extra half hour to it.

The drawing is of an audience member, whose name I didn’t get. Though I recall him being a huge fan of Warner Brothers cartoons.

I thought folks here might be interested in the story that I drew in front of the audience based on ideas coming from audience members. The idea of a wolf came up along with the wolf having two children. It was decided the wolf was an artist. The asked the folks there what story we could create. Ideas bopped back and forth to finally and with the children going shopping for shoes. The conflict, or gag, was that in the end each child ended up with the wrong shoes. It was a great session with an enthusiastic audience.

 I’m interested in any and all comments if we, and particularly if I, succeeded in creating a coherent story.

Made my first trip to an eye doctor today. My eyeballs are apparently in fine shape. I just might need the $12 pharmacy glasses I picked up in Georgia during our trip three weeks ago.

Here’s a drawing of part of the eyeball equipment that I drew before being moved from the room the office had me in.

The fine folks at the ‘Ernie Kovacs Blog’ were kind enough to mention my Ernie Kovacs drawing of a few months ago, so I thought I would point you all in their direction! Kovacs is like  medicine. The more you take the more you need.

Click here to learn more of the great Mr. Kovacs at their terrific tribute to him.

Click here for the Ernie Kovacs blog.

I hadn’t seen Bobbi and Paul MacMurray in many, many years. I used to work with Bobbi at Church Street Station in the late eighties. I was drawing caricatures at Church Street in the train depot and Bobbi and Catherine Courtney created portraits outside the Cheyenne Saloon.

I drove out to Goldenrod, in eastern Orange County and met up with fellow artist, Sue McNulty, to visit the MacMurrays.

Bobbi is an outstanding portrait artist who’s eyes after over 80 years have let her down. She still has all of her equipment. The drawing is of her giant easel she used to create so many wonderful paitings and illustrations.

Bobbi’s husband, Paul, has been playing music since a child. Now, at 88, he still plays at local retirement homes. I’m violating my own rules to keep this an illustration only site with this photo of Paul with his electric base. His wife is an artist. Close enough!

I’m doing a lot of doctor visits these days. Funny how all of the rooms look similar. The drawing is of the typical advertising brochures in holders, business cards and a tape dispenser.

Within 18 hours of being home from our trip we were at an Ocala

City Council meeting involving the rezoning of some 40 acres of land adjacent property to ours. I won’t bore folks with all of the issues involving our neighborhood and developers looking to create a mixed-use development. We did have a bit of a victory as a result of both Sandra and I speaking there. The only other person from our neighborhood to show up was our neighbor, Doug, across the street. Thankfully, our small showing still had an effect.

The drawing about is of a City councilman. The two below are citizens attening the meeting, which ran more than three hours.

From the “the Little White House” to the historic site of someone else who lived there: Jimmy Carter. We stopped in Plains, Georgia and got to the historic site just before it closed. The National Park Service employee was very kind to let us see the old school and the many exhibits inside. Click here to learn more.

Here is a drawing of a school desk in one of the classrooms. Also drawn is an official Jimmy Carter hammer that was used to build homes for Habitat for Humanity.

After the visit to “the Little White House” we went looking for food and found it at a great restaurant housed in an old house in Warm Springs. Click here to learn more about the Victorian Tea Room.

Here is a chair from the restaurant.

Our next stop just south of Calloway Gardens is the “Little White House”. This spot is where President Franklin Roosevelt came to get relief and hope for better times for his legs in the natural springs nearby. He died at Warm Springs, Georgia.

The place he would live during his stays in Warm Springs is now a museum. Click here to learn more. Here are some sketches of items in the house. The lamp was in the bedroom where he slept and passed away. The cane and wallet were his. The toilet paper roll….well, you know.

We stayed in Lagrange, Georgia and then made our way to Calloway Gardens. Click on the name to learn more!  Lots of flowers plants and even parrots.

Also on the property is an 1830 log cabin moved to the property in 1959. Below are sketches of a number of items in the cabin.

Our next stop as we slowly made our way out North Carolina and into north Georgia was Rome where we stopped to see Sandra’s cousin, Ruth. We all had dinner in downtown Rome. The Harvest Moon Cafe, is a restaurant and bakery. The drawing to the left is one of the decorations in the restaurant.

When visitng shops around the downtown I, specifically spent a ton of time in a bookstore there. That store had a wonderful selection of juvenile books. Everything from the Bobbsey Twins to Nancy Drew. It also had a heck of a selection of books of the South and the Civil War.

The drawing to the right is the corner of one of the buildings.