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Dusting off ‘Paws’

I am focusing on my Paws comic now. People seem to like Tombo the Rabbit and Jacomo the Mole and they are constantly asking for them. So I will put a bunch of comics together and submit them to the syndicates.

I am using the Surface Pro 3 now, rather than the Wacom Cintiq, which I used in the past. While I like the Cintiq better, I like the all-in-one aspect of the Surface Pro, being able to use it as a computer and a drawing tablet and also, it’s portable and easier to manage.

I transported all my files and I use Manga Studio 4 EX and Photoshop to create on the Surface Pro, just like I did with the Cintiq. I have Manga Studio 5 EX, but I don’t like it for some reason, I think there is just too much on the screen and the brushes confuse me. I’m more comfortable with the 4 EX.

So that’s where I stand on the comics front now. Getting Paws ready for some sort of revival. I had done something or not done something regarding the trademark, so I had to resubmit some files this week. They were accepted and Paws is fully trademarked as a comic strip.

Why he’s voting for Trump

Thanks to my friend Harry Gottlieb for this clever idea.

Trumpkins

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Have you seen the Trumpkins popping up this year? They are jack-o-lanterns made out to be Donald Trump.

The Huffington Post has a great how-to here. But it seems easy, it’s all in the hair. Just put something on top of the pumpkin and call it Trump!

Treasures I found at NY Comic Con

There’s so much to see and do at Comic Con, but as you walk around, you’ll see quite a few booths that sell original cartoon art. Most is comic book characters and pages, but in between if you take the time, you’ll see this. Here is an original Peanuts strip from 1964. Look at the size of it. (Click on the image for large view).

It’s amazing to see this original work. I’ve seen Peanuts strips in museums, too, but this was special, I don’t know why. Maybe because if I had $10,000, I could have had it. But that might be the starting price at auction, and it will probably jump up many thousands more.

I love looking at the line work. I think these are such great pieces of art, up there with Van Goghs and Picassos.

Hiding behind the counter at one booth was this original Krazy Kat Sunday strip. Incredible. I think this one is from the 1930s – an original George Herriman Krazy Kat! It’s marked at $21,000, but at auction will go up much higher.

There were original Hanna-Barbera comic cells and original drawings, too, and so many cool things if you looked around. You had to look past all the noise and activities at Comic Con to find these treasures.

My first visit to the Guggenheim

I visited the Guggenheim Museum for the first time in my life yesterday. I think because it was raining and I wanted to get out of the rain. I loved the structure, the architecture, I didn’t care so much for the art. It was mostly blank canvases with a few lines drawn, very abstract. I did enjoy the few Degas, Picassos and Rembrants and of course Van Gogh, but it’s no MOMA.

I loved that Mr. Softee was right outside when I arrived, the perfect thing to start my visit, ice cream from my favorite ice cream truck.

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Here are a few more pics of my trip inside.

Two favs at NY Comic Con

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I saw two favorites at New York Comic Con yesterday – Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek and Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine cartoonist. Stephan was signing books at the GoComics booth and Ms. Nichols downstairs at the autograph section.

I admire Stephan a lot. I interviewed him for my 10 With Tom column once. You can see that here.

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If it’s October, it’s Comic Con in NY

It’s ComicCon time again in New York. The Jacob Javits Center was full of pop culture and comics fans. I look forward to it every year. The event runs Thursday through Sunday, always at Columbus Day Weekend.

The event is sold out, but around the convention center you’ll see people selling scalped tickets. I’m not sure if they are legit, so I wouldn’t recommend buying the tickets because the seller could disappear into the city so easily.

One great thing this year is that the #7 subway line now goes as far as the convention center, so it’s easy to get around.

I visited MOMA; again

I visited MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) yesterday in New York. It was quite crowded, I guess it always is. I feel very at home there, whenever I’m in town, I make it a point to stop by, I say that I’m visiting “my friends,” Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, etc.

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is my favorite. And then I love the Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” I think I’ve told the story often; in college we had to recreate a famous painting using the colors that we cut out of magazines. I chose the Demoiselles painting by Picasso. I did a great recreation, the size was about 3″ x 3,” so when I first saw the original at MOMA a few years later, I was flabbergasted at the size of the real thing. I was so used to seeing my original at that small size that the original really threw me. And “Starry Night” is so much smaller when you see it in person. I has such a prominence in the art world that you would assume it would be much larger than it really it.

Always a crowd around “Starry Night.”

Matisse’s “la Danse”

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

$14 Pop Tarts greeted me today

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I’m in New York City this week for New York Comic Con, which starts Thursday. After I arrived, within 15 minutes I must have spent over $100. Crazy. I paid $50 for a cab from the airport, $31 for a Metrocard, $11 to get something to eat, $5 for coffee and it went on. At one coffee shop called The Bean, I saw this, $14 for a Pop Tart. Homemade, but still a crazy price.

I was here for a long time in the summer; I don’t remember such crazy prices.

Wake me up when September ends

I used to play this song every September 30, so here it is – Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day. The actual song starts at about 1:50 min.

Ironically, or maybe not, YouTube knew that I love the video and song below, Time to Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. They had it next to the Green Day video.