tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89832834672757720792024-03-06T01:09:28.295+00:00Cartoonist DiaryKarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.comBlogger347125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-53591214382885745912022-12-05T14:00:00.001+00:002022-12-05T14:00:04.037+00:00Looking Forward to Looking Back<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibsAI2CuSVl-fKIKhPVgz5FAMNCPEKCYvs32RJWXm-LckY8A8erQ49GngqNva8c-IpnA0iof3lwpp_VpqDT_AzilegW2iVMAq9YnBWAdLmCbfjIk5ei3gB7nbIQA7P0r2z6QtBshce5Rz36Q0oNpyBydC-RfMz1nbXKTXhluvYCtwp7iIbVhZqOtHMew/s2877/adam%20and%20eve%20606%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2877" data-original-width="2347" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibsAI2CuSVl-fKIKhPVgz5FAMNCPEKCYvs32RJWXm-LckY8A8erQ49GngqNva8c-IpnA0iof3lwpp_VpqDT_AzilegW2iVMAq9YnBWAdLmCbfjIk5ei3gB7nbIQA7P0r2z6QtBshce5Rz36Q0oNpyBydC-RfMz1nbXKTXhluvYCtwp7iIbVhZqOtHMew/w522-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20606%20copy.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-77266469582888768772022-12-02T20:24:00.005+00:002022-12-02T20:24:58.713+00:00Affirmative Action<p> Bless her, she never gives in...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXk6fFtYt5olavYkJuIQvd7-l8hk6omWmt1QF2QAJAolK4GTXur5lhH2NfLqCuNKcMTSu2154JFelG16sgglW8FHajDB4Bl2dIvuha2Ymi6duJC1Km56972fBOy43OvB3-lzN00zFNAvUfmvMK19njYQejO7olh_jSi_mAnyNfaXTWzXlrH1GZaYL2Q/s2893/adam%20and%20eve%20605%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2893" data-original-width="2339" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXk6fFtYt5olavYkJuIQvd7-l8hk6omWmt1QF2QAJAolK4GTXur5lhH2NfLqCuNKcMTSu2154JFelG16sgglW8FHajDB4Bl2dIvuha2Ymi6duJC1Km56972fBOy43OvB3-lzN00zFNAvUfmvMK19njYQejO7olh_jSi_mAnyNfaXTWzXlrH1GZaYL2Q/w518-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20605%20copy.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-34279443346591786742022-11-30T15:41:00.004+00:002022-11-30T15:41:46.615+00:00On the 7th Day...<p> So when did you think it all went wrong?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTQj8pUH-UqZb21qIw8bggRAvkdv41PW__XduzU7j-X-_bL92qQUoMil8jmpO6qKA6S6qbnP-Wqrn3WIFUwuDqyUrkRmkLEJHHwsO6mhdrIY7Potr1z99-E3ebP8mHK4whbqwt5mJpnfxcrxOAJrJgK10vRPa0RTFEbg-3TDhFpIvYdJiiV9OtO1CaA/s2925/adam%20and%20eve%20604%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2925" data-original-width="2323" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTQj8pUH-UqZb21qIw8bggRAvkdv41PW__XduzU7j-X-_bL92qQUoMil8jmpO6qKA6S6qbnP-Wqrn3WIFUwuDqyUrkRmkLEJHHwsO6mhdrIY7Potr1z99-E3ebP8mHK4whbqwt5mJpnfxcrxOAJrJgK10vRPa0RTFEbg-3TDhFpIvYdJiiV9OtO1CaA/w508-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20604%20copy.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-37103773027870506432022-11-28T11:35:00.000+00:002022-11-28T11:35:00.368+00:00A new Home for Adam & Eve...<p> Here's the latest Adam & Eve but they now have a new home. It's largely under construction, but the thrice weekly updates will appear and the character sheet is live too. You can find it here at the <a href="https://adamandevecomic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Adam & Eve Comic</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlduIPEe385hR4o4ip-kUXFflyT__IIFCkYC-CbPl_lDw4vRREyD4tEWFikdAyS-J9xNuuGt0YGebSF93FsuW1E8uas75oX-JlVWWdlIjsYyqHlT0mqijF6Q81D25LMi_WPFaVt8D-dix38z-MiESpJvm5pXJvIyJLuJhpWCKWUHA38h81f-l38IwmQ/s2893/adam%20and%20eve%20603%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2893" data-original-width="2347" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlduIPEe385hR4o4ip-kUXFflyT__IIFCkYC-CbPl_lDw4vRREyD4tEWFikdAyS-J9xNuuGt0YGebSF93FsuW1E8uas75oX-JlVWWdlIjsYyqHlT0mqijF6Q81D25LMi_WPFaVt8D-dix38z-MiESpJvm5pXJvIyJLuJhpWCKWUHA38h81f-l38IwmQ/w520-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20603%20copy.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-3872272637892604312022-11-25T12:25:00.002+00:002022-11-25T12:25:19.713+00:00Adam & Eve 602 Shark Attack<p> Welcome to the weekend and Adam & Eve's last cartoon of the week. Please feel free to share on your social media pages. Just because I can't doest mean you shouldn't.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH7fh00ExpLr4TTh0GqdV5eg4Ijjhw7HdDd0fjP-UDULv-5Eo5E3ku8FO0V2_LWsgD0wd4Bp8sc-vQvOXxlYCf33lpd8OOUVlibw_fwfb5diRZuC3vjSynq5cl17BWHCku1EKkzVsLj3OJE8nnfyUSPG8jUWuMHxsSqEohIbTpwUpZXhPsHAWSLZPdQ/s2869/adam%20and%20eve%20602%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2869" data-original-width="2355" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH7fh00ExpLr4TTh0GqdV5eg4Ijjhw7HdDd0fjP-UDULv-5Eo5E3ku8FO0V2_LWsgD0wd4Bp8sc-vQvOXxlYCf33lpd8OOUVlibw_fwfb5diRZuC3vjSynq5cl17BWHCku1EKkzVsLj3OJE8nnfyUSPG8jUWuMHxsSqEohIbTpwUpZXhPsHAWSLZPdQ/w526-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20602%20copy.jpg" width="526" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-67296570812980788352022-11-24T07:37:00.009+00:002022-11-24T07:40:51.744+00:00Adam & Eve...New beginnings<p> Well, technically not a new beginning; more like a continuation of what was happening on my social media pages: when I had social media pages.</p><p><br /></p><p>Confused? Follow this Link to my <a href="https://youtu.be/v9mo-tcaCqU" target="_blank">YouTube video</a> that explains it all. But in the meantime, this is the temporary new home for Adam & Eve three times a week.</p><p><br /></p><p>Adam & Eve is also available on <a href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/adam-and-eve/list?title_no=578138 " target="_blank">Webtoons</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3nqo7-g-ily285txPTW_nOC3Wbsyt4C5Y5TqLgIy-hjJ_cchYt-Ar-DY9YaHOkKgE_KPVsP9lP0iWnzjA-f1qLIQdX3ozd_wS6KDxTuoflCwMNX7OKm25KGcSR0Y7LpNEx_W3WVk5AD90RDc03CEDxYvWFmo22JEy4XU-KUktrDzPtf4kfb8Mscz6A/s2909/adam%20and%20eve%20601%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2909" data-original-width="2347" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3nqo7-g-ily285txPTW_nOC3Wbsyt4C5Y5TqLgIy-hjJ_cchYt-Ar-DY9YaHOkKgE_KPVsP9lP0iWnzjA-f1qLIQdX3ozd_wS6KDxTuoflCwMNX7OKm25KGcSR0Y7LpNEx_W3WVk5AD90RDc03CEDxYvWFmo22JEy4XU-KUktrDzPtf4kfb8Mscz6A/w516-h640/adam%20and%20eve%20601%20copy.jpg" width="516" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Come back for more on Friday. Normally posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-31583794756296929292021-12-24T11:18:00.002+00:002021-12-28T11:43:58.406+00:00the 12 Days of Sleepy Hamlet<p> Over on my Facelessbook page and its Sleepy Hamlet sister page, I have run a 12-day Sleepy Hamlet mini-story, and for those who like to digest it all in one sitting as opposed to daily episodes here, it is in its glorious entirety.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIOT53dPa6pNv7IcPCRyaPIF80p4XTkYdwVkR9HBbDuIXeyCqXPC7VmlnMrwJdyOVQsSYBCrBs8WvLCYK1k8wCvHupotIF8JsBBG6mcr-Hr4AGjmeP9U1cZaS1qdEQ16v3sDn2onS3RaTPEoXL0ffcds0xyQD5hm9N6DLvi69pGA-g1mw3esGan9RVZw=s3347" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMFyFhVmqSJ8ndYMnbLCcfiseQkmgEIsguCF8AUlZvpghRarm-Q9yS4vHTv9_F3wrkVOcN_bqmse-od4C2niNOoTa8FNBj_YPXWDjpNB4m3hh9z5RmymSGBkpDKEwBPD_joLDtmwOtgr_iX5PpJ-AjnStg499DjlbkawF8z_azLFPWCaV9tTMo6ZM-0w=s3325" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3325" data-original-width="2179" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMFyFhVmqSJ8ndYMnbLCcfiseQkmgEIsguCF8AUlZvpghRarm-Q9yS4vHTv9_F3wrkVOcN_bqmse-od4C2niNOoTa8FNBj_YPXWDjpNB4m3hh9z5RmymSGBkpDKEwBPD_joLDtmwOtgr_iX5PpJ-AjnStg499DjlbkawF8z_azLFPWCaV9tTMo6ZM-0w=w420-h640" width="420" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-1432016207655800262021-03-15T19:38:00.000+00:002021-03-15T19:38:14.247+00:00Adding a New Character<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSeud0iiBHyFeZhLX-qTIS1wSLM2hzEyxJvInVu5quUdS55zIiiaku-7PbOb_1z73X0WdPFONTacjpPQA0SXb95NUwhLgl6Uo57aRzdj4bVcfr5ekCli3VJ7LhdO3DBaU59v23KRH7FSf/s840/blog+new+character.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="840" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSeud0iiBHyFeZhLX-qTIS1wSLM2hzEyxJvInVu5quUdS55zIiiaku-7PbOb_1z73X0WdPFONTacjpPQA0SXb95NUwhLgl6Uo57aRzdj4bVcfr5ekCli3VJ7LhdO3DBaU59v23KRH7FSf/w400-h269/blog+new+character.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span>he introduction of any new character can be a worryingly heavy burden on the sensitive, creative mind. <p></p><div>But when the creative part of that mind is screaming </div><div><i>'Go with it, yeah, have a ball. It'll be a blast!'</i> </div><div>And the part of the brain that deals with trying to NOT get sued by megalithic corporate behemoths screams </div><div><i>'Don't listen to him, he has no real grip on reality and he's probably been drinking anyway!' </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Then you have problems.<p></p><p>Not the drink. That's never been a problem.</p><p>Yet this is the very problem that faced me <i>(once again, not the drink. The whole 'not-getting-sued-bit.' All clear now? Right, continue)</i>. I had created what I believed to be a great new addition to my <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forcing-Rhubarb-Karl-Dixon/dp/B08NWJPLT8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=forcing+the+rhubarb&qid=1606136304&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Adam & Eve comic strip</a>, a character that was different enough to add a whole new direction to the comic and, most importantly, a new stream of gags and material. </p><p>My new character was going to highlight the anomalies of the internet and social media. To hold up a mirror to the absurdities of the more dubious sides of the web and wag a mocking finger at the odd balls and idiots who cause it. The internet is a huge subject and one that I have been trying to into my strip for a long time.</p><p>My problem was that Adam & Eve is set, effectively, at the beginning of time and so far as I am aware, no computers have been dug up or discovered next to any of the bones of early man. But the web is such a big part of everyone's lives that to miss out on referring to it was, well, too big an opportunity to pass up.</p><p>So I created Googol.</p><p>And that was the problem. </p><p>Actually, there was no problem with the character, just his name.</p><p>The second I created the idea I just knew I wanted to call him Google. It said it all. Google being the most recognised feature of the internet. Google being a font of all knowledge---dubious or otherwise--- Google is, to most people, the face of the internet.</p><p>But to call a character Google would be to potentially incur the wrath of a giant. A giant, admittedly that knew nothing of my insignificant existence, but a giant non the less. I knew that if I ever wanted to grow this comic strip to such a point that it was a source of income for me, then this character could be the cause of its downfall.</p><p>So I sat on it.</p><p>I sat in it for a year.</p><p>Then I read an article, an article that told the story behind the name <i>Google,</i> and the clouds parted, a ray of sunshine hit my fevered brow and said; <i>'Now is your time my boy. Go forth and populate the world with giggles'. </i>I said to the ray of sunshine<i> 'Giggles? Have to read the drivel I come up with? </i>And the rays of sunshine muttered amongst itself for a while then said<i> 'Well, yes we have. Just do your best and DON'T SPOIL THE MOMENT. WE ARE RAYS OF SUNSHINE AND THIS IS WHAT WE DO YOU INSUFFERABLE LITTLE INGRATE!!'</i></p><p>Well something like that.</p><p>It turns out that when the original owners of Google were casting around for a name they came up with Googol, which meant: the Figure 1 followed by 100 zeros. Basically it's a very complicated mathematical thing, but to the Google guys and girls it was ideal, because it meant an infinite number of possibilities which was what they wanted their search engine to provide.</p><p>So they sent someone up to register the name. Unfortunately that person spent a large portion of their time in the registry office misspelling the word <i>'Googol'</i> and put down <i>Google</i> instead, the rest is dyslexic history.</p><p>Okay, very interesting right? Too darn right it was. It meant that I could, theoretically, use the correct spelling of the word for my character and hopefully see off any future lawsuits from the...er...legal suits. Because I'm pretty sure you cannot own a word. Didn't that Hilton creature try and own the term <i>'that's Hot' </i>and ban the world from using it? And we all know how that worked out for her.</p><p>So now I only have to worry about the day that I'm big enough and successful enough to be noticed by Google and hope that they see the funny side. Oh, and I have to make it big and on that point...</p><p>Any suggestions?</p><p>Anyway, here's a few samples of the sage himself, not that being classified a sage in Adam & Eve's little Eden is much of an accolade.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfBIgJJZGmvq7PwMERSIXzjIndrEOdUU90DSpCcvVI-zFXflYVDF9qDWjHVMbmQoRU-tg6KDWMquC8jUydl5chevdL9K1R0he7KX1cT-xD9BGlcuBHgZYisqDUHpoG7t0_3WLt7HRp2mE/s2048/adam+and+eve+338+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1663" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfBIgJJZGmvq7PwMERSIXzjIndrEOdUU90DSpCcvVI-zFXflYVDF9qDWjHVMbmQoRU-tg6KDWMquC8jUydl5chevdL9K1R0he7KX1cT-xD9BGlcuBHgZYisqDUHpoG7t0_3WLt7HRp2mE/w520-h640/adam+and+eve+338+copy.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7d4_4gV_exwHrUz1B_mMjvqsExK5akaFHthP2znlVAvIe0i_BPXMYvWuIeHDf821u0UG_K9ykIYVu3HoPWnZaa_6z27lJYeE06MRNTMUHnW2Ez87qXZC3ZquRR5kVStYvc5dWWNW7TPp9/s2048/adam+and+eve+339+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1649" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7d4_4gV_exwHrUz1B_mMjvqsExK5akaFHthP2znlVAvIe0i_BPXMYvWuIeHDf821u0UG_K9ykIYVu3HoPWnZaa_6z27lJYeE06MRNTMUHnW2Ez87qXZC3ZquRR5kVStYvc5dWWNW7TPp9/w516-h640/adam+and+eve+339+copy.jpg" width="516" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6W2QYSo4ObWUAaseCCJaR_8TTDlWUVWUaxYkOf6YIStyiP0mSH-MUDQCvImwMaWm2iRJa5D72f_0DWzYWvXrFFETEJEhoItFPyOwQEDpkRu9jO7Omnw-LM3EUuBO1rfuUtvNIxf_E9wcZ/s2048/adam+and+eve+340+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1656" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6W2QYSo4ObWUAaseCCJaR_8TTDlWUVWUaxYkOf6YIStyiP0mSH-MUDQCvImwMaWm2iRJa5D72f_0DWzYWvXrFFETEJEhoItFPyOwQEDpkRu9jO7Omnw-LM3EUuBO1rfuUtvNIxf_E9wcZ/w518-h640/adam+and+eve+340+copy.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>If you would like to see more Adam & Eve then <a href="https://www.facebook.com/karldixoncartoonist" target="_blank">click here</a>, and subscribe. Or scan the QR Code ad do the same.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7caAsp3OKrc01nPPAkPY-K44G2V6Af61y18P8yDDMATqADwsArDCt-3Rp_eBsE4fISPmFpe6JOy7BEIHtjDs80uMxNDBdV9UaqbtjPQ-AeOYIFkufL-tmcTKGhPBCp9hoU5HHjIWtaA2/s370/Facelessbook+qr+code+cartoonist.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="370" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7caAsp3OKrc01nPPAkPY-K44G2V6Af61y18P8yDDMATqADwsArDCt-3Rp_eBsE4fISPmFpe6JOy7BEIHtjDs80uMxNDBdV9UaqbtjPQ-AeOYIFkufL-tmcTKGhPBCp9hoU5HHjIWtaA2/w200-h200/Facelessbook+qr+code+cartoonist.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-28879253422725706412020-12-03T11:02:00.005+00:002020-12-03T11:02:47.147+00:00The Idiot and the Internet<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ9-zfJIn8vQi5NWkRNRWCfKfih8WklKRZd9gX0rRqbkFk1ewMnf6ERc0DdDjlrFaZ4cHOCvbwFtpi9E-groEc587uq8L-BjzUYdyacEPGYYNnhouQ8aWDcqhrBcUSHEf8ZwcHXpax6m3H/s1920/1606937278380936032812881686357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ9-zfJIn8vQi5NWkRNRWCfKfih8WklKRZd9gX0rRqbkFk1ewMnf6ERc0DdDjlrFaZ4cHOCvbwFtpi9E-groEc587uq8L-BjzUYdyacEPGYYNnhouQ8aWDcqhrBcUSHEf8ZwcHXpax6m3H/w640-h360/1606937278380936032812881686357.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yes this is a beautiful picture. The photographer, whoever's he or she is, did a stunning job on capturing the light as it danced and merrily tickled the autumnal reds of a classic Scottish Highland scene.</span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Many of you, in fact probably all of you, will have either had this picture messaged to you from me or seen it on my story; this was not my intention. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">What I did intend to do was use part of this picture as reference for a job I am working on. So I found it and downloaded it. Went to look for it in downloads and low and behold, it wasn't there. So back I went to Google, found the picture again and repeated the act; once again no picture.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">After a good twenty minutes and possibly fifteen attempts with a further fifteen failures I seemed to lose the plot somewhat. I think I snarled, steam definitely came out of my ears and I hit every control in site: the result was five minutes later my phone is pinging out of control with people from all four corners of the globe telling me what a lovely picture it is. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kim Jong-un sent a thank you, asking how I got past his fourteen levels of firewall and two secretaries, Brad Pitt said Jennifer loved, an Al Qaeda splinter group up in the Hindu Kush sent an email saying: thank you for contacting Al Qaeda, your request is being processed and someone will get back to you, even Donald Trump took a few moments out of his busy squatting schedule to ask where this was taken.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It appears in my moment of desperate frustration I seem to have shared one picture with the entire internet, which is a pretty spectacular f**k up, even for me.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So yes, it is lovely and no I didn't mean to send it to you. And guess what? Out of all the people, world-wide, who got this picture sent to them, it appears one singular person didn't.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Me.</div></div></div></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-14587142450096622852020-11-30T13:27:00.011+00:002020-11-30T13:30:07.383+00:00The Rise & Fall of the Yappy-Dog- An Adam & Eve Mini Story.<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0mUIiIOP3u3MlYfxIIA9QbpRcXIpuzOYz2WhrOsv3lxReWkoaA6iAIksrxuNiBiSFIydp6eP0VKcBlADZcq-H06KydI4TWwg-FkGeNAN4zi782Mktjt7jYCCT9YCTA9Vd-ZqnyRE2GRZ/s1080/adam+and+eve+artwork.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0mUIiIOP3u3MlYfxIIA9QbpRcXIpuzOYz2WhrOsv3lxReWkoaA6iAIksrxuNiBiSFIydp6eP0VKcBlADZcq-H06KydI4TWwg-FkGeNAN4zi782Mktjt7jYCCT9YCTA9Vd-ZqnyRE2GRZ/s320/adam+and+eve+artwork.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />It's very heart warming to realise that the characters you have created seem, on some level, to touch your readers in a very personal way. And in my most recent story arc, that point come to the fore.</span><p></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In the story I had Adam drop a tree, accidentally, on the bane of his life, the Yappy Dog and over the next few days I failed to bring him back; to give the readers a satisfying Hollywood end, as it where. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There was to be no immediate feel-good ending in sight.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I mentioned on the preceding Friday that the strip on Monday was to be the last strip in the story arc and readers began to let me know how they wanted this tale to end, and in no uncertain terms.</span></span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I always knew how I would end this tale but it was truly gratifying to see that these little characters have made enough of an impact on peoples lives that they got involved.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Fans are the life blood of any comic strip and I am so glad I have such loyal ones. So for the hell of it, here's the whole story arc in one post. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Enjoy and thank you for your continued support.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1m6dk7bl_-9FLdaDpD2AylJHFuEg-9_wiC7Iqatu-pDMXzMD_eyHtTRMMX2ktm-q7GWEw_Jz-jIUmWg9mM-bGBJ057t4Cb1hzjbw0LjndzT58w81mfLYt3fDLkhereH7D0Fk8E6sZXSs/s2048/adam+and+eve+300+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1637" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1m6dk7bl_-9FLdaDpD2AylJHFuEg-9_wiC7Iqatu-pDMXzMD_eyHtTRMMX2ktm-q7GWEw_Jz-jIUmWg9mM-bGBJ057t4Cb1hzjbw0LjndzT58w81mfLYt3fDLkhereH7D0Fk8E6sZXSs/w512-h640/adam+and+eve+300+copy.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1o5PgfBj2bVRPScAcFTTUHSBtCvmpiLBcOVgYZwlOHSWm4fpcb6ivQ2WSbchIETWxm0TyCsoHcx3HGU7w1ndc1aVJGSoSQ-RcUqP2bAJiEBFfEOOyWRaF6am9DS5XWxVuonyPwYHHEBWm/s2048/adam+and+eve+301+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1o5PgfBj2bVRPScAcFTTUHSBtCvmpiLBcOVgYZwlOHSWm4fpcb6ivQ2WSbchIETWxm0TyCsoHcx3HGU7w1ndc1aVJGSoSQ-RcUqP2bAJiEBFfEOOyWRaF6am9DS5XWxVuonyPwYHHEBWm/w512-h640/adam+and+eve+301+copy.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKHRE5FyxEy8sbgT6Ju7LvQlOhKR8Jr-uWL9KimQ4hU3aWX6KGeovPr5lIXufLoPAFaVF6EOpKla6S8XWH1aK6sDU2njBbnUqaFLqy5tBkmsxFqEc-CDI6AFEutZtCdQGntVxxNZ_QXBJ/s2048/adam+and+eve+302+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1637" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKHRE5FyxEy8sbgT6Ju7LvQlOhKR8Jr-uWL9KimQ4hU3aWX6KGeovPr5lIXufLoPAFaVF6EOpKla6S8XWH1aK6sDU2njBbnUqaFLqy5tBkmsxFqEc-CDI6AFEutZtCdQGntVxxNZ_QXBJ/w512-h640/adam+and+eve+302+copy.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMg3Gtu6Uuk0pPHTSWoy4KvGDdFnaLAv1R5e5X9nICz_isWfOZSpkZbVgWAVWIYQQ2CC1DHa-wn2bTmM2Uwpnkb21dTlUPJKog02pzfxQLW_YbQ8kqlG80d-dtAEPjLltnyfi3DuTyt9_o/s2048/adam+and+eve+303+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1665" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMg3Gtu6Uuk0pPHTSWoy4KvGDdFnaLAv1R5e5X9nICz_isWfOZSpkZbVgWAVWIYQQ2CC1DHa-wn2bTmM2Uwpnkb21dTlUPJKog02pzfxQLW_YbQ8kqlG80d-dtAEPjLltnyfi3DuTyt9_o/w520-h640/adam+and+eve+303+copy.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuJNP6hGjqQ47Pke_ts8QtJNF0BAaLFSXOZ_hxO4hTI6OgO8k1nksLErv-yMMpHCaK6rqvEqO3akf6xPtL0g-yCyrSAZRI2F_ir9IKBlnfi37qx2I2tu8al665kfoS8hEW04wJvWymHf6/s2048/adam+and+eve+304+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1662" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuJNP6hGjqQ47Pke_ts8QtJNF0BAaLFSXOZ_hxO4hTI6OgO8k1nksLErv-yMMpHCaK6rqvEqO3akf6xPtL0g-yCyrSAZRI2F_ir9IKBlnfi37qx2I2tu8al665kfoS8hEW04wJvWymHf6/w520-h640/adam+and+eve+304+copy.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXN3fys8ucv8x2HYWQKUhN7kteMHQOGKN9P377e8SMEWDeOlcmqSJd_MPOV2AsOZCGwoSWYGFba_y0Ah7XDnAfsxEuCAccGNKAZRNhxu8erMPTCTwYx5rFabiUK1youIMieDNxYbp4yxl/s2048/adam+and+eve+305+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXN3fys8ucv8x2HYWQKUhN7kteMHQOGKN9P377e8SMEWDeOlcmqSJd_MPOV2AsOZCGwoSWYGFba_y0Ah7XDnAfsxEuCAccGNKAZRNhxu8erMPTCTwYx5rFabiUK1youIMieDNxYbp4yxl/w520-h640/adam+and+eve+305+copy.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-73627149242807576352020-11-21T18:53:00.006+00:002020-11-23T11:47:59.657+00:00Latest Book<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forcing-Rhubarb-Karl-Dixon/dp/B08NWJPLT8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=forcing+the+rhubarb&qid=1606132017&sr=8-1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1520" data-original-width="2048" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXVfvfvRWUu4YG3pwCjUYdGgDRYQrVGyOl9qr0-kvBO_tixw0YWB-QVu2Mg_lvBXCI_aXx2Phux_WWrQoZhuRRfwzv61A3oGlSIY9SyldkSy-8JNy5yphLy2mTh2vmcAihB3DtKI8Rxr8m/w320-h238/Adam+and+Eve+book+1+front+cover+kindle+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A short but incredibly sweet post.<p></p><p>I have published my first collection of cartoons from my thrice weekly comic strip Adam & Eve.</p><p>There you go. That was very short and very sweet. Below are a few sample pages from the book and if you want to see more of what I have published then please visit my <a href="https://karl-dixon.blogspot.com/p/my-store.html" target="_blank">store</a>.</p><p>So until next time, have fun, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forcing-Rhubarb-Karl-Dixon/dp/B08NWJPLT8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=forcing+the+rhubarb&qid=1606132017&sr=8-1" target="_blank">click and buy</a> and support the arts...well the arts that I'm doing anyway.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBwppWG6-fq_jWSrjai7kPZi6dvXXV69Xh1fi5R9gNOGrLA1OD2GTDi3j9x-rpUW-mLRn88wBY6SJk3tEJHBs4nab_kQyOlfokTMaL87CqzgRWyGgrEWsc9IspGm-W85Np3FgSuC1h9wU/s2048/ae+p68+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="2048" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBwppWG6-fq_jWSrjai7kPZi6dvXXV69Xh1fi5R9gNOGrLA1OD2GTDi3j9x-rpUW-mLRn88wBY6SJk3tEJHBs4nab_kQyOlfokTMaL87CqzgRWyGgrEWsc9IspGm-W85Np3FgSuC1h9wU/w640-h466/ae+p68+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdYM3SMi0TAj7TpcHiAoUQjvdDe1Vcgp5TEITBZ5mLEK-zr_ZOkedWGOZL_fRlt_tt1LWQlikI7pE8RcwinjlO1Q5RaTKrFVo1_QD0aVnnzJbzdC_a8dZj1JZFXE2cgpt5ZrqnddchP-N/s2048/ae+p72+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="2048" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdYM3SMi0TAj7TpcHiAoUQjvdDe1Vcgp5TEITBZ5mLEK-zr_ZOkedWGOZL_fRlt_tt1LWQlikI7pE8RcwinjlO1Q5RaTKrFVo1_QD0aVnnzJbzdC_a8dZj1JZFXE2cgpt5ZrqnddchP-N/w640-h466/ae+p72+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3q33inNwi7PRCY7t5TSy2uOumCi61UCXZTPdxvMzT6A6VD-GMg4-z_HpslSldsrYsmqbsaC6oMnPWMfVucn3JEZfqaLvNryonKy0yRkgASnBJE19p3X29lNmpWT5ZRLySZaQq94yfV2p/s2048/ae+p75+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="2048" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3q33inNwi7PRCY7t5TSy2uOumCi61UCXZTPdxvMzT6A6VD-GMg4-z_HpslSldsrYsmqbsaC6oMnPWMfVucn3JEZfqaLvNryonKy0yRkgASnBJE19p3X29lNmpWT5ZRLySZaQq94yfV2p/w640-h466/ae+p75+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatl_nA-H5etBQNz98Xm-Ajt2Nz0_M0yIVpY4g4chxUhLz17d6uDI-nICgiykbfAq3ymAySoGPxdwHaq-jxIfKGHNfDvtlav0Z6XUuuWlceBVplu7Jxt_HxHbIAQwwW8Xmj7hqBczNZW2g/s2048/ae+p81+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1489" data-original-width="2048" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatl_nA-H5etBQNz98Xm-Ajt2Nz0_M0yIVpY4g4chxUhLz17d6uDI-nICgiykbfAq3ymAySoGPxdwHaq-jxIfKGHNfDvtlav0Z6XUuuWlceBVplu7Jxt_HxHbIAQwwW8Xmj7hqBczNZW2g/w640-h466/ae+p81+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-14726851663874744762020-11-13T19:42:00.003+00:002020-11-13T19:42:47.984+00:00Backlog of Videos<p>I've been working on my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCceUd_bp4tp9mVsw5uIBkpQ?view_as=subscriber" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a> for quite some time now and at last--or should I say over the last few months---I've been producing fairly regular videos.</p><p>Below are a selection of the them. If you like what you see, why not hop over and subscribe.</p><p>Or stay here, I'm all over the place now, you know.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nUI_zlNKqAQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="nUI_zlNKqAQ"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D2Q3RQSk63c" width="320" youtube-src-id="D2Q3RQSk63c"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qAJlJ416AGw" width="320" youtube-src-id="qAJlJ416AGw"></iframe></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T34pEVvSC7o" width="320" youtube-src-id="T34pEVvSC7o"></iframe></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uV6S-l_6aHI" width="320" youtube-src-id="uV6S-l_6aHI"></iframe></div><br />Hope you enjoy them and keep coming back for more.<p></p>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-59437706655073110442020-11-11T12:00:00.210+00:002020-11-11T14:10:42.407+00:00WIX a load of rubbish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkwM3cLYVg7gVi1S2AlEirOAFgeymapWe22vYqvI5s7WaKrqa7y919YK7v9qsSgGE1oZNGUruzgcn29v3rozbiwgH6vYX527gqiTsL7lSTD9lfiaEtfotgv6JaETEjAIpgndgm0YOouDU/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="343" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkwM3cLYVg7gVi1S2AlEirOAFgeymapWe22vYqvI5s7WaKrqa7y919YK7v9qsSgGE1oZNGUruzgcn29v3rozbiwgH6vYX527gqiTsL7lSTD9lfiaEtfotgv6JaETEjAIpgndgm0YOouDU/w400-h172/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">I am indeed back. Back from the dark and confusing world of the paid for website and blog.</span><div><br /></div><div>I guess blogger had been spoiling me over the years; what with the whole freeness of it all and the many and varied things you can do, but when you are constantly bombarded with advice about getting a paid for site that enables you to do pretty much everything that a free blog page cannot, and that no one will take you seriously as a business if you don't have a professional website, then eventually you fall under the huge weight of marketing hype..</div><div><br /></div><div>And this is how I stumbled upon WIX, and fell over.</div><div><br /></div><div>I spent hours, and I mean hours, trawling through YouTube and the various online sites taking the advice of experts, and it all eventually came down to WIX and Wordpress. But I could not decide which one to go with; so with no actual valid option, I flipped a coin.</div><div><br /></div><div>It came down WIX side up</div><div><br /></div><div>I wish it hadn't.</div><div><br /></div><div>I signed up, attempted to build the site over a few nights, made endless frustrated calls to their helpdesk---all seemingly manned by people who really didn't want to be there---and decided to show their frustration by making me feel like an absolute idiot---So eventually I just ignored them and scratched my head until I got it right.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that took nearly a month! Let's face it, I had an empire to build in-between all their 'easy set up' issues, and to be honest, if the Romans had had to deal with WIX before heading out across the Rubicon to bash a widely unsuspecting world on the head, they'd still be there now...waiting on the hotline, listening to Wagner's ring cycle.</div><div><br /></div><div>But eventually I did get a site I could live with, not the site I wanted, but a site of sorts that fell roughly under the description of '<i>Website'.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>But it kept on crashing, losing post after post. Images could not be resized, like their adverts said they could. The reason for this was simple, apparently. </div><div><br /></div><div>It turns out that all the adverts I saw were for the old WIX interface, an interface that they loudly proclaimed to be endless in its variety and would do away with the need for a professional website designer. </div><div><br /></div><div>It turns out that they decided to do away with the old site a week before I came bowling along with money in my hand and a silly expression of confidence on my face. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, one day, just over a year later, this defeated cartoonist was building a blogger site for his partner, when he realised she could actually do more with her free site than he could with a paid for one. And it looked better.</div><div><br /></div><div>I ran the Blogger site for her, until she became competent and confident enough to be left alone to blog without a safety net---which in all honesty wasn't that long. I used to look at her with envious eyes as she effortlessly made her site do things that mine just could not.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I asked the question.</div><div><br /></div><div>What had my site got that her site didn't? Well not a lot, actually. Maybe the word 'Blogspot' in the title and an option to make her mobile phone site different in design to the computer one. And seeing as most people run their online life through their phones, this really wasn't an issue. </div><div><br /></div><div>But the real kicker was when I realised that she could turn her site into a multi lingual one at the touch of a button. I went to my site and found that to do the same, I had to either translate the whole page myself, or pay a translator to do it for me; language by language.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was also around this time that I lost three posts that I had slaved hard and long over, saving it as I went along (something blogger does automatically I hasten to add), and when the third one disappeared without trace, I lost my stuff!</div><div><br /></div><div>But when I contacted WIX about this they simply stated that these things happen from time to time. My answer was: <i>'Not on Blogger it bloody well doesn't!'</i> They just shrugged their online shoulders and said <i>'it was probably something I did and couldn't I just write it again?'.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>And with that, I said I would not be renewing my contract with them and put the phone down on the world of pain and frustration that is WIX. </div><div><br /></div><div>So here I am, once again with blogger.</div><div><br /></div><div>It may be free, and some purists out there will insist that customers don't take you seriously if you don't have a professional site, but all I can say is this: <i>'I'm a cartoonist, I don't want to be taken seriously. That's kind of the whole point!'</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>And to prove it, here's a few cartoons.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCX9REFpkB1CHOxdcxuu0iIP5mMMpP1cYV8C2-Ux68M7XRabDaHv9PtBRaiiFjtjhgW18Kt6hIEXXPG8zdoMsEhzZgYGpY_3o1sdzwvjHBz_BFUM0EtzKOeqiFav2LEpN-A5O__VQQitO/s2048/cartoonstock+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1935" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCX9REFpkB1CHOxdcxuu0iIP5mMMpP1cYV8C2-Ux68M7XRabDaHv9PtBRaiiFjtjhgW18Kt6hIEXXPG8zdoMsEhzZgYGpY_3o1sdzwvjHBz_BFUM0EtzKOeqiFav2LEpN-A5O__VQQitO/w378-h400/cartoonstock+3.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XFCmmTmFeoO3BdMNcdaFhU295pspyEGc__t3wjPSp9fKQWP5mFYGZ-BWMTZD66CfMDSnvwWyeqZULDw1WvFqgWDbeqdAE_HMwVNz9WfNx3rgr5NVQQABwS4xefLRSHJaH2r5uvWfEHmX/s2048/Cartoonstock+5+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1987" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XFCmmTmFeoO3BdMNcdaFhU295pspyEGc__t3wjPSp9fKQWP5mFYGZ-BWMTZD66CfMDSnvwWyeqZULDw1WvFqgWDbeqdAE_HMwVNz9WfNx3rgr5NVQQABwS4xefLRSHJaH2r5uvWfEHmX/w388-h400/Cartoonstock+5+copy.jpg" width="388" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaOX5vcxEJ66LXyFLvBSI1-oFqLhyjkZTGzxj2Ul2xntCr2QZ1mqAuBRiEcXbVrgwyy3uDDg6ebj_Xf-eF6yQ7XnOI_rl-yeu-4y6IobiP-oxlqKmPD7Br86moPBZs6PNC2c1J2AARjT5/s2048/cartoonstock+18rgb.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1776" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpaOX5vcxEJ66LXyFLvBSI1-oFqLhyjkZTGzxj2Ul2xntCr2QZ1mqAuBRiEcXbVrgwyy3uDDg6ebj_Xf-eF6yQ7XnOI_rl-yeu-4y6IobiP-oxlqKmPD7Br86moPBZs6PNC2c1J2AARjT5/w348-h400/cartoonstock+18rgb.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGv6FYi9fV4F1iFx78pOH6gZrp5xDmYV9A3J-SzT0wnshKpER95gFhbxO4e5A_SiHJ0MhGShYyERCef6dppIkFWmKqsF_qoKvIA9lC3-fQOuX58MRtzAWDksiVCaozX55yDvjJqmfLmuZQ/s2048/cartoonstock+21+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGv6FYi9fV4F1iFx78pOH6gZrp5xDmYV9A3J-SzT0wnshKpER95gFhbxO4e5A_SiHJ0MhGShYyERCef6dppIkFWmKqsF_qoKvIA9lC3-fQOuX58MRtzAWDksiVCaozX55yDvjJqmfLmuZQ/w353-h400/cartoonstock+21+copy.jpg" width="353" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Oh incidentally, my partner is a top Chef and she brings her skills to the public and passes her craft on so you can produce amazing food yourself. Interested? Good, then here's the <a href="https://chefstefskitchen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">link</a></span></div><div><br /></div>Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-11595686639625226432018-11-24T21:52:00.001+00:002018-11-24T21:52:40.627+00:00Adam & Eve get their first calendar <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6VDnDW8YFrCEniZZNPMxSAmI3FlnHuErmS1Z9K3HtssLxv59MAyaRHANEP7pV5b5ZeHgxR1Zpq3HCiZQ-q93B7N2Lt3Xhr3iUo-9jx_JXSZOMV4ACIeAz8tLJZsfGXkUd7yKjO9Npcig9/s1600/A+and+E+cover+fin+2+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6VDnDW8YFrCEniZZNPMxSAmI3FlnHuErmS1Z9K3HtssLxv59MAyaRHANEP7pV5b5ZeHgxR1Zpq3HCiZQ-q93B7N2Lt3Xhr3iUo-9jx_JXSZOMV4ACIeAz8tLJZsfGXkUd7yKjO9Npcig9/s320/A+and+E+cover+fin+2+copy.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Adam & Eve, the two unlikely stars of my larger comic panel NoodlePates, have just become the cartoon my followers most want to see. When they aren't there, they miss them and when they are, they just want more!</span>.<br />
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Adam & Eve really is a simple concept. The panel strip documents the daily doings of Adam & Eve as they reach middle age and the realisation that the magic has well and truly gone from their marriage.<br />
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It's a family strip with a twist, their only other companions are a resigned snake, who is an unwilling companion to their troublesome lives and God, an inventor who is already beginning to have serious regrets.<br />
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For years I had tried to come up with clever cartoon ideas and concepts but always drew a blank, and met with a massive wall of personal frustration and an industry wide indifference. But when I threw these two marital misfits into a cartoon one day, something happened and my readers were not slow in letting me know about it.<br />
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When it comes right down to it, relationship jokes, the battle of the sexes, family complications and laughing at those less maritally fortunate than our selves, have always been, and probably always will be, the one thing virtually all of us have in common.<br />
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I get it. I know. I can't see Adam & Eve becoming the next big syndication gold mine; let's face it, there won't be that many editors willing to run a strip with a religious theme, no matter how mild it may be. But as an Internet cartoon and with CreateSpace and other such publishing platforms and the increased support of the public, you never know what trouble we may be able to cause between us.<br />
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So for the foreseeable future I will be making Adam & Eve my regular comic feature, and I hope you will wish to join in it's merry band of fans and followers.<br />
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That said, and this only meaning to be a short post, I will shut up and let you view a few sample pages of the first ever Adam & Eve calendar.<br />
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And if you would like to purchase one, email me and I will see what I can do.<br />
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Enjoy<br />
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<b><i>If you like what you see, and want to see more, then please sign up to my email list and have every blog notification sent direct to your email box, assuring that you'll never miss a single post ever again.</i></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: small;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides</span></div>
Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-36184559114177251452018-11-14T09:00:00.000+00:002018-11-14T09:00:16.162+00:00Caricature Commission- Tutorial<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ0tF4hf5Z7FOm2CeH9gWIzHCd-hNABWhptaAWsZz9fQoVcm9VTsgM4ZvE0fX3-4QUXOWXxbohUt-kjpo-o9hE9xgfPOBJSldMd7JSjA3hKPO6F5r1WikNcoiY6w78Z5WI9J4EpRtack_E/s1600/Blog+post+Caricatures+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ0tF4hf5Z7FOm2CeH9gWIzHCd-hNABWhptaAWsZz9fQoVcm9VTsgM4ZvE0fX3-4QUXOWXxbohUt-kjpo-o9hE9xgfPOBJSldMd7JSjA3hKPO6F5r1WikNcoiY6w78Z5WI9J4EpRtack_E/s320/Blog+post+Caricatures+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><b>I was actually supposed to be putting up another tutorial on another caricature, but that will have to wait. I hope you will think it worthwhile as that one is about how I ended up doing a caricature painting of Frank Bruno, the one time World Heavyweight Champion. And because it was for charity I'll also be touching on my thoughts on working in this field and its value, plus some of the abuses perpetrated by some less reputable people out there.</b></i><br />
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Anyway, onto today's tutorial.<br />
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I have been producing watercolour caricatures for over thirty years now. Admittedly it hasn't been my primary source of income, but over the years I must've produced a couple of hundred private commissions.<br />
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I've always found that they make excellent Birthday, Christmas, Wedding and retirement gifts<br />
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This caricature was a retirement gift for a chap called Kevin, who works for a customer of mine, the <a href="https://subscribeme.to/dalesman" target="_blank">Dalesman Magazine</a><br />
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Now for those of you who have seen my other <a href="http://karl-dixon.blogspot.co.uk/p/cartoon-tutorial-archives.html" target="_blank">tutorials</a> on a variety of themes, you will know how I like to break the process down into stages--- just in case there are any of you out there who may just want to have a crack at doing one themselves.<br />
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So if you're not too bored of seeing all these stages by now, then sit back and lets go through it again.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>A caricature for Kevin</u></b></span></div>
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Right. First off I get the photo sent to me along with as much information about the study as is possible. In Kevin's case he was an avid walker of the Yorkshire Dales.<br />
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He also liked taking groups out, loved his football, wrote a supplement for the Dalesman called 'Down out Way and was a very keen gardener.<br />
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Armed with this I produced a rough of Kevin and the scene I thought would work well, and emailed it to the client. They loved it and gave me the green light.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngXpv13CDbALUVR8YB8c76PnugtncFzo32oMPZWTyv4Ormoh5x8YPSLSEwewSREAafLds6qJye9DbnF3o8dV53abIGafK3dDxgEMxMXUO_rLbTL9B9r0MejKsdl6xfY_nBzXC8OmdfOh-/s1600/20160811_121929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngXpv13CDbALUVR8YB8c76PnugtncFzo32oMPZWTyv4Ormoh5x8YPSLSEwewSREAafLds6qJye9DbnF3o8dV53abIGafK3dDxgEMxMXUO_rLbTL9B9r0MejKsdl6xfY_nBzXC8OmdfOh-/s320/20160811_121929.jpg" width="320" /></a>Normally the first stage I show in these tutorials is the pencil art and the masking, but for some reason, best known to the God of cartoonists, I either forgot it, or misplaced it...either is more possible than you would think. Sometimes the thing will even dissappear while I'm using it as reference: don't ask, I really don't know the answer.<br />
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But here's a picture of my rather messy watercolour plate, which, for some reason, I did remember to take a photo of. Obviously the God of messy watercolour plates was on the ball that day and is probably the one responsible for the poking sensation in my ribs that only went away when I picked up the camera..<br />
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But in the absence of a photo here's what I did: I pencilled the art onto a heavy watercolour paper (you need a heavy paper so as to soak up the large washes without too much crinkling), then I masked out the main character and anything else I didn't want to have to fiddle around when putting the background washes down.<br />
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NOW we can move onto the pictures again.<br />
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I mixed a pale blue wash using Cobalt blue and the lightest dab of ultramarine for depth, wet the paper with clean water, allowed it to dry to a sheen then placed the blue to about three quarters of the way down to the horizon. (note: when working on a wet surface, the colour you chose will be a lot lighter as its being diluted. Watercolour paint always dries lighter anyway, but when being placed over a damp surface it dries EVEN lighter...so be aware and compensate on your mixes)<br />
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I then mixed a little bright orange and cadmium red and watered it down and placed that beneath the almost dry blue. This little touch of pinky red gave the painting a nice, fresh, cool morning feel to the painting.<br />
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For this picture, and I've no idea why it was so important, I painted all the flesh tones in, all the way up to their final stages.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgT5elEx0nZIJde6EGw_YYSTJ3LLS6oN4WVnqsi8Bi4IAlI3G6iGVrAG_QPDUkzWe0wfjr_NDcRgjJJI__yVvuInsLQ3E1xgc-TETy77rCotxXJnG-jgchOIhBRXfMP0hwwOb7uEeQeugL/s1600/20160810_160236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgT5elEx0nZIJde6EGw_YYSTJ3LLS6oN4WVnqsi8Bi4IAlI3G6iGVrAG_QPDUkzWe0wfjr_NDcRgjJJI__yVvuInsLQ3E1xgc-TETy77rCotxXJnG-jgchOIhBRXfMP0hwwOb7uEeQeugL/s640/20160810_160236.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Because I was obviously in the zone, and wished to complete every stage of the painting to its end before moving onto the next bit---something I never normally do--- I just plodded on; finishing skin tones, grass, walls, fields... well you get the picture; sometimes it seems the only discipline I have is the lack of one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioCMGDSE_-1gz2FQLOQjRNyPbUiEH8feevTAsaLDO0WuWuR54Yup0r-QhW0pGqoPBDKc0KjEaeUfuIHdp9B9-1wTJqf9SsqsUzwOgRX2nW6cw-w6Ku1K1M6KZeXhwg7bL_8SXzLBRZhnS/s1600/20160811_120452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhioCMGDSE_-1gz2FQLOQjRNyPbUiEH8feevTAsaLDO0WuWuR54Yup0r-QhW0pGqoPBDKc0KjEaeUfuIHdp9B9-1wTJqf9SsqsUzwOgRX2nW6cw-w6Ku1K1M6KZeXhwg7bL_8SXzLBRZhnS/s640/20160811_120452.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I guess the beauty of having completed each stage so thoroughly is that when it came to selecting the colour of the characters, it became really easy to see what would work in making them pop out against the rest of the painting.<br />
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All in all, I was really very happy with the overall balance of composition and colour for this picture, and it remains, to this day, one of my most favourite caricature paintings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHsU8sBvgFWJUEDp41L59VQVRbSIvCM6ayYv_-YLJ1ao4TBlsT3qAa56ZUX6SmlVqaQbwlmbFOCEFuJveH0VkR2VI1IigEH6ULrJ_sD43Rup2EaW0r6eTCZ500un7VsmELudnexxXCplJ/s1600/20160811_121122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHsU8sBvgFWJUEDp41L59VQVRbSIvCM6ayYv_-YLJ1ao4TBlsT3qAa56ZUX6SmlVqaQbwlmbFOCEFuJveH0VkR2VI1IigEH6ULrJ_sD43Rup2EaW0r6eTCZ500un7VsmELudnexxXCplJ/s640/20160811_121122.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once I feel I've finished the painting I walk away---have a cup of tea, go for a walk, cook some food---anything that clears my mind for about an hour. Then I come back with fresh eyes and see what I may have missed. In this case it was the extra dark shadows.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKqV0IGpEj4KDEJ3fDakBSII9DsJDQ4pDvdR1EZDLsq9xgypolMN9vjlAhCIO_G55zCBAT7M_qrz-eTYhGpPPUq_S4hXtpUSwwxiE3vUXrpm2CU4SSPXLZxPbR8KowO83A5Ik3BYIp5Bk/s1600/20160812_124550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKqV0IGpEj4KDEJ3fDakBSII9DsJDQ4pDvdR1EZDLsq9xgypolMN9vjlAhCIO_G55zCBAT7M_qrz-eTYhGpPPUq_S4hXtpUSwwxiE3vUXrpm2CU4SSPXLZxPbR8KowO83A5Ik3BYIp5Bk/s640/20160812_124550.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then it's just a case of inking the characters, lettering where needed, tear the masking tape off to reveal those nice, crisp lines, package it up and dispatching it to the customer.<br />
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Then onto the next job.<br />
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I hope this, like all my <a href="http://karl-dixon.blogspot.co.uk/p/cartoon-tutorial-archives.html" target="_blank">tutorials</a> help you in some way, or just entertain. That said, I hope to see you all back here soon on the <i><b>Diary of a Cartoonist & Writer.</b></i><br />
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<br />Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-17744555606673423922018-11-09T09:00:00.000+00:002018-11-09T09:00:04.676+00:00More from the NoodlePatesI've been drawing these little cartoons on my Facelessbook page for almost three years now, and they've began to get more than a little traction. So much so that I've been asked to, and have produced, the first collection of over 150 of my favourites.<br />
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This book <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Primordial-Ink-Pot-NoodlePates/dp/1718894864/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541337223&sr=8-1&keywords=out+of+the+primordial+ink+pot" target="_blank">Out of the Primordial Ink Pot</a> is available on Amazon with the artist copy direct from myself, and can be purchased by emailing me through my <a href="http://karl-dixon.blogspot.com/p/contact-me.html" target="_blank">Contact page</a><br />
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Anyway, without further ado, here's a selection of some of my NoodlePates cartoons.<br />
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As ever, enjoy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOixozZOW6jP53w3T_GcoqTBKavHmaS4ZXhARgEAUuF9NszRnU-wuJqvg7zRvzb5f_LzE8VC6b_javHysMygKts96bsMqLcBEA8Yf0PYyYKCsOrcuGkjfSgLNfEn8941_j8n8oPIQK8xEc/s1600/28616639_10156127730576684_2978093779299024775_o_10156127730576684.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1128" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOixozZOW6jP53w3T_GcoqTBKavHmaS4ZXhARgEAUuF9NszRnU-wuJqvg7zRvzb5f_LzE8VC6b_javHysMygKts96bsMqLcBEA8Yf0PYyYKCsOrcuGkjfSgLNfEn8941_j8n8oPIQK8xEc/s640/28616639_10156127730576684_2978093779299024775_o_10156127730576684.jpg" width="449" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0b0aL9Pv4OOTVnAuY-f2syzQtWpjVhcPsUk1obR2U6SvitcYFecIzg67olSQQWNsNv5cwCx9wb32b-hEnlFQGI-D_-mvauYPIOHv-EQS32B-cK4o2mpnRW8ZN30fT-VitZXEAsM78Rbw/s1600/28828191_10156176578176684_5556656578771466131_o_10156176578176684.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1187" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn0b0aL9Pv4OOTVnAuY-f2syzQtWpjVhcPsUk1obR2U6SvitcYFecIzg67olSQQWNsNv5cwCx9wb32b-hEnlFQGI-D_-mvauYPIOHv-EQS32B-cK4o2mpnRW8ZN30fT-VitZXEAsM78Rbw/s640/28828191_10156176578176684_5556656578771466131_o_10156176578176684.jpg" width="473" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk52w1LWrpxYsOI7A-r7NAFZlbCXYqmFOaod_bIV4CdZwDgOCYfMNGV6dz7fbN904oIN4U_DYgVN687uLwIt1oFm_1ZmLIsK49TP8OC6btxF3tAzEi6e6Ey_E1xuGWVGlHklkatspulfyj/s1600/28958273_10156134566041684_3475054779313422336_o_10156134566036684.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1243" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk52w1LWrpxYsOI7A-r7NAFZlbCXYqmFOaod_bIV4CdZwDgOCYfMNGV6dz7fbN904oIN4U_DYgVN687uLwIt1oFm_1ZmLIsK49TP8OC6btxF3tAzEi6e6Ey_E1xuGWVGlHklkatspulfyj/s640/28958273_10156134566041684_3475054779313422336_o_10156134566036684.jpg" width="496" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGjvLv79GndkFGb_OEoh55BdJYAI5Ep3DsCi88xT545S3XEjWvDQi6s8eKKf_XL7TCbP4hajpcdAZQkRv67jVY8Pyiz_YpWQ3Bp__OqqSyw_vj8w8Q7hg2JAf3dj7-Iop6udSTIWOoCG4/s1600/29196615_10156149555441684_6214239579008925696_o_10156149555411684.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1179" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGjvLv79GndkFGb_OEoh55BdJYAI5Ep3DsCi88xT545S3XEjWvDQi6s8eKKf_XL7TCbP4hajpcdAZQkRv67jVY8Pyiz_YpWQ3Bp__OqqSyw_vj8w8Q7hg2JAf3dj7-Iop6udSTIWOoCG4/s640/29196615_10156149555441684_6214239579008925696_o_10156149555411684.jpg" width="468" /></a></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-65247090366017599182018-11-05T09:00:00.000+00:002018-11-05T09:00:03.225+00:00101 Uses for a Dead Mother-in-Law, times Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Uses-Dead-Mother-Law/dp/1725873613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541289645&sr=8-1&keywords=101+uses+for+a+dead+mother+in+law" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1154" data-original-width="1600" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh-Nng9rgnmqdcOsqKkioLFU5lKk4pLavB2TA1HuyO5OYZCyGeGXjEAfghM_3h5dwwPkQVIX0FxzhKvUvc6hHjjMxvS6ixMLSoysth29i-fb0z3EQZGVv9w2hZVQXqSZFjll1o5F8KoOof/s400/101+use+front+cover+fin+kindle+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Times two?!<br />
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Yes, that's the amount of times I had to scan, clean up, place squarely within the page and save in psd, JPeg and finally Pdf...as that's how Amazon want it. Making us suffer is a 'thing' for them...or so it sometimes feels.<br />
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Actually it was really 202 times.<br />
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Why? Simple, because I lost around ten years of work from my hard drive when it crashed and burned. This involved everything I had done, up to and including the scanned and cleaned up pages for my new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Uses-Dead-Mother-Law/dp/1725873613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541277335&sr=1-1&keywords=101+uses+for+a+dead+mother+in+law" target="_blank">101 uses for a Dead Mother-in-Law</a>. And no, I didn't back it all up. Why? Because I am a numpty. And that's how 101 pages turned into 202.<br />
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And all this in a month that had me writing and illustrating a corporate Christmas Children's book---more about that on a further post---a range of twenty Christmas cards---also more about that on another post---plus two caricatures, one of Frank Bruno, the brief world heavyweight champion boxer---while the other was a private gift for a retirement present, and yes, you've guessed it: more on that in another post---and on top of all this I had to write, draw and colour a dozen or so cartoons including my Facelessbook cartoon, NoodlePates and chase a variety of computer experts who all made valiant efforts to retrieve my files. All so far have fought the good fight, but sadly retired to their respective corners to admit defeat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2XJKxWN2-7o3KrJyRCJYN5RbJM59T4OWvAiu_dCbVofnViTKS0fP_YC_T3Pt1PFLb-WlmEjgNtO1KLSUAMKiC_NbMR8ROXyVYEc47ck8pVuqP7YYdWTb3ogdyUA_0deMNpv_z95i6yYq/s1600/blog+post+101+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="294" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2XJKxWN2-7o3KrJyRCJYN5RbJM59T4OWvAiu_dCbVofnViTKS0fP_YC_T3Pt1PFLb-WlmEjgNtO1KLSUAMKiC_NbMR8ROXyVYEc47ck8pVuqP7YYdWTb3ogdyUA_0deMNpv_z95i6yYq/s200/blog+post+101+image.jpg" width="117" /></a>So you can see, I was more than a little excited at the prospect of spending long hours---most of them deep, deep into the night--- re scanning, re cleaning, re placing and re naming 101 cartoons.<br />
<br />
And that wasn't the end of the pain. Oh no it wasn't. I then had to re do the front and back cover---the inside and end pages, with all the legal bumph--- plus find the typefaces I had originally used, and subsequently lost when my hard drive went south of the border without leaving a forwarding address, while replying to the many heartfelt messages from oodles and oodles of Facelessbook friends who never tire of calling me anything from a silly ass to...well, a lot worse.<br />
<br />
I wont repeat it because its not only an accurate assessment of my mind, but certain words may upset Auntie Google. And we don't want to upset Auntie Google do we, no sirree. Auntie Google can do things to your ratings that'll bring tears to your eyes.<br />
<br />
Enough with the Auntie Google.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the upshot of all this baloney is, the book is completed, posted to Amazon---after having ran their own personal gauntlet of techno pain and agony---and today it all goes live. So if you have any compassion in your bones, or your soul was touched on any level by this heart wrenching, tear jerking tale, then please run over to Amazon and get yourself a copy of this highly entertaining read.<br />
<br />
If nothing your purchase will help foot my mounting techy costs and therapy bills.<br />
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What, you still need convincing? After all that? Oh okay, here's a selection of what you can expect from <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Uses-Dead-Mother-Law/dp/1725873613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541277335&sr=1-1&keywords=101+uses+for+a+dead+mother+in+law" target="_blank">101 uses for a Dead Mother-in-Law</a>.<br />
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Enjoy my friends.<br />
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Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-31699061645728019392018-02-27T10:29:00.001+00:002018-02-27T10:29:34.261+00:00It could've been me...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/08/e2/4b/08e24b42d9e36e061e117f103411073b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image result for matt cartoons" border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/08/e2/4b/08e24b42d9e36e061e117f103411073b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt's look at Brexit</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>I already had a blog post for today, but when I saw the British Daily Telegraph's headline this morning, I had a change of plan.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Today, their daily pocket cartoonist <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/daily-telegraph-celebrates-30-years-of-matt-cartoons/" target="_blank">Matt</a> celebrates 30 unbroken years of brilliantly masterful political cartoons.</span><br />
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I like most people who have been a fan of this gentle, humorous and wonderfully witty cartoonist, cannot help but fall in love with his work. And to have kept up the high standards that he has set for himself for so many years is, in itself, an achievement that so few are able to attain. I, like many other cartoonists, read his daily doodlings in awe, and on more than one occasion I have openly wished that I had <i>'thought of that one'</i>. A feeling I am sure that has been shared by many another professional cartoonist.<br />
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I guess the beauty of Matt's work, for me, is in the fact that unlike so many of his contemporaries he doesn't set out to offend, but chooses instead to gently mock. I have never known him to be outwardly acerbic but instead chooses to make his point with taste, tact and wonderful, wonderful wittiness. To my mind the only other cartoonists to achieve this have been <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=giles+cartoons+archive&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB568GB568&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjn_qm508XZAhUBBcAKHU2HDIIQsAQIRQ&biw=1366&bih=637" target="_blank">Giles</a> of the Daily Express and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mac+of+the+daily+mail&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB568GB568&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjtvbOG1MXZAhUJW8AKHe9kB-oQ_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=637" target="_blank">Mac</a> of the Daily Mail.<br />
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But did you know, it could very well have been me?<br />
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Let me explain.<br />
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ef/8f/cd/ef8fcd289401f359845cebb97b569943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for matt cartoons" border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ef/8f/cd/ef8fcd289401f359845cebb97b569943.jpg" /></a>30 years ago I was living in a shared house outside London and trying to break into the UK mainstream national press. I had been pounding those streets, once a week, for what seemed like an epoch when one day I made contact with a delightfully helpful lady called Chanel Macamara. Chanel was the cartoon editor of the Daily Telegraph Syndicate. She had reviewed the small package of comic strips I had left with her office and liked them enough to put them into a development programme.<br />
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Part of the deal was I had to produce 100 comic strips, which was their way of proving I wasn't just an eighteen strip wonder. It was a lot of cartoons, but this was a big chance. A seriously big chance, and I was going to grab at it with both hands.<br />
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Anyway, to cut a very long story short, the phone, that everyone in the shared house used, was cut off due to the landlord not paying the bill, and at some point between my last trip up to London, and the phone being cut off, the editors of the Daily Telegraph contacted Chanel at the syndicate and said they desperately needed a pocket cartoonist for their front page and could she recommend someone. Chanel said we have just the guy for you and immediately set about contacting me, sadly she called me on the day that the phone was cut off.<br />
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When she couldn't get hold of me via phone she began ringing around the pubs, shops, restaurants and any kind of business they could think of that may know me, leaving messages to contact them urgently: they could not stress the importance of the word 'urgent' more if they tried.<br />
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Sadly for me I had no idea about these storms that were crashing around in my name as I had locked myself away in my flat and was ploughing through the 100 comic strips that were required; trying to beat the deadline given me and trying to prove how trustworthy I could be.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWYXl4SQ8yzyccLjmXPT-yyy10uIXNSNxQ4oCBUYph9dJ8SyfdSzMuRInVNWtBzcPchnBWfKIoWNpIqwpHxOlTPen5cEdXOqZRq9JUz2RIlcsj_EVErt6e_WQY9sDZ4KPXCbasttv-Pw/s1600/Matt+-+Cartoon+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for matt cartoons" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWYXl4SQ8yzyccLjmXPT-yyy10uIXNSNxQ4oCBUYph9dJ8SyfdSzMuRInVNWtBzcPchnBWfKIoWNpIqwpHxOlTPen5cEdXOqZRq9JUz2RIlcsj_EVErt6e_WQY9sDZ4KPXCbasttv-Pw/s320/Matt+-+Cartoon+2.jpg" width="200" /></a>By the time I completed them and went up to the syndicate's offices, the Daily Telegraph had given up waiting and made alternative arrangements in the form of Matt.<br />
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It would appear that for the sake of an unpaid phone bill, it may have been me that was being celebrated this week. Me that would've had a cherished career working in the national newspapers and me who would've driven into work every day with a huge stupid grin on my face that never would've faded.<br />
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Of course I am aware that if my situation had been a Hollywood movie, the ending would've been a lot more magical with some kind of cautionary note as I arrived at the syndicated offices just as the editor was going to call Matt. The phone would've gone down and I would've been awarded the plumb job; my landlord would've been a Russian agent who would've recalled to Moscow where he would've ended his days filling salt sellers in Siberia; the syndicate editor would've been a love interest whom I would've married and had a plethora of kids with and lived happily ever after in a modest mansion in the Hollywood hills.<br />
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Instead I missed out on a dream job that was taken by possibly the greatest editorial cartoonist this country has ever seen and who has spent the last thirty years doing a far better job that I ever could.<br />
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So I think with all things considered, the world got the Hollywood ending it deserved, not the one I wanted.<br />
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Congratulations Matt, all your accolades are well earned and your work is not only inspiring but exemplary and I bow to you.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bouD1_HDomk" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<i>All cartoons © 1988-2018 Matt of the Daily Telegraph</i><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
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<br />Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-15390031072279994432017-11-30T12:00:00.000+00:002017-11-30T12:00:30.695+00:00Cartoonist & Writers Diary V<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBfM1nL8X8JDKU-W5go_0dndzW83fxin6hZs8yBA2XZqMMuRE4Ip1ur1N6BIKhiH6Q161Efn_DFbVRo9iG0vlqHTSUSqnhDtlM23xF1spxZdwPEgKWYhiem4tqZqx-oaMQPiM5UcCD4Qx/s1600/Blog-+Cartoonist+and+writer+diary+header+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="875" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBfM1nL8X8JDKU-W5go_0dndzW83fxin6hZs8yBA2XZqMMuRE4Ip1ur1N6BIKhiH6Q161Efn_DFbVRo9iG0vlqHTSUSqnhDtlM23xF1spxZdwPEgKWYhiem4tqZqx-oaMQPiM5UcCD4Qx/s640/Blog-+Cartoonist+and+writer+diary+header+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><i>No Spring Chicken</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today I decided to go and have a wander through my woodland to see what Autumn was doing to the leaves, when all of a sudden, about 20 yards to my left, I espied a magnificent pheasant who was just standing watching me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He stood fixedly against a backdrop of golden brown hues as a gentle breeze ruffled his feathers. He looked majestic. He looked regal. He looked at one with his world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Slowly I took my camera out, zoomed in and reeled off a few shots. The pheasant, sensing I was no<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> threat, started walking over to me, cawing gently: I couldn't believe my luck.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As it got closer I continued to take photo after photo after photo and still it kept on coming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When it actually came up to about two feet from me I switched to the video, making the most of the 'Attenborough' moment; still it continued cawing and rooting around as I calmly assured it that I meant no harm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It froze, fixed me with a gimlet eye then my whole world turned to spit and feathers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2RIJWUzu3-mGU3X_FMtdtJsV2ISe4QheaU49PztiSqnCAcMNfNjE5_BLwBr5sQz4ZWypWLHtZnq8v2zpHEt5OVomChAP2s4ClP8dH-iITQkalibKlEh9puQpxx13J-CjnI_5TSryDs8C/s1600/Blog-+pheasantrgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2RIJWUzu3-mGU3X_FMtdtJsV2ISe4QheaU49PztiSqnCAcMNfNjE5_BLwBr5sQz4ZWypWLHtZnq8v2zpHEt5OVomChAP2s4ClP8dH-iITQkalibKlEh9puQpxx13J-CjnI_5TSryDs8C/s640/Blog-+pheasantrgb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The pheasant went ballistic; rising into the air like a seriously miffed Phoenix with open wings, and oh boy those wings were big, bigger than I thought they would be. I tried to fend him off but he was having none of it. I was on his land and he was going to evict me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I screamed and flapped and swore, and at one point I think I even told him this was my land and I had the deeds to prove and and he didn't?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not being able to follow my cutting legal logic my attacker carried on his relentless assault and within a short period of seconds he had gained more land than the British army did in two weeks at Passchendaele.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I realised that if I didn't do something fast I was about to crash into the road and ran the risk of getting flattened by a passing car, and it was only the thought that my death certificate would read: Death my pheasant attack that I was spurred on to greater things. So I picked up a stick and started beating him back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After what seemed like an age and a battle that would've inspired the gods to poetry I eventually pushed him over a precipice that led to the lower quadrant of my forest. He hovered in mid air, beating those fearsome wings, cawed one more time, his eyes raging with the fury of his dinosaur ancestors then turned and flew down to the woodland below.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I rested against a tree, fighting to get my breath back while he just looked up at me with an expression that said:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Kicked your ass didn't I?!"</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">As I walked away, a little </span></span><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">shaky</span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">, I thought:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">'I don't believe it, I've just been mugged by a bird'. Is this even possible?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear reader, this is a cautionary tale. Nature is red in tooth and claw out there and should be taken further than simply at face value. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's all well and good when you are driving aimlessly about the countryside from the security of you towns or cities, and when you come across pretty birds wandering about, you automatically 'coo' and 'ah'. But don't be fooled by these little subversives. Don't let their rustic and seemingly harmless demeanour fool you, these little thugs are the skinheads of the countryside and have the skill sets and dead eye expressions that wouldn't look amiss on a Taliban enforcer.</span><br />
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<b><i>If you like what you see, and want to see more, then please sign up to my email list and have every blog notification sent direct to your email box, assuring that you'll never miss a single post ever again.</i></b></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-31447033860726992292017-11-24T12:00:00.000+00:002017-11-24T12:00:00.181+00:00So where do you get all your ideas from? II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wWm1cpn9naddK_6ka7hrAA_lLeYzNsv77sn6fy63_n_RIw-vAH59sTOkH2rPJauy4gQTgXPyd6jkoMROSzPQUPGJJdXdO_hmpvfb5kSayoie7xgNuIBHKcMA2sHj58ih9SinspxRbxQC/s1600/Blog-+where+do+you+get+your+ideas+from+pic+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1107" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wWm1cpn9naddK_6ka7hrAA_lLeYzNsv77sn6fy63_n_RIw-vAH59sTOkH2rPJauy4gQTgXPyd6jkoMROSzPQUPGJJdXdO_hmpvfb5kSayoie7xgNuIBHKcMA2sHj58ih9SinspxRbxQC/s320/Blog-+where+do+you+get+your+ideas+from+pic+copy.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;">If there is one question that all cartoonists get asked more than anything else its 'Where do you get your ideas from?' and frustratingly enough its the one question we really don't have a concise, go-to answer for. So we tend to roll out stock answers every time the question arises.</span></i><br />
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<i>So in this, the second post of my new, semi-regular feature: So where do you get your ideas from, I intend to have a crack at answering this question, one cartoon at a time.</i><br />
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<i>I still wont be able to give you a definitive answer to the perennial question, but what I can do is show you a cartoon I've already produced and talk you through the process from blank page to finished illustration. </i><br />
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<i>Like I said: it's not a cover all answer, but with every example I show you, you will probably get a better viewpoint as to how these mystifying little things get created. I may even seek out guest cartoonists to take you through their gag writing process.</i><br />
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So without further ado, lets get into it.<br />
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Once again I'll be using one of my NoodlePates cartoons to illustrate the process. NoodlePates is a regular cartoon feature I draw and post mainly on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/karl.dixon.73" target="_blank">Facelessbook page</a> and update here from time to time on, <b><i>the Diary of a Cartoonist & Writer</i></b>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjho-vda57lNnUdvJ5sMYK1QVm74Sq_1LHGksL7hdIHxnzeuleDlTKNVLpOzsizszON7SOzOcUb0OCjkM3BpfpULxi1KId8wmeSaMKiQIUQ9q4LX04KESFTgDCsg2c1JuYFSgNAr8T4yUFR/s1600/Noodlepates+27rgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1364" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjho-vda57lNnUdvJ5sMYK1QVm74Sq_1LHGksL7hdIHxnzeuleDlTKNVLpOzsizszON7SOzOcUb0OCjkM3BpfpULxi1KId8wmeSaMKiQIUQ9q4LX04KESFTgDCsg2c1JuYFSgNAr8T4yUFR/s320/Noodlepates+27rgb.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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As winter turns to spring, a young man's fancies turn to NASA...they don't? okay so it's just me then is it?...Again...and yes I do know it's Autumn and not spring so I guess the whole <i>analogy</i> thing fell down---thank you for letting me know.<br />
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Ahem...let us begin again.<br />
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I was staring out of the window looking not unlike an inmate from<i> 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest</i>' (see why I chose the first analogy?), when my mind started to wander. This feeling, or sensation, is how I personally recognise the arrival of the <i>'gag writing muse'</i>.<br />
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I stay perfectly still and I let it randomly select a subject---ching---then a scene--ching---then comes the anomaly ching-ching<br />
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Now it's the anomaly that ultimately gets the gag, because it is the discrepancy in any situation that will usually lead to the oddity that leads to the gag. But that said, you cannot have an anomaly without first having a subject and then a scene. So the anomaly is a little like the straight guy in a double act; without the straight guy, the comedian is simply not as funny.<br />
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Clear? Good. Lets move onto dissecting this baby.<br />
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I was looking out of the window, as stated before, and my mind turned to what's up there that we cant see, y'know, what is floating about that we put up there. Then my mind started thinking about big brother and the state spying on us via a billion and one satellites, then I got a little paranoid and fled to my lead-lined cubbyhole with the kettle and 4,000 tins of peaches, sardines and assorted crisp packets. After that I donned my tin foil hat and proceeded to eliminate myself from the internet...AGAIN!!!<br />
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Okay, maybe that didn't happen, but paranoia is a powerful thing when you have an over active mind.<br />
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No, what really happened was my mind shifted from <i>what's</i> up there to <i>who </i>put <i>them</i> up there: NASA...Ching! the subject.<br />
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Then I thought about what NASA is most famous for: Rocket launches...Ching! Now I have the scene.<br />
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Then all that was left was time to start looking for that elusive Ching-Ching moment--the anomally.<br />
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In this case I imagined the rocket ready for launch. Then I thought about the pilots sitting in there, all nerves and expectations. Then my mind moved onto their training and the millions that NASA had invested in them, and finally I thought about the tech guys.<br />
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Now when<i> </i>these brianiacs came into my mind I started to remember the theory I have that incredibly clever people often ruin their brilliant ideas with an act of breathtaking stupidity by adding something very dumb---last minute and without telling anyone---just because they can.<br />
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Then I though: what if in that super-heated moment of numptiness/brilliance they added a reverse stick.<br />
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Then I thought about the poor astronaut, completely unaware of this new addition and still looking around the cabin in an attempt to calm his nerves.<br />
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Then I imagined him spotting the gear shift with the big 'R' on it.<br />
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Then I thought: What would I think if I were in his position and suddenly presented with an object that wasn't mentioned on any of the days of rigorous flight school training?<br />
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Then I realised exactly what I would think. I would think:<br />
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<i>"Hmmm, I wonder what this does?" </i><br />
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And in an equally crazy moment of human numptiness I would hit it. Just to see what it would do.<br />
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Then...Ching-Ching! We have just hit eureka, Huston. I have my moment. I have my anomally, and you have a new NoodlePates cartoon.<br />
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Like I say, this may not be how everyone reaches their gag nirvana and it isn't how I always reach mine. But more often that not, this is how it happens for me.<br />
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Hope you liked what you read, if so please leave a comment and keep coming back as I will be doing more of them.<br />
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Hopefully, and if I can talk any of them into it, I will be coaxing other cartoonists to let you in on their eureka moments.<br />
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Speaking of NoodlePates, next week I'll be putting up some new samples and talking about an exciting new project for me that hopefully you will like to. So see you next week.<br />
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
<b><i>If you like what you see, and want to see more, then please sign up to my email list and have every blog notification sent direct to your email box, assuring that you'll never miss a single post ever again.</i></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
</div>
Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-36566610483421835832017-11-13T12:00:00.000+00:002017-11-13T12:00:08.428+00:00A New Sleepy Hamlet Short Story---OUT NOW!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invasive-Action-village-Sleepy-Hamlet-ebook/dp/B01N7NS7SP/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510432976&sr=8-1&keywords=sleepy+hamlet+invasive+action&dpID=51l4HAqq%252B9L&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1018" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepHdZylz95EOXPM83zhvQ_tsT97X5GxYNM0J573eoaR0zo3fVYrDm1BNGhRpDkZnnBhBvvdfDwDhhkazvTlTqFM4OkQNlv6AW-gWeRZfFuPxYaXJYsp9gEp8uUC61LjHM4udYTkYdAxR5/s400/Sleepy+Hamlet+Invasive+action+book+cover.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Well the post header just about says it all.</b></i></span></div>
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Yes I have produced a new Sleepy Hamlet short story and I've just started letting people know of its existence.<br />
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You can go to its Amazon page by clicking on the image on your left or by doing the same on the <a href="https://karl-dixon.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-store.html" target="_blank">My Store</a> tab.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u><i>Sleepy Hamlet-Invasive Action</i></u></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>When Mrs Markle, the village post mistress and head puritan, discovers an invasive patch of Himalayan Balsam Weed growing on the banks of the River Brimsmal---right on the edge of the grounds belonging to the country seat of Lord and Lady Hamlet---she enrols the massed ranks of the village idiot elite along with the extremely easily led Lord Hamlet, to join her in its removal.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="color: #333333;">But when Mrs Heppleheimer---an octogenarian Bavarian barm-pot who is the scourge of the village and its surrounding areas---brings along her Himalayan Balsam Weed Eradicator, or 14lb Mountain Howitzer Cannon as everyone else calls it, all hell breaks loose. This crazy old lady blasts trees, plants, shrubs, bushes and at least three quarters of a newly arrived party of spawning salmon out of the water.</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="color: #333333;">Add to this a villager led rush on cotton wool, the belief that the village is under attack by aliens and a village hall meeting that turns into a battle ground between the Lord of creation and the Norse gods, and you have just another typical 24 hours in the life and times of the Villagers of Sleepy Hamlet.</span></i></span><br />
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So now that I've told you a little bit about the tale---whetted your appetite, so to speak--- all that's left for you to do is, read the taster sample below then hop on over to Amazon, form an orderly queue, hand over your 99p and disappear into the eccentric world of my mind and the Village of Sleepy Hamlet.<br />
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Enjoy, my friends.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Invasive Action</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">1</span><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Mrs
Markle, the village post mistress, stomped heavily down the street that ran
through the village of Sleepy Hamlet. She cornered violently and turned into
her post office causing the little bell to spasm with shock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“SOMETHING
JUST HAS TO BE DONE!” she shouted to Miss Vera, her frightened little field
mouse of an assistant. “This simply cannot be allowed to continue; the very
existence of the countryside is threatened and from a foreigner. A foreigner, I
tell you, and the very worst kind of foreigner ---an invasive foreigner!” She
stood, stock still like a frizzy haired Mussolini, hands on hips in the middle
of the fruit preserves section with her herculean bosoms quivering like two
very angry jellies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">As
usual, Mrs Markle had spotted something on her afternoon walk that had offended
her to the very core of her being; not a difficult thing to do when you had a
fuse as short as Mrs Markle’s and were a puritan, and as such felt it your
moral duty to become agitated at least four times a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Well,
aren’t you going to ask me what I’m so fired up about?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Miss
Vera didn’t want to ask. She knew that it would lead to an out pouring of
futile anger and frustration on behalf of her employer. She knew that if she
asked ‘<i>what was the matter’ </i>Mrs Markle
would stomp around the store, shouting so loud the shops’ mullioned windows
would vibrate, her ears would ring and her nerve endings would jangle. But she
also knew that to deny Mrs Markle her valve releasing moment of fury was
tantamount to mutiny. So she gulped the gulp of the nervously dispositioned and
enquired:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“What
is upsetting you, Mrs Markle?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“HIMALAYAN
BALSAM WEED!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The
sudden outburst sent Miss Vera crashing into a display of Arran Island Knitting
Patterns, causing them to scatter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Mrs Markle
ignored her shrew like assistant as she scrambled around, picking up the
slippery plastic pattern cases, while attempting to re assemble the stack. Instead
Mrs Markle stomped and stamped her way around the shop, snorting like a bull at
her inner turmoil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“HAVE
YOU ANY IDEA HOW INVASIVE HIMALAYAN BALSAM IS?” Miss Vera shrugged her
shoulders and gave Mrs Markle a weak smile before continuing with her re
construction duties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“DO YOU
EVEN KNOW WHAT HIMALAYAN BALSAM IS, MISS VERA?!” Once again, the timid shop
assistant shrugged her shoulders in the universal expression of ignorance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Well
I’ll tell you what Himalayan Balsam is, Miss Vera. IT’S AN INVASIVE RIVER WEED
OF THE FAMILY IMPARTIENS WALLEREIANA--- A PLANT THAT USED TO BE CONTENT TO LIVE
IN THE PLANT POTS OF A GRATEFUL AND JOYOUS NATION. THAT WAS UNTIL THE LITTLE
SUBVERSIVES GOT BITTEN BY THE NOMADIC BUG AROUND 100 YEARS AGO AND MOVED ONTO
THE NATIONS RIVERBANKS AND BEGAN A CHOKING COLONISATION OF THEM. AND ON MY WALK
TODAY I NOTICED THAT A LARGE GROUP--- PROBABLY AN ADVANCE SCOUTING PARTY----
HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE ON THE FAR BANKS OF OUR VERY OWN RIVER BRIMSMAL!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">And
with a petulant huff worthy of an over pampered pop star, Mrs Markle stormed
off to the back of her village store<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Miss
Vera, who had tightened her eyes against the tirade, slowly began to open them.
Gingerly, she opened the right, then the left. She began to slowly scan the
room; all appeared to be quiet on the western front. She looked again---just to
be sure---and having satisfied herself that everything was as it should be, she
turned her attention to where her employer had been standing but a scant few seconds
ago. But Mrs Markle was no longer there.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">She
began to scan the shop again, just in case this unlikely vessel for fun and
frivolity had decided to hide in the shop with the express intention of leaping
out upon the unprepared Miss Vera with blow ticklers a-plenty and party hats
set upon her ginger frizziness--- at a rakish angle, of course--- and then fill
the previously leaden atmosphere of the village stores and post office with a
hearty ‘Hey-Ho!’ an ‘Avast ye swabs’ and positively oodles of <i>joie de vivre</i>. But it was only when she
heard the familiar noises of the little hand printer being pumped into action
that she raised her eyes heaven wards and sighed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Mrs
Markle had inherited a small hand printing press from her grandfather who had
run a successful print business and Village Newspaper many years ago out of
what was now the village stores. Mrs Markle lovingly looked after the antique
Adana print press and made great use of it for her many leafleting campaigns on
behalf of the damned and gossipy souls of her fellow villagers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Miss
Vera put the last few knitting patterns away and followed the ‘chugga-kachugga-kachuga-kachuga’
noises into the back room. When she peered around the door frame Mrs Markle was
violently pumping the printer and churning out a hastily prepared leaflet. One
of them came out at such a velocity that it cleared the collection tray and
flew towards Miss Vera before halting mid air and dropping to a soft landing
where it slid along the sparkling storeroom floor to a halt at the sensible
shoes of Miss Vera. She picked it up and read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20.0pt;">NOTICE TO ALL VILLAGERS.<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">WE ARE BEING
INVADED BY FOREIGNERS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">PLEASE COME TO THE
VILLAGE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">HALL TONIGHT TO
DISCUSS TACTICS!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A TALK TO BE GIVEN
BY MRS MARKLE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Free cup of tea
and individual<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Cherry Bakewell on
entry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">8 til late<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Miss
Vera would have liked to tell her employer that the leaflet was a bit over the
top and that the language used was a tad emotive. But before she could pluck up
the courage to put voice to these concerns, she was being brushed aside by Mrs
Markle who had grabbed the freshly printed bundle of flyers and was heading
towards the door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mind
the shop for me will you, Miss Vera, I’m off to distribute these around the
village” and before she could raise a finger of enquiry, the door had been
opened, slammed shut again and the booted feet of Mrs Markle were disappearing
into the village.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Miss
Vera looked at the leaflet again. <i>‘Oh my’</i>
she thought <i>‘I just know this isn’t going
to end well’<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
afternoon rolled on and the villagers began to file into the store in ever
larger numbers to discover more about the invasion force that was being
unleashed against them. Mrs Markle held court but stayed tight lipped,
insisting that yes, they really were under attack and yes she would explain all
later and yes there really was going to be Cherry Bakewell’s (the official
pudding of Sleepy Hamlet) with their cup of tea and no, Mr Barton couldn’t have
an extra one for his wife who would’ve loved to come but was too busy grouting
the bathroom walls. She even managed to keep the terrifyingly Germanic Mrs
Heppleheimer at bay, who’d turned up prepared for war--- resplendent in her
World War 1 helmet topped off with the spike--- and her steel toe-capped fluffy
slippers. But to each and every one of them Mrs Markle remained resolute in her
tight lippedness, insisting that they all wait until that night to hear all the
facts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
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<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.86px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-78354888271407200132017-11-11T20:33:00.001+00:002017-11-11T20:33:12.737+00:00Parting is such sweet sorrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7v2lPVrk0_-W2uaxG7BnXcoLBHYcAC3sVYFwZrDmlNokVxmUxRCfNPcGVKn_Ep3z3rBnasUkJHAl6O8SsYj7gcZLZCGGJ-Am1bCpNVBTtOnJdpaxsrrw1qLQo5zAj1RFt98xqBEFAIp_/s1600/Pixy+Wood+Marketing+section+part+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="1600" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7v2lPVrk0_-W2uaxG7BnXcoLBHYcAC3sVYFwZrDmlNokVxmUxRCfNPcGVKn_Ep3z3rBnasUkJHAl6O8SsYj7gcZLZCGGJ-Am1bCpNVBTtOnJdpaxsrrw1qLQo5zAj1RFt98xqBEFAIp_/s640/Pixy+Wood+Marketing+section+part+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Sometimes you just have to let go. And this week I learned all about that.</b></i></span></div>
<br />
I have been planning for the new year, cartoon and publishing wise, and had what I thought was the whole package sown up. How wrong I was.<br />
<br />
I have been drawing, redrawing, writing, drafting and formatting Pixy Wood in one shape or form for over thirty years. I have tried it as a comic strip, a single panel feature, greeting cards, children's books and most recently a webcomic.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DUOOhgFSWNQLqhQw2hVIITocDYD9Nv3skuUtJjZ3Uo-X1FVo3SeNfUNvkcghoPCJCf0QvkOmN60fWVZ2xc0Liedu7C9BfQVaq-n-ijtUPYzlmADf0m7w4aLVtOufPbzXrwCwiERiGfi_/s1600/Pixy+wood+marketing+section+part+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="597" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DUOOhgFSWNQLqhQw2hVIITocDYD9Nv3skuUtJjZ3Uo-X1FVo3SeNfUNvkcghoPCJCf0QvkOmN60fWVZ2xc0Liedu7C9BfQVaq-n-ijtUPYzlmADf0m7w4aLVtOufPbzXrwCwiERiGfi_/s200/Pixy+wood+marketing+section+part+2.jpg" width="173" /></a>But every time some new wall just plonks itself unceremoniously in front of me with out any warning and says<br />
<i>'Hey, I'm a wall and there ain't no getting around me.'</i><br />
The final straw was when I announced on Facelessbook that I was about to launch the strip in the new year---with what I thought was a bit of forward marketing--- but someone hot footed it over to GoDaddy and registered pixywood.com as a way of ripping my dreams to shreds.<br />
<br />
How do I know they did this? Simple. The day before I marketed it, it wasn't taken and when I went to find out what the new site was I was re-directed to GoDaddy where they informed me that an unnamed broker had just purchased it but was <br />
willing to sell me the name for around £1,000.00.<br />
<br />
Way to go GoDaddy.<br />
<br />
So I am giving formal notice that as of today I will be quitting my attempts at a Pixy Wood webcomic. I have other plans for it instead and will, of course keep you all informed. Just not on Facelessbook, where a greedy broker can cash in on my creativity again.<br />
<br />
But that aside, here's the three pages I had completed before the broker put his capitalistic brick wall in front of me.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCf7H8qBhxNK1TcGHN_DiJdbiQGWpJCarqF3GO6cTG5NelqDBBl_iMFwx596WeeoJsCNZNaHDv5axfrTCZIrAj2wZrWE0O1f0e6XFRXKL6PvYRfgnWnz3Z64xq_Eu5mubY2xlTx412q80m/s1600/Pixy+Wood+wecomic+1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1197" data-original-width="1600" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCf7H8qBhxNK1TcGHN_DiJdbiQGWpJCarqF3GO6cTG5NelqDBBl_iMFwx596WeeoJsCNZNaHDv5axfrTCZIrAj2wZrWE0O1f0e6XFRXKL6PvYRfgnWnz3Z64xq_Eu5mubY2xlTx412q80m/s640/Pixy+Wood+wecomic+1+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJS4s69s6qleveel2kdJ5Ns7h6cjkDqodg5cPAZVpepNS4FOVDF650KkmdGDlLB_my0yxJ_icb04qxy68X1XaGpSK2eBIN53EYMc-C14AWW1Jxcy2kVSHrO7NTJSXw3w3z5GIHEXRvoTV/s1600/Pixy+wood+webcomic+2+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="1600" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJS4s69s6qleveel2kdJ5Ns7h6cjkDqodg5cPAZVpepNS4FOVDF650KkmdGDlLB_my0yxJ_icb04qxy68X1XaGpSK2eBIN53EYMc-C14AWW1Jxcy2kVSHrO7NTJSXw3w3z5GIHEXRvoTV/s640/Pixy+wood+webcomic+2+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvDU42g8BDYq7vZx1hDuhaxlmU0wt-i1Zp93g1_t76P44teKpoP6h7bxWa8UbFnFJm9LsYhRWDRIZyS06eOguSeMyHXJ5z2ydABUtWOZ3aQ1CtOdPizCIE8JeWTIFf3Syrtxs6GgErlw4/s1600/Pixy+Wood+3+rgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="1600" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvDU42g8BDYq7vZx1hDuhaxlmU0wt-i1Zp93g1_t76P44teKpoP6h7bxWa8UbFnFJm9LsYhRWDRIZyS06eOguSeMyHXJ5z2ydABUtWOZ3aQ1CtOdPizCIE8JeWTIFf3Syrtxs6GgErlw4/s640/Pixy+Wood+3+rgb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
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<br />Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-32382155924547455832017-08-13T13:31:00.000+01:002017-08-13T13:33:12.584+01:00Cartoonist & Writers Diary IV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBfM1nL8X8JDKU-W5go_0dndzW83fxin6hZs8yBA2XZqMMuRE4Ip1ur1N6BIKhiH6Q161Efn_DFbVRo9iG0vlqHTSUSqnhDtlM23xF1spxZdwPEgKWYhiem4tqZqx-oaMQPiM5UcCD4Qx/s1600/Blog-+Cartoonist+and+writer+diary+header+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="875" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBfM1nL8X8JDKU-W5go_0dndzW83fxin6hZs8yBA2XZqMMuRE4Ip1ur1N6BIKhiH6Q161Efn_DFbVRo9iG0vlqHTSUSqnhDtlM23xF1spxZdwPEgKWYhiem4tqZqx-oaMQPiM5UcCD4Qx/s640/Blog-+Cartoonist+and+writer+diary+header+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Once again we delve into my odd world and even weirder thoughts. Today we talk natural laxatives, nuisance phone calls and mine and Stefka's trip to Bulgaria.</i></span></h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
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Nuisance phone calls, we all get them, we all hate them.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
They hound us over energy bills, new phones, insuring our devices or telling us our computer has a virus. But today one called for Stefka. She didn’t want to speak to them and I was feeling a bit devilish, so I took the call.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Below is a transcript of our conversation…and this time it is all correct.</div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Caller: Hello, is that Mr Stefka?<br />
Me: Who?<br />
Caller: Mr Stefka, er or is that Kondova?<br />
Me: I don’t know. Who do you want?<br />
Caller: Mr Kondova?<br />
Me: No.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Pause to allow the poor dear to collect her thoughts…..</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Caller: Hello sir, I am calling from Spot Energy…<br />
Me: Who?<br />
Caller: Spot. Spot Energy<br />
Me: Spot as in a stain or spot as in a skin blemish?<br />
Caller: Er…we supply gas and electricity<br />
Me: Oh right. Sorry. Carry on.<br />
Caller: According to our records you are with British Gas for you electricity, is that right?<br />
Me: No.<br />
Caller: Oh, you aren’t with British Gas?<br />
Me: No, we’re with Bulgarian Gas<br />
Caller Bulgarian Gas?<br />
Me: Yes, they’re brilliant. They give you towels when you sign up<br />
Caller: Towels.<br />
Me: Yes. Big fluffy ones with ‘Buy Bulgarian and let us light up your life’ written on them, and they have the cutest little lightbulb and flame characters. We signed up for three years and got an extra ten towels as a thank you.</div>
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Longer pause. More regrouping:</div>
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Caller Okay, well what do you look for in your electricity supply?<br />
Me: Oh well, let me see. Light. I look for good light, and switches; they’re also important. Ooo, oo! And I like sockets as I have an awful lot of plugs and they need places to go. Some days I can just spend the whole afternoon putting plugs in sockets. Oh and towels, we look for good quality towels, like the ones from Bulgarian Gas.</div>
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Pause again and the sound of a pill bottle being opened and a few being hastily swallowed…she pushed on:</div>
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Caller: Are you the bill payer?<br />
Me: No<br />
Caller: Who is?<br />
Me: Stefka<br />
Caller: Who is Stefka<br />
Me: The bill payer.<br />
Caller: And is she happy with what you pay?<br />
Me: Reasonably<br />
Caller: How much do you pay?<br />
Me: 400 Sheckles a month, two Yaks and a chicken…the exchange rate is really very good.<br />
Caller: I wonder if I could talk to Stefka?<br />
Me: No she’s a little busy at the moment.<br />
Caller: What’s she doing?<br />
Me: Washing the towels then she has to go out and catch three chickens<br />
Caller: Three chickens? Why three Chickens?<br />
Me: Because we pay our bills quarterly.<br />
Caller: Thank you for your time and I hope you have a nice day.</div>
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Then she was gone. Bless her she was professional thorough. If it wasn’t for the fact that we’re very happy with Bulgarian Gas I think I’d swap to Spot Energy.</div>
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I haven't watched TV for a very long time. So when I finally did give it a cursory glance the other day, I was amazed at how many adverts pampered to our various bodily functions; most notably those for laxatives.</div>
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I counted at least four separate products who's sole aim, so it would seem, was to seek out and destroy that tricky and recalcitrant little eggs Benedict you had last Thursday week, which is now claiming squatters rights in your lower bowel system .</div>
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I kept on thin<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">king: 'That's an awful lot of unnecessary chemicals you are pumping in, just to get something out'.</span></div>
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I have always believed that natural remedies are the best, and in the case of constipation oats, bran and brown bread work well, or if you want an instant fix and total flushing of the system, an unexpected letter from the tax office is, I am reliably informed, amazingly effective.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Meanwhile, over in Bulgaria...</u></b></span><br />
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I wanted to go downstairs to order a beer from the bar at the Bulgarian hotel we are staying at, so naturally I asked Stefka how to ask for one.</div>
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'Moje li edna bira molia' she trotted out with the confidence of a native. Armed with this essential piece of bulgarian linguistics I set off down stairs, repeating the phrase, mantra like, in my head. 'Moje li edna bira molia, I said: moje li edna bira molia I repeated.</div>
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Twenty minutes later, and having made the acquaintance of many <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">and varied happy members of staff who all wanted to know how my stay was going, I arrived at the bar, but now no longer fully confident I had remembered Stef's sentence word for word, but I trotted out what I thought was right anyway.</span></div>
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Ten minutes later I came back up stairs with a very confused look on my face, a third share in the hotel, a years worth of chickens and some kind of contract promising me the hand in marriage of his third favourite daughter...</div>
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And I still didn't get a beer.</div>
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Whilst stopping for lunch today Stefka said I should have a beer with my meal. When I asked why, she said that up until now I had done all the driving and now it was her turn to give me a rest.</div>
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I ordered six beers quickly. When she asked why I said that this was not an experience I wanted to face sober. She, with her usual Bulgarian confidence, flagged my concerns off with a swarthy hand and said it would be good for me to see how a real Bulgarian drove. My only thoughts after that were 'could I fit in another five beers before lift off?'</div>
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I could, is the simple answer, but it wasn't going to help was the longer one.</div>
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We set off down a windingly treacherous mountain road with adrenaline junkie drops on all sides. My spirits, along with my nerves, were in tatters. But Stef drove on with a confidence I did not lersonally feel, and my fears were suddenly founded when on a particularly tricky set of bends a Bulgarian arm appeared suddenly in front of me.</div>
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Stefka announced she was hot and wanted to take her coat off. I suggested---In a voice that was probably a little too high for a non soprano---that she waited to find a lay by; she immediately ignored that as non Bulgarian, and in a few frantic moments of arm flapping, body popping, horn tooting, realigning of the car seat, side mirrors and radio channel's, the jacket was off and in the back of the car and I was a nervous wreck.</div>
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'See,' she said 'where was problem in that?'</div>
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'None for' us, I replied 'but as for those four cars you nearly hit, the two coaches that are now in ditches and the five lorries taking the fast trip to the promised land, I cannot possibly say''.</div>
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You would think that would be enough for one journey, but oh no, Stef was just getting warmed up.</div>
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A while later, we were driving calmly along the middle of the road at slightly below the speed of light, when we came up behind another Bulgarian driver, who was only doing the speed of sound.</div>
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Now there was about a mile of clear road in front of us which ended with the crest of a hill. Most normal people would've taken advantage of this lengthy run way and taken over with plenty of time and room.</div>
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Not Stefka.</div>
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Oh no, she waits until she is virtually on the brow of the hill---when there is no possible way of seeing if anything is coming---then drops it down a gear, fires up the dilithium crystals and hits hyper-drive.</div>
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There was another car coming the other way.<br />
And no matter how hard I screamed or cried out the Lords name, or how many death bed absolution I requested, Stef drove on with a jutting jaw, white knuckles and hell fires blazing in her eyes.</div>
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And with only a single paint job between the two cars we somehow made it through.</div>
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When I finally found my breath, a few miles later, I asked her why the hell she didn't break when she saw the other car coming!</div>
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She turned and gave me that pitying look again. Apparently Bulgarians only break when they can see the whites of your eyes and the frantic waggling of an epiglotis as it screams 'GET THE F**K OUTTA THE WAAAAAYYYYYY!</div>
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Jesus!</div>
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When most people get into a car as a passenger they look forward to a rest or maybe a sleep. Not me, I am now wide awake... and I want the toilet again.</div>
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In Sofia Airport waiting for the plane and I just ordered something with chicken in it. By the time it arrived after being heated up, it looked like a very heavy Bulgarian with serious water retention issues had sat on. The chicken filler had miraculously turned into Salami and the melted cheese had formed an attachment to the serviette that only a blow torch and a crow bar could release.</div>
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I'm now watching a music chanel with the sound turned down while they play a completely none related CD in the background; at the moment Brittany Spears is doing her level best to keep her boobies inside her leotard while Iron Maiden give us the number of the beast...</div>
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Bizarre.</div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">If you like my writing and my odd-ball imagination gave you a chuckle or two, why not <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Village-Idiots-Sleepy-Hamlet-ebook/dp/B00KGIQ5J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402515395&sr=8-1&keywords=night+of+the+village+idiots" target="_blank">click here</a> and purchase my first novel: the Night of the Village Idiots</span></b><span style="font-size: 14px;">.</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I sincerely hope you enjoyed this post. If you did then please share it like a demented sharing person and keep coming back for more of the same, and a whole lot besides.</span></div>
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Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-58733861568592987812017-04-25T11:47:00.000+01:002017-04-25T11:47:18.375+01:00NoodlePates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxAJlIP2jo2rdP01gTyQFOFo-HQuWSL4J85dKK_BOSpDHT7APUTDUSq8BCtE4xjuASbqaGZjq8cgk8XrBE618cUEokSK4ipwlyon3_E9u9M2fYJCt4ONdBH7SK-uUpSNz0Rl9Ma04Eh2d/s1600/cartoonstock+170rgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxAJlIP2jo2rdP01gTyQFOFo-HQuWSL4J85dKK_BOSpDHT7APUTDUSq8BCtE4xjuASbqaGZjq8cgk8XrBE618cUEokSK4ipwlyon3_E9u9M2fYJCt4ONdBH7SK-uUpSNz0Rl9Ma04Eh2d/s320/cartoonstock+170rgb.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
Wha...hey? What's a <i><b>NoodlePate</b></i>?<br />
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Put simply it's my new cartoon feature. Something that I've been producing thrice weekly on Facelessbook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest and Google+<br />
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Technically it's a webcomic, because it's on the web. Un technically it doesn't have it's own dedicated website, because that's expensive and I want to see how it goes first.<br />
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So for now it's just a social media thing, but it is picking up quite a pace and is already gaining a hardcore fan-base.<br />
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<i><b>NoodlePates</b></i> is an old medieval word which basically means a fool, or a general term for the village idiots. Whatever way you wish to look at it,<i><b> NoodlePates</b></i> is my vehicle for whatever makes me laugh.<br />
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<i><b>NoodlePates</b></i> is a spot gag cartoon with the odd regular character or characters. It may develop into a strip, but for now, and while it is gaining a readership I shall keep it as it is.<br />
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I will be placing the three weekly comics here---probably on a Friday---but for now, here's a selection of some of my most recent favourites.<br />
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If you like what you see then why not follow me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/karl.dixon.73" target="_blank">Facelessbook</a> and see them a little earlier.<br />
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Anyway, enjoy<br />
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<br />Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8983283467275772079.post-35547936881199175272017-04-14T12:14:00.000+01:002017-04-14T12:14:08.555+01:00Big Ol' Bear Winter Prints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span>here really isn't much to say about this, so I will be brief and let the art talk for itself.<br />
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I started this project as an exercise in painting winter trees. Eventually it turned into a series of four watercolour paintings that took my Facelessbook--- and the many closed pages I am part of--- by storm.</div>
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Nuff said, now its over to you</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8tFoIKguc4nX1tSACzjaRYc5MxBX80OknS4yjTa4RqN5KbdgCJy01uVddeTBAr0pSbPkzSPa8YZtXeHDF6ECKuNKLyKDTRwnql0AGOmMa4KDkAOFm6-A0rZaZEA4fX-wCEKcqgmG5QMk/s1600/Blog-+Big+ol+bear+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8tFoIKguc4nX1tSACzjaRYc5MxBX80OknS4yjTa4RqN5KbdgCJy01uVddeTBAr0pSbPkzSPa8YZtXeHDF6ECKuNKLyKDTRwnql0AGOmMa4KDkAOFm6-A0rZaZEA4fX-wCEKcqgmG5QMk/s640/Blog-+Big+ol+bear+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The downhill race</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The stick collectors</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">the Gift Givers</b></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span id="goog_794566976"></span><span id="goog_794566977"></span><br /></b></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span id="goog_1700257338"></span><span id="goog_1700257339"></span><br /></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT0udH-CeNOxQvGU0nZeH5WPtjdWX2zCcyNh-fU34Otue0NyWgpgRS3_MZnHjI2KcEZq919vEi4Iiqw0PKpy7qJiJ6etsIzoRXJLEw6mmougiSBSVbLHs3FuPC4wR3k9yfIC_6juL5pu7/s1600/Big+Ol+Bear+Christmas+Card-+sneak+attack+resize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixT0udH-CeNOxQvGU0nZeH5WPtjdWX2zCcyNh-fU34Otue0NyWgpgRS3_MZnHjI2KcEZq919vEi4Iiqw0PKpy7qJiJ6etsIzoRXJLEw6mmougiSBSVbLHs3FuPC4wR3k9yfIC_6juL5pu7/s640/Big+Ol+Bear+Christmas+Card-+sneak+attack+resize.jpg" width="404" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">the Sneak Attack<br /></span></b><br />
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Karlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09898197730833098900noreply@blogger.com2