The Professional Webspace of Designer and Illustrator Kevin Cornell:
"Design, Art, and Lackluster Humor."
More Sketchbook Spelunking
Here's a couple of samples from my Tenth Sketchbook, started and finished in the autumn of 2004. I thought today would be as good a time as any to show a couple of sketchbook pages. After all, it is National Sketchbook Day. Except that it isn't. But, there's still plenty of time left in the day for Congress to enact one, so don't call me a liar yet.
While we're on the subject of the priorities of US government, I thought the above drawing was an appropriate sketch to start with. This is one of those images that I've tried to redraw a couple of times since, but it never has the humor of the original sketch. Every time I look at Kirby, read his comment, and look at his drawing, it's all just totally believable to me. This had to have happened SOMEWHERE in America. I'm sure of it.
My Childhood Fear
Thankfully, this never happened SOMEWHERE in America, as it's a depiction of one of my chief childhood fears. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I was always pretty scared of windows as a kid; the idea of waking up and finding creepy people watching me through the windows was a constant nightmare. This depiction is particulary scary, because the creepy gentleman on the right resembles Rob Weychert in his "hobo" stage.
On the bright side, I am apparently wearing Ambidextrous pajamas. I didn't realize those were available.
Snake And Me
Departing even further from reality, this is a comic about me living with a snake. There's a handful of these throughout the sketchbook. In all of them, Snake really treats me like shit. No wonder I moved out and starting living with humans again.
Turtle Escape
I drew this final page after Kim and I were taking a walk through scenic Glenside, PA (inspiration for a few other sketchbook scenes) when we came across a flyer for a lost turtle. I recorded it in the Sketchbook, but added the bit about the daring 7-hour escape. After that, of course, it made sense to further explore just how the turtle accomplished the break-out.
Comments on this Article
There are currently 23 comments.
2. bearskinrug
Heheh - That's funny - I didn't even realize you could see through to the back page...
I guess my screen is brighter than normal! Oh well ;)
3. Jesse Clark
I once woke up to a guy at my window staring at me. Apparently he was changing window screens; none the less it scared the hell out of me.
Also, I wanted to say thanks for the Ambidextrous collections; I received mine in the mail yesterday and finished reading them last night. To thank you I’ll write my congressman in favor of the National Sketchbook Day.
4. Gerren
I wish that it was national sketchbook day...I could deal with sitting back with a cup of java and scribbling in my sketchbook all day long. *sigh*
By the way, I wanted to tell you that I just nominated your site for a 2007 Bloggie award (Best Topical Weblog).
Here is the link if anyone else wants to do that as well... http://2007.bloggies.com/index.php
5. testMonkey
Two words: therapy.
I mean, Freud would have a field day with all this fodder: violence, phallics, voyeurism, turtles (Freud was heavy into turtles - or was he into tortoises?).
Great stuff - the 7 hour escape had my equally non-effective governmental co-workers wondering why I was having fits. Thanks.
6. Jared
Regarding your childhood fear sketch...
I don't know if I'm the only one here, but I think there is something terribly creepy about people who stroll about the neighborhood their ceramic coffee mugs.
8. The Colonel
Man! Snakes are jerks.
Not really surprising that their vocabulary is rather limited, though.
OH, and I'm glad to know that someone else was freaked out by windows as a kid. However, my terror generally came from creepy shadows, not random strangers.
9. bearskinrug
Jesse - I think waking up to ANYONE staring at you is scary. There's times where Kim's woken me and it scared the hell out of me.
Gerren - Wow! Thanks very much! That's a nice compliment :D
Testmonkey - Phallics? What here is phallic? Oh. Right. The belligerent snake.
Jared - Maybe they're waiting for that first, freshly-brewed batch of child-terror.
Colonel - Creepy shadows? You mean like when you're at a shadow-puppet show, and you realize that one of those animals can't be constructed without a third appendage?
10. Hugh G.
I think snakes are just pissy in general. Probably why they're hissing all the time.
I was scared of my bedroom window when I was a kid. Since we lived close to a wooded area, I was sure I'd wake up sometime to find Sasquatch staring at me. (A la Twilight Zone.) Thankfully he just rang the doorbell one day and introduced himself.
11. Captain Purple
An interesting story realted to "My Childhood Fear;" I once scared the crap out of some kid while looking in starngers' window (as is my custom). My hastily made-up a cover story was that I was just changing the screens.
12. Cissy Strutt
My grown-up fear is becoming one of those people who stare in at little kids' windows clutching a cup of tea
13. Kyle
I immediately imagined the snake having a lisp/speech impediment -- that makes the last panel a lot funnier.
In my head, anyway.
14. bandelin
the only thing not believeable is THAT drawing got second place.
im sure there's some painting of a dolphin that deserves the honor way more.
15. BigA
If you had to say things like, Where's the Thesaurus with a severe lisp, you'd probably treat people like shit too.
16. DD wishmore
I don't know 'bout the rest of y'all, but that Kirby kid looks like a hillbilly... not that there's anything WRONG with hillbillys. I love the bug-eyed turtle! That isolation chamber was obviously inspired by the turtle's shell, so maybe his slavery was not in vain.
17. sutter
i always wondered why you spray painted out all you windows... now i know it's because you're afraid of glass.
18. bearskinrug
Hugh G. - Haha :D NICE
Captain Purple - Wow. Changing the screens on strangers windows... did they buy it?
Cissy - Just to be safe, you better stick to coffee.
Kyle - Hey, anything you can add to make this funnier - go RIGHT ahead!
Bandelin - Haha - TRUE. And the Unicorn's holding hands and encircling the globe got first.
BigA - I've noticed that snakes use rather simple vocabulary.
DD - It's a fair bet that Kirby might live in the less urbanized areas of the US...
Sutter - Well... I do live across from a cemetery, two haunted houses, and those chubby nudists.
19. martha
i was scared of windows as a child too... in fact, one time, i was almost killed because of my window. some stupid kid was shooting at beer cans across the field from my house (yeah, we lived in the middle of a wheat field) and missed and shot our house, police said if he had aimed a centimeter to the left, he would have shot me (i was laying on my bed reading next to the window)
come to think of it... that kid looked a lot like kirby. any chance he's from a small town in the middle of west texas?
21. Murten
Great stuff again, Kev.
If I may ask: what do you do for a living exactly? it has to be something with drawing, right?
22. 4point44
having attended public school in alabama, i can state with some authority that tim "kirby" frewer is alive and well.
23. greenfrog
penns high...oh boy. somewhere in america. try LAST month.
when you need to LOCKDOWN an elementary school, bcuz of what's happening up the hill at the hs...
you don't have this in the uk, do you, bear? what is it that eddie izzard said once? "guns don't kill people. people kill people. (so says the NRA)...but the gun helps."
gave me a bit of a shiver...here in pennshighville. (:-\
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1. s. zeilenga
Heh. Mojo needs to kick that snake's ass. Hmmm...actually, maybe snakes don't have asses.
And I believe the untold story of the turtle's escape plan may be told in the light images of vegetables on that page. Carrots can go a long way in an evacuation plan.
z.