March 12, 2009

You know, one of these days, there will be an art director or whoever, who asks themselves, "I wonder if that Matthew guy can draw a super overweight guy, like those people who have the world records or something?" Then, soon enough they'll see this, and BOOM! I guess that's my only explanation on why I decided to draw this illo for today. Still though, it was quite a fun!

March 04, 2009

Everyone knows the story of Howard Hughes, but more about his downfall into madness. He notoriously would spend months at a time completely quarantined in a room, watching reels of movies over and over, obsessing over every frame. In July 1946, Hughes crashed his XF-11 into three houses in a Beverly Hills neighborhood. Hushes sustained significant injuries, including a crushed collar bone, 14 broken ribs, and numerous third degree burns. As you see the many bottles of pills on his end table, many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his indisposition. It is believed that this addiction compounded the symptoms of Hughes' obsessive-compulsive disorder.

He was surrounded by dozens of Kleenex boxes, which he continuously stacked and re-arranged. He wrote detailed memos to his aides on yellow legal pads giving them explicit instructions not to look at him, speak to him, and only to respond when spoken to. Throughout the duration, Hughes sat fixated in his chair, often naked, continuously watching movies, reel after reel, day after day. When he finally emerged in the Spring of 1948, his hygiene was terrible, as he had not bathed or cut his hair and nails for weeks. Many believe that during these months he was suffering a massive nervous breakdown and did not want anyone to know about it. Still though, even after leaving, he would soon return to various bouts of secluded madness, forever banishing himself from the public eye.

For me, the most interesting aspect of Hughes' neuroses was his heightened germaphobia. "Not only did he refuse to touch doorknobs, he imagined he could create a germ free zone for himself by means of what he called 'insulation,', layers of Kleenex and paper towels covering anything he touched. To prevent what he called a 'backflow' of germs, he mandated procedures for handling everything he came in contact with." from, Encyclopedia Neurotica, by Jon Winokur.

Due to his all over power among people there are no pictures of him in these times of madness. SO, I pretty much winged it with how he looked during these early times of intense seclusion. Hughes is such an interesting character in American history. We attribute so much on his modern and brilliant approaches to business, both in the motion picture industry, and more importantly in commercial air travel. He lived and suffered like this for the last thirty years of his life, to which many professionals credit Hughes for surviving so long while sustaining so many illnesses. He carried his empire close to the end, and only Hughes, in his utter brilliance, was able to find a way to keep it all afloat.

By the way, that's 5 Kleenex's each on the arms on his chair. Apparently, that's how he liked it.

March 03, 2009

OK, I swear...this will be the last pirate piece for a while. It's just that when you do a drawing of a pirate, there are TONS of different ways to illustrate the character and the scene. Quite a fun topic to explore.

February 28, 2009

Pirates are really interesting and visually spectacular characters, and I realized that I never drew any...not since I was a tot at least. There are a plethora of random people to draw...so get ready for more pirate attempts from time to time. We see some crow's nest action happening in this first piece.

FOR ALL YOUR BREEZY NEEDS, SEE YESTERDAY ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY POST.


On a random note, yesterdays Pearls Before Swine daily calendar strip was way to close to my personality. Not necessarily my failure at getting dates, but in all types social situations. I thought this strip was too funny not to post. Stephan Pastis...please don't sue!

February 27, 2009

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - BREEZY
Though he was able to curb high high levels of Mysophobia with the impenetrable power of the plastic bubble, he was unable to prevent the larger problem...a nice summer breeze. I guess I have a little bit of Wile E. Coyote stored in my sub-conscious, due to the fact that the first thing I thought of bringing the whole drawing together was a cliffs edge. His impending doom left me laughing to myself at the drawing table.

February 24, 2009

Happy Birthday to my good friend, Lenny Kenyon, for whom I made this illo. He mentioned really liking the post from January 8th, SO, i thought, in the spirit of the recession, this birthday deserved an original...because it cost me nothin!


If you look at the sketch, you'll see one little difference. I bet you won't even see it! Sarcasm is terrible when you're typing.

February 23, 2009

For years and years, he always remembered that on his first day at school, his mother made him wear the shirt with the stripes colored like the august grass, reminding him of the summertime shenanigans during his first period arithmetic class.

February 16, 2009

Chomping, slurping, munching, nibbles,
Sipping sugar fizzies and rainbow tart dribbles.

You’ll be sorry young man, his mother warned,
“Heed what the Dentist said last Monday morn.”



Written by my good friend Lenny K, an excerpt from his critically acclaimed story, "Little Gilbert Dentin Bleach".

CHECK OUT LENNY K AND ALL HIS GLORY HERE!

February 15, 2009

So, here is the finished piece for the private commission I mentioned yesterday. I am very pleased with the result, and believe it will live as a great tribute to his feline companion.



Still, The Utilisaurus isn't all about the gloomy illos...so for a lighter touch, here is the newest strip from, THE AGE OF PROSPERITY!

The Age of Prosperity #11

© The Age of Prosperity, 2009


ONE MORE THING! As I was featured in my hometown newspaper this past week, another paper from the adjacent town reprinted the article, as well as including my Beatles illo. It's been really nice getting some recognition from my old community, and I'm very thankful.

January 23, 2009

So, I was up almost all last night, watching the Australian Open, (curse the 16 hour time difference)...and decided to work on a color version of yesterdays sketchbook posting.


ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - CLIMBING
I don't know if I'm stretching it with this topic, but I'm approaching climbing as more in the aspect of rising through the competition. To ascend, or to take an even more literal definition, "To move oneself upward, especially by using the hands and feet". SO, in using sheer athletics, discipline, and wicked amounts of talent...the best overcome their opponents, to CLIMB up the ladder that is the Grand Slam! Let's all just pretend that "using the hands and feet" is intended to represent people playing tennis...I mean, that's all what we thought they meant, right?

Sketch from post, "January 22, 2009".