OOOOOOOOOH THAT SMELL!!!

Welcome back CRAZIES!!!  We are just over a week away from All Hallow's Eve!  I know, time's moving fast, that's why we gotta make more time to enjoy the moment!  But that's neither here nor there.  Right now, we need something to keep the spooky vibes alive for the season, and it gets no spookier than a ghost?  Don't believe me?  Scroll down and see for yourselves!  Come on now, don't be chicken!  Enjoy...

Ghosts come in many forms and origins, as do farts.  And as most paranormal experts will tell you, farts are merely the ghosts of the things we eat.  This boy was clearly indulging himself on the delicious joys of Popeye's Chicken before unleashing a terror from the dark crevice beyond his cheeks!  And that terror will soon spread to those nearest to the scare zone as the Ghost Chicken looks to clear the room!  This piece was part of an Animal Alphabets theme, possibly being a chicken or ghost, I honestly don't remember despite it only being from a year ago!  It certainly got a LOT of raised eyebrows on social media, and a lot of laughs too!  The chicken was actually colored in neon colored pencils and has a glowing effect under black light!  Unfortunately, it's not an easy effect to photograph, hence the reason we only get the standard edition here.  Perhaps in the future...

Alright!  Only one post left to go here in October 2025!  But don't worry!  I'll make sure we wrap October up on a high note and get everybody in the mood for Halloween!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE BEAST IS SUMMONED!!!

We are back my CRAZIES!!!  We are halfway there folks! Halloween is just two weeks away and I am totally in the spirit!  All my yard decorations are up (I swear one of these days I will do a post on those) and I've been lucky enough to take part in some of the festivities happening around Southern California.  I FINALLY go to Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights this year!  It was certainly different from anything I've ever done before, that's for sure.  If you've never been chased by a bunch of blond-soaked circus clowns carrying chainsaws before, then let me tell you it is a VERY novel experience!  But enough about that.  It's time for some spooky art, and today's piece is loud enough to summon the Hell Beast itself!  Enjoy...

Kazoos...  Quite possibly the only musical instrument hated more than an accordion!  Actually, accordions get a bad wrap in my opinion.  You can get some really unique sounds out of an accordion besides just using them in a polka.  Don't believe me?  Look up some Zydeco music or even some Fleetwood Mac songs that Christine McVie played accordion on.  You'll see!  But back to kazoos.  They are irritating as all get out and deserve all the hate, especially when played constantly by a kid hawked up on candy, cake and soda!  These boys might wanna make a run for it and soon, otherwise they might be blowing on those kazoos from a more southerly spot!  This piece came from my annual Fan Art Friday posts that I've done on-and-off since the pandemic more or less and was a gift for my pal Geoff Munn, creator of the hilarious comic #Parenting.  In it he portrays the daily misadventures of he and his wife as they navigate the waters of raising three good, but still rambunctious boys.  In one comic, his boys come home from a birthday party blowing on kazoos that were gifted to all the kids in their goody bags, prompting a VERY angry phone call to the birthday kid's parents!  It has become a bit of a running gag since as Geoff told me it has become a reoccurring thing at nearly EVERY birthday party his kids go to!  Take heart Geoff.  Your youngest is probably a good six years off from outgrowing them!

That's all for this week folks, but the spooks and screams are still strong as we work our way towards Halloween!  So don't chicken out because next week's post is definitely GASSY, er, I mean, GHASTLY!!!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

FULL MOON HOWLING!!!

We are back again!  Man I love this time of year!  Falling leaves, hot cider, apple pie, full moons, punk kids, werewolves...  Wait a tic...  Full moons?  Punk kids?  WEREWOLVES?!?  Where did all this come from?!?  To learn the answer, merely scroll down dear readers!  Enjoy...

Oh boy...  That werewolf is about to get to the BOTTOM of things and those kids are about to learn a harsh lesson about karma!  Remember kids, mooning may seem like a harmless prank, but the consequences can be dire.  In addition to misdemeanor indecent exposure charges, you also run the risk of exposing a werewolf to a full moon!  And no good will ever come of that!  Another oldie from the CRAZY Archives making its blog debut (A mere seven years after I originally drew it!),  I believe this was an Animal Alphabets piece where creatures of horror were the theme, and W landed on Werewolves.  This particular gag isn't new to me, or any other artists really.  Mike & Mindy had a mooning werewolf gag in their first year and I did a bit recently for some fan art where a full-of-himself kid thought mooning his friend would be funny, only for said friend to turn into a werewolf!  It's a funny gag for sure.  The great Don Martin did it once even, and if it's good enough for MAD's MADDEST Artist, then it's good enough for me!

Well, two weeks down as we march towards All Hallow's Eve!  I know, it seems like we just got here today, but I promise we'll be making plenty of noise next week that will certainly awaken the beast!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE BUOYANT PLAYDATE!!!

Welcome to October CRAZIES!!!  We are there!  The Witching Hour...  The Haunting Season...  It is time for some Halloween fun!  I know y'all are excited and so am I!  After all, we're not that far off from turkey dinner and Christmas presents too, but one thing at a time.  I got some SPOOOOOOOKY art lined up all month long and it's time to see what's FLOATING up first!  Enjoy...

Oh my...  When Sunny and Mindy get together, you never know WHAT kind of shenanigans will happen!  These two kids were wild without all that helium!  Now that they're airborne, Vinnie might wanna get out of dodge before they deflate!  As you may have noticed from the signature date, this one's got some years on it.  Over TEN to be precise!  There's quite a few pieces from way-back-when that have yet to make their way here, something that will likely be changing soon now that all the various online art collectives I regularly took part in have seemingly ended.  This piece if I recall was done to cheer up my dear friend Tim Green who was going through a very rough spot.  Others followed suit leading to the wonderful #VivaVinnie collective that appeared on Twitter, back when politeness was still encouraged on social media.  Tim loved the art and even made Sunny's skull bloomers a part of her repertoire, which was fitting.  I doubt the vampire tot would be caught alive in Mindy's more colorful and cheerful Balloon Bloomers!

Well, that's one down in this extended month of October, but fear not, for we WILL be back next week with some art so terrifying, it may literally scare your pants off!  Come to think of it, maybe you should be a little fearful at least!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catchy y'all later!

SEPTEMBER SAP SPECIAL!!!

Alright CRAZIES!!!  We have OFFICIALLY reached Fall!  Granted, I've already been guzzling hot cider by the gallon since Labor Day, but now I can guzzle it and feel even MORE festive about it!  With any luck, I might even put up my Halloween decorations this weekend...  If I haven't already!  But, I know why y'all are really here and I'm anxious to reveal the next CRAZY Colored Pencil Portrait too, so let's get to it!  Enjoy...

The possum, or opossum if you wanna be technical about it.  The ultimate scavenger, these scuzzy little freeloaders will stop at nothing to get their fill, and there's no possum more daring than Sap O'Possum, the rascally third member of the Ragtags Trio and without question the Curly of those Stooges!  Typically easy going, Sap's long been the daredevil of the group, often being the one on the receiving end of the Ragtags' many big failures!  And yet, despite all that, he's proven to be a resilient, resourceful and insanely impervious little bugger who just keeps coming back for more!  He's been squashed, stretched, flattened and inflated, and yet he always bounces back!  A Top 5 fan favorite for sure amongst Bubble Fox Fans, Sap's probably my personal favorite character as he's really fun to write for.  So yeah, I wanted his Colored Pencil Portrait to be really badass when the time came!  This is one that I'm very happy about.  Not perfect, but the blending was much smoother this time around, proof that I was getting better the more I worked at it.  Gray is a color that pretty much goes with anything, so when I came across a tutorial that had a really cool aura effect to it, I decided to apply it to Sap.  I think it works pretty well!

And that's a wrap on September 2025!  Hard to believe we are entering the home stretch here.  I used to say time moves too fast when you get older, but frankly these days, it can't move fast enough!  But I promise we'll kick the witching month off right with some spooky art that's sure to scare your pants off!  Well, maybe socks at least.  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

HEAVY HITTER HEADING TO FALL!!!

We are back again!  That much closer to Fall and that much farther away from Summer!  This was a fun Summer too.  Despite the ills of the world trying their best to bring me down, I'm stubborn and dumb to let it all get to me and I keep plugging on!  Had some great visits to the San Diego County Fair, had an amazing time at Comic Con and enjoyed many fun moments with my family.  Let's bring on Autumn!  And let's bring on the art!  That's (HOPEFULLY!!!) why y'all are here, right?  Enjoy...

The Raccoon.  Also known as the "Trash Panda," he is nature's ultimate opportunist.  Mooch, however, is a little more sophisticated than that.  Though he's not opposed to digging for scraps in a garbage can, he enjoys gourmet cooking much more!  If Clover's the Moe of the Ragtags Trio, Mooch is certainly the Larry of the group!  Most often the voice of reason between two wild egos, he isn't immune to mischief himself.  He's just more coy about it!  Another Favorite amongst the Bubble Fox faithful, Moocher "Mooch" Raccoon can certainly hold his own, preferring brains over brawn, despite having somewhat prodigious girth!  The background colors here were another attempt at doing iridescence, only more green.  This too was inspired by a tutorial and certainly came out much better than the last, though there was still much practice needed.  Again, a softer touch was needed for the blending, but I was at least getting closer at least!  Practice makes perfect!

Well, only one more post to go here in September!  How will it end?  If you know your Bubble Fox characters, you probably have a pretty good idea who's next, but I won't spoil it for you.  So be sure sure to come back next week and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

CAT'S OUTTA THE BAG!!!

We are back!  Hopefully y'all are enjoying the change in weather as Fall inches closer!  Gotta say, I'm seeing more and more spooky things creeping up in my neighborhood.  You'd think something scary might be heading our way in roughly seven weeks?!?  That or it's just a grungy old cat!  Either way, scroll down to get a glimpse at something truly spooky!  Enjoy...

Say?!?  That ain't some grungy old cat!  It's Clover J. Cat, the cutest kitten in the Crazy Forest!  Seriously, just ask her!  At times, she can be a dainty little flower, playing with her dolls and having tea parties, but if you choose to cross her, well...  Some things are best left unsaid!  The undisputed leader of the Ragtags, Clover is easily among the most popular and beloved characters in Bubble Fox.  Her cute facade hides a bossy demeanor that has long made her the Moe to Mooch's Larry and Sap's Curly in the Ragtags trio!  The background colors here were an interesting choice as I was trying for an iridescent, pearl-like finish based of a YouTube tutorial I was watching.  Needless to say, the tutorial looked much better!  For those looking to try colored pencils it's really important to remember when blending colors, you wanna do it with either a medium or medium-to-medium firm pressure.  Slower the better, especially with larger spaces.  It's probably not lost on anybody that the colors on Clover herself are much smoother looking.  That's because I used a much softer hand and had a smaller, more controlled space to color.  Like I said last week, it's all trial and error.  You get better with each try.

Another week down as we head to the halfway point of September, but fear not!  We got even more Colored Pencil Portraits coming to keep things balanced!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!