Category Archives: NOTES

Note to January 1st 2022

Posted on by

Note 1

This is the second comic of The Talking CHARACTERS. It was very easy to make and I hope nobody copies me…yet.

So this is what I did: First off, I put this app on my computer that is called typewriter. It makes typewriter sounds when you write on a keyboard. So that gets me really in the mood. Then I just write. It doesn’t take much, and this was written straight through, no editing. Well, maybe some editing – a tiny bit – when I started production: that is, making the actual comic. Here is what I wrote, raw:

Happy New Year! . Yeah. So what? ! Hey, listen! If I have to all the time use exclamation points…you should be using way more periods, my man! . Bend the rules a little. It’s the 1st of January. ! S0.?! . So… New Year’s resolutions don’t officially begin until… ? When? . Until I say. ! And when is that?! . I don’t know yet. ! Then I’m going to use way more different types of expressions than just exclamation point. . Go to it. I guess… … Ok. Everybody is using my ellipses. I’m not going to allow that. I’m very special. ! . ? We know! ? Or do we?

The production of this material did not take a whole long time, either. I am not going to describe how I went about producing the copy into a comic, but I think you would agree by today’s standards, it was very low end on the tech scale. Yet, as you may also surmise, tech was involved.

Why this note? Because this blog is all about the creative process! It is also about letting you see the originality of my work, especially the inception of an idea.

Notes to Small Frog, Fingers Entwined #1

Posted on by

These are notes for Small Frog, Fingers Entwined #1

Note 1

I’ve been meaning to get ABG (Atlanta Botanical Gardens) one of my frogs. They’ve been selling my frogs at the gift shop for many years, and referring me to customers. We, The Smiths – or, as we would say from time to time, humorously or not so humorously, The FrogSmiths – my brother, my father and I had a spring shows at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens of our frog sculptures for many years. This was in the early 90s.

Note 2

Something that was very funny to me and tickled me was the when I googled “build a better mousetrap”, I could see a whole bunch of different kind of mouse traps. Not just the simple mouse trap we’ve come to know and love. Or, if you’re a mouse, hate.

By the way, mouse traps are much smaller than rat traps. If you’ve got a rat, then a mouse trap is not going to work. You can’t get rat traps usually at the grocery store, but you can get little tiny cute mouse traps. If you want a rat trap, you’ve got to go to the hardware store to get one of those suckers. Rats are much different than mice. First of all, they’re huge. Mice are cute little tiny things. Second of all they’re nasty. Third of all their butts stick out. It’s really gross. That’s what makes a rat a rat. They’re gross. The little church mouse is something very cute to behold. A rat is quite a different matter. I don’t even know why they’re even thought of as similar creatures. They’re totally different from each other. Mickey mouse could never be Mickey rat. Mickey rat is more suited for adult material to say the least.

Google it!

Well what do you know. A friend of R. Crumb’s (underground comics), a guy named Robert Armstrong, came up with a character called Mickey Rat. You know, I come up with ideas, and I have to know that somebody’s already done something with the idea, and so I Google it, and of course, there it is.

My father one time wanted to make rats for New York City. He thought that would be a great idea. I don’t know that I could ever find it, but one time I filled a couple of pages in a sketchbook with pictures of rat sculptures. Maybe I’ll make a rat sculpture…someday.

I’ve been focusing on Mickey Mouse, for reasons mainly that it is the iconic cartoon character, but that’s a different creature entirely. I may continue to work on Mickey mouse and variations of Mickey mouse, and then try a rat, maybe even Robert Armstrong’s Mickey rat. But if it doesn’t have the stick out butt, it’s not really a rat and it’s not really as nasty as it could be.The stick out butt is really pronounced on a rat. Any art that does not depict this is not realistic at all. Do mice have stick out butts?

Google it!

Well Google failed me in this search. I guess I’ll have to look at actual animals…take a trip to the pet store one day. That’s always interesting. More as events transpire.

The ONE and ONLY ONE Note to NOTES TO NOTES TO NOTES TO “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Posted on by

This is the One and Only note to Notes to Notes to Notes to “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish”

(Original post: “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021.)

Note 1

Smith has done it again. In one fell swoop, he has captured the essence of what we do all day looking at our damn phones, and turned it into

MONEY.

I couldn’t help but do it one more time. I mean, really.

The logic is irrefutable. Furthermore, he is going to make money with this very note because it is the very last of a series of notes. This note will be worth more than the other notes.

And all it is is a note.

Smith has turned a worthless blog post into something valuable. In fact, this blog post – well, hell, it’s not even a blog post. It’s a note for a note for a…

Let’s not go there. You know what it is. It’s making money from nothing.

OOO-kay. Admittedly, it’s not nothing. It is intellectual property. It’s valuable. It is a moment in

TIME.

And that’s worth moolah. Especially if you sign and date it.

Look, this is on the level. It’s a one time thing. The is the first time I did this. It’s original.

***

If the “print-out-and-sign-the-blog-post” doesn’t work by itself, I will make the blog post into some kind of art that will sell. I tell you, I know what I’m doing.

NOTES TO NOTES TO NOTES TO “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Posted on by

These are notes to Notes to Notes to “I wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

(Original post: “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021.)

Note 1

Okay, this particular note is pertinent. It is as pertinent as pertinent can be. Moreover, it has to do with the original blog post.

What was that?

“I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Oh. Ok.

This is a first. This is the first time I have ever done this in a blog post. I can do all the messing around I want in future blog posts. It does not cover up that I did this note thing of linking note page after note page just now. And, it happens to be Christmas Day, 2021. So that is rather significant in itself.

Now, can I make money with this fact, with the originality of this idea? Look, it may not necessarily BE original, except that it is for me. And I warn you – I could have turned that last comment into another note. But I didn’t. Enuffs enuff. Don’tcha think?

In fact, there actually just MIGHT be a way to wrangle cash out if this. I could, in fact, print out this blog post, sign and date it, and declare that I never again will print out, sign and date this blog post. Voila! $$$

It’s not a pet rock. Not everyone will have one. It will be one of a kind.

So, you see, going through all those notes was relevant and useful to the blog post after all. See. I know what I’m doing. This is not some fly-by-night seat-of-the-pants thing.

Who said you can’t make money from blogging? Well, now, that’s an entirely different subject for a different time. (note 1)

NOTES TO NOTES TO “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Posted on by

These are notes to Notes to “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

(Original post: “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021.)

Note 1

That was a joke: Know… T. Sound it out. Note.

Okay, I realize that was a stupid joke. It’s NOT EVEN funny. It’s just stupid. See, like, that’s why it’s funny. Of course, what’s really funny is if you keep going back and forth from all these notes I am writing that don’t seem to have anything to do with the blog post.

That’s not funny? Sigh. What can I say? Everyone’s a critic. (note 1)

NOTES TO “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Posted on by

These are notes to “I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish” 8 December 2021

Note 1

Y’all want process. I mean, that’s what an artist’s blog is about. It is about the process of creativity. So, thinking aloud is permissible. In fact, I expect it. So, not only do I show the process of making the art, I also show the process of making the blog. So there.

Note 2

This note is not really a note. It is simply like an egg – like an egg that you find on an Easter Egg hunt. It is a nice, green colored egg, a little bit shiny, and possibly sweet. (You will have to imagine that.)

Do not feel that going here to review this note was unproductive. You now have a nice, imaginary green egg (without ham, and intact, you know, still in the shell), to go with the blog post. And, mind you, not everyone found this egg. So it is kind of special. It is a special experience just for you.

Does this note have anything to do with where it was placed in the blog post? It could. It very well could…

By the way, I hope you did not skip down here from the first note and go ahead and read the second note even though you had not come to the second note in the blog post. That’s cheating. The problem is, I cannot take the egg away from you. Now you have it. But, for those who did not cheat, they get an egg with a tiny little unicorn inside…

Did you guys who cheated just imagine a unicorn inside your egg, too? Hey, that’s cheating. Okay, I’ve got you. For those who did not cheat, your unicorn is PURE. For the rest of you, stop imagining the unicorn you did not earn.

Note 3

BTW, what did you do for your summer vacation?

Oh, and, for those who like to cheat, you aren’t still reading down the notes? Are you? That’s not fair. You should go back and read the blog post. You can refer to the notes anytime.

Are you like the person who reads the ending of the book before they get there? Oh well. Not much I can do about that.

Seriously, though, some of these notes will be legitimate. This one was not. I must admit. But future notes may be extremely pertinent. You just never know… T. (note 1)

Note 4

Entertain you. See? Like with the notes.

Well, if you’re not entertained, at least I am.

Note 5

Like that guy who sold his collection of digital images for 69 MILLION dollars. Beeple is his name. He sold an NFT. Don’t ask me to describe it because I am still figuring out what an NFT is. It’s ridiculous. Is what it is. 69 MILLION? Are you kidding me?

So now of course everyone is hopping on that bandwagon. The NFT bandwagon. But, hey, Beeple did it first. So he deserves whatever cut he gets of that cool 69 MILLION smackeroonies.