I'm The Family Recycling Bin

My Aunt Ellen sent each of our family here in LA a box of fine chocolate for Christmas. The box's delicate bows had fairly heavy duty tubes around them to protect in shipping. My Mom passes me the one from hers saying...

"I'm sure you'd want this to make something with?"

Before I could answer, the rest of the family starts passing me their tubes. Thank you Aunt Ellen and everyone...you shouldn't have.

A Star Wars Christmas Morning

I was going through old photos today and found the picture above. It's me Christmas morning in 1978 or '79 with my new Star Wars Electronic Battle Command Game. I was waiting for Aunts, Uncles and Cousins to arrive and begin the day's festivities. I remember never really figuring out how to play it well but it was hours of fun trying.

MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!

The Fiancee has gone back East for the Holidays. I've nobly stepped in and assumed care for the cats. I've also underestimated the amount of attention they usually get from her.

Tell tale signs...

of a disgruntled employee assigned to decorate the office.

My Halloween idea gears are spinning...

to the point of breaking thanks to this video.

My Niece's First Comic Shop Visit

You would think above everyone in the family, it would be my idea to take her to a comic book shop, but it wasn't.


Over the weekend, I wanted to visit a new store that opened in town. Having dinner with my Dad on Friday, I mentioned it. To my surprise, he said he wanted come along.

Then he paused and looked at me. I could see it in his eyes...a silent reality dawning that we were talking about a COMIC book shop. There has been a wonderful acceptance from my Father over the years towards my arrested development and love of all things geeky and dorky. At that moment though, I knew there was a line he couldn't cross and be comfortable. He needed a good reason to stand in a whole store dedicated to that culture with his fully grown son.

He smiled and said...

"Heeeey...we should bring Devin!"

And so that's how my Niece ended up getting to pick out her very first Marvel comic ...

Come On!

Get happy about the first day of Christmas...

A Werewolf Moon

It was 4 am. I woke up last night for no real reason and go to the kitchen for something to drink. I notice how bright and amazing the moon looked. Clouds moving past as if out of a werewolf movie. Next thing I realize, I'm standing barefoot in my backyard taking pictures of the sky. Growling and howling that I can't find the right exposure setting to really capture it.

The neighbors must think I'm a lunatic. Maybe I'll just tell 'em I've been cursed by an old Gypsy woman.

Drew Struzan At Work

It's always inspiring and just plain cool to see an artist who's work you enjoy creating it...

Goodbye Forry Ackerman

Click on image to enlarge.

When I was a little kid, the perfect Saturday started with constant spinning of the TV knob trying to watch all the morning cartoons at once on every channel. Hours tearing up the house and yard with my GI Joe followed. Late afternoon would be spent finishing and displaying my newest Aurora model kit. I'd then wind down reading my comics or Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines waiting for Mom's call to dinner from downstairs.

Thank you Uncle Forry. You were a big part of my childhood.

Waiter! There's a Fly in my Artery!

Back in 2001, I was working on the Battlestar Galactica proposal for FX artist Vincent Guastini. At the time, he was also doing creatures and make-up for the horror film INFESTED. It told the tale of mutant flies who lay eggs in people's veins. One shot needed to see the eggs and a vein interior. Because it would be fairly large and closer to a set than a make up effect, Vinnie asked me to help. These pictures are courtesy of writer/ director Josh Olsen. Thank you Josh!


It needed to come together fairly fast. Being anatomically accurate gave way to artistic license so it would look extra eerie, weird and creepy. I made a forced perspective frame of concentric circles about 6' to 7' long, curving to one side.


Over the frame, I stretched and glued sheets of rubber latex, letting wrinkles and creases happen where it looked organic and natural.


Next came airbrushed shading and blue veins. The "set" was decorated with tightly stretched scraps of latex. Vinnie took over, goring and gooing the whole thing up with his magic.


I remember him joking that his place was looking more like ILM than a creature shop.

Lookie What He Can Do!

Right after the Bumble put the star on, he went ahead and started decorating the whole tree for us. It's still a work in progress. It turns out Bumbles are decorating perfectionists...who knew?

The 25 Days of CRYPT-MAS!

Today, my web comic Para Abnormal begins 25 days of holiday cartoons. Hope you visit daily!

One Big Thanksgiving Dinner Ham

It's Thanksgiving day...

with still some Halloween to store away.

How an ugly ornament becomes a keepsake.

I was experimenting with glitter glue, thinking about doing some Christmas crafting. I knocked out a sloppy and quick ornament. I set it aside to dry. I thought later I'd see how the stuff looks and if worth making something really nice.

I forgot all about it. My niece was visiting the other day and in my workroom playing. Later that night I decided to clean. I reached for the ornament I made to throw out and noticed a little note beneath it ...


So now this fairly ugly and sloppy experiment has meaning and memory. It's going to hang from my tree for years to come.

A Train for Joey

Randomly searching You Tube yesterday for old TV shows I worked on yielded a episode of HGTV's Outer Spaces and gave me something to blog about today. Being art director on the show was always hard work, often challenging but sometimes a bit mind numbing. Every yard had similar basic needs week to week...painting, landscaping, fence fixing and so on. So when unique and just plain fun projects could happen, I jumped on them. On this episode I got in trouble for my enthusiasm.

This particular season of shows had already done a few yards with kid's playhouses in the spotlight. The network wanted us to stop including them for awhile (and "over the top" projects in general). Guest designer Rick D'Amato's plan for this backyard was to take the family's love of trains and create a modern Americana feel. Any ideas for the family's son Joey was frowned upon, although Rick, myself and few others really wanted something. Especially when there was one undefined empty space and a train playhouse would be a fun compliment to the planned station platform inspired feel of the back porch.

I just decided to make one for the yard anyway. I promised producers it would not be big or too "over the top". I even remember saying it would be a small detail, just a minor addition. Yea, well...that changed when I started to make it. I couldn't help myself. You can hear host Susie Coelho's surprise first seeing this "small detail" in this clip (at the 3:00 minute mark)...



The segment showcasing it in depth was not planned. Joey's train was impossible not to see from other parts of the yard and had to be addressed in more detail. I knew I was in trouble and a phone call from a perturbed supervising producer at the home office was in my future. In the end, the family liked it and made Joey really happy...

Evolution of a Cartoon

October 1980
My Scarsdale, NY Halloween window painting contest entry.

October 2008
My niece Devin.

November 2008
My last cartoon for the 31 days of Halloween on Para Abnormal.

For a Laugh, Help a Unique Museum...

Click on image to enlarge.

Cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman asked me and other "cryptid" cartoonists to create posters for a comedy benefit to help fund the International Cryptozoology Museum.

If in Maine next week go see the show. If not, donations are always accepted. Visit Loren's site Cryptomundo for all the details and view all the other fun posters here.

A Prop a Month...

...that's the plan.

One of the great joys to Halloween is it gives me reason to make stuff I've always wanted to make. Unfortunately I'm often distracted from working on things until the last few weeks before October. By then of course, my ideas are so many that certain ones have to be nixed, like my crashed UFO this year among others.


There's no good reason to wait till the season gets closer when it's too much fun to create for. Especially when I can take time to up the quality of my props and make them what my vision is. So look for monthly updates on these projects, a early countdown to 2009.

This Halloween I discovered many yard haunters go far beyond mere holiday decorating. They create temporary public art installations. The level of detail and quality is made all the more special in that it's only displayed for just a few weeks, in some cases, just for a few hours on Halloween day. This inspires me to no end. It really makes Halloween a unique and special holiday as one of the most artistically driven.

I'm putting together a long list of these inspiring homes and will post soon.

Framing History...

5 X 7 frame, cropped poster, ballot stub and "I Voted" sticker.

'08 Halloween Epilogue: The End

Here I end my well over a month long series of Halloween posts. I'm going to take a blogging break for about a week. Para Abnormal cartoons will continue daily so please visit if you haven't yet!

I've decided to keep the custom decor making creative flow going with Christmas. I'm planning on decorating a little more than our usual 2 strands of lights this year. Mainly because I believe the neighborhood thinks we're some weird cultists only into Halloween. I wanna assure them we have a less dark side.

I say goodbye to a fantastic Halloween 2008 by sharing a book written and illustrated by my Niece...

'08 Halloween Epilogue: One Last How To...

Paint a paper lantern orange. Cut out a face from black construction paper and glue on. Plug in light and Enjoy!

'08 Halloween Epilogue: The Dining Room Table

'08 Halloween Epilogue: One Month ago...

'08 Halloween Epilogue: My Niece's Mad Monster Party!

My niece Devin wanted to have a Halloween party this year. It was held at my place on the afternoon of the 31st. Click on images to enlarge. Month's back, Devin and I sat down to start planning. We searched online and flipped through catalogues for ideas...

A week before the event, she came over to help with some decorating. I taught her the ancient ways of cemetery fence installation and the arcane mysteries of hot glue...


Being her party, Devin became very demanding as to what she wanted. Her critiques were endless with no concept of time and money. I soon found a way to get her to approval...


Friday the 31st came. There was a chill in the air and leaves falling everywhere, it was a real east coast feeling Autumn day in Los Angeles. Everything was ready, except I was unable to use my coffin this year...


The guests started to arrive and the place filled up fast...


To greet the kid's...I dressed as the monster, my brother Ted was Dr. Frankenstein and Devin's dad Paul was head of security...


Ted's role soon became overall party entertainer and toy parachute de-tangler. Paul found himself the owner/operator of a graveyard day care center...


Early on there was some social awkwardness. Witches stuck to their covens, Superheros teamed up...


Princesses had their "clicks" and Jedi's kept to themselves...


That sooned changed when the games began. Here Dr. Frankenstein and the monster demonstrate the rules to "Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin"...


A scavenger hunt was held. Kid's looked for the hidden pieces of pirate Capt. "Broken Bones" and the key to his treasure chest containing the party favor bags...


No Halloween party is complete without bobbing for apples...


Everyone seemed to have a great time... kids, parents, grandparents and little zombie cheerleaders...


Even the monster made friends (although he suffered a few bruises from several unprovoked lightsaber attacks). Sadly, grouchy old man Myers broke the party up...