Creative Life Lessons


Making a prop look blood splattered with red paint is easy.
Calming neighbors after you placed it in the sunlight of your front yard to dry, not so easy.

Halloween Prep Gets The Go-Ahead.

The fiancee and I were watching TV together.

Out of the blue she said...

"Please start getting ready for Halloween now."

My heart soared. She wanted our house to be the spookiest in all the land.

But then she added...

"I don't want to spend another year hearing you whine about what you could of done last year."

Cartoon Caption Contest Update

Just wanted to let all who entered know, I'm going to start sending out your cartoons with your captions added this weekend.

Sorry it took longer than I hoped, life became surprisingly very busy lately.

If you've yet to e-mail me with your address to get your cartoon (and choice of caption, if you entered more than one) please do at DCLDESIGNS@AOL.COM

Evolution of a Zombie Horde

The evolution of the Geeks vs Zombies stage production poster I've been working on. From the first rough thumbnail idea to the recently finished illustration.

Drawing Board of the Living Dead

I'm sure there are better ways to spend a Friday instead of illustrating a zombie horde attack, but I can't think of one.

Creative Inspiration: Battery Recharge

Watching an old TV special from my youth featuring behind the scenes film "magic" always recharges the creative batteries. Below, in four parts, is not only the first "Making of Star Wars" TV special that I remember seeing, but I'm pretty sure was the first ever made about the galaxy far, far away.

My Review of BRAVE


Niece Devin and I saw BRAVE together.

After, I was unsure what the main character's name was. Because of the Scottish accents, I said it sounded like "Murder".

Devin looked up at me with daggers in her eyes and said "It's MERIDA" as if I had insulted her entire clan.

The film encouraged a 10 year old girl to correct an elder who was obviously wrong. Kudos PIXAR.

Cartoon Caption Contest: The Winner Is...


Congratulations to Scottie Stamper!

The votes have been counted and Scottie's caption won the grand prize custom prop baseball bat from Specter Studios and will also be today's cartoon on my web comic Para-Abnormal.

Don't feel too bad if you lost, as promised, everyone who entered will be e-mailed a hi-rez copy of the cartoon with their own submitted caption added as a thank you for playing and consolation prize.

E-mail me at DCLDESIGNS@AOL.COM to claim your prizes!

Please include the name you submitted your caption under (so I know who is who) and if you entered more than one caption, please tell me which one you'd like used in your copy (otherwise, I'll pick one).

Thanks to everyone who participated, and especially Specter Studios for providing the grand prize.

I hope all had fun.