Monthly Archives: August 2023

Skook Words (and Pictures) #33

Posted on by

Give me a Y!
Give me an A!
Give me a D!
Give me an I!
Give me an R!
Give me an F!

What does that spell?

YADIRF!

What does that mean?

Time for another fabulous newsletter!

These Days …

Tomorrow the Seattle Post Office is moving the start time for all its carriers from 7 am to 7:30. The Union has filed a grievance and hopefully we’ll get our start times moved back again. We had that new Seattle Postmaster drop by our station on Wednesday to introduce himself and one of the questions a carrier asked was why he was moving the start times. His answer didn’t make a lot of sense to me. It seemed to be that, because we were handing less mail now than in previous years, we …

That’s where his explanation stopped making sense. He talked about route adjustments and how when he was a carrier he used to have so much mail he’d have to leave some of it undelivered on a regular basis. We have less mail but we’re allowed an hour in the office to set up our route and if it takes longer than an hour we’re supposed to use “street time” and …

If we have less mail it seems like we could actually start earlier? Like at 6:30? We started at 6:30 ten years ago when I started working for the Post Office.

The fellow emphasized that we carriers need to do our job safely so we can come home to our loved ones. Yet by moving our start times he’s making it more likely that, especially once Daylight Savings is inflicted on us, we’ll be delivering mail in the dark. Often on unfamiliar routes because we’re being mandated to work overtime.

Tellingly, during his speech, the Postmaster said something like, “We all love the Post Office, don’t we?” This was clearly a prompt for us to applaud, cheer and huzzah. He got resounding silence. I will give him credit. He didn’t pause his speech for us to react after that. He soldiered on, saying that we loved to be able to provide for our families and give service to our community.

I was neither impressed nor especially disappointed by him. He came across as a guy who thought that the current rules were good and that they should be followed. Questions weren’t encouraged. I have some sympathy for management at the PO. They’ve been tasked with making the USPS, an organization that is not and should never have been designed a business, into a profitable business without being given the resources and autonomy to do so. Those above them demand that they make the carriers and their stations hit a set of numbers that are based on a fantasy of an efficient organization that has all the resources it needs to do its job. We, the carriers and the clerks, have contempt for management because we know that the number they want us to hit are bullshit.

I’ll save further complaints for another day.

Cats!

I’ve just about finished my illustrations for the update of Cathulhu. Since I’m waiting to show those off until Sixtystone Press makes it available, this morning I’m showcasing some more of my illustrations from Tails of Valor, Golden Goblin Press’s scenario book follow up to Cathulhu. These are from the adventure –

Triumphus Felis Ferae (set in 41 C.E. Rome) by Jeffrey Moeller
First the vermin became scarce, and then kittens and cats began wandering off, never to be seen again. Later, people began acting strangely, disobeying the Praetorian Guards and attempting to enter the Imperial Palace. Then the Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (known to later history as Caligula) himself vanishes, leaving the city teetering on the edge of utter chaos. Can a band of brave and proud Roman street cats solve this mystery, and restore order to the Empire? Triumphus Felis Ferae is Latin for “the triumph (all march) of the wild cat” or more simply, Stray Cat Strut.


All of the illustrations in Tails of Valor were published in black and white. Oscar Rios, the publisher, commissioned me to color one of the illustrations as a present for Jeffrey Moeller.

It’s a Mad Mad Mouse (Process GIF)

The art I do is for amusement. My own. Hopefully yours. Hopefully people I’ve never met.

A lot of the art I’ve created in the last couple of years I did with a thought toward putting it on something – a mug, a t-shirt, a poster – and making it available for sale. The image below was made with that in mind. Sooner or later, when I have my own POD shop, I will put it on something, if only for a short time.

Until then, it’s only getting posted as fan art. Because one does not rattle the doors of the House of Mouse. Next year, in 2024, the version of Mickey Mouse as depicted in the silent cartoon “Steamboat Willie”, will enter public domain. Mickey Mouse will continue to be a character trademarked by the Disney Corporation. Copyright is limited. Trademark can be forever. I could argue that the design below is a parody and therefore this depiction is fair use. I could argue that, as long as I don’t market the thing as a version of Mickey, I’m not trying to infringe on Disney’s trademark.

But, honestly? I did this for the fun of it, not to throw rocks at the windows of the Mouse’s fortress.

M! I! C! K! E! Y!

M-O-U-S-E!

Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.

And that’s it for this week.

May the next seven days treat you well. May you get the rest you need and may you have some fun and experience some joy.

Cheers!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Skook Words (and Pictures) #32

Posted on by

TGIF!

I leave it up to you to choose which god to thank. The day is named for Freya here in America but she’s on a long vacation and probably wouldn’t notice if you sent your gratitude to someone else.

These Days …

It’s hot. It’s been hot. It will continue to be hot even if we feed the hearts of all 2540 of the world’s billionaires (listed by Forbes) into the mouth of Moloch.

It has been cooler here in the Pacific Northwest than in other parts of the world but, being human, I’ve got complaints. Postal trucks don’t have air conditioning. They have fans that blow the air around. A good chunk of my route requires me to drive. I’m glad of that on rainy days. This last week – no. I’m enjoying the walking parts of my route more right now. There’s usually a slight breeze.

I’d be more okay with the heat but it seems to have baked off a noticeable amount of my drive and imagination. I’m getting a little art done in the mornings before work and in the evenings after. I manage that with a combination of habit and Sarah gently reminding me that I feel better when I get something, anything, creative done.

Cathulhu

My current commission is an update of Cathulhu from Sixtystone Press. Since that’s work in progress I won’t show that here. However, back in 2019, I illustrated Tails of Valor, a follow up to Cathulhu, for Golden Goblin Press. The book featured three adventures set during different periods of (human) history.

This week’s illustrations are from:

Shadow Harvest by Stuart Boon
As harvest approaches, strange things are happening in the Temple of Bast outside of the city of Bubastis. Two of the oldest and wisest cats have disappeared, and a kitten has been found murdered on temple grounds. Can a group of heroic and cunning cats of the temple discover what has befallen their kin, and uncover the dark secrets and blasphemous horrors that threaten all of Egypt?

Process GIF

This weeks process GIF is a return to one of my favorite subjects – The Horror of Party Beach. Specifically, this is another variation of the bloodsucking atomic zombie fishmen featured in that movie. I love bloodsucking atomic zombie fishmen.

If you desire to put this face on your chest (or your wall or a tote bag), it’s available on schtuff at my Redbubble store.

Ko-Fi Schtuff

I didn’t mean this newsletter to be so sales oriented but …

If you’re interested in owning some original art, my Ko-Fi store is open. Discounts are available to supporters and six month subscribers get to choose from some of what’s available.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

And that’s it for this week. Drink a lot of water. Relax in the shade. Hunt billionaires like the fate of the planet depends on it.

See you in seven!

Skook Words (and Pictures) #31

Posted on by

Don’t look now. It’s that day again. The day this newsletter arrives in your email mailbox.

Hopefully.

For those of you who haven’t checked the website, three weeks ago I broke the subscription function for my newsletters. The subscription form had been inviting people to join the 530 folks who were subscribed to Skookworks. I went looking for where that number was coming from, got distracted and, in the process of adding some new functions, I shut off the subscription one.

And then I didn’t have any dedicated time for a couple of weeks to figure out what I’d broken.

On Sunday I made some adjustments to the function of Skookworks and the “subscription” function is back on the main page. Ideally that means subscriptions get sent out again. I still don’t know where the subscription form was getting the idea that 530 people were subscribed. It’s currently listing a number that actually matches all y’alls email addresses.

So … HI!

These Days …

Sarah gets back in town tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to that. I enjoy my own company but we got married because we enjoy each others company and I’ve been missing hers. We’ve been talking and texting on a daily basis. That’s fun. Being physically in the same place will be more fun.

We’re still looking for a new housemate. We’ve had one person come by and look at the place and have another scheduled to come by on Monday. We’ve only had one scammer contact us and that got no further than one email exchange. Never trust someone who wants to sent you money to rent a place sight unseen.

We have a Craigslist ad up that I need to repost. The thing disappeared off the front page of the site after a day. I’ve been checking other listings to be sure that we’re not asking more than average. I see very few listings for our area of Seattle. Does that mean this neighborhood is unpopular? Or do people living here just not want to leave so there aren’t spaces available?

I’m working on some color illustrations for an RPG manual. I’ll show them off when the book gets published. You’ll have to trust me that they are pretty good.

When I’m working on art I like to have either music or a Youtube video playing in the background. Despite Youtube being a video sharing platform a lot of what’s featured is just someone talking into a microphone. Those videos don’t require me to look at them to get their points. I listen some politics, some media reviews, some examinations of social phenomena, some people giving their opinions of other peoples opinions. There are a lot of videos focusing on that last one.

There are a few Youtube channels that require me to actually watch the videos to get the full effect. One of those, that I think should get more attention, is the Panel Jumper. I did a portrait of Cole Hornaday and Ben Laurance back in 2020. The channel features video essays on the history of comics. A couple of my favorites are:

The One about Swamp Monsters

The One about Octobriana

Their current project is a documentary on Peter Antoniou – Apostle of the Impossible. They’ll be filming here in Seattle on August 22nd and September 18th. I may have to stay up past my bedtime to attend one of those.

Designing for …

Redbubble is a terrible place to try to sell ones own designs. It is designed as a site to sell people things. Any things. If you’re trying to get folks to buy just your things Redbubble will insist on showing people other things by other people.

But Redbubble is a great site for practicing making designs. They give you a variety of products on which to position your design. You can see how an image looks on t-shirts, mugs, bathmats, shower curtains and clocks. You discover that almost no designs work on miniskirts.

I do sell the occasional something through my store at Redbubble. Supposedly one could rake in the bucks if one chases trends, owns a category or has a big social media presence.

Me? I have fun making art. Having the store gives me a place to put that art. I hustle enough at the Post Office. Here is a process GIF of one of my recent designs.

You can find it on schtuff here.

I hope your week has been eminently tolerable. I know we’re being told that the world is going to hell and that we should be mad at somebody. I’m not going to argue. I’m just going to do my best to make my corner of the world better today than it was yesterday. I’ll still be angry but I’ll try to be rational about it. (Yes, I know that’s an oxymoron.)

See you in seven!

Skook Words (and Pictures) #30

Posted on by

Today is the first day of my three day weekend. I have all sorts of plans for what I’d like to accomplish. Art! Writing! Fix the frikking subscription function so this newsletter can invade people’s email inboxes again.

My most immediate task is finding a new housemate.

On Tuesday, August 1st, our previous housemate informed me that he’d found another place with coworkers, nearer to his work. He paid his rent for the month, minus the security deposit, and in a couple of hours, had moved his stuff out.

On the one hand, this was annoying. Aside from now having to find a new housemate, when he’d moved in he’d asked for assurances that we’d be here for the long term and that, if we decided to move, he’d get a lot of advance notice. So his sudden evacuation was a big surprise. He’d made no mention that he was even considering such a thing and he’d been good in the past about informing us of his schedule.

On another hand, he never really lived here. Our place was basically an extended stay hotel room (without maid service). He lives in California. He owns a house, has a wife and cats and is in Seattle for work. He’d stay here Monday through Thursday and head home on Friday mornings. It’s not an arrangement I’d enjoy. He had a commute of at least a half hour, each way, to get from our place to his work. I understand wanting to reduce commute time. We live five minutes from my postal station. A short commute is a big plus for me.

I’ve already contacted some folks who have advertised that they are looking for rooms. One person should be coming by this morning to take a look. I have some tidying to do. Mostly that’s vacuuming up cat hair. With Sarah out of town I haven’t really been occupying most of the house. I use the kitchen (and clean up after myself), I spend time at my computer or my drawing table, and I sleep. The cats – they go everywhere and leave fur behind. Also the occasional hairball. That I clean up immediately.

If the person coming by today isn’t interested I’ll be putting together a Craigslist ad. That’s how we’ve found people in the past. We’ve got the ability to be choosy about who we rent to. I just had other things I wanted to do. Bitch whine complain.

So this is another short newsletter.

Here is the last of the process GIFs of those character sketches.

Here is my reminder that the shop at my Ko-Fi page is open.

I hope you’ve had a good week. If you’re living in one of the hot zones, I hope you’re managing to stay cool. And I hope cooler temperatures are headed your way.

See you in seven!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com