From my 1989 calendar –

In 5th grade (ten years old in 1974) I earned extra credit for my creative writing. Much of it was the sort of stuff that would probably get me sent to a counselor these days. I’d kill off the kids that picked on me in hideous ways. Usually they were eaten by extra dimensional monsters that had somehow been dropped into our reality. I also wrote more innocuous fare – stories in which I was visited by the Switagern, a creature that only appeared on an orange full moon. It was a sort of a griffin but made from the combination of a tiger and a swan rather than a lion and an eagle.

From the 1989 calendar –

I’d done a few Moe and Detritus minicomics by this time. Of course I needed to include them in the calendar!

In 1988 I was living with a delightful woman who called me “Honey Bunny”. I called her “Honey Bunny” affectionately in return. A person’s sign in the Chinese zodiac is based on the year one was born rather than the month (as in the European zodiac). She was born in the year of the Pig. I was born in the year of the Dragon. Hence this illustration.

From the 1989 calendar –

When I was a kid I read the book Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater. I’m sure I’d forgotten most of the details of the book by the time I did this illustration. There was one image that stuck in my mind then (and sticks still) – the protagonist wakes in the middle of the night, long after the television stations have stopped broadcasting, to find his television on, receiving a signal. On the TV a band of lizards is playing music.

So, while the idea of doing a calender of wacky lizard drawings probably doesn’t have one specific inspiration, having the lizards playing music was inspired by Pinkwater’s novel.

Apparently the editor of Graphic Smash considered Misspent Youths for his webcomics site. It’s flattering even if he ultimately decided that Misspent wasn’t a fit.

The next dozen plus illustrations are from my 1989 calendar. This was the second year that I’d done a calendar. I gave (and sold) them to friends and acquaintences. The first year, 1988, I’d done illustrations of “traditional” monsters for each month – a vampire, a witch, Frankenstein’s monster; that sort of thing. I did that one on a whim. I think I printed (xeroxed) about a dozen copies. For 1989’s edition I did more planning and produced more copies.

Why lizards? I’ve no idea. I’m not actually sure they’re lizards. They could be salamanders. (A friend termed them as “davamanders”). In later years the lizards would acquire individual personalities, character designs, the ability to create doors in time and space and a chain smoking, toxin swilling Aunt Hortense. For this calendar, though, they’re just happy dancing lizards. The two on the right would end up tatooed on a friend’s shoulder.

Why a monk? I’m sure he seemed like a good counterpoint to the activity in front of him. This was the first drawing I did so I hadn’t yet had to think very hard about what to draw.

From the 1988 portfolio series. Don’t have much to say about this one. The story is in the drawing.

Another drawing from 1988. This one is Etrigan the Demon, one of Jack Kirby’s minor creations. The Demon isn’t one of my favorite characters. He is good for big melodramatic illustrations. ‘Course, most of Kirby’s characters are good for that. Kirby was good at creating dynamic characters and situations. He wasn’t the most brilliant writer but as an artist and an idea man he has few equals.

From the 1988 sketchbook –

I believe this is my first depiction of a Burrabb. The Burrabbs are one of many alien species populating my imagination. Initially the Burrabb were invented just for this image – two missionaries debating religion. Both the human and the Burrabb priests have come to convert the species in the background. Trouble is, neither priest is able to make any headway with their would-be converts. The convertees just can’t wrap their minds around the idea of a spiritual world. They can’t see it or taste it, they don’t care what happens when they die and aren’t interested in where the world came from. They are polite to the priests but that’s it. So the priests spend most of their time debating theology with each other.

More Burrabbs will show up as I scan other sketchbooks. As you can see from the link to the Burrabb bead crafter, the species has evolved somewhat. The latest versions hopely look more like aliens rather than stereotypical demons. Which is what I originally intended them to look like but the joke got old. Especially since I’m the only one I was telling it to.

Fan art for Warlock 5 from 1988! As far as I can tell there’s no fansite for this series. It concerned five (really?) “warlocks” (yes!) who were constantly at each other’s throats. There was a dragon that could take human form, a punk necromancer, a white witch, a black knight and terminator type robot. I don’t remember much about the actual stories. The art, by Denis Beauvais, was amazing.