Holidays are a great time for reflection. This holiday happens to be on, or very nearly on, the celebratory occasion of me wrapping up my first year of being employed by me—so my reflection has a harder edged, more assessing sort of purpose. As the boss, I need to see more effort from my staff. …
Author Archives: davidstong
Coloring style
After I rendered the drawing of Bellefonte as a coloring book page, I tried coloring it myself with flat tones just as an experiment. I thought it worked well and I liked the effect. As I work on the Millheim Mouse cartoons, I save versions of each of them as coloring book pages, too. Since …
An explanation of the mouse images
On the simplest level my intent is to tell a story with colorfully rendered, very finished pictures. I have a story and characters in my mind, but no writing talent or skill, nor any desire to write the story. I do have very strong visuals in my head and a clear understanding of what happens …
Mouse in Millheim 08
I’ll probably noodle a bit with this yet before I save a final TIFF. I’m not sure about parts of it and seeing it here will help tease any problems out.
Fifth great grandfather
The photo is the face of the tombstone over my fifth great grandfather’s grave. It’s at the cemetery of the Wentz UCC church in Montgomery County, PA. From it I learned that the Stong from whom our family eventually flowered spelled Pillip with two “Ls” and he passed away on November 22, 1813. That’s 200 …
Balloons of Bellefonte for coloring
I caught a post that shared an open call for coloring book drawings. A print magazine had requested the submission of black and white drawings for a coloring book, sized for 81/2” X 11″ reproduction. I figured it would be a way to get a sense of whether or not this balloon idea is really …
invention through illustration 2
Just like the 35mm camera digital insert, this is an older image. In July 2007 I posted the photo with a frustrated plea for just such a device. Like an iPod touch, but with a screen twice the size of an iPod, and a screen segmented to fold so it’s protected and easily dropped in …
invention through illustration 1
The flour bag and short cigarettes aren’t real, they’re illustrative inventions. Posting them reminded me of the fun I’ve always had with this illustration type. It also reminds me that if I had a machine shop, or even a garage, I might not make pictures at all. To illustrate, you have to first understand. If …
short breaks
After posting my flour bag idea here, I just had to add my Short Breaks. I’m surprised it took me so long to connect the two. The photo is a Photoshop recreation of my original pack- which is buried in boxes and bags somewhere around here. Photoshop is so much easier than digging. About 20 …
flour arrangement
My flour looks like this. Maybe yours doesn’t. I guess I could buy nice canisters or come up with ready mades that suit my life style, but I don’t use that much wheat flour these days. I flinch at the idea of needing to decant it to use it. Why should I have to? I …