I love getting new toys. I just bought a lead holder & one of those barrel sharpener thingies, and I'm all like "Where have you been all my life?" The default lead (HB, I suspect) is just the right softness for meandering line and gentle gradations, without being too smudgy. I've also really been loving my 5x8 Moleskin sketchbook with hot press ecru pages. I've been a fan of the gritty texture that cold press paper provides, but I am suddenly really enjoying the smooth ride of hot press.

Whoopie. I started feeling guilty about using that modified Mike Mignola drawing as my avatar. I'm no Mike Mignola. So it's an indulgent self-portrait now. Carry on.

I got to shake hands with the master.

I was on vacation in the Poconos last week and dragged the gang over to the Frazetta Museum so I could have a gander at Frank Frazetta's up close. As luck would have it, the National Cartoonists' Society was presenting Frank with a lifetime achievement award when we arrived, so the man himself was there, in the flesh. He even gave my 7-month-old daughter the hairy eyeball when she let out a delighted squeal.

I got to see a lot of his legendary paintings, and they are really different in person than one might expect. The thick, knocked down texture of the mountain in "Snow Giants"; the textural contrast between the matte sky and the juicy foreground glazes in "Thuvia, Maid of Mars" and "Savage Pellucidar"; the texture of the Masonite showing through in "Neanderthal"; and the beautiful layering of color and texture that appears in all his work -- this is stuff you just can't see in a reproduction. And only the very best reproductions will be able to hint at the fluidity of his technique, which is so palpable when seen for real. If we hadn't been there with two 4-year-olds I could have stayed for hours (although my son did keep himself occupied for quite a while by reproducing paintings on his magnetic doodle pad.)

And what a thrill to see Frank in person. He's doing great by all accounts. My wife nudged me in there to say hello before we left. He was gracious and friendly (and maybe a little relieved to get a few moments away from the maniac who was shoving his mediocre work at him for critique.)

For those who are unaware, he turned 80 this year. He'd suffered a debilitating stroke in 1998, and has since been slowly teaching himself to paint left-handed. He had his first left-handed paintings up in the gallery, and the progression from the first to the second is mind-boggling. Now he's working on a third, based on an unused sketch from 1987 for a Death Dealer painting. I was told by one of his adherents that he's back to the skill level he had pre-stroke, which is nothing short of amazing. But if anyone could do it, it'd be Frank.

So who knows? Once baseball season ends, we might see a new Death Dealer painting!

P.S. I sound like a poseur calling him "Frank" -- like I know him personally or something -- but everybody does it!

My wife just hipped me to this, and now I'm sad that we moved from Brooklyn: [link] Basically, it's a life-drawing session. But instead of the usual nude model, it's burlesque showgirls doing the poses, in crazy sexy costumes. Plus there's alcohol. Madness.

I just uploaded some of the results from my latest life drawing sessions. (As usual, advanced critique encouraged.) I can see right away that my time management skills aren't great, so maybe this week I'll try not to just trail off at wrists/ankles/necks. Some of these are pretty ham-fisted, but I think those I uploaded have at least a worthwhile passage or two.

I used a new kind of paper last week because I liked the color, but I failed to account for the lattice-like texture, akin to a window screen. Definitely not something I'm used to. For the most part, I managed to bend it to my superior will, but it wasn't easy. I found myself really digging in and so lost a lot of fluidity.

Anyway, if you're reading this and haven't passed out from sheer drool-inducing boredom, I commend you.