Jzero's Sketchbook - Cartoons & Random Thoughts

Jzero's Sketchbook Cartoons & Random Thoughts



	The end products of self-amusement, boredom, special requests, the self-afflicted guilt that I should be drawing more often, or simply a sort of mental purging - these are some of my drawings, sketches, random thoughts, and other bits and pieces to waste your time with...... Hello and welcome to my website! Sorry to sock you in the eyes with a photo of one of my old girlfriends like this... but I was sort of in a sentimental mood today. You know, being the romantic fool I am. If you're new around here I guess I should just tell you to start clicking around. There is no real order to the place, just plenty of nooks and crannies to discover, entertaining antidotes to unravel, and occasionally - a little of this. Don't be alarmed, it's all in good fun. For those of yous on a return visit, who haven't been here in a while - there are a couple of fairly recent features you may not have seen yet, like the newly added Moldies But Goodies page... an entertaining and to those who know me, a somewhat nostalgic look at some older "lost" material, culled from my old spiral notebooks, loose-leaf binders, composition books and wherever else I was drawing when I should've been working! Then there's an added dedication page to a man who certainly had some influence on my cartooning career (which might be the reason why it never really went anywhere in the first place) and that's to my old High School of Art & Design cartooning teacher, Mr. Strauss. If you're a fellow graduate from the Class Of '79 make sure to say hello! My online moniker is (as you might've guessed) Jzero, but anyone still kickin' from those pre-geriatric days will see right through that clever alias and remember me as simply, Donald. Oh great now that I've said that I've got to rename my website now, haven't I? I'm sorry, but Donald's Sketchbook just didn't have the same ring to it. And why Jzero? The answer to that isn't a very interesting one I'm afraid - so we'll just move along. Lastly, if you've enjoyed it here make sure to drop by my link at humorlinks, click on the stars, and give a nice generous rating of 10! I'd be much obliged... thank you! And make sure to peek in every now and then as there's always the chance you may come across something new that wasn't here before - I tend to do that sometimes, you know - just to keep you all on your toes! Enjoy the website... "Cartooning - The red-headed step-child of the art community." -jzero

Boop-Boop-a-Oooops!

The frightening (albeit silly) thought occurred to me the other day, of what it would be like if Betty Boop were real - existing not only in the cartoon realm, but ours. Of course she would retain her body proportions, and as everyone knows her head and eyes are just humongous, in comparison to the size of the rest of her body. Like the Elephant Man, the weight of her own head would probably threaten to crush her neck, and she'd have no choice but to travel around with a pulley device that would hold her head up. Ironic too, because instead of being a cute flapper from the 30s - loved by millions - she would be this hideous, scorned freak, that scares the shit out of everyone. .......Sad, eh?

Crumb Kick
Having just seen the Terry Zwigoff documentary "Crumb" I was on a bit of a Crumb kick when I got a request to draw a bunny-girl mascot for someone's sorority - but as it turned out, the requestor had envisioned something a bit more of how she saw herself, and less Crumb-like than my first drawing. (Oh well, I should've known - this girl wouldn't know Robert Crumb from crumb cake...)

Click here to see both versions together. The cryptic up pointed pinky and the acronym AKA means something only to them.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-nah, Fatmaaaan!
I'm not really sure what this one is all about... other than the fact that I never was able to draw those Marvel and DC Comic type of superheroes - not being very well assimilated to the proper placement of muscular mass et all - but I can draw a hideously obese fat kid with an enormously engorged gut with my eyes closed! My cartoonist buddy Mark decided to take my drawing further and add Fatman's Joker-like nemesis. As a final touch, I snapped a quick digital picture of the view outside the office window - blurred it, and used it as the background. Hardly seemed worth all that effort! heh heh... Click that abdominal potrusion to the left to see the color final.

Dragon on
A slow day in the art department resulted in this cartoony little scribble. If memory serves me well, I believe this might've been one of my very first Photoshop colorings - back when Photoshop was in it's infancy!

Click the pencil details for the colorized result.

The artist alone with his thoughts.

Doofs on Parade
I used to draw a lot of these balloon-nosed characters as a kid. I called them "doofs" - and they were quite popular (?) in my High School years. In fact, for better or worse, I kinda became associated with them! Well, nuthin' says funny like a doof drawing so here are a few I've culminated throughout the years. The photographic background for the first one was the view I had when I sat at my desk. What's frightening is that I actually did get visitors like that sometimes!

Schtick Happens
Ah, the hey-day of traditional cartoon animation - the 30s and 40s! What better tip of the hat to those most influential of cartoon styles than to try it myself. Okay, so mines a little seedier. But after all, those were the depression years, weren't they? So maybe the fact that this poor bastard actually has a great outlook on life in the midst of all that, uh... crap - is a GOOD thing, right? Why, this is a downright INSPIRATIONAL piece! Heh heh!

Diner Doodles
What better way to compliment a meal at a cheezy diner than to add a nice side order of silly cartoons in my son's drawing book? He'd sometimes bring his book out when we'd hang out together - and like father, like son - we'd draw pictures to amuse ourselves and each other. Here's a few that I did for his book. Click on the pics below to get a better look.

Right: Someone at the next table after eating a bad clam.

Just Politics
I've always admired political cartoonists and their apparent immunities to libelous ramifications. They seem to be given carte blanche to go after anyone and everyone who goofs up publicly, don't they? Seems like a real fun job to have...

I never considered myself a political person - but after 9/11 what cartoonist could possibly avoid at least one wishful jab at America's Most Wanted, Osama Bin Hidin'?

First one here was done just after the attacks, when he first managed to slip away. The second drawing was done four years later - prompted by a discussion I had with a friend and our mutual amazement that he could still elude capture in spite of his reported handicaps.