Tarl's Scribbles...the blog

MICRO-SCRIBBLES

2011-10-11T12:42:00.001-06:00

So I’m trying something out. Either this will be the greatest thing since Wendy’s added bacon to their menu, or it’ll flop like all-you-can-eat seven day old sushi. And all the flopping that it would entail.

What is “Micro Scribbles”, you ask? Well, to make a short story even shorter—no, wait. Let me indulge…

The year: 2011. The economy: “Meh. It could be better”. But micro transactions are all the rage! Instead of shelling out wads o’ cash on luxury items, people are instead wanting to spend a dollar here, five dollars there for simple virtual goods. Outfits for your online avatars. That new tractor for your virtual farm. Not necessarily things that you need, but custom items that make you stand out from the crowd.

So I says to myself, “Betty…(yeah, I call myself Betty, what’s your point?) How many people are always asking for a little doodle or a simple design for a birthday card, a flyer, or that poster their daughter has to do for their science project?”

Silence.

Come on, I don’t actually talk to myself! But the answer would have been--A LOT! And sometimes I just don’t have the heart to charge a $300 flat fee or $25 dollars an hour for that cute little dinosaur that will be on display in the school cafeteria. And since I’ve found that lately the majority of my time is spent drawing fun and cute little doodles that don’t fit within my service fees, I’ve decided to come up with Micro-Scibbles© (that’s right, if you ever try to use the name Micro Scribbles without the express, written consent of Tarl’s Scribbles “we will hunt you down and gut you like a fish!”) Actually, I can’t back that up. All I did was type the letter ‘c’ in-between two parenthesis and the copyright thingy popped right up. Go figure.

So, if you AREN’T looking for a complete business rebranding, logo design, illustrated graphic novel, or feature length animation, then maybe Micro-Scribbles might just be what you need. Take a look at what $10, $20, or even $30 dollars might get you. You’ll see the example of a woman, a bat (after all, it’s almost Halloween), and a reindeer, and how the quality, detail and color of each design changes with the amount you’re willing to spend.

Already have a fun idea for your child’s birthday card? Know exactly what you want on your church’s newsletter? Or maybe you just have a really great idea for an iron-on that you want on your underwear. Contact me for a quote.

THE KING IS…UHM…DEAD?

2011-07-27T10:50:00.001-06:00

So my wife tells me of this book that she has read (Everneath, by Brodi Ashton). In it there is mention of a band called the Dead Elvises. What a fun idea. So I whipped up this little drawing, I suppose if anything this would have been a nice little album cover for them.

OBEDI-ANT

2011-07-24T13:26:00.001-06:00

In church today I realized I didn’t have a good coloring page for the lesson on obedience (with your 3-4 year olds it is imperative to have a coloring page). So, while trying to listen to other talks given I worked on cranking this other-worldly looking critter out. The kids enjoyed it at least. I’m not so sure that there is any similarity to an actual ant, but hey, artistic liberties are my strong suite.

FACES OF DAYS GONE BY

2011-07-08T20:48:00.001-06:00

After graduating I really wanted to get our director something. Unfortunately, because of all the school required before graduation, I found myself low on funds. I decided to quickly sketch up a caricature of him and presented it to him in a nice frame at graduation. I’ll omit his name, not only for his own protection, but also so that anyone who knows him won’t realize this drawing looks nothing like the guy.

COMMUNITY DRAWING

2011-07-01T20:35:00.001-06:00

So thanks to some wicked JavaScript, and newer internet tech (including HTML5, Canvas, SVG, and WebGL) Chrome Experiments is producing some fun new toys. This is one that caught my eye. A nice white surface to draw on. Well, you and anyone else on the page. Like what you’ve created? You can save it! Click the image above to check it out.

DISNEYLAND WEEK!

2011-04-29T21:15:00.000-06:00

So it’s Disneyland Week at my daughters class. The teachers put together a fun little classroom that tried to have that Disney feel to it. Somehow my daughter blabbed that I liked to draw pictures in my free time, so they corned me one day and asked if I’d draw them some Disney Character posters. Then they had me show up one day and draw pictures of all the kids in the class.

Disney, please don’t sue. I promise I didn’t make any money off of the posters.

As usual, click on each image above to embiggen it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

Because turkey isn’t all that tasty anyway.

BOO!

2010-10-14T19:47:00.001-06:00

‘Tis the season that I do love the most. Among all the other fun things that happen around Halloween, we received the ever-popular “Boo Gram”. A short poem and a ghost to post on our door was placed on our porch along with a plate full of Halloween treats. The ghost that we received was not exactly to my personal liking, so I decided to create my own. The above image is the one I made and sent out along with the afore mentioned poem and a new plate of cookies.

TAKING A CHANCE AT TEACHING

2010-08-22T10:57:00.001-06:00

The elementary school my daughter attends has a smorgasbord of wonderful extra-curricular courses that are offered after school on a wide variety of subjects. My wife, being the kind of person that hates to pass up any opportunity (or the idea of anyone else passing up any opportunity) thought I should teach a course for the children. Something along the lines of art.

Me being the decent spouse that I am reluctantly agreed and am now offering the course, “Learn To Draw Using Simple Shapes” for the older grade schoolers. The class should be a lot of fun, if all goes well. I have to admit, I wish I had a course like this when I was in school. Wish me luck.

LAZY SATURDAY

2010-04-25T10:43:00.001-06:00

Saturday morning I found myself watching the kids while my wife was out. We sat out front and worked on some fun workbooks their grandmother had given them the day before. After finishing up the crosswords and finding all the hidden pictures we turned it over and started drawing pictures for each other on the back. Here’s just a corner of that rather larger workbook page we were doodling on.

CONTEST SUBMISSION

2010-03-22T13:12:00.001-06:00

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom

(UPDATE: Embedded the video above)

So I done did finished ‘er up and submitted my animation for ToonBoom’s Sesame Street competition. It’s short, and hopefully sweet. And perhaps, if the planets align just right, I may even make it as a finalist. Go check it out, and if you really like what you see, rank it a few stars.

‘YOUR MUG’ GIVE AWAY (UPDATE)

2010-03-16T00:48:00.001-06:00

(UPDATE: Congratulations to our winner, Mandy!)

The time has come to wrap up the giveaways for a little while so I can actually get back to finishing up some other projects.

So, to close, I’m going to be doing things a little differently. This time the prize will be a framed 4” x 6” caricature of the winner.

However, this time around, instead of choosing a winner randomly I will have a panel of judges to choose from your own artwork. That’s right, I would like you to submit your best interpretation of what a “tarl’s scribble” looks like on our www.tarlsscribbles.com facebook page.

The medium, style, design, concept is all up to you. All I ask is that it remain appropriate for all age groups. Just upload your creation to the “Fan Photos” album at the www.tarlsscribbles.com facebook page and our panel of judges will choose the winner they deem the most creative.

Submit your designs by March 31st and we’ll announce a winner on April 1st (no joke).

SESAME STREET

2010-02-25T21:41:00.001-07:00

Sesame Street and Aniboom have put together a competition that could land development deals and cash prizes. I figure I might try my hand since it’s been quite a few years since I’ve submitted anything for competition.

Now I just need to figure out how to make these cute little critters do something educational.

CONSERVATION GIVE AWAY (UPDATE)

2010-02-18T11:43:00.002-07:00

(UPDATE: Sorry for the delay in announcing our winner. I was out of Frosted Flakes and have been in bed with the icy cold fingers of death scratching my back, giving me the macabre goosebumps of streptococcal pharyngitis. But I digress. Our winner for the SAVE THE LOGGERS poster is The Nelsons. Although his eco logic may be a bit ambiguous he definitely makes a good point. I would venture that anyone who has ventured to Brent Brown would agree completely. Congratulations!)

From now until Tuesday night (Feb 23, 2010) leave a comment below with your best idea on how to save the earth.

Please only one comment per person.

One lucky winner will be chosen randomly to win a “Save The Loggers” Poster 11” x 17”from Tarl’s Scribbles.

The winner will be announced Wednesday (Feb 24, 2010) morning whenever I happen to wake up and after I’ve had my Frosted Flakes, which, despite popular belief is only part of a well balanced breakfast.

300th FAN

2010-02-17T13:11:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Larissa! She became the 300th fan of www.tarlsscribbles.com on Facebook. She’ll be receiving a One Less Spartan tee, a Manwich magnet and several mini Kids In Forks buttons. Congratulations Larissa!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

2010-02-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

On this very special day in time we pause to laud St. Valentine. He is a mystery and no one knows just how his death became the rose that we all seek the night before as we scramble to the grocery store only to find there are no more. So we move our focus to calorious sweets and wonder where the good ones went, and desperately seek the card with the slightest hint of sentiment. Valentine, whomever you were, your memory may be all but faded, but thanks to you this time of year there’ll be plenty of women depressed, lonely, frustrated.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

MORE SHARPIE CARICATURES

2010-02-13T12:29:00.004-07:00

(Update: "Sharpie caricatures" because I draw them with a Sharpie on 5 x 8 blank index cards. I find they are easy to carry around.)

I’ll be darned if these two don’t actually almost kinda sorta represent the people I was drawing from.

WHILST SITTING IN CHURCH…

2010-02-06T10:24:00.001-07:00

I often find the only time I really get to have a person hold still long enough for me to draw is when I’m sitting in church.

NEW LOOK

2010-01-23T16:19:00.002-07:00

I truly loved my last site design. A lot of hard work went into creating it. Unfortunately, due to necessity I had to start from scratch and rebuild the whole thing. Click on the image above and take a look around, and please report any bugs you might find.

As you probably already know, everything on the internet is best viewed (and safer) on Firefox or Chrome, but Internet Explorer should work as well.

Don't feed the fish.

PARA EDUCATOR

2010-01-17T20:38:00.002-07:00

With the opportunity I’ve had to work up at Fort Hall’s Elementary school I found that the kids would love when I’d draw them pictures. So when they were being good I would draw them little pictures on small index cards I’d carry around. Here’s a couple I ended up bringing back home.

ONE LESS NEMESIS

2009-05-15T09:46:00.001-06:00

After a lot of hard work from everyone we’ve finally gotten our site up and running! If you’re looking for a fun way to share with the world your pet peeves then why not wear it loud and proud. With several designs available now, we have so many more coming soon! Click on the logo for more designs.

TWILIGHT CLIFF NOTES, CLOSER THAN EVER

2009-04-27T16:06:00.008-06:00

It's been a long time coming, and, well, it's still not here yet. But at least there is a trailer now.

CONTEST IS UNDERWAY!

2009-04-02T15:09:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: Contest has closed.

First prizes this week: This cute little threesome of figurines depicting “Kids In Forks”. Win this one of a kind, hand crafted set two different ways.

For one entry become a fan of tarlsscribbles.com facebook page (or if you’re already a fan) leave a comment on my facebook fan page with your name. Example: John Doe

For a second entry invite/tell your friends to become fans of tarlsscribbles.com facebook page too! Leave a comment (on my facebook fan page) with your name and who you told (or if you posted it in your ‘status box’). Example: John Doe: told Adam, Brett and Chad OR John Doe: Status update

NEW AND IMPROVED!

2009-03-03T11:01:00.009-07:00

It's new! It's improved! Not sure exactly how that is possible, but it is, and you can see it here now!

Become a fan on facebook here.

STAR TREK

2009-01-13T13:47:00.006-07:00

With Netflix now on the Xbox 360 I’ve had the opportunity to go back and watch the first season of Star Trek. Being inspired by Shatner, Nemoy and the rest I thought I’d post some images I’ve drawn of the officers of the Star Ship Enterprise.

FEATURED DESIGN-NOT MY FAVORITE

2009-01-09T21:57:00.001-07:00

I was greeted today by an email informing me that one of my designs is being featured on the Cafe Press home page. I went to look, and sure enough, there it was in all it’s RGB glory. I’m quite surprised as to why it’s there, especially since it is no where near as popular as some of the others, but none the less I am very flattered that they would even post one of my designs up there at all.

NOT SO UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

2009-01-09T10:56:00.001-07:00

So last night I’m watching a vampire movie. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but I’m a sucker for horror flicks. Anyway, as I was watching I figured I’d get some drawing done. So I grabbed a clip board and yoinked a few pages from the printer and during the course of this vampire movie I somehow whipped up a couple vampire sketches, a few self portraits, and for some reason, a little girl playing in a puddle. I’m just as confused as you are.

TREES

2008-12-07T16:10:00.002-07:00

I have to admit, I love trees. Designing trees is so much fun since the sky is really the limit. So many shapes, designs, colors, styles can be used in creating them. Here are just a few I scanned from my sketchbook and colored rather quickly in photoshop.

FLIP MINO NOW AVAILABLE

2008-11-03T23:13:00.003-07:00

(UPDATE: HD Cameras now available as well)

Thought about getting a new camcorder but didn’t like the idea of having a drab, ugly one that you were too ashamed to whip out at your nephews Briss? Well, no more excuses because Cafe Press is now selling the ever so popular (I’ll check my facts about it’s popularity later) FLIP MINO. Just a quick rundown of some of it’s specification:

* 60 min. recording time

* 2GB internal memory

* Includes Soft Case, TV Cable, Wrist Strap, Quickstart Guide

* Resolution is 640 x 480

* Video Format is MPEG-4 AVI

So, if you are in the market for a fun little video camera with Tarl’s Scribbles designs all over them, then go check them out here!

SCAT THE CAT

2008-10-31T12:11:00.001-06:00

My sister is doing pre-school for several of the kids in her neighborhood and it is her turn for teaching this coming week. She liked the “Scat the Cat” lessons but wanted a more unique looking cat with different emotions. Here are the cats I came up with. Once again, not an artistic masterpiece, but I think the kids will enjoy coloring them.

TWILIGHT CLIFF NOTES

2008-10-29T13:16:00.006-06:00

Okay, just as proof that Twilight Cliff Notes is actually progressing beyond the black and white storyboard here is a short trailer.

‘TIS THE SEASON

2008-10-28T19:35:00.001-06:00

May you have a wonderful Halloween. We are looking forward to several parties and a great night collecting candy with the girls.

(This was just a little sketch I had drawn in my sketchbook during church last month. I scanned the ink sketch into my computer then did a rough coloring job in Photoshop)

VACATION DESIGNS

2008-10-25T23:34:00.001-06:00

For one reason or another I came across this group of sketches that I had drawn up over the summer. I thought they were kinda fun since these were the original ideas for t-shirt designs. Some of you may recognize a few of the designs that are now finished graphics on my Cafe Press site.

I think I may start adding a weekly drawing/project that I’ll put on here. I suppose that should help force me to draw a lot more than I already am.

ARTWORK IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

2008-10-23T16:24:00.003-06:00

My Cafe Press Shop is up and running. Feel free to browse, shop, and send me suggestions and feed back to your heart's content. Click here to check it out!

HELP WANTED

2008-10-23T16:24:00.001-06:00

I find myself wanting. I've been working on Twilight Cliff-Notes (my own animated version of Stephenie Meyer's book) for quite sometime now, and I can't help but realize the progression of this project is moving along about as fast as the lines at Chuck O Rama at lunch time during senior citizen discount week.

If you, or someone you know has the talent, and the desire to work for free on this loosely entertaining, but fun project, I could really use the help with backgrounds. If you have any questions just leave me a comment below.

TEACHING THE YOUTH

2008-10-22T19:36:00.006-06:00

~A little rock dented the Ark~

(Little Rock, Arkansas)

I have the privilege of illustrating for a client that is creating a workbook, among other aids, to help teach the State's Capitals. I always feel good doing projects like these that I know really have the potential to impact education in a good way. They are very simple, coloring book-type illustrations, so I don't get to really push my skills, but still fun to do.

MY SPACE

2008-10-06T13:56:00.001-06:00

Saddly, this is exactly how I imagine MySpace to be. But this cracks me. This is why I won't be posting a MySpace page any time soon. Enjoy the clip.

Thank You Everyone! (UPDATE)

2008-04-26T19:32:00.005-06:00

(UPDATE:Here's the video that sprtygal kindly uploaded. Thank you again everybody!)

You can see SM's comments on the "more info" here.

Thank you everyone for your donations. We are gonna have a wonderful bag full of all sorts of fun things for Stephenie. We are no longer able to accept anymore donations as of this post as we are ordering the bag now and won't be able to add any more names to it. Th!ank you again everyone, I believe she will really enjoy it. We'll make sure to get pictures for you and let everyone know how it goes!

We Are Back Baby!

2008-04-05T09:45:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I didn't post this before, but quite honestly, I have been rather busy. But thanks to the special efforts of Somethingblue I now have all my files for the storyboard up and running. So a big shout out to Somethingblue, now I'll get to finish up my storyboard and start animating here shortly...and of course by 'shortly' I mean sometime this year.

Twilight Put On Hold Indefinitely

2008-03-29T15:31:00.001-06:00

No no, the film is still running along smoothly (at least from what I hear. But my own animated short was cut, well, short. Nearing the end of the story boarding process my computer crashed, and upon rebooting I discovered my Flash file on which it was being boarded was corrupt and is now unattainable.

If you would like to see how far I got on the story board before it all came to an abrupt end, just click on the "corrupt" image above. Make sure your Flash Player Plugin is up to date.

A Gift For Stephenie Meyer

2008-03-17T12:27:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: We need to have everyone's donations in by April 27th so that we'll have enough time to make sure we get the order in and shipped before the signing.

Here's an idea that has been lightly floating out there. My wife has just purchased her ticket for the book signing of Stephenie Meyer up in Salt Lake, and some of the ladies thought it might be fun to give her an Eeny Meeny Miny Moe souvenir at her signing. Anyone interested in doing this with us, I'll need some feed back on a couple things:

First, what should we get her? I personally think something more than just a t-shirt would be fun, perhaps a cute hoodie, a tote or messenger bag or something along those lines. Please just post your comments below so we can get a better idea of what y'all think.

Second, this would be fun to have it more personalized from the Gutter Girls. So, if you are interested, please add your donation from this site (there is a button on the right side of this blog to do so)and let me know what name you would like to have printed on the shirt, whether it be your lex name or your real name or both.

And finally, I would prefer not to publicize this on the Lex, so if you would please get the word out to any other friends on the Gutter that you think would be interested, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you do leave a donation PLEASE be sure to leave a comment indicating how you want your name to show up on the tote bag.

Logo A Go Go

2008-03-16T13:12:00.004-06:00

I was surprised to get a phone call from a very good buddy of mine the other day. He informed me that he had started up a mixed martial arts/wrestling club and was looking for a logo to go with it. He said he would like something along the lines of an ancient helmet for the logo, so here's a few rough sketches I drew up for him in Macromedia Flash. When we decide on a final product I'll post the results in an update.

Venturing Into New Territory

2008-03-15T18:44:00.007-06:00

The other day I had a good friend of mine ask if I would be willing to design a tattoo. I was a little caught off guard at first since I had never actually designed a tattoo before. But I took the challenge and only hope that it was what she had in mind.

Twilight Cliff Notes Coming....Just Not Too Soon

2008-03-13T10:38:00.003-06:00

With the success of Stephenie Meyers Twilight Trilogy and a maddening desire from her fans to seek out and absorb, dissect, consume and pick apart every little thing that even remotely resembles vampires and werewolves, I've decided it would be fun to do an animated short depicting a condensed and loosely translated version of Twilight.

Being able to only work on it during my free time I'm afraid it will be a while before it'll be finished in it's entirety (if ever). I have started storyboarding and am at least hoping to be finished by the end of the month. Updates will follow.

We Have A Winner!

2008-02-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for all the fantastic ideas! So many to choose from, and so many wonderful references. Thank you for all your submissions. It has been so much fun reading them and just trying to picture some of them in my mind. In fact, I've even sketched a few of them out as you posted them. Unfortunately, there can be only one winner. And after recruiting the cutest little lady you ever did meet to help me judge, I believe we can announce a winner.

Congratulations to lilac-and-lavender. "eeny meeny miney moe..."

lilac-and-lavender, just PM me on the lex with the style of shirt you want, the size you would like and where you would like it shipped, and I'll have it sent out to you as soon as I get it drawn up.

Thank you again everyone for your submissions. Hopefully we'll have another contest soon...

T-SHIRT CONTEST

2008-01-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, I figured since there is so much creativity floating around out there I should see what we can come up with.

I'll be holding a contest to see who can come up with the best design idea. Your ideas can be Twilight related, as long as it's not obvious. Vampire, Werewolf, and Gutter topics are probably your best bet (obelisks, polishing, baking, aprons, etc.) since they are Twilight'ish, but don't relate directly to the book.

Since this is a very unofficial contest I don't have any official rules. Submit as many ideas as you like in the comments for this post and on Jan. 31, 2008 a winner will be announced. The winner will have their idea drawn up by me and will get a free T-shirt with their design on it.

Be sure to leave your Lex name, or at least some way of identifying yourself so we can contact you if you are a winner.

Tell your friends and spread the word!

The requests just keep on coming

2007-12-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

It started out with a fun idea of a little werewolf banner for myself to use on the Lex. And now the list grows ever longer for requests. I figure I'll keep doing them as long as it's fun, or I can't afford it. We'll see which one comes first.

Sketchbook

2007-12-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here are just a handful of drawrings from my more recent sketch book. Click on the image below for a larger view.

Company Ads

2007-12-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few ads I did for a company. We designed "generic" company ads, for no company in particular, just to give businesses an idea of what they could have.

Billboard Design

2007-12-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

These are several concept ideas (rough digital "sketches") for billboard designs. Unfortunately the company went a different route. Okay, so maybe the last one wasn't so serious, but it made me laugh.

Demo Reel

2007-12-06T01:23:00.001-07:00

Just a few short clips of work done in the past. I really should update it.