Part-Time Dog Featured on TheIspot.com

"The kid’s dad keeps rolling up newspapers whenever I walk into the room. But he must know that if he swats me, I’ll just have to bite him on the ankle. I want to tell him, “Look, you’re a grown man. I’m a grown man. Neither of us wants this to escalate. Let’s work it out.” But I’m on the clock, so I just walked up to him, said “Arf,” and tried to look both mature and resolute. This is pretty tough to do when you are eye level with someone’s crotch. I don’t think I pulled it off."

It's pretty unusual for me to post this frequently, but I just got a note that made my week. Jami Giovanopoulos, VP of TheIspot.com wrote, “I think this is just about the funniest, smartest work around! I can't wait to see what happens next ... in the meantime, I gave you a shout in our newsfeed: You are live in Art News and Theispot Blog.”

For those of you not familiar with the illustration world, TheIspot.com is the premiere illustration portfolio site on the net. Getting a shout-out like that from the site that features the best illustrators in the business is an enormous head-sweller. At least that's what my wife said. Twice.

For those who want to mosey on over, the blog can be found here. (You can also check out my portfolio on TheIspot here.) Thanks, Jami!

But don't let Jami stand alone. Blurb my book! Sing my praises! Remember I'm six foot one, 210 pounds of curly-haired need.

I couldn't wait to send out the news, but I needed some progress on the book to justify a new email. Fortunately I had a drawing at the ready, one I'd been looking forward to doing for a long time. Easily the most disturbing picture I've ever done when viewed out of context, nu? Forward it to all your friends! Then enjoy some fascinating and drawn-out conversations with human resources!!

This week's dog is the inimitable Rosie from the inimitable Allan Cunningham. Thanks, Allan!

More soon, promise. In the meantime, keep sending in dog photos (thanks to all of those I got this week!!), write me emails, make some comments on the blog, read the story so far or check out seltzerstudio.com. By the way, to see the Studio's portfolio in the same great format as Part-Time Dog, just click here.

P.S. Don't forget the fundraiser for The Dysfunctional Theatre Company, Rob Brown's (the model for the Part-Time Dog) troupe, at Deacon Brodie's Bar at 370 West 46th Street from 6-10 PM TONIGHT, October 1. For more info, click here. I'm going to try to drop by myself to hoist a few for a good cause.

Open publication - Free publishing - More satire

A Matter of Degree

First off my standard apology: I have been totally overwhelmed in the last week (yay!), so I'm behind on posting. But a great number of you have found the time to send me some really tremendous dog pictures. Thank you all! I am absolutely shame-faced but tremendously grateful. Make me feel even guiltier, please, and keep 'em coming.

The question I was pondering this week was how broad to make the caricature for this page. I ask myself this question quite a lot, because while some of my illustration is pretty broad (see www.seltzerstudio.com for examples), I've toned down a lot of the distortion for Part-Time Dog, and I'm a little self-conscious about it. I think the book is funnier if the drawing plays it a little straighter. Too much caricature and the story would lose its sense of verisimilitude: the big yuks would be like rim-shots, and the jokes would die on the page. But if the drawing gets too straight, I'm afraid that the story will just be too, um, weird.

It's almost as though there might be a mathematical ratio, like an inverse square law, between level of caricature, level of humor and general weirdness. If I were any good at math, I'd figure it out. Of course, if I were any good at math, I'd probably be doing something else for a living.

More soon, promise. In the meantime, keep sending in dog photos (thanks to all of those I got this week!!), write me emails, make some comments on the blog, read the story so far or check out seltzerstudio.com.

Open publication

FAQs

The mailing list has expanded greatly lately (thanks!!!), so I thought I'd get everyone up to speed who missed the early days.

1) Somebody just forwarded this email to me. How do I subscribe? Send me a note here and I'll add you to the list. You are then eligible to win a piece of original art when the book is finished.

2) Can I send you pictures of my dog for inclusion in the book? You have phrased the question incorrectly. The correct phrasing is, “Should I send you pictures of my dog?” The answer is “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”

3) If you draw my dog, do I keep the drawing? Sorry, no, because it's part of the book and may therefore become a prize for someone. But I will email you a high-resolution JPG, suitable for printing and framing. And I will credit you in the emails, blog and in the book proper when published.

4) Will you draw my dog on commission? Yup. See this blog entry for details.

5) Do you have a dog? Nope, but I'd like one. I mentioned to my wife that if I sold 10 commissions, we could get a dog. She said that if I sold 10 commissions, we could get a maid. If I sold 20 commissions, we could get a dog.

6) Your wife sounds pretty together. She is that.

7) This Dog is not even remotely Daily. Does it really take you a week to draw these pictures or are you just lazy? First, you could have thought of a more diplomatic way to ask that. But no, not even close. I'm a pretty fast hand when it comes to drawing. But getting this email out is fairly time-consuming. Here's how it goes: I draw the new story page and dog picture, scan 'em, clean 'em up, and color 'em in Photoshop. Then I import them into InDesign, make a PDF of the book so far, and post it. Then I take the Photoshop file of the story page, and reduce it in size and resolution for the web. Then I write the blog post, which includes the new image and a link to the story so far. Then I create the email with the new image in Dreamweaver, updating all links. Then I update the Welcome page on my website. Then I ready the email for all members, making sure to remove anyone who wanted off the rolls. Then I prep a Welcome email to all new members. Then I email everyone all 1,200 current subscribers. In between, I have to do some work. And also, commenters tell me that getting the email once a week is a pleasure, once a day is an annoyance.

8) You go through all that for bupkes? Are you insane? Possibly. I started this as a way to get my friends to communally bug me to finish this project, but the list (and the work involved) has expanded greatly. I do it now because I love, love, love to get the comments and emails every week. So please send more.

9) You do realize that this picture this week is gross, right? Yes, I do. And yet I drew it anyway. I could blame the story, but I wrote the story.

10) But it is a pretty awesome illustration. Is there any possible way I can make it my screensaver? Yes, there is and thank you! Click here to download.

11) Also, the web version of the book is pretty cool. Do you have any other books online? Yup. Here's a link to my latest portfolio. Feel free to hit the subscribe button on that page, and you'll be notified of any other work I publish.

12) Is this the longest email you've ever sent? Yes, but it ends abruptly.

More soon, promise. In the meantime, keep sending in dog photos (thanks to all of those I got this week!!), write me emails, make some comments on the blog, read the story so far or check out seltzerstudio.com.

Open publication