Harts Pass no. 481

Lucky for us we have a new puppy and a nearly seventeen year old who have lots of positive "keep busy" energy and occasionally slow down enough for an excellent snuggle. Take care out there!

Harts Pass no. 480

It's totally true, logging is like social distancing :) And in this case for a similar purpose. The distance between tree makes it harder for a catastrophic wildfire to totally destroy the forest. True enough! Now if only we could rake the ground in between people who are properly socially distanced... THEN we would really kick this Covid-19 thing in the pants!

Harts Pass no. 479

Kit Courageous, defender of childhood and bravest wolverine around! Kit last made an appearance in these pages during the Carlton Complex wildfire in 2014. She is back again to help us through. Wash your hands. Stay in your den. Flatten the curve! Take care out there. GRRR!

Harts Pass no. 478

OK, sometimes a hug is all it takes. I mean, a socially distanced hug if necessary at this point -- but a REAL hug if you can get it!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 8

A quick intro from Mr. Brooks plus two different DAILY DRAWINGS from the ART IS... prompts #10 "terrified" and #11 "united". In these two drawings, markers, colored pencils, pen, and crayon are used to create some layers of detail. This is "live" hand on paper. Nothing digital about it. Enjoy!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 7

Following up on our value scale with pencil (Episode 6) this video demonstrates creating a range of light-to-dark with a single color. I chose a yellow ocher to start, but you could do similar things with any color you choose. This demo directly references a recent exercise from my high school drawing & painting class. Students used acrylic paint, but you could simulate this with anything from pastel to colored pencil to opaque watercolors depending on what you have available. My digital version was painted on the iPad Pro with the Procreate App. 

The demo is SUPER quick, so feel free to pause or rewind - go back-and-fourth in certain areas to see the values slowly blend together and build up into the final image. Keep making art!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 6

In this episode I do a quick demo of ART IS... prompt no. 4: VALUE STUDIES. This is some very basic practice for shading light to dark. For my students, think of it as review :) Sometimes its also just nice to watch something like this and then to try it again your self with fresh thoughts in mind. And for a BONUS EXTRA!!! Check out the slo-mo dragon voice at the end. NICE. Take care out there!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 5

A narrated "live drawing" demo of the first two "Daily Drawing" prompts from ART IS... This one is a little longer, but 'hey', that give us more time to talk about art. The drawing prompts for this episode were "home" and "rocket man". I can't wait to see what you post for these as well. Enjoy!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 4

In this edition Mr. Brooks shares a few of his first drawings from the ART IS... enrichment packet. He also takes the chance to recreate his Pencil Portrait (prompt no. 2) in digital form. Watch for a few tips on shading and an approach to starting a simple pencil drawing. You can draw along or take a look and then try yours later. The description in BEAR no. 3 has a link to the ART IS... packet for anyone interested. The Liberty Bell HS/JRH Instagram page is @lbhs_art. Add the #artislbhs hashtag to posts of your own they will all collect in a "gallery" feed for us to enjoy. Keep making art!

B.E.A.R. Episode no. 3

A quick 5 minute chat about the paper arts packet that was sent out today, and some encouragement to play along! I will hope record my own first foray into these daily drawing prompts later today. It will (in all honesty) probably get posted tomorrow, because...

... we recently adopted a puppy! Expect to see LOTS of Quince drawings in the weeks ahead :)

Back in the EXCELLENT Art Room: Episode no. 2

In the episode I talk a little bit again about the value of making art, music as an inspiration, the fact that we ALL need to be patient with both ourselves and with others, and I draw some jazzy polar bears! Thanks for taking a look :)

Back in the Art Room: Episode no. 1

As some of you know, last year I started teaching art at my local HS/JRH. In just my second year I am still trying to strike that balance between my own creative work and teaching... but I DO whenever possible try to bring some of those freelancer ideas to my classroom. It's all kind of a scramble!

Given the recent suspension of school for six weeks staring last Tuesday, March 17th, we are entering brand new territory into the land of "arts enrichment" or some sort of extended alternative learning situation.

I've been working on an arts packet, ART IS... that I will share with my students starting Monday 3/23, and I am plan to post a few different videos each week (2-3 ideally) that will provide a supplement to the packet and  let me potentially continue the tenor of creative conversation that I am hopefully starting to have with these kids.

It's pretty much all an experiment, and to some degree not unlike the myriad Inktober, Illustration Friday and other creative online outlets that have existed for quite some time. That being said, I do hope that my students will give it all a try. 10 minutes a day.

Let's keep making art!

PS If you'd like a copy of the ART IS... packet yourself, feel free to download one here.

PPS GRRR! (as per usual)

Harts Pass no. 477

Wolverines may indeed have a few advantages when it come to social distancing -- they DO smell pretty bad, they DO live in wide open spaces, and they ARE a little mean and snarly -- thusly discouraging a lot of public interaction. For the rest of us however, being social is pretty normal. Now that we should  keep a little more space and distance between us its actually OK to snarl like a wolverine once in a while. If you say please and thank you, you can keep a comfortable distance, be firm but friendly, and do the greater public interest a lot of good. A lot of time just spent wandering the woods like a wolverine shouldn't hurt anything either. Be safe out there!

Harts Pass no. 476

Phew, what a difference a week makes... I'm a little late in posting last week's "daylight savings" strip, but in the face of our national Covid 19 crisis this seems like a lifetime ago. Please heed the thoughtful advice of the CDC, our forward thinking governors and others who are taking aggressive measures to slow the spread of this disease. Be safe out there!

Harts Pass no. 474

Great movie that "Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood." Mr. Rogers would definitely NOT approve of my sarcasm in this strip, but sometimes the wolverine needs to rip and shred a little...

Harts Pass no. 473

'Tis the sound bite season! TONS of catchy word play. LOTS of impossible promises. Try to cut through the noise and think about what a politician can actually accomplish given all of the layers of government (thankfully) and the odds that are stacked against him/her. And then ask yourself very pointedly what it it that a President is really supposed to represent. What IS the American dream? Why does this country exist? On what principles was it founded? Lets not pick a President based on fear and irrational ideology summed up in a sound bite (or an outright lie). Let's pick a President that actually has our Country's best interests at heart and not simply his/her own.

Elephant Haiku - 1.31.20

Catching up on the Elephant Haiku. I'll have a few more posted this weekend.

Harts Pass No. 472

Not to be overlooked, wolf OR-54 was recently found dead in northern California. As wolves will do, this ambitious female set out for new territory and famously traveled nearly 9,000mi. in search of a mate. Idaho to California and back again. Her father had done something vey similar in becoming very first wolf sighting in California for nearly 50 years. The beat goes on... GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 471

And then there are days like this. Or weeks. Or months. Or years it seems... GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 470

We all feel like this at one point or another... as Glenn Pudelka* used to say, "onward and upward!"

*Editor on my very first children's book. Not a reference that anyone will understand and thusly this :) Enjoy!

Elephant Haiku - 1.25.20

Not something that I dabble with lately, but in college and a little beyond even handstands and handstand walking were a good way to pass the time. And so it goes with elephants. Onward and upward, February awaits!

Elephant Haiku 1.20.20

I got a little behind on my #3perweek attempt, but I do like doing these when I get the chance. This one, completed late on MLK Day, is a good place to begin the week. We need some leadership these days - someone who is looking out for the greater prospects of humanity at large. And so it goes...

Harts Pass No. 468

A little at a loss for this one. I, for one, am happy about the depths of winter. It gets a bad rap. That being said I guess the wolverines and I are expressing just a little winter optimism as we head into the midst of the snowy season. Cheers!

Elephant Haiku 1.12.20

A little more light hearted, this one :) 3-4 more inches of snow here on the eastern slope of the Cascades. No elephants skiing - at least none that I've seen - but lots of other happy folk. Three cheers for a steady adding to the winter snow pack -- both for skiing and the summer season ahead.

Elephant Haiku 1.7.20

With similar inspirations to this week's Harts Pass... alas, the world is often on fire these days and none of the people in power seem to care to do anything about it. 

Harts Pass No. 467

Our hearts go out to the wildlife in Australia... Safe refuge to one and all wherever it can be found.

Elephant Haiku 1.4.20

Three drawings in. Still having fun. It will get harder in another few days.

Elephant Haiku 1.3.20

I like this one. Promises to stay away from constantly sad and somber poses will be forthcoming.

Elephant Haiku: A drawing challenge for the New Year!

SO many artists start in on drawing challenges for the New Year -- admirable efforts for pushing the envelope of their work through non-contracted assignments and many times some excellent vehicles for creative growth and/or just simply trying fun, short, satisfying stuff :) 

Anyway, the internets are BURSTING with it right now. With my teaching and and coaching and clawing my way back to making things of my own (not to mention living and sleeping) there is pretty much ZERO chance that I will do something like this on a daily basis -- there are just too many other things to do and not enough hours in the day. That being said, goals are good and some kind of drawing challenge sounded like a good idea (plus I got wistful and a wee bit jealous just looking at too many January 1st "daily drawing" beginnings.)

On January 2nd I drew an elephant. Kind of a "wait for me" moment for the daily drawing crowd. The next day (posts to follow) I drew another elephant... and decided that the elephant - at least for now - is a good totem creature for the effort (since an elephant never forgets.) Added to that moment I decided to write a bit with each illustration. I will break rules for sure and push the envelope for syllable counts etc. but the goal for now is a collection of elephant haiku. Spur of the moment - ideas drafted on the spot - probably not spending much more than an hour on each piece (TBD). I will definitely NOT do seven per week. If I get #3perweek it will be AMAZING. 

Stay tuned and thanks for taking a look. I'll post here and to Instagram @erikbrooksbooks 

Enjoy!

PS I would LOVE to do these all in watercolor. In the spirit of trying new things I'll be using the procreate app and an iPad Pro. I'm good with that on the inking side, but more of a watercolor / painterly feel will be good to practice. 

Harts Pass no. 451 - a process video!

Thor Scratchboard!

Getting some samples ready for my high school Drawing & Painting class. Not sure if I have ever done scratchboard before, but it seemed like a nice transition -- and just a different way of thinking/drawing -- after several weeks spent with pen and ink. For those not familiar with it, a thin sheet of paper with a clay-like surface has been coated in ink. Using "scratch knives" or any sharp tool, you slowly remove the black ink surface to expose the white underneath. A strong graphic line in this case, but also versatile enough with practice for a wide range of tones and values. Thor the wolverine represented here in all of his wolverine glory. Enjoy!

Cat Diaries on the MSN Homepage!

It's just an ad, and it might indeed be skewed to my particular viewership due to recent internet browsing, but still kind of a kick to scroll through the MSN website today and to see my Cat Diaries book show up! Thank you Amazon cookies for the early morning psyche boost :)

Harts Pass No. 430

Mysteriously, HP #229 is no where to be found. I will keep looking and add it to the stack when the opportunity presents.

Harts Pass No. 428

It's that time of year again... and the wolverines just want you to know that they don't feel left out AT ALL!

Harts Pass No. 427

Sometimes the weather is all that we can talk about. Too bad. There are SO many other things...

Harts Pass No. 426

I have been TERRIBLE about posting to my blog. I started teaching HS/JRH art last year (Sept. 2018) and in my efforts to sort all of that out and  to keep up with the rest of my life and work in general, the blog has been neglected.

I'm 'gonna cheat time and reality and all that and back date pretty much the entire year of comics to the date that they appeared in the paper, but once that New Year's resolution is accomplished I will do my darndest to me a little more regular about updates for 2020.

Cheers and "new" years greetings!

Harts Pass No. 425

Over the last 6 months... or really I guess the last 14, I've been teaching art at my local HS & JRH. After a shocking period of adjustment, I've still been making comics and slowly crafting stories in my spare moments, but my updates to this website have been sorely lacking.

Feeling the end of the XC coaching season here this fall, and feeling like I'll have even a little more time to spend getting caught up on posts and other illustration business. Not anywhere near the mid-winter break just yet (this is from last February!) but I'll aim to be totally caught up again and hopefully more regular about my website by the end of Christmas break :)

A few chronological updates of the comics to come in the next few weeks.

PS I HAVE been making regular use of my @erikbrooksbooks Instagram account, so if you'd like regular updates on the comics thats the best place to go.

Harts Pass No. 424

My wife made a "mix tape" thumb drive for me as a Christmas gift. I'm Sticking With You (Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground) is a favorite. It seemed like a good Valentine's Day prompt for the comic strip, so here you go. 

If you're not already familiar with this quirky and sweet little song -- original release 1969 ?? (as best I can tell) you can get a fuller appreciation via the video below. Enjoy!

Harts Pass No. 423

Reading something over the weekend before the strip about porcupines. Thought that there might be also something to their prickly nature that prevents them from denning together (except in extreme circumstances) but also just like the idea that they might be a little self-conscious. An extended streak of single-digit and low-teen degree temps here in the ever lovely Methow Valley. Any hope of that (going on 3+ weeks now) doing some damage control on the pine bark beetle infestations? Natural history and all of its wonders!

Harts Pass No. 422

Always some little nugget of information or inspiration to help contextualize a comic idea. #GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 421

I did not know Mary Oliver's work until her passing last week. I will seek it out for future days -- in due consideration of how to spend "one wild and precious life." #wolverinewednesdays

Harts Pass No. 420

On this week before Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- remembering out trip to the powerful memorial in D.C. a few springs back.

Harts Pass No. 419

#betterthanbearhugs

Harts Pass No. 418

"Out with the old, in with the new", etc. etc. I'm not really sure that this always works. How about a little institutional knowledge and some common goals/concerns for both the "old" and the "new." Agreed for sure that sometimes we need a fresh start -- and goodness know that I am hopeful for many "new" things to make 2019 a better year, but one thing does lead to another and perhaps an additive rather than subtractive process would be more productive and successful in the long term. But what do I know? Just sayin' #GRRR! #HappyNewYear!

Happy New Year!

Harts Pass No. 417

A little late in getting this on the blog, but Merry Christmas all!

Harts Pass No. 416

More species reintroduction to the North Cascades National Park... and Thor is doing his best impression of righteous indignation -- coupled with a complete and total lack of understanding what is really going on. Sound familiar? Another strip here that did not quite make the deadlines for the paper. Bonus for you if you follow along via the blog or on Instagram. Cheers!

Harts Pass No. 415

And my own lovely daughter IS super enthusiastic about many, many things. It's awesome! Keep it it up kiddo. Your energy and verve are contagious!

Harts Pass No. 414

There's always a Thanksgiving strip. Or at least there has been for the last eight years. True to form of late I was  a little tardy in the posting, but the strip did get done in time for the newspaper deadline! Thanks to all of you who follow the strip. I'm back on a more even keel with posting and look forward to wrapping up the year in style. GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 413

With so many other things going on I have not been keeping up the comic very well. So it goes. I  really do like making these so hopefully my sense of available time changes at least a little bit this week -- although we shall see :) No matter what, I'm very thankful this week for friends and family. And for big hugs and welcome returns after times away that are long or short or anywhere between. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Harts Pass No. 412

You can watch any number of videos on YouTube or read more about it in the Seattle Times, but the relocation of an "exotic" mountain goat population from Washington's Olympic peninsula to the more appropriate setting of the north cascades was one of the more fascinating things to happen this summer. About 350 goats were relocated. The others were unfortunately eliminated by other means.

PS This comic was never published in the Methow Valley News. I drew it a little late, and it seemed less appropriate to send in the following week.

Harts Pass No. 411

So I started teaching art classes at our local high school this fall... and thusly time has been slipping ever-so-quickly through my fingers! My first week of September DID very quickly become the second week of October, and so on and so fourth. The comics are coming back though. Slowly but surely!

Harts Pass No. 410

Hard to ignore the wild fire smoke right now. Both from an "I'm living here" standpoint, and from the fact that for three years running the first several weeks of our fall XC running season (coaching for my part) have been compromised by at least 3-8 days of unhealthy air quality. This is not normal. It is not acceptable. The policy makers of the world need to wake up and pull their hands out of Big Oil and corporate-interest pockets. Its not all supposed to be about money and greed. It should not be a business-first kind of world. They need to start thinking more critically and with long-term vision about the health and well fare of the American people. GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 409

Pretty much how I've been operating of late. There is an outward projection (hopefully calm and collected)... and an internal chaos that hard to ignor. GRRR! #wolverinesarepeopletoo

Harts Pass No. 407 & 408

UHG! The wildfire smoke from Canada and local sources is hitting us HARD! Atmospheric particular matter (PMI) readings in the 400's today -- which is among the highest on the planet right now according to the air quality index listing at PurpleAir.com... We've had intermittent smoke and good/bad days over the two weeks since the first strip, but it has been consistently worse just to our south. The lack of air movement is layering it in all around and there is no real change in site. Stay inside if you can. The wolverines and other critters have far fewer options. GRRR!

The most awesome POLAR OPPOSITES reading ever!

OK, I don't really haunt the YouTubes looking for my books, but in a random search today I came across this POLAR OPPOSITES reading by the incredibly awesome Sauda for the YouTube channel, ABC Read, ABC Learn. It doesn't look like Sauda does too many of their other readings, but this one I definitely had to share. Enjoy!

Harts Pass No. 406

The strip pretty much says it all. Tim's Jalapeño chips are totally addictive. GRRR!

Harts Pass No. 405

It seems to me that free time is filled with too many practical and objective pursuits these days. I mean, its one thing if you're older and using that time to pursue a passion or to get on track with some other thing that leads to something else, and I'm all for a high bar and goals and drive... but for kids - especially kids of a younger age - they really don't need to be getting ahead on next year's school work with their summer time lazy days. Relaxed is relaxed, a wandering mind is good. A laser focus on the "next thing" or some sort of objective lesson with literally EVERY activity will only wear you down before your time.