Skull Brothers From Gladstone's School

The boys were very impressed with "Gladstone's School for World Conquerers" written by Mark Andrew Smith, art by Arman Villavert.  Ansel was perhaps a little unclear on who exactly was a good guy in the context of the story, but he was sure that the Skull Brothers were cool.

Ansel wanted to know why they are "standing on nothing?"  And why the one brother's hand is so close to the other's tooth?  As usual my drafting skills are not equal to my son's facility for criticism.

The strawberries are there to ineffectively pacify the weapons.

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 5

Finishing the week of 24 hour non lunchbox napkins: This one is 8pm: Post dinner wrestling and couch abuse.

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 4

Spring break is still on, so I have continued the hourly comic premise.  This one is for 8:30 pm, otherwise known as bedtime.  

You can perhaps observe how sleepy and relaxed the kids are.   

They were not pleased about being depicted in their underpants, but since they were blurry they decided it was maybe ok.

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 3

A particularly illustrative napkin about how the napkins get drawn, and another from the 24 hour series.

This one would be 12:30 am.

Once again I am wearing my stylish black hoodie.  My husband has clearly expressed his disapproval, but something about the 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night makes me cling to this unattractive outfit late at night.  

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox 2

Another napkin not meant for a lunchbox from the series of drawings about 24 hours of dysfunctional parenting.  This one is 2:30 am.

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Napkin Not For A Lunchbox

The kids are on spring break this week, so I am having a brief hiatus from Skylanders napkins (although not the Skylanders themselves of course).

This napkin is definitely not intended for a kid's lunch box and is part of a series based on the "hourly comics" premise: images describing a typical 24 hour cycle.

This one would be 1:30 am.  This is about when I sometimes have to admit that listening to old podcasts of "Stuff You Should Know" is not going to mask the sounds in our bedroom enough to allow me to stay asleep.  Some might describe these sounds as snoring, but opinions in our house diverge.  

And there is often some noise coming from the kids' room... something that sounds very much like, "Mom! Mom! Mom!'

(You can see the whole series so far at this link. )

Magma Zone from Skylanders Swap Force

Skylanders Swap Force is not available for purchase until the fall, but there is a nice "teaser trailer" available for obsessing over right now.

Skylanders Wrecking Ball and Hot Dog Hybrid

Just when you thought another another Skylanders Hot Dog napkin was not possible: this is Ansel's request for a Hot Dog / Wrecking Ball hybrid. This one was based loosely on the Swap Force idea of mixing two characters, although these two do not lend themselves to being cut in half horizontally, and I started the drawing long after midnight when any reasonable person would have already been in bed, so I can't say I am particularly proud of the results.

Blast Buckler from Skylanders Swap Force

This morning, our older son wanted me to pre-order the new iteration of Skylanders: "Swap-Force" right NOW. 

I told him that I did not think this was possible, but that he could start saving for it right now.  This news did not make him happy.

Hot Dog Upside Down

The Skylanders Hot Dog onslaught continues:  I resorted to drawing him upside down for novelty's sake.  (And of course there is at least one website devoted to dogs upside down, although they are all reversed for comic effect) Ansel wanted a close up of his face, thinking that I then was going to draw all the other body parts on other napkins so that he could assemble them into a "life-size" multi-napkin whole. 

Once several years ago, I drew Captain Rex for Archer on several napkins: The helmet napkin made some sense, but "Captain Rex's torso says: "Have a heroic lunch, Archer!"... (not to mention his groin)... did not work as well.

I suggested we just do a large painting and skip the multiple napkin project, but Ansel clearly felt that Archer had gotten something extra that he was missing.  And Archer brought up the fact that I had not finished Captain Rex after all.  He wants me to do his feet. Now.

Dark Version of Skylanders Hot Dog with Dog Treat

Hot Dog remains Ansel's favorite Skylander character.

He requested a "dark version" with a dog treat.  

I thought perhaps the treat should be flaming.
Ansel was very dissatisfied because the lines on Hot Dog's legs and body were supposed to be red, and there is some yellow visible.

Skylanders' Fright Rider Spears a Strawberry

Fright Rider is the latest Skylander that Archer is coveting.

I gave the spear the fruit pacification treatment for Quaker lunch.

Skylanders' Hot Dog Chases His Tail

Hot Dog chases his own flaming tail: While he himself doesn't play the game, our younger son is vicariously obsessed with Skylanders, and Hot Dog is his favorite character of the moment.

Skylanders' Ignitor Toasts a Marshmallow

Ignitor toasting a marshmallow over his own head:

We endured a particularly intense resurgence of Skylanders last week thanks to a newly arrived sticker book. Ignitor is our older son's new favorite.

Dan Santat's Sidekicks

We reread "Sidekicks" last night.  The superhero pet concept is pretty much a surefire hit with Ansel, and Dan Santat's graphic novel is a nice one we have revisited several times.

Ratfist and Milt the Rat

We just reread Doug TenNapel's "Ratfist" again last night.

Politically incorrect jokes, farting, arguments about religion and a talking rat: perfect bedtime reading.

Young Justice Canines

Super Canine Hodgepodge:  A last minute request that was clearly beyond my drawing resources late last night.

In all fairness, Ansel only asked for four Young Justice Dogs: Nightwing, Robin, Kid Flash and Superboy.  I added the two females, Miss Martian and Supergirl in the interest of gender representation and composition. 

As I like to repeat in order to excuse poor drawing, napkins are not very friendly to preliminary sketches or revisions, and in this case, the orchestration of multiple dogs and costumes was a little more challenge than I really needed at 11 pm. 

Dark Spyro, Jellaby and Toothlesss

Sandwiched between Skylanders' Dark Spyro and Dreamworks Dragons: Riders of Berk's Toothless, Jellaby might be concerned about whether he actually qualifies as a dragon.

Ansel tells me that he is making a book at school today about dragons, and he wanted to include these three.  Archer pointed out that Jellaby is a monster and not necessarily a dragon, but Ansel wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.  

Jellaby and Portia Watch The Bat Bat

My sons are always happy to reread the Jellaby books by Kean Soo at bedtime (and on the train on the way to school)  They have the right combination of cute and creepy for my sons's taste.

Today,  Jellaby and Portia are probably wondering why they are on a napkin with a bat wearing Batman gear (the Bat Bat as he is known around here)  Ansel was very specific that about what he wanted: instructing me that the bat should be "closer to the camera" so that he would appear larger in relation to Jellaby.  

I briefly considered dressing Jellaby and Portia in Bat themed gear also, but couldn't seem to make that work.  

Perhaps, as the owner of some not very useful batwings, Jellaby is just admiring the bat's flying skills -as well as his stylish cowl and utility belt?

Igor from Jim Benton's "Franny K Stein" Serves Lunch

Igor from Jim Benton's "Franny K Stein" book series serves an appetizing lunch.

My sons are always happy to reread all 7 Franny books, and we are in the process of doing so this week.  They particularly enjoy Igor, the hapless canine lab assistant...who is only part Lab, after all.

They love the macabre, gross humor in the books. Although....when I showed Ansel this napkin, he chided me, "Mom! You know how I get around toxic waste!"

He says it makes him nauseous.  The brain with the eyeballs, the spider on a bagel, the hotdog with teeth...those were ok and not nauseating. 

Superman Beagle

It seemed like the DC super canine theme would be quite incomplete without a Superman, and a Beagle seemed like the right sort of clean cut all American breed to wear the red cape.

Ansel did not reject the napkin this morning, so perhaps my bad earth background was ok with him.

Chris Grine's Chickenhare meets Ben 10's Kickin Hawk

We were compelled to stay up past bedtime last night finishing Chris Grine's graphic novel Chickenhare.

Here he meets another of my sons' favorite creatures from Ben 10 Omniverse.  They have little in common, I suppose, beyond their poultry parts, and their presence in my kids' imaginations.

ChickenHare seems a little uncertain about the alien...which is probably wise.

Green Lantern Toy Terrier

Green Lanterns have not been among the favorite DC heroes at our house.  The boys will grudging watch the current show on Cartoon Network as it falls before "Young Justice" and the Lanterns are included in "Justice League Unlimited" so they are certainly not entirely disinterested in the characters.

And Ansel did offer up that he would like to see a Green Lantern in the super canine series.  I imagine he was mostly trying to deflect me off the idea of doing a Batman dog.  (Infringing on Ace's territory, perhaps?)

I think the big goofy ears were enough to sell this one today.  Ansel did ask why the dog was carrying a lantern, but otherwise he did not offer any protests.

Skylanders' Hot Dog Shirt

I usually try to avoid painting an image on a shirt that might be easily purchased somewhere, but unfortunately the commercial version of the Hot Dog shirt was not available in Ansel's size.... although the photo on the lower right with the fire extinguisher and bare midriff suggests that this particular shirt may not be his size for much longer.

Ansel told me he thought the shirt was ok, although he pointed out that the best shirt I have painted for him so far was the first one with Magic the dog on it.  I'm not improving, apparently.

  

 

Zak and Komodo from The Secret Saturdays

Over the last week, Ansel discovered how much he likes "The Secret Saturdays" a Hanna-Barberaesque series that ran from 2008-2010 about the adventures of a family of cryptozoologists and their cryptids pals.   Ansel's purported favorites are 11 year old Zak and Komodo the genetically altered Komodo dragon, but I am guessing that the main female character Drew who sports a skin tight jumpsuit, thigh high black boots, and torpedo shaped breasts, is a draw also. 

He was most annoyed to hear that the series has been out of production for three years and it is very unlikely that there will be any additional seasons of episodes.

Wonder Woman Pitbull

Ansel was a big fan of Wonder Woman in the days before he received the message that boys should not like female superheroes in flashy outfits.

There was even a Halloween somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age where we discussed the possibility of a him wearing a boy version of a Wonder Woman costume. (There are plenty of female spin-offs of male heroes- Batgirl and Supergirl to name the obvious, but not so much in the other direction.  Where is "Wonder Boy"?)

I thought Diana ought to be represented by a pitbull as she is more physically powerful than many other  supers.  And her disposition is sometimes rather on the tenacious side.  That said, I am no authority as we don't follow her very closely around here because that would threaten our collective masculinity.

Looking at the napkin this morning, both boys chuckled uncomfortably.  Ansel told me that my choice of a Pitbull was inappropriate.  It took me a while to determine that his concern was that the word "Pitbull" sounds too much like "nipple"....and I guess when we are talking about Wonder Woman, breast related words naturally come to his mind.