Category: Cool Stuff

  • Zombie Bearman

    Byron Rempel Zombie Bearman CartoonsWe interrupt Australia cartoons to show you the latest Zombie from Byron Rempel…..Bearman Cartoons!  Yep me (well my green haired personification).  And even better he recorded the process.  Check it out.

    Check out Byron’s Etsy Shop and his Google+ Profile to find out how to commission him to Zombify you.

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    Another amazing Google Plus Caricature artist has released a book. Alex Gallego’s book “The Art of Alex Gallego” is now available.  Check it out.

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    Finally, in honor of Roland Perez’ 8th (yes I said 8th) child being born, I did a guest cartoon for him at Metal Jaw Comics .

  • Childhood Memories and Comic Conventions

    Cool-Ghoul-by-Craig-Boldman

    Recognize this dapper fellow?  Unless you lived in the Cincinnati television area you probably would not recognize one of the mainstays of my childhood, the Cool Ghoul.   I was too small to remember seeing him except in repeats of his Saturday night hosted horror movies but he still made appearances especially around Halloween up until his death in 2004.  I was fortunate not only to meet the Cool Ghoul’s alter ego Dick Von Hoene but was interviewed by him for a local show a year before his passing.

    I know in the 70’s and 80’s, the horror hosts were big in other areas.  I remember being able to get Dr. Creep to come in from Dayton stations as well.  Any horror hosts in your towns?

    What is also cool is that I picked up this picture at the Cincinnati Comic Expo.   I had friends exhibiting there including Tim Fuller of Zombie Marge cartoon, Darryl Collins, and Dave from Rockin’ Rooster Comic and Games but I am not what you would normally expect as a comic book junkie.  I couldn’t tell you who wrote or drew a comic but it seems others can and there are waves of fans lining up to get a signed copy of whatever.

    I dragged my wife this year because we were heading to the Oktoberfest festivities just a few blocks away.  As soon as we got into the Expo we came across a large line of people.  My wife asked “What’s that line for?” to which I replied, “Probably some artist”, not knowing who was set up there.  Two fanboys waiting in line were appalled by my response because as we continued walking one of them said to the other incredulously  “SOME ARTIST???”

    Speaking of artists.  The Cool Ghoul artist is actually better known as a writer.  Craig Boldman has written the Archie newspaper strip since 1992 and writes the Jughead line of comics as well.

  • Milk Milk Lemonade Shirt

    Milk, Milk, Lemonade, Round the Corner Fudge is Made

    Two years ago my wife taught my then 9 year old nephew the famous Milk, Milk, Lemonade, Round the Corner Fudge is Made chant along with the associated movements.  Sadly for him, he couldn’t make it through it without cracking himself and everyone else up.  So this one is for him.  Available now on my store.

    What were some of your favorite childhood chants?

  • Election Bumper Stickers

    Obama or Romney Bumper Stickers

    It is election season in the United States.  Your choices (not including 3rd party candidates) are either President Obama or Mitt Romney.  You can decide in the comments or decide with your wallet and show your support to the world because I have put these images on Bumper Stickers for a limited time only.

    If you are for President Barack Obama and Joe Biden, you might want to show the world that Mitt Romney is a notorious flip-flopper (where is John Kerry to attempt to keep his crown)

    Or maybe you are for Mitt Romney.  In 2008 many people joined now President Obama in his quest for “HOPE”, a slogan of his campaign.  Now I am hearing many who voted for him in 2008 have simply “LOST HOPE”

    What say you?   Of course politics can get heated so if you prefer to just say “nice bumper stickers” in the comments, I’ll understand.  And if you choose to vote with your wallet, I won’t give up your vote.

  • Oktoberfest Tshirts

    Oktoberfest Grab Sausage Tshirt

    Kind of a report with some updates.  I am going to focus on creating some new shirt designs.

    Long time readers may remember this shirt but given it is a top seller at the store, it is one I like to highlight each year.   This is the first t-shirt I ever designed for the store:  it depicts a guy in lederhosen carrying a large sausage.  The back say’s “Grab your Sausage and Have Fun”.

    Why highlight an Oktoberfest shirt the end of August?  Well, while Munich Germany’s Oktoberfest actually runs into October (Sept 22 – October 7), Cincinnati celebrates it towards the end of September (the 21st and 22nd) and Covington, KY (right across the river from Cincinnati) celebrates September 7-9

    Quick trivial facts.  Cincinnati has the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the United States.  Several years ago an astute commenter indicated that it was Canada that held the distinction of the largest outside of Germany.  However, he is wrong according to my spot Wikipedia sources.  The largest celebration outside Germany is in Blumenau, BRAZIL!  But here is where Cincinnati gets back some of it’s swagger.  Estimates for the Canadian and Brazilian Oktoberfest are in the 700,000’s.  However each lasts about a week.  Cincinnati pulls in around 500,000 people in just 2 days.  Now who drinks more?

    More designs created over the years:

    Click image to go to page.   I need to work on a few new designs for this year.

  • Art of Carolyn Curtis

    Bearman Cartoons Zombie by Carolyn Curtis

    You meet some talented people hanging out on the web and for me Google Plus.  I have the fortune of befriending a great artist/caricaturist Carolyn Curtis who not only has her own page but also the G+ page Wenchkin where she highlights her work.    Carolyn’s art is heavily influenced by dia de los muertos.  Dia de los muertos is better known in America as The Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico.  So obviously the caricatures and her artwork tend to look like skulls.

    I of course zombified the one she did of me but here is the original:

    bearman day of the dead

    Anyone care to color it in as well?  Send me your work.

    Carolyn also collaborates with her boyfriend Scott Krichau who is also an amazing artist/sculptor.   He takes old tanks and sculpts them into amazing pieces of art.  Check out his Tank-O-Lanterns here and below is an amazing collaboration Scott and Carolyn worked on together.

    Tank O Lantern Carolyn Curtis and Scott Krichau

  • Flixel – Animated Pictures on Your iPhone

    So I have been playing this week with a new iPhone app that I came across called Flixel.  Essentially when you take a picture using Flixel it actually is taking a few seconds of video.  You then swipe your finger across the image to show what part of the image you want to animate.  The above image is Fountain Square in Cincinnati.

    The largest issue I found is that I have fat fingers so parts of the image I didn’t intend to highlight get animated.  Plus because I can’t keep my hand perfectly still unless my phone was on a tripod, there is some jerkiness to the final image.  But hey it is FREE so what do I have to complain about.  Plus if you always wanted to make animated gifs of photos, this is an easy way to do it.

    Below is another example that I did with a glass of wine. I find that if you reduce the size, the jumpiness is a little less noticeable. What do you think? Winner or loser?

     

     

  • Matzah Balls Tshirt

    I got your Matzah Balls right here

    Long time readers might recognize the design for “I Got Your Matzah Balls Right Here” because I posted it last year and asked if I should put it on a tshirt.  Well guess what.  I forgot to do it until now.  Available on WackSack.com (I really need to rebrand all that to beartoons but obviously I am lazy).

    So run out and get this Passover friendly shirt to show the world you are not happy to forego unleavened bread during the seder.  Oh and if you aren’t Jewish…well show some attitude anyway.

    Also for those who prefer posts via email you will be happy to know I now have an email subscription thingy on the right thanks to Tony.  Also if you want updates on when I reply to your comments that button is now available too.

  • Happy Australia Day

    Happy Australia Day Budgy Smugglers

    Ok so I am over a week late to wish my Aussie friends a Happy Australia Day but other posts came up first.  Long time Bearmaniacs might remember a similar cartoon that I did in 2009 (see post here).  In that post it was all about how Aussie men confessed to not changing their undies for days and the fact that, like their American Brothers, are an obese bunch.

    Someone on G+ found it and linked to it and then Dunken Bliths used his magic to animate and change the word balloon just in time for Australia Day.

    For the uniformed what we call Speedos are known as Budgy Smugglers in Australia.  A Budgie is a small parrot native to Australia and the look of some guy wearing this bathing suit is like someone smuggling a Budgie in their pants.  Some guys decided to make a brand called Budgy Smugglers (mispelling Budgie but not wanting to change it).

     

  • Merry Christmas from Wombania

    Going to be offline for the next week only checking in periodically. Got a great drawn xmas card in the mail from Nate Fakes and this one from Peter at Wombania.

    Try to control yourselves without me this week.