Tag: halloween

  • Republicans on Halloween

    Republicans on Halloween

    10-29-15-Republican-Halloween-Bearman-Cartoons

    Halloween is almost upon us and it is time for Trick or Treating.  Unfortunately it seems with the round of candidates up for the Presidential Nominee, it is the Republican Party that is playing tricks on us.  So sure a kid seemingly dressed as a ghost is more likely a moderate Republican (or what 20 years ago was the mainstream of the party), hiding his face in shame for what the party has become.

    Republicans continue to hearken back to the Reagan era, but pundit after pundit will tell you that Reagan would be unelectable in today’s Republican Party.   See here and here. Starting with the Clinton era, forged in the Bush era and solidified in the Obama era, both parties have moved further and further from the center and would rather see the other side lose than to get things done for the country.

    Is it just the party or has the populace moved away from the center as well?

    Bonus points if you get the title of this cartoon: “We all have a face that we hide away forever”  Without looking it up of course

    ________________

    99Blast on Kickstarter

    The Kickstarter for 99Blast seems to have come to a standstill over the past several days.  We hit 20% funded in the first 3 days but nothing in the past 2.  If you can, take a look and spread the word.  Kicktraq shows the progress below.

    99Blast - The Card Counting Game that is a Blast! -- Kicktraq Mini

  • 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.

  • Bearman Living Statue

    Happy Halloween Everyone!! Be safe!

  • Create a Custom Jack-O-Lantern Pattern in Photoshop Express


    It has been a while since I have done a tutorial so in time for the season, here is the How-to create a custom Jack-o-Lantern pattern in Photoshop or Photoshop Express.  What could be scarier on your front porch than George Ford (of Addanac City fame) greeting all the kids in the neighborhood.  I swear I would pick on someone else sometime but the rest of you don’t post enough pictures on the web.

    Step 1

    – Open a new document (I made mine about 8inx8in), paste your picture in the document and resize it so there is some white background showing.

    – Using the brush tool, make a white border around the entire picture.  I used a 10pt brush.

    Step 2

    – Color the background layer black.

    Step 3

    – Select Image>Mode>Grayscale

    – You want to make sure the color is balanced.  My original pic was too bright so you can adjust by going to Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Brightness/Contrast in Photoshop Express or Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast in full Photoshop.

    Step 4

    – Select Filter>Adjustments>Posterize (Express) or Image>Adjustments>Posterize (Full).  Choose 3 levels and select and it will give you a Black, White and Gray Image.  If the outline that you did in Step 1 is full white, change it to 50% gray.  You should get above.   You will notice that it has bits of color all over the picture that you don’t want to have to carve so,

    – Using your pen too set to black, white or gray color in the image to remove some of the dithering and random color spots.

    Step 5

    As you can see in the above pic I cleaned up the image to make it into cutable chunks.   In the end you are going to want to shave off the skin of the gray area, cut the white area completely through, and leave the black area alone.  Look at your white area.  If there is danger of you cutting away detail of the gray you need to adjust your picture more.  As you can see in the final template in the first image of this post, I added more gray area around the nose so I wouldn’t cut my nose to spite my face..haha

    George was too scary to carve so instead I did Bearman.

    Here is what it looks like unlit.  It was my first time trying to use a dremel so I need to clean it up.

    As you can see, in this one I only posterized to 2 colors (black and white).  For the white, I pulled off the skin and the black I left alone.  I then put two full holes in the eyes.

    Here is the the final look when lit.

    And in case you want to make your own Bearman Pumpkin…here is the template.

  • Retro Editorial Cartoon: Halloween and Politicians

    October 31 around here doesn’t only mean Halloween. It means an election is right around the corner. This is the time the politicians and lobbyists pick it up on the rhetoric, scare tactics and door-to-door visits. I did this one in 2007.

    October Politics Halloween Bearman Cartoon

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  • Candy Corn Poop

    In continuing to highlight various t-shirts and other products available at WackSack.com, thought I would share this weeks entry into the Halloween gift bag.

    I always wondered why you can see your corn in your poop but not your candy corn.

  • Halloween Candy Bags

    So of course my favorite pagan Holiday is almost upon us.  Thought I would highlight a couple different Halloween designs this month available at http://wacksack.com.  So if you want your kid to have a candy bag that isn’t one of those fancy store bought kind, take a look at our crap. (Also available on tshirts of course)

    What ever happened to the days when we were growing up that you just used a pillow case?

  • Bearman Cartoon: Scary Halloween Costume

    This editorial cartoon by Bearman appeared at cincinnatibeacon.com website on October 31, 2008. It depicts a little kid dressed as a 'corporate pirate' asking for money instead of candy on Halloween.

  • Bearman Cartoon: Giving out Stocks instead of Candy on Halloween

    This editorial cartoon by Bearman appeared at the cincinnatibeacon.com website on October 27, 2008. It depicts a man giving out stock certificates instead of candy to kids due to the cheaper price in the current economic recession.