Though most of my artwork is original, I do occasionally stray into the area of copying others’ work.  In the following instances, I took some beloved cartoon characters and completely ruined their likeness.

The first example is that of CatDog.  For those of you who don’t recall Nickelodeon’s bizzarre cartoon, here’s the Wikipedia entry.  I’m not really sure why I drew this.  I didn’t like CatDog much, even as a kid.  Obviously, this doesn’t look much like the original, so perhaps this drawing is some sort of under-the-radar insult.

Now, this…this will probably require some explanation.  I’m a long-time follower of Homestar Runner.  I love their cartoons and, in this instance, was apparently trying to copy the likeness of one Marshie.

Eek, that entry was kind of lame.  Rest assured that, once I get back in the swing of things, these will become more amusing.  Until then…

My theme for today is sort of a choose your own adventure.  It can either be “Things That Begin With The Letter ‘B’” or “Doodles Which Are Positively Not Mine.”  It’s totally your choice.  I will warn you, however: the following may shock and horrify you.  Or, considering my obvious affinity for plagiarism, you may be expecting this kind of behavior from me already. Basically, these are drawings that, though found in my very own class notes, are not mine.  How do I know this? you may wonder.  Obviously, the answer is that these drawings actually look like something specific.  They are also all of subjects which begin with the letter “b”, but that’s hardly consequential.  Consider the following examples:

Butterfly

Bird

Bumblebee

Banana

Baby

Now, that our grammar lesson is finished, we can get onto the real work.  Please note the careful detail put into all of these specimens.  Take notice of the realism which is depicted, albeit somewhat cartoonishly in many cases.  These are clearly the works of someone (or some people) who have some semblance of artistic talent; or, in any case, at least a decent sense of the aesthetics of the world around them.

Need more proof these weren’t drawn by me?  Please take note of Baby-Not-Drawn-By-Me above.  Now, examine this:

This…well, at first I had it lumped in with drawings I had not created.  Upon further investigation though, this does appear to be a Chelsea original.  Look at the fingers, the mangled legs…all trademarks of my style.

Perhaps one of these days I’ll learn to draw like those unnamed artists who left their marks on my class notes.  Until then…well, you’ll probably just see more things like Baby Numba Two up there.

Though there is some scribblage behind the bike, I do like the realistic spokes, handlebars and weird little middle bars.  Makes me wish all of my drawings were as endearing.

Sorry it’s a little blurry.  Anyway, I love the tooth in this one…you can even see the pulp in the middle.  The pliers are slightly disturbing, and I don’t really know why there’s a safety pin over to the side.  But, I do like this one quite a bit.

All that to say that some of my drawings do have a point.  That is, on the very rare occasion, I do happen to draw an actual scene.  I have several of those to share today.

This beauty was actually the first doodle I created at Bible school.  I had gone an entire year without drawing, simply wasting precious class time listening and taking notes when I could have been creating masterpieces.  What I love about this drawing is the absolute randomness of it.  The angry sailor…the other stick man, covering his eyes in horror…the shark with a serious case of TMJ/CDTS (Crappily Drawn Tail Syndrome)…it’s all so perfect.

And, yet another stick man threatening a large, aquatic creature with a harpoon in a non-aquatic environment.  This guy looks more nervous than angry, though.  And, who wouldn’t be?  That whale appears to be a giant PEZ dispenser…who knows what kind of havoc he could cause if allowed to roam free. (If you’re looking for an explanation for this drawing, read the caption…”Whaling Wall”…punny…)

Okay, I clearly had some messed up concept of what the solar system looks like.  Let’s all take a moment to remind ourselves through Schoolhouse Rock exactly what order the planets go in (for the record, I hate Interplanet Janet with a burning passion and I really want to know 1. Why she has to be from a “future world” and how that even makes sense and 2. Why Janet, clearly a creeptastic robot, has a “womanly figure”…actually, maybe I don’t want to know that…).

Also, I absolutely love that the moon is large enough to swallow the sun in one gulp in this picture…not to mention poor Saturn back there, who will no doubt be a midnight snack for the out-of-control Moon Monster.

This picture says a lot about my personality.  The animals I chose to draw were clearly unique.  Where else can you find a rabbit, one of the sheep that thoroughly ignored Babe, a snail, a squawking bird, a turtle/pizza thing and an armadillo that is in the process of being struck by lightning all in the same drawing?  The playful creatures are all frolicking (or twitching in pain, as the case may be) outside of a cave which I think we’re supposed to believe is their shared home.  Right.  ‘Cause snail slime on sheep’s wool will work out really nicely.

I think this drawing is a cry for help.  I’m telling the world that no one has taken me to a circus in recent enough years for me to actually remember what one looks like.  This is my depiction of what I think might have happened at some circus, somewhere.  Why there is a lion waiting patiently for the tightrope walker to falter so it can have a tasty snack, I simply don’t know.

This isn’t a scene, I know, but I just really wanted to mention that during my first week of Bible school, I took notice of one particular administrator who I really thought looked like the Grand Duke from Rock-a-Doodle (the owl guy in the background of the linked picture).  I noticed this owl drawing was placed rather strategically next to notes from a lecture by this administrator and was greatly amused.

I will post something tonight.  I’m just on my school’s computer right now, and even though I’ve tried to get the administration to set up a school-wide database of all of my doodles, the man keeps pushing me down.  They just don’t understand the meaning of “art appreciation.”

Well, enough of that.  I’ll post later, I promise.

As a student, I was not allowed to have a television in my room.  On this day, I apparently wanted to watch Lassie or some other show involving a badly drawn boy and his unrecognizable dog-like animal.  However, not being able to watch TV for two years has caused me to forgo almost all television altogether (except Lost, The Office and 30 Rock).  This leaves me with much more time being productive…writing blog entries about my horrendous drawings.

In this, I am expressing an unknown desire to down scribbly martinis.  I say this is an unknown desire because I hate the taste of pretty much all alcoholic beverages and would never actually pay for or drink a martini.  I also dislike olives.

And, here, I am obviously longing for ice cream.  Ice cream wasn’t prohibited at my school (I’m not a cult member…yeesh); I was just too poor to buy it.

In the past, I have written:

• The Pokey Little Puppy and the Bear, which uses characters and ideas pulled from The Pokey Little Puppy series.
• A poem about horses that directly quotes two lines from a song I heard on Allegra’s Window.
• A book about a girl named Brianna and an orphan foal that ends up being called “Brianna’s Miracle.”  Thoroughbred book series, anyone?
• A book so entrenched in A Wrinkle in Time, I was never able to come up with a real plot other than some unicorns that appeared.
• A comic strip series about a toothbrush that was most certainly stolen from Timmy the Tooth.

Which brings us to our piece today.  Yesterday, I mentioned the Little Miss series.  A counterpart to that book/video series was the Mr. Men series.  My best friend and I were fascinated by these in the fourth and fifth grade.  Perhaps that’s how I came up with this gem.

Meet Mr. Silly, a character I created in the fourth grade and redrew in my class notes last year for some reason.  Mr. Silly doesn’t seem to be copying off of anything…I mean, what professional would create something so hideous?  However, take a look at this.

Yes, it all seems to fit.  My need to write “new” books.  My rabid fascination with the Mr. Men series.  Although my character looks nothing like their Mr. Silly, I assure you, I was ripping them off subconsciously.

Which, now that I think about it, is so, so sad on so many levels.