Wednesday, December 3, 2008

And Now, a Whale on a Skateboard

Wow, apparently I wore out my welcome with the mustache updates. Got a couple of snarky comments on the last one. Perhaps I'll continue to quietly try to raise funds through the sidebar, and stop talking about mustaches and needy schoolkids so much.

You'll have to take my word for it that this whale is on a skateboard, I suppose, since you can't see it under him in this drawing. But this is the sketch of the cover of my next picture book, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, written by Mac Barnett. In a few days I'll post the finished painting.
As always, click to see it larger.

23 comments:

Lunchbox said...

Geez, I read those snarky comments. What's up with that? You only did like three of them... I kind of dug the time lapse/doing good things for a bunch of kids deal. Kudos to you, I say!

I like the finished drawing. Sounds like a fun book. Can't wait to see more.

Adam Rex said...

Yeah, but maybe snarky wasn't the right word for them. I'm not as acclimated to the internet as some, so I don't know what you'd call a person who goes out of his way to call you boring and tell you he won't be reading your blog anymore, then insults you further by suggesting you think your readers' opinions are irrelevant despite having spent the better part of that post apologizing to them for the recent content.

Maybe on the web there's some special l33t word for a comment like that, like 5n4rk33 or some kind of hilarious emoticon or something.

Anonymous said...

On the internets, we call haters like that LOSERS. That's an acronym for people who lose.
I mean, I've been called a porn star twice, a cop three times, and been told by those who love me that I look like a pedophile because of this moustache. All I can say, Adam, is IT'S FOR THE KIDS! DON'T FORGET THE KIDS!

Anthony VanArsdale said...

Those comments really were out of line. I enjoyed the mustache video and I know my little b(r)others will too

anxious to see the painted whale... and the Hawkspar cover is awesome!

Adam Rex said...

Thanks Brian and Anthony (and Joshua). I'm stayin' strong. You still in Arkansas, Brian?

Douglas Florian said...

Skateboard or no skateboard, the guy on the bike's getting a hernia!
GREAT drawing, Adam.

Pop-Monkey said...

This is probably irrelevant to you, but I'm so bored of your whales on skateboards that I'm unsubscribing your feed.

Can we dispense with this "art" stuff and get back to the moustaches?

(So very kidding)
Pop-Monkey

Unknown said...

I like the mustache updates, especially the video. My 8 year old just watched it about 10 times in a row.

Who cares what grumpy strangers in cyberspace say. He probably yelled at a little old lady in a grocery store just before he logged on.

Anonymous said...

Good grief.
They call them flaming trolls or something, I like the mustache updates, keep 'em coming. If it will make you feel any better, we can use one of the mustache pics for your headshot at the conference.
We can put it on the big screen! :)

Z-Kids said...

Big Blue Whale! Looks super. Ever increasing anticipation begins now... How long do we have to wait for this book's glorious debut?
Z-Dad

Anonymous said...

Love the mustache! Love the mustache comments!

Now, put a mustache on the whale and you've really got something.

Jill E

Dan Santat said...

Sweet sketch, Adam! I never have the patience to finish sketches out as much as you do so it's nice to see that someone out there is more dedicated to the craft of picture book art than I am. Where do you imagine the type is gonna go for the title?

Oh, and as for the mustache comments, who cares what one douchebag says on your blog? It's YOUR blog. You're too nice. As an invested shareholder to that 'stache of yours may I request you go for the Rollie Fingers/ Salvadore Dali finish to it?

Hope all is well.

Adam Rex said...

Thanks, everyone! What a big box of mustache love.

Zenz family–This book will be out in June, supposedly. So I'm kind of jumping the gun, but I haven't had much else to show recently.

Dan–I always wanted the type somewhat overlapped by the whale, and it loks like we're going with something like that. What I REALLY wanted was the type to run over both the back and front covers, so that the front might read something like
itters and His
le Problem
but I couldn't get anyone to go for it.

Unknown said...

How about making it one part art and two parts mustache. You've roped many people in with this mustache saga...you can't just abandon it now! What about posting a drawing of your mustache? That way you'd make both types of readers happy!

Pop-Monkey said...

From now on, all your illustrations must feature at least one mustache, even if it is a disembodied, vagrant 'stache slinking in the shadows. Sound like a plan?

Anonymous said...

I'm with Isaac. I'd like to see the time lapse Drawings where your mustache grows in the space of a few screens to something like Yosemite Sam's. I mean, why do you settle for the limitations of RL?

Nina Crittenden said...

People are just too dang cranky! Don't let the turkeys get you down- your posts are chock full of real entertainment value!

Anonymous said...

yeah! Three cheers for Isaac!

Editorial Anonymous said...

I heart everything about you.

Adam Rex said...

To Isaac et al., I promise to cook something up. And Editorial Anonymous–I'm blushing.

bill said...

i hope you didn't take my comment as snarky. just because i think a moustache on you looks almost as bad as a moustache on me doesn't mean i don't absolutely love everything you have done and are still doing. an incredible, smart sense of humor along with great skill and sensitivity. some people have all the breaks.

Adam Rex said...

No worries, Bill. I was more reacting to the comment before yours. Your comment just had the misfortune of falling right after it, so at the time I saw them both as negative.

The Cog said...

um, I just really like the drawing (and the addition of the cats was quite the clever move...) :)