LOOK! CORN! Our Vacation in Nebraska

Our family's summer vacation was enjoyed in the great state of Nebraska, a bountiful source of inspiration. Whether it was savoring a fish dinner in Bee, Nebraska or passing a speeding train deep in the Sandhills in the west, each moment became a cherished memory.

From the Seward County historical society in Seward to the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad, to the home of Willa Cather in Red Cloud to the Mari Sandoz cultural center in Chadron, there is much to learn in this Great Plains state. 

I'm drawing in Chadron here

So it occurred to me that the rascally Jurassic dinosaur from Auburn, New York would be a "fish out of water" here in Nebraska and would be a story worth sharing. I have always wanted to depict a Nebraska story since my first visit and Jurascals is the perfect vehicle for it. So with that in mind, in the next few weeks we'l be building up to a grand adventure for our readers-so get ready and hopefully you'll say with me, "
"LOOK CORN!"

Poetry Adventure 4: Meeting Longfellow

In this segment 6/21 through 6/30, Lina and Dinosaur travel to the WayInside Inn to meet Henry Longfellow and the Five of Clubs. The Five of Clubs was a group of influential individuals from the Boston area including Senator Sumner.  At the end of this meeting, Dinosaur inadvertently challenges Longfellow to a Poetry Slam competition And that will begin the next segment, an homage to Paul Revere's ride-Jurascals style!

 

It should be noted that as Jurascals actually prints in black and white, not color, I decided to work in black and white again until such time that the print edition becomes a color edition!

Jurascals: Poetry Adventure Blog 2

Long Day's Journey into night-for this next grouping of 6 comicstrips, I approached the idea of heading into night time to signify that Lina and her Dinosaur are really heading out on an amazing adventure, though granted it might be the kind of "Max and the where the wild things are" perspective of time (in and out of weeks etc)/

The above was a shout out to my longtime Jurascal-pals the Fingerlakes SPCA-CNY at Auburn who are actually having that fundraiser :)

And of course the above one is a favorite of mine. The purpose of this adventure is to discuss poetry and so comicstrips like this allows me to put these classic poems on the canvas of the Jurascals landscape.

Will post more soon!

Note: if you like it, consider liking Jurascals on FACEBOOK/JURASCALS!

Thank you!

Jurascals and Poetry: A New Adventure

After working on the "ART" inspired comic strips (the Best of is from last month's blog), I decided to work on an even more daunting task for the next segment of JURASCALS (which is found at present exclusively in the print edition and e-edition of the Auburn Citizen). I have decided to start addressing the LITERARY world! The above comic strip from 5/28/2012 actually tells it all. The characters, Lina and Dinosaur, are on Monet's boatstudio on a waterway and they realize they are about to go into uncharted waters. This is true for many levels, not the least of which is a metaphor for myself-I'm going to stretch the envelope of my own abilities to come up with a compelling story that primarily discusses literary figures and concepts and still do it within the context of a comic strip. And as their first "mission" in this new storyline is to discuss POETRY (in much the same way I discussed "ART" in the previous work), it was fitting to start off with a poem by Whitman from Leaves of Grass. (see below)

Now I finished out May using the crayon as they moved down the canal but I really missed the sharp look of acrylic paint for the main characters so I decided June 1st, I'd transition back to the acrylic.

Also please note I began actively throwing in more "shout outs' to fans of Jurascals within the context. One friend of Jurascals (a Jurascal-pal) is from Alabama, so I drew the Yellowhammer in the foreground on the above comic strip for him. The initials MV on the trunk are for another Jurascal-pal and there are plenty more to come!

As one can see, I'm adding more references to poetry within the context of the story-little bit of Coleridge after some Whitman earlier...

And I will post even more as time allows! My main focus is to create first and foremost so I apologize if the website is not updated as often as I would like. The facebook page is more of the tool for the updates so if you like what you see, please like us on facebook at facebook/jurascals

If you do not have a facebook account, please drop a line via email at rascals@jurascals.com  or make a comment in the blog-would love to hear from you!

And finally, one Jurascal-pal liked Jurascals so much she emailed her local newspaper and requested that they run it! That's wonderful and if you do the same, please, please please let me know!

Best of Jurascals: The Art Series April-May 2012

Jurascals by J. Timothy Quirk is a daily comic strip published in the print edition of the Auburn Citizen, the newspaper of record in Auburn, New York. Jurascals follows the adventures of Lina and her rascally Jurassic Dinosaur and in this series, from end of April to May, they explored the world of ART! Each day is an opportunity to entertain and to provide some educational value so I took the opportunity to create parodies of different styles and artists in what I considered to be a fun way. It's one thing to know the name Picasso, and it's another to see the style represented in the family friendly comic strip with your favorite dinosaur! To the extent that any reader is inspired to find out more about the real artists parodied here, the greater I feel I achieved a part of the goal of Jurascals!  One "reader" was a young friend inspired by his art teacher to do his own "Van Gogh" and his Mom emailed it to me! I enjoyed it and wanted to share it with you! So without further adieu, here are some of my favorites which includes a young person named Tommy's Van Gogh which is one of my favorites too!

Warhol parody

Lichtenstein parody

Jackson Pollock parody

Magritte parody

Picasso-blueperiod Parody

Picasso RosePeriod Parody

Sendak parody

Hopper parody

Van Gogh Parody 1 Starry Night

Van Gogh parody 2 Night Cafe (this references  www.youeatwhaticookyou.com a father and son cooking duo in the Central New York region where the comicstrip is printed)

Degas parody

Monet Parody

Two young friends were inspired in school to create their own Van Goghs and their Mom kindly emailed me at rascals@jurascals.com  this photo of art! I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you!  Here's Tommy's Van Gogh!

Thank you Tommy M !!!!

Jurascals 4/23 -4/28

April Jurascals for week of 4/23 through 4/28 as seen in the print edition of the Auburn Citizen, the newspaper of record in Auburn, New York.

This week I've been able to create art with different styles that really benefits from the new color printing system for the newspaper.

The above two Lichtenstein inspired parodies are two of my favorite comic strips I've ever done! I recommend checking out Lichtenstein's work and you'll see how I was inspired as well!

The above was a reference back to Warhol, saying goodbye temporarily to Pop Art and jumping into abstract art with the bottom two.

I created both pieces of abstract art for the above two pieces of work. For the first 4/27, I used fingerpaints with my son, placing them all on paper I normally use for acrylic paint. Then I mixed the paint together. It didn't work out as intended. Then for some reason I just decided to "rinse off" the paper and as the water removed the top coat of paint it revealed a really interesting pattern. I took a photo of it with my phone, then tried to print it out but because the color ink was running low, it changed the color and created a new piece of work which i happened to like!

For the second, my "Jackson Pollock' inspired piece, I tried to do the "drip method" of painting but with my paint choices, it didnt work so I used brush strokes trying not to create a "pattern". Then took a photo of it, printed it (see above-same thing happened), the color looked different. So i painted on top of what i had printed out and then attached it to the comic strip. For the third panel, the pattern on the fridge was done just on the computer.

Next week: SURREALISM!

Art in 2012 UPDATED!

4/21/2012 Jurascals as published in Auburn Citizen, Auburn NY

Jurascals has been in print in the Auburn Citizen for a year (April 11, 2011 to April 11, 2012) and I am extremely grateful to Jeremy Boyer and the Auburn Citizen for allowing me the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream. A cartoonist is someone who read comics as a child, drew their own comics as they grew and refused to stop drawing long after school had an "art class".  There are precious few opportunities to express oneself as a cartoonist in a print medium and I am grateful that I have that opportunity.

In 2012 I have a vision of what this comic strip can and will become.

The primary advantage is color and how the color is applied. The Auburn Citizen has the benefit of a new color printing system. Since April 2012, I have created the work with acrylic paint and then used some ink for definition of the characters.  So each day the reader will see a new painting of mine.

The idea of doing a daily workproduct is not an uncommon practice for creative folks: One twitter friend I follow endeavors to do a microfiction or flash fiction story a day, many bloggers write a blog a day, some photographers do a photo a day. My work is a comic strip a day that is actually a painting and printed in the newspaper. So the big question after understanding the process is: to what end? I will ensure that the subject matter warrants the new look.

I am blessed in that I know a worthy subject matter that is pertinent to the medium. It is art itself.
This idea could not have been done before the advent of affordable proper color newspaper printing technology. So this is right place. right time. nothing more.

I'm working on discussing Lichtenstein and Warhol right now. Here's the Warhol inspired work up close!

And here's a preview of the Lichtenstein!