Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Happy Birthday to my big brother Scott!

My brother Scott used to draw a lot when we were kids. My sister MaryKate did too when she was little. My Dad would draw and paint a lot, so he'd give us art lessons. He would also have us pose for paintings sometimes. Over time, my brother and sister just outgrew it I guess.

I'm not sure why I kept with it. My Dad said I kept drawing because my lazy eye made me too uncoordinated for sports. Maybe so. Nonetheless, when my brother was young, he would draw a cartoon character named "Odd Todd", who was a cross-eyed dude wearing a Jeff cap. He also LOVED Bill Watterson's "Calvin & Hobbes" (one of my all-time favorite comic strips to this day). So for his birthday this year, I drew him a picture of Calvin & Hobbes, trying best I could to emulate Watterson's loose, brushy ink style. I made some minor adjustments - putting my brother's hat and freckles on Calvin and my glasses, hat and beard on Hobbes.

Even when Scott stopped drawing, I remember he bought me the book "How to Draw Comics - The Marvel Way" one year for Christmas, which was a catalyst for my obsession with drawing cartoons and comics. So thanks, big brother. You're a great father, husband, son and brother. Happy 36th birthday, old tymer! Many more to come!

4 comments:

Gregor said...

HA HA!! "Jeffro Hobbes"

Wicked!

Chris McD said...

Nice Watterson stylings!

The SWZA said...

Awesome awesome awesome Scalvin and Jobbes.

Jeffro said...

Yeah, thank you. My brother is most definitely the "Calvin" in the group.