Some monster doodles I did while taking a little break at work this week.

Done with pencil on paper; color and texture added in Photoshop.

I made a thank you card for the people who gave me stuff for Christmas.

I like hexagon patterns. The big white hexagon on the back is for writing my thank yous with a brown gel pen.

I did everything in Illustrator. The typeface is the awesome Museo. Three weights of the family are free at myfonts.

I spent some quality time this weekend making my best/worst movies lists of 2009. I saw 39 new releases in 2009, which isn’t as many as I’d like, of course, but not too shabby for a lady who has a lot of business to take care of. Without further ado…the Best and Worst Movies (I’ve Seen) of 2009!

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. A Serious Man
3. Up
4. The Hurt Locker
5. The Road
6. Star Trek
7. Surveillance
8. Fantastic Mr. Fox
9. Julia
10. Humpday

There are a few (presumably) mighty excellent movies that I haven’t seen yet, but plan on seeing. Any of these could easily knock out some of my current top 10. These are in order of how much I think I’ll like them.

Movies I Think May Be Good That I Haven’t Seen:

1. A Single Man
2. The White Ribbon
3. Moon
4. Big Fan
5. The Informant!
6. Precious
7. Good Hair

1. Adventureland
2. Adventureland
3. Adventureland
4. Adventureland
5. Old Dogs

Oh my goodness, I hated Adventureland with every fiber of my being. I’m not usually one for insisting on sympathetic characters; however the main character struck me as so pathetic, despicable, detestable, melodramatic, self-serving, selfish and self-righteous. And I think the intention was to have him be at least a little sympathetic. I was not rooting for him in the least; in fact, I kept hoping that the movie would end with him, fast-forward 40 years, surrounded by cats in his hovel apartment in New Jersey, eating cat food out of a tin and babbling to his only friends, “Hey, Fluffy, let me tell you about the best summer of my life…” Damn it, I hated that movie.

Movies I Think May Be Bad That I Haven’t Seen:

Bride Wars
He’s Just Not That Into You
Avatar
Crazy Heart
Everybody’s Fine
Brothers
The Blind Side
The Box
Paranormal Activity
Jennifer’s Body
The Time Traveler’s Wife
I Love You, Beth Cooper
My Sister’s Keeper
The Ugly Truth
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
The Soloist
Confessions of a Shopaholic

These all looked horrible, but it’s not as if I’m gonna force myself to see them just so I can put them on my worst of list. Also, I’m not listening to you, everybody, Avatar looks like sentimental crap.

Okay, Movies of 2010, you’re on notice!

I did some hard drive excavating today and found these cuties, a few dog walkers I did a couple years ago.

They were all done with pencil on paper, gone over with ink.

Merry Christmas Eve, everybody. My family does a Secret Santa gift exchange and I wrapped my presents this morning. I used brown Kraft paper to wrap, then I freehanded a design in pencil on the smaller gift. Then I colored in the lines with a silver gel pen (purchased from JetPens.com) and a thin-tipped Sharpie. Start:

Finish:

I taped this awesome textured red-and-black origami paper on top of the larger box on the bottom and then stacked the smaller gift on top.

Gotta go make some pierogi and drink some egg nog. Have a great day, everyone!

As promised, I’m including here a layout of The Moles so that you can print it out on your home printer and make your own mini book out of one sheet of paper to carry around in your purse, backpack, or satchel. Click on this image to download a pdf of the layout:

Check out the individual panels in my previous post, The Moles – All Done!

And here are the instructions for making your own The Moles 8-panel book from an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper:

Step 1: Print on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper

I printed on my home inkjet printer, using some semi-nice matte paper. Don’t use anything too heavyweight, otherwise the book won’t fold well. The pdf is 8.5 x 11, so print at 100%. Your finished mini book will be 3.25″ x 2.5″.

Step 2: Trim

(I’m using a blade, but you can use scissors for all the cutting too)

Step 3: Fold in half lengthwise

Step 4: Fold in half the other way

Step 5: Fold in top and bottom to the middle fold line

Step 6: Cut a line in the middle of the paper, using the fold lines as guides

This is what you should get:

Step 7: Fold stuff, making a kind of diamond shape

Step 8: Voila!

Use this technique for making your own mini-books, too. It’s eight panels worth of fun, which is just the right amount of fun for me.

I’m done with The Moles. It’s a story written by Gab Danon and illustrated by me, created as a mini-comic for childlike adults, or adult-like children. I’m still working out the page that you’ll be able to print out on your printer and fold into your own mini-book, but that should be ready within the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are all 8 completed panels.

Edited to add: I finished the layout for printing your own Moles mini-book! Click on the image below to download the pdf:

Go check out my subsequent The Moles post if you need instructions on how to print out the above and cut and trim it into your own mini-book.

Part 5! Part 5! Part 5! Part 5! Part 5!
Remember, all panels will be done by Sunday, December 20.

Halfway there! I have 4 out of the 8 panels done.

The Moles Comic Part 3 – Illustrator & Photoshop from Andrea Plinky on Vimeo.