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Blatant Commercialism over Fishtank Tea

This Christmas, I find myself surrounded with a banquet of non-electronic sources of entertainment, including silly putty, books, family, as well a literal banquet. However, I also find myself without internet for some ten days this Christmas. Today, the withdrawal symptoms have been punctuated with a trip to a local Panera. I feel like an alcoholic slipping down to the corner bar, only my cup contains mango ceylon tea which delivers a fresh smack of fishtank pebbles with each sip. The wi-fi, however, is slicker than I-80 in January. In a brief (and and slightly overdue) detour from Lucy's Dance, the book for which I will shortly produce my first polished illustration, I thought I'd post a Christmas illustration I recently revised for Buffalo Exchange. The request: "I'd like to show a bunch of buffalo pulling Santa's sleigh, which will be driven by a [Star Wars] stormtrooper . . . all drawn in the approximate style of Ralph Steadman." I did my best.
Below is the '09 version, slightly modified from the wheat-paste, copyright-poking version of '08.
Subsequent requests from Todd have included "A buffalo in drag--manly, but pink; you know, a 'buffalo bear.' Put glitter in its beard and give it heels. But not cartoonish." Also, [presents link to 3 wolf moon T-shirt] "Let's do this, but with buffalo." I'll show you that one in a bit. I finished the original Buffalo Sleigh for Christmas '08, drawing and painting it manually, then scanning it to manipulate the colors to create the near phosphorescence that goes along with many Buffalo Exchange pieces. It may have been that the stormtrooper Santa was just too confusing, or that LucasArts lawyers pulled some strings and Todd awoke one morning with an Ewok head in his bed, but this year we decided to superimpose the hood-blinded Santa alternate that I created just in case. The illustration has since taken the forms of outdoor banner, print ad, poster, buffalo-shaped paperdolls, and I know not what else.
I have given up on my tea, but I have a neglected inbox brimming with French vocab to ignore actively, human interaction to resume, and Valentine's Day to exploit with further watercolors.
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  1. WOWDecember 30, 2009 at 12:43 AM

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