Giving Thanks to the Humane

Thanksgiving, being the annual day of thanks, I can't help but think of all the lives that go un-thanked... like the turkeys and other animals who didn't make it, and many times, the un-thankful way of raising them.  As a way to thank those people and companies that care to treat their animals humanely, I'd like to link to a few sites that might be of interest for those hoping to make a change or just see some of what's out there.

Humane Treatment of Farmed Animals

The Animal Welfare Approved seal, from the Animal Welfare Institute, is used on meat, poultry, dairy and eggs that the nonprofit group has determined met their high standards for the humane treatment of farm animals. http://awionline.org/

The Certified Humane Raised & Handled label certifies that producers and processors have met certain standards set by Humane Farm Animal Care, an independent, non-profit organization. http://www.certifiedhumane.org/

Free Farmed Certified means that the farm from which the product comes has been inspected by the American Humane Association. http://www.americanhumane.org/

This website suggests the best way to support products from animals raised humanely is to know more about the supplier. Talk with your grocer about the products being sold. Buy from small family farmers who have proven that they have met specific guidelines. Check labels and look for Animal Welfare Approved, Certified Humane, or Free-Farm Certified products. Finally, make your preferences known to your local, state and federal representatives.

www.ncga.coop/newsroom/animal-treatment

Happy Humane Holidays!

Inspirational Comic Relief

So I've been inspired.  Wren Schutz has been creating comics on his blog for some years now, and I just happen to have made two for his collection (which I will share below).  They have been hand-drawn, then had a bit of sprucing or coloring (via computer) from Wren.  His comics are all computer drawn (though others have submitted to his collection as well using various forms of creation), so I decided to give that method a try.

Being my first time, this took me about two and a half hours.  I brainstormed this morning about puns, and liked the idea of heart beat as my theme.  I did some research on Wikipedia for inspiration and had a handful of ideas.  This is the idea that stuck.  To help with the overly-cleverness of this, here is some wiki info on the heart... the heart is self-exciting (it works by it's own cells making it happen, vs. muscles in your leg that need conscious or reflex-driven stimuli to work)... action potential is what is created from nodes and contractions that create and regulate ones heartbeat... therefore, this cartoon heart has to get moving, or "beat feet" (beat being what a heart does) to make itself work... Morgan has the word Organ in it, and Chambers because of the 4 chambers of the heart.  One caption was "Morgan decided to take up jogging after his mom said he wasn't reaching his action potential" and we all want to reach our potential, right?! So anyway, I've been having a great time using an learning Photoshop, so this was another creative opportunity for that.  And now, here are my two previous comics...

Wren added the background and color to this... on his blog he rates it like this... which I think is hilarious!

CAUTION! This week's comic is pretty tasteless. Or sacrilegious. Or in poor humor. Or all of the above. If you are the type of person who doesn't like hearing jokes that fit into any or all of the categories, you shouldn't read this week's comic.

The second comic I created was this one which I thought was definitely not in need of a warning, but simply  pretty darn cute.  Again, Wren added the color and background awesomeness.

So there you have it.  Maybe not enough for a book yet (which Wren has... do I sound like I'm in competition or what!?), or great enough to be begged into art school, but enough fun to continue at my leisure. So three cheers for comic relief, inspiration, team-work, and fun! Hip hip hooray!

Proud Employee of the Colophon Cafe

So working at the Colophon is awesome... Great boss (Dave), awesome staff, flexibility of schedule, and extraordinary guests. I've been serving there on and off for the past 6+ years! Recently Dave has asked me to create some advertising material and graphics for the Colophon... so here's a few of them.

 Our Dessert and Ice Cream menu... it goes on the table with other small ads about us and our neighbors (Village Books).  No one was interested in being the model, so it ended up being me (just in case you can't tell with my notorious disguise)!

This ad was running every other week in the Weekly for a few months.

Here's one of my favorites of the table tent inserts!  I just love the little graphic buddies (can't remember where I found them)! Did some color adding/changing and touching up on their sharpness to make it work.

This one was for the 2012 Fall edition of the Chuckanut Reader!  And I must say, for all of it's spiciness, African peanut soup is really quite relaxing..

This was a special occasion gift certificate that two lucky contestants won in a raffle at the Banunky Fun Force Show last year!  This is evidence of an awesome and good-humored boss.

And finally, this is a draft of what the Colophon Cafe's new website will look like!  I designed it (with Dave's input and main vision) and Wren will build it!  It's quite whimsical, with wiggling moustaches and all!  It was super fun, I drew the spoon (inspired by the artist who made the graphic buddies above), and the moustache in photoshop and Wren made them come alive!  I definitely love working in photoshop, and thanks to Dave, I've done it as a paying job!  Hooray for that, and hooray for the Colophon!