a new version of tee shirt for WildFly Charters

I have been drawing nothing but lettering for the past few months. At some moments, I really feel like I am getting it. Wow, is it difficult to get it "just so". The slightest mistake is usually punching you in the face. There is no middle ground with type. It either works or fails. I am pushing myself with all kinds of tools and styles to get the right look of every project. My brother, Capt. Gregg McKee, of WildFly Charters, is tough to find gifts for. I just try to keep him in interesting variations of tee shirts for his business. 

I like the mix of type styles and the weights of it all. When I squint, which it almost constantly as I draw now, it felt right. The space is just as important as the letters. I think so much differently now about Art in general. My expectations are much higher but the focus of those expectations are in far different places and on elements like "space" and "movement" and "emphasis". When I was young, it was on realism and more realism. That is gone. That is good. Art is becoming much more fun because of it.

angry strongo #48 mother's day 2016

Sorry about this being a photo...no time to scan. Busy beyond belief. This is kinda late as well.... I'm not into all these holidays anyhow....they just keep coming and coming....yikes!

my good friend jonathan miller attempts yet another feat of strength

My wife was asked to draw a cartoon of my friend Jonathan Miller to celebrate an upcoming milestone. In our research for the comic, we have had to watch this video many times. Jonathan's sense of humor as he endures the effects of his stroke is truly remarkable. Give this thing a view and see how you might be handling the tougher things in your life. I know I need to keep things in much better perspective....thanks Jonathan!

the anatomy of the beg - an attempt to sell cookies to teachers that don't want to buy them

A few years ago I had a post that described my attempt to sell candy bars for my son due to his joining t-ball. You can check it out here. This time it is cookies for my daughter and Girl Scouts. The last thing teachers want is another sale from students clawing at the last few dollars. These sales are happening all the time and they come from all directions. So when I heard my daughter had to sell some cookies, I was very excited....NOT! We don't have lots of time after school to go door to door and hassle Joe and Jill Schmo up and down our street. Nor do I want to do that. A horrible thought. Anyway, I took it into my school. I had to come up with some angle to sell it that was different from the angle I used with the boy.

I decided on the "beg".

Clare was reluctant to pose, of course, and the picture is less than stellar. I had to brainstorm some sort of way to present this photo. I decided to point out how great the beg was and how passionate my daughter is about Girl Scouts. This lead me to the "anatomy of the beg" pictured below...

We sold a few boxes. Thanks to all those gracious teachers that caved in the face of such marketing.

new angry strongo fan art - from my wife

My wife is a very talented lady. I'm sure that she is not sure how talented she is. This version of Angry Strongo (below), as my birthday card, highlights her skills. It looks better than all my other cartoons. Her sketch hand-coloring is so rich and vibrant that I am considering changing the entire presentation of my comics. We are definitely looking into using this style soon in some other ventures.

thanks Ash....

angry strongo #46 the joyous sounds of Christmas morning 2015

angry strongo #45

It has been quite a while since Angry Strongo has appeared on a blog named after him. Our lives have been hectic with children, our jobs and artwork on the side. This winter has allowed me to work outside in the garage in the evening as the temps have been awesome. I was even able to hang lights without a jacket, gloves and a winter cap!

tee shirt design for beavertail skiffs

There is this top shelf boat manufacturer in Florida that goes by Beavertail Skiffs. My brother Capt. Gregg McKee has a great relationship with the owners and must have dropped my name as someone who could design a tee shirt for their inaugural owner's fishing tournament. As usual, research was followed by sketching and more research. In the end, i had little to go on since it was their first event. Sometimes, that's mighty good. 

I chose to mock up a vintage trophy look and etch the designs into the solid color. I knew they would be using a light blue tee and went with a bold blast of darkness against the light ribbon with dark lettering. I was unsure if they were going to apply corporate logos around the sides and bottom so I attempted to keep it more vertical. I may have moved the date and location to the east and west if I would have known sooner.

I lifted this picture of someone wearing the tee during the tourney from Beavertail's facebook page. My brother may have taken it, not sure. Anyone looking for a great flats fishing boat....check 'em out! My brother owns one and it is awesome!

Thanks Beavertail.....for the opportunity and the TEE!....love it.

large tarpon wooden sign/piece of art

I am not sure yet as to the point of making this large tarpon sign. My awesome neighbor scored this amazing bunch of very old wood (we think it is silo boards) that has incredible texture.

 This tarpon strikes a much more dynamic pose than the last one I made for my brother's home. 

At just over 6 feet from the bottom of the jaw to the tip of the tail, I believe this tarpon to possess the correct dimensions of these beautiful fish. Some old motor oil and roughed on paint and she'll soon be ready for whatever her future holds.

my brother and son and an interesting catch

This pic has nothing to do with art, design or the ranting of Angry Strongo. Read my brother's post over on his blog here.

"not so" local font find #22

We have made it a yearly destination to stop for an overnight rest in Staunton, Va on our way home from visiting my family in Florida. Staunton (we learned it is pronounced "stan-ton" on this trip) is the home of Woodrow Wilson. Ash thought we should take a trip through town before risking our lives on I-81 north and the mayhem of 4th of July traffic. We drove by Pres. Wilson's birthplace and decided to stop and take a look.

At the museum next door to his birthplace, they had his Presidential limo outside. It was to be in a parade the following morning and the museum staff was attempting to get the motor to turn over. 

The head of the museum was overseeing the maintenance and saw my family passing by. He called us over and asked if we would like to take a closer look. Another man opened the back door and we were invited to step inside. My children took him up on the offer.....

This Pierce Arrow Limo is in pristine condition and quite beautiful. I'm not an extreme "car guy" and I could have stared at this machine for an hour or two.

The details were awesome.

To the point of this post, the type! The license plate looked like it was designed for this machine. It fit it so well. As we walked around this piece of art, the plate blended in with all the glossy detail. Being a font nerd, I was alerted to its beauty and classy look immediately.

If I found any flaw, it would be the font used in "antique vehicle". This is all about the numbers. The 5 and the 2 being the same makes the 5 seem unique. Love the zero as well. Anywho, if you are every experiencing the misery of I-81 in the middle of Virginia and you need a break, stop into the beautiful city of Staunton (stan-ton) and drive around town for a bit. A small slice of American heaven.

in addition: I am in no way promoting the ideals that Wilson stood for. I have avoided politics on this blog for many reasons. Recent readings have convinced me of this former President's racist beliefs. My family will no longer have a single cent spent in the positive upkeep of this man, his legacy and the attempt to keep his history a positive one.

local font find #21

My daughter was invited to a birthday party the other day. It landed us at a local landmark in Tioga, Pa. The rollerskating rink. I am not sure of the year it was built, but the interior has changed little since its construction. I am not going into the details of the gentlemen in charge of the place or the enormous list of rules that pepper the walls of the rink, but I will simply say that my daughter and her friends loved the experience and we all had a blast. My wife used the restroom and told me I should check out the sign on the ladies room door. She knows how much I like lettering and is always on the lookout for some classy stuff. She was right. The ladies room had a vintage cast metal sign on the door that was straight out of the 50's/60's. Pack up the family and visit this landmark. The experience is one you won't forget! And the bathroom sign is mighty cool as well.

fall into the arts Tees

The annual event at Westfield Area Elementary School has come and gone...and it was an interesting night of the arts with this years theme being Africa. Ashley decided that the t-shirts shouldn't have strictly African colors (red, green and yellow) so that wearing them the rest of the year could be made easier. I love the colors....orange has been my favorite color since early high school and the gray is right up my not-so-flashy alley. She had them made through Custom Ink. The screening was done very well. It is as if your quality local screen shop had done them up right. Many of the large online shops (cafepress, zazzle, etc) have the computer-done look, like the place at the mall that will put your child's face on a cheap sweatshirt for Christmas. These have that nice heavy ink. We'll see how they stand up to a few washes and all. So far, they are being received well. Later.

new africa themed design for this years "fall into the arts"

My wife is setting up another Fall into the Arts event at Westfield Elementary School where she is the Art Teacher. It is a great night of music, theatre and the visual arts geared toward young students. 
The act of drawing type is something that never seems to diminish in the joy that it brings me. My hope is that I am continuously improving with my skills. Each project has a feeling attached to it and the goal is hopefully reached. The viewer might not be aware of each specific goal, but I sure am. I don't think I will ever be fully satisfied with anything I do and that has been a good thing in my life. I never reach the carrot. I just keep pulling the art cart up the steep grade of living.

art doesn't fall far from the tree

My son Matthew is a second grader who loves school, reading, Lego's, Star Wars and just about everything else except cheese. My wife and I, both art teachers, have never pushed him, or his sister Clare, toward the arts. We do the occasional art project together but we refrain from harsh criticism of their skills. We definitely don't push it! 

During music class they were given some Popsicle sticks to work out some music theories (which I don't understand well enough to explain here...second grade stuff). When finished, they had a few minutes to just create something with the sticks. Not sure where Matt picked up the 3-dimensional thinking, but he must be watching his parents work or just thinking through it on his own. I guess it is good to do ones work in front of them even if you would bet your right arm that they weren't paying any attention at all. 

a few photographs I liked from our trip to Matlacha, Fl

I guess I love birds.

tarpon sign out of silo boards

My good friend and neighbor (Earl) located some terrific wood for me a few months ago. It was 5 pieces of awesome tongue and groove silo boards measuring about 12 ft long. Did I mention that they were awesome? They were!

I owed my brother (Capt. Gregg McKee) a Christmas/birthday gift and began designing an indoor sign with these boards in mind. I quickly got sick of looking at my sketches of rectangular signs and decided to make it the shape of a tarpon (a large Florida game fish for those of you who aren't the fishing type). I wanted it to be full size or larger. My final sketch had me out to 6 and a half feet.

There was one major issue that was causing me concern. How do I get this thing the 1300 miles to Fl? I contemplated buying the crossbars for the roof rack system on the SUV. I could then wrap it up, tie it down and hope that it survived the trip. I considered U-Haul but didn't have a tow package on the SUV. Shipping costs were too crazy to even consider. In the end I devised a way to make it in two pieces so that it would fit inside the vehicle and safely arrive (if the family made it there safely). 

I would use vertical chunks that would be doweled together. I would build it in the two sections so that I could easily finish assembly in Florida.

The tongue and groove made construction a bit more simple but the real issue was the fact that silo boards have a curve to them vertically. I had to adjust the angle of the dowels so that the face of the boards connected and the back had space so it appeared that they whole thing fit together well. It took some tinkering but worked.

We and it arrived safely in Florida. The 2 pieces connected easily. Brother was pleased! (that being the most important part). Below are some pics that Capt. Gregg sent up that show it in place on the large wall that some of these Florida homes have.

I don't often comment on my own work unless I am tearing it down or complaining about some aspect. But, on this one, I really liked it and was proud to hand it over to my terrific brother. The intent was to have the sign look well aged and to keep it simple. Both came together.

I have blogged about this before, I think, but if I were to tally up all the charter fees my brother has lost on me and now me and my family, it would be in the 4 year college tuition range.

Big Thanks, Brother!

a small walk with the kids....fresh air needed

Cowanesque Lake was the site of a short walk with the little ones. We did not have much time and the weather was not cooperating as well. Just enough time to take in some scenery, eat some peanuts and such, and move on down the line.

The geese had been using the path as a bathroom for the past few days. Woody Guthrie would have called it some "hard travelin".

Not sure why I placed these two pics of Clare in....just thought they caught her spirit.

The eagle was the hit of the day. Kids watched for quite a while. There is something about large birds of prey that have always caught my attention.

If I was a better photographer, I'd be one of those nuts who sits in the tree or hangs on the cliff all day to get the ultimate shots of these amazing creatures.

matt's first pinewood derby car

Lacking the necessary tools sure does limit the prospects of winning one of these events. My son Matt and I decided on style over speed....(thank goodness!!!!) He wanted a Batman themed vehicle so I Dremelled out a generic shape for the hood and fins on the back. He wanted his Lego Batman to be driving this beast so I had to make room. I almost lost a finger on the seat section using my Ryobi sawzall. It was not meant for that job. I had to drill multiple times across the floor, under the seat, to get that section to fall from the block. The rest is almost all Matt. He painted it black. He used an eraser from the tip of a pencil to apply the headlight paint. He cut out the ovals for the Batman logos. He traced over my sketches to blacken the logos. He applied gloss medium to the back of the ovals and placed them onto car. He then used a hammer, with some precision, to set the nails that hold the wheels. I used a flat head screwdriver to keep the nail heading in the right direction as Matt clobbered the nails and the plastic tires. We had a blast and he was most proud of his creation. 

I made sure that he was okay with the fact that he had little chance of winning the derby but he would have a car he could really be happy with. It now rests proudly in the living room above our Village of McKee sign.

valentine's card for ash 2014

This years card for the mrs. As I have invested large chunks of my life into the Terrayn project, I have been on her "not so favorite" list for some time now. Thought some humor about it all might help.