Michael Hopkins Cartoons Blog

While I spent Saturday redesigning my websites homepage, my Polish Life Coach, Guru Maharishi Mahesh-Jasinski, spent the day watching White Sox screw up the Baltimore Orioles winning streak at Camden Yards and avoiding phone calls (not mine). I think I pay him too much…However, I’ve had a good week, since my last attempt at blog poetry (I confuse myself, Sir) including a trip to Virginia City, Nevada. While we were there, we stopped by the Old Washoe Club and visited a haunted crypt (at least that’s what my pictures would suggest???? )…anyways…the next time you’re in Reno, drive up to Virginia City and check it out. Now what was my point???… Oh yes! I changed the homepage of my website. I’m looking to make more interesting and maybe interactive (although I haven’t figured the interactive part out yet). I also re-inserted (“that’s what she said”) the, Cartoon of the Day, feature. This feature will be updated daily, with some old stuff and some new…Now it’s time to get back to drawing table. Back at you soon!

I’m watching, “The Next Food Network Star”, eating a turkey sandwich, thinking about changes, rearranges of my place in space and time. I get bored very easily, needlessly, endlessly search my brain for something new and relative to this point and beyond. I need caffeine…again.

Besides Batman (the real Batman, Adam West), I have always idolized a different type of Superhero. The super human abilities of Al Hirschfeld, Shel Silverstein, Mort Drucker, Chuck Jones and Stan Laurel have left an indelible mark on my psyche and their work continues to drive me, to try and achieve a level of quality in my work as close as possible to theirs. Another common attribute that these great artists share, is that all of their work is very real. Pen & Ink…Ink & Paint on an animation cell…words to script to film. I can appreciate today’s creations (I enjoyed, Toy Story 3), however, I fear as a society we are in danger of loosing the soul of the creative process, as we give in to simplicity and to those who put profit over substance.

They’re playing at St. Andrews. Normally at 4:00am, I’d turn the TV off, rollover and go back to sleep…however, John Daly is making the tournament interesting (at least for me). I cant explain why, but I’m a fan of John Daly. When John is contention, I’ll watch the tournament. If he’s not in contention (or not playing) the Tournament looses my share of a ratings point…Anyways, this John Daly rambling has nothing to do with my latest update, which is a caricature of the reason why most people watch golf tournaments these days, Tiger Woods. Speaking of which, does anybody know if his divorce with Elin Nordegren is final yet?? Hmmmm???…Elin Nordegren-Hopkins??? It has a nice ring to it!

Merriam-Webster defines the word, “Caricature” as follows…

“exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics”

So when I’m drawing your caricature (or drawing caricatures of your friends or associates at your next special event) before you start shouting, “THIS IS LUDICROUS!!”, after seeing you caricature… remember (according to Merriam-Webster) I had no choice!

I have added some recent caricatures to my website. The first example is a Pen & Ink Caricature. This caricature is very detailed, can take several hours to complete and the finished product is suitable for framing. However this process is also reflected in the price, which will start at approximately $250.00 and will increase based upon the work and detail that is requested.

The second example is a “Quick Caricature”. This is the kind of caricature that I draw at parties or special events. The drawing is usually completed in under 10 minutes (in order to accommodate as many guests as possible within a limited amount of time) and the finished product is meant more for entertainment purposes and less as a quality piece of art. My fees for an appearance at your party of special event start at $125.00 per hour (not including travel fees if you’re located outside the Reno/Tahoe area).

I have also updated the Aviation Cartoons section with one of my favorite drawings….Enjoy!

It’s been awhile since I last updated my progression into mental illness, but here it goes….

 I’ve started and I’m on the verge (mentally) of ending a new strip. The strip is titled, “Air-Liners”. The concept was good idea, however the daily (or even, bi-weekly) monotony of drawing the same character, in a similar situation on a semi-regular basis, makes me question the validity of the creative process. I guess I would relate to watching a Matthew McConaughey movie marathon. I don’t know how Charles Schultz did it. Well see what happens..

Not much to say….so I’ll let George do the talking…

“Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money.”

George Carlin

P.S. Cosmic Fowl has been updated.

The eighth day of running (well actually it’s currently a walk, jog, walk, jog….) and all seems to be going well. I’m up to two miles (and about half of it’s a jog). I’ve been contemplating returning to a healthy existence for approximately 20 years (hahahahahahahahah!!). On the 2/15/2010, it finally happened. I don’t know why it happened on that day??? I’m sure there’s was a reason…maybe it was the chest pains or the hallucinations…I don’t know… Anyways it’s been good so far and now it’s becoming a habit. So we’ll see where this takes me…

 P.S. Another, “Cosmic Fowl”, has been posted…Enjoy!

Here’s to Dan,

the truck driving man,

who’s in Spokane

(that’s East of Chelan).

A Neil Diamond fan…

at least he use to be

When I knew Dan,

the truck driving man….

He taught me to drive

a semi-truck

and how to sell auto parts

(though his enthusiasm sucked).

We’ve done some things

I shouldn’t mention,

’cause it appears he’s mellowed

beyond my comprehension.

To each his own

and I hope he’s happy,

but from where I stand

he’s gotten a bit sappy.

So praise the Lord

and shout “hallelujah”,

whoever you have become,

I’m glad I once knew ya.

Faith in one’s beliefs and one’s convictions, that those beliefs will justify your refusal to interfere with apparently obvious outcome, is like wearing a parachute aboard a plane plummeting from the sky and refusing to jump to safety. Do you refuse to jump to safety and save yourself, if your faith is so strong, that you have a complete and unquestionable belief that your Savior will answer your prayers and save your ass? Also believing that your jump to safety, would signify your lack of faith and piss off said Savior….Or does your faith and your refusal to jump to safety, simply justify your new calling in life as a statistic in a FAA Crash Report?