Niece & Nephew Save Slacking Uncle From Summer of Failure

After a summer of slacking on the drawing side, my niece, Sophie, and nephew, Jack, came to the rescue with some excellent mcglinch-inspired magna-doodle action. After sitting through a slide show of my stuff, I'm sure they thought to themselves, "I could do THAT" (in that adult-looking-at-Jackson-Pollack-splatters-tone). And they did. Thank you, Sophie & Jack!

Drawings from my 1984ish Temple University Notebook

Found this photocopy of a page from one of my notebooks from my early days at Temple University. My recollection is that I drew this on the very first day of the first class I took at Temple...Journalism 101 perhaps? I could have doodled anywhere. I chose Temple.

I'm fond of the soft pretzel and diner salt shaker behind Happy's head.

Angry, running in sandals

broke out the 'real' sketchbook this weekend -- rather than the usual work notepads or sticky notes.

here's the angry neighbor chasing the kids down the street that just pelted his dog with water balloons for some good summer fun.

Request-a-doodle: baby bubble

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chris said... Today was Jake's first swim lesson. So there we are swimming in the pool together and I notice A LOT of bubbles coming up from the water...And Jake has a BIG smile on his face. No - this was not a scene from Caddyshack but comical (to me) none the less.Can you draw Jake and his dad laughing in the pool surrounded by bubbles coming from Jake's bathing suit?

Not what you asked for but better than nothing at all!

Pig & Friend

Sketched a couple things tonight while watching "The 4400" with the family. It's been our summer tradition for a couple years now to watch the DVD of the previous year's 4400. It's about 4400 people that were 'taken' through time by aliens and then all returned at once with various powers.


This fellow is just down on his luck -- or at least just down on his butt.

I've been taking criticism from the family that my 'doodles' are more like drawings and that I need to return to my doodle roots. I don't know the difference anymore.

Request-a-doodle: Camp Poo

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Smelly Felly said...

I was at sleepaway camp one year. The camp had cabin inspections where we needed to tidy up.

Right before one of the inspections, and as the inspectors were approaching, a kid dropped his pants and ripped a huge fart in the doorway. When he looked down, he had taken a crap. He picked it up and threw it into the woods. We proceeded to line up immediately for the inspection, with remnants of crap still on his hands.

Do what you will with this visualization...

Little time for doodles this week, so squeezed this one out while waiting for the laptop to shut down this afternoon.

Request-a-doodle: Rocket pop

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V.K. said...two words: rocket pop!
You know, those frozen desserts that you could buy from the ice cream man, on the roving truck. Many fond summer memories as a kid that involved tri-colored confectionaries.

Thanks, VK -- i still cringe at the thought of biting into a frozen treat. my old sensitive teeth can't handle it. doodled, truly, doodled today and then monkeyed with Illustrator.

Spock Ness Monster

Had to cheat today and do a 2 blogs-for-one doodle. This Spock Ness Monster is also showing over at the Bad Spock Drawings site.

Check your oxters, lads!

click to enlarge.

Make sure to remove any debris from your oxters, lad. Show of hands for those familiar with the term 'oxters'... my Irish-raised father always referred to the arm pit as oxters. Growing up I always thought that was some crazy term he thought up.

Professor dude

Just a quick professor fellow doodled out for no particular reason.

Request-a-doodle: Feel the burn

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ozlady said...We used to play pranks on the guys all the time - sports heat rub on the toilet handles going into the change room was a favourite... You could hear the howls after they scratched their nether regions!!!

Request-a-doodle: Philly boy

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Vadim said... can you do a Philly doodle for a boy who misses home?

Back in one of the old jobs, I spent a good part of 3 years or so looking at the bottom of Vadim's shoes while he had his feet up on his rolling file drawers and wrote code, did trouble-shooting, and generally tried to make me go away. He had good shoe style. Now he's a west coaster doing his thing and I have yet to meet his match in shoes or technical savvy (or argumentativeness).

Request-a-doodle: Slacker Rocks

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redbutt said...Capture the phrase "Slacker Rocks!"

Slacker is a new online music recommendation player that went public beta in March or April of this year. I've been playing with Slacker when my favorite KEXP is either acting up or I feel like a different listen. What I've liked about Slacker so far is that they have a great range of preset stations that offer a nice wide variety of artists and songs -- especially in the Indie space. Slacker surpasses Last.fm in song availability and seem to have a wider variety -and outside the mainstream. Slacker doesn't appear to have the social/community aspirations of Last.fm but responses to my recent feedback leads me to believe they might have some of that in the works.

The other leader in music recommendation, Pandora, lets you create your own playlists based on artists you like but lacks the presets that Slacker has -- that's what puts the "slacker' in Slacker. If you're tired of trying to achieve perfection with a playlist that often gets muddied with not-so-great recommendations, you can slack off and enjoy a Slacker preset.

Slacker has a bunch of different options on tuning a station or creating a station based on artists to really fit your preferences. The options are not so intuitive and take some time to get used to -- trying to remember whether you can 'right-click' or not for some options gets a little frustrating.

The 'new' thing they're offering, supposedly this summer, is a Slacker personal player that you'll be able to access Slacker stations, including the ones you've created on your own, via satellite in your car or via wifi in your house or office. It's geared toward being a cheaper alternative to satellite Sirius or XM. We'll see if they can pull it off.

So far, it rocks. Take a listen to my IndieMcG playlist.

Request-a-doodle: Hydrant v. Dog

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Anonymous said...Dogs are always going on fire hydrants, maybe it's time the hydrants fight back! Could you draw the complete opposite of the dogs on fire hydrant thing? Thank you. (Posted after the Friday deadline, but I just had to ask....)

Wasn't going to do this one until I saw an opportunity for doggie mutilation.

Request-a-doodle: Moat Monster

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Anonymous said...Please draw two pictures of the Moat Monster, who lived in the creek that flowed through our neighborhood. One picture should be a professional portrait/head shot, the other full body.

Anyway, all the kids were afraid of him. Of course, all the older kids had "seen him" and tried to scare us with stories. Anyway, my brother and I for some reason imagined him looking kind of like a fat creature from the black lagoon with big fish lips, but wearing a yellow t-shirt that said "Moat Monster."

Request-a-doodle: a pencil in the hand...

click doodle for larger version

BP McG said...I was sitting in math class in 7th grade when I accidentally dropped my right hand on top of a recently-sharpened pencil I held in my left.

"Ouch," I said, raising my right hand. The pencil came along with it, firmly planted in my skin. Next to me, pretty Patty Rayburn recoiled in horror.

The palm of my hand still has a gray dot from where the graphite stained my skin forever.

Bathroom Humor Spock

Found a blog this afternoon called Bad Spock Drawings where they collect bad drawings of Spock. That quickly drove me to doodle this on a sticky note and send it off to the blog owner. Take a look at all the 'bad' Spocks over there -- lots of fun.

This one is dedicated to Smelly Felly, a regular requester here on Fridays.

Request-a-doodle: Joe's leg

click for the big picture

Robin said...Think inner workings of a guy's leg. Show little creatures healing a very bad, open wound while the owner of leg watches. Kind of fever dreamish. Dedicated to Joe.

This is the first true 'doodle' in a while. Less a finished product; more just a doodle of ideas around the theme during a conference call this morning.

Request-a-doodle: Leech on my leg

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Anonymous said...Rafting on the Brandywine, finding a leech attached to my leg.

Leech stories always bring me back to the days when we hosted the 4th of Jamly picnics on the Schuylkill River back in the 1980s and at least two years in a row our friends Dave and Rich swam across the river and back in a race. Aside from the film of pollutants and stink, they usually came out with a fine collection of leeches in uncomfortable areas.

Request-a-doodle: Dog Meets Bike

BP McG said...Earlier this week, I was riding my bike when a little yapper dog charged off its lawn at me. Amazingly, my front tire ran squarely over the middle of the dog and both of us kept on going. How about my tire on top of a slightly curly-haired yapper?

Sorry, BP, hazards of doodling in front of the TV with the family made me miss the 'curly-haired' part. Good on ye for running over the dog!

Request-a-doodle: Dead Squirrel Ascending

Anonymous said...I ran over a squirrel this morning. I couldn't help it. Please draw a picture of a squirrel as an angel or better yet, as a saint-like religious icon.

Where there's a dead squirrel there's always a crow willing to pick him apart -- not unlike some personal interactions I've seen in offices in my day.

Not really a doodle today -- but some subjects require an extra level of care and time.

Request-a-doodle: Squishy Toad

Anonymous said...A drawing that captures this: It was the year of the toads. Hundreds of them filled our backyard overnight. I stepped on one by mistake. Toads aren't as strong as you might think. They flatten quite easily.

Juggling

Way too many balls in the air these days. But that seems to be the way I likes it best.

Request-a-doodle: Humans as Pets; Cats as Masters

ptmcg in tex said...Humans as pets! It would also be cool to see the pets as masters ;-) (preferably cats)

click on the sketch for a larger view of it -- this was a much bigger doodle while the kids and I watched some tube this evening. Fireplace at the request of the son; side table and lamp request by the daughter.

request-a-doodle: llama in pajamas

B.T.Bear (esq.) said...A llama in pajamas!

Request-a-doodle: Dateline Plane

BP McG said...A plane flying over the dateline, as the days change to night, change in an instant.

I think BP got that from X's Los Angeles:
she gets confused
flying over the dateline her hands turn red
cause the days change at night
change in an instant
the days change at night
change in an instant

Request-a-doodle: Oblivious Cell Phoner

Anonymous said...A guy is talking on his cell unaware his car has blown up

This was the original sketch and after I scanned it I realized that the guy on his cell seemed aware of the car exploding -- or he was just crazy talking on the phone.

Just to be clear that he was oblivious to the boom, I redid his eyes as you can see below, in the bonus doodle.


SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

Piece of my heart

Drew this one a ways back at the old job. Was watching 1967 Monterey Pop Festival late last night while desperately trying to remove the boy's blood droplets from the living room rug. He had a bloody nose and didn't realize it til too late.

Big Brother & The Holding Company – Piece of My Heart

What Is That?

The illness is over (thanks for your well wishes) and so back to the grind. Doodled this tonight after toiling away on a couple different projects and feeling bleary-eyed. Apologies to those requests that didn't get answered this week -- I did ponder them but nothing struck me in the sketching way to get them done. Better luck tomorrow!

Request-a-doodle: Ignorance is bliss

Anonymous said...Is ignorance bliss? A picture of someone relaxing at home, unaware that an alien space creature is looking in his window. --BP McG

One more day on the sick bed.

Bug-eyed Cat

Have spent most of the three-day weekend laid up on the couch with a stomach virus I caught from the daughter. I doodled this the other day on the phone. That might be it for the week as some other larger life priorities have popped up...we'll see.

Request-a-doodle: Carpal Tunnel Agony

Anonymous said...I'm requesting a picture of a certain former coworker afflicted with carpal tunnel...ps to add hilarity to the picture it would probably help to draw this person smoking.

Sad indeed to be struck down with the c.t. and resume the poisoning of yourself. Cheers to the Dr. in pain and agony -- quit that smoking and get crackin'!

Into the drink

Dropped my cell phone in the toilet yesterday -- after flushing. So it wasn't THAT bad. I did the first sensible thing you should do -- dive in after it. The second sensible thing you should do is pull the battery out. Then bang your head against the stall door for being such a klutzy eejit.

Upon exiting the stall, if there are other visitors, by now they're wondering what the hell was all that splashing and banging about. Just give them a look that says "What are you looking at?" in a Jerri Blank kind of way.

I took it all apart back at my desk and using paper towels soaked up what drops of water I could find. Then I stuck the dissembled pieces out in the car in the hot sun for a couple hours. Most sites recommend waiting 3 days to let it completely dry but I was fairly confident that I had retrieved it fast enough and that the mid-May heat was intense enough to do the trick. She's all right now working like a charm and I just don't want to think about it anymore.

new sheriff in town

quick meeting doodle with no relevance whatsoever.

Request-a-doodle: Sore Superhero

david mcmahon said...Hi Big Mac, Could I have a McGDoodle for the new Passing Sentence Game when it's complete?

read the story. there's a superhero that gets sore in the arse.

mcglinch.com/blog wins ThatBlueYak Gold Metal

I found out today that mcglinch.com/blog won the first ever AussieJourno-ThatBlueYak Gold Metal 2007. The AussieJourno part is a weekly compilation of the best blogs reviewed by Aussie journalist (and fellow Mac) David McMahon. ThatBlueYak, apparently, took David's list and chose their own favorites from that list. ThatBlueYak appears to be some sort of manufacturing concern. Part of winning my prize was that I render myself in front of the That Blue Yak factory with my award (see right). Note that I had to render my own award based That Blue Yak's instructions.

It's all pretty confusing and if you can sort it out, let me know.