This is a idea I have for a new childrens book, called 'That's Not a Knife'. It's about a leather-clad Australian straight from the outback, who travels the world in search of a knife. Sure, teaching kids about knives might not be the smartest thing, but I can almost guarantee you that this would be the cutest Crocodile Dundee fan fiction ever created.
I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that this will actually get made, but if this happens to be something that you feel strongly about and want to see it happen, please drop me a line.
A lot of people don't realize how much research goes into each and every Land of Le Beef cartoon that I create, so I thought I would share a little bit of 'behind the scenes'.
For example, this cartoon features a flamenco dancer and a flamingo. In planning for this one, I took flamenco dancing lessons for 3 months, learning the moves and the subtleties behind it. My instructor, Alejandro, was very instrumental in this part of the panel. As further research, I also went undercover and joined a large flamingo colony for a substantial period of time (see below).
image courtesy of Wikipedia
As you can imagine, it was a very unusual yet enriching period of my life. For hours at a time I would stand on one leg while pecking at the sweet sweet algae and aquatic plants beneath the water's surface with my giant beak. I even married a female member of the colony, and we had a few eggs together. It was a quiet, meditative life. Over time I thought that perhaps I would leave the human world for good and live out the rest of my days with my new bird family, until one fateful day when it was time to migrate. Slowly, one by one, they all started flying away. My flamingo wife, my flamingo kids, even my flamingo tax accountant; gone. Eventually I was left standing alone on one leg, watching my whole flamingo world disappear in a cloud a pink. I wept a single tear.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a lot goes into these cartoons.
I think it's time for another moment of gratitude, and today I would like to share my appreciation for Evernote - an app that helps me to organize pretty much every aspect of my life.
Between my professional photography business, my home life, and the Land of Le Beef, I have a lot of things to keep track of. I have spent most of my life with random ideas written out on napkins, scrap pieces of paper, the back of envelopes, and wherever else I could find some free space, but now I have finally found a simple and intuitive way to keep everything in the same place, and easily access it from my phone, tablet, and computer.
Evernote - helping me achieve great things
One of the beautiful things about Evernote is that everyone can use it in their own way. Here are some examples of ways that I use it:
Daily and weekly planner
Track personal and professional goals
Write blog posts (like this one)
Keep tabs of my clients, products, prices, and other business related items
Remember marketing ideas
Make notes of any changes I want to make to my websites
Organize the photography lessons that I offer
Jot down ideas for cartoons
Plan trips and holidays
Remember recipes that I want to try
Keep a journal
Plan different stages of projects that I am working one
and a whole lot of other things
Anyway, I just want to say 'thanks Evernote', you're awesome".
I sometimes look at other cartoons and wonder what they would look like if the Land of Le Beef created them. In keeping with the spirit of curiosity, I present to you some of the most beloved breakfast cereal icons from those days when you used to basically eat a bowl of sugar every morning. I think my favourite used to be Capt'n Crunch, although those Lucky Charms marshmallows were pretty awesome too.
