Research and Development

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.

Coming Soon to a Womb Near You...

dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots, dots...

I'm having a baby! More specifically, my wife is having a baby!

That's right, this October I will be joining the ranks of fatherhood with the arrival of a baby girl. I assume that she will come out holding a sign that says "waaaaa", or that for her first words she will simply hold up a sign that says "da da". I'll keep you all posted.

Mother's Day

I recently watched a video about a cat in Ireland that adopted three baby ducklings alongside her own litter of kittens. I happen to be a BIG fan of unlikely animal friendships (as is evident from this previous post of mine), and I thought this would make for a perfect Mother's Day illustration. 

This one is dedicated to my mom, who as far as I know has never adopted any ducks, but is a beautiful and fantastic mother nonetheless.

A Fine Feathery Mess

I imagine it would take a long time to knock out a pillow, what with their faces being so soft and all. They probably wouldn't even need to wear padded gloves - they could each other directly in their cushy faces.

Sizzling

This piece was created for Illustration Friday - a wonderful website where artists can submit artwork based on a different topic each week. This week's topic is SIZZLE.

Now perhaps it may have been a bit obvious to take the bacon route, but sometimes you just have to follow your heart; and besides, who wouldn't want to see two excited pieces of bacon? Fo shizzle.