Toad Warrior Movie Poster

The Toad is captured on canvas in between takes of his soon-to-be-released movie, Toad Warrior. The epic-scale film is being shot on location in the scorching sand dunes of Dalanzadgad, in Outer Mongola. Skagway stars as the legendary toad samarai who roamed 11th Century Mongolia armed only with a sword, spear and throwing stars.

The real Toad Warrior of Mongolian legend was a Mongolia Sand Toad (Bufo roddei). The Toad is a Western Toad (Bufo boreas). In order to portray the character with authenticity, he endured three hours of makeup each day during filming. He also did his own stunts. No stunt doubles were used in the battle sequences.

The Toad stated in a recent interview that he also found the title role to be exhausting because of the burden he had to bear during long days of shooting with his heavy armored costume, weighing in at a hefty one quarter ounce.

It was an honor to be chosen to illustrate the movie poster. I can't wait to see the movie. A release date hasn't been set.

Buy the poster and t-shirt.

Sunday Sermon Sketch

Like many illustrators, I carry some paper in my back pocket in case I find someone sketchable during the Sunday sermon. This is our friend, Tracy, who sat still, absorbed in the sermon, unaware that her image was being captured for all the world to see.

Tracy is a talented artist. Check out her children's book titles, Kaila's Garden, I Wish I Was an Animal, I Wish I Were a Princess, and Exploring Careers in Art, at Lulu. com  http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=Tracy+Fortune

We've had a lot of good times, especially Mexican lunches, with Tracy and her husband, my buddy, Darrell Fortune. Darrell is the founder and host of Northwest Convergence Zone, a podcast that features Pacific Northwest as well as nationally known musicians and comedians.

Niche Market: Humorous Aviation Art

Up until now I haven't been able to post my own artwork because my Trowbridge Chronicles blog was reserved for the work of my favorite shrew, Mrs. Violet Trowbridge.

Several years ago I took a brief foray into humorous aviation art with this piece. My foray was short-lived. I did about three humorous aviation paintings similar to this one, then decided that I didn't want to go that direction. I wasn't excited about the idea of peddling my art from flea markets to county fairs. Not my gig. But it was fun while it lasted.

I also tried "car"toon art, drawing caricatures of cars. I did one car show...not a single person stopped at my booth. So I bailed at noon...that was my first and last car show.

I painted this with real watercolor. The background was sprayed with a real Badger airbrush, not a Photoshop airbrush. It would be several years before I would discover the magic of Photoshop.

If you happen to be a humorous aviation art collector, contact me and I'll sell you a signed print of the above image, and you can look at my other two aviation paintings.