We are extremely proud to announce that our very own Robb Mommaerts will be in ARTIST ALLEY at this year's Wizard World Chicago!!! If you are going to be there on August 11-14, be sure to stop by his table and say hello!
Visit his profile at http://www.wizardworld.com/robbmommaerts.html
We’ve been on hiatus for a while, and hopefully we can start dropping some new art on a somewhat regular basis... That being said, here we go with the third incarnation of Fetch-a-Sketch! Things will run pretty much the same as before, with the exception of a new feature here at FaS — the inclusion of a piece done by a guest artist! We are hoping to get a few submissions per challenge from some outside talent, and the favorite one (judged by me, of course) will be included with the boys’ own entries! So... without further adieu... the first challenge of 2009! It is weird to type that, since it IS July... 
The wife and I went to a movie a few weeks back, and the only one we could agree on was Disney and Pixar’s UP... We’ve enjoyed all their previous flicks, and we were brimming with excitement for this one since we read so many positive reviews... It blew the soaked Depends® right off our hips!!!!!! Heartwarming, hilarious, and dramatic... It had everything... Great animation, great characters, great dialogue... I cried! I laughed!! I cheered!!! I can’t stop talking about it... My favorite movie of the year!!!!
So, my challenge to the boys is as follows...
1) to come up with a conceptual rendering of a character(s) for an animated feature film
2) a logo for the name of the film
3) a SHORT synopsis of what the movie is all about...
The rendering should be between a rough sketch and final illustration -- dont spend too much time on it... I want this all to be a little rough, as if I were to take the ideas to pitch it to one of the animation houses for development...
Have fun with it!!! And whoever is following us here on this blog, feel free to participate! Tell your artist friends, too!!!!! Send your questions/submissions to sweetunclelou at yahoo.com
And we will see all you fans back here in one month for the results!
Hey art fans! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? My boys have been very busy the past several months, which explains the whistling empty halls of the fetch-a-sketch... BUT, change is coming. I have posted a challenge to celebrate the upcoming day of pant-wetting. Yup, Halloween! The boys have to post their rendition of the most terrifying of all creatures — the night baby!!! What is a night baby, you ask? Don't, for the love of all that is holy... DON’T ASK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hold on to your candy sacks, boys and ghouls! It will be a screecher!
God’s gift to illustration has struck again...
Head on over to http://paleo-buffet.blogspot.com/ and check out Robb's new illustration blog: Robbvision's Scientifically Inaccurate Dinosaurs Blog/Prehistoric Life Drawings> Paleo-Buffet!!!!! I like the short and sweet, concise title.
Is it awesome? You bet Jurassic it is!! It's Cretaceously delicious.
Now, if only my other boys would show some signs of life...
HEY HEY HEY!!!!! Uncle Lou is back! I just returned from my vacation in the Poconos with my special lady. I have a sunburn that would make Aunt Jemima jealous! I also had the privilege of attending the wedding of one of my sketchers!! That's right! Jay was wed this past weekend to his lovely fiancee. It was a rip-roarin' good time. I of course, had to be a good boy, so I didn't do any drinking. Ever since the pollup incident, the doc told me no more bubbly brews. So, I am an official teetotaller now.
Check out the movie posters Robb and Joel did for the lovely couple as wedding gifts. They are based on aspects of the couple's relationship and are inspired by real movie posters. Marvelous, boys... Here is hoping that this is the start of a brand new influx of art. According to that last post, we haven't seen anything since February? Say what?!!!
Since we are in dire need of an update over here
at Fetch-A-Sketch, here are the latest alphabet entries
from over at the Dune Sea of ABCs blog!
Incredible, if I do say so myself. 
We here at Fetch-A-Sketch want to congratulate Robb because he is the proud new papa of a brand new baby girl!!!! Way to go, Robb!!!!!
So, the next fetch is going to be just for Joel and Jay... Gotta give the new dad a break as he will be quite busy during this new adjustment period.
Since Robb and his lovely wife have themed the baby’s room in a Wizard of Oz motif, the boys new challenge is to add an item to that room. We are heading into a new realm here at Fetch-A-Sketch, ladies and gents! THREE DIMENSIONS!
So, as Rob sits this one out, Joel and Jay will astound us with their sculptural talents. I can’t wait to see this one!!!!
It’s been a while since we have last seen our boys... Hmm, when did I post that last challenge? July?!!! What the what?!!! Where have you blokes been???
Well, it’s a good thing that I yam very passive on the deadline rule... Wait, what’s that? THERE ARE NO DEADLINES, ya turkeys! HAW HAW! Had ya goin’ didn’t I?
Anyway, here are the GI JOE fetches, and they sure turned out fantastic.
Obviously, Snake Eyes has always been/is now/and always will be THE man around Joe headquarters. So if there's a party, the ladies are going to congregate around him. I thought it would be funny for him to be using his extensive ninja training to prepare a "foofy" drink, like a mojito. I also thought it would be funny to for him to drink such a popular/hip drink while women fawn over him, but dress in an incredibly socially awkward way... Black socks with sandals, very pale and still wearing his mask. Maybe I think too much.
Artwork courtesy of Jay Matz
On a day off, I figured that a few of the Joes and Cobras that had animal sidekicks would be off to the vet for an annual checkup. Regarding the GI JOE universe, it always cracked me up that these specialized government field agents and their villainous counterparts had their pets accompany them in the midst of battle. If you look at the entire run of characters, there are a few pets that are bound to make you giggle. One character had a warthog! Jay put it best by saying, “It's funny, because I think have all those figures that came with animals. What was the attraction? And the crocodile? How could that possible help you in battle? Did the handler just hope that at some point Flint would get thirsty and bend down to drink out of dirty creek?”
Artwork courtesy of Joel Haase
Artwork courtesy of Robb Mommaerts
It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I bear horribly terrible news. Mike Wieringo passed away this weekend from an apparent heart attack. I personally did not know this man of immense talent, but my boys and I were very big fans and have followed his career since the early days. Mike brought so much personality and energy into his characters by the simple means of his weapon of choice, the mighty pencil. From his run on DC’s The Flash to a series very dear to our hearts — Tellos, right on down to Spidey and the Fantastic Four, his pages brought us much entertainment and admiration. He will sorely be missed, and we hang our heads in a moment of silence.
Then we shall sharpen our pencils and carry on proudly with his very spirit flowing from our lines! We love you, and will miss you!
http://www.mikewieringo.com/
A few weeks ago Jay discovered some T-shirts featuring pin-up girls wearing the uniforms of Cuban National baseball teams. After some research, he discovered the artist, Andres Garcia, was basically the Cuban Normal Rockwell. He did lots covers for Carteles magazine. These baseball pin-ups had been a series he did in the late 50's. So, in honor of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers, (who are on the upswing of the 25 year cycle of Milwaukee baseball teams kicking butt) Jay brushed off the old Minor League Brewers' Barrel Man, and another fan favorite, Bonnie Brewer complete with broom and did a pin-up in the style of Mr. Garcia. No word if the Two-Fisted Slopper/Slobber is next.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. If you were to raid the basements of our three resident artists, you'd find boxes of this crap. Figures, vehicles, comics, maybe even a VHS copy G.I. Joe The Movie, not to mention the file cards on every character! What always chapped my hide was those ridiculous file cards. It was amazing how their "Real Names" always tied in with their specialties. The guy with the flamethrower would have a real name like "Torchy McAsh" Oh yeah, and he was a kid obsessed with fire and convicted of arson three times. Don't you think Uncle Sam would do a better job of screening new recruits than that? Let's see... this guy has a record as long as my arm, tried to burn his own home down... I know, let's give him a flamethrower and call him "Molotov!" Every member of the Joe team was way over specialized too. It was like they could each do one thing and one thing only. Of course this was so you'd have to buy at least a dozen figures to make a semi-competent team. I thought it'd be interesting to see these one-trick ponies on leave. So that's your next challenge: I wanna see a group of highly specialized Joes (or COBRA agents) enjoying a little summer vacation together. How would their specialites tie into a day at the beach, a backyard barbeque, whatever. Now you know your next challenge, and knowing is half the battle!
Since the boys haven’t been around much, I am going to
fill up their platters with a little bit more... Feel the crack
of my whip! We need more of your work to make our eyes happy!
Check out the new art blog, Sweet Obi-Lou’s Dune Sea of ABCs
for a new challenge for my sketch-fetching boys...
And stay tuned for the new Fetch-A-Sketch challenge!!!
Hey, Hey! It’s been a while! And the boys have returned from their busy schedules, and they sure brought some firepower with them! Check out the long overdue movie fetches...
It’s a Real Rum-Soaker!
Artwork courtesy of Jay Matz
Hats Off to This!
Artwork courtesy of Joel Haase
I’ll Give You a Theatrical Release!
Artwork courtesy of Robb Mommaerts
HEY! It's some new art!!! Here Robb provided us with a caricature of a young Stevie Nicks... HAW HAW!!!! Actually, it is just a new addition to his monster series... 
Yeehaw!!! Robb decided to give us another treat this week with his rendition of a classic Frankenstein!! Someone released the hounds upon him! Poor Frankie!!
HUZZAH!!!! Summer is right around the corner... Which means it is the season of blockbuster movies! My favorite time of the year! I get to snuggle up to the missus in one of those twofor seats at the end of the theater row, one hand in my extra greasy bucket of popcorn and the other readying my XL Mountain Dew to quench my chain-slurping habit. Of course, you know me, I also have one foot out in the aisle to trip that straggler who comes in during the trailers — how dare he!
Now, it is time to toss out the next challenge... Looking in the movie section of the paper here, I see that we have the third installment of a few sequels coming up... Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End, and Shrek the Third. Let’s make this interesting... Take a character, ANY character, from EACH of these three flicks and toss them together into a cinematic scene! Have fun!!!
Enjoy the thrills and spills of the boys’ latest illustrations!!!!
Variety of Fantastic Mysteries!
Artwork courtesy of Jay Matz
THRILL!
Artwork courtesy of Robb Mommaerts
FINALLY!!!!! I can unleash the power of pulp!!!
The Creature from the Maroon Lagoon!
Artwork courtesy of Joel Haase
Wow, since one of my artists, not naming any names here, is dragging his keester in this latest fetch, I am proud to post an extra bonus “thank you for being patient” illustration for the time being... Young Robb Mommaerts sent this in to me last week, and it darn near blew my drawers off...
Robb sez, “I drew a kind of cool Dracula last night. He is pretty wicked looking... more of the historical Vlad Drucul than the Bela Lugosi count. It was to practice pencils and I was inspired by Frazetta and some of the cool stuff I see online. Plus after reading those old Marvel Dracula trades I wanted to draw my own version of him.
Frankie is next. I'm going to make him either fighting wolves or hunting dogs. He will look scared too, to show that he just wants to be left alone. Or I might have him in the Arctic like in the original Mary Shelley story.”
I know I can’t wait to see the next one! Remember boys, if you do any drawrings between pulps that you are fond of, don’t be shy... Send ’em in to your ol’ Uncle Lou!
Back in my formative years, I didn’t have things like video games, dvd’s or flashy toy line-inspired cartoons to entertain me. I had to find other things to jump-start my creative imagination. So, I would stroll down to the corner dime store to pick up a few comic books, phosphates, and Baby Ruths to put me into a sugar-induced stupor. Occasionally I would grab a Pulp magazine or novel and sneak it past my mother who thought these things were “The Devils Literature”. The stories were intense, adult orientated (by yesteryear’s standards) and sometimes horrifying. But the thing that made me pick up these books and magazines were the gorgeously rendered covers. I want you three to create some artwork inspired by the pulp literature of the early to mid-twentieth century. Now remember, Pulp magazines were a way of “escape” back in the old days. You had your choice of many genres like science-fiction, westerns, horror, detective mysteries, and exotic adventure stories. The possibilities are endless! Now make Unca Lou proud!
Originally posted on TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2007
Fetching: Well Placed Coal and Carrots!
Once again, Wisconsin is covered with a thick blanket of snow. When I was clearing the driveway yesterday, I turned the chute on the snowblower just enough to hit the neighbor kid with an 800 rpm blast of winter. He barely even flinched. Why? He was totally focused on building the perfect snowman. That sent me on stroll down memory lane. Of course, the snowmen I built as a child never turned out the way I imagined them. Weather conditions and gravity always conspired against me. But the sky's the limit when you're drawing snowmen, and you don't even have struggle to put on your one-piece snowsuit. So, get to it! Draw a winter scene using snowmen, snowwomen, snowanimals, whatever your heart desires! Your snow creations can be wearing/wielding human clothes/props, just don't put any real people in your drawing. Make them expressive... tell a story without using a word!
Originally posted on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2007
Snow...Snow....SNOW!!!!!!!
It seems to be on everyone’s mind these days... My back is killing me today from shoveling out my neighbor's Buick Le Sabre. I have had it, you blustery bringer of precipitous flakes... Time to fly north, Old Man Winter!!!!!! Anyway, without further adieu, here are the latest entries!!!
CSI: Antarctica
Artwork courtesy of Jay Matz
The Great Magic Snowman Race
Artwork courtesy of Robb Mommaerts
Taste the ARRR-tic sting of my blade!
Artwork courtesy of Joel Haase
Starting with the 2007 fetches, here is the first entry of the year...
Originally posted on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2006
Fetching: In brightest day, in blackest night...
In the past week or so, the creative world has suffered two losses.
The first was that of one Martin Nodell, age 91, creator of the DC
comics character The Green Lantern. The other was a personal hero
of mine... Joe Barbera, age 95, half of the dynamic duo behind all of
the great Hanna-Barbera cartoons we have grown up with since the
sixties. In tribute, Sweet Uncle Lou of the Fetch-a-Sketch now calls
upon his artists to create an illustration depicting any of the beings
that have worn the mighty ring of The Green Lantern — YOU PICK!
You have Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle
Rayner... even Kilowog! There are tons to choose from. It’s up to
you... But wait, that’s not all, fanboys... You must also render a
Hanna-Barbera character to interact with your GL. Have at ’er, lads.
Make me proud!
Originally posted SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2007
Look at the ring! Look at the ring!
It is time to bring in the New Year, and this post we see that green is
the new black, jack! Take a look-see, art lovers, and check out the
tribute-tastical job my boys did!
The Herculoids accept the challenge as Green Lantern
Alan Scott "rings" in the new year!
Artwork courtesy of Robb Mommaerts
Green Lantern G’Nort fails to give Magilla Gorilla the business end of his ring.
Artwork courtesy of Joel Haase
Green Lantern John Stewart takes on the The Great Gazoo
as Fred Flintstone, Shaggy and Yogi Bear witness the "Daily Show" of force.
Artwork courtesy of Jay Matz
All righty then... I was up all night with my trusty webmaster, otherwise known as my much better half — my darling Clementine. We were trying to figure out a way to regain my standing with my artists after I had accidentally deleted their blog... She finagled a way of posting a gallery of all the boys’ fetches thus far...
Click on the handsome beast of a woman below to check them out!
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| Past Fetches |
GAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! Welcome back, folks. I seemed to have pulled a Munson and deleted the old blog. DAG-NABBIT! My trigger-happy finger seemed to clicked when it should have clacked. All those posts with all those beautiful illustrations... GONE! Don’t worry, I’ll get the guys crackin’ on Fetch-A-Sketch 2.0!!!!! Be patient.. Soon... we will return!!!!!!! In the meantime, I will try to get a gallery up of the past challenges for everyone to re-gander at. 
