Happy Birthday, Jim Garner!

 I kept it simple for this year's tribute to my favourite actor, Jim Garner, just drawing one more caricature of him as Jim Rockford from TV's The Rockford Files. However, I thought I'd also give you all some insight as to how I go about creating one of my celebrity caricatures. As I've noted in past articles, I don't rely on just still photos to draw my subjects, preferring instead to study and sketch them from video so as to get more of a sense of their overall design and inner life and personality. But additionally I will go back and pause on a few freeze frames in order to study the structure and surface details in greater depth. Lately I've also been using my digital camera to grab a few reference pics directly from my TV screen. Here are some samples I took to develop this new caricature of Jim.

This first pic gave me the overall pose I wanted of Rockford with his familiar crossed arms looking very casual:

I rather liked this expression, where Rockford is looking a little concerned as to whether they've got a solid case against the guy he suspects is a hired killer who's attempted to kill his client:

I took this shot specifically for the mouth position showing both sets of teeth and tongue as he's speaking. Also the head angle is closer to the one I'm looking to draw:

Another pic that captures some of the overall expression I'm looking to depict in my drawing:

Like I mentioned before, I am also watching the video in action as I first gesture out my sketch, as that's the only way I can get a real feel for the personality and inner life of my subject. You can also see from my rough sketch how I start by gesturing and blocking in very loosely with a light blue pencil, then defining the forms with a soft black pencil while always thinking of it as "sculpting" the form as opposed to just drawing outlines. That illusion of solid structure remains an integral part of the process for me. Sometimes I find I have to do a few sketches, cobbling together elements from several in order to arrive at the final sketch, but this time I was able to get it all done in one shot:

Finally I use a lightbox to lightly trace the image in pencil onto a sheet of Bristol board, then tweak it a bit until I have the refined pencil art that is then ready for the fun part - the inking with my brush!

Once the line art is inked up, I scan that into my computer to colour it up with Photoshop resulting in the final full colour caricature of Jim Garner that heads up this post. Although I did decide to consult other photos through Google Image Search to select the colours of his shirt and blazer, as I've always preferred those 70's earth tones that Rockford wore rather than the grey outfit he's wearing in my reference photos above.

Truckers For Freedom!

 Generally speaking, I had not intended to use this blog for political talk, but I'm finding that it's my only real outlet at the moment because I have been suspended for another 30 day stretch on Facebook, my 5th such 30 day suspension since last February. I think it's wrong for Facebook to silence users for expressing their conservative views, all the while allowing those on the left to have free rein despite many of them being far more incendiary in their speech than I would ever be.

At any rate, I've decided to make a few points about the trucker convoy that has made its way across Canada from BC to its destination earlier today in Canada's capitol city, Ottawa. The primary reason for this convoy is the recent vaccination mandate for all truckers to cross in and out of Canada and the US across our shared border. This is the latest directive from our tinpot dictator, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and there are many of us who support the truckers' decision to fight this inhumane directive that could result in many of them losing their jobs for not complying against their will. But it goes beyond that, as there are many of us, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, who see these vaccine mandates as government overreach, especially since these Covid mRNA vaccines have left many unfortunate recipients physically and neurologically injured, to the point of being permanently disabled and no longer able to enjoy a quality life or work at their livelihoods. And yes, some recipients of these vaccines have died as a result, yet no political leaders, medical "experts", or their lackeys in the mainstream media or social media want that important distinction to be heard, instead preferring that only the official mantra of the vaccines being "safe and effective" be allowed to be published and promoted.

Well, these truckers are boldly standing up to make their voices heard, and I and many others want to show our full support for this. So here are some news clips to show what is going on. Lets start with the biased and deliberate misrepresentation of the truckers by the dictatorial Justin Trudeau, who sneeringly denigrates their motives in this speech clip. Personally, I think Trudeau is running scared, as he has now "conveniently" claimed he has been exposed to Covid and therefore must isolate for five days, thereby avoiding having to meet with the protesters. (Update: he's now been taken to a "secure" location, out of some unfounded fear that his safety is at risk from this rally):

Next, lets look at the false claims by Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, who are trying to make out that there are sinister undertones to this event, suggesting there are extremists in attendance who mean to cause trouble, despite there being no real evidence to support such skewed speculation. See what they're saying in their opening segment from this full broadcast. Please also take note of how CBC does not allow comments on any of their YouTube uploads:

 

Here's an article featuring more denigrating speculation from the CBC. They really want to cloud this event with their doom and gloom propaganda in order to discredit its participants. Also, here's a screenshot from their Facebook page that links to the above article. Please note how they also do not allow comments on any of their FB posts:

Only a few online news sources can be trusted here in Canada, including True North News and Rebel News. Here is Ezra Levant, head of Rebel News being warmly welcomed by the crowd of a few thousand gathered so far at the event in front of Ottawa's Parliament Hill. This is the reality of the peaceful protest with happy freedom loving attendees that CBC, CTV and other mainstream sources would rather you not see:

And finally, please watch this clip of Global News being chastised by this boldly honest lady named Gina, who was among the throngs of Canadian patriots gathered along the highway route to cheer on the convoy of truckers. She's clearly savvy to the way the mainstream media will try to falsely spin this story, based on their long history of doing so:

I hope that those who truly seek the truth will take a look at what's actually going on at this event, and not blindly go along with what CBC and the rest of the liberal propagandist media would have you all believe.

*ADDENDUM* - All day today, CBC and CTV have been claiming that protesters were "dancing on the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier" or otherwise "desecrating" it. That's a real stretch of what happened, verging on being an outright slanderous lie. Here's an article from CTV News where they're making that claim, yet check out the video within the article that shows what actually transpired. The young woman has stepped onto the monument (where countless tourists have likely also posed for photo-ops over the decades), where she simply stands, raises her arms and yells "FREEDOM!" before stepping back down. No "dancing" and no "desecrating" whatsoever.

Frankly, in no way does this equate to mocking or being disrespectful of the monument. Quite the opposite in fact, as I believe this young woman fully understood that the significance of this monument is that these brave men had fought for the very same freedoms from tyranny that she herself was helping to fight for today in her own small way. I say more power to her, and shame on the lying mainstream media out to falsely vilify and misrepresent her.