 The Song:
"I don't know what it is that I like about you, but I like it a lot.", goes part of the opening lyrics to Led Zeppelin's Communication Breakdown. A lyric on the tongues of boys and men throughout the ages. I'll readily admit, I'm not the biggest Led Zeppelin fan, but a handful of their songs, Black Dog, Rock and Roll, and of course, Communication Breakdown really cook... I mean "roll down the car window and crank it" cook. (Sorry Stairway to Heaven, but radio killed you in my heart and mind). Released in 1969 (we're talking 47 plus freakin' years ago people), on their debut album, Communication Breakdown is pretty basic lyric wise... a tribute to un-verbalized love. Unfortunately, in our singer's case, this seems to be the norm, per the lyrics "...It's always the same I'm having a nervous breakdown..." Various sources on the web (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_Breakdown & http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=301) attribute Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" as an influence. I never thought of that before, but after repeated listens of each song, it makes sense. Someone had to be a guitar idol for Jimmy Page, right ? Another interesting side note is that this is one of the few Zeppelin songs in which Jimmy Page is credited with a backing vocal. And yes, I know the quote in the design is from Zeppelin's other song "Houses of the Holy"... but it fit what I was trying to convey.... it could have been worse, I could have used a quote from a Justin Bieber song. The Art: I'm continuing my reborn love affair with Photoshop, and exploring water color brushes. Hopefully it's not too small to see, but I did use some "halftone" brushes from my recent purchase from Kyle Webster (https://gumroad.com/kyletwebster). Please note... that is not a "paid for" sales pitch. I just like to share good resources with my fellow artists. While I admire the numerous water color inspired designs I find by other artists, I'm trying to develop my own style and look as well. I don't know if this is how other artists work, but I started applying different brush effects on separate layers, playing with the brush settings, etc. One thing I did here that I really like for now, is applying a "splatter" brush on top of the water color brush (again on a separate layer). That's it for this installment, share your thoughts and let me know what you think. Thanks for being here, I truly appreciate it. - Marty
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The Martytoon NewsletterThe Thoughts, Designs & Process of Marty Qatani aka MartyToons. Hi and welcome to the first blog post / newsletter of the all new revamped MartyToons website. Where to start ? I suppose a quick intro is in order for those of you who may be unfamiliar with me and what I do. I'm a cartoonist / character designer/ humorous illustrator. That sounds like a lengthy title, but none of those by themselves seems appropriate enough by themselves to describe what I do.
If I call myself a cartoonist, people tend to think I create a comic strip.... not true. If I call myself just a character designer, it seems a little limiting to me. I like to think I do a little bit more... make people think... wake people up, help someone remember a happy thought.... maybe even put a smile on people's faces.... hopefully. Calling myself just a humorous illustrator, just doesn't seem to have any "punch", "pizzazz", "sparkle"... you get the picture. I do like the sound of "Creator of Visual Enhancements for Artistically Challenged and Cartooning Impaired." It has a pretty cool ring to me, but it's a little hard to fit on a business card and still look cool. What can you expect here ? How's a little doodle sound ? A little peek into what goes on in my working process and maybe even in my thought process ? That's my plan... I hope you enjoy. So let me dig into my archive, maybe shed a little light on happened and then invite you to comment. Sounds good ? Good... then lets get to it. 
Peace Train
This is an early sketch of one of my favorite designs I'm working on. It's inspired by one of my favorite music artists, Cat Stevens, who know goes by the name of Yusuf Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens . Check him out if you get the chance and are a fan of 70's "Soft" Rock, and especially if you're a fan of songs about being positive, hopefullness, and becoming a little wiser. Music is playing more and more a part in my designs. I love many styles of music and I always have it playing in my studio while I'm creating. Alot of times I let the music direct what I'm going to sketch when I intentionally sit down to sketch, sometimes I'm not planning on sketching at all, but I hear a song and an image will just pop into my head, and I have to get it down on paper. I believe that's what happened here, but to be honest, I came up with this sketch several years ago, and I can't remember the exact circumstances that gave birth to this. So there you have it. I hope you enjoy it. Got any questions ? Feel free to comment below. thanks... Marty Archives
March 2018
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