OHIO MONSTERS

Good morning. How are you? I hope you had a lovely extended Memorial Day weekend. To ease your return to work for the short week I thought I’d show you the Monsters I made on the plane last week.  When I make Monsters there are occasionally ink blots that don’t reveal their Monster to me right away. I save those, and when I fly I sometimes take a few, so I can draw on the plane. (The TSA frowns on compressed air cans in your carry-on luggage, so fresh ink isn’t on the menu.)

Last week I flew to Columbus, Ohio to give a talk for the good people of the CSCA. It was kind of a big night for me, because it marked the end of the 344 Regional Domination Tour that started at the Y Conference in San Diego back in April of 2005 and has taken me to Washington DC, Chicago, Austin, Boston, a vacation resort outside Brainerd, DeKalb, back to San Diego, Portland, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Louisville, Tucson, Phoenix, San Diego again, a ranch in Texas, New York, Denver, Orcas Island, Minneapolis, Seward, Jacksonville, Boston again, Orlando, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, DC again, Oklahoma City, and now finally Columbus, Ohio. Add to that a handful of events here in Los Angeles. It’s been an absolute privilege to meet so many brilliant people at these talks, and a lot of fun, too. But I’ve decided to take a little break from the presenting, so I can make some new things to show you by the time I go out on the road again. That said, I’ll be speaking at the AIGA National Conference in Memphis in October. It’ll be short, that one, but it’ll be good.

Ohio

In the meantime, Columbus was excellent, and I had a great time. Jeff Seslar took some great photos of the evening (including the one above) and we filmed the whole thing, too, so I’ll put up a few clips sometime soon. If you’re ever in Columbus and you can swing it, I highly recommend you stay at the German Village Guesthouse. I’m not in the habit of giving plugs to the hotels I stay at, but this is a designer-owned, designer-run operation and I just went nuts for their garden.

But I’m getting off topic. Sorry. Planes. Monsters. I made six of them on this trip. This first one came through on flight AA 642 from Dallas to Columbus:

Ohio-Monster-01

The second one started on that same flight, but had to wait until flight AA162 from Columbus to Dallas two days later to get some texture on its feet and some bark on its branch:

Ohio-Monster-02

Monster No.3 came out on that same flight and was directly inspired by a young passenger two rows behind me, and another one in front of me and to the left. He’s now also available as a Monster Onesie on Zazzle.

Ohio-Monster-03

Flight AA 1677 from Dallas to Burbank started with this slender creature looking over the horizon:

Ohio-Monster-04

Shortly thereafter, this strange and startled sea-monster surfaced:

Ohio-Monster-05

Lastly, just minutes before the cabin crew made me close up shop, this friendly little bird came to rest on my tray table:

Ohio-Monster-06

So there you go: Four productive flight segments, don’t you think? I was happy the Monsters kept me company, and I hope you like our new friends here, too. (If you like, you can send them to your friends on Facebook using the SEND A MONSTER app.) Also, I don’t think I have to remind you that 344 LOVES YOU

8 Comments

  • Mary Anne
    26 May 2009 3:03 am

    Very productive indeed! I love Monster 3 (must have been a quite vocal bunch) and your friendly little tray bird! : )

  • Lori C
    26 May 2009 4:54 am

    My daughter and I enjoy your blog and monsters so much! They are so much fun! We have tried our hand at drawing monsters and had a blast! Thanks for your inspiration!

  • 26 May 2009 6:43 am

    These are very cool! Great way to start of the day after a long weekend. Thanks!

  • 26 May 2009 8:45 am

    Hooray for Monsters! Thanks for sharing, as always Mr. Bucher. Have a happy short week!

  • 1 June 2009 6:31 pm

    Great presentation in Columbus! Really truly inspiring!

  • 19 June 2009 9:52 am

    Stefan I love these monsters, they are so great! How do you get the backrouds behind your monsters?
    -Joey

  • 17 August 2009 7:51 pm

    I’m so happy I stumbled across your site. Love your monsters and so does my 3 year old! Thanks for the tip about where to stay in Columbus–we are traveling there very soon.

  • 18 August 2009 12:38 am

    Thank you very much, Ava. I’m glad you and your kid dig the Daily Monsters. And yes, the German Village Guesthouse was entirely excellent! :^)

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