Category Archives: Erwin Dence illustrations

S(Heart)P Man and Bucky Meet in the Water

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, SUP surfing, surfing art, surfing comics, surfing illustrations, surfing satire

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I was trying to shuffle my drawing stuff off the table so I could set my dinner down, holding the hot plate in one hand. It was chicken, with a nice sauce. That’s what got on the drawing; hence the black border on the left side. My friend, hydrosexual Stephen Davis, who is working on some illustrations to be posted on this site, and who went to something more like an actual art school than Palomar Junior College, said, when told of the accident, “Oh, that’s what makes art great. It’s like the Dada thing.” “The Dada thing?” “Yeah.” “Well, then, Stephen Davis, If that’s so, my stuff has always been maximum Dada; smudges, hand prints, coffee cup rings, coffee spewed from my mustache.” “Maximum.” “Oh, at least. Oh, and Steve; the last drawing, Trish said, the guy, who looks kind of like my brother Jon, has gorilla hands.” “Oh. Uh huh.”

There is a story developing here (I mean, with the drawings). Trish told me I got the paddle handle wrong; more like a cane. She was, of course, right. She didn’t comment on the hands. Yet. Oh, and Stephen’s drawings, from cellphone photos are approved (by Trish, and, of course, me). Stay tuned.

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S HEART (READ IT AS A ‘U’) P MAN- THE COMIC- , ISSUE ONE, PAGE ONE

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, learning to surf, real surfers, SUP surfing, surf cartoons, surf satire, surf-related comics

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I found out how to put images on the site in different sizes. The medium size probably looks better, and the large size does enable the viewer to pick out mistakes more easily. I am trying to adhere to what I perceive as current comic formatting, but, as always, I just can’t help going somewhere just beyond those lines. There’ll be more; I’m thinking, thinking, um, uh, what?

Oh, here’s the black and white version; just because I saved it.

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So, if you’re keeping score: SUPman’s nose got too much in the top image, the tutor is not attractive enough, and she just came out as a smudge in the ‘paddling/mine’ image. And, um, and I’m going to stop looking. NEXT TIME…

S(HEART)P MAN- Origin Story

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, surf cartoons, surfing comics, surfing drawings

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I am aware that I have a tendency to overwrite. I’ve been discussing doing a surf/centric comic book with Stephen Davis. Both of us went to art school, if I may (because I do) say that taking just about every art class at Palomar Junior College (and not quite one math class and one science short of enough of those sort of non-humanities classes to actually graduate). So, I’ve been thinking; in fact, while listening to a rerun of a “This American Life” show yesterday, the one on Comic Superheroes, I drove past my intended turn.

I googled “Secret Surfer,” caught an image of a Victoria’s Secret model holding an (unwaxed) surfboard. Okay, take another second to consider Victoria’s Secret models and waxing. So, can’t use that title. Googled “SUP Man,” saw some references that led me to believe it is really S’up, Man, or should be. So, S (heart, read it as ‘U’) P Man; that’s what I’m going with.

Here’s the overwriting part: I want SheartP Man to appear to be the hero; clean cut, no doubt rich, went to fancy surf school (no, private lessons by someone who learned from Laird Hamilton)… you can see I’m still fleshing this out.  Please stay tuned.

Yeah, yeah, ‘this is the origin of the story,’ the origin of the characters will follow.

A Moment Before The Swoop

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, real surfers, surfing, surfing art, surfing illustrations, surfing Lower Trestles

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At the height of a projection, the speed of the original drop used to get to this point, down the line and up into the thinnest part of the wave, hanging, suspended, the right hand holding nothing more than a level, the left hand only holding balance when and where there is none without the speed itself…hold that weightlessness… hold it.  When the hand opens…

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The drawing is based on (as opposed to copied from) a photo of Keanu Asing competing at Lower Trestles during the recent Hurley WQS event. I looked through eighty photos supplied by the World Surfing League, airs and rotations and cutbacks and… at this moment, on this ride, there are choices. Were choices. I can imagine an adjustment that allows a freefall from the lip, even a tuck into the pocket. I can imagine a cutback into the whitewater.

High-Lining Down The Line, Edited, with Illustration

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, getting barrelled, real surfers, surf stories, surfing art

This is the drawing I didn’t have ready for “Down The Line.” I can’t seem to figure out how to make it larger on the page. The photo is of Black’s Beach by Matt Aden.

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You have to love the waves you don’t think you’ll make, ones on which you’d like just a little more speed out of your board. You’re trimming high on the wall, focused only on the wave ahead and below you, and it’s only getting hollower; and you know that section ahead, that last pitch before you can glide; it breaks, explodes, really, on river rocks, round, smooth; no oversized chunkers; cobblestones; and you’ve already been caught in that shallow trap, board dropping out and down as the lip hit you; you’ve already pirouetted and half-twisted and leaped toward the open ocean, and been thrashed, bounced off that reef, your board going over you in inches of water.

And you made some. Easy. Too easy; you must have been too far out in front.

Blacks photo by Matt Aden

“Again” is really all you’re thinking; “This time…” Maybe you’ll crouch, hand in the wave face, tight, ready.

This time you might make be in that perfect spot. More speed. You take off at an angle, too far over, probably, project out of a down the line bottom turn, and find that high line again. Speed; you need more. You see the ribs of the wave ahead, the already-pitching lip. More speed. You don’t tuck in; but you move your weight forward, subtly pumping, just tweaking the angle. If you weren’t holding your breath, you are now. No, you’re ready to scream, success or failure; this is where you always wanted to be; that high line between… between frightening and thrilling.

The board skitters, no way it would hold in the thin lip; it side slips down the curve, you in the curtain, trying to stay on, your back hand pushed farther behind you, focus still on the deep water ahead, and…

…and now you’re laughing, and not thinking of anything else but… “Again!”

Adam Wipeout’s realsurfers’ Guide to Being Real, Number 3

Posted on by under adam wipeout, Erwin Dence illustrations, northwest surfing, real surfers, surf adventures, surf illustrations, surfing art, surfing guide

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This is the drawing for the post two down from here; but, rather than transfer the copy from there (mostly because I couldn’t seem to get it done), I should probably just update. I did hit the hot waves on the cold Straits last Thursday. The session that  started out… wait, I already wrote about that. I could mention the “Locals Only” session in Port Townsend earlier this week; two hours of rare wraparound waves with heavy nearly-offshore winds and a horizontal downpour . I was actually working nearby, headed over, watched the two hour session happen from the comfort of my work rig.

I probably should come up with the top ten excuses for not going out when there are actually waves. My ear was plugged up from the previous session, not thinking I needed earplugs because it was small (initially), and suffice it to say, I do feel the guilt. Maybe my best excuse is that I’m not a local, and didn’t want to impose.

No, that won’t be on my list; I’ve only done it once. merely crowded is not the same thing. Oh, and, for the sin of ever mentioning there are ever, EVER any waves in Port Townsend; no one could really predict or forecast the event, or take the chance to drive any distance on the chance it might happen.

As for today’s surf… owwwwww!

Coming up soon: “Are all surfers SOCIOPATHS; or is it just me?”

Risen

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, surf adventures, surf illustrations, surf sessions, surfing drawings, surfing illustrations, writings of Erwin Dence
Some believe one shouldn't try to depict any deity (not arguing this here) in any medium. I drew two different illustrations to commemorate Easter, actually put on on the site. For about ten minutes. This is an acrylic I did several years ago on canvas board, a bit warped from leaning on the piano. I had to weigh down the top of the scanner to make it work. I'd regret the wasted time I spent on drawings I won't use, but, really, what I'd prefer, is more time to waste similarly.

Some believe one shouldn’t try to depict any deity (not arguing this here) in any medium. I drew two different illustrations to commemorate Easter, actually put on on the site. For about ten minutes. This is an acrylic I did several years ago on canvas board, a bit warped from leaning on the piano. I had to weigh down the top of the scanner to make it work. It’s not really out of focus; it was painted that way.  I’d regret the wasted time I spent on drawings I won’t use, but, really, what I’d prefer, is more time to waste similarly.

There have been a couple of thousand Easters, and an unknown (to us) number of dawns, the daily reminder that we have another opportunity to struggle, to succeed, to fail; another chance to correct some of our blunders, to move beyond our failures, to push toward, toward…

…we have hours and days to worry about what we’re struggling against, about what we’re striving for. What we might do, for a moment, is consider love and compassion and grace and peace and redemption; realizing we need more than we possess or can attain.

May you occasionally stop to appreciate the journey, wherever your beliefs and your search to validate them takes you. Seriously. What I most firmly believe is that, wherever this adventure takes us, life is a solo trip for each of us. We share a few seconds or days or years; we find  a bit (or, hopefully, a lot) of what we’re searching for; and we keep going.  Stop, think about the gift of those moments; moments of love, of peace, of mystery and magic, maybe a few moments on a wave you’re not sure you’re going to make. And, incidentally, thanks for sharing this moment.

“So, This One Time, Back at Surf Camp…” a short story/illustration

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, northwest surfing, real surfers, surf adventures, surf illustrations, surfing art, surfing illustrations, Uncategorized
I showed this, at a bit of a distance, to my wife, Trish. She nodded, approvingly, then asked why there were so many words. "I can't help it," I explained. So difficult to be clever, even with a few phallic symbols and a double entendre or two. Oh,and now I've over-explained. Damn.

I showed this, at a bit of a distance, to my wife, Trish. She nodded, approvingly, then asked why there were so many words. “I can’t help it,” I explained. It’s just so difficult to be clever, even with an “American Pie” reference, a few phallic symbols and a double entendre or two. Oh,and now I’ve ‘over-explained.’

Channeling Your Inner Greg Noll

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, real surfers, surf illustrations, surfing art, surfing drawings, surfing illustrations
It doesn't matter what beach you go to, how big the waves are; it's a part of the mystical ritual to get to the edge, find your inner Greg Noll (forever deified in the photo by John Severson), and prepare for the epic battle/love affair between surfer and sea. And then there's some kid/freak channeling an inner nine year old John John... and beware, that freak could be some old guy, that weird bit of spittle drooling onto his soul patch might just be froth.

It doesn’t matter what beach you go to, how big the waves are; it’s a part of the mystical ritual to get to the edge, find your inner Greg Noll (forever deified in the photo by John Severson), and prepare for the epic battle/love affair between surfer and sea. And then there’s some kid/freak channeling an inner nine year old John John… and beware, that freak could be some old guy, that weird bit of spittle drooling onto his soul patch might just be froth. So, froth on!

Two title illustrations for “Inside Break,” the Novelization

Posted on by under Erwin Dence illustrations, real surfers, surf adventures, surf illustrations, surf photos, surf sessions, surf stories, surfing art, surfing drawings, surfing illustrations, surfing novels, surfing San Onofre, surfing Southern California in the 60s, surfing tales, writings of Erwin Dence

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Using the photograph used as an illustration in Chapter 3 of “Inside Break,” the novelization, I did a larger drawing, had it reduced and several copies made at the local (Port Townsend Printery) print shop. I then added color to two of the drawings. The top one is the one Trish preferred. I’d like to say I preferred the lower one, but, never totally satisfied, I went back to the original and colored it in. Now I have to wait until I can get back to PT to get it reduced to a size I can use. You have to know I’d love to add some color to the graphics.

I would really appreciate it if you could read some or all of the novel. I’m really trying (honest) to keep the writing tight and on point, but, there are just so many angles, so many other surf stories. Oh, yeah; that’s why I started this site; because real surfers have real stories in common, and each of us has a few that are just ours.

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