Every year I draw 52 Sunday mazes (53 on leap year!) With 2017 coming to a close it seems like the perfect time to look back on my favorite Sunday mazes for each month.
January: Snowpeople. This happened to fall on national hat day. I think this is my favorite of the month because it was the easiest to color! I love snow scenes!
February: Stranded on an Island. I don’t often get to do classic comic strip tropes so this was a rare opportunity for me.
March: Grandma’s Garden. This was almost a tie as I also love the chicken ballet themed maze I did this month, but the drawing of this little old lady in her garden won me over. There is also a quiet anarchy to it as the rabbit destroys the garden and the bird is about to devour the worm. It’s serene but could turn into chaos at any moment!
April: Jazz Band. This one ran on International Jazz Day and celebrates the 100th anniversary of the release of the first true jazz recording, the Livery Stable Blues.
May: Owls. This owls maze borders on the abstract. It’s not my usual cartoony style but was a lot of fun to draw. As I remember it started out with me doodling the labyrinths of the eyes first and then deciding what to build around it. They ended up looking like owl eyes to me!
June: Headed to the town of Lida. There is a real ghost town called Lida in Nevada! It also happens to be the name of one of my daughters. So that’s why this one is special. I will sometime hide my kids names in the mazes, but this gave me a chance to just put her name on a sign post.
July: Granny goes for a drive. Granny makes it into another maze. This time she is behind the wheel with her faithful pooch.
August: Warhol/Artist Appreciation Month. Andy Warhol is from my hometown Pittsburgh, PA. Though I am not a big fan of his paintings I am a fan of his early cartoon illustrations and of his skill as a marketing genius. I consider that his real art.
September: Cuckoo Clock. I remember this one being very tough to draw. I didn’t quite get it the way I wanted but I am still picking it for making the effort.
October: Butcher’s shop. I did a whole blog post about the story behind this maze. It features fellow cartoonist Mark Parisi!
November: The artist hippie. This started out as an abstract maze and then I thought about what people must imagine the artist to look like. For the record this looks nothing like me. It does look a little like Craig Yoe though…. hmmm
December: The most powerful cow in the universe. This is another one with a blog post and story behind it. Visually I like this one because it really forces the maze into the distance of the background. December was the toughest one for me to pick. Like many artist I always feel that my best work is my most recent and last weeks was pretty good. Ultimately I just love the story of the cow.
Thanks everyone!
Have an A-Maze-Ing New Year!
