Over the past month, I’ve been offering up a weekly prize on my Facebook page, a contest with the rather unimaginative name, Monty’s Month of May Giveaway. While there are almost 300 people who currently ‘Like’ that page, there were about 40-60 that entered the contest each week, including a number of friends and even a few family members. This is why I had to have an impartial person make the draw each week. I have to tell you, it was a lot of fun for me and I really want to thank those who participated. I’ll definitely be doing this again.
The winners and their prize choices for each week were as follows…
Week 1: JAKE KODAK, small Grizzly print
Week 2: DANA McKAY, small Wolf print
Week 3: TONY DRUMM, large wolf print
Week 4: PAT WENDT, large ground squirrel print
BONUS: KEVIN LEBLANC, training dvd
Some of the comments over the month made me laugh out loud, as did the very feeble tongue-in-cheek attempts to bribe or coerce me. My totem paintings are the most enjoyable work I’ve done to date and it’s flattering that so many of you wanted a print. In a perfect world, I would have given a print to everyone who entered, but I’m just not that wealthy…yet.
The questions I asked over the four weeks gave me food for thought. Week 1 gave me a little insight into what you do to be creative, and as I said on the Facebook page, I agree that cooking is definitely a creative pursuit. I’ve watched my wife experiment in the kitchen and she’s come up with some wonderful dishes with her own personal flair. Cooking and baking is definitely NOT a skill or talent I possess, so I have a lot of respect for those who do. I would encourage everyone to make time to be creative. Try those artistic pursuits you might have been afraid to and just do it for the fun of it. Nobody has to know but you.
In week 2, I wanted to know what your favorite cartoon character was, and I was surprised to see a few I’d never heard of, so I looked them up, and received a little education. As for the rest of those listed, it was like a taking a walk through my Saturday morning childhood and I really enjoyed that. Incidentally, Wile E. Coyote has always been my favorite. You have to respect somebody who never gives up, no matter what life (or a Warner Brothers writer) throws at him. I’m a big fan of Looney Tunes.
Week 3 asked you for your favorite movie character, and I love that so many of you seem to like movies as much as I do. I must confess, however, to being shocked that nobody listed Carl Spackler from Caddyshack as their favorite movie character. “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort?”
And finally, in Week 4, I asked which wild animal you’d like to me to paint. Some of the animals you mentioned are already on my list, such as a beaver, sea otter, fox and cougar. Others were welcome additions to my current list, especially the bison. I even went as far as looking at some reference photos for that one after it was suggested, as I think that fur would be an interesting challenge.
One thing is clear, many of you want to see an African series, and I assure you, I’ll eventually get to it. Lion, giraffe, cheetah, lemur, gorilla,…it’s a big list. I agree with my friend Gudrun who suggested the hippo. That leathery skin would be a challenge, and I’d like to give that a go. Looks like I’ll be going on safari in the future, or spending more time at the Calgary Zoo.
Finally, I was able to give a DVD away to another cartoonist, and I hope that perhaps some of the things I’ve learned will contribute to his development, just as other artists continue to contribute to my own.
Once again, thanks to all who participated. I quite enjoyed giving these items away. For those who didn’t win this month, thanks for being such good sports about it. Hopefully you still had a little fun, and there’s always next time.