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Apple ][+ Sketch

The Apple ][+ is where it all began for me. It was probably 1980 or 1981 when my brother brought one home, and it was our first “family computer” though as an 11 or 12 year old with few responsibilities I quickly became the one who used it the most. I remember at some point we put it on a desk in my room, which was pretty awesome!

I remember playing a lot of games, but I also remember learning to program in BASIC, often from typing in programs found in magazines, probably BYTE Magazine. I then discovered graphics! Lo-Res and Hi-Res blew my mind at the time… and here I am in 2024 drawing an Apple ][+ on an Apple iPad with an Apple Pencil.

I remember at one point I tried to write an adventure game in BASIC with Lo-Res graphics and I think that may have been my first “large” software project. I also remember abandoning it when I realized it was never going to work. Still, I learned a lot. When I got into high school and we used Apple Computers and did BASIC programming the teacher was none too pleased with me because I knew more than he did, and I think I let him know that a few times.

The best thing ever was MousePaint which was released in 1984. Since we couldn’t afford an actual Macintosh Computer you could connect a mouse to an Apple ][+ and use a version of MacPaint called MousePaint. Computer graphics without typing? Magical!

(Also, let’s take a second to appreciate that 40 years later I type in OpenSCAD to create graphical objects on screen that I then print as actual real-world objects using a 3D printer.)

I do these sketches mainly for fun, and to stretch my creative muscles using an Apple Pencil on an iPad with Procreate. If you ever want a framed print of my work please get in touch with me and we’ll work something out! Also, check out the Illustration page to see them all!


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Furniture Sketch

Fugazi released the Furniture EP in 2001. The song “Furniture” is actually a song that was first performed in 1987. It’s one of my favorite Fugazi songs.

I actually didn’t really like Fugazi at first. I think because they were so popular at the time. In On The Kill Taker was probably their first release I really loved. Red Medicine and End Hits were great, but The Argument just didn’t grab me the same as the previous releases did. Even on the Furniture release, I love the title track but the other two not as much.

Besides my own taste in Fugazi releases the band cannot be denied for what they created, musically, politically, and socially. The world is a better place because of Fugazi.

(Also, I remain to this day thankful that Grant and I did not run over Fugazi at the Waukesha Expo Center with a van when the opportunity was presented to us in the early 1990s.)

This chair sketch was inspired by Fugazi, and created using an Apple Pencil on an iPad with Procreate. I actually started to play around with different techniques for adding texture to this one, and I like it. Also, check out the Illustration page to see more fun sketches!


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Chuck Taylors Sketch

Did I have Chuck Taylors when I was a kid? Of course I did. Do I have a pair now? Yeah, I do. I remember learning about Chuck Taylor (the man) and finding out he was sort of the first “shoe evangelist”, as it were. You can learn more about Chuck on Wikipedia.

Of course if you just want to learn about the shoes, you can do that too. The pair I have now, I definitely don’t wear every day. I think Chucks are much better for young feet than for someone who has been around over four decades. (Or maybe that’s just my feet talking.)

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve seen hundreds of skaters and punk kids wearing Chucks over the years, and then they got even more popular and normies started wearing them. I guess that’s just how it goes, eh?

So pour one out for Chuck whose was born on June 24th, 1901 and died on June 23rd, 1969… just five days after I was born.

Side story here, when we lived near a cemetery (last time, not this time) we always looked at death dates and birth dates to see if people made it to their birthday. Sadly Chuck died the day before his birthday! So close!!!

I’ve mentioned it before, but I do these sketches with an Apple Pencil on an iPad using Procreate. If you want a print of one of these, or a color I didn’t do, let me know and we can work something out. Also, check out the Illustration page to see more fun sketches!


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Traffic Cone Sketch

This sketch was inspired by a few things. My walking (and now biking) puts me out on the streets a lot, and my recent interest in fixing potholes has made me more aware of street conditions in Milwaukee.

There are also two artists that use traffic cones in their work. Sarah Davitt is a friend (and Milwaukee Makerspace member) who uses cones in her work. (She even gave me a traffic cone print.)

Cynthia Connolly is an artist and photographer. Her book Banned In DC is amazing and she’s the artist who did Minor Threat’s Out of Step album cover art. (She’s also posted a few cones.) There’s also a set of Postcards of Cones Along Highway 1 (which you can purchase).

As always (at least lately) this sketch was created with an Apple Pencil on an iPad using Procreate. I also threw in a shot of the sketch on top of the photo, which I think is a fun look.


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Make Copies

I’m going to write about making copies. I’ve also created some art that works well with such a topic.

When I was a child my dad had a mimeograph machine in the basement. He used it to print a newsletter for an organization he was involved with. I never quite understood how such a machine worked. I mean specifically how the plate (stencil) was created, but Wikipedia provided the answer. (Note: A typewrite is used!) I mainly remember the purple “ink” from the copies it created.

One of the “toys” I had as a child was a cassette tape recorder. I remember that when “We Are the Champions” by Queen came out (1977) I held the tape recorder up to the speaker at my uncle’s house as it played so I could make a copy. The first seconds of the recording was my uncle saying “speakers!” as he pointed at the stereo speaker so I could get right in front of it.

Speaking of cassette tapes, I learned about a machine that could duplicate a tape at high speeds! There was one at a local photo development shop. I remember seeing it, but I don’t think I ever got to use. Fast forward a few years later and as a teen I got a dual-cassette deck “boom box” that could copy tapes easily. Then I was in high school and had friends with vinyl records and wanted to make copies, and I could easily make copies using cassette tapes. The world of music (and punk rock specifically) opened up to me.

I eventually learned about photocopiers, most likely at the local library. When I realized there was a photocopier at the school library and I could use it, I started using it. And then I became a zine publisher. I made copies of zines and gave them away, sold them, and traded them. I eventually started making fliers, and I made a lot of copies of fliers and put them up around town. It was art, and it meant something.

The VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) could also make copies! I saved up money from multiple birthdays and holidays to buy my own VCR. Once a friend had one that meant that making copies of tapes was easy.

When the digital world came about (you know, the mid-to-late 1990s when the web exploded) making copies was as easy as dragging and dropping, or doing a “file copy”, or downloading something. The mere action of clicking on a link in your web browser made a copy. Of course we were also warned not to “copy that floppy” and pirate software.

We were living in a world where making copies was extremely easy (and cheap!) but started to disrupt the old model of making money by selling copies. Copy protection got added to a lot of things. DRM, etc… Of course there always the “A-hole”. (The “Analog Hole” is a method to work around copy protection by outputting an analog signal and then capturing that signal. If you’re not super-concerned about loss of quality when making a copy it remains an option today for audio and video… not so much for software.)

Speaking of software, I have one more amusing story about cassette tapes! When I was a kid and my family had an Apple ][+ we went to a friend’s house who also had an Apple Computer so we could swap software. (You know, make copies.) There was some software he had on cassette and the software had some copy protection on it. But guess what happens when you make a high speed duplicate of an audio cassette containing software? Well, you make a copy.

In the modern day people seem to care less about copies. People want access to things via streaming. They don’t even care if they have a copy because that’s some hassle bullshit and they can’t be bothered. They’ll settle for temporary access to media. We’ve even made making copies of your own files (commonly called “backups”) as easy as plugging in an external hard drive and clicking “Okay” but again, it’s just too much work for people.

Meanwhile, people are losing access to things they “bought” because the provider they bought it from has lost the rights to sell (“rent”) it to you. What do you own? There’s a new saying “If buying is not owning then piracy is not stealing”.

Do you know who makes copies? Historians, archivists, record keepers, people who have lost things, artists, writers, smart people, sexy people, and people who care. They all make copies… and so should you.