Blog

"GOONS" by Dad

4/2/2026

This is a page from my father's scrapbook. He was Bruce Howard Griffin Senior and was born in 1934 and died in 1983 at the age of 49. He was a career Navy cat and our relationship endured many long interruptions during which he was out in the middle of the ocean somewhere or, frequently, in Japan. In his absence I would, naturally, dig through his stuff when Mom was distracted (which was always) and my favorite item in his closet was his childhood scrapbook which contains amazing artwork he created when he was a kid. There's no date on this but it's probably from the 1940s.

On Commissions:

3/26/2026

Since Time Immemorial artists have encountered difficulty receiving simple honest payment for their time and effort.
What is the origin of this hiccup in basic respectful human conduct? I look at present day social habits and notice that many people have difficulty distinguishing the professional from the recreational. And there are so many other contributing factors which I am going to pass on whining about and taking up too much time here.
Fiverr,...A.I....ugh.

I am a person who, like your plumber or electrician, works with my hands. Like the person fitting the replacement windshield on your car, the person styling your hair, landscaping your yard, etc. I place myself among these folks generally because of a single commonality:
We spend time out of our day providing a service.

A barista is going to probably start at minimum wage which, right now, here in Seattle, is $21.30 an hour.
After taxes, knock that down to $17.00 or so. If that person is working a forty hour week, they’re taking home approximately $680. That’s a person who has undergone training, knows the steps to fulfill a client's request and repeats that task multiple times a day. I too have steps: meeting face to face or online to discuss the image, options, colors, size, style, if and how the work will be printed, selecting tools, deciding on colors, obtaining paper and other materials from the art supply store all before I can sit down and get to work.

By the time I’ve completed those initial steps, that barista down the street has made a few hundred short double lattes and completed innumerable other coffeehouse tasks.
If an average minimum wage employee is taking home $680 a week, they’re making a little over $130 a day depending on their scheduling. With my mortgage, health expenses, vet visits and other responsibilities, I need to be earning at least equivalently.
My average time for completing an illustration assignment is between a week to two weeks. Does that really mean you cannot hire me for less than $1300.00? Not necessarily. I mean, maybe if you're asking for a wall mural or oil painting or something else more involved and time consuming...yes, that would take the price considerably upward, naturally.

I am unlikely to agree to any illustration job, black and white or color, unless it puts 600$ or so in my wallet.
I will provide a contract that I will sign and will ask you to sign as well and I will require 50% in advance to establish a good faith relationship.
Contact me if you desire to discuss any of what I have stated here, or have me outline contractual details. I can promise you that I go above and beyond to provide gorgeous work which you will cherish...if I do say so myself.

Chris

Doing some painting

1/2/2026

Another thing I did in December was push some acrylic paint around. Here are three results which I feel were somewhat successful. All three are on paper and the titles, in order, are CONVERSATION, DEPARTURE and EVENING. They're small, aproximately 4.25" X 5.25".

Christmas Despite It All

12/23/2025

I am wishing everyone peace this Christmas because I still believe in putting the positive vibes out there. I remain optimistic despite it all, after getting ultrasound results back from the hospital and learning that I have what are likely cancerous growths on my liver, a not uncommon development following colon cancer, which I very much had.
Here we go again.
I meet with my oncologist the day after Christmas and shall proceed from there. Hey, I'm glad to be here and here is a little gouache painting I did over the last couple days. I suppose it's my Christmas card to everybody.

Inky Wanderings

12/4/2025

The rich endless tonal variation you can achieve with ink and the lines which gravity and capillary action cause ...so much better than television.

JAM COMIC NIGHT

10/20/2025

Kenyon, Lyric, Asher, Stephen and I jammed out on the 19th, for the final meetup of the summer/fall comic art class series. Here are some of the results:

ANOTHER CLASS SERIES?

9/21/2025

I have learned a lot teaching cartooning once again, over the last few months at Willard Art & Frame and look forward to doing so again - with some changes. I might rearrange the sessions as well as hold off doing a series for a few months since Fall is here and the holidays will be on everyone's minds. I might host individual workshops. I am very fond of old school valentines and am wondering if a valentine making event would be interesting and fun for people.

DUNE 92

7/22/2025

I attended DUNE this evening, once again at Hugo House. I spent the first hour staring at my blank piece of paper, really just letting my mind reset after a very hectic day at the pawn shop and finally saw this brief scene play out in my imagination. With only three hours to draw it and hand it in, I went to it and, at about 8:00pm, decided it was finished. I did not intend it to be quite so Vaughn Bode meets Winsor McCay but there it is.

Okay So I guess I'm actually NOT alone in wanting to BRING ZINES BACK!!

7/3/2025

From Wired.com:

https://www.wired.com/story/zines-social-media-power/

Dune 88

6/8/2025

Here's what I came up with, back in March at the 88th Dune Minicomic night. It is based on a true incident which occured at work one afternoon!