Crush County

My dad used to tell me something in Romanian all the time; “I love you like the eyes in my head.” It was a sweet sentiment (Romance languages make even gross things sound precious), but I didn’t fully grasp the truth of what he was saying until my own daughter was born. I’ve never experienced anything as incredible, as fun, and as just plain awesome as being my little girl’s dad. She’s my favorite thing in the world, and last weekend, she turned one.

I knew, even before she was born, that I wanted to draw the invitations to her first birthday party. In what I’m certain had to be a gesture of love toward her man-child husband, my wonderful wife suggested we go with a superhero theme (“but with pink“), so with that in mind, I went to work. I’m always intimidated when it comes to drawing things like this – it’s a daunting task when the subject means so much to you. I drew a lot of babies that looked either too forced, too lifeless, or too much like they wanted to stab somebody, but eventually, I landed on a winner.

I also drew another, simpler pose for the cake, and my wife used her mad decorating skills to recreate it in icing, which I can say first-hand is no easy feat. I tried my hand at a little piping, and it got nerve-wracking pretty fast, so I had to step aside and let her fix my mess. If you can find yourself a baby mama who’ll frost your pastries and fix your messes, I highly recommend it.

I haven’t seen all 923 photos from the party yet, but I hope we took at least one close-up of the cakepop display pictured above, because it was delightful. My sister-in-law makes a mean ball of cake, so she whipped up a quick eight dozen or so (no big thing), and I created these little tags to attach to them. Fancy, y’all.

The day was perfect, the party was epic, and thanks to the love and efforts of many people near and dear to me (most of all, my wife), our baby girl had a wonderful first birthday. My only regret is that my dad didn’t make it see this day. I thought about him a lot, and I think he would have gotten a big kick out of this:

San Diego Comic-Con is upon us again, and this year I’ll have a new print available. I’m taking a break from the TMNT stuff to do something a bit different, but which is (almost) equally as near and dear to my childhood heart… The Legend Of Zelda. These prints (and the original, if you’re interested) will be available at BOOTH 1802 from Preview Night through closing on Saturday (I won’t be there on Sunday this year, because I’m a daddy now and I’ll be missing my new daughter like crazy by then). This is an edition of 75 prints, signed and numbered, and any remainders will be available on my site after Comic-Con. If you’re attending the show, swing by 1802 and say hey.

Update: Back from Comic-Con. Prints and the original artwork are both now available in the County Store.