Welcome to the Unprofessional Section of smithst.com.

This page is not linked from my regular professional site. While I am no longer searching for a job, I've been advised that this might be a detriment to my job security.

My whole motivation for having this spotty little corner of the web is to somehow find my way back to that quality of sponenaety and productivity, and somehow nourish and direct my current state as (must I be so hesitant to say?) an artist and human being.

The following is a slightly edited letter I wrote on 3/3/09 to a long-lost friend on Facebook about what I draw:

"For a time I was representing people in ways that in no way resembled them, save for one or two features. My character for my then-girlfriend Tracey was tall, armless, with a big bulbous nose and fuzzy hair (from when she cut her own hair really short). The Nostril Character (I've always been self conscious of my large nostrils) was created in c.1987 for the purpose of representing me giving the Tracey character a hard time. The Bird character (created 1983, named Otis Rotary Diner) basically expressed the more negative aspects of my personality. He carries a bit of baggage. The Noncharacter (see the illustration of Hell with four demons–basically one of those minus the horns and tail) is more naïve and lovelorn. I draw my wife as a bunny rabbit. That originated from a jam with my friends in 1989, in which I offended her roommate by drawing her as a frog. Cartoonists are sometimes self-indulgent and self-centered. As you can surmise, I am no exception. I just try to draw amusingly within my limitations. I've always been averse to drawing human beings. I'm trying to overcome that by sketching people on the subway. So many anthropomorphic cartoonists (read: onanistic shut-in males) portray women as basically the same sorta disnified animals plus hair and tits. Or they look like humans with button noses and ears sticking out of the hair. Plus tits. I'm not into that sorta thing. "

4/1/09: Work To Do at 112 Greene Street added to Other category, Splat and Drowning added to Sketchbooks category.

12/21/08: Mute Nostril Agony and Piñata Crossing added to the Sketchbooks category.

9/29/08: O Death added to the Sketchbooks category.

8/14/08: Shrinkydinks added to Other category.

7/8/08: Birds added to Sketchbooks category.

7/6/08: Paint session at Ian's in the Other category.

2/14/08: 10 additions to the Sketchbooks category.

3/31/07: Close To You video added to Other category.

3/29/07: Old Bird added to Phone Doodles category.

3/23/06: Bird Couple, Firing Line, Goodbye, Kissyfish, Natural Woman, One More and Self-Loathing Club added to Sketchbooks category. Skateboard and Fat Man/Worms Chair added to Other category.

3/21/06: Sophie's debut on YouTube added to Other category.

8/26/06: A Dream and Super Monster Truck Pullin' Competition added to Comics. Broke-Ass NC added to Phone Doodles.

6/21/06: Night of the Gecko and W M added to Bad Photos.

5/14/06: Carroll Park Trash Barrel added to Other category.

3/25/06: In case you were wondering where the hell I get off, now you know. I'm glad someone is paying attention. (PDF, 2.4MB)

3/4/06: The cumbersome and annoying splash pages were replaced with something somewhat less cumbersome and annoying.

2/13/06: Fart! added to Phone Doodles category. This site is really taking a turn toward the infantile...

2/11/06: Rabbit and Another Fish Story added to Comics category, WFMU Catalogue Back Page added to Illustration category.

2/9/06: BUUURP! added to Sketchbooks category, Mickey Dead added to Illustration category.

1/22/06: Nostril Character Prays added to Other category.

1/11/06: Nostril Character Inaction Figure Prototype is added to Other category.

12/15/05: Death of Pac-Man bad photo added.

12/13/05: Stressfish phone doodle and Workspace 2 bad photo added in honor of the passing of the Addison years.

11/14/05: Unprofessional section of smithst.com is forced out into the open.