A PEREfectly Purim Update!

It's been a typical weekend in the life of a Staten Islander. Y'know the kind - when one has driven through and/or stopped in ALL 5-BOROUGHS *and* NEW JERSEY. No biggie.

But here IS a biggie - a big update, that is!! All my Purim commissions are up and ready to be sent out through the internet superhighway at the speed of light.

The Orthodox Union, my biggest client at the moment, has been commissioning me for various e-cards and cartoonwork ("artwork" doesn't seem to be the appropriate term). I spent the last three weeks succumbing to my Transylvanian Vampire heritage tendencies and saw the light of day enough times to count on both hands.

But it was worth it! Here are a list of projects that y'all can now have the privilege of sending around to your most treasured friends and family. (And if you don't like 'em, bear in mind - my blood, sweat, and tears went into each and every one of these pieces. Have you no pity?!)

1) 4 E-cards:

http://community.ou.org/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1141 - My designs are listed below. Please send them to as many of your friends as possible:
D. Happy Healthy Purim!
E. Haman Hangman
K. Hats 'R Us
O. Raashan


2) Children's Activity Pages:

a. Purim "I-Spy" and Maze: http://www.ou.org/holidays/purim/purim_children
b. Purim Coloring Book pages: http://www.ou.org/holidays/purim/purim_coloring_pages

3) Purim Slideshow (as told by your Friendly Neighborhood Hamantash!
http://www.ou.org/holidays/purim/story_of_purim_narrated_by_neighborhood_hamantash


So that's all for now, folks. Got some more work that I'm gonna feature shortly on here - but in the meantime, get out your finger clickin' goodness. If you like my work - please support me! Send forth my work out from the OU website and into the e-mailbox of a friend near & dear to you!

*Hugs* and Happy Purim,

~Chari =0)

Tu B'Shvat eCards 'Tu' Send!

The Orthodox Union has once again turned to a few of us cartoonists to create fun eCards to send for the latest of Jewlidays - Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish Arbor Day! Can you guess which 3 are my designs??

Be sure to support yours truly and my pal Jordan Gorfinkel - send all your family and friends our fun and funny cartoon greetings this Tu B'Shvat!! =0)

A Post OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

A project of mine that is quickly gaining popularity is my weekly comic strip, Of Biblical Proportions. Conceived during one of my daily runs, it was formulated based on the various experiences and conversations from my 2008 PresenTense Institute Summer Fellowship.

The comic strip takes lines and stories from the Bible and adds a modern, humorous twist in the form of a comic strip. The idea was to launch it right after the holiday of Simchat Torah based on the weekly Torah portion, but more as a guideline to provide my strip with some structure than to create a real Jewish comic strip (hey, the Bible is the #1 book in the world - and is taught as literature in classes regardless if you are Jewish, Christian, Atheistic, Scientologistic, etc.)

Before I had a chance to draw one sketch of the strip, three friends/relatives sent me a link to the 2008 Jerusalem Post New Cartoonist Contest. I applied, and I won! Here was the winning submission:


I officially launched the strip as planned just for fun. After a mere 3 strips, the Orthodox Union (who had already approached me about some freelance opportunities for their website), offered to purchase exclusive online rights to the strip for the next year. I agreed, and every week my little strip that could is now included in their weekly e-Newsletter, which goes out to about 40,000 people.

My next step is to get the strip into newspapers. I'm planning my next move, and although I have already been approached by editors to include the strip in their papers, I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to get the strip out there so as broad an audience as possible. Suggestions and tips are welcome from all!

The whole point of the strip is what I love to do - take something that is old and wonderful, and make it new, accessible, & fun for today's generation. I immensely enjoy creating each strip, and look forward to seeing where this new path takes me.

Stay 'tooned for the strip each week - new comics are posted at www.ou.org on Wednesdays and archived on Fridays at www.obpcomics.com (where the complete archives can be found).