July 8 - Bedtime for Cousin Lee

Cousin Lee is all snuggled up in her nice, soft and comfy bed. The nice cool tradewinds are blowing into her upstairs bedroom through the open windows, where she has a great view of her Pearl City neighborhood and Pearl Harbor. It all makes for one happy hapa. Lee loves living in Hawaii, and she's ready to close her eyes and say aloha o'e to another day in paradise nei. And with her bedroom door locked, no screaming keiki or hyperactive pets can barge in and ruin her mood. :)

May 25 - Mine!

Little baby Robbie just learned a new word, and it's striking terror into his parents Ricki Lee & Tony. He loves innocently showing off his expanded vocabulary and is quite proud of himself. This is the title card of a Flash animation I'm working on.

April 12 - Da Kine Easter Parade

I created this happy Easter cartoon on Easter Sunday, which this year in the United States was on the last day of March. I did a thumbnail sketch in my notebook a few weeks before, then after my church's Easter sunrise service I drew the final edition on the back of an envelope at the Cafe Westminster in Westminster, California and scanned it into my laptop.

The Rogers ohana is dressed in their hau'oli Easter best--pet mongoose included--to celebrate the resurrection of Christ at a local Easter sunrise service. And in doing so they are putting on their own version of Da Kine Easter Parade, yeah? Pictured from left to right are Cousin Lee, her adopted daughter Keisha, Lani Girl the mongoose, and arm-in-arm Lee's parents Della and Pete. Keisha laughs at Tutu's Easter bonnet because she's never seen one before and to her it looks so wonderfully ridiculous. :)

St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii Nei

Do people celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii? Why faith and begorrah, of course they do, brah--but with an island twist. Ricki Lee, dressed as an Irish folk dancer, is happily swinging on a vine from the big banyan tree with baby Robbie in tow. Her Uncle Pete and Aunt Della mix shakas with shamrocks on the lawn, joining their daughter Lee (who is "Hapa Irish" through her dad), adopted granddaughter Keisha, Ricki's other son Isaac on the other vine, and the ohana pets Xena the Chihuahua and Lani Girl the mongoose.

November 2 - Late Night HDTV

This should have been posted before Halloween, but I've been busy with work this week and haven't been able to until now. This animated video was made during the summer and is the sequel to a 2009 Ricki Lee & Tony cartoon, Late Night TV. As the name implies, this new one is high-definition and widescreen. Here, cousins Issac and Keisha are watching test patterns while Cousin Lee (Keisha's adopted mom) is sleeping. The keiki (kids) make jokes about Popsicle flavors and donuts while the noise wakes poor Lisa up to a bizarre TV nightmare.

October 22 - A Harvest of Costumes

It's the annual Fall Festival at Ricki Lee & Tony's church--or what some would call a safer Halloween alternative without the scary costumes and gothic enthusiasts--and everyone's dressed up as somebody, including Ricki Lee as legendary Hawaiian singer-songwriter Aunty Irmgard Aluli, Cousin Lee as a University of Hawaii cheerleader, and Isaac as an Angry Bird. Unless you live in or have visited the islands, you might not get the local kine jokes, including Auntie Della's. But have fun fo try, eh? :)

October 17 - Oktoberfest in Hawaii Nei

The traditional German festival known as Oktoberfest is celebrated in Hawaii, too--often at hotels, tourist traps and Lutheran churches. (At churches, though, it may be with root beer instead of the regular kine.) The Ricki Lee & Tony ohana, Lutherans all, are all in the Deutschlander aloha spirit in lederhosen, peasant Hausfrau dresses, feathers in their hats, and haku lei on their heads. Even Lani Girl the mongoose is in the act, holding up a stein full of root beer with her tail. Alas, little Isaac hasn't been properly brainwashed in the Oktoberfest spirit. They'll get him yet. :)

January 23 - Bad Golf Day

From the joy of New Year's Eve to the frustration of being a pathetic golfer: so much for Lee trying to be like professional golfer Paula Creamer. At least she can look like The Pink Panther, right? It doesn't help, though, when your mom and daughter really rub it in. And it really doesn't help if you have an explosive temper on the course like Lee clearly does.  :)

January 9 - Happy (Achoo!) New Year

Happy New Year! Since 2010 I have created Ricki Lee & Tony-themed New Year's cartoons in addition to my Christmas greeting cards. In this year's version the whole extended ohana in Pearl City welcomes you to 2012. Poor Ricki has come down with a cold, but that doesn't keep her from dressing up in her "Breakfast at Tiffany's" best for New Year's Eve. When her cousin Lee complimented her festive white gloves, Ricki angrily fired back "It's so I can wipe my runny nose with them!"

The cartoon was directly inspired by my own bout with a cold--the second one in a month. I myself was laid up in bed for most of the New Year's weekend, and decided to make lemonade out of lemons by incorporating it into the artwork through Ricki Lee.

The whole family as shown clockwise from left to right: Lee, her adopted daughter Keisha, her parents Della and Pete Rogers, Tony, Ricki Lee with her cold medicine and tissue paper, Xena faithfully watching over her mistress, and Ricki Lee & Tony's sons Isaac and Robert (seated).

May 30, 2011 - Welcome to the Ohana!

As promised, every cartoon posted from now on will now reflect Ricki Lee and Tony's family moving to Hawaii. In this post, everyone celebrates cousin Lee officially adopting little Keisha as her own daughter at the Honolulu children's court, and changing her name to Keisha Kealoha Rogers. Lee's mother Della is crying joyfully not only for having a grandchild, but for seeing the love and care she raised Lee with now being passed on to another generation.

This drawing was designed for an adoption-themed greeting card, which is available for purchase from my Zazzle.com online store.

February 18 - Snow on Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano that is the highest point on the Big Island of Hawaii (over 13,000 feet), gets dumped with snow every time winter storms pass through the Hawaiian islands. Nobody expects snow in Hawaii, but Mauna Kea's sheer height virtually guarantees it. Residents from neighboring islands come to the Big Island every winter to ski and snowboard on the "Pineapple Powder".

In this cartoon, Ricki Lee & Tony and the boys are playing in the snow on Mauna Kea. Notice the shaka salute on the snowman's left arm and the lei-covered cross in the foreground, an affirmation of the family's Christian faith (and of my own).

January 25 - Card Club

It's card night at the house, and little Isaac is holding all the cards, and most of the chips. Are you all in on the joke? :)

January 5 - Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms

No, not desperate housewives, Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms. They're essentially the same thing, but I'm not talking about selfish, scheming, sexually addicted housewives like on the ABC show. Desperate Stay-at-Home Moms are true domestic goddesses that are committed to the man they married, the children they raise and the daily disasters that happen at home like a screaming baby, broken flower pots, toddlers always asking for Mommy and pets that always want to go out for a walk... all of which are depicted in this cute Ricki Lee cartoon.

This cartoon is available as a ladies t-shirt and coffee mug at my new online store, powered by Zazzle. It's called The Pandapolis Store and can be visited by going to www.zazzle.com/richartrod.

January 2 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Isaac, Tony, Xena, Ricki Lee and Robert... and yours truly.

December 30 - Late Night TV

As we conclude the year 2009, we also conclude our broadcast day. This is an animated movie I worked off and on for some time, and finally completed last January. Ricki Lee and Tony fall asleep in front of the TV, then wake up to see the boys and Xena happily singing along to the TV test pattern. It's also a fitting video to post since 2009 was also the year American TV channels made the historic, and frustrating, switch from analog to digital signals. Happy new year, and remember to turn off your TV before you go to bed. :)

December 26 - Eek! A Mouse!

I wasn't planning to post this comic until around New Year's Day, but since I'm home sick for the Christmas holiday, I finished coloring this one and posted it a few days early. I hope no real mice are after your Christmas turkey leftovers.

December 21 - The Live Nativity

The first Ricki Lee & Tony web comic strip. Merry Christmas!

Welcome to the Ricki Lee & Tony Blog!

Welcome to the official blog of Ricki Lee & Tony, a series of YouTube animated movies and drawings that I have been creating since 2004. On this blog I will be posting my latest comic strips, illustrations and animated movies featuring this most nuclear family.

But first things first: let's introduce the family. Ricki Lee & Tony live with their kids and Chihuahua in sunny Newport Beach, California, not Hawaii as the cartoons may suggest. They are dressed Hawaiian touristy style in these cartoons because these transplanted Easterners have fully embraced The OC's famous beach lifestyle.

Ricki Lee Smith: The mom, 30 years old, married to Tony and mother of two boys, Isaac and Robert. Her claim to fame back in college was becoming the first (and only) female member of the Chapman University ice hockey team--and one of its best. She became a high school teacher right out of college, but is now a stay-at-home mom until her kids are old enough to go to school. She always wears a baseball cap, which she calls "her trademark" and has been wearing caps since her Little League days. Despite being a doting mom, she's basically a grown-up tomboy, which is why she and Tony get along so well (usually).

Robert Antonio "Tony" Smith: The dad, 31 years old, a professional NHL player. For obvious reasons (legal, of course) I can't have him on a real NHL team, but I can tell you he cut his teeth (literally) in high school hockey back in his native Chicago, on the Chapman team (where he met his future wife) and on a minor league team called the Albuquerque Chihuahuas. When he's not thrashing people to ribbons on the ice, he likes to tinker with electronics, deliberately crash toy trains head-on, play in the sand with his boys, waste time with his vintage Atari 2600 and evade Ricki Lee's honeydo list.

Issac Smith: The older son, 3 years old, likes to play with his toys but never puts them away, occasionally has moments of clarity when Mommy gives him a timeout in the sitting corner. He once played barber shop cutting all the fur off a willing Xena with Daddy's electric razor. He talks with a preschool lisp which is reflected in his talking lines. Other than all of the above, he's a good kid. Really. Trust me.

Robert Antonio Smith Jr., alias "The Baby": The aforementioned alias, about 6 months old, and already knows how to say "Mama" and "Dada", occasionally tries to mimic whatever his parents say. Like his father, he is unusually mellow, often staring Droopy-style at the viewer when the punch line occurs or drinking from his baby bottle, which he pops out of his mouth when indignant or surprised.

Xena: The family Chihuahua, given to them by a family friend. She got that name because when she's excited her high-pitched barking sounds like the fighting yell from the title character of "Xena: Warrior Princess". As sweet as a princess and just as conceited, Ricki calls Xena "her little girl" and is the .25 in their 2.25 children because she's such a runt. (See the "Mele Kalikimaka" cartoon above for a look at Xena.)

Other characters:

Gladys Rogers (aka "Grandma Rogers"): Ricki's mom, 55 years old, a very sensible and practical woman who drives her daughter nuts with that sensibility and practicality. Loves to babysit her grandsons. Likes to joke that her no-nonsense style is a reflection of her industrious Swedish heritage. Gladys is also a cancer survivor; her breast cancer is in full remission.

Dee Dee Rogers: Ricki's teenage little sister, 19 years old, a freshman at Chapman, part of the women's basketball team, and a commuter student still living at home. Is the first choice for babysitting the boys. She is also a teenage alcoholic, having begun drinking after her beloved grandmother died. Like her late grandma, she is a devoted and sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and attends a student AA group at Chapman.

Well, there you have it. I hope you'll enjoy the cartoons as I post them. I invite you to post me your replies as we move forward.

Watch Ricki Lee & Tony's animated movies at my YouTube page: www.youtube.com/richartrod