The fourth installment in my very very long series of Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues.
Again, this is in reference to the 13 Virtues Ben Franklin came up with at the age of 20 to help cultivate his character. I thought I would demonstrate Ben Franklin’s “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve” in his resolve to dance.
I had fun playing with different Ben Franklin characters and crazy moves.
Here is my cartoon for#2 of Ben Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues::
2. “Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
Not sure how this one reads entirely. Also playing with the style a little. 11 more to go!
Happy 4th of July.
In honor of this day I wanted to do a cartoon with some of our Founding Fathers but ultimately settled on the doing a cartoon for all 13 of of Ben Franklin’s personal Thirteen Virtues. All are listed below.
Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as they are below. It is amazing a 20 year old had the maturity and conscience of mind to create the list and know it was something to strive towards. All of us would be better served and happier in life if we followed these in my opinion.
Today is Virtue #1 – “Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.” More to follow.
1- “Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2- “Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3- “Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4- “Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5- “Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6- “Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
7- “Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
8- “Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9- “Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10) “Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11- “Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12- “Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13- “Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
Franklin did not try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week “leaving all others to their ordinary chance”. While Franklin did not live completely by his virtues and by his own admission, he fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt made him a better man contributing greatly to his success and happiness, which is why in his autobiography, he devoted more pages to this plan than to any other single point; in his autobiography Franklin wrote, “I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit.”
June 23, 1532 – Henry VIII and François I sign a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
I think all three of these guys had their share of treaties and broken promises, back stabbing and long lasting disputes with one another especially François I of France and Charles V who was the Holy Roman Emperor. Lots of material to make multiple able mini-series.
To find out more about these 3 guys check out these links.
Henry VIII
Charles V
François I
I idea of a secret treaty just seemed like a lot of fun to play with in a cartoon. That’s Charles V is the black hat in the cartoon. He and Henry VIII worked together on a few things and had a few treaties of their own.
On this day in 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta.
The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no “freeman” (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today.
Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited.
The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world, and it was Magna Carta (rather than other early concessions by the monarch) which survived to become a “sacred text”. In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period did not in general limit the power of kings, but by the time of the English Civil War it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law. It influenced the early settlers in New England and inspired later constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution.
The above history info was pulled from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta
I thought this joke would play better in a simple style. I think it ‘reds’ better.
So here it is the final chapter in this strange story. It was fun to play around with and I learned a lot about what I do and don’t like about creating stories/comics as well as other things. I think this last chapter is the best of the 4 and I hope the jokes read well and are funny plus people get the Susan Lucci joke. I was originally going to have this end with the Beard battling with the Tsar but after this story and posting stated to drag on I knew I had to finish this up faster. If I could have been able to finish more chapters during the week and posted longer chapters that would have been ideal but time was just not on my side. The amount of time it took just to complete this chapter is scary.
My next few postings will be much shorter (about 4 panels) to free up more time to commit to ’30 Characters in 30 days’ which I really wanted to do to force me to play around with character design and color more. This is a fun challenge that is open to everyone.
Thanks for reading and have a great week,
Frank
Sorry, but you will need to wait a little longer to see that door open. I originally intended part 1-3 to be posted in 2 parts and by part 3 you would see who was behind the door but now it looks like I’m milking this thing but I swear that was not my intention.
To be honest this whole thing is one giant experiment. It started with a little gag about a man parting with his beloved beard and the beard taking on human characteristics and then ballooned into a small little story. Hopefully my jokes do not slow down the pace of the comic too but this does become more of an issue due to the fact you have to wait a week to read what happens next. Ah, the trials of making a weekly comic.
Curious to know what you think. Have a great week.
Frank
Here is part 2 of this “Mystery of History – Beast of Beard-en.” I changed up the style and made the whole thing much more cartoony which changed the character design of the main guy. Hopefully it does not throw anyone off. Overall I like this look better.
This is a semi ‘mash up’ post between “On This Day Cartoon” & “52 Villains” although the ‘villain’ part does not happen till after part 1. I also Incorporated the idea of “mystery” or “Mysterious” which is the topic of the week for Illustration Friday. If you do not know about Illustration Friday you really need to check it out. It is an amazing site where artist of all different levels get together and create illustrations (or comics) based on a new word every week.
Thank you for visiting. Have a good Labor Day.
August 8th 1815 (on this day) Napoleon begins his voyage into exile. This time to the island of Saint Helena. This would be his 2nd and last trip into exile.
Unlike Napoleon’s first exile this time the British chose a place far, far away in Atlantic Ocean about 1,870 km from the west coast of Africa to eliminate the chance of him coming back, or mounting an army, etc. This exile came after Napoleon lost at the battle of Waterloo against parts of the sixth coalition forces of Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal.
Below is a sense of how these allied forces felt about Napoleon in 1814 in this quote from the Act of abdication of Napoleon written up in the palace of Fontainebleau on April 11th, 1814.
The Allied Powers having declared that Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the restoration of peace in Europe, Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not ready to do in the interests of France.
My cartoon is based on the idea that after so many battles and years of war I have a feeling everyone was sick and tired of Napoleon even some of the French countrymen.
Thanks for visiting and have a great week,
Frank
