Toys 2010

Hey kiddos! Tonight is the opening of the Toys show in downtown Indianapolis! I have a piece there that you can check out (or buy, if you are so kind.) I only have the color comp I did, but I'll be sure to get some photos tonight.

Check it out:

Primary Colors presents TOYS.
6-9 plus an after party.
Good times will be had, I'm sure.

Lend a Hand

I'm in the process of painting for the Toys show going on here starting Dec 3. Despite a problem where my fireplace sneezed soot over half my living room, I am chugging along. check out the show at http://www.primarycolours.org/ It should be pretty awesome.


In the meantime I'm playing with transparency in my work. It's a lot of fun to plan for. Not sure how much I'll use it though.

Posession

Trying to play around with bodies again. Naked and semi naked people are tons of fun.


In the mean time it's getting cold out. I have the windows open and I'm warming my feet with the brick of my computer charger. Winter, I am ready to take you on.

Let me get what I want

Oh my, my, my. I painted this on a board but decided I wanted to play around with the shapes a little more. It's been a weird month so I'm recycling.

Food Food Food

Man, since the art fair shenanigans is over I am going into apartment improvement. Note to everyone: IKEA furniture doesn't appreciate paint so much.

In the mean time I took my drawing I had for my Art vs Art piece and made this:



I also painted my own version of a lady in a hat for Gleaners. Gleaners is a food bank in Indiana that will be doing a silent auction. For every 10 dollars raised, 10 people can be fed. I'm already feeding 131231 foster cats so why not be more charitable? Let's hope I feed a lot of people. http://www.gleaners.org/

art vs art

Art vs Art paint day was this past Saturday and you know what that means! VOTING TIME. so head out this way and vote for your favorites. Mine is canvas 56, if you would be so kind.

A little explanation for the contest from my roommate:

"The concept of the competition is you go and paint for a day with supplied materials and it goes into voting with a load of other paintings. At the big Main Event, 32 paintings make it to the floor where people can vote for the ones they want to see on stage. 16 paintings make it and go round by round one on one with an applause-o-meter deciding the victor. The loser spins the wheel of DEATH and if it's not "Instant Death" it gets auctioned off. If no one wants it, that shit gets DESTROYED in various ways (such as chainsaw, katana, paint thinner, jackhammer, or "dirty sanchez"). It's an amazing competition and I could only get a tiny photo from the site (some are larger than others for whatever reason) but the canvases are all 18x20. "

So check it out, vote, and if you're in the area come to the main event on the 24th to buy me a drink or something! Hey there, behbeh.

New Promo Card

For anyone in Indy on the 18th, I'll be throwing these new promo cards at everyone. I also had cards made of my "put another one on" and "headphones" pieces as well. Obviously the beard card is the way to go though.

Art fair shenanigans.

Hey kids!

I've been busy preparing for an art fair downtown, as well as helping my roommate prepare for a completely different one the same day. A word of advice, don't try and make a booth out of PVC when you have never done anything like that before and are too short to put it together anyway.
In short, it's been a little hectic. I'm still trying to get things done though. For example, I'm getting out the paint and brushes and actually painting!

Sorry for the bad scan and terrible photo, but I am only left with a bad scanner and an apartment devoid of a place to take a decent photo. I'll have better versions soon though, I hope.

Ayn Rand is my homegirl?

I've been digging around in the deep, dark folders of my hard drive and found a lot of old work of mine including this dude who is one of the first things I did in illustrator. I dropped the whole cut paper look pretty fast, but making shapes stuck. Looking back is weird.



old stuff gallery on flickr, check it out if you're curious.

But what I really wanted to tell you dudes about was my friend Ben's comic that has been updated every week on Wonkette. He's about eleventy-billion times as awesome as I will ever be. You can find all of them so far HERE. This link is one step toward paying him back for all the times he made me feel less awkward in SCADRadio meetings and the most awesome Project Runway/Prez and Vice Prez debate parties ever.

Raining like what

Finally I think the whole cat health issues thing is over. I'm thankful because I am tired of digging into my fig nuton funds for poop-cat medications.

While I wasn't freaking out about the state of my cat's butt, I tried out some new coloring techniques to make things a tad bit more interesting. I used a drawing from my sketchbook of Andrew Bird and figured it would be a good fit for an experiment. I kind of dig it, but I need to see how else I can push it.



I also got a painting done this weekend. I need to get a decent scanner to actually show it off nicely. My photos of it kind of look a little gross. It felt good to paint again though, I'll have to do it more.

Woah, dude

I made Dad an iPad seeing as there is no way in holy butts I can afford one for Father's Day. It was pretty sweet but I didn't think about taking a photo of it until I was walking out of the post office. Oops. Hopefully it gets there safe and sound so he can take a picture of it for me.

I keep saying "dude" at work, every time it slips out I feel like a rebel.

Here, have this:

New City cover

Hey! If you're in the Chicago area check out the cover I did for this week's Newcity Magazine. It's out today (June 10) and free! So grab a handful and throw them at people.*



Show me some photos if you find one, it would be awfully rad of you.

*not responsible if you throw things at others, however hilarious it may be.

Pistols at Dawn

If you follow a few of my friends from school, you should know that we're all participating in Drawgasmic! Everyone else seems to have sent their stuff in and showed what they made for it, so I might as well too. If you're interested, I'm 99% sure they're till taking applications. it looks like it should be pretty rad. I'm even considering driving the many hours just to go. Possible road trip, hell yes.



Here is what I made, I call it "Pistols at Dawn"





I would stop drawing siamese twins because I do it a lot, but they are waaaaay too much fun.

Also I put my "Put Another One On" piece up for sale. I dig him lots.



I have another few actual paintings to show, but this post is far too image heavy as it is. I'll save them for later.

Gas Snacks

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I collect WWI stuff and gasmasks. I never get amazingly epic things, just little buts here and there. A medal, a poster, a mask, a bag, anything neat that I can afford. Every once in a while I remember I actually have these things and they get me a-doodlin'.





I never thought I would use pink for anything. There's a first for everything, right? I may have to utilise it in the future.

Over the past two weeks I have been going through a pretty depressing kitty situation where two weeks after I adopted two little dudes I had to put one down. I feel much better because it was the right decision, but please just hug your pets for good old Major Tom.

Put another one on

I was listening to records the other day while I was cleaning and the rain was pouring, it was a good day. Kitties to pet, couches to nap on, I had to doodle a bit.



I decided to take the advice of a few cool people and start playing with textures again. Expect to see more in the future.

Now available as a print.

Oh man oh man oh man oh man

I bought a drawing from Grant Gilliand as a gift to myself for my birthday, it came in the mail yesterday! I am very excited about it. I interviewed him for a project for my first illustration class a few years ago and I still can't get over his work. Master of Sharpie's, that man is. Now I have to decide where it's going to go.



Speaking of stuff on the wall, while trying to get some good photos for etsy, which is apparently near impossible in my light sucking cave house, I took this while testing the light. It made me laugh, I figured I should share.






I put these notebooks up for sale the other day too, they're pretty rad and I had fun making them. I really dig the paper I used in them, it has some delicious tooth to it.

Now for some painting and a few hours of The Golden Girls.

Bang Bang Bang

I'm till trying to get used to this office job thing. It's throwing off my need to doodle like crazy.

However last night I hunkered down and did a bunch of drawings with a gas mask theme going on because I found a new WWI mask I have my eye on.

I collect them, if you didn't know. With all these happy-go-lucky things on here did you REALLY think everything I own is sunshine and rainbows?

Gonna go shoot some things on the vidya games now.

Computer Machine

My brother was involved in robotics competitions. He's a secret nerd sporty type. I always mean to draw robots and electronics but never do. I drew this out for the painting from the last post and decided to do it all clean-like on the computer.

Birthday and Painting

This past week was my birthday! It was pretty uneventful, though Mao bought me a tiny chocolate almond ice cream cake which we slit. Best roommate ever, though I was half sure the almond smell was poison. It turned out to be delicious instead.

I also decided to nab myself a drawing from Grant Gilliand as a gift to myself. I interviewed him about four years ago for my first illustration class. Not only was he really nice, he also had some good advice. I should probably go into my email and read it again, the advice is probably a little more relevant now. Anyway, you should check him out, his work is extremely rad.


I'm still playing with color and possible ways to render. I'm having fun with it.


I also whipped up a painting, I need to play with it a bit more. I haven't painted in almost a year now so I was insanely nervous about every little thing I did. I miss playing around with paint. I should really pick up a brush more from here on out.



Speaking of which, here is a drawing I did on a canvas in July but haven't finished yet (maybe this week, I guess) and a painting I did probably four years ago. Biiiiiig change. I went through a lot of phases before settling down recently. I can't believe I was that bad. Oh boy. That's getting painted over soon.


And lastly I used excess paint on a birdhouse I found at the craft store. I may need to paint some sciency looking wooglies on there. Official term, I swear. He's chilling with the Spock my brother Patric and I won from a crane game and the Mary I nearly ran over because someone placed her and a cement lion in the middle of the street. The lion lives with my parents now.

Tomorrow I start my office job. I'm so nervous I nearly just threw up. I've never worked in an office before, and while I'm sure I'll do my best I am still really scared. I hope they keep the air on because from here on out I have to wear long sleeves to work. Crap.

Beard Bass

Hey ladies and germs, in an attempt to get a "Get Pam a Cat" fund going I submitted a shirt to Threadless, it is now at voting stage! Please help!





You should vote as an early birthday present to me.

A Classy Dame

I'm thinking of shopping this dude around a few shirt websites, I kind of love him.

In other news, I landed an office job. I never, ever in my life imagined working an office job. This completely weirds me out but I'm happy I will be employed by what seems to be a pretty nice, relaxed company. A company where I can get my teeth cleaned and my glasses fixed. the swirlies will surely break them down over time. I never really worked in an office before so I had to go buy grown-up clothes to cover my tattoos. It's more difficult to do than you think it is, apparently.

In the mean time I've been trying to crank out some work, including designs for pocket notebooks I want to make and sell. I should have some mock-ups finished soon. I have a bad habit of buying things with the intention of using them for project but never starting them. Hopefully this means I can get this stuff out of my face.

The more money I make the closer I get to allowing myself to get a cat. Help me with this dream. Please.

Tea Time

I'm finally getting back into the swing of drawing and making things. I guess moving from one state to another kind of jumbled up that part of my brain.



I'm messing with using more colors, not staying so completely flat and limited in terms of my palate. Play time.

Commissions

I got my hands on two commissions from my etsy. One for a Pan and one for a mermaid. Neither are something I'd think of doing right off so it was kind of nice. However, the dude wanted me to paint and ink them, nothing digital. That thew me for a loop, I haven't painted in a while.





Because I was a little shaky I've promised myself to do a little more practice. So I did a quick doodle last night and did some practice painting.



Hopefully I get better pretty soon.

So here we are, in the car again

I've been in Indianapolis now for about a week and a half. I've ventured out on my own to the scary land of the post office and grocery store. I nearly died.

Not really, but my car smells like wet cabbage now because we hauled my goldfish in the seat of my car behind the truck we rented. Apparently it spilled a bit. Seriously though, just like slightly cooked cabbage, I'm not even kidding.

I'm not getting into the swing of things, I got a commission for two pieces I'm nearly done with. A Pan and a mermaid, just ink and a quick painting respectively. It's kind of blowing my mind because I haven't actually done ink or paint in quite a while. Apparently I've become more patient because I haven't thrown the painting out the window yet. Last year that baby would have been compost by now.

Here's a doodle turned kind of neato from tonight. We can't afford cable so I'm catching up on Big Love and doodling. Best kind of combo. We were without internet for the first week or so. I nearly died. You have no idea how many wireless routers I tried to admin/admin my ass into.



I'm not sure if you knew or not, but B is for Bongo.

But can they tell me the lotto numbers?

It's March! I'm moving in two weeks, that's pretty scary. I technically started packing, but I only have a box filled with 23 garden gnomes, a cement Virgin Mary, and a Bust of Spock that doubles as a decanter. I wish I was kidding, but I bet you wish you were as awesome as the contents of that box.

I decided that I should stay up all night in order to reset my sleep schedule, for the past few months I've accidentally been going to sleep at about 6am. Night shifts do goofy things to me and I should probably return to the land of the living and conscious. To occupy my time I finished a set of fortune teller ladies I have been working on off and on. They used to have about five times as many colors and more detail but I just don't think I'm good at those type of things. I find it more fun to pick an extremely small amount of colors and go to work figuring out how to make it work.

Car is the Cathedral of the 20th Century

For a little bit there I was in an idea block, I think I'm out of it. However unless I'm actively working on things, I feel like I'm not productive. So I dug out the first piece I ever did with a shape oriented design a few years ago in order to maybe mess with it:

I think I did this for an Illustrator based project, I don't quite remember. The whole idea was from a quote I learned in my Beat Lit class "The car is the cathedral of the 20th Century" or something similar to that.



I remade all the shapes then did a little color change. Decided I was not done and messed with color more.





Then more color messing.



I figure I'm finished with it for now. I like it all three ways, but not sure which I like best. If anything, it was fun to revisit a piece I forgot about.

Two and a half weeks until I move to Indianapolis, I'm kind of pooping myself. I have a lot of crap to pack.

The "will fuck anything" genes

I just watched Secret of Kells and juuuuust about pooped myself. The shapes, you people, fucking amazing.

I worked in an Irish import store for a few years in High School, admittedly I read every book we had in there. I probably shouldn't have, sorry all you people who bought books from there. My grubby hands were all-up-ons. I read a lot about the Viking invasions, the Book of Kells, crazy-go-nuts stories about woods people, etc. Lots of fun, so I really, really dug this movie. I have no idea who I want to win best animated feature this year, can't we just let all of them share?

I really want a Bounty bar now. That job was amazing for all the reading time and free imported candy. hoooooo-boy. Sadly I am not Irish enough to say I'm Irish. I'm not anything enough to claim being anything. I'm half sure my ancestors just stood in the streets and held a sign that said "will fuck anything" and that's where I get my genes.

Kinda proud of that.

Here, have a bunch of skulls. They'll be played with in the future, I promise.

Laika

Work has been ultra slow, I guess the crepe eating winter season is slowing down. Spring needs to get it's butt here, I need some cash. While at work I drew Laika, the most awesome of space dogs.



Michael was trying to tell me she died upon reentry. That's a lie, she totally landed, then chose to go back into space of her own accord. She is currently orbiting the earth and is actually the person who controls the internet. The more you know!

All of my computers and computer accessories have Russian space related names. I don't remember how it started, but my handy 2g thumb drive that I have yet to lose (somehow, it's kind of a miracle) is named Laika.

Eh, still on a sexy ladies kick

So I drew that lady ass with the zombies, now I'm drawing sexy TOS Star Trek ladies. Honestly their uniforms and hyper-sexualization of uterus folk on there just beg for some crazy shapes. I like making fun shapes. I'll probably do an alien/astro/cosmonaut set too. People out there seem to like the ladies. Maybe all men, maybe all women, maybe both. Who knows?!

Alien seduction, oh my!

Oh, sorry I kept you waiting

So I'm sometimes a terrible friend. Not only do I have my best friend's belated birthday gift from last week, I also still have her christmas gift and a gift I got her to make up for the ticket she bought me for the Andrew Bird concert in September. Sep-fucking-tember, you guys. I have the best intentions, but the post office is so far away. Like way down the street and around the corner.

So I made Mao a momento mori style belated birthday image that I'll slap on a card for her. I also figured I'd show what my drawings sometimes look like.

Here's how it looks like at first, I like drawing in color pencils, I just dig the way they feel and I start with a light color for sketchy lines and work my way into a more finished drawing with darker colors.



Honestly that is a more finished drawing than I've been doing lately, haha. I'm kind of sloppy and all over the place when it's just something for me and nobody else sees the process. I also haven't scanned since May. I should probably start doing that instead of photoboothing because I'm lazy and generally do all my work from 1am and later. The scanner the house is in a bedroom, not so useful at 1am.



There is the finished. I rushed it and didn't take a huge amount of time, but it's cool seeing as it's only going to be a small thing as a joke.

That millipede is freaking adorable.