Challenger: One

Pretty happy with the work I've done for this show over at Vision Gallery for the Waterloo Arts Fest this weekend. I drew a series of 7 pieces of escalating sizes. The series starts off with four 6" by 9" drawings on 9" x 12" pieces of bristol board. Then there are two 10" x 15" on 12" x 18" boards, then the final 14" x 21" on a full 18" x 24" drawing board. The scheme is to hang them in a giant grid formation. I mapped it all out for the curators, so I hope it works. Show opens to the public on Saturday.

Here's the first four pieces... they have names but I forgot the piece of paper I wrote them down on!









This is the idea, when all is said and done:



I dunno what, if anything, I'm going to do with these aside from, y'know, selling the originals. If they even sell. I've priced them to sell, so... anyway. I'll post up the other ones later this week.

Saturaday, I'll also be at The Beachland Ballroom's Rock and Roll Flea Market selling zines, prints, and tons of original art. Please come out and say "hi"!

Died on Friday

Busy Busy Busy, but I wanted to post some shit. No flyers or anything. I'm mostly in the cave busting my ass on some pieces for this show at Vision Gallery that opens on Saturday August the 2nd. It's part of the Waterloo Arts Fest. It should be fun.

This piece has nothing to do with that though, it's just something I'm fucking around with. I think I'm going to try and bust out a new artbook style thing in time for this upcoming event I'm planning for September. Anyway, colors and textures:



Speaking of Art Books... HOLY SHIT. Derek Hess has just published an insanely great art book called Please God Save Us. I got it at the release/signing at the Natural History Museum and I'm super glad I did. You can order it online, here, or if you're in Cleveland, get it and get it signed at Ingenuity Fest on Saturday from 3 to 6. The book is really well thought out and full of tons of great, really clever, pretty overt Hess art.



Also, I wanted to say Hellboy II kicks The Dark Knight's ass in half, but more on that laster...

Born on Monday

Been fierce on the warpath lately, really happy with what I've been doing. This one is for my dude Dan Friel at The Grog Shop on August 8th. I'm really stoked to see Dan live, as all the times I've seen Parts & Labor have been really great. Also, his CD/LP Ghost Town is fucking incredible. It's very cinematic, but bursting with true hope and love. Just a great great listen.



aaaaand the black and white:



Here's the cover art for this Mix CD by Radio Dystopia:



It's full bleed and folds so the dude should be the front and that sphere thing should be centered on the fold.

Hopefully I'll get a chance, maybe tomorrow, to post about this new thing and some news and shit. Stay Tuned.

PEACE

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cave Bear, Self Destruct, National Suicide Day.




PEACE!

Nietzsche-esque President Ghidorah

New flyer for The Deathers, We March, Necropolis, and Short Rabbits. The Tower 2012!

Here's the line art, which is entirely an idea from Jae Kristoff of The Deathers. He requested birds on a telephone wire, burning. I was pretty stoked, and feel that I fucking nailed it.



I had no idea if Jae wanted it in black and white or color, so... yeah.



Then with the colors, I wanted to go slightly more subtle than I usually so. Coloring is such a time consuming thing, and it's by far the part that I feel I could fuck up the easiest. I like it a lot though. The colors.



By The Way: ASTOUND! is having the dudes from Far East Monsters in for a signing of their new King Ghidorah statue, the second in the Destroy All Monsters set!

Nuns Plus Guns

This show is gonna be fun as hell. Yukon, Cutter, TMIBH, Cave Bear, and SEMPER FI (my favorite 2008 Cleveland Lotter League band).

EDIT: Semper Fi is not playing, but Crazy Dave Tape Crew IS doing visuals!




HERE'S A BORING RANT:

The trip to Chicago really kicked my ass. I left early Friday morning in an attempt to avoid traffic, which only sort of worked. I listened to an episode of Jordan Jesse Go! and the audio recording of Sun Tsu's Art of War. Also, Dan Friel's new record and once I got within range, WBEZ (which is awesome, but actually kinda sucked because it was pledge drive weekend, boo).

•I spent time at the Wizard World Comicbook Convention. Spent most my time at the NYC Mech table with Ivan Brandon, Andy MacDonald, and Miles Gunter. Saw a bunch of old homies and met some new wicked people like Nick Stakal, Chuck BB, and Nikki Cook. Met Nathan Fox momentarily. He draws comic pages physically HUGE, at least 18 x 24.

•There was a weird vibe about the whole comic-con experience. I used to go to this show, and others, every year. I stopped going to a lot of shows for a multitude of reasons about 5 years ago. Returning to this fold was strange and I'm not sure I liked it. Maybe it was just from not being at any big shows, but I felt like there was a "this is the industry and this is how it works and you absolutely have to be here if you want to be anybody" feel to it. It's easy to forget the world doesn't revolve around Marvel and DC at a place like that. Giant fucking 12 foot tall Hulk n' shit. Dudes dressed like Green Arrow. Then, a lot of talk about trying to do stuff for Marvel or DC. Everybody wants to get paid, and that's the best way to do it. Not sure where I fit into all that, if at all.

•It is strange to show new work to people who haven't seen my work in years. Overall it was really positive. People were stoked, I think. Also, my drawing process means I go way the fuck out of my way to make things more difficult for myself, and even though I'm fully aware of that and I wouldn't have it any other way, I think people maybe think I'm a goddamn idiot for doing things that way. Either that or I'm being overly sensitive to people asking me why I don't just cut corners.

•Friday night I hit Chicago's mean streets with my girl Erin (a Clevelander in exile), although, I was mostly in an exhaustion filled stupor. We ate dinner in some bogus bar then hit an AWESOME bar called The California Clipper, which is a big old timey joint. There were many cute girls, but I basically didn't notice them because I was half asleep.

•Both Saturday and Sunday mornings I took the plunge and drove an hour and a half out to Marseilles, IL, where my older sister and her husband bought a house. It's weird driving around the middle of nowhere. It all basically looks the same, and it always surprises me that most of America is this vast giant empty place that kinda goes on forever. Saturday on the way out there were wide screen thunderstorms most of the way, so I listened to Sleep's Holy Mountain, which was perfect. The sun was out by the time I got to my sister's house. I have a new niece, Mary Catherine, and she's really tiny and adorable. My other niece, Alison, is a giant 1 1/2 year old, and my nephew Ben is now 3. They're pretty crazy little humans. My little sister, from Alabama, was there too. That made things even better. Marseilles was having some kinda street festival, complete with a "Marseilles American Idol" with a stage set up on Main street. Shit was scary, son.

•Sunday night I spent more time with Erin, stretching out my stay, but the sky was gloomy and doomy. We did catch a break in the weather enough to eat outside at Lula's, which was fucking great. Nothing really all that happening was happening, so we ended up just hanging out in my car for 3 hours talking about shit and watching the rain accumulate on my windshield, not unlike the zillions of times that would happen when I would drop her off when she lived here. On my way out I got pulled over on the Skyway going 73 in the 45 between tollbooths. When I got home though, there was a check which I didn't even know I was waiting for in my mailbox from the Free Times, so... even steven.