Gritmas 2008

Here's some jams for the holidays:



A Beautiful Lady I know wanted some unique gifts for her moms and cousin. So I offered to draw some stuff for her in exchange for feeding me a couple times. I hope these went over well.



Snow sure does look cool, even if it's the worst of the worst to deal with.



Above was my holiday card I've been mailing out. I hope you got yours, if not... give it a couple days. My cats aren't really allowed to go out and play in the snow, but I bet they'd like to. Actually, today it's kinda nice out. It's been suspiciously warm.



This is Dexter the Dog. He's the buddy of another Beautiful Lady's mom. Another commission in exchange for food.

Poster Megapacks

NOW AVAILABLE: Poster Megapacks featuring 53 posters, most of which are in full color, all of which are printed on cardstock and cut to various sizes. A lot of them are 11" x 17", a bunch are 11" x 14", then a bunch of oddballs. It's pretty much all the posters I've done over the past couple years. Comes packaged in a handsome envelope adorned with the image above.

I'm offering The Megapack for $50 plus $10 for shipping and handling (it's pretty heavy). It'll probably take at least a week for it to get to ya. Email me at jgritty@gmail.com for inquiries. If anybody actually wants one, I'll throw in some other stuff and a sketch and whatever I've got on hand.

Pass the Nutmeg...

SATANIZED, featuring members of Normal Love. The Goat Cheese Metal Dude first appeared on a flyer for their show here in August of 2007. I think this will be a really awesome show.

True Story: Just watched Mad Max for the first time ever. I had seen that last sequence where he cuffs the guy to the burning truck and gives him a hacksaw, but never the full film. Goddamn that shit is great. I dunno if I like it more than The Road Warrior, but goddamn is it a fun movie.

Bring Your Own Yeti Kabob

Yeti Scalp doesn't really play a hell of a lot of shows, so... this one is not to be missed. This is the most frigid poster I'm capable of.



Skullface hangs out in the shittiest places.

Obama vs Serpenoids

Really stoked on doing this one. This show is gonna be fun as hell. The night before Christmas Eve and This Moment in Black History is throwing down to release their new 7", Raw Black Power.

Also, they have their own flag:



Decided to make a variant OG Ohio Flag version:



I really like flags in general. I like the idea of flags. I've used the motif multiple times, and always been kinda really happy with the results. I'm also stoked to have an Obama piece. Wielding the Gauntlet of Truth.

Heat Seeking Crash Lander

Heat Seeking Crash Lander is a 28(?) page full color little five inch square art booklet, printed on cardstock, cut to bleed like a motherfucker. Here's the cover art:



Here's a photograph of this thing:



This booklet is all about some of the more recent stuff I've been doing using Photoshop to color and add shloads of textures and effects to the pieces, hopefulling making better work. Here's an example:



Here's the 5" X 14.5" centerfold image, "Skylooker":



Here's a photograph of the centerfold, as it is in the book:



I also printed the image as a 12" x 32" glossy print on indoor vinyl.



Heat Seeking Crash Lander is $5 plus $2 shipping. The "Skylooker" print can be got for $24 plus $5 shipping, it will be sent rolled up in a tube.

Send a paypal payment to jgritty@gmail.com or sending money to John G 373 Lear #52, Avon Lake Ohio 44012.

Winter Demons

The Alan Swift Band at 806 Wine and Martini Bar. Haven't been to 806 yet, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. The band is kinda psychedelic, so I was going for a cosmic astral spiritual thing. The original plan was to fade the angel in so she had a gradient to her opacity from the bottom up, but then I liked the drawing so much I decided not to do that.



I like this background a lot. I'm definitely going to use this idea again. Coupling harsh bombed down Cleveland skyline with the mess of trying to add white snow splatter over the night sky black splatter. If I were a really clever boy I would have just separated the snow splatter by just using black ink on a another sheet of paper and then adding it as another layer in Photoshop. That way I could have kept it white on top of the background when I added the color layer. BUT then I wouldn't have this killer original. So... I dunno.

Lady Skullface, Pink Cadillac, Hello Mr. Molotov

I don't know anything about Coshocton, but the John Delzoppo/David Russell/Brendan Sedlak Trio sounds like it's gonna be killer. No process this time. I basically just sat down and drew it without stopping.

I've got three more posters to do by the end of this week. I'm think I'm obsessed with this shit.

UPDATE: Nate posted a link to Coshocton in the comments: http://oculusauris.com/coshocton/

Friends & Enemies

In the beginning, things get rough. There's an even rougher thumbnail out there, but I didn't scan it. I probably should have to give you all a better impression of just how rough these things can get. I dunno, I've had this image in my head for a while, but the opportunity never presented itself to throw down.



Cleaning things up slightly, I leave a lot to the inking. I'm really comfy inking, so I know that when I get down, I'm gonna get down. So, there's that.



Now, looking at this in this state, I kinda wish I had taken the initiative to make it look more underwater-y. Like, a sunken ship, or more fish. I dunno, also, I should have done a better job showing that the dude in the suit is indeed a skeleton. I dunno if that comes across. Other than that, I think this came out fucking fun and killer. I like the mermaid, and that octopus hanging back in the cut.



I draw the text separately because it simplifies EVERYTHING. I had to learn that the hard way. I do really like when the bands and info are on the original art, but it really comes down to economy of time and how best to make good posters fast. Anyway, I think everything is spelled right and I didn't leave anything out.

Deadly Weapons is the knew name for The Dimeras, with a new drummer.



I kinda knew going in that I wanted this to be a really hot, pink, bright poster. I'm really happy working in pink for some reason. This is another step I could have used to make some underwater implications with blurs and filters and shit, but... I didn't want to fuck up the art too much. I dunno, I like the way the fish look. I think the text came out good too. Yeah, this worked! Booyah!

Vampire

This was just a quick piece I drew for my dude Miles Gunter. His new comic with Kelsey Shannon, Yeti Vs Vampire (published by Antarctic Press) is fucking killer. They set up a blog: YETI SNACKS. The Vampire in the comic isn't quite this ...voluptuous, but... yeah. Anyway.

Poster Apocalypse

Here's a bunch of my recent posters. I'm going to set them up in reverse chronological order because one of them already happened and it was a banger.



Presented by the mighty friends at Music Saves, Marnie Stern is playing the Beachland Tavern. Her new ridiculously titled record "THIS IS IT AND I AM IT AND YOU ARE IT AND SO IS THAT AND HE IS IT AND SHE IS IT AND IT IS IT AND THAT IS THAT" is fucking phenomenal. I hope she's playing with a backing band on this tour. I'm really stoked for this show.




Dynamite Club with Cave Bear and The Invincible VIGATRON at Now That's Class! I'm stoked about how the colors came out on this.



Skullface is back again. This show is part of a series that Matt Wascovich of Slow Toe has been putting on. I misspelled Koenig and Klimek. Sorry guys! Originally I was just gonna print this in black and white, but opted to color at the last minute. I haven't had the chance to see any of these gigs, but I'm stoked on the series. This one and the next two look like they're gonna be really good.



Double Dagger was awesome. I'm short on time so I'll update this post later, but I'm super happy with this poster, and the reactions I got from it. Thanks to everybody who shouted at me.

CMYKILLED

Keelhaul is on tour this week! They're playing a show with Municipal Waste at Red Seven in Austin, Texas. This is the first time I've ever done a poster that's been screen printed. I didn't even get a chance to see them before they got sent down to TX.

J-Dae: Self Deconstruct Button

There was this big day long festival type jam here in Cleveland a couple weeks ago. It was a sort of "going away party"/"tribute to" Jae Kristoff, who is moving to NYC. Jae has been pretty influential and supportive as hell in this city for a long time. I think 18 or 19 bands played the show, but I showed up way late and only got to see a couple sets. They were all really wicked, especially Self Destruct Button, who played last and killed it in full blown old man gear while also featuring a performance by Jae (who used to sing/play noises for them).

So, for the poster I decided to pay homage to a very specific, very formative, moment in my understanding of what exactly is has been going on here in Cleveland for the past bunch of years. This is a reference to Self Destruct Button's set at the first Compound Fest, which, much like J-Dae, was a day long event where most of the great bands in Cleveland played. Self Destruct Button set up in the alley between The Compound and the house next door, then were fenced off from the crowd.



So I drew the alley and the crowd, but I knew I was going to cover up part of the crowd so I stuck myself in there, a naked girl covered in tattoos about to clobber me with a baseball bat, and a clown with a gun. Behind that is Michael Pultz, of Radio Dystopia, who set up and organized J-Dae. Also, the guy with the witch hat from the Lottery League poster, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Spider-Man, the old timey photographer from the Scene's Best Of art I did, Skullface, Santa Clause... ect.



When Jae was in Self Destruct Button, they used to always play wearing costumes and masks, so I knew I was going to feature a guy in a mask in the foreground. I went with the top of a Luchador mask. I added the fence to this piece just to simplify things. Feasibly, I could have separated the fence and the face, then the buildings from the crowd, and ended up with five drawings for one poster. Instead I made it three: back ground, foreground and text.



I drew all these separately, then pieces them together in place in Photoshop. I like the way these look, but it's a challenge getting everything to fit and look good. I forgot to save the "Pat's In The Flats" text out, so... what ya see is what ya get.

I wish I had also thought to save the different steps in the coloring process. It was a trip, but I'm really super happy with the end result. It's a fitting visual commemoration for a great day that threw down in honor of a great dude.

Universal Horrorist

These posters were all for the same event. Halloween at Lava Lounge. I've always really loved the Universal Horror movies. I actually caught The Mummy staring Karloff The Uncanny at The Cinematheque in early October.



I don't think it's widely known, but Universal made a Spanish version of Dracula with Spanish speaking actors at the same time as they filmed the Bela Lugosi classic. It's the exact same script and the exact same sets, but the costumes are slightly different, especially the female lead's dress. It's got a deep neckline, really risque for 1930. They apparently hadn't figured out dubbing and everybody wanted to see "talkies", even the huge Spanish audience. So, anyway, I like it almost more than the Lugosi jam, it's awesome. And for a dude trying to learn Español, it's almost watchable without subtitles. Most of the dialogue is simple and slow enough to decode.



I think Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein are the best of those old movies, in large part due to Director James Whale being a motherfucking genius. But, Creature From The Black Lagoon is pretty goddamn dope. The first Wolf man is really strong too, definitely Lon Cheney Jr.'s finest hour. I can not BELIEVE I forgot to do an Invisible Man. I feel like a total ass right now.



Halloween night I hung out at my buddy Tim's house in bay Village to pass out Candy. Not ONE SINGLE CHILD came by to Trick or Treat. We sat there with his lady friend and her friend for a piece, but then they left and we ended up watching IRON MAN. Personally, I loved it! I liked it even more than The Dark Knight. I mean, well, it's a close race, I gotta see Dark Knight again, but yeah... Iron Man... Then I went home, drank some NyQuil and passed the fuck out. Been fighting a fierce cold, so... there's that, Happy Halloween!



I rolled passed Lava the night of this party and two of the hottest chicks I've ever seen in my life in were crossing Auburn to hit that spot while I was driving up. Just these gorgeous statuesque black girls in mini-skirts and heals and fishnets. Place looked packed too. I decided I had no business going in and ruining the good times with my presence and ended up wrecking shit with Tim at The Matinée instead.



Halloween. It's like the ultimate excuse for girls to dress as slutty as they can possibly manage. I like The Matinée but I seriously just felt like I was an obstruction. Just a big scary guy totally in the way. I realized I really have no business leaving The Cave. My life should revolve around watching old movies and drawing things for the pretty people to look at so they know where to go to look pretty together, then I'll be taking their money.



Now that I'm looking at all these there definitely NEEDS to be an Invisible Man one too. Fuck it, I'm on that shit. Invisible Man was also directed by James Whale. Starred Claude Rains! I think of all the Universal Horrors the Invisible Man series held up the best. The Invisible Woman? The Invisible AGENT??? That shit slays The Mummy's Hand or The House of Dracula or any of that other campy stuff.

Best Of The Best Of

So, I drew the front cover and internal section break covers for Cleveland Scene Magazine's BEST OF CLEVELAND issue. It came out about a month ago, October 8th, I think. The theme as "Cleveland Confidential", using the point of view of an anonymous old timey photographer. I had a lot of fun doing this work, and I think people really liked it. These images are slightly cleaner, remixed versions of the print images. I took about an extra hour with each, except the cover piece.

The Cover: The art director gave me a really solid rough of what he wanted. All I had to do was hammer it down an make it bang. Over at the Scene's website there's this awesome thing that allows you to page through the whole Best Of Section. Do yourself a favor and take a glance, at least. Firstly, from a design standpoint you can see the text elements of the print version of this cover, which are really well done. Also, you get to read the issue, find out what's "best". I love that thing.



Best of Arts & Entertainment: This is kind of clearly the Beachland Tavern, and the band is just some fictional band I guess I wish existed. I have really grown to love drawing crowd shots every now and then. There's something fun about the aspect of hiding people I know in the mix.



Best of Bars & Clubs: This is kind of Lava Lounge, but not really. It's a local I've used in the past, for the Rafeeq piece in Heart's Blood, and the bar from my story in Shiner #1, "On Down The Timeline". I drew the abstract art that's hanging on all the walls of the interior shots in these drawings on the actual illustrations. I kinda like them. I dunno, it's just splatter and white out. Not complicated, but yeah... abstracted.



Best of People & Places: I actually went out on the Hope Memorial Bridge to shoot references for this, but none of them really came out too great. i totally had to fake the perspective and the sculpture of the angel guy holding the covered wagon. Luckily it's close enough that nobody will ever look at this and know I did that. Anyway, I love that bridge. The idea of focusing on "places", and using a place so uniquely Cleveland... I'm real happy about how this one came out.



Best of Shops & Wares: This is maybe the one I cringe at the most of any of these. I like this version of it, but the print version wasn't my finest hour. I drew all seven of these over the course of a three day marathon in which I slept for ...maybe 3 hours. Cumulative. So, I was totally bonkers exhausted and strung really far out on coffee, by the pot, by the time I was coloring. Anyway, this is pretty much the corner of W. 65th and Detroit. There's a great shop called Room Service right on the South West corner. South East corner is a killer coffee spot, Gypsy.



Best of Food & Drink: This is obviously MELT Bar & Grilled. Seriously, my favorite restaurant that has ever existed. The bottle is a TALL IVAN, a fictional beer I made up for the CLEVELYN stories I've been doing in Shiner. Tall Ivan is a reference to Ivan Brandon, who is the tallest Cuban that has ever lived.



and finally, Best of Sports & Recreation: I had a shit ton of reference to draw a football scene with some bro-dawgs tackling each other and out heroic photographer about to get clobbered in a huge stadium full of people. Then I realized... this was my chance to get some BMX, alive and well, in the Scene Magazine. What the fuck, football? So this was drawn on the fly completely from memory and wonky perspectives. As a former BMX rider, I used to take my bike apart, clean it obsessively, and put in back together almost every night. I loved that shit, and I still harbor deep affection for some bicycle love. I can draw every part of the bike I had when I broke my back in '95. The last part I actually still have is the sprocket. A purple anodized 44 tooth Profile.

So, there ya have it. Sorry it's a month late. All I do is draw and then run around trying to get money for the shit I draw. And watch bands. Blogging has taken a deep backseat. BUT: I give you Andy MacDonald's Sketch Blog: Whiskey Mech.

Skullface Returns.

Parts + Labor, National Suicide Day, Tanked, and Lozer. Bring Your Own Ghosts.

Hood Weather

Things are getting thick, kinda. Busy busy busy. Gonna be posting a bunch stuff soon, so stay tuned. The weather is getting really awesome. I'm hoping it hangs on like this instead of just rocketing down into the depths of a shit winter forever. At least for a couple weeks.

At the coffee shop right now and some squirrely old weirdo is buggin' out about some computer software licensing bullshit and just yelling, while is ancient moms is hacking up a lung. I really need to get the internet back in The Cave.

Chalita:



She really loves that printer.