Happy First Birthday: BLUE ARROW!

This is cutting it hyper close, but THIS SATURDAY, March 27th, ALL DAY, Blue Arrow Records (just down Waterloo from the Beachland) is having an awesome party to celebrate their first full year of stone cold butt-kickery! Your favorite DJs from both WRUW and WCSB will be dueling to the death from noon until the party ends. I'm pretty sure there will also be free food, it's also probably a BYOB type event. This will be fun, their parties always are.

I'm really pretty stoked on how this poster played out. It's a little simple, but who can resist a kitten in a gramophone?

I think it's time to entertain the idea that I've gone soft... what happened?

I've been grinding on multiple things at once over here, so keep those eye balls peeled, for I will be updating more rapidly over the next week or so. Seriously: eye balls peeled.

Moves Minus Logic

From a million miles away, time bends and makes moves minus logic and reason. It's 1885 and H. Rider Haggard is inventing the Lost World genre. It's a hundred years later and Slick Rick is writing Children's Story. It's 1162 and a baby named Temüjin is born somewhere in Mongolia, with a blood clot in his fist. It's 1939 and Rudyard Kipling by way of Cary Grant tells the world "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din". It's 2009 and the Red Winged Blackbirds are back from their journeys. It's 1959 and the 14th Dalai Lama is fleeing Tibet.

It's March 27th, 2010 and Kid Tested, JJ Magazine, and Old Hundred are playing at the Happy Dog.



This was a lot of fun to draw, moves plus magic. I'm hearing someone say "awesome" without irony. This being the second of a disjointed series, here being the first.

The temperature has dropped again but there's a lot more work to be done. I'm holding onto you with my right arm, hoping we don't fall with my left. I'm pretty sure I'm strong enough, but if there were ever a moment to be a lot stronger, this would be it.

A kitten is saving hearts by his name and lazy eye. A Legend crosses over whole. Secret Kings now hold sway. Now the Mice are the loudest. Now we're on the roof looking for our homes. Now I'm on the ground looking up at the ending. Now celebrating a 315th birthday, on the surface of Mars. Now surrounded by seven ghosts. Now a Magenta Wolf.

Now Challa Hides:

Falling Upwards

Another show at Red 7! Red Sparowes, Dooomriders, plus My Education. The last piece I drew for them also had a very heavy magenta back ground. I love that shit.

This one kind of sort of reminds me of this series I made a couple years ago, Challenger. Here's Part 1 and Part 2. I still have some print sets available of this series. Shoot me an email if you're interested. I'm pretty sure I was selling the seven prints for $50 total.



I had originally planned, and laid out a scene involving ninjas, but then listened to Red Sparowes and realized that it didn't really jibe with the music. So, instead I drew this, which I think works at least slightly better. I'm going to use the ninja layout though, next. Working on another Red 7 jam that I think will get thoroughly bonkers.

Uhm, I joined twitter. If you're into that, follow shinercomics. I haven't really said anything yet. It's entirely possible that I might only ever tweet links to this blog.

A Decade at The Beachland

This is the design for The Beachland's Tenth Anniversary T-Shirts. This weekend is the celebration, with a bunch of awesome shows I won't be at! I have to draw my fingers to the bone, instead.

Tonight in the Tavern This Moment in Black History and SunGod are having a dual record release show. This Moment's stellar "Public Square", being released on Smog Veil Records, plus their split 12" EP with SunGod is also making it's debut. Also tonight, Pere Ubu is playing The Modern Dance in the Ballroom. Tomorrow night is Roky Erickson, The Alarm Clocks, and Living Stereo.



Here's the pencils, minus the characters and text. I drew this based on a photo I took on a pretty weird day that was sunny and bright, casting deep shadows. Personally, I love the Beachland and was pretty honored and stoked to do this shirt design. I've had some really great times there and can't imagine this city without it. I think it's an easy place to take for granted, though. Don't take it for granted, buy this shirt.

This Vitorian Seance

Spooky in name, spooky in execution. Two years ago, on the very same date, March 23rd, Extra Life played at The Beachland Tavern, in Cleveland. That was Easter Sunday. This year, March 23rd, Extra Life is playing Now That's Class. This time with Self Destruct Button, and Queening.



At first, the plan was to use the same 11 x 17 format I usually use. I wanted to do a human ghost, all mixed up with some kind of tentacle ghost thing... but then I realized... fuck that. Taking it long and tall was the best option for prime Lovecraftian Demon Ghost conjuring, so long and tall it became.



I like making a mess. I've been working now pretty much consistently for just over 24 hours. I laid down from about 6am to 7am, out of a desperate need to be horizontal. Other than that- I've been smashing it. I've driven probably over 100 miles, eaten 3 oranges, drank maybe 64 ounces of coffee, and listened to almost every Wu Tang release between 36 Chambers and Bobby Digital, then Gza's Pro Tools, Iron Flag, Blackout, and ...The Chronic. Most of them multiple times. I've still got a lot of work to do.



This piece worked out. It wasn't a conscious homage, but there's a Hellboy story, "Goodbye Mr. Tod", where Hellboy is called to investigate this Medium, Mr. Tod, who accidentally channeled a big tentacle beast while in a drug induced trance. Hellboy has to chase the thing away with some arbutus. It's either in The Chained Coffin or The Right Hand of Doom. I'm not sure which. Both are great.

A Bachelor in Cleveland vs. A Street in Cleveland

One evening, Saturday, March 13th, and all this stuff is happening. It's a big party, a street wide Waterloo party. Arts Collinwood, Music Saves (CAKE!), Lowlife, and Blue Arrow throwing down to have a good time. THEN, The Beachland is having a great show, a Cleveland Bachelor approved show.



Summer Cats are coming all the way from Australia. I like Australians. Afternoon Naps are coming all the way from The Neighborhood of Make Believe. City Center is from New York. Also, there will be ghosts, specifically Lowly The Tree Ghost. But probably other ghosts as well.



Yeah, so, I guess I was wrong. I'm not as gruesome as I thought I was. I tried, but apparently... I really like kittens. What? SO? You don't like kittens? I'll fight you to the death. After I finished drawing that huge kitten, I thought: "Imagine the litter box".

Speaking of kittens, Debbie from Blue Arrow has started the North Collinwood Feral/Stray Cat Project, which is a Trap-Neuter/Spay-Return (TNR) Program. There's an article she wrote on it from The Collinwood Observer, here. You may remember Debbie from a post about one of the kittens she rescued, Lucky Sunshine. I love that dude. Anyway, Debbie is true blue, and it's a genuine issue over there. If you're inclined to help out, head over to Blue Arrow and speak up. Or donate some money- every little bit counts, and it all goes to helping these kittens in the neighborhood.

The Reuben Melt 2010

Here we go, friends, it's MELT Posters: YEAR TWO. This month marks the first anniversary of the posters I've been doing for the monthly specials at Melt. Last year, I drew the poster for The Reuben Melt as part of the Month of Flyers, where I did a poster for something every day of March. This launched the series and has now been going strong, and I think escalating to new levels, every month. As the sandwiches get crazier, I think I've been able to keep the posters right there with them. After the gut busting Hungry Hungarian, and the madness that was The Big Sandwich in Little China, we return to the tried and true traditional March masterpiece...

The Reuben Melt:
Fresh Lean Corned Beef
Barrel Aged Sour Kraut
Zippy Russian Dressing
Swiss Cheese

It's simple, it's iconic, it's March. So, for the poster this month, I decided it was time to do something slightly different. I wanted to use a traditional source for the design. I thought a lot about doing a Saint Patrick piece, and how to push that to the limit, and make it somehow Cleveland-centric. Some really dumb ideas occurred to me. You almost got a baller St. Pat slam dunking over King James.



I always liked stain glass windows; the way they look and feel. Once I realized I was going to use that as the jumping off point of this poster- everything just kind of fell into place.



I made this insane mock up where I took the actual Saint Patrick stain glass window image, an old drawing of the Terminal Tower, the Reuben Melt drawing from last year, and then laid down the text I wanted for the name. It's a total mess, but it doesn't need to be pretty. It just needs to be well thought out.



With that plan under me, I got to drawing the pencil version. I knew I would draw this piece on a 14 x 17 board. I also decided to draw the whole thing in one go, incorporating the text into the art. This was probably a big mistake. This is a photocopy of penciled image. However, I did enjoy the process of putting it all together as one image.



Inking this took a little longer than I expected. It's one thing to throw down inks, splattering, brush strokes, making a mess then cleaning it up. It's another to try and stay clean, make lines bold and deliberate. Disciplined. True. It was a challenge. I really really wanted to splatter this thing with ink. It felt like I was cutting some corner not to.

When it came time to color, I knew I wanted to keep it simple, to make it bold and smart. I think it worked. It's different, a departure from my usual jam. The signature style I've developed over the past few years. I love it and continue to take it on it's logical path. Still, there's room to expand in other directions. I think that's where MELT Posters: YEAR TWO needs to be taken. Bold, different directions.

White Mice

This is the first of probably many "attendance mandatory" shows of 2010. There's just no other way to think about this. White Mice are easily one of my favorite bands to see play. I would not usually draw a band, or do anything quite so literal for a poster, but this is my fourth White Mice jam, and of those one was part of a triptych, and another was part of Month of Flyers. So, that being the case, and the fact that White Mice bring it visually, spectacle-wise, as much as they bring the sonic assault... yeah, it's about time I drew the Mice the way they are.

I missed Tinsel Teeth last time, but have heard great things about their shows. I also missed Liturgy last time they played here, which, I have no idea where I was or what I was up to that was more important. Probably working. I have no idea who Stress Ape is, but they have a cool name and nice messy logo. That bodes well.

I think I know who's in Weird River, but I don't know much about them other than what's up on their myspace page. Based on that, though, I think it's pretty safe to expect good things. The Family Chapter is, again, another project where I know the members but very little else. Actually... maybe I don't know the members- in fact, that shit could go in any direction. This could be anything. It will probably be brutal though.



My original concept sketch, not nearly dynamic enough. I liked the way the mice looked, but it just felt a little flat. To get pumped for this poster and as a reference point, I looked at this post on Brooklyn Vegan with White Mice shots from a show in NY. I had drawn some really sketchy versions of them already, here's one of those:



I spent a lot longer on this, and worked it out to try and build the pile of severed heads up, to be looking at them from a worm's eye view (which didn't really work that well). I wanted the mice to look as menacing as I could manage. I feel like I haven't done enough gruesome stuff lately. I feel like I've spent some time being a nice dude. Cupid Dogs and Dumpling Eating Contests and Presidents. Saints, even. There's nothing wrong with that. I LOVE drawing that stuff. But... I've missed moves like the old "pile of severed heads". I like piles of severed heads.



I drew this pretty big again. It's on a 14 x 17 piece of Bristol Board. It's fun to draw bigger. I'm not sure if it takes longer, it might. I dunno.



I can't wait for this show. You should come. You should bring your friends. You should wear your fancy dancing shoes. You should be prepared to get your bells rocked, then your head cut off. It'll be a blast.