Welcome To Ramones Pizzeria

Melt bar & grilled has gone insane. A third special for a month with fewer days (and that doesn't include the special promotional jam for Valentine's Day, which I won't be doing a poster for). At any rate, February 18th and 19th, Welcome to Ramones Pizzeria:

Open Face Pizza Sandwiches!
Choose one from the Ramones Menu or Create Your Own!

The Joey Ramone 3 Cheese Meltdown
Provolone, Mozzarella and Asiago
The Johnny Ramone Veggie Lovers
Mushrooms, Roasted red peppers, Black olives, Sweet onions,
The Dee Dee Ramone Meat Lovers
Pepperoni, Bacon, Ham, Salami
The Markey Ramone Garlic White Pizza
Herb Cream Cheese, Fresh Tomato, Banana Peppers and Fresh Basil

See Rock n Roll High School, Saturday Feb 19 at The Capitol Theatre, at midnight. Part of the Cleveland Cinema's Late Shift! If you haven't been to one of these, I assure you they're a blast! I've never actually seen Rock n' Roll High School, so I'll probably go to this.

OH, and also down the street from The Capitol. Ramonesmania is going down at The Happy Dog before the movie for Ramones cover bands and true Rock n' Roll High School mayhem co-sponsored by Melt.



Matt specifically requested I use the art for the Ramones record Road to Ruin (originally drawn by Punk Magazine co-founder John Holstrom) for this poster, only set them in a pizzeria, which I promptly forgot about only to remember right after I finished the illustration...



So I used some math and magic to draw a red and white checkerboard tablecloth, a staple of the American pizzeria, in drastic perspective that I could drop in under the drawing of the Ramones, based on this record cover. It was a lot of fun to do this poster, but I can only rock Road to Ruin so many times. I had to migrate back to rap music, and heavier wackier jams eventually. It's funny sometimes I feel like The Ramones' songs are tantamount to children's music, which is a good thing- I think. It's simple and catchy and poppy, but aggro and needy and sometimes poignant beyond anything else being done at the time.



Well, I butchered the language again when I spelled "pizzeria" with an "a", but luckily it was a pretty easy fix. I think at this point, by the time I was working on the lettering for this, I had been awake and working for somewhere around 30 hours. There's a lot of text on this one, but the record cover is designed so well, it was a natural fit for this layout. I really lucked out. Matt could have asked me to base it on the actual movie poster for Rock n' Roll High School. That would have been a distaster! That poster... so crazy.



This is a case where the special is an entirely new sandwich and something Melt has never done before. I had to kinda of fly by the seat of my pants, which... I mean, I've drawn pizza before, and I'm pretty familiar with Melt food, so it wasn't intimidating or anything. I just would hate to have drawn something that is completely inaccurate and didn't represent what the sandwiches look like at all. So, I hope this looks good!



I opted to draw the veggie version, because that's probably what I'll be ordering. Man, I love a good veggie pizza. I think my favorite pizza is Angelo's (I can't even count the amount of Angelo's pizzas I've gotten late at night), but I think Danny Boy's is a pretty close second.

As a pup, I worked at (and grew up at) Lakewood's legendary Bobson's Hardware. Across the street was a Danny Boy's, where Tina's Restaurant is now, and the other dudes and I would get pizzas from them all the time. I remember I really looked up to this one dude, Pat Wadden, and he introduced me to the majesty of Danny Boy's cross between a messy sandwich and a calzone, the "woogie bear". It was an awesome, formative experience.

Man, I love pizza.

The Brat Pack Breakfast Club Melt

This sandwich sounds ridiculous. For real:

The Brat Pack Breakfast Club Melt
Scratch-made Captain Crunch Infused waffles
2 Fried Eggs
Crisp Bacon
American Cheese
All Dipped in Pancake Batter then Deep Fried to a Delicious Golden Brown
Served with a side of Bourbon Maple Syrup and Pixie Stix!



I never understood the fascination with The Breakfast Club that other people even just a year or two older than me seemed to take as a given. I guess I was always much more of a Weird Science and Ferris Bueller fan for my John Hughes money.

At any rate, go see The Breakfast Club at The Cedar Lee on Saturday February 5th at either 9:30 or Midnight! This is part of Cleveland Cinema's Late Shift. While you're there take a peek at Heights Arts, which won't be open, but you can get a glimpse of A Few Hundred Posters if you're so inclined.



For iconic posters of 80s movies, this one is hard to beat. At least in the non-adventure/non-horror/non-sci-fi movie posters category. Maybe it's the simplicity of it, the hierarchy of characters, or how indicative of the actual story it is... I mean, the movie is just about these characters staying in one setting the entire time. They're not even supposed to doing anything there, either. There are no frills, barely any exterior elements, just interaction between characters. A pile of human interaction. There ya go, there's your poster.



This was a blast to color. I think it came out looking really good and even though I wasn't 100% satisfied with how well I was able to capture the looks of the actors, I think this coloring job redeems that a little. I liked doing this poster. I did have the movie on while I was working on this. I hadn't seen it in a very long time, and even then I don't think I had even paid that close attention to it.

When I was in 9th grade, at Lakewood High, I found myself in Saturday School quite a few times... I had little to no interest in watching a movie about it. A good trick to get out early was always to volunteer when a janitor would ask for some students to help move a piano or sweep a gym or something. Then you would just work hard for ten minutes and they would either let you leave, or send you back to the cafeteria unescorted and you could sneak out and go enjoy your day. Or, in my case, you could go back to work.



I don't think I had ever noticed before, that The Breakfast Club has it's own weird little corporate logo. It's such an early 80's thing, to have a corporate logo, when yuppies were kings and the idea of rising up the rungs of a corporate ladder was the ideal. It's such a great juxtaposition with the themes the film plays with, about identity and individuality, about growing up and belonging to something, a sphere, bigger than yourself but not being influenced by the bigger things that loom just outside that sphere.



In a post a couple days ago, I wrote about the importance of details, and how that can make an image compelling or meaningful in ways that can make a difference. I know it's small, and subtle, probably only the most eagle of eyed grilled cheese fans would notice, but changing the patch on Emilio Estevez's jacket to a Melt logo is a perfect example of what I was talking about. Adding the sandwiches to the characters obviously makes this a "Melt" poster, but adding a Melt logo patch gives it the further touch of a unique, almost subliminal, feel that I think is one of the appeals that makes Melt something people are into, and fans of, definitely not as much as, but along with, the sandwiches and other great food.



Crazy Ol' Matt Fish's early idea for the sandwich was to use the waffles as the bread, we call that "Animal Style", and then batter that with the Captain Crunch infused pancake batter. I think this would have been so awesome, but mostly because back when Melt had a Sunday Brunch menu, they had a Waken Bacon sandwich done Animal Style with waffles for bread, and I loved it, and miss it like a long lost best friend... *single tear rolls down cheek...



HOWEVER, I'm kinda glad that it got changed to the Captain Crunch infused waffle, because Captain Crunch infused pancake batter would have shredded the interior of anyone brave enough to eat this thing's mouth, the poor souls. I didn't mind redrawing it, at this point I think I could draw these sandwiches in my sleep!



I am pretty proud of the colors on this though. I love that it kind if "glows" a little. I think this is one of my favorite of the sandwiches I've done, color-wise.

Okay, enough typing for me today. If you're into this stuff, feel free to "follow" or subscribe to this blog. I've kinda been on a posting warpath and I've got a lot more to get to. I'm going to try and stay on top of it all. Also, comments are always welcome!

Black Eyes

I just recently found this on a blogpost! I drew this portrait of the Black Keys for Columbus weirdo cartoonist Michael Neno, in his copy of Caveman Diaries Vol. 6!

I actually don't know much about The Black Keys, I had to search for a photo ref on my phone. I'll say this, though, that Blakroc is a hell of a record.

Check out NenoWorld, where you can get order copies of The Signifiers, which is a totally weird blast of bonkers comics! I think Scott at Astound Comics Shop in Westlake may still copies too.

The Dude Returns ...to Abide

It's February, and there's a new Melt monthly special, and this month I'm on top of it, posting up on day one. I've still got a couple Melt jams that I have to post from 2010, but I'm going to make an effort to keep things more current here from now on. I think people may actually be reading this thing.

AT ANY RATE, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY:

THE DUDE ABIDES MELT, AKA: THE 7-10 SPIT, AKA: THE BALLS & PINS... Returns!
(Now also dubbed THE MEATBALL MASTERPIECE)
This sandwich is awesome! It's:
Homemade Beef & Pork Italian Style Meatballs
Fried Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Smothered in Rich Basil Marinara
Provolone & Romano Cheese
Amazing Vegetarian Version available




This sandwich was so popular back in December, when it was available for one weekend only, as a tie in with Cleveland Cinema's Late Shift screening of The Big Lebowski, that Melt has brought it back for an entire month. I had the veggie version before, and honestly, I'll probably eat at least two of them in the next four weeks. I can't recommend it highly enough.



This time I drew one big image and cut it right down the middle, much like I did on this Gyakushu diptych I did for RED 7, back in November. Rooster Cogburn was actually super easy and a LOT of fun to draw, The Dude is a fun but also difficult dude to capture though, at least for me it was.



Here's the black and white line art for the sandwich drawing. I've drawn so many of these at this point that I have a huge stack of sandwiches over here in the studio. It's getting a little ridiculous. Every couple months though, I get thrown a curve ball, which I will be posting tomorrow!



Here's the finished colors without the text. I wanted to make this piece as simple as I could, and focus on the characters. I wonder if the Coen Brothers will ever see this insanity. Do you think they're aware of how influential they are, not just on storytelling and film making, but also on sandwiches and posters for sandwiches?



Here's the text, minus colors. I think maybe I botched it on the colors of these on the posters. I think the texture of them gets lost in a way that I hadn't intended. In retrospect I think I know what I could have done differently to improve on that but... I also misspelled "Marinara", which was immediately pointed out on the Melt facebook page, thank you public.... thanks you for pointing that out.Well, for your information I spell words wrong all the time. I misspelled like, 290 of the 35,000 names on the Love Stinks poster (which... (that wasn't entirely my fault, I didn't book that show or give myself the final list to put on the poster, but I should have spent the ten minutes it would have taken to check all the spellings) that show is going to be off the hook, you should definitely make an effort to go, and buy some goddamn art), and 67,982 or the 3,889,278,666 names on the original Lottery League poster. True story: on the very first print run of the very first comic I ever made, way back when I was just a pup, I spelled my last name wrong on the cover. MY LAST NAME. ON THE COVER.

Stay tuned! I have more posters to post later, two more Melt posters this month, even. Maybe THREE. Plus a bunch of odds and ends.

Last Chance, Never Too Late

That's it, I have to apologize for not getting this up here until today, but TODAY, MONDAY, JANUARY 31st, 2011 is the LAST DAY you can get the Hungry Hungarian Melt at Melt bar & grilled. Here's the lowdown:

HUNGRY HUNGARIAN PAPRIKASH MELT
Tender and Flavorful Pulled Roasted Chicken
Huge Homemade Dumplings
Creamy Paprikash Sauce
Provolone Cheese



This month I went with a sequential narrative based diptych, where we see the before and after of our hero, Mr. Polar Bear shoveling and then warming himself by the fire with a tasty hot bowl of Chicken Paprikash. It's a slight extension of the idea of the Mighty Macaroni Melt posters from December. In that one, the dippy was also sequential but in an action-based immediate way. Both were really fun to draw. I liked doing the contrasting inside/outside shots and schemes. I like depicting a scene that is probably pretty typical to a Clevelander winter experience; the drill of clearing a driveway (which in and of itself can bring a sense of accomplishment) and the eventual reward of finally getting inside and sitting down in the warmth.



Even though today is the last day you can get yourself a Hungry Hungarian, really nice prints of both of these posters, plus the original drawings of both, including the drawing of the sandwich, and the text, and some roughs, with an explanation that maybe goes deeper than I have here, are all hanging at Heights Arts as part of A Few Hundred Posters By John G and Jake Kelly, which will be up through the end of February. In addition to these, both of my Melt Soul Vegetarian posters, plus about 30 other posters, including a bunch more that have originals, roughs, and explanatory accompaniment, AND about 30 of Jake Kelly's originals (some of which have the explanations with them), AND a giant monolithic installation piece in the center of the gallery completely covered with both of our work from floor to ceiling. It's quite an art exhibit. I'm planning on being at the gallery for open hours on Saturdays through out the month.



I think what a strive for in a lot of these pieces, is the details. It's the details that are compelling and sell the ideas. The cat watching the food (maybe hoping for some renegade paprikash to try and make a breaak for it that she can get her fangs into?), the boots by the fire, the pink slippers, the shovel from the west side poster with the snow still melting. Jake Kelly tried to nail me on the fact that the house depicted in the west side poster couldn't be the Polar Bear's house because the chimney is in the dead center of the house from the exterior but it's only along one wall on the interior. I had to explain to him that the Bear's house has more than just that room, and that there's a hall beyond that fireplace, a bedroom, a kitchenette, but what we're seeing is the den. Mr. Kelly remains skeptical.



I totally forgot to post this forever ago, I think this was for Scene Magazine's Best Of 2010 issue last year. This ad is based on the cover Primus' record Sailing The Seas of Cheese.



I took a lot of liberties with it, which was a total blast to draw. I loved getting to play around with the weird longer format.



Earlier in the month M*A*S*H was the Late Shift film at the Capitol Theatre. So the 4077 Hawkeye Korean BBQ Melt was the tie-in sandwich. I missed out on both, just from being super busy, but I heard very good things about the sandwich. I thought thiswas originally going to be a poultry sandwich, hawk-meat or something, so I drew the OG MASH poster of the lady's legs with the peace sign hand with the helmet on the finger tip, but drumsticks instead of the legs... but it ended up being beef. So I went with an homage to this DVD cover art or whatever this is:




Lastly, I drew this elephant for January's desert cards that are on the tables at Melt. We've been doing these for a while now, and I really like the absolute freedom of them. I like them because they just are what they are. I wonder if people steal these off the tables?

I still have a mountain of work to do... at the moment I think I've slept maybe like, 4 hours of the last ...72 ...96? So after this I'm going to take a nap before getting back up to my elbows in work. I have a piece for a group show in LA, a fistful of posters, a weird apparel design gig, a pretty prominent illustration gig, and a physically huge collaboration with Jake Kelly to get done. And a couple comics things. Also, not to let the cat outta the bag too early, but a second record cover for a monumental Cleveland band. I have a ton of art, and maybe a story of two, to post up in the next few days, so stay tuned!

If you're waiting to hear back from me about something, or waiting on prints, I'd like to publicly apologize and promise that I'll be getting to everything this week! I truly am sorry I've let a few things slide, but Hang Tough like New Kids... I gotcha back.

EDIT: I'll add links to this one later.

Cleveland Panel Grid

Nine Letters to a name. Nine chances by design: three beginnings, three middles, three ends. It's the prefect foundation, the perfect building blocks to tell a story. To say something. To get it right. For math and magic.

It's time for proto-logo works. Still in progress. As you read this, chances are I'm somewhere making something new, looking at nines. Nine rows and nine columns. The letters are built. An 81 part grid.

Dinosaurs

Been super busy working really hard over here in The Volcano. Things are kind of outta control. I've got a bunch of things on deck to post, business junk, new jams, and older jams that never made it up. For now here's this...



Cleveland's All Dinosaurs are putting out a record and playing a show to release it. Friends Trigger Effect, Hot Cha Cha and The Strutting Cocks will get ridic at The Beachland Tavern. You should go, buy the record, and you will have fun.

Out of curiosity, I just looked at the wikipedia entry for Dinosaurs, check this shit out:

The term "dinosaur" was coined in 1842 by the English paleontologist Richard Owen, and derives from Greek δεινός (deinos) "terrible, powerful, wondrous" + σαῦρος (sauros) "lizard".

Terrible, Powerful, and Wondrous... Lizard! What I like about that is how "Terrible" and "Wondrous" aren't mutually exclusive.

In informal speech, the word "dinosaur" is used to describe things that are impractically large, slow-moving, obsolete, or bound for extinction, reflecting the outdated view that dinosaurs were maladapted monsters of the ancient world.

Maladapted Monsters of The Ancient World! I dunno about you, but I don't think that view is outdated at all. I also like the part about things being bound for extinction. Pretty much everything falls into that category on some level.

Way back when, in July of 2009, I drew the poster for their first show. Then they put in an influential appearance on the old Gauntlet of Truth Jam. They were part of a triumvirate of bands that were a part of something I'm pretty proud of. Something New we had never tried before that turns out worked really well. Because we killed it. They were a part of the dark half of duality. Which is necessary, which is where we live. All Dinosaurs helped The Beachland celebrate Christmas that year. The Cleveland Bachelor and I helped promote it. They were here for friends, Trigger Effect on their birthdays last summer.

They played this insanely awesome show with Valient Thorr last fall. Alright, Let me tell you about Valient Thorr. This was easily one of the most fun shows I went to last year. All Dinosaurs opened it up and they completely rocked it. They sounded great and played hard but were having an absolute blast the entire time. I didn't get to all the shows I just listed above. Those links are just to posters I drew (this being their EIGHTH poster I've done with their name on it, in the hundreds of posters and fliers I've done- very few bands can claim that many). I did see them play at the Happy Dog on Sept. 12th, in 2009. I was paying attention that night, it was a pretty early show in their lifespan. They were good, but they were new. This time, a few scant days more than one year later, after they'd played probably close to, if not more than, a hundred shows in between, they were already seasoned veterans. They still burned with a youthful excited danger that takes itself very seriously. They still shot from their hip with mad confidence, and made a point to knock around a few heads, including mine. But they were obviously having a lot of fun, and it made them that much better than being just great, talented musicians that write good rock songs (which, clearly, they've nailed). Both Bo Bowersmith and Dave Gibian play guitar and sing and are tangibly serious about it. You can tell that they love what they're doing, that they work really hard. Drummer, Joe Willis, is an awesome percussionist, even if he loves Death Cab For Cutie (huge fan, really(?)). Their bassist, Gheramy Demery, is the goofballingest goofball to ever goofball a show, but that fact balances the band in an very evident way, which I think is one of the integral components that makes All Dinosaurs a great band to see.

After they played, there were two bands that were pretty standard fare, took themselves very seriously, and after half a song each- bored me to death.

Then Valient Thorr came on stage and turned the place into an ape-shit bonkers carnival of positive energy exploding out all over the place, complete with motivational hyperbole, masterful riffage and rhythms fueled by child-like exuberance, and I swear- a really weird moment where the entire audience(!) was sitting on the floor doing some crazy row-boat dance move initiated by the shirtless, sweaty, singer known as Valient Himself. I'm pretty sure his name is actually Herbie, but... either way, that dude totally ruled. He said some of the funniest and nicest shit between songs I think I've ever heard a dude say into a microphone. He was the physical embodiment of "having fucking fun" the entire time. It was a blast and I'm stoked I got to be there for it. At one point he said something about how they've been doing this a long time, how their beards are a little bit longer, about how they're all a little bit older, but that "you can't just Rip Van Winkle it, Man! You gotta get out there and do that shit!!" It kind of came out of the blue and caught be by surprise.

Actually, this kinda blew my mind. He was right. You can't just Rip Van Winkle it, Man! We've all just got this weird short moment, this stretch of time to do something with ourselves. You can take it seriously, and be focused, and bust your ass (it would be foolish not to). However, it's equally as important to not forget to make it fun, and have a good time. While you're killin' it, maybe crack a smile, say "hi" to your parents on stage, dance like a dummy, and laugh it off when you make a mistake. Then try it again. Do good things well, and honor them by enjoying it. You have to, because in the end... and maybe in the distant future we'll be considered maladapted monstres of the ancient world, but in the end... in here and now, we're all just bound for extinction. We are All Dinosaurs.



This is the original line art. Here, I was going to try and write something about how some dinosaurs grew feathers and evolved into birds, tie that to how some Native Americans tribes used eagle feathers in their headdresses to symbolize acts of bravery and honor. I drew this with a brush and ink, and used micron pens for details and splattered ink all over it with a toothbrush.



Then I took that toothbrush and splattered another sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper and when I scanned it, I set it to double the dpi and cut the sheet in half, layering them over the art, setting them to different reds. Works every time.



I laid this out in photoshop, it took me forever, then I pinted it out, and redrew it using micron pens making it look hand-drawn and making the letters of the band names all fucked up like that. It's fun but tedious and time consuming. It's worth it though.



Here's a close up of the lettering, I like to break up the letters. Originally, I think I was going for a crusted type look, like I was trying to replicate what text that had gotten worn and damaged over time would look like, or degenerated in a copying process, but after I had done this a buttload of times, I think I now just want to make the lettering look wicked and ...organic but cleanly crusty.

One last thing:

Love Stinks, An Anti-Valentine's Day Show

Much like the posters for A Holiday Art Massacre, and MAYhem, this is for another awesome Staci McNasty/Dave Lowlife/Heather Young joint. There's even more artists and information that have been added since I was given the list for the poster, so please go check the facebook event page for the full list: HERE.



It started really rough, as you can see, with an original plan to include some word balloons with Skullface saying: "AAAGH! Again?". I opted out of that, just to simplify the piece. I guess I wanted to leave the story open ended, open to interpretation. I liked the word balloon though, just felt it was a better piece with it left out and open to interpretation.



So it's Skullface, pierced by an arrow, fired by who I'm going to claim is Voluptas, Cupid and Psyche's daughter. Why not? I've always really liked Jacques Louis David's Cupid and Psyche painting that's hanging in the Cleveland Museum of Art, but I think maybe Cupid is a little overexposed for St. Valentine's Day representations. I also knew I wanted to include the roses with the thorns. I used Skullface maybe because I miss the character a little. Maybe he needs a little love.



My contribution to hang in the show will be this original art and an edition of inexpensive archival 11" x 17" digital prints of the color version. The prints will only be $24 and the framed OG will only be $144.

If you are not going to the show, or don't live in Cleveland, and would like a print, I'd be more than happy to ship them! Below I've added a handy paypal button for your convenience, which I've added a $4 shipping charge which I'm pretty sure will cover the cost of the flat mailer and postage. If you would like me to ship international, no problem, just shoot me an email and we'll work it out!

UPDATE!: THESE ARCHIVAL DIGITAL COLOR PRINTS WILL BE 13" X 19" INSTEAD OF 11" X 17"! Same Price!

Thank You, Cleveland.

SO, as previously mentioned, way back in the dark ages of ye olde December of 2010 AD, Jake Kelly and I have two split shows up in Cleveland Heights right now, and through to the end of February. Ten Imaginary Movies at the B-Side Liquor Lounge, and A Few Hundred Posters by John G and Jake Kelly at Heights Arts.

Here are some photos from the opening reception of A Few Hundred Posters, graciously snapped by the keen camera of Leia Von Hohenfeld.



In the center of the gallery is an installation piece papered with literally hundreds of posters and fliers. A mishmash of both mine and Jake's work all tacked and stapled up in an bonkers interactive exhibit.



Along one wall, I've got a chronology of select prints of posters hanging, including this diptych.



Along another wall Jake has a selection of a selection of 30 or so of his amazing originals.



Jake and I, schmoozing! On Tuesday we had a great time kicking off our promotional blitz on WCPN's Around Noon, talking with Dee Perry about the two shows. Then we were interviewed by Astound Comic's Scott Rudge for Comics Are GO! podcast, which can also be found on iTunes. Monday we'll be taping another interview with Dee Perry for Ideastream's Applause. There was also a nice write up in Cleveland's Scene Magazine about the two shows.



And ...Stew Cats.

For any further information about A Few Hundred Posters, check out http://heightsarts.org/, I think Jake and I be there next Saturday for open hours if you would like to come check out the show, meet us, and talk about posters or movies or whatever.

Cuatros Gatitos

Rider. Yeti. Chalita. Sherpa.

Vigil

It's easy to forget who's there, paying attention. Watching you make moves in silence and hindsight. It's easy to get lost in the day to day action of doing what you do. Big Picture paradigm only matters way up above the details. On the roof of the maze of hustle. You forget, but someone sees all, and knows.

This is the twenty ten Santa Claus for The Boss. It was a good Christmas for the old man. I think it might possibly have been a good year for him. A few scary days aside. Still, scary days don't end the world. They remind us of that forgotten big picture.