Under The Gun

Just stopping in to send some emails and post this flyer. The clock is fucking ticking. The barista here laughs a lot. Arctopus, Self Destruct, Akron dudes called Co_Conspirator

Breakneck Worship

Here's the latest bangers out The Cave:




Human Eye, Self Destruct Button... really stoked about finally doing a Mohammed Cartoon flyer. They were one of the Lottery League bands that didn't hang it up after The Big Show, and have been playing pretty regular since.

Here's another flyer for the same show, I actually kinda like this... so, not to step on anyone's toes, but that goddamn Lizard thing needed it's head lopped off.



Here's the colors for that Scarcity show flyer:



I colored this super fast. Just busted through it with the Wacom tablet. I think it came out pretty wicked. Where's the brain?

Tiny Battlecat

I couldn't find a link for GRACKLES, but Scarcity of Tanks has a new blog. Still, wanted to get this bee and dubblya of this piece up tonight before I go offline. It's gonna be a fun show. Nine Eleven, y'all.

Also, I met a tiny little man last night. They call him BISOUS, pronounced BEE ZOO, but I named him BLOOD SWAMP.

Also: I have a giant face:

Don't Look Down

Hey, been really busy running around dealing with being successful. That "Challenger" series that I contributed to the show that's up RIGHT NOW at Vision Gallery SOLD. All seven pieces. Met with some out of town collectors yesterday and they commissioned a "Challenger" series of their own, and then bought a piece right out of my portfolio. Also looking at getting a very limited edition run of prints of the series that's hanging right now, due to popular demand. Thinking an edition less than ten. I'll post again when I know exactly what I'm doing.

ALSO: At Vision Gallery, you can now get copies of both SHINER #1, and a new booklet I made called HEART'S BLOOD. I'll post an actual announcement about Heart's Blood later in the week when I get the chance. It's also available now at ASTOUND! in Westlake.

ALSO: I had an illustration in the new Cleveland Scene Magazine, buried on page 87 or something. Right between the stripper ads and the Free Will Astrology! It's for an article by Jara Anton about going to the beach:



It printed super small, and I wish I had actually planned it better. I drew it at like, 200%, which in retrospect was a bum idea. LIVE AND LEARN.

ALSO: Dos Gatitos...



My tables are cluttered with a million gigs in various stages of completion, so if I owe you a flyer or something, hold fast... it will be done. If you're just watching this controlled wreck happen, also hold fast... more art and actual announcements very very soon!

Challenger: Two

Here's the remaining pieces that tare in the show at Vision Gallery. The show is pretty good, I checked it out the other day while it was still being hung.

I've been doing Batman sketches to try and pander to the hype at the Beachland Ballroom's Rock and Roll Flea Market.

Anyway, the first two are on 12" x 18" drawing boards, then the last one is 18" x 24".







Feel like I spent this whole week scrambling around and getting nothing done. The show at The Rock Hall was killer though. Lot of fun. Thanks to all my homies.

Also: Bobby Womack.

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.

Nostradamus Prefered Gypsy Girls

Leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning. Gonna hit that Wizard World bullshit to see all my people that I never get to see. I feel like it hasn't been that long, but thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it's been like, 5 YEARS since I last saw some of my best friends on earth. Also going to see my sister and her babies, including my new niece, Mary Katherine. She'll be four weeks old, and had a rough start. But she's finally home from the hospital and doing well. I think it's time she met Uncle Gritty.

Anyway, here's some pieces from this thing I'm working on. Wanted to have it finished for the show, but when it came time to choose between having to scramble to put out a less superior product, and sleeping on it with the result being a hopefully better joint down the road, I erred on the side of wisdom and called it a night. I realize now that this is an insanely mature move on my part, considering what I've always done in the past. I used to love that scramble to make shit happen in the zero hour and then show up all sleep deprived and bombed out the morning after. I was never able to achieve the levels of quality I sought after, but I was proud as hell that I had my books together and tangible at all. The fact that I've decided to hang back this time means I'm an old old man who has possibly learned from experience. Who knew that was even possible?

On with the show, SPEK:



WARREN:



GITTA:



CLEVELYN:



This booklet is totally shaping up into something I hadn't expected it to be, which is a good thing. I think. I keep adding content and pages, but I like what I've got, so.. there's that.

I've got a whole bunch of posters coming up, so... stay tuned.

Numbing Posthumous Greenhouse

Here's the flyers. I'm busy as shit0. I like it, but I feel like I should be busier. I'm starting to really like the way I work in photoshop, coloring these things. I also like having stacks and stacks of original art laying around my apartment. My cats like to sleep on them.





Loook, they go together:

DOOM, I guess.

Neverending Passive Goofoffage

Half busy in The Cave putting things together on some things. I'm also half distracted by ...stuff. Been reading Gandhi's The Story of My Experiments With Truth. I like it a lot. Been watching a shit ton of movies, and trying to eat more often than 1 to 1.5 meals per 2 days. I've actually been doing pretty good at that. Also trying to sleep regular hours but that gets blown to shit every couple nights. Last night I spent the night out in the far off lands of the distant "East Side" after having a weird day of everything going wrong. Having to put out a thousand tiny fires is only annoying if you have to put them all out at once. Anyway, my travels lead me to finishing this little piece in preparation for the weekend.



I got beefs but overall I'm pretty proud of how gross that came out. Also, I have it on good authority that Gay Beast is killer, so you all need to go to this show. Bring Your Pals.

SLAY HIM, TROLL KING!

Hey, I really like this Dave Cockrum THOR cover from 1979. I think it's the purple bell bottoms + the word balloons full of ridiculous:




Also, a heads up, I've got a piece in this event: ART FUR ANIMALS, a benefit for The Friends of The Cleveland Kennel. You here in Cleveland should come out and buy some art. The list of contributors is awesome.

Here's what the piece I gave them looks like, it's actually kinda big, 15 x 20:



Originally I had planned on using this as a wrap around cover to this CLEVELYN booklet I'm working on, but now that I'm looking at it small I think I'll do something else. I tried to use three point perspective, but I'm not sure how successful that was. Those kitties in the foreground are actually my cats. Rider is the big one, Challa is the smaller one. They're probably thinking about how many mice are loose in that big decayed city. Mice they could chase and kill.

Necromantic Primordial Growler

CONANAGRAM, INDEED.



I've been reading the living bajezzus out of The Savage Sword of Conan Volume 1, published by Dark Horse. For those unfamiliar, it collects the first fifteen Conan The Barbarian stories from the Savage Tales and the Savage Sword magazines that Marvel published in the mid 70s. So, we're talking 544 pages of glorious black and white sword and sorcery by Roy Thomas and a host of amazing comics artists. It starts off with Barry Windsor-Smith and after a few pieces by a couple others (including Gil Kane inked by Neal Adams), quickly turns to John Buscema.

The stories are relatively standard D&D faire, which is to say that they're goddamn motherfucking great adventure pieces about big tough dudes with big weapons fighting monsters and dark magick and evil wizards trying to capture and subjugate beautiful young supple maidens and princesses and shit. The art is really something to behold. Whoever put this thing together should win a medal and have it pinned to their chest by Robert E. Howard's conjured up ghost. It's printed on newsprint, and the black and white line art looks incredible for some reason. John Buscema was a goddamn maniac when he threw down on these pages. Hundreds of awesome awesome pages where all the panels are pieces unto themselves, yet it never once hurts the layout or pacing, ever. I think most of the actual magic from these pages really comes from the illustrative and really intense inkers like Alfredo Alcala and Pablo Marco that give Buscema's pencils their full blown face melting due. Seriously, these guys were riffing intense Doom Jams over The Drums of The Dead.

Here's the B and W (original line art: $35 por favor, email jgritty@gmail.com for details):

Behold...

Hey, Clan of the Cave Bear is going on TOUR, into the South then across the east coast-ish area. The tour schedule is on their myspace page, so go check them out. I don't know who reads this blog but they're playing Baltimore on 5/13, and Brooklyn on the 15th. They kill, so go see 'em.

The tour wraps up with this show at Now That's Class, with Behold... The Arctopus, and my favorite metalheads, Insurrect.

Here's some sketch love I did in my Cinema class while I was supposed to be taking notes.

Narcotic Patented Gasmask

=Just a couple sketches today. Busy trying to finish this website made of Flash. I'll post it up when I get it done. The hardest part is sitting and working and not getting distracted. Oh, and the actual planning part. Planning things out before actually trying to do them is a novelty, I think. Not exactly something I'm practiced at. Usually I just "do".



Rafeeq, of CLEVELYN. Drawn in Spanish class.



Mostly done digitally, I drew a sketch with a crummy crummy pen during a history class, and then scanned it, added most of the blacks and the sky and played around to make it non-so-shitty. Halfway inspired by The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford. I really liked that film. A lot. I recommend it. It's a long slow burn, though. It's good movie to just watch and spend time with. Here's one of the posters... not that I was really trying to imitate it or pay homage or anything. I don't think I had even seen this one until just now. The cover of the DVD I had was a little different.

Novelty Prankster Gentrifiers

I've pretty much decided not to continue in school after this semester. Not that anybody cares. I certainly don't.

Here's some more CLEVELYN characters...

Rafeeq:


Raquel:


Solomon:


I think I'll probably redraw Rafeeq and Solomon for the booklet I'm putting together. We'll see, they're not as terrible as I initially thought.