Howdy, folks.

I recently began to work up some graphics for The Male Pattern Band, musical love-child of Chris McCrory; musician, production geek, wunderkind. The group’s fairly new on “the scene”, and not yet released anything officially, but I’ve gone ahead and started to produce some illustrations they might be using for posters and such in the future.  There’s some early demo’s worth checkin’ out HERE.

Running with the theme of pattern baldness, I picked out Communist whackjob Mao Tse-Tung and his incredible toilet bowl hairdo that still adorns many a wall in the Orient today. I’ve used the classic Red Propaganda-style portrait of Mao that hangs outside the Forbidden City for a couple of different images, and here’s one of ‘em.

I was just playing with a kind of silhouette portrait and then realised it had a lot in common with the now famous Obama “Yes We Can” portrait used in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. I already had an idea for the colour palette (unusual for me, colour ignorant as I am) and it’s sort of ended up like a cross between a Scooby Doo villain and those old animated Peter Lorre caricatures used in Warner Bros cartoons.

It turned out okay, I guess.

Due to an unnerving amount of interest recently in a piece of work I did sometime last year, I decided to post it here on the ol’ blogapollooza, too.

This was just my vaguely odd sense of humour taking control of my pen like some gibbering phantom limb, but it’s real nice to see people responding so positively to it!!! It’s a mix of literary greats, political stalwarts and other riffraff who couldn’t be bothered to shave. I also drew a partner for it, documenting the heroic moustaches of the ages – check ‘er out HERE.

Due to overwhelming demand (well, it’s not that overhelming…we are talking single digits here, folks), I’ve decided to list a few poster-sized copies of this beardy-weirdy image  for sale in my new Etsy shop.

Oh, and there’ll be new work coming this way in the next few days, not just more badly-honed sales pitch….

The other day I realized how much I missed being surrounded be people that I admire. It has taken a long time for me to digest what my college experience really meant and how it affected me. During those four years, I was blessed to work, create, and spend time with some of the most talented people I think I’ll ever meet. There are many more but I decided to feature these 7 artists today. Now let me introduce you…

photography by Erin Geyer : Seattle

photography by Christine Sullivan : Italy

piece by Ashely Bourque Peifer : Texas

design by Karmen Low : Grand Rapids

piece by Bree Tsuleff : Fort Wayne

piece by Kaye Patton : Chicago

collage by Kellyn Walker : Indianapolis

Here’s a nice little animation for the New Zealand Book Council, courtesy of Drawn!

I haven’t been posting as regularly. I’ve been trying to be more intentional with my time. I’ve been trying to get more sleep. I’ve been trying to create freelance work that I’m really excited about.

I’ll have a lot more work to post after the holidays. I’m currently designing wedding invitations for three couples, a website for Jewel Hazelton, a collaborative project with TOTSPUPS.com + many other artists, and finishing up a few more details for past projects.

The picture above is my puppy (Desh) trying to eat my dinner. For more pictures, go here. My husband  has recently started taking more pictures. He’s fab.

Okay, who among us hasn’t been simultaneously attracted to/repulsed by a bad boy? Something about danger, wildness, and stepping away from the known is at once exciting, yet scary…which makes it even more exciting.  Hush, Hush by  Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) is indeed about the proverbial bad boy.  So what do you do when that gorgeous, edgy guy you are falling for, turns out to be a fallen angel? Hm. Not exactly meet the parents material.  But excellent material for a YA novel, and this one kept me up most of the night as I eagerly flipped the pages to find out what would happen next to Nora and that dark-eyed mysterious guy, Patch.

What originally attracted me to this novel was the stunning cover, designed by Lucy Ruth Cummins, and featuring a photo by James Porto.  It conveys the dark mood, and an appealing vulnerability. Bravo!  The other thing that pulled me in was the theme of the supernatural lover. I’m trying to keep up with these novels because my own recently completed young adult novel, titled Drawn, is about a teen artist who starts channeling one very attractive and mysterious ghost through her drawings.  Is he the love of her life, or is she losing her mind? Drawn is under consideration at publishers right now.

Some folks might at first glance think Hush, Hush as just another twist on the Twilight theme. But I assure you that Hush, Hush stands on its own, and is a fresh and original read. Now that’s not to say there aren’t some similarities. Even though there are no vampires or werewolves, there are plenty of supernatural creatures infiltrated into a normal high school. The location is a gloomy isolated town (in Maine, the opposite side of the map from Washington state, but similar in some ways). Nora lives in a one parent home, and that parent is mostly clueless or away, which is also similar to Twilight.

But you know what? These qualities weren’t invented by Stephanie Meyer’s either.  Go back to the Gothic novel, and you will find all the tales set in isolated locations and/or gloomy settings. Storms, clouds, dense woods. Par for the course, reflecting the story’s mood.  And what about the lone, clueless parent?  This is a story motif that goes way back to oral tradition. How about the father in Cinderella? And all those evil stepmothers? Weren’t they a dysfunctional bunch? They enabled, and often forced the heroes and heroines in folk tales and fairy tales to strike out on their own and face hardships and adventures. To quest.  This symbolized youth leaving their families, turning their backs on childhood, and facing adulthood.

Well, what about this whole fad surrounding supernatural loves? Not exactly a fad.  Of course there was Dracula, but long before that there were countless folktales told for centuries that involved a supernatural lover or husband.  The lover was often dangerous, mysterious, at times he took the form of an animal or a monster. Sometimes he was cursed, as in Beauty and the Beast or The Frog Prince, and sometimes the lover was a descended demigod. Take the story of Cupid and Psyche from mythology. In one version of this tale, Psyche had a beautiful young man come to her bed every night. He would be hers forever, as long as she never lit the light and looked at him.  Of course she is curious and finally must know more about him. When she lights the candle, she sees Cupid’s wings, and he is forced to leave her.  Varieties of this tale have been told for centuries throughout Europe, in the Near East and India. Even the Zuni of New Mexico told a variety of this story.

Cupid (like Patch and like Edward Cullen) is secretive, mysterious, his sexuality is dangerous, and the heroine is literally “kept in the dark” until she simply must know the truth.  So the new crop of supernatural lover stories are not really a “trend” but a revived archetype – something rooted deep in our lore that speaks to young women as they leave the comfort of their homes and their childhood and dare to explore the dangers of love and independence.

Archetypes aside, there are some further similarities to Twilight. Patch’s unusual dark eyes. His secretive life. Nora and Patch meet as Biology class partners.  I personally would have picked another class for them to meet in, but Biology, specifically the human sexuality unit they are doing, definitely works.  There is a huge showdown in the gym that echoes Meyer’s climactic scene in the ballet studio, and the heroine is lured there because a loved one (this time a friend) is in danger.

But similarities aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. There was plenty of tension and chemistry (as well as biology) between Nora and Patch. Lots of mind games and mysterious happenings heightened the drama and danger. And Nora is a much more appealing heroine than Bella, which makes the reader worry about her more and root harder for her to survive and thrive.  Can a girl with a mysterious birthmark and a pesky iron deficiency fight the evil of the ages? Can a fallen angel, shrouded in darkness and sin rise from his long and horrible past, and truly love? Can you resist staying up all night to find out how it all turns out?

Grab this book and start reading. It’s endlessly entertaining…and you can always catch up on your sleep later.

Drooling over Jacqueline Kari’s work.

Drop the frames
Remove the schema
Let them crash
And return to dust

Take each experience
Let it be as it is
Connect to it uniquely
However that is for you

Sign the memo
With something specific
With something artistic
True to your view, and the situation

Draw an image for yourself
Imagine a simple thing
That from its concreteness
The full story can be drawn

Put that object away
In a specific place
With similar criteria

Put it somewhere well-lit
So that you can see your imagination in detail.

I was really impressed when I happened upon this humble little art publication – Good VS. Evil Magazine

It’s got a decent roll call of small-time artists and illustrators showcasing whatever aggressive perversions, disturbances, congenital psychoses and pathological gross-out weirdness they care to sketch out.

MMMMmmm.

Go take a look HERE, or check out their BLOG (which I’ll also be adding to my ‘Illustration Links‘ section on the right).

A friend asked what looked so strange about it. I told him the original was fake, and then it made sense to him.
An impression of a plastic replica of the original.

Something else I completed recently was some more artwork for the band Call Me Ishmael; a potential cover for their new demo/EP.

I worked up about three different versions, more or less along the same lines, and this is one of the rejects. More to follow.

Just realized there were some pieces that aren’t on my blog or my personal site. I’ve had two external hard drives crash which is why I switched to DropBox but I still like documenting my work on my blog just in case something crazy happens and my DropBox gets deleted too. So this is for me…but enjoy

As a child everyone has drawn on their shoes, or drawn on someone elses shoe. Now drawnig on shoes has become big business. Adidas simplifies the whole process with the Adidas Forum Mids, sort of doodling the design.

{props}

If you can’t think what to get someone for Christmas (or you can’t bear to think about it yet) get a portrait painted or drawn. It’s the ultimate present, it’s personal, it’s an investment and it’s something you can all enjoy for years to come. If you have just had a baby this year, make this a first Christmas to remember with a baby sketch. Lets face it, it would take the legwork and anxiety out of the shopping rush and you can stay at home with the baby sure in the knowledge your present is being taken care of – put your order in and leave the rest to me. I will keep you updated along the way as the portrait progresses and make sure it arrives in plenty of time. I use an online framing company who are very reasonably priced, so all you need to do is put the picture in the frame, which is really easy; then wrap it and place it under the tree. There we are, that’s some of the Christmas pressure off your shoulders, now you can get on with the lunch.

I hope this Monday is a start to a very short week for all of you! I had a wonderful weekend in Illinois and it was so refreshing to be with my family and close friends. But now I must work until another fun extended weekend. Enjoy these links and remember to be THANKFUL!

The painting featured above is one of Steve Kim’s. I love it.

A way in which children and adults can be creative together.

Does AOL’s new logo make anyone else cringe?

Let it snow.

I just bought this vintage Christmas tree topper. I wanted something with personality and this screams awesome.

I’ve been excited for this shop opening and now it’s here!

Some items that have made it onto my Christmas list this year are: these adorable banners, this bag, this necklace, and a trip to the beach.

Enjoy your Mondays and make it fun!

[Click on the image to see a full-size version]

Here’s a thing that could use some words alongside it.

The story goes: I listen to music like everyone else, and some of that music is from a long time ago. I’m interested in the history of American music, of blues and folk and country, the rural stuff from before the 1950’s, before everything went electric.

Context is everything. In music and art. The context of this music is pretty fascinating stuff, and I try to read what I can on the subject. Over the last few years it’s created this landscape in my head, this semi-fictional place full of imagery, full of scenery and characters and stories.

Drawing can be very interesting if you look at it in a stream-of-consciousness. All imaginative practice is, I suppose, instinctive by nature.

You draw what feels right where it feels right.

I don’t like approaching a composition that’s carved in stone. I like to start with a vague idea and just let it sort of unfold at it’s own pace.  It’s the same with collage art. The process is a bit like playing with a Ouija board: you gather all the pieces and just push them around the page until something happens.

I was once lucky enough to hear a lecture by German illustrator Thomas Fuchs (www.thomasfuchs.com) who said a number of things that got under my fingernails, particularly about the suggestive nature of the visual image. He said that most of the time you don’t even need to think of an idea: if you know where to look, and how to look, those ideas suggest themselves to you. They impose upon you.

And I think that’s about right. Some ideas really do give themselves to you. The shape of something, the texture, the colour, the size; in context, they tell you what to think. These things suggest ideas that are guilty by association. And then it’s so obvious you can’t believe you didn’t see it before.

The context of this image is: the music of the rural South, and what I associate with that environment. Not just from the music. But from the culture, and history. Especially prevalent is the religious association –  the rural American South of the 1920’s and 30’s lies in the shadow of church steeples and burning crosses.

Gospel music and blues music are brother and sister, one sacred and the other profane.  

The Lord’s music versus the Devil’s.

We are Holy, they are Pagan.  

In this context, the blues musicians are atavistic mutants from the ancient Greek woodlands, a physical perversion of carnal sin. Their songs were about lust, about genitals and intercourse and adultery. Make no mistake: half of these songs, these songs from the age of our grandfathers, these songs from an age we are always told was more innocent, these songs are about pussy.

So the players become satyrs, and the juke-joint dances they played become Dionysian frat parties in some Hellenistic myth.

From there it becomes a call and response thing. You look at the pagan religions of the ancients and the associations flow freely: the landscape becomes Mesopotamia, the Mississippi River becomes the Jordan, the Euphrates; the biblical inundation becomes the great flood of 1927 that crushed the levees; the death cults and slavery of Pharaonic Egypt become the mortality rate and servitude of post-Reconstruction existence.

Eventually you end up with this semi-mythological place, a surreal landscape where Hieronymus Bosch meets the cotton gin culture. 

Here’s some detail…

The cover of Alan Moore's Watchmen

Watchmen was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Watchmen was originally a mini-series published under DC Comics, it spanned one year with twelve issues and was collected into a graphic novel around 2005. It was the winner of the Hugo Award and was the only graphic novel on Time Magazine’s list of the top 100 English novels.

Watchmen has been widely received as the most celebrated graphic novel of all time. Many times director’s had tried to adapt the book to film, and in 2009 in some ways Zack Snyder (director of 300) succeeded.Many fans did not like the film very much, personally I thought it was a pretty faithful adaption, click here to read my review of the film.

The story follows that of six would-be heroes who decide to take the law into their own hands after the Minute Men were disbanded sometime in 1940. The characters consist of Silk Spectre II, Nite Owl II, Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian, Ozymandias, and Rorschach. After the Comedian is killed Rorschach begins investigating his death, he comes up with the theory that there is a “mask killer”. He then proceeds to inform all of the retired heroes of the Comedian’s death and his mask killer theory. The heroes must then overcome their differences and band together to stop World War III.

Next, the characters of Watchmen:

The Silk Spectre II

Laurie Juspeczyk aka Silk Spectre II is the daughter of the original Silk Spectre, her mother forced into the role of a masked adventurer (masked is sort of false as she doesn’t actually have one but what are you gonna do?). She is Dr, Manhattan’s girl friend, however, she leaves him in the third chapter.

Nite Owl II

Dan Dreiberg aka Nite Owl II took the role of Nite Owl when one of the old heroes in the Minute Men retired. He later retires after the passing of the Keene Act. In the ’60’s he and Rorschach worked together as partners.

Rorschach

Walter Kovacs aka Rorschach decided to become a masked adventurer after a rough childhood in which he saw the true horror of the world. After a kidnap case in the ’60’s he went insane and began killing criminals instead of catching them and leaving them to the police. He became a wanted man after the passing of the Keene Act. In some ways he is the main character, because he is the one who tells the story.

Ozymandias

Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias was a man who believed in Utopia and world peace, and believes these things lie in the future. He retired from adventuring two years before the Keene Act was passed, and cashed on his alter ego making all sorts of merchandise and becoming an aristocrat.

Dr. Manhattan

Jon Osterman aka Dr. Manhattan was killed in an accident in an intrinsic field machine, he was torn apart then made a new body with all sorts of abilities, he is one of two heroes still in employ with the government.

The Comedian

Edward Blake aka The Comedian “He was practically a nazi” and a very lonely man. Heis practically insane like Rorschach. The Comedian is more of a soldier than a super hero. He participated in the Vietnam war with Dr. Manhattan.

The art of Watchmen is beautiful, Dave Gibbons does a wonderful job, and John Higgins uses are beautiful especially when they are used to show distance of an object. And the design for the costumes is the most important part to me because the costumes of most of the heroes are colorful which is surprising considering how grim the book is.

Overall, Watchmen is an excellent and thought provoking book and should be purchased by anyone who either likes comics or likes literature in general.

Thanks very much to Matt Forsythe at Drawn! (The Illustration & Cartooning Blog) for mentioning my drumskins today. If you don’t already know this site, it’s a wonderful resource/eye candy shop for illustrators and lovers of drawing, animation, etc. And it’s Canadian!

& check out Matt’s great illustrations here: comingupforair.net