Happy Holidays 1:51 PM

Have a Santa-Bot 3000! Good? Bad? He knows. Whatever you do or do not celebrate! Happy Holidays!

Shovel Head 1:10 PM

I originally intended this monster to be the main opponent of my robot in my ROBOT vs. MONSTER zine but as I was finishing the drawing the concept just didn't say "I knock down building for the joy of it". That happens sometimes to me. I get really into the drawing a creature that I could believe in so I start thinking about the monster I'm creating as more of an actual animal than just a beast of destruction. Well, that's how this guy got away from its intended purpose and developed a life of it's own. 

So, I present Ligonem Bestia (the Shovel Beast) or more commonly known as the Shovel Head or Shovel Headed Beast. 

Ok, now to draw that monster that'll bash buildings and robots

Mecha! 3:29 PM

I'm working on this zine that sets a monster against a giant robot. This is a schematic for the robot side of the equation. I should have it done for the next MoCCA!

The Great White Whale 7:06 PM

With the "In Heart of the of the Sea" about to be released in theatres here's a Moby Dick Illustration I did awhile ago! This illustration lead to the Penguin Books Cover!

Happy THANKSGIVING! 10:35 AM

This Turkey isn't gonna help itself into the oven! Have very Happy Thanksgiving!

Robo_mouse! 2:46 PM

Last one- Mail them out tomorrow- If you're in LA December 5th check it out!

 http://www.giantrobot.com/blogs/giant-robot-store-and-gr2-news/78736131-gr2-post-it-11-dec-5th-dec-13th

Evil EYE! 2:44 PM

Mailing these things out soon- if you're in LA check out the show!

Not the FACE! 2:57 PM

This is me on a good day! Another post-it drawn!

LOWER CASE g-WING! 3:41 PM

Another Post_it drawing! I’m not a crazy Star Wars fan, don’t get me wrong I like the series fine but I’m not as emotionally committed to it as some. That said, right now you can’t read any comic/sci-fi blog without it being everywhere, so while I was at coffee I was contemplating how cool the x-wing was and how exactly is the b-wing a “B” when I came up with this concept for my next Post-It drawing.

Robo-Schematic 1:24 PM

It's about time for the Giant Robot Post-It show again! This schematic is just one of many I'll be showing!

Bonus Boxer! 2:43 PM

Bonus Boxer! I know that it supposed to be 10 days of Boxing Beasties but I couldn't resist drawing up one more. On the 9th day of boxers I drew a Banded Mongoose and mentioned that he'd fight snakes- where I then pondered how ridiculous a snake boxer would actually be- TA-DA! it is ridiculous!

Pirate Parrot! 5:04 PM

This is an excerpt of a book cover that I'm working on for Penguin Books. It's about Jewish Pirates. Yep, those were words in that order. It's good fun read that I'll link to it as soon as it's out. What, did you think all I do is draw boxing animals? got to put food on the table and then in my belly!

Day TEN and the END of Boxing Beasties! 4:35 PM

Saving the first for last. This plucky chicken was the very first boxing beasty I ever drew and subsequently the very first thing I successfully silkscreened. I created the boxing animals so I'd have something to screenprint that wouldn't disappoint me if I failed terribly. After this chicken I created a few more.  They just looked funny next to each other so I screened those too. 

There it is- 10 Day of Boxing Critters is now concluded with a cluck. 

Day 9 of Beasty Boxers! 5:40 PM

Banded Mongoose- This boxer can take on deadly snakes. like COBRA deadly (drawing a snake boxer... hmm, that'd be weird. I imagine two boxing gloves connected by a snake body, couldn't see, probably get beat every time). DAY 9 of beasty boxers is done!

DAY 8. FELINE FIGHTER! 5:41 PM

Eight days of boxing beasties and as of yesterday I've pretty much exhausted all the pre-drawn animals (except for one!) So this feline fighter is a brand new contender! I've never named any of my pugilists but this kitten with it's weird trapezoidal eyebrows just screams out "Snuggles"  

DAY 7 Critter contenders! 2:39 PM

That'd be a Nine Banded Armadillo Brawler! There is no doubt about this guy is weird! If he gets backed into a corner he has his infamous roll up into a ball tactic! I'll definitely be screenprinting this guy!

Day 6 Beasty Boxer! 2:50 PM

Another contender for the beasty boxing boxing belt! Straight from the sewers and subways of Brooklyn comes this rough rodent! Day 6 is done! Only 4 more boxers!

Reptilian Brawler! Boxing Beast DAY 5 3:11 PM

BOXING BOX TURTLE! He might not be fuzzy or as cute as my previous boxers or any where near as fast. While he might be a bit slow with the punches he can take punch better than any other. This is the newest of my boxers so far! He did end up looking like Gamera more than I intended!

Puny Pugilist! Day 4! 5:41 PM

He's cute! He's fast! He's Mister Bun! Day 4 down. 

Day 3 of the Boxer drawings has gone to the DOGS! 2:58 PM

Yep, only seven more days of cool drawings and truly awful puns! This is one of the newer boxers that I've drawn and I haven't yet silkscreened this doggy contender. 

Day 2! Boxing Critters! It gets downright NUTTY! 3:38 PM

Yes, I will own that truly terrible pun. This was the second boxing animal I ever created. This guy has also been licensed to be the logo to the new start-up "WonderPunch!"  woot! I also silkscreened this image.

10 days of Boxing Animals! 2:17 PM

The Short-run indie press expo in Seattle was good fun. I haven't been back to Seattle in nearly 15 years so it was quite a shock for me to see how much it's changed. Dick's was still on Broadway so not everything was ruined though when I passed it I wasn't intoxicated or hungry- eating a Dick's special straight might have changed my mind. 

This year has not been might best year for updating my newsfeed and as I've done in the past when this happens I double down and force myself to post stuff. So, starting now. TEN days of Boxing Animals! I've drawn a few boxing animals but I haven't drawn ten, so this will be a mix of new and old! I've silkscreened almost every boxing animal I've drawn and would like to reach that number of 10 so it could be a nice wall of weird boxing animals.

Above is one of my favorites! the Boxing Hedgehog!

Short-RUN Seattle! 7:28 PM

I'll be exhibiting at the Short-Run Festival in Seattle on the 31st! yep! Halloween! I'll be selling COMICS, Silkscreen Prints, and some Textiles! I've heard nothing but good things about this fest and look forward to being in Seattle! It's been awhile, I did my undergrad at Cornish College of the Arts a LONG time ago and from what I understand the emerald city has changed a bit since then. So come by table J52 and say hello!

Short Run
Seattle Comix & Arts Festival
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Fisher Pavilion
at Seattle Center

SQUID IT! 3:24 PM

In the run up to Halloween I painted this yesterday. A man-squid monstrosity. I’ve been toying with doing a book of monsters for a while since I like drawing and painting them so much and also letting people use them for as new monsters for their role playing games. If I do commit to that I’d definitely go back and give stats to several of the monsters I’ve designed before.

I haven’t played D&D in quite some time so you’ll have to bear with me if I don’t remember all the stats and properties that are required to play them properly. So, if I miss anything feel free to fill in the blanks. On that note too, last time I really enjoyed playing D&D was with the 3.5 Edition. In many ways the 4th Edition kind of killed the game for me. I’ve heard good things about the fifth edition but have had no time to check it out.  Below are the this guys stats and description.

warning: nerd. alert.

Squiduggar.

Type: Medium Monstorous Human (Aquatic)

Hit Dice: 3d12 (25 hp)

Initiative: +3

Speed: 15ft on land. 40 in water.

AC: 15 touch (+2 Natural) 10 flat-footed 12

Attack:

Bite- 1d10+1

Tentacled hand: 1d4+1

Special Abilities: Improved Grab, Constrict +5 additional damage per turn per successful grapple check. Regeneration +1hp per round

Special Qualities: Amphibious, Ink Cloud (disperses 10×10 cloud of ink that obscures all vision on land the ink creates a 10×10 slippery puddle in which a dexterity check of 12 is required by anyone standing in it to remain standing)

Str: 12 +1

Dex: 16 +3

Con: 15 +2

Int: 9 -1

Wis: 14 +2

Cha:6 -2

Skills: Swim: 9 +2 Move Silently: 5 Hide: 5 escape artist:12

Feats: Athletic, Blind fight (Only in Inkcloud)

Environment: Temperate Aquatic

Organization: gang: 3-5 band: 6-11 tribe: 30-150

Challenge Rating: 2

Treasure: standard

Alignment: Neutral Evil

The Squiduggar are bipedal semi-intelligent nomadic cephalopods that travel the salt oceans across the map. They are opportunists and will tend to only attack those that they can easily overwhelm, if confronted by a stronger force they will try to flee.  Squiduggars speak in a their own language of beak clicks that has yet to be translated. Communicating with them will be very difficult without the use of magic. Aside of the sharp beak, Squiduggars have no bones in their bodies, instead a complex system of semi-rigid cartilage making it very difficult to bind or jail them because they can easily slip out. While Squiduggars prefer to stay in water they have been known to raid seaside and canaled settlements taking advantage of their aquatic and difficult to imprison abilities.

Combat:

They tend not to carry weapons preferring to grapple and constrict their enemies while finishing them with a powerful bite from their beaked mouth. When they do use weapons they use harpoons and spears.

Post It Again SAM! 12:14 PM

Just got the email from Giant Robot. I've been invited to participate in the Post-it show again! GOOD FUN!

Jedi Squirrel was from last year!

In the TRENCHES 2:52 PM

Been neck deep in illustrating the interior illustrations for “Guts & Glory: WWII” It’s been awesome! Drawing tanks, planes, and sea battles! Here are a couple of previews for you to feast on!

Trash Can BANDIT! 2:57 PM

 So last weekend I was out near Montauk with a bunch of my friends celebrating that I'm one year older and one year closer to the grave. It was awesome- the weather was nearly perfect! Only one day of overcast and a bit of rain. On the day we celebrated we did a clambake- Which meant endless Lobster, Clams, and Mussels for ALL. Yep, that was closer to the truth than I knew. After cleaning up all the shells and carcasses we deposited them in what was supposed to be a critter proof trash can inside a wood shed. Next morning we found that, said shed and "critter proof" trash cans had been raided! It was an abandoned battlefield of garbage, shells, and torn apart lobster remnants. It was really gross to clean up but totally inspired this t-shirt and silkscreen design! It's available from TeePublic now in all sorts of colors and sizes! 

Pick it up here!

I may also print it as a tote- so stay tuned. 

Red Panda FOREVER 2:47 PM

I just finished up the mock-up for my next silkscreen print- Red Panda Forever! I'm going to make a limited edition of  50 two color, hand pulled, 11x14 on arches paper posters that will be available soon in my store section and on sale at any festivals I'm exhibiting at.

Red Pandas are ridiculously awesome and just plain ridiculous, obviously only an animal that has next to no natural predators could evolve like this animal- really, next to no predators- Snow leopards and Martens are about it. I was originally going to do something like my Samurai Chipmunk or Chainsaw Kitten poster with the Red Panda. The Cute and Dangerous series, but I just couldn't- So. Red Panda FOREVER!

Ol' Dip Pen Fun Times 8:02 AM

I've never been great with a dip pen and nib, but like with everything that's related to what I do I like to be at the very least proficient with it as a tool- in the off chance someone will want something done only with that specific tool. That said, to maintain this I need to crank out a drawing or two every now and then. That's how this ugly creeper came to be. I used sepia and burnt umber inks with a Niko G model Manga Nib.  After discovering manga nibs, I can't imagine drawing with anything else. Western nibs are great for lettering- but I find that manga nibs are so much better for drawing.

I'll be doing a few more monsters so stay tuned and I will most likely water color them cause I haven't done than in a while either. 

Robo Wiener Diazo printed 4:19 PM

Let's start this story with several people laughing at me over the phone. I wanted to get my technical wiener dog illustration printed- not only printed- an old-school blue-print. I called several places in New York, that specifically had "Blueprint" in their names and none. NONE! make blue line prints. They all just make big photocopies from digital files when someone needs a schematic printed. There is nothing wrong with that- but there is nothing cool about it either. One place even told me to call them back if I found one so they could refer people who asked- after laughing at me. Another one advertised that they made them but when I called they confessed that their machine had broken down several years ago and they could not find anyone to fix it.

This bummed me out.

I drew this piece with the intent of having it be a blue line or Diazo print (the technical term for it). When I was in undergrad I had several Diazo prints made from drawing because it brings a particular life and texture to technical and mechanical drawings that no other form of printing captures. It makes blueprints really BLUEPRINTS!

So, as a person who owns a risograph duplicator (another antiquated method of printing that unlike Diazo, is having a revival) I went online and sought to buy one. As I searched it became very clear I had no idea how these machines work. Special paper? Ammonia? what the hell was I getting myself into? I'm still not totally positive how they work- but here's a better explanation than I can give: Wiki

Just so I wouldn't hate myself later- I searched "Diazo Printing" The third result was Soho Repographics. I called was transferred to Edward and found, Yes. They do blue line printing.

I went there today and found Edward in the basement along with a lot of printers of varying size and purpose. Tucked away in a corner was the Diazo Machine. Edward printed each copy sepaprately and walked me through the process explaining to me what could be done beyond what I was doing (plans have been hatched).

The machine was still a bit of a mystery to me, even as he explained what it was doing. It had exposure lights and tubes and a jug of ammonia attached to it- gurgling away as the machine printed. You had to feed the paper in once and then again before you got the finished print! It had fake wood panelling, which was both a bit odd and made me nostalgic for old TVs. He explained they used to have 4 machines, two of which were much larger than this one and they got rid of to make room for more modern equipment, and now had two that would print a maximum of 24x36.  Which was fine by me. My prints were half that. One machine was in operation and the other was being held until that one broke.

Was that it for Diazo printing? I hope not. I'll continue to make them. I hope other will too. In New York? Go find Edward in the basement of Soho Reprographics and make some prints! Tell hime the guy with weird dog drawing sent ya!

I'll be debuting this print at the Grand Street Comic Fest this weekend!

original pencils- see! blueline printing made it more awesome!

Grand Street Comics Fest! 4:35 PM

I'll be exhibiting this weekend at the Grand Street Comic Festival this weekend! It's going to be awesome so please swing by and check it out! IT"S FREE! like you needed another reason other than the comics, prints, and good stuff that I and my compatriots will be bring to market! 

Above is a Red Panda Chibi.  An excerpt from my a new silkscreen print I've been working on, sadly it will not be done in time for this weekend. 

New Website 12:12 PM

I have a website! I'm still buffing and polishing and I still need to finish the "Store" section but things have come a long ways! So, I've updated everything from comics to illustrations to now having sections for my silkscreen prints and books! So check it out! I want to thank Estrella Vega for doing all of the heavy lifting and handing me a site that was good to go! If you need a new site I can't recommend her enough! 

Above is ROBO-WIENER. A new print that I just finished. It's a bit of an experiment because I intend to get it reproduced as a blueprint. 

TCAF was AMAZING 1:30 PM

You gotta give it to the Canadians! When they throw a small press and alt-comic festival they pull no punches, no. you're right. they would never throw a punch far too polite to ever do such a thing (other than in a hockey rink, which, all bets are off). Aside of the heat- yep. You read correctly. Other than the heat the festival was fantastic!

In that post-festival haze of slowly starting to get back to work. slowly.

Above is my loving homage to Xaime Hernandez and Love & Rockets! from my latest comic booklet- "Kittens" a self-titled album which debuted at TCAF!

TCAF on the horizon 9:10 AM

Pages are inked. Cover is silkscreened. Next up create separations for the risograph interior!

KITTENS! 3:26 PM

Freshly screen printed cover to my new comic that’ll debut at TCAF! Hand printed 250. Better get ‘em when they’re done cause I'm never doing that again. 

World War II book cover 2:25 PM

Just finished this cover. It was a lot of fun to draw but digital painting it took more effort than I thought it would require. so much detail. I wonder why I do it to myself sometimes and then realize, no, I don't wonder. I just can't help it. Now onto the interiors!

Buzzfed MoCCA 4:04 PM

My Risographed comic “fight! Fight! FIGHT!” was mentioned in a Buzzfeed article on MoCCA fest! “Full of over-the-top violence and audacious color, the action in this book comes out swinging and never stops!” Yep, that pretty much describes it perfectly. My studiomate Aya Kakeda also made the list!

Post-MoCCA Depression 1:17 PM

It's such a rush to get ready for a festival! pencils drawing. Risographs duplicating (they're duplicators not copiers!), Staplers stapling... then when it's over and Monday morning rolls around and your friends from around the country head home or you head home in kicks the post-festival exhaustion- not really depression, but it made a punnier title.

MoCCA was a lot of fun this year! Once again my studio "Yacht Club" was there in force with not one or two, but four tables in a row. I was at one end of the table and my studiomate Jen Tong was at the other with rest in middle! We were so far a part I don't think we talked to each other more than once during the festival.

Thoughts on the new venue- by aesthetics alone the place was far better than the Armory. I was on the third floor and all the work around me looked great! That said I think the location probably hurt attendance. There was just no easy way to get there other than huffing it or springing for a cab. I also heard that the fourth floor exhibitors felt like they weren't getting as much traffic (that has whiffs of MoCCA's past). I wasn't a huge fan of the armory- but it was more democratic and it was easy to get to. I think the Society of Illustrators did a good job last year of bringing refinement to the festival and to tamp down that flea market feel that had plagued the show since had moved to the armory.

So, I liked this venue and I did very well but I'm not sure if it served all of its exhibitors equally or closer to equally.

The above image are pencils from my next comic "Kittens" which was inspired by the screenprint I did last year below- which was almost done for MoCCA but will most certainly be done for TCAF!

MoCCA 2015! 4:04 PM

I'll be exhibiting at the MoCCA festival so if you're in or near NYC swing on by check out one of the best indie comic festivals there is (it did suck for a while but it got better, much better) I'll be at table 349 along with my studio mates Aya Kakeda, Jen Tong, Anuj Shrestha, Kim Sielbeck, Joel Alter, and Jen Tong of Yacht Club (our new and final studio name).

I'll be selling comics! silkscreened books, prints, and textiles! Image above is the assembling of the my last Kraken silkscreened accordion book!

Come and check it out


Saturday and Sunday 11-6

Center548

548 W 22nd St

New York, NY 10011

Vikings are finished! 2:30 PM

Well, at least I'm done with drawing them... for now. I really enjoyed illustrated this book. It played to all of the things I love drawing! non-fiction historical detail, swords and shields, combat,  and whiff of fantasy. Tolkien was heavily inspired by Norse mythology and legends when he created middle earth and in my research it shows (and hopefully in my drawing)

Now, got to prep for MoCCA!

Vikings! RIPE! Ripe Vikings (I suspect that goes without saying) 11:59 AM

What do you do when you're a viking who has just been ambushed by 15 or so bandits? If you're Egil Skallagrimsson you fight until you lose your weapon and then beat them with rocks. All of them, including their buddies who show up later.

This is one of 40 illustrations I've been working on for the next book in the Guts & Glory series by Ben Thompson published by Little Brown.

I'm drawing vikings all day, every day. Life. Is. Rough... and by rough, I mean AWESOME!

This upcoming weekend I'll be exhibiting at the Rhode Island Press Expo! or... RIPE. I'll be selling comic books, silkscreen prints, and drawing VIKINGS! Come check it out!

Character Design and Development of Nero Noir 3:25 PM

The process of developing and designing “Nero Noir” the anti-hero private investigator who’ll make his debut in Zombie Cat #2- which if all goes as planned will be ready for the MoCCA Festival 2015. 

This was a tough one for me, usually it just comes to me- a couple of sketches and good to go, but I knew this I wanted this character to be iconic, so he had to be just right.