notes, thoughts and events

 I think the key to handling a backpacking trek is to always be generally active. Walk, run, bike, skateboard, roller skate —- whatever. Our bodies are made to move, and we need to keep them moving. I hear they tend to last longer and perform better that way, AND you’re more ready to take on that backpacking trek that comes up now and then without having to put a lot of time into getting in shape. You can spend that time instead on figuring out how to make sure you have what you’ll need and still be able to carry that monster of a pack on your back.  Those things are heavy. 

As a second-year illustration student at the School of Visual Arts, I sat confidently in Jim McMullan's figure drawing class working through yet another series of five minute poses. This would have been my second semester in his class, and I had the notion that I'd picked up a few things. I was blending the High-Focus Drawing ways of thinking with inspiration from Egon Schiele . I recall having the distinct impression that I was making some significant progress. My drawings were pretty different from the character the rest of the class was attempting to achieve. The elegant lines that Jim tried so adamantly to train us to execute were replaced by something resembling the scrawlings of someone crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. After some time, Jim came over to me and sat down.  "You're not a genius." He said.  This obvious news had been hovering near me for a long, long time just waiting for a willing conduit to deliver it. It was devastating. I think he said a ...

 Deadpan Stan.     I take so much in stride anymore that I get amazed when I back up and actually reflect on what exactly is going on. I created this character (or maybe “discovered” is a better term) over 20 years ago when I was crafting comics in college. Someday I’ll have to expound more fully on the nature of all the characters I had created over that time. Seeing how they’re all little facets of my own subconscious displaying traits I was ignorant of at the time is just . . . weird.      So Deadpan Stan was an undertaker with a drinking problem that played a kind of Wile E. Coyote vs. Roadrunner game with another character — a mostly naked man with no head. His goal was to capture the obviously dead naked man and put him in the grave where he belonged. Deadpan was never successful. Even when he was able to get the corpse into the ground, the corpse had friends who would dig him out.      After many years marinating in th...

Hey guys!   What to Do When You're Sent to Your Room  won the Comstock Read Aloud Book Award for 2015!  I'm pretty encouraged by it.  Now the book gets a gold sticker on the cover.

I've updated my portfolio page!  Really, no kidding.  Just click on the link in the bar.

Hey guys!  This is pretty neat.  One of my books I wrapped up recently was selected for "The Original Art" children's book illustration show that starts at the Society of Illustrators this month.  Those Candlewick people really know how to put a book together, and Ann Stott's script is hilarious. You can buy it here. here.

Hey guys!  I've got a new book you all can go out and buy for cheap.  Get one from A mazon.com , and if you bring it by the house, I'll draw a little snowman in it.

You'll notice this illustration from the previous post.  I worked it up in full color on the pretext of it's being for promotional purposes, but I really just wanted to do it up right. Pretty "artsy fartsy" I guess.

I've got my Comics Crash Course coming up next month, and this is the shirt design for this year.  I really got into the technical challenge of limiting myself to two colors of ink and still getting all the effects I needed to make the design work.

I've been working on a book series for a little while. I don't think I can spill too much before its published, so here is just some proof that I'm working on stuff. -posted from some gadget you can fit in your friggin' pocket.

I worked this up this morning and put it on a shirt. -posted from some gadget you can fit in your friggin' pocket. Location: Waiting on a train

This is a recent promotional piece I did.  So much of what I've been doing recently has been black and white interiors.  I created this kid and robbed a composition from a really cool batman illustration to more dynamically feature those pieces.

Stuff for the local brewhaus.  I did these a couple months ago.

This is another super deep one, you guys, so get ready.  I've been putting skeletons on bikes for a little while now.  I don't know what folks really think of it, to be honest.  I just do it for my own reasons each time, and the different symbols take on new meanings to me as time goes on.   This piece is a recent manifestation of that kind of pictorial evolution.  I'll got out on a limb and try to explain it a little bit: "Caro recedit, animi ... in rotis manemus" is Latin (according to Google) for-- "The Flesh falls away, the soul remains... In the wheels we abide." The bicycle is symbol for balance.  It's very difficult to operate, though, if you're not moving forward.  I think we get caught up with stuff in life and end up trapped in the idea that we need to "stop" doing stuff-- stop eating so much, stop smoking, stop drinking, stop sitting on our asses all day, stop thinking about stuff we don't want to thin...

I honestly don't recall why I started on this skeleton thing.  Every time I think it was because of one thing, it turns out it really wasn't.  Oh well.  Skeletons are a big deal.  We've all got them.  June Cleaver had one, and this is my ode to the 50's-60's mom archetype that she embodied. Originally I did this design for a tank top, but I think it would really work as a regular ol' print, too.  You can get the tank top  here .

I don't know what it is about Latin.  Nobody speaks it.  About the only folks who know what it means without looking it up are Catholics and scientists.  It's probably the mystery aspect of it.  You have to kind of dig a little bit to figure it out.  I like making art like that, and as a result, that preference has likely relegated me to the back of the line in many instances.  People don't usually like to be challenged, and after 35 years, I don't blame them for being that way.  Life is dang hard, guys. Especially when you take it seriously.   So don't.   When I dig down past the soul and into the Spirit, there's a smile and a laugh.  When I feel like I have to much to deal with, when I'm overwhelmed, I more often than not hear from those deepest parts, "It's just a ride.  Relax, smile, enjoy yourself." So this is my reminder.  Sit Spiritus agit anima.  Let the Spirit drive the soul. And as all things...

My bros over at Crazy Eye Brewing here in Hiawatha have undertaken the rather arduous task of building a distribution brewery from scratch and brought me along for the ride (woo-boo!!! Beer!!!).  I get to do the best part-- create beer labels.  I think I could do this forever and not really get tired of it.  They have, of course, given me pretty free reign with the design, and as long as I come up with something awesome, it's ok.  After a few hurried attempts, I've arrived at a style that I think will adequately capture the attention of even the most libationally impaired drinker. I've got a couple more tweaks to tweak on this sucker, but it's pretty much figured out.

I've been seeing lots of little birds that don't quite have the hang of flying this Spring. Tonight we saw a couple of little OWLS! There was one really trying super hard to fly, and another one hanging out in the tree above looking smart. -posted from some gadget you can fit in your friggin' pocket. Location: Home

Well guys, there's been some stuff going on. Some more really awesome stuff. I worked up a new shirt design that's my take on playing cards-- or maybe it's the first of a few takes on playing cards as that theme keeps coming up in my brain. The King of Bones Also coming up really soon is a line of clothes for kids. Cute stuff. On Tuesday, we did something here at the shop we hadn't done before-- baseball uniforms, and they turned out awesome. And just to keep the pictures flowing, here's one I just don't get tired if looking at for some reason: Later, guys. -posted from some gadget you can fit in your friggin' pocket.