del Toro discusses his process, trials with Hollywood, The Hobbit, At the Mountains of Madness, monster theory, and squashes his daughter with his gut in Daniel Zalewski’s fantastic New Yorker profile. “The Hobbit,” he said, “is much less black-and-white. The monsters are not just evil. They’re charming, funny, seductive. Smaug is an incredibly smart guy!” [...]
Archive for the ‘illustration’ Category
Guillermo del Toro in The New Yorker Magazine
Posted in Art, awesome, Creepy as Hell, Film, illustration, Quixotic Monomania, tagged Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, H.P. Lovecraft, The Hobbit, The New Yorker on February 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
An 8-Bit Conundrum
Posted in Art, illustration, Music on November 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This graphic appeared in Wired a few years ago. I was immediately piqued by the fact that I could recognize a few of the characters. Curiosity quickly turned to Obsess Much? as I realized that each figure or ensemble represents a real (presumably) musician. I absolutely love this piece for it’s pixel-pushing meticulousness. When I [...]
League of Legends is What? Ok. Cool.
Posted in Art, awesome, Comics, Creativity, Design, Film, illustration, Video Games, tagged Alan Moore, BioShock, Jack Kirby, League of Legends, MMORPG, Neil Gaiman, Predators, superheroes, WoW on July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a fun little trailer for League of Legends Season One: I don’t play WoW. Apparently, this is a spin-off from it, and the Trailer is marketing for the game. Which is cool. If one peruses the LoL website, you can check out the multiple characters, and it’s pretty staggering: artistically, it’s like you took [...]
Chris Ware is a Badass Artist and Truthteller
Posted in Art, Comics, Courage, illustration, Politics, tagged Bill Greider, Chris Ware, Depression Era, Fortune 500, Jimmy Corrigan on July 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Check this out: Chris Ware was commissioned to do a cover for Fortune. Can you believe they rejected this? Everyone knows Chris is an artist of some intensity, which for the most part has been directed toward meticulous cartoon dissection of childhood trauma. Maybe they thought – based on the scenes of Jimmy’s Grandpa – [...]
In Casual Defense of Avatar
Posted in Art, Comedy, Film, illustration, tagged animation, Avatar, dan mcneill, James Cameron, Stand Up on April 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a little animation I’ve been working on for about a month, using the audio from a stand-up performance I did in January at Room 5 in Los Angeles. I know. Fourteen curse words in 3 minutes 50 seconds (they are bleeped out in case anyone’s worried ’bout work). I’m not proud of it. But [...]
Banky’s Exit Through the Gift Shop Film Trailer
Posted in Art, awesome, Bureaucratic Nightmare, Courage, Creativity, Design, Film, illustration, Innovation, Video Games, tagged Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Space Invader, tre´ Ninja on April 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I cannot wait to see this. The scene in the trailer where Banksy scales the wall effortlessly to escape the cops is tre´ Ninja. This, to me, is the purest example of art needing a valve. When people will risk criminal prosecution to exercise free speech, creativity, and really, hard-ass-work, I think there’s a pretty [...]
New Kenwoode Panels: The Booze Calleth
Posted in Art, Booze, illustration, kenwoode, tagged kenwoode, Steven Pressfield, The Booze Calleth, The War of Art on March 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Finished another page section. It’s getting detail-y-er. It is almost impossible to describe how difficult it is to sit down and draw these daily, but I’m doing my best. A actor/writer friend suggested Steven Pressfield‘s book, The War of Art (which I cannot suggest enough for everyone), and it describes and names the process of [...]
Rolf Armstrong’s Organic Penwork Destroyed by Hack
Posted in Art, Great Painters, illustration, Studies, tagged artistic study, Pin-Ups, Rolf Armstrong on March 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a quick ballpoint pen ‘n Sharpie study of pin-up artist extraordinaire Rolf Armstrong. Some examples of Armstrong’s stunning work can be found by just doing a Google Image Search.
New Kenwoode Pages: May Wonders Never Cease
Posted in Art, blog, Comics, illustration, kenwoode, tagged Chtulu itself, kenwoode, new pages on March 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Finally posted the latest couple of Kenwoode pages. You can check ‘em out here and here. “Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there’s a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.” – Samuel Beckett, Endgame
Mark Titus Is Awesome
Posted in blog, Booze, Comics, Film, Good People, illustration, Music, Writing, tagged Canis Hoopus, Evan Turner, John Wall, Mark Titus, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, Ohio State, Thunderdome of Chiaroscuro on March 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t follow college ball, mostly because I went to art school, and I don’t have an alma mater team, unless there’s a World Champion Thunderdome of Chiaroscuro or Font Kerning of which I am unaware, where you’re allowed to use a color wheel, linseed oil and a mace. (The Color-arnage!) I do, however, follow [...]
Kenwoode: 2nd Part of Page 7
Posted in Art, Comics, illustration, kenwoode, Productivity, Writing, tagged kenwoode, New Page on November 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here‘s the second section of Page 7; I just looked at the dates (I sign each panel as I finish ‘em) and realized I haven’t done one in almost 10 days. I’m on it.
The Rick Rubin Syndrome (or, How to Re-Animate An Artistic Corpse) Pt. 1
Posted in Art, Creativity, illustration, Innovation, Music, tagged artistic limitations, cabin in Minnesota, It Might Get Loud, Jack White, Madonna's artistic vampirism, Prince, Rick Rubin, The Rick Rubin Syndrome, The White Stripes on November 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I have a friend who despises Madonna, hates her with every fiber of her being. She believes that any artistic success Madge has had is due, for the most part, to attaching herself to a successful hot producer and sucking the producer’s young artistic blood, then moving on, like a horrifying Cruella DeVille-like mosquito (to [...]
Reclining Girl Wit Beasties: New Illustration
Posted in Art, Design, illustration, tagged Beasties, illustration, Reclining Girl on November 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Illustration experiment, Reclining Girl Wit’ Beasties: From a sketchbook drawing, Illustrator, Photoshop. There’s some Paul Gauguin/Gustav Klimt influence somewhere in that brain-mire. Unfortunately, there may be some Patrick Nagel, as well. Original sketch after the jump:
Dave Cooper’s Organic Penwork Destroyed by Hack
Posted in Art, Comics, illustration, tagged artistic study, Dave Cooper, pen n ink, The Status of Basil on October 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here’s a small Dave Cooper study I did, from Suckle: The Status of Basil: Good Lord, my scanning sucks. Pen and ink on watercolor paper. Dave’s one of my favorite artists working. His paintings are jealousy-inducing. Check ‘em out on his site (some NSFW).
Machinarium Looks Gorgeous
Posted in Art, Creativity, Design, illustration, Innovation, Video Games, tagged 9, BioShock, Boing Boing, Dave McKean, Donkey Kong, Machinarium, Mirrormask, Shane Acker, SSX, The Dark Eye, World of Goo on October 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’m not a big video game player (at least not since my Donkey Kong days- the Glory!) but occasionally I fall into one like Alice down a rabbit hole. The SSX series completely had me for about 2 years, I enjoyed the hell out of the lo-fi World of Goo, loved the ambition and scope [...]
Giles Timms Video for Ceri Frost’s “Dead All Along”
Posted in Art, blog, Creativity, Design, Film, illustration, Innovation, Music, tagged Anything, Ceri Frost, Dead All Along, Edward Gorey, Giles Timms, The Damned on October 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This song almost sounds like an outtake from The Damned’s Anything album (not one of their critical faves, but I loved it). Huge reverbs, poppy and to the effin’ point, man. Nicely done. And the video is really beautiful: organic, lush, and the amount of depth is really staggering. It’s a nice Gorey homage without [...]
Eric Epstein is a Baddass
Posted in Art, Creativity, Design, illustration, tagged Eric Epstein, Hire this guy!, najork.net on September 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Don’t know Eric; for some reason, I scribbled his website on a bar napkin. Maybe I met him in LA. But his reel is here, and it’s pretty stunning. Hire him and pay him lots of money. I know I will someday soon. Gotta project for him already. Wait ’til I get ludicrous amounts of [...]
How People Like Brian Eno Come Into Existence
Posted in Art, blog, Creativity, Design, Education, illustration, Innovation, Quotes, tagged art school, Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies, Oscar Wilde, Prince, Tom Waits, Wired on September 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wired has a great little article from March about Brian Eno’s art school days here. A couple of things struck me about the article: The deliberate introduction of randomness in Brian Eno’s life, and the idea of changing artistic and social roles to facilitate new and interesting art. Eno’s art professors would have the students [...]
Illustrator Spotlight: Stephane Tartelin
Posted in Art, illustration, tagged illustration, Illustrator spotlight, Stephane Tartelin, The French held off Cornwallis so shut up with that "freedom fries" bullshit on September 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Simply my favorite illustrator working right now. Love, love, love his work. His site is here. I have a t-shirt with this design that I’ve got more compliments than any other thing I’ve ever worn, period. (I dress poorly.) Viva la Tartelin, brother!
Illustrator Spotlight: Stuntkid
Posted in Art, Books, illustration, tagged Illustrator spotlight, steampunk, Stuntkid, Tori Amos on September 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Checked out a comic/collection of Tori Amos illustrated songs from the library, and the front cover was this beautiful little illo: Pretty nice. Stuntkid, aka Jason Levesque has some pretty great stuff on his site here. (Some is NSFW, so just a warning.) A bit steampunk, a bit photo-realist, a bit surreal. Really nice stuff [...]
Russ Nicholson’s Organic Penwork Destroyed by Hack
Posted in Art, blog, Books, illustration, tagged Bill Willingham, Dave Trampier, Erol Otus, Gahan Wilson, Gerald Scarfe, Jeff Dee, Jim Roslof, Russ Nicholson, Shel Silverstein, Wormy on August 25, 2009 | 5 Comments »
I was trying out my new Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen the other night (Righteous, BTW), and drew and inked a study of Russ Nicholson’s fantastic front illustration to the original Fiend Folio (seen here, pencil marks and all). You know, the one with the great black and white illustrations, rather than the full color, super-hero-y [...]
