The Girl of Ice

There is a girl, the girl of ice,
In a strange situation,
Her heart is warm but she is cold,
That's just poor circulation.

This is another character from a book I designed a few years back that I am planning on re-working. I posted the Boy of Fire a few weeks ago. here is The Girl Of Ice. She seems to fit the current view out of the window here in Minnesota at the moment and also the theme of this weeks Illustration Friday topic. Winter.

Kiss my mASScot!

The Altered Esthetics gallery: Adverti$ing show had their opening night last week. I am the featured artist for the show with my series "Kiss my mASScot".
Despite the snow storm and the 20 minute drive being turned to an hour and a half, some people still risked their lives to be there. Good work people!!!

Meanwhile at the sweatshop, chained up street orphans were being made to club baby seals to death so that shoddy dolls could be stuffed and hidden around the gallery for a spot of self promotion.

I painted my weiner and now its on display at the MOA!

In England we call them "Sausage dogs" but here in the U S of A its a "Weiner dog".......a weiner is a type of sausage, just so you know. If you go about asking people if they would like to see your weiner it can get you in trouble........or if you are lucky, a damn good time. On this occasion however I was talking about a life size statue of a dachshund*.



Once a year the Home For Life animal sanctuary has their Art Of The Dog event and displays dog houses and statues outside of Nordstrom's at the Mall of America (MN). The event runs from now until the 2nd of January 2011. All the houses and dogs are for sale with all proceeds going towards helping the dogs and cats of HOME FOR LIFE.



Get to the Mall and take a look at my dachshund/sausage/weiner dog titled: GOOD DOG/BAD DOG.

* The name "dachshund" is of German origin and literally means "badger dog", from Dachsbadger") and Hund ("dog")......see, always learning! Every day is a school day!

New Work at Altered Esthetics gallery

NEW WORK! My "Kiss my mASScot" series is now on show at the Altered Esthetics gallery in NE Minneapolis as part of their "Adverti$ing" exhibition throughout the month of December.

The opening was last night and almost snowed out. I'll update a little later!

The show was also featured in the City Pages A-list Events: Read here!

The boy of fire.

As my scanner is still against me.....actually it might work now, I haven't checked....we haven't been talking.....anyway, as far as I know I can't scan so here is something I was working on before. A burning character from a book I made a few years ago. I am currently looking at re-doing it, some of the art and stuff.

Illustration Friday - Afterwards

This week my scanner has joined the ranks of gadgets and technology that continues to wage war on me on an almost daily basis and refuse to work when I want them to. Damn you scanner, damn you.

After wrecking a city you just gotta rock (Acrylic on canvas)

So I couldn't scan any illustrations this week, instead here are things I have been working on that fit the subject matter.

Taking a break after climbing buildings (paper cut in shadow box)

I tell myself every week to update this blog with more than just Illustration Friday sketches but looking over the last couple of weeks, like the old blues song goes, "if I didn't have IF updates, I wouldn't have no updates at all"

Illustration Friday - Spent

I did have this idea to do an amazingly massive detailed picture and say I "SPENT ages on it".

I didn't do that though. Instead I did a tired robot and panda....

Which would never happen because, as you know, robots and pandas are mortal enemies and can always find a little bit more energy to slap each other silly. Hate each other they do.

Illustration Friday - Racing

I have sort of dropped the IF ball in the last few weeks due to a bit of a work build up but I thought of this at lunch today. As I was drawing it I realised that it reminded me of a scene from the Disney movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"....its like Mary Poppins but with a bed and Angela Lansbury...that sounds wrong on a number of levels but its not. I also found out that my wife has never seen movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"........

....shocking news. Absolutely shocking news.

Have you ever written "KILL" so many times that it starts not to look like a word?

This weekend was Saint Paul Art Crawl, TOMS Shoes at the Mall of America, zombie pub crawl and the Saint Paul Saints.....I'll update everything later until then check out the We Become Panoramic blog, Madhuse6 has written a piece showing art work that he picked out from the craw......including one of my Ludo cards and a Killbot newly titled "Kill robot, kill". I actually think his picture turned out a little better than mine.

SAINT PAUL ART CRAWL ALL WEEKEND!

Saint Paul Art crawl this weekend, October, on the 8th, 9th and 10th. 2nd floor of the Rossmor building (500 North Robert Street, bound by 10th Street and 9th Street, next to and above Key's cafe)....just sayin'.

24 Hour Comic book Day...in 5 hours.

Saturday (2nd and 3rd) was the 24 hour comic book day. A "Christmas for comic book artists" from 10am Saturday until 10am Sunday at the Minnesota Center for Book arts.. The aim is is produce a page per hour for the 24 hours. This is actually waaaaaaaaaaaaay harder than it sounds as a purist usually aims to go in without any previously planned story line or characters.

I am not hard-core enough for the whole 24 hours unlike some including fellow table buddy Justin Babb of jbabb's Ink Blots who is currently posting all 24 pages of his comic throughout the week.

The last standing (hard core) few (not me). Google their names for their work! That's a double dare.

I stayed for about 5 hours and then had to go (after winning top prize in the raffle - thanks for coming!) and do some wickedly important things and stuff. I realised that I wasn't going to get 24 pages done so I was planning on doing a story with 24 characters in it........I failed. In the first two pages I only managed 3 characters and I sort of got swept up on the whole intertwined stories.

Here is what I got scribbled, I was using an old Canson 9x12" Manga Drawing pad which as it turns out has pages just too big for the tiny scanner I am currently using.....hence the poor quality.

Illustration Friday - Beneath

Two drawings for this weeks Illustration Friday topic "Beneath".

Beneath the bed

Beneath the earth

TOMS SHOES

TOMS Shoes are a company that for every pair of shoes you buy they send a pair to a child in need. One for One. I will be spending this Saturday (October 9th) customizing customer's shoes with original art in front of Nordstroms at the Mall of America from midday until 4pm.



Take a look at their website for their full story and exactly what they do.

You remind me of the babe....

Sometimes things are said out loud, an opinion, that when thought seemed to be the truest thing in the world but when said provokes so much disagreement and rage in others that fights begin, wars are raged, seas boil and people die. I am of course referring to the statement once muttered that "David Bowie's best work was in the Jim Henson movie: LABYRINTH"
I don't remember who first uttered this notion, they are probably dead now, the stuff of myth and legend. The movie Labyrinth and its characters was the inspiration for a new set of paper art pieces I have been working on though. Here are the first three in the series - Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Diddymus and Ambrosius




















All three of these pieces as well as some smaller Ludo cards will be at the Saint Paul Art crawl this month, October, on the 8th, 9th and 10th. 2nd floor of the Rossmor building (500 North Robert Street, bound by 10th Street and 9th Street, next to and above Key's cafe)

You have no power over me!

Illustration Friday - Old Fashioned

I was sort of kicking myself last week about not doing anything Batman related so that was all that was on my mind, which probably explains this week.....



Some Old Fashioned Justice.

Headin' on down to Saint Paul

Just a quick note to say that I will once again be peddling my stuff at the Saint Paul Art Crawl. The good people at the Rossmor building have saved a little nook for me again for the three days its on. Those dates are October 8th, 9th and 10th. Got that in your diary? good. It had better be in ink and not pencil.....I'll know.


I'll be getting more information tomorrow in regards to where EXACTLY you can find me so I'll get back to you.

Acro-BAT

Illustration Friday topic: acrobat.
Character design for Acro-Bat. I used this weeks topic for a character design piece although it has given me a few ideas for some larger scale pictures I need to work on. This little Acro-Bat was pretty much the first design I came up with (although this is the second draft as I overworked the shading so much on the first that I wrecked it a bit), he looks a little reluctant to be on any high wires or trapezes though.....probably due to his lack of thumbs and inability to balance when not upside down.

Illustration Friday - Proverb

This week has been filled with me trying to get work together for an upcoming show in October. It might be the constant painting or the overdose of caffeine and Netflicks or a combination of the three that made me want to go all experimenty with styles this week and churn out a couple of small pieces at about 1am last night when I couldn't land on one idea.....

This is how my head works:

Think of a Proverb?........The Early Bird Gets The Worm!
Too obvious!! Everyone is going to think of that. There are going to be a million early birds. Idiot! What other proverbs? Ok, I got a bunch of them.........


Can't really depict them all without some sort of Daliesque image being the outcome. Not ready for that at this time of night. So just the characters then....easy......you can lead a HORSE to water, etc. and the early BIRD......
Aw, you should so have thought about doing one with all the animals used in proverbs......that one about the LEOPARD changing its spots, old DOG new tricks, leading a HORSE to water, the early BIRD and whats the one about BIRDS of a feather flocking together?
Damn, I don't like the way the birds are all together. How about the one about the man with an itchy bum shouldn't bite his nails? Ok, maybe not. Well another take on the Early bird getting the worm.....I like the idea, just not the character design.....I'll probably give up before I finish it.....
Way too cute and Doraemon like for this late hour....something darker.....literally....


....................................................That'll do.

Illustration Friday - Dessert

This weeks Illustration Friday tropic is "Dessert". Just a quick sketch in ink and the good old LETRASET Promarker pens brought I recently had shipped over from my art stuff in England. Welcome to the US my inky page leaking little friends.

September already. Soap factory $99 sale

I took a little break from the blogging for a while due to moving, being lazy and a couple of projects I have been working on. Reading back on previous posts I'm sure I have said this before but....I am now going to try and update at least every week.
One thing going on this month is at the Soap Factory: The $99 Sale,7pm-midnight,Friday September 24.
"A sophisticated comment on the market and connoisseurship, The $99 Sale is an art-buying party of, by, and for the people."
All the art submitted is on 5x7 inch paper and signed by the artist on the back (so it is basically anonymous) the idea is that you buy the art you LIKE rather than the art by a famous artist. Everything is $99 so you could be getting something worth $1000 or $0.99.

17 days later....

Hey, what were you doing 17 and a bit days ago? At Altered Esthetics at their sixth anniversary Iron and Candy show were you? YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN!

AE put on another great show, music, food...although not that much candy actually...a raffle in which you could choose what prizes you would be entered for so didn't come home with some lame leftover dreg of a prize like normal raffles. Not that there were any dregs to be won here mind. I didn't win anything dreggy or otherwise....sort it out AE!! Stick on mustaches, Steam punk themed photos, silent auction and more.
Both of my pieces went in the silent auction. The Candy Dragon which I pictured in my last post and this piece...Iron Giant and the Chocolate factory. Mixing two classic children's stories. I also helped out with the Cartoonist Conspiracy's bad caricatures or "Cankeratures" which was a lot of fun. Despite the warning that they may be "bad", this was really just to protect all those artists that didn't usually do caricatures. These guys at the Cartoonist Conspiracy really know how to draw. Due to my poor blog keeping skills I haven't really mentioned them individually but I will be changing that soon.


All the money raised from the caricatures goes toward the August Lutefisk Sushi D comic book show.

Illustration Friday - Fearless

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Illustration Friday is an amazing idea.

I wish it was mine.

This weeks topic of "Fearless" also gives me a chance to post a piece I submitted to the recent Altered Esthetics Iron and Candy six year anniversary show. "The Candy Dragon" was in the silent auction and purchased for a figure I don't know by someone equally anonymous.
Using already existing works actually goes against what I like about Illustration Friday (inspiring and encouraging ongoing weekly work etc) but I've been busy.

I HAVE!!!

Art by mail and another CBIG big up!

Ah, another late update...sorry about that. I was out rescuing puppies and orphans from burning buildings.....or something.

Anyway, The illustration news portal Little Chimp Society e-mailed me this morning to tell me that the Mail Me Art 2 exhibition has been announced. Mail Me Art 2 is the second collection of art done entirely on envelopes sent through the mail. I did a quick ink sketch for it:

Dates:
Friday 30th July – Thursday 5th August 2010
Opening reception Friday July 30th 6-11pm

Location:
Red Gate Gallery
209a Coldharbour Lane
London SW9 8RU
United Kingdom
www.redgategallerylondon.co.uk

Meanwhile in Minnesota.....

The Children's book illustration show is still on at the Minnesota Center of Book Arts!
Here are my pieces there. I was aiming for B-Movie style posters of Children's classics. The Big Bad wolf one is one of about three or four Godzilla references I was working on at the time. What? Stuck on a single thought like a broken record forever producing the same thing over and over, y'say? Oh shut up.


Including Artists of the
CHILDREN BOOK
ILLUSTRATIONS GUILD

Minnesota Book Arts Show
April 8th - June 20th
http://www.mnbookarts.org/

THIS FRIDAY - ALTERED ESTHETICS IRON AND CANDY SHOW!

What are you doing this Friday? "What should you be doing?" more like it!
The answer: Going to the Altered Esthetics gallery in Northeast Minneapolis!


Iron and Candy

6 year anniversary celebration and fundraiser at Ae

Altered Esthetics celebrates six years of serving artists with a party at their home in the Q'arma building in Northeast Minneapolis. The party will occur in conjunction with their annual spring fundraiser... this year's theme - Iron and Candy!

I'll have two pieces on show there but they also have a whole line up of awesomeness -

- An Iron and Candy themed exhibit and silent auction
- A raffle with awesome prizes and goods from local businesses
- Live music
- Refreshments
- Steampunk themed games and activities
- Bad Caricatures courtesy of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy
- Awesome company
- And more!

Schedule of Awesomeness
(Doors at 5)
7:00pm Refreshments, DJ, flurry of games and activity
9:00pm Silent auction and raffle end
9:00pm Live auction begins
9:30pm Raffle winners announced
10:00pm Music from Apartment 12J
11:00pm Music from Bad September



How can you NOT go? Just in case you are still not convinced then here is a segment of the framed sketch I have there. You'll have to go to see what the Umpa Lumpa is fleeing from. Incentive!

St Paul Art Crawl - THE INFORMATION!

JAMES POWELL? - YOU'LL BE WANTING THE 2ND FLOOR THEN!



*WHERE:
Rossmor Building
500 Robert Street
St. Paul, MN

*WHEN:
APRIL
23rd (Friday) :6-10pm
24th (Saturday):12-8pm
25th (Sunday) :12-5pm

I am on the best floor, thats the 2nd one. Just go through the main entrance (pictured) and up the stairs and I'll be to the left. I'll work on some signage to guide you.

If you want to see everything in the building then there is an elevator to the 7th floor so you can work your way down using the stairs to avoid congestion. Building artists will advertise in the elevator to make it easy to find your favorite artists!
- Maps and Parking:


*Parking Bargain: $3/all day Block 19 Parking Ramp
-enter from Jackson and 7th
-street parking around the Rossmor is
free after 430pm
on Friday and Saturday
and all day Sunday
EASY parking makes this the
PERFECT PLACE TO START YOUR DAY!

Additional Rossmor Events:

Musical group - "Tortuga" - performing in studio #508 on Friday night at 8:00
Musical group "St. Thomas African Music Ensemble" performing in studio #517 Saturday late afternoon some time - more details to come.

Patrick Clancy Photography will be offering a Free Photo Booth in Studio #508 on Saturday and Sunday. Come have a free portrait taken.

Lobby Musicians!
Niki Beker will play Friday at 6 pm and Saturday at 1 pm
Nathan Eliot Rowan will play Saturday at 4 pm
Nick Strusz will play Saturday at 12 pm
We are still working on hosting a number of solo musicians at various common areas of the building - more to come on that. Anyone interested in performing can drop us a line.

Remember $3 all day parking in the Block 19 parking ramp!

Oh, and just in case that wasn't enough for you then here is a copy of the whole crawl map.

Come by and say hello and steal some candy!*

(*I may or may not have candy)