High Society. .

It was a super nice holiday bonus to find out that these two little puppies got into the Society of Illustrators Show and book, which opens on January 8th, especially because these are the new direction the work seems to be moving. Im looking forward to rubbing elbows with some other depressed shut-ins and ADs!

Ice Fishing

Some spots for the upcoming GO Magazine about ice fishing - without a doubt, one of the world's greatest sports combining patience, beer, cold, coffee, food, patience, beer, endurance, and beer.

::A Christmas Challenge::

Last Christmas, Americans searched on google for pancakes, Cat Woman, Disney, Walmart, and people who killed themselves. "Peace on earth" and "goodwill to all men" are not scientifically possible this year. However, let's spend Christmas googling these two phrases so that they make it onto a list of "hot searches" for Dec. 25, 2009.

It will look like we are still curious about peace and goodwill.

I Have the Power!!

Opening on January 8th, Gallery 1988 LA presents their 4th annual tribute show, this time honoring He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!!

Being a super-ultra-mega fan from 1983-85, followed by a brief few months in ‘86, where I thought I might actually be She-Ra, you can imagine the fun I had painting these.

This is how I envision He-Man and Skeletor spending their days off; trimming the bowl cut and getting a root canal.. a very evil one.

McSweeney's

Here's an illustration for the latest McSweeney's, the SF Panorama issue.

Thanks, Chris!

Frederik Jurk

Check out German illustrator Frederik Jurk's work here and his blog here.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I've been renting "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" from Netflix. The animated titles and closing credits were done by Airside, a British design studio. Here's what they said about their approach to this assignment:

Researching into the areas of Botswana where the book is set, we found a tradition of hand-painted shop signage that perfectly captured the vibrancy of African design. Considering it was a plot point, we felt it was natural to continue this aesthetic through to the title sequences. Sourcing colours from African textiles we hand-painted pieces of wood, creating textures to be used within the animation itself.

Key scenes and characters from the film are presented as the narrative journeys from one title card to the next.

Anyway, every time the illustrated credits roll I think, "Gotta post this on WFoF!"

The Blip Festival

An illustration of the Blip Festival for Max Bode at The New Yorker! Find out more about the festival here.

Auggie Wren's Christmas Story

Thought I'd start the holiday season off right with an illustration inspired by "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story."

You can listen to Paul Auster tell Auggie's story here.

RETAIL TRAFFIC Cover

For the super nice Jaun Mims at Retail Traffic.
And some sketches:)

Curious Pages

Curious Pages, a children's book blog by Lane Smith and Bob, warns the reader, "Looking for books about teddy bears or rainbows or feelings? You’re at the wrong place. Here we celebrate the offbeat, the abstract, the unusual, the surreal, the macabre, the inappropriate, the subversive and the funky."

via

Are you ready for some illustration?!?!

I've been wanting to do a football image for a while and figured I'd put one together for the Society of Illustrators jury.

Side note - My Mom was in a real bad car crash, and any thoughts or prayers you could send her way would be appreciated:)

Over & Under show at Yard Dog

I'll have a few pieces in this group show curated by Sublime Stitcher Jenny Hart. It should be a pretty amazing collection of work. I'm a big fan of quite a few of the participating artists.
Stop by if you're in Austin!

me, Christopher Niver, and Takashi Iwasaki

Over & Under

a show of stitches curated by Jenny Hart

Open Nov. 6th to Dec. 6th

Including: Annie Aube - Deborah Baker - Kate Bingaman Burt - Dana Carlson -Diem Chau - Orly Cogan - Emily Eibel - Veronica Fuentes - Takashi Iwasaki - Joetta Maue - Michael Aaron McAllister - Johnny Murder -Christopher Niver - Jennifer Porter - Shannon Rankin - Richard Saja -Kate Westerholt - Kathie Sever

Yard Dog
1510 S. Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78704
www.yarddog.com

Pauley on Broadway

Lynn Pauley, a former professor of several WFoFers, did the poster for Superior Donuts, the new Broadway play by Tracy Letts. You can see them all over the city. Congrats, Lynn!

Adulthood Here I Come

I'm super excited to announce that my longtime boyfriend, Wes, are getting hitched! That's right, my finger is officially BEDAZZLED..

Brendan Monroe - Places Between Here and Here

On behalf of the Monroe family, I'd like to present Brendan's new paintings and sculptures! His show (opened a little over a week) runs till November 14, 2009 at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, California. Come see the show if you are near, otherwise, we too can experience it here.

The Old Patent Office

The Reynolds Center, a.k.a. the Old Patent Office Building in Washington, DC, houses the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In addition to a great permanent collection, there is currently a WPA show and a folk art show on display. The Reynolds Center feels like a secret among all of the monuments and Smithsonian museums— during a brief visit home last week, I had the place practically to myself!

The Incorruptible Batman . . .

Hate to sort of bogart 2 posts, but I'm looking for opinions on this feller.

I'm a Big Baby.

I went to the Neue Gallery up on 86th and saw a great show of German and Austrian art - Shiele, Kokoschka, Dix, Grosz, Beckmann, Klimt - with an emphasis on the drawings. Definitely worth seeing. The Shiele inspired me to do a self portrait while watching scary movies on Sunday.

SModcast #37

I was recently invited to participate in SMart: A SMod Art Show at Gallery 1988, which celebrates the release of Kevin Smith's new book. 25 artists were each assigned a SModcast episode (or a portion of one), to base their piece on.

I received a segment of Episode #37, entitled Jennifer Connelly Remake, which basically explores the possibilities and scenarios if Jennifer Connelly decided to remake the life of Scott Mosier. I can’t do this episode any justice by writing about it, so if intrigued, listen to it HERE. It’s a super long episode, so you can skip right to it starting at: 29:00 min.

Behind the cover

via

Still Alive...

...though ashamed of how very absent I have been from class.
Geez, it's like I live in another country or something.


An attempt at redemption, here is a piece I just finished for The Walrus Magazine's December Issue; a full-page to accompany a beautiful fiction piece by Andre Alexis.

Handball!!

I kept seeing these kids playing on the way back from Pratt, and the Ben Shahn painting was rattling around in my head, and figured I should have a go at handball.

These illos were for The L Magazine's fashion week issue which is still on stands till Wednesday.

I had been wanting to play around with some sartorially themed illustrations for some time. It was fun trolling through all the wacky trends to find reference.

If you're so inclined, you can download my paper doll pdf from my website!

Supervillains

Supervillains. Gotta love 'em.

R. Sikoryak and R.O. Blechman signing

R.O. Blechman and R. Sikoryak are signing copies of their new books this Thursday at the Strand.

From the press release:

Talking Lines collects a decade's worth of Blechman's comics, including The Juggler of Our Lady(1953), which was the first full-length graphic novel by a contemporary cartoonist. Sikoryak's Masterpiece Comics collects 20 years of his comic adaptations of the classics, culled from anthologies such as Drawn & Quarterly, RAW and Hotwire.

Thursday, September 24, 7:00PM - 8:00PM
The Strand Books 828 Broadway (at 12th St.) New York, NY 10003-4805
212.473.1452

Lord and Horde

"Lord of the Rings," The New Yorker, September 28, 2009

When my "Walt and El Grupo" illustration was killed, this piece, inspired by the siege of Helm's Deep in "The Two Towers," was commissioned to take its place. "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy screens this week at the MoMA.

Read "Lord and Horde" here.

Thanks, Max!

Joe Wilson

In my humble opinion, a racist SOB. I just posted this piece on my blog and really tried to restrain my rant, but it's really hard to bite my tongue on this. I'm biting really hard. . .